Police Details in Massachusetts: Protection or Perk?

1 BHI Policy Study Beacon Hill Institute November 2 0 0 4. Police Details in massachusetts : Protection or Perk? The Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research Suffolk University 8 Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108. Phone: 617-573-8750 Fax: 617-720-4272. Table of Contents Executive 4. Cost .. 4. Safety .. 4. Introduction .. 4. Data Sources and Methodology .. 5. Findings .. 5. Safety .. 5. massachusetts citizens bear the burden .. 8. Detail pay creates perverse incentives for Police officers .. 8. Conclusion .. 9. Appendix .. 10. Regression Results .. 10. Hourly Rates & Administrative Costs for Extra-Paid Details .

2 10. Statistical Analysis .. 10. Sample Letter to Police Departments .. 14. Communications from the Police .. 15. Response from the Department of State Police .. 16. Letter from the massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association .. 18. 19. November 2004 3 Police Details in massachusetts Executive Summary Safety massachusetts is the only state in which busi- In massachusetts , cities and towns generally nesses or governmental entities conducting require Police Details to control traffic in projects on local roads generally use Police de- work zones on local roads. The other 49. tails rather than flaggers.

3 This practice is the re- states allow civilian flaggers, rather than uni- sult of both local ordinances and the exercise of formed Police officers, to handle much of this discretion by local Police officials empowered to traffic. If Police Details increase traffic safety, require the use of Police Details in work zones. it should be possible to find supporting evi- dence in traffic-accident data. massachusetts The system is both unique and expensive. Critics should be a safer place to drive, as measured argue that the practice of requiring Police Details by data relating to accident rates.

4 Inflates costs to businesses and taxpayers, while supporters argue that it improves public safety. To the end of determining whether this is in Calls for reforms to the system have faced strong fact true, we examined data on property opposition from Police departments. To date, damage and bodily injury claims resulting however, no hard figures have been available to from automobile accidents for the 50 states aid in the issue, and both sides have relied heavily and for 16 metropolitan areas, including on anecdotal evidence. Boston. Using regression analysis on data provided by 103 These data show that by two measures, Mas- Police departments around the state, we have es- sachusetts is not safer than other states but timated the cost of Police Details for Massachu- is, in fact, the least safe state in which to setts and assessed the argument that Police de- drive.

5 Specifically: tails increase public safety. We find that the po- lice Details are unnecessarily costly and that there massachusetts has the worst acci- is no evidence that public safety benefits from the dent rate in the nation, as measured unnecessary costs that they impose. by accidents causing property dam- age. Cost It has the second worst accident rate in the nation, as measured by acci- dents causing bodily injury. Police officers in massachusetts cities Accident rates are higher in Boston and towns earned an estimated $ than in 15 comparable metropolitan million working off-duty Details in areas that do not ordinarily use po- 2003.

6 Of this amount, officers work- lice Details in work zones. ing traffic assignments received ap- proximately $ million. This esti- These findings are all statistically significant. mate applies to local Police only. It On the basis of all the available evidence, we excludes detail pay earned by state must conclude that Police Details , used in Police officers. work zones on local roads, do not improve traffic safety but do add substantially to con- The users of Police Details include struction costs and other costs. public utilities, local government, real estate developers and entertainment venues such as Six Flags New En- Introduction gland.

7 Police Details usually provide either security or traffic control ser- The presence of a Police car at road construc- vices. Both services could be pro- tion and other worksites is a familiar sight vided more cheaply by civilian per- in massachusetts . But this practice has en- sonnel. We limit our attention here to gendered growing controversy over the past Police Details hired to control traffic decade. Opponents contend that the use of in work zones other than highway Police officers is unnecessarily expensive and work zones. The use of civilian flaggers increases costs to both private and public in these work zones would have saved projects.

8 Supporters of Police Details , gen- massachusetts businesses and taxpayers erally the Police unions and patrolmen's as- $ to $ million last year. Police Details in massachusetts 4 November 2004. sociations, argue that the presence of a Police Findings officer ensures that motorists obey the posted speed limits, and thus increases safety for work- We estimate that Police officers in Massachu- ers and motorists alike. In order to investigate setts cities and towns were paid $141,407,685. the arguments for both sides, one needs to get a for off-duty Details in 2003. This estimate in- handle on the cost of the current system and on cludes both traffic and security Details .

9 We fur- the data pertaining to traffic safety. ther estimate that traffic Details alone accounted for $93,329,072 of this It is worth BHI has analyzed the cost of Police Details in noting that these estimates do not include de- massachusetts and state and city accident rates tails performed by State Police officers within in order to illuminate the safety issue. In what the Commonwealth. Although not specifically follows, we report our data, methodology and addressed in this report, the cost to employ State findings. Police for traffic Details has been estimated at $15 Data Sources and Methodology The cost to businesses and taxpayers for traffic Through the spring and summer of 2004, the control is unnecessarily high.

10 massachusetts Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) sent written commu- businesses use Police officers (rather than civil- nications to every Police department in Massa- ian flaggers) to direct traffic at almost all work chusetts requesting the following information zones and construction sites on local Ul- for Police officers serving on Details in 2003: timately, the high cost of hiring off-duty Police officers for this purpose (an average of $ number of Details worked, hour across the state), coupled with the restric- number of hours worked, tive hiring requirements, increases the cost of total amount paid to officers, doing business in the administrative fees charged.