Posted on 10/26/2004 3:09:37 PM PDT by Momaw Nadon
DANVERS — Patrolmen have cost the town $173,000 by refusing to write traffic tickets in a ploy to influence contract negotiations, top police brass and town management officials allege in a complaint filed with the state last week.
Town officials claim police union members are handing out warnings rather than tickets in an effort to cost the town money and gain leverage at the bargaining table, according to their complaint to the state Labor Relations Commission. The 44-strong police union has gone nearly a year-and-a-half without a new contract in a dispute over raises.
But at least on police union official has accused the town of buttressing its case with "immoral and unethical behavior."
The union has demanded a 3 percent raise for fiscal year 2004. The town, citing huge cuts in state aid during that year, first offered no pay increase as part of a new contract.
Money brought in from traffic citations is put into the town's general fund and used for expenses or to cut the tax rate.
During the first nine months of 2003, Danvers police issued 2,069 traffic citations with fines. During the first nine months of 2004, only 254 traffic fines have been issued, according to the complaint. At the same time, the number of warnings issued has soared.
Nonunion police brass and town employees began investigating a drop in citations after they became apparent late last winter. The resulting accusations were based on the plummeting number of tickets, threats allegedly made by union leaders and e-mails sent among union members using the town's Internet service.
Police union President Dana "Mike" Hagan, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, told Town Attorney Brian Callahan and other members of the bargaining team last December that "If the town continues to insist on no raise for the first year, then the $255,000 in traffic fees can change," according to a passage in the complaint.
As part of its body of evidence, the town also includes copies of e-mails sent to police union members from a computer at police headquarters.
"... Union members have to stick together ... stay the course ... it is not going to be easy ... and will definitely be long/drawn out. Officers are reminded ... police officers may use discretion when issuing traffic citations," reads a portion of a message attributed to Hagan.
The town is asking the state labor commission to order the union to end the silent strike and begin writing tickets "in accordance with longstanding department policy," Town Manager Wayne Marquis said. The complaint also asks the police union be required to pay for lost ticket revenue — estimated at $173,388 and counting.
Marquis said the town may have to trim this year's budget to reflect the lost revenue.
"If this is a trend that continues in 2005, it would have serious ramifications for our ability to maintain a balanced budget or set the tax rate," Marquis said. "From a revenue perspective, the numbers speak for themselves, but just as important, traffic citations serve as a deterrent. The public's safety is at stake if the public felt we don't take (traffic enforcement) seriously."
Detective Carole Germano, the union's vice president, called the allegations "ludicrous."
Traffic fines may be down, but traffic-related arrests and other police activities are all on the rise, proof that the union members are doing their jobs, Germano said.
"It seems they are trying to generate more revenue for the town by ticketing their citizens," Germano said, "and I don't think that is the way they should go about it."
Germano also protested the tapping of e-mails between officers as a source for these charges. Surveillance of union activities is prohibited by law, she said.
"I believe management has engaged in immoral and unethical behavior," Germano said. "Employee rights, particularly those of our union members, have been violated."
Marquis said the union members' correspondence were written on town computers and delivered using town software, and so were fair game to be used as part of the investigation.
Police Chief Stuart Chase referred all questions about the complaint to the town manager. Union attorney Paul Hynes did not return phone calls yesterday.
While the town has filed arbitration requests occasionally with the state commission — it's currently in arbitration with the police union, as well as other unions — it's never before filed a request for a strike investigation.
"We usually have very few because, as you know, it is illegal for public employees to strike," said Edward Srednicki, executive secretary for the Labor Relations Commission. "We get maybe three a year."
A hearing before the state commission has been set for 10 a.m. next Tuesday. The commission would likely issue a judgment a few days later. But it would be nonbinding. Should the town or union wish to the decision to be enforced, they would have to file a case in Superior Court, Srednicki said.
Selectmen Chairman Michael Powers said town officials approached union leadership several times to request they halt the covert strike before filing the official complaint.
Powers said he wasn't concerned the police union's actions could hamper public safety.
"It's a financial situation," Powers said. "But the police are issuing warnings so it doesn't become a public safety issue."
"The Police Department continues to do a quality job on day-to-day activity," Powers added. "This is one element of their job. Everything else is as it should be, so people are getting the services they are expecting of police."
This statement alone proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that municipalities doling out traffic tickets has nothing to do with "public safety", and everything to do with fattening the coffers of said municipalities through a form of legal extortion.
It is also one more example to support my axiom that "there is no tyranny, oppression, or usurpation of individual liberties on Earth that cannot somehow be justified in the name of public safety".
Wouldn't the town leaders' statements amount to an open admission that the policing operation is officially a revenue generating enterprise rather than law enforcement enterprise, and therefore open the town to suits, or even prosecution?
I know not all states are the same, so I'm just asking about Mass's case.
Hehe, I was going to post this with almost the same comment. Do you say 'typical union thugs', or 'good idea?' Tough call, I guess just enjoy the irony while it lasts.
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