PAX Centurion - September / October 2014

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • September/Octoberr 2014 • Page 13 Mandatory, ordered overtime crushing patrol force By James W. Carnell, Pax Editor Labor News did an informative piece and listed some major policy choices under consideration and also being implemented around the country. What is noticeable is that there is no general consensus on implementation. Activation varies widely including every encounter with a citizen to specific interactions while some list exceptions such as victim and witness interviews, juvenile interaction, sexual assaults and domestic vio- lence. Some policies allow citizens to refuse recording while the officer is in their residence. Officer has the discretion to comply with the citizen’s request to stop recording. Some policies make such compliance mandatory. Transporting suspects to a detention facility requires activation… sometimes. Mixed guidelines on continued recording while awaiting a third party such as a tow truck driver. Allows officers to review recordings from cameras at any time, and to do so in the presence of their attorney or labor representative if the officer is the subject of a departmental investigation. Some of the policies prohibit such review. One third of the operational agencies have no written policies. Those that do often contradict one another over the simplest of issues such as activation. The full vetting of issues should take years…smart money will stay on the sidelines during the assessment. For the “dashcam” comparison, public records requests from the me- dia are a constant. The uploading of images to the internet will no doubt continue to be exploited. Most states exempt recordings from disclosure until final disposition of any criminal or civil litigation. Consider all of- ficers on a shift equipped with a “bodycam” that is constantly recording the real time visions of their fellow officers…scary thought. Injured On Duty… From Vice President on page 5 M andatory, ordered overtime has had a debilitating effect on the BPD street-patrol force, continuing from the summer season into the fall and foreseeable future due to short- staffing by the BPD. Whether because of numerous special events authorized by the city and the BPD or the fact that the relatively small number of new, young recruit officers have been as- signed to “specialized” (please note the quotation marks), high-profile, high-publicity units as props for photo-ops for the BPD propaganda machine, crushing amounts of ordered overtime have been thrust upon the regular patrol force. “Special” officers are removed from the district-level ordered- overtime equation, leaving veteran officers to be ordered for double and even triple tours of duty, with the department taking cynical advantage of the term “consecutive” (if there’s fifteen minutes and a detail it’s not considered “consecutive”) hours in the existing rule and regulation. And ordered overtime is not limited to weekends – many officers have been ordered for extra tours on obscure Tuesdays and Sundays, for no other reason than that the BPD is so terribly short-staffed. Many officers have reported that they have arrived for work, for example, for a first half tour of duty (4:00 PM-11:45 PM), then been ordered for a last-half tour of duty (11:45 PM-7:30AM), and then, because a parade or demonstration or special event has been sched- uled by the City at 10:00 or 11:00AM, been ordered to come back to perform that assignment. (What the hell are you supposed to do between 7:30AM and 10:00AM? ( 2½ hrs.?!) Go home and sleep? How ridiculous! The BPD has also resorted to changing what were previously voluntary detail assignments into mandatory overtime, so that officers can again be ordered to perform the work. Symphony Hall, Fenway, Park, concerts at the Boston Garden, movie filming downtown, etc. etc. now require numerous officers to have their time-off intruded upon and ruined because of short-staffing. At the whim of manage- ment or city hall, pandering to the demands of the vendor, but with not a care for the officers or their families, the BPD now orders officers to perform mandatory overtime at Boston College football games and other sporting events, because the personnel don’t exist to fill the assignments. Again, is anyone up at headquarters listening? The result has been frustrated, angry officers who have been required, of necessity, to call in sick from exhaustion. Many officers have complained that family events, children’s birthday parties, bar- beques, weddings and other important events have been interrupted by the department’s callous indifference to the officer’s personal lives. Headquarters seems to respond with a cavalier, MarieAttoinette-ish “let them eat cake”/ “hey, look at the overtime money you guys are making” attitude. They seem not to understand nor care that personal time is often far more important than money. Children’s birthdays, family cookouts and weddings are over once they’re done. They will not be repeated, and are lost for- ever.You will not receive a “thank- you” from the city or the BPD for being ordered for another overtime shift rolling around with drunken punks on State St. , Landsdowne St., or Parker Hill Ave. (You will get an IAD tab, however…) And of course, at the end of the year, the local media will again criticize the individual officers and have their heyday in the press highlight- ing how much this officer made and how much that officer made. Will our vaunted command staff, bedecked with stars and bars and feathers and medals from cam- paigns in far-off battles that none of us know about, come to our aid or defense? I think not… If you think so, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale. Please call me… “Special” officers are removed from the district-level ordered-overtime equation, leaving veteran officers to be ordered for double and even triple tours of duty, with the department taking cynical advantage of the term “consecutive” hours in the existing rule and regulation. And ordered overtime is not limited to weekends – many officers have been ordered for extra tours on obscure Tuesdays and Sundays, for no other reason than that the BPD is so terribly short-staffed.