Yesterday there was more obnoxious police protesting of the Governor's rational decision on paid details. Watch the NECN video of the off-duty (I assume) officer deliberating driving the wrong way and pretending it was because of a flagger's mistake.
You're supposed to enforce the law, gentlemen, not break it.
When they feel threatened, unionized law enforcers turn into nothing but thugs from the Local 123. It embarrasses me.
In Everett and Revere, police union protestors (read: cops with guns and menacing looks) shut down state construction projects yesterday, according to the Boston Globe. My feelings about police unions and police details are well documented in the blog archives here, but this is a new extreme.
I believe the police protestors in those towns should be investigated by the state for possible extortion, or threats. Facing a picket line is one thing, but facing an armed picket line that has the power to arrest you, or shoot you, is another. The cops know that. They know they were intimidating the work crews and threatening the state.
I hope the Governor won't be intimidated. He should stop all state funding for the Revere and Everett police departments, and he should send in the State Police -as only he can do- to guard state work crews in those cities.
Those protesting cops are no better than criminals. And I don't say that lightly.
I've posted about paid police details, and about the police unions many times over the past several years. Finally, some good news on the topic. Kudos to Governor Patrick for accomplishing what Mitt Romney couldn't. Unlike Romney, Patrick promised AND delivered.
An end to idling state police cruisers and pacing local cops on state highway jobs is long overdue. If only the 350 cities and towns could find the same political will. We can break the back of the police unions here, if people don't chicken out. And what's with Arlington Police Chief Ryan and his snit, quoted in the Boston Globe:
"In my 25 years in law enforcement in this state, I have never worked with a more insensitive and arrogant administration that is simply unwilling to listen on this issue[.]"
He must be facing a contract renegotiation with his department's organized crime unit union. Or at least some of his fellow city chiefs are.
These new anti-detail regulations are a victory for the taxpayer, for common sense, and for law enforcement. We need police who give their attention to their jobs, not to holes in the ground.
No, not Sarah Palin, who is not piggy in any way, just mendacious, unqualified and a national embarrassment. I mean this car, spotted at Government Center in Boston recently, which looks like $20,000 worth of modifications to a $10,000 car:
Here's a Boston police officer working a detail in a Back Bay alley. The alley is completely blocked by the truck and a front-loader. What's the police officer for? Keep the traffic flowing smoothly?
Asinine. It's time we ended the union stranglehold. And did you see all those cops in uniform trying to intimidate the opposition at the hearing Monday?
