Gov Patrick Pushes Plan to Use Civilian Flaggers
I must admit, this is one topic where I agree with Governor Patrick. Why should we waste valuable police and State Police resources on traffic control? I’d much rather they be out there chasing down thieves and murderers and drug dealers, etc. Personally, I don’t think the change goes far enough.
This from the Boston Herald:
Gov. Deval Patrick’s controversial plan to use civilian flaggers instead of cops for state construction projects on low-speed roads will be unveiled as soon as next week, according to sources briefed on the proposal.
‘’There will be flaggers,” Patrick vowed in an interview with the Herald yesterday. “It will be a balanced approach. We want to ensure public safety and we want to save the public money.”
Legislation passed earlier this year forced the Patrick administration to create regulations authorizing the use of civilian flagmen on state-controlled secondary roads, which authorities argued could save taxpayers up to $5 million a year.
Rob Brown, president of the Massachusetts State Police Association, blasted use of flagmen despite a recent Suffolk University poll detailing 86 percent of voters favor the switch.
“We’re going to be responding to more accidents out there because of this,” Brown said.
And Brown said he has not seen any evidence to back up the contention the use of the civilian road crews will save taxpayers money.
Neither Patrick nor administration officials would confirm the details, but sources briefed on the plan said state officials could hire flaggers on roads with a 40-mile-an-hour speed limit or less.
Flagger use would be decided on a case-by-case basis, depending on the dangerousness of the construction project.
“The final recommendations have not been completed, though the administration expects the process to be concluded shortly,” said Patrick spokesman Kyle Sullivan.
The proposal was created after unions successfully blocked an earlier initiative aimed at slashing up to $100 million in police detail costs for local communities. Massachusetts is the only state that uses police officers on almost all work sites.