Just when I was sticking up for them on collective bargaining!
"Boston officers’ OT time in court disputed; Hub police, DA at odds on need for appearances" by Maria Cramer | Globe Staff, July 23, 2012
Boston police officers collected more than 400 hours of overtime pay over a two-year period for court appearances that were not officially requested by the prosecutors overseeing the cases, according to a Globe analysis of a costly system that police acknowledge has been ripe for abuse.
The 32 officers, from the department’s drug unit, received pay for 91 instances in which they said they were called to testify in court for trials, case conferences, or motions hearings — claims that were not backed up by copies of court notices kept by the Suffolk district attorney’s office.
Related: Drug War Making a Killing in Boston
Literally.
You can call me a sinner; however, the stuff should be legalized so we can avoid all this.
Oh, right, that would remove a major pillar of and for the foundation of tyranny in AmeriKa.
The Globe discovered the pattern as part of a review of 40 cases between 2008 and 2010 that appeared to draw an excessive number of officers to court on the taxpayers’ dime.
I have long said Massachusetts has too many laws, but then again, I know know why. It's an employment program, of sorts.
In each case, the Globe compared the list of officers who had received overtime for the case with the list of those who had been summoned by the district attorney’s office, which is primarily responsible for calling officers to hearings.
I'm sure glad the crack Globe reporters are going after police misconduct rather than the multitude of bank frauds and such, but anyway.... I'm sure all this is going over great down at the precinct.
Boston police disputed the findings, saying that in each of the cases a sergeant who supervises squads in the Police Department’s drug unit had ordered the officer to court, or the prosecutor had verbally asked the officer to appear....
Court overtime has long been a costly burden on the department’s budget. Last year, the department spent $8.6 million, with the drug control unit charging $1.8 million. The department has defended the cost by saying officers have no choice but to respond when they are called to court by prosecutors.
And it is our system.
But officers can also abuse the system, taking advantage of management flaws and clumsy record-keeping.
Honestly, at this point, the EXCUSES NO LONGER WORK!
In the last month, the department has disciplined 10 officers, including one sergeant detective, who it said collected overtime pay when they were not called to court or were in court longer than they were needed. Another sergeant detective retired with similar charges pending. The department said it is implementing changes to catch abuse more easily.
Officers are paid for four hours of automatic overtime even if they are only in court for half an hour. They are paid time and a half for each hour they work beyond four hours.
One officer, Sean Deery, who worked in the West Roxbury drug unit, was suspended for 10 days without pay because the department said he altered a court-issued notice-to-appear, by adding the names of other officers so they could receive overtime pay.
The 10 officers were disciplined following an internal audit that examined hundreds of cases in three courthouses around the city, over a period of time ranging from 12 to 18 months in 2010 and 2011. The audit found 300 to 350 instances of court overtime filings by drug unit officers that appeared to be questionable and forwarded those cases to Internal Affairs for investigation.
The audit was ordered in February 2011, following allegations that four officers in the West Roxbury drug unit showed up for a court hearing for which they had not received a notice to appear. The Globe launched its review at the same time.
The department learned of potential abuse after the prosecutor in the case alerted a police sergeant who is supposed to monitor officers coming in and out of court and sign their overtime slips.
The bulk of the problems discovered in the internal audit and subsequent Internal Affairs investigation were in West Roxbury District Court, where the 10 disciplined officers had claimed overtime. About 30 cases in Dorchester District Court are still being reviewed. In Brighton District Court, Internal Affairs is still investigating 25 instances when officers did not go to court when they had been scheduled to appear, and instead took a paid detail, another overtime opportunity.
In other words, it's everywhere in the city in many forms.
Hey, who can blame them for wanting to fatten a paycheck with State Street just around the corner? They have only seen their bosses and their string-pullers fatten and feather their own nests.
Despite the findings, Commissioner Edward F. Davis said the audit and subsequent Internal Affairs investigation “revealed no major problems.”
Sigh.
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Still, police acknowledge they have had to change the system. They are exploring the possibility of computer cards to track when officers go in and out of court. The audit recommended a centralized electronic subpoena system that would monitor court appearances in real time....
You mean, like PUNCHING a TIME CLOCK?
Gee, why didn't they think of this before as they were developing the centers monitoring the cameras and the Sweepshot or whatever the hell it is that tracks gun fire, blah, blah, blah?
I mean, really, how much are supposed to take these days in the upside down s*** world?
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Some people have a court date:
Former state police commander to collect tax-free disability pension
Danvers fire chief arrested on domestic violence charge
State troopers fired after investigations into improper behavior
Boston police office charged with DUI
Boston officer’s blood-alcohol level high, records say
Off-duty state police officer charged with OUI
Salem officer pleads not guilty to charge of raping baby sitter
Editor of Boston police union newsletter urged to resign
DA: Fatal shooting of teen by New Bedford police justified
Trooper within rules in Worcester killing, early report says
Police shoot Lynn man after confrontation
Man sentenced under Jessica’s Law allegedly commits suicide in state prison in Bridgewater
Firefighter commits suicide at UConn Avery Point
Death of Middlesex correction officer in car crash is ruled a suicide
All a great bunch of guys, I'm sure.
Fold up the flag, folks.
"Police defend shooting of Lynn man" by Brian R. Ballou and Adam Sege By names cq’d | Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, July 24, 2012
LYNN — Law enforcement officers who shot and killed a man Sunday night believed that their lives were in danger, after one officer said he witnessed a possible illegal gun exchange and one of the suspects rammed a police cruiser with his car, authorities said Monday. Police said they later found three guns in the suspects’ cars.
My first reaction: planted by police. That's just the way it is in 21st-century AmeriKa, and the way news is received through an agenda-pushing pos. Of course, in this case the paper is on the side of the thin blue line. They will transmit the official story because the police are their enforcers.
It is only when police have the temerity to ask for collective bargaining that the corporate-serving state and its media mouthpiece have a problem. Thus we have intermittent stories about how the cops are bankrupting the state when we all known chunks of millions a month are going for debt service to banks that sold us shitty deals before they wrecked the economy and well-connected, profitable corporations with their "tax breaks and credits."
Btw, ever notice cops waste people across this country every day and it never calls up the media like the "lone gunman" nutcase false-flag set-ups?
But Brandon Payne’s relatives said they are not satisfied with the official explanation of why police fired at Payne’s car, striking him twice.
I'll give you a clue, readers: NO ONE in AmeriKa is SATISFIED with OFFICIAL ANYTHING anymore because they have shown themselves to be PROVEN LIARS!
Payne’s family and friends said the 23-year-old father of three, an aspiring rapper who also worked as a cashier at a local candy store, may have been attacked by police with lethal force because of his extensive criminal history.
“I do believe they went after my grandson because they knew who he was and knew he had a troubled past,” said Pearline Miller, 70. “Out of five people, nobody else got shot, nobody but one person.”
In response to the family’s comments, a spokeswoman for the Essex district attorney’s office would only say that the incident, involving three Lynn police officers and a state trooper, was under investigation....
Translation: cover-up underway.
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Related: Lynn man shot by police planned home invasion, DA says
But he hadn't actually committed the crime, huh?
Sure looks like MURDER to ME!
Also see: Kenneth Howe Cover-Up Complete
The whole system is s*** rotten, folks.
UPDATE:
"An arbitrator has ruled that a former Boston police officer who was acquitted on charges of being an accessory to a 2005 slaying was unjustly fired after a department investigation into the matter and ordered him reinstated with back pay."
Also see: Stronger steps are needed to curb excessive police overtime
