Quincy News: Governor Charlie Baker’s plan to cut State Police OT spending faces major hurdles

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Hunkering down against long overdue reforms?
A Jessica Rinaldi/Boston Globe image
– News from elsewhere covered by Quincy Quarry News.

Governor Charlie Baker’s plan to cut State Police OT spending faces major hurdles.

Internal documents and past efforts show officials’ pledges to drastically cut State Police overtime are unlikely, if not impossible.

Also hunkered down for the duration
A Daniel Ryan/Boston Globe image
Two key impediments are the state legislature’s disinterest in funding his $5.2 million request to train new recruits and various parties’ disinterest in allowing the Boston Police Department to more actively patrol the booming Seaport District which is currently policed by the state police.

F Troop under fire
A Warner Brothers TV image
Even so, in the three weeks following the transfer of additional troopers to Troop F, overtime was reduced by twenty-seven percent.

Unfortunately, the goal was forty percent.

Further problematic, “… two-thirds of the officers in Troop F are eligible for retirement.”

In turn, if many of these troopers do retire, coverage of Logan Airport and the Seaport District by F Troop will wind up where it was before: woefully understaffed and hemorrhaging money paying overtime.

Source: Baker’s plan to cut State Police OT spending faces major hurdles – The Boston Globe

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2 Comments

Sybil on July 12, 2018 at 3:15 pm

Baker could solve that OT problem if he really wanted. Does he really want to? The Seaport District had always been MSP jurisdiction because no one else wanted it. That area was basically the Bowery of Boston. Suddenly the area was developed. Now there are bars, restaurants, hotels, a convention arena and a concert venue. It is OT heaven. Now BPD wants it. There is no one left in MSP that Charlie needs. Charlie could give Seaport back to Boston and eliminate a big source of MSP OT. Mahty could owe Baker a big one because Mahty will being doing a big one for Boston Police and its union. It’s a win win for everyone but MSP and they really don’t deserve a win right now.

Editor on July 13, 2018 at 9:04 am

Sybil,
While making the needed changes would likely yield improvements to both public safety and fiscal propriety as you have opined, Governor Baker is hamstrung as regards making them unilaterally.
Roadblocks include existing union contracts as well as the necessity of a variety of formal blessings provided by the Great and General Court.