PAX Centurion - January / February 2014

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • January/February 2014 • Page 5 Vice President’s Message: Ronald McGillivray, BPPA Vice President Congratulations! The effects of patrolling 26 hours with no sleep and responding to emergency situations might need to be revisited unless the intended consequence of adding zeroes to prospective settlements is in Corporation Council’s budget because it is not “if” but “when” the incident will occur. T he changing of the guard continues with Chief Daniel Linskey moving on after seven years. The Chief was helpful whenever possible which translates to having a good batting average with requests as opposed to having a lights out free-throw percentage with requests. The Chief was accommodating when possible, a strong advocate in mitigating discipline and outstanding in embracing the well-being of officers in need. Seven years of 24/7 takes a toll…theAcademy is a good fit for a job well done if that ends up his final assignment. Taking over will be Commissioner William Evans and Chief Willie Gross both with established experience from within the Department. If there had been an election for these appointments by Mayor MartyWalsh both candidates would have been overwhelm- ingly confirmed by the membership as well. Been there, done that re- sume for the Commissioner combined with a hands-on, ever-present number 2 bodes well for the Department. First-class command staff and day to day credibility will serve them well. Three Tours in a Row… You’re Good to Go? O n November 2 nd , officers from around the city were ordered to report for duty at 6:00 a.m. Saturday for the Red Sox Victory Parade. Usually this type of event entails a full- pop with mandatory attendance for all. Some first half officers were relieved at approximately 2:30 p.m. to return to their Districts for their regular tour of duty from 4:00 p.m. till 11:45 p.m. After finish- ing approximately 16½ hours plus travel time, a number of officers were ordered to work an additional tour of duty from 11:45 p.m. till 7:30 a.m. Sunday. This was also the weekend where clocks fell back an hour. This was a planned event and though it doesn’t happen often it happens enough to warrant intervention because this scenario is in compliance with the Department’s Special Order 06-045. The 1½ hour break that allowed officers to return to their district between 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. was consid- ered sufficient down time for officers to be ordered for 2 additional tours of duty. The Commissioner’s Special Order dealing with hours of work was amended in November of 2006. The problematic portion of Section B states “No officer shall be permitted to work more than two (2) consecutive tours of duty in a row or more than sixteen and a half (16½) consecutive hours in any given twenty four (24) hour period. ” The placement of the word “con- secutive” in describing hours of continuous work is illogical and in conflict with the preceding sentence describing tours of duty. The removal of the word “consecutive” in describing hours would seem to be the proper intent of the Special Order but our requests for a re- prieve continue to fall on deaf ears confirming the on-point message of the Department’s “evil genius” to the middle managers…fall back on the word consecutive when officers’ protest the sanity of the order. The effects of patrolling 26 hours with no sleep and responding to emergency situations might need to be revisited unless the intended consequence of adding zeroes to prospective settlements is in Corporation Council’s budget because it is not “if” but “when” the incident will occur. This is far from the first time that an officer’s number of hours within a 24 hour period has been questioned by the Union. It has become the norm to order a person past the 16½ hours especially after a first half into a last half based on the word “consecutive”. The liability for the Department condoning an officer related incident after 18 hours within a 24 hour period has to be off-the-charts. Improvising at midnight to accommodate the minimum manning level is under- standably part of our 24-hour workplace…but the officer’s health and wellness should equally be given as much consideration. The other bargaining units have not taken issue with this 2006 Commissioner’s Order if simply because they do not get ordered nearly as often. Vol- untary acceptance of work in excess of 16½ hours takes place under certain conditions for those who feel they have had adequate rest leading up to the extended hours. Upping our acceptable number of hours to 20 does not get it done either because holding one first half officer from 11:45 p.m. till 3:45 a.m. and ordering another recently released co-worker from the first half to come back at 3:45 till 7:30, as was intimated, is just as insane. In another real world workplace, an early December commuter train accident in NewYork involved the train’s engineer doing what every one of us has done while operating a M/V in taking a “momen- tary nod”. There was excessive speed entering a turn that caused a de- railment. What ensued were fatalities and numerous injuries. The op- erator had a stellar record, all accident related tests were negative, he was on the 2 nd day of a 5-day work week after a typical 9-hour work shift the day before. Clearly there was enough time to get restorative sleep. The investigation took into account a 72-hour time- line of activities prior to this tragedy. Tough to monitor or specifically identify what led to the lack of concentration but if the police time lines described on November 2 nd were interjected into this investigation as being part of our acceptable working con- ditions there would no doubt be serious noise to follow. Preemptive and corrective action in our attempt to remedy this wording flaw would be to remove “consecutive” from in front of the word hours in the Order and if ordering an officer to work 18 or more hours within a 24 hour period, the officer receives his/her next tour of duty off or receives eight hours of compensatory time if going on days off. If not agreeable an arbitrator can give some reasoned guidance. Where mental and physical fatigue is unavoidable, time off and rest is prescribed if collecting more than 18 months of a pension is the 32 year objective. Please readAttorney Bryan Decker’s article on page 28 giving a thorough explanation of earning and using comp time, FLSA over- time, contractual overtime and the 28 day/171 hour cycle.