PAX Centurion - Summer 2017

Page 8 • PAX CENTURION • Summer 2017 617-989-BPPA (2772) Secretary’s Thoughts: Christopher J. Broderick, BPPA Secretary See Secretary on page 11 Staffing high profile details W e are all aware of how ridiculously low staffing levels are in the Districts. We all know how incredibly insane the issue of ordered overtime has become. There may not be a hundred gold slips going across the desk everyday but we know that is because girls and guys are forced to play defense and “choose” (quotes highlighted) a shift that is more desirable than the one they may get ordered for. We have heard all the rationalizing by the Department and City…Union time is killing them, Honor Guard time is killing them, Gaelic Column time is killing them… etc. etc. etc. The unions have been the same size with the same contractually bargained benefits for as long as I remember. The Honor Guard has always represented this Department during ceremonies and funerals. The Gaelic Column has always been an institutional part of the Boston Police Department. As far as the “etcs.” Go, they haven’t changed either. As I have said in other articles we know that we are stretched too thin and theAcademy classes are just not enough to make a dent in the attrition of this Department. What has become an issue is the staffing of “high profile” details. Those details are normally voluntary jobs. Sometimes it is determined that a public safety emergency could result. One in particular is the BU Bridge Project about to kick off inArea D. There has been a lot of conversation about this particular job. Many months ago, the BPPA Hall was notified by a member of the House that the Department was going to make this reimbursable overtime. We are all familiar with how this works but in summary this is how I understand it…A private entity and the Department agree to provide officers on a particular job that there is a concern that there could be a public safety emergency. The BPPA, recognizing the impact this could have on members assigned toArea D, along with the Detectives and Superiors, met with the Department to explore ways to “lighten the load” onArea D members. The Unions raised multiple suggestions about how we could do that. The Department suggested a couple of things. At the conclusion of the second meeting, and ultimately the final one, the three Unions and the Department agreed that they would consider our ideas and we would continue to work towards a final resolution that both sides could agree on. The hope was that we could test an agreement on this project and use the successes to address other “high profile” details that it was determined could create a public safety emergency. As I was preparing to write this Pax article the BPPA received notification from the BPD Labor Division that the Department has decided to make this project reimbursable overtime. The ultimate reason given was that “ after a number of internal discussions about the proposal, numerous issues came to light, and the likelihood of overcoming these issues was not something that could be accomplished for this project …”. The proposal they are referring to (I believe) was one that discussed prioritization for this particular project (and this project only) that would have paid the Captain’s detail rate to anyone that worked this job. It was not a perfect proposal but we offered the most we could have and did that in the interest of a timely resolution for this project. We believed that we could use this project and system as a framework for other jobs the Department had concerns for. Unfortunately we will not be able to capitalize on the positives and adjust the negatives to have a viable system in place while we deal with the staffing issues we have in a time when public safety emergencies are becoming all too frequent. I will say this in closing out this topic…A Retired Officers Detail Program, which the Department has complete control of administrating, would resolve a lot of these issues. The BPPA worked hard to push the legislation through and address the concerns that the Department and/or City had about the program (post passage). We did our part to see this become a successful program. The Business of Politics S ince the first day I started paying attention to “Union stuff ” I have heard literally hundreds of members saying something to the effect of “We should be more like Fire”. Now so many years later, in a position that may allow the BPPA to affect some things to achieve that goal, I (along with many other members) are trying to work towards that. One of the things we have seen Fire do, particularly IAFF Local 718, is support the right candidates. We have all driven by Florian Hall and seen different candidates campaign material pasted across buses. We may have seen these buses parked near a standout for that candidate. Along with the bus is large groups of fire fighters standing in solidarity holding that candidate’s sign. They are waving to those passing by. As cars drive by the horns honk in support. I would find it almost impossible that every fire fighter standing out there is one hundred percent behind the candidate. Some of those fire fighters may not like the candidate that 718 has chosen to support. But they are out there. They are out there because they trust that those they have elected have taken into consideration what is best for the overall body of their membership. That they know that should this candidate prevail they will be in a better position to advocate for that membership to improve the very core of what the Union is tasked with, which is working as hard as possible to improve hours, wages and conditions of employment. There are many other things Fire does that we have “peeked” at their play book on. When you hear about these things and requests for support for these things please consider helping out.You may hold your nose at times.Yours will not be the only nose being held. Please trust that those of us that have the honor of representing this membership do not blindly throw support behind whoever comes calling. We discuss, strategize and discuss again if this would be in the best interest of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association. Please consider yourself; support your Union and your hours, wages and conditions of employment. It takes a strong, mobilized membership to affect change. Those that are striving towards that goal will continue to work towards it. NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia Funeral O n Tuesday, July 11 th many members of the BPPA, along with Detectives and Superior Officers, travelled by plane, train and automobile (including a bus from the BPPA) to the Bronx to pay their respects to our sister from NewYork who was tragically murdered. The BPPA, with support from BFS, was able to send a group down to offer respite and refreshments to the BPD officers as well as the thousands of other Peace Officers that made the