by Brian Keaney
The ability of the chief of police to dictate when a road construction project or a large gathering of people needs a police detail was strengthened last night when Town Meeting approved a new bylaw formally granting him the power. In less contentious votes, the Town Meeting also approved two articles to ban the smoking of marijuana in public and regulating secondhand businesses.
Chief Mike Wier told the Town Meeting that several months prior the MWRA had classified Bridge Street as a minor road and determined that they did not need a police detail, though they were shutting down a lane of traffic on the busy road. He ordered the project to be shut down when workers said they were not authorized to approve a detail.
Using the maxim “local roads, local control,” Chief Mike Weir appealed to the Meeting to formalize his authority to shut down a road construction project that in his opinion required a detail. The article would allow the chief to determine the “appropriate level of police service in the Town to ensure public safety.”
Several persons spoke against the article, saying that flagmen would be cheaper. Finance Committee member Bill McKinney, one of three members of the Committee to vote against recommending the article, was one. McKinney, a longtime Republican activist who is known for his frugality, said he was shocked to say so but that he agreed with Governor Deval Patrick, who recently approved placing less costly flagmen on some state road projects.
Weir countered by telling McKinney that the prevailing wage for a flagman was $37.50 an hour, and the cost of a police detail was $38. “There is no savings,” Weir said.
Others said allowing officers to work too many details put public safety at risk. Officers are allowed to work no more than 16 hours in any 24 hour period, but there is no weekly limit on how many hours they can work.
“I get a little nervous when we have policemen who already put in a 40 hour week and then do details,” said Marianne Martin, a representative from District Five. “I feel like my safety gets a little compromised when they are not sleeping.”
Others said that it was the conduct of officers that put them and the public at risk. Saying she had seen Representative Hope McDermott of District One said she has seen officers working details on multiple occasions who have been talking on their cell phones. On myDedham equalaccessforall recently questioned why officers were allowed to listen to iPods while working on details.
Weir also said this proposal would not exclude flagmen from being used. However, as was reported on myDedham earlier this month, the terms of the police patrolmen's contract dictate that any road project that requires someone to control or direct traffic must be performed by a uniformed police officer.
The other two article sponsored by Weir were passed without debate. The first would ban smoking marijuana in public, similar to the public drinking bylaw the Town currently has. The second forces second hand stores to hold on to items they acquire for at least 30 days before reselling it and to keep and submit to the Police Department records of their inventory. The new bylaw is intended to help those whose homes are burgled recover stolen items.
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