Sunday February 18, 2007 8:27 PM

More Q&A - Bruce Tait

So many questions, so little time. As always, these questions have been paraphrased for clarity and to eliminate duplicity.

Q: Why do you call the chief “Sandy”?

A: That’s his nickname; he really likes it from what I hear. As for why it’s Sandy, there are two versions of the story. The first is that he used a bit too much “Sun In” one summer, and ended up with a rather dashing blonde mop. The other version cannot be repeated on a family website such as this.

Q: You keep saying that you’re going in front of the city council at some point to rebuff what the chief said when he went there. When are you going to speak to the council?

A: Monday, February 26th at 7:00pm in the city council chambers. Be there or be square.

Q: How is the officer who was injured the night of the chief’s city council appearance doing?

A: He sustained a serious shoulder injury….much more serious than initially thought, and he might possibly need surgery in the future. He hasn’t been back to work since that night.

This really shouldn’t surprise anyone, but this officer, who was injured as the direct result of the Lyin’ King’s completely unsafe and absurd staffing levels, is now being harassed by the LK himself to have an “Independent Medical Evaluation”.

In other words, he’s being accused of faking or milking his injury.

How’s that for kicking someone when they’re down? You get seriously injured while fighting with a felony suspect by yourself, because of the chief’s ridiculous staffing mandates, and then the chief accuses you of being a slacker.

This officer is one of my best friends on the department (which may very well be why he’s now being harassed) so I know for a fact he’s the farthest thing from a slacker imaginable. In addition to my own humble opinion, his Hanna Award and two Dana Awards speak for themselves.

Does that matter to the Lyin’ King? Not at all.

Q: Did two captains really have a screaming match about a houseplant?

A: Have I ever lied to you?

Q: Did the detective have to take down his plant?

A: No, any reports of the demise of that plant have been greatly exaggerated. The plant lives. I can’t say the same for one of the captain’s plants, which was given “two in the hat” on the orders of Chief Lyin’ King.

Q: How do you get away with writing all the things you do?

A: “Getting away” implies that I’m doing something wrong. This is the United States of America, and the last I checked, the First Amendment was still in place. Federal and state labor law allows union leadership to criticize management; that’s the essence of free speech.

There is a concept in the law that the truth is an absolute defense to a charge of libel or slander. Of all the things I’ve been called behind my back by QPD personnel who wear gold badges (some of which I can’t repeat here), I can tell you one thing I haven’t been called: A liar.

Trust me when I tell you, if there was anything at all the command staff of the Quincy Police Department or city hall could do to shut-down this website, they would have done it already.

Speaking of which, my moles tell me that at a recent legal seminar hosted by one of the preeminent police lawyers in the state, the subject of this website came up. The host lawyer, who is also a very experienced retired police supervisor, correctly told his audience that it’s perfectly legal. Not content to hear that for the umpteenth time, from lawyer after lawyer after lawyer, one QPD supervisor tried to debate this fact with him, and of course lost. One definition of insanity is repeating the same action over & over & again, expecting a different outcome.

Note to the QPD Command Staff: It is entirely plausible that someone who wears a silver badge by choice might possibly be at least as smart as you. Deal with it.

Q: Does Lieutenant Bradlee’s really have scented candles in his office?

A: Yes. I admit I took some artistic license in describing the specific scents, but he sure as hell has (or had) scented candles in his office.

Q: Why the long delay in updates lately?

A: Unlike some of the QPD Command Staff, who check this website as their first action after getting out of bed in the morning (even though they don’t really read it, or so they say), I make updates here as needed, or as the mood strikes me. It certainly doesn’t regulate the schedule of my life. If I feel something needs to be said, I say it.

Otherwise, I don’t.

I’m tired and need to go to bed. Much love out to the captains & lieutenants who will be reading this in about 3-4 hours.

Monday February 5, 2007 1:49 AM

Chief For a Day - Bruce Tait

Recently, a school in Quincy had a benefit raffle, with two of the prizes being the student/child could be police chief for a day, or fire chief for a day. Ironically, one of our members won both prizes, and since he has twin boys, it worked out perfectly. You can read about it on the back page of this week’s Quincy Sun.

I can only imagine what a day with the Lyin' King would be like. Below is a highly fictionalized account of how I imagine the day went. This is purely political satire, using humor to highlight very real concerns of this union. The events described didn't actually happen. Well, at least I don't think they happened, but they're certainly within the realm of possibility.

CHIEF FOR A DAY

Bo arrived bright & early on his big morning, and almost ran down the long hallway to the chief’s office, barely able to contain his excitement. He knocked on the door, and was invited in by the chief’s friendly secretary, Michelle. Bo was a bit disappointed to hear from Michelle that the chief was going to be a bit late, and was led to sit in Captain Dougan’s office.

While certainly very friendly, it was obvious the captain was also very nervous about something. He kept dialing the same two phone numbers, over & over & over again, muttering “C’mon, where is he” several times. Finally, Bo got passed over to Lieutenant Bradlee’s, with Dougan telling him “Keep Bo entertained, I’m going to his house to roust him”. Bo then got a tour of mini-Cooperstown, a.k.a. Lieutenant Bradlee’s office.

After almost an hour of looking at baseball memorabilia and smelling the aroma of a Blueberry Muffin-scented candle, Bo heard the door to the chief’s office open, followed by shuffling footsteps and a male’s voice saying “Hold my calls”. Captain Dougan then came in, and asked “Okay Bo, are you ready to be the police chief for a day? Let’s go” and Bo followed him into Crowley’s office.

Crowley was standing with his foot up on the heating baseboard at the corner window, staring at the intersection of Sea Street and Southern Artery.

Dougan took Bo into Crowley’s office, and said “Hi chief”, but got no response.

“Chief?”

“Chief, hello?”

“CHIEF!!!”

Crowley: (snapping head around) “Huh”?

Dougan: “This is Bo, the police chief for the day”.

Crowley: (adopting a big fake smile) “Oh, right! Well, welcome my little chief” (shakes hands).

Dougan: “Well, I’ll let you two chiefs get down to business” (walks out the door).

Crowley: “Yes, thank you captain” (closes door).

Bo: (looking around) “Wow, this is awesome!”

Crowley: (smile instantly vanishes, jaw sets, face gets dark) “Okay kid, let’s get something straight, right off the bat. You’re not REALLY the police chief today, because I’M the chief, got it? I don’t know what your father told you, but if you thought you were going to take this opportunity to fulfill all the promises I reneged on to him and all his patrol officer buddies, you got another thing coming little man, because I’M THE CHIEF”.

Crowley then wandered back over to the corner window, put his foot up, and started staring at the intersection again, muttering repeatedly;

“I’m the chief. I’m the chief. I’m the chief”.

After a few minutes, Bo got a bit concerned.

Bo: “Excuse me, sir”.

Crowley: “I’m the chief. I’m the chief. I’m the chief”.

Bo: “Excuse me, Chief Crowley?”

Crowley: (head snapping around) “Huh? Oh, you’re still here?”

Bo: “Is this all you do all day?”

Crowley: (crossing his fingers behind his leg) “No, of course not”.

Bo: “So can we do something different?”

Crowley: (long pause) “Okay kid, come with me. I’ll show you what being a hard-nosed street cop is all about”.

Bo: “Awww….cool!!!”

At this point, Crowley and Bo walked downstairs, out the Batcave-like secret chief’s exit near the back ramp, and approached Crowley’s $28,000 Explorer.

Crowley: “That’s what we’re taking”.

Bo: “Wow, what an awesome truck!! Chief, where’s your front license plate? Hey…did you know there’s a huge scuff on the front bumper?”

Crowley: “Shut-up and get in”.

As he was opening the passenger door, Bo noticed two patrol officers attempting to jump-start a cruiser on the back deck, while another one slammed the door of another cruiser in disgust.

“They still haven’t fixed the damn siren box” the patrol officer yelled, to which one of the jump-starting officers replied, “Mechanics said the third floor won’t authorize any money for parts”.

Bo: “Chief, what are those officers doing?”

Crowley: (not even looking in that direction) “Who cares?”

The Explorer then went down the ramp, and was soon headed down McGrath Highway. Looking around the truck, Bo was impressed.

Bo: “Wow, that police radio sure looks expensive”.

Crowley: (slamming on brakes) “You’ve been reading that damn website, haven’t you?”

Bo: “Excuse me?”

Crowley: “Never mind”.

In a minute or two, they drove past the Quincy District Courthouse.

Bo: “Wow chief, is that where the bad guys are sent to jail?”

Crowley: “Huh? Yeah kid, whatever”.

Bo saw a rather seedy looking character leaving the courthouse, laughing it up with someone in a suit who was obviously a lawyer. Rolling down the window, Bo could hear their conversation.

Mr. Seedy: “Man, how’d you do it?? How’d you get the cops to not show-up so the case would get dismissed?”

Lawyer: “I didn’t do anything; the Quincy Police ALWAYS cancels their officers for court appearances. Looking to save a few bucks, I guess!”

With that, the two men had a hearty laugh.

Bo: “Chief, do you really cancel your officers for court cases to save money?”

Crowley: “If that’s a good thing, it’s me. If not, it’s someone else’s fault”.

After a short drive, they soon arrived at Pageant Field. Being a rather cold winter day, there was one person walking their dog; other than that, the area was barren. Crowley parked facing the long driveway, and began staring out at the vast emptiness. After about 10 minutes, Bo became somewhat bored.

Bo: “Chief, what are we doing?”

Crowley: “Ice cream trucks”.

Bo: “Huh?”

Crowley: “We’re waiting for ice cream trucks. We’re gonna get those a-holes”.

Bo: “Uhhh….sir, I don’t think any ice cream trucks are out at this time of year”.

Crowley: (long pause) “I knew that. I just wanted to see if you knew that”.

The Explorer then left Pageant Field, and was soon headed north on Quincy Shore Drive. Bo noticed a plume of smoke in the air, and was horrified to see a Quincy Police Officer frantically trying to remove his personal items from a cruiser that was quickly going up in flames.

Bo: “Oh my God, chief, aren’t we going to stop???”

Crowley: “Stop for what? We have more important things to do”.

Soon, the Explorer arrived at the end of Dorchester Street, and Crowley then lead Bo down the footpath leading to “The Rock”. Once there, Crowley began looking in the weeds and behind trees. By now, Bo really wished he had traded with his brother, and been the fire chief for a day.

Bo: “Chief, what are we looking for?”

Crowley: “Kids drinking in the woods. I know those a-holes are out here somewhere”.

Bo: “Uhhh…..chief?”

Crowley: (examining ancient, discarded beer can) “What now?”

Bo: “My dad says that kids usually only drink in the woods on weekends during the summer, and always at night”.

Crowley: (long pause) “Okay, I’ve had about enough from you! If you want to sit in the office instead of being a street cop, that’s fine with me. Let’s go”.

Crowley then stormed back to the Explorer, leaving Bo running to catch-up. It was a very uncomfortable drive back to the police station, with Crowley muttering under his breath. Bo couldn’t understand what he was saying, but kept hearing the words “a-holes” and “website”. Bo noticed on the way back, a tow truck was removing the singed remains of a Quincy Police cruiser.

After arriving back at the police station, Bo followed Crowley into the chief’s office. Seeing him coming, Michelle held out a message form for Crowley. “Chief, this is very urgent, I tried your cell phone but it just kept going…..to……voicemail”, her voice trailed off as Crowley shuffled past her, not even acknowledging her presence. Once inside his office, Crowley once again put his foot up on the baseboard, and began studying the intersection, occasionally checking his watch.

Bo: “Chief, can I at least sit behind your desk?”

Crowley: “Go ahead, I never do”.

Bo sat behind the desk, noticing it was covered with maps and aerial photographs. One of the maps had all sorts of lines and markings all over it, and written up top was “FENNO STREET PLAYGROUND ASSAULT PLAN – TOP SECRET”. Next to that was a piece of paper marked “Priorities”, with “Reduce number of sector cars to five by 2008” and “More overtime for lieutenants and captains” both near the top and highlighted in yellow.

Not knowing what else to do, Bo amused himself by spinning around in the swivel chair. After a few minutes of this, Crowley started walking towards the secret chief’s exit.

Crowley: “I have to use the bathroom”.

Bo: “But chief, there’s a bathroom in your office”.

Crowley: “Yeah, uhhhh….doesn’t work”.

With that, Crowley disappeared.

Bo then decided to see what was so interesting about the intersection out the chief’s window, and began staring at it. After a minute, he was very surprised to see Crowley’s Explorer go through the intersection, and down Southern Artery. He walked out to Michelle’s desk.

Bo: “Excuse me, but I just saw the chief driving down Southern Artery”.

Michelle: (rolling her eyes) “I’m sorry, sweetie, I’ll call your dad” (picks up phone).

So ended Bo’s day as police chief.

Wednesday January 24, 2007 2:39 AM

When the Walls Come Tumblin' Down - Bruce Tait

“If you have to ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it’s avoiding worry, stress, and tension” – George Burns

In an earlier entry in this space, I wrote that the Quincy Police Department was coming apart at the seams, and no seemed to care. I have to amend that previous statement, because a more appropriate analogy would be it’s imploding on itself. There is no better proof of this than the very puzzling obsession that Chief Lyin’ King has had, since Day One of his tenure, with the totally insignificant, and often quite absurd minutiae of the police department, while very important things….very serious things, fly completely under his radar.

As a matter of fact, my very first entry in this web log concerned the foolish games the Lyin’ King played with us concerning how we answered the phones, while our cruisers were junk and our radios didn’t work. Scroll down to the bottom until you see the bowl of strawberries, and take a minute to read that one, if you haven’t already. If nothing else, the Lyin’ King is consistent in some regards.

There’s a running joke at every QPPOA meeting, that whatever is said at the meeting finds its way to the third floor within 15 seconds of the meeting adjourning. There’s probably a lot of truth to that, but what isn’t so well known is the reverse is also true. We have many honorary members who wear gold badges (I equate them with the French Resistance), and there are very few things that happen inside 1 Sea Street that I’m not eventually made aware of. Trust me when I tell you, if my sources were willing to reveal themselves, there would be enough material to keep every investigative reporter in the greater Boston area busy for months.

Just recently, there was a major disaster at the Quincy Police station, during the recent cold snap. Several water pipes in the basement burst, flooding the basement with about 4 inches of water. Unfortunately, the basement is also where most of our evidence is kept, and I don’t think you need a Ph.D. in Physics to figure out what happens when a basement evidence room is flooded with water from pipes located in the ceiling. We’ll probably never know for sure how many criminal cases will go down the drain (no pun intended) as a result of this.

Of course, this is just the latest in a long line of slapstick building component failures for the police station. I’m pretty sure the contractor did time in prison, and if there’s any justice in the world, the architect was his cellmate. For the first 10 years or so I was with the department, all the stairways resembled a U-Boat that had just been depth-charged whenever it rained, and no trip to the third floor was complete without seeing at least a half-dozen buckets on the floor to catch water from the leaking roof. During a recent duct-cleaning, enough mold to start a penicillin farm was removed, and that’s probably only the half of it. To give you some perspective, the best feature of the Quincy Police station, by far, is the cellblock. Where we keep the criminals we arrest.

In addition to the problems with the police station, the pathological penny-pinching in regards to safely staffing the patrol division continues as before. Officer Steven Kelly, who was seriously injured on December 18th while fighting with a felony suspect by himself, because the cruiser that would have ordinarily assisted him on the felony-in-progress call went unstaffed due to the Lyin’ King’s foolhardy overtime policy, is still out injured, with his return not expected any time soon.

With all this going on, surely Chief Lyin’ King would be concerned with the shortcomings of his police station, and with his officer that was injured? Well, not really. As a matter of fact, the Lyin’ King has been conspicuously absent for over a month, and the leadership of the Quincy Police Department has evolved into something from “Weekend at Bernie’s”. More on that later.

So in the Lyin’ King’s absence, you figure his command staff would be on top of the things that really matter, right?

Wrong.

Just recently, two captains, a captain being the second-highest rank in the police department, had a very loud, very public screaming match about……a houseplant. No, I’m not kidding.

A detective of many years service has a plant near his desk in the police station, and in my opinion, anything that helps to brighten the s***hole that is the Quincy Police station would be a welcome addition. One captain didn’t think so, another one apparently shared my opinion, and they went at it like two guests on the “Jerry Springer Show” for quite awhile. I’m just sorry I missed the spectacle, and the most ironic thing is that both these captains were part of the Lyin’ King’s entourage when he marched into city hall on December 18th to lie his ass off to the city council. Since the Lyin’ King has been little more than an apparition lately, his minions are now apparently turning on each other.

I’d be lying to you if I said I’m not enjoying this more than just a little bit. I’m just itching in anticipation to see what will trigger the next screaming match….maybe someone will object to the Cinnamon Cookie-scented candle burning in Lieutenant Bradlee’s office, or perhaps a candy dish on one of the desks in the records room will set things off. The possibilities are endless.

Now, before I get to the Lyin’ King’s recent absences, I’d like to welcome the two newest members of the QPPOA, Bennett Chin and Jimmy Chen, who were sworn-in as Quincy Police Officers on Monday. Of course, it would have been nice if someone had told us this was going to happen, as it’s customary for either the union president or vice-president to personally welcome new officers into the fold, but the first we heard about it was when the story hit the Patriot Ledger. Such is the life of the proletariat when dealing with the bourgeoisie.

Anyway, you can read the story of the swearing-in here;

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2007/01/23/news/news14.txt

After you read the article, I think you’ll agree that Bennett & Jimmy are well-qualified to join our ranks, and we’re glad to have them on-board. However, be sure to read the last line of the article;

“Chief Robert Crowley was unable to attend because of illness”.

Is that so?

There’s just one problem with that statement, which I’ll get to in a minute.

I can say from personal experience that the swearing-in of Quincy Police Officers, either new recruits or promotions, takes place in either the morning or early afternoon. I have no idea what time this ceremony took place, but I think it’s fair to say it didn’t happen anywhere near 4pm. You can tell from the picture it happened during daylight, and after 4pm it gets dark pretty quickly this time of year.

So…..what’s the problem? The problem is that whenever I arrive for work at the police station, I always make sure to check the attendance roster, to see how the Lyin’ King carried himself on the duty roster. I know that he does the same to us, so I figure one good turn deserves another. For example, on Christmas morning, the Lyin’ King called the desk sergeant, and said two things, neither of which was “Merry Christmas”. He wanted to know who, if anyone, called in sick.

Well, two can play that game.

The Lyin’ King was allegedly too ill to attend the swearing-in of his two newest officers. The problem is that I have right in front of me as I type this, the Quincy Police duty roster for Monday, January 22nd, 2007, the day the new officers were sworn-in.

Surprise, surprise….the “ill” Chief Crowley is listed as working a full day, 8am-4pm. If he was too ill to attend a brief ceremony at the mayor’s office, surely he was too ill to attend to his duties as chief of police?

Well, it’s one of two things;

1) The Lyin’ King lied to the mayor, and said he was sick when he wasn’t,

or

2) The Lyin’ King lied to the payroll office by going home sick, but putting himself in for a full work day.

Either option isn’t exactly a stretch….after all, after you blatantly lie to the city council, what’s a few more whoppers to the mayor or the payroll department?

The really disturbing thing is that this isn’t exactly a new development. When I go to the station for roll call, it’s usually between 3:45pm and 3:50pm, and the Lyin’ King’s Explorer is almost never there. When injured officers report to the chief’s office to turn-in their injury paperwork, the Lyin’ King is almost never there, at any hour of the day.

However, EVERY SINGLE DAY HE’S SCHEDULED, he puts himself in for a full work day. Since his sham of “days due” was exposed here, and he stopped using them, the Lyin’ King simply never uses any vacation, personal, or sick time. Unfortunately, all signs point to him just not coming to work for anything even resembling a full day recently.

Oh, and note to the Lyin' King's minions....I already have hard copies of the duty rosters, so don't allow yourself to land in the jackpot by being talked into "correcting" them, after the fact.

As I said, it’s become Weekend at Bernie’s, or more appropriately, Weekend at Sandy’s at the Quincy Police Department. Mind you, we’re not complaining that he’s virtually disappeared since his massive blunder on December 18th, but what would happen if I or another patrol officer fudged our attendance records?

I think you know the answer.

Wednesday January 10, 2007 2:34 PM

Money for Nothing - Bruce Tait

“A million here, a million there, pretty soon it adds up to real money” – Senator Everett Dirksen (1896-1969)

I got my copy of the Quincy Sun the other day, and I must admit I was somewhat amused by the headline; “Phelan: State Of City Strong But A Financial Crisis Threatens”. The story went on to say how Phelan said the city was in great financial shape right now, but the escalating costs of employee benefits will soon threaten life as we know it. No surprises there, it’s always convenient to blame public employees for financial shortfalls.

What I got thinking about was if the mayor knows exactly how much of a financial crisis is looming ahead, especially for the police department. To say that the Quincy Police Department has not spent the city’s money wisely would qualify as the understatement of the year for 2007, and we’re only in January. I was going over in my head the obscene amount of money paid out by the city for the astonishing screw-ups of the Quincy Police Department command staff for their treatment of subordinate employees, and the numbers are truly staggering. Courtesy of the Patriot Ledger archives, I had my answer within a few minutes;

1) Nancy Coletta - $165,000

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2002/05/30/news/export23449.txt

2) Kathleen Bandera - $135,000

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2002/05/10/news/export22799.txt

3) Susan Perch - $135,000

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2003/02/20/news/export28010.txt

4) John McDonough - $550,000

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2006/09/06/news/news04.txt

Let’s do some quick math;

165,000 + 135,000 + 135,000 + 550,000 = $985,000

That’s almost a cool million, solely to pay off lawsuits because of the incompetence and arrogance of the Quincy Police command staff.

Now, would you care to guess what type of disciplinary action has been taken against these command staff members, who have cost the city nearly a million dollars?

Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch.

The previous two police chiefs were allowed to retire with fat pensions unscathed, even though their fingerprints were all over these lawsuits. To make matters even more outrageous, the current occupant of the corner office, the Lyin’ King himself, then-Captain Bob Crowley, was one of the main perpetrators of the McDonough lawsuit, which cost the city over a half-million dollars.

What was Crowley’s punishment for the egregious harassment of one of his subordinates?

He was promoted to chief.

Let’s put this in perspective.

Crowley’s ruthless harassment of his subordinate resulted in the City of Quincy paying out a $550,000 civil judgment. A fully-equipped Ford Police Interceptor runs about $30,000 or so.

550,000 divided by 30,000 = 18.33333>

Let’s round that off to 18. Hell, I’m feeling charitable today, so let’s say 15.

If I wrecked 15 cruisers through my own intentional acts or wanton recklessness, I would bet my life savings I’d be looking for employment elsewhere, and rightfully so. Yet a captain, the second-highest rank in the Quincy Police Department, can take part in vicious harassment and retribution against a subordinate, cost the city over a half-million dollars, and he’s promoted to chief.

Bizzaro World, anyone?

Well, I hate to be the one to break this to Mayor Phelan, but there is even more of a financial crisis on the horizon for the city, because the parade of aggrieved Quincy Police Department employees to the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse is just getting started.

To put this lunacy into even more perspective, two Quincy Police Officers were terminated from their positions for being involved in off-duty motor vehicle accidents. Apparently, that’s the standard that the Lyin’ King wants to hold us to. It’s okay for him to systematically ruin people’s lives, but if we get involved in an accident while off-duty, even tapping someone’s bumper, we’ll be hitting the unemployment line. It’s just yet another example of the disgusting double-standards the Lyin’ King has applied to the Quincy Police Department.

Just to review, Officer Tim Kaes was involved in an accident while off-duty. For reasons known only to him, the Lyin’ King decided, FROM HIS HOUSE, that Kaes was intoxicated, even though no one who was actually at the scene, and spoke with Kaes, agreed with him. This is classic Lyin’ King behavior for two reasons;

1) He made a rash, vindictive decision without thinking of the consequences.

2) He never, EVER actually faces the person he’s going to screw over. Things like that are always done third-party, over the phone or radio.

Long story short, Kaes faced a clerk’s hearing, the charges were dismissed, and then the Lyin’ King did something I guarantee will come back to haunt him. He personally called THE district attorney, and apparently used up a favor to get the charges reinstated.

Intentional tort, anyone?

Note to the Lyin’ King: You best have the Homestead Act on your house. You’re going to need it.

To wrap-up this sordid tale, Kaes went to trial, was found “Not Guilty” in record time, and then to complete the total victory, was awarded his job back by an arbitrator. Here’s where the story takes on a twist that the city council will no doubt be interested to hear.

On more than one occasion, after Kaes was found Not Guilty, we approached either the mayor himself, or his representatives, and told him that Kaes would sign a general release (promise to not sue) if he were reinstated and given back pay. We were rebuffed each time.

Now, Kaes has all that, and is poised to get a lot more. A WHOLE lot more.

John McDonough was awarded $550,000 for being transferred to a different shift and having his gun taken away. Tim Kaes was terminated from his job, his name smeared in the media, plus he lost 2 years and 2 months of his life. During that time, he lost his mother, and during the walk-by & funeral for deceased Officer Jamie Cochrane, he had to walk in wearing a suit with the retired officers, instead of wearing his uniform, as he should have been. During that time, he had to depend on the generosity of family, friends, and this union in order to make ends meet. The whole story is so disgusting, I feel like I need to take a shower right now, just by recounting it.

If McDonough was awarded $550,000 for his ordeal, I can easily envision a civil award of over 1 million dollars for what Kaes had to go through. Of course, that wouldn’t be an issue if the city had at least seriously considered our overtures to rehire Kaes before the arbitration decision.

The big question is, how much of the civil judgment will the Lyin’ King have to pay out of his own pocket? Because he inflicted an intentional tort on Kaes by taking extraordinary measures to get the criminal charges reinstated after they were dismissed by a clerk-magistrate, he’s personally liable. Insurance does not cover intentional torts.

Take heart, Sandy….I’m sure that Kaes will like living in Squantum.

Of course, I’m sure you would all be disappointed if I only had but one example of the city’s incompetence to share with you. On to Part 2.

The other QPD Officer who was fired for being involved in an off-duty accident was Siobhan O’Connor. Unlike Kaes, who did have some significant damage to his vehicle, O’Connor merely tapped the bumper of a car in front of her at a stop light. Unfortunately, O’Connor was the victim of mistaken identity that evening. A state police captain was trying to pursue an SUV that blew past him on the highway at speeds in excess of 100mph. Apparently, this SUV resembled O’Connor’s, because right after tapping the bumper of the car in front of her, and before she knew it, she was surrounded by several very angry state troopers, and charged with drunk driving.

Now, I know what type of vehicle O’Connor drives, and the only way it could top 100mph would be going down the Mount Washington Auto Road, with a Porsche equipped with a push bar behind it providing an assist. Also, the vehicle the captain was attempting to stop was a completely different color than O’Connor’s.

In a scenario that should be all too familiar by now, the case went to trial, and she was found Not Guilty of everything except failing to yield at a stop light, which was a $50 fine.

Of course, none of this mattered to the Lyin’ King. He saw the chance to screw yet another patrol officer, and it must have been very enticing for him to have his first female head to mount on the wall. Instead of letting the criminal trial play-out and wait for the results, Sandy immediately requested a termination hearing with city hall, no doubt with a strong recommendation for termination.

So, before the case even went to trial, O’Connor was terminated. For Sandy’s birthday, I’m going to buy him some Kevlar-lined shoes. He really needs them, for all the times he’s shot himself in the foot.

Because O’Connor was on probation at the time of this incident, I’m sure the Lyin’ King felt very confident that he finally was able to totally screw someone over and ruin their life with impunity.

Guess again, O Great Lyin’ King.

Just because someone is on probation, does not mean they can be terminated for an illegal reason.

A little-known clause in the Constitution & By-Laws of the QPPOA is that if a member’s employment is terminated, they are still a member of the association until their final appeals are heard. This is the reason Tim Kaes was represented by association counsel at his arbitration hearing, and why we continue to represent Siobhan O’Connor, as she is still a member of the QPPOA.

Considering the Quincy Police Department’s positively horrendous treatment of their female employees (see the first three lawsuits mentioned at the beginning of this entry), the way O’Connor was given the bum’s rush for allegations which were later proven false didn’t sit well with us, so we began to do a little research into the past discipline of other Quincy Police Officers on probation. So far, we’ve uncovered several examples of male officers on probation who screwed-up a lot worse than being involved in an off-duty accident (including yours truly), and nothing even remotely close to termination was the result in every one of those cases.

Just to put an exclamation point on this shameful affair, there was another male Quincy public safety employee who was not only CONVICTED of drunk driving; he KILLED his passenger when he crashed his car into a boulder on Fenno Street. Was this employee terminated before the criminal charges were resolved?

Oh, Hell NO!!!

Not only was he not terminated before the criminal charges were resolved, he was allowed to keep his position WHILE HE SERVED TIME IN JAIL!!!!!!

Don’t believe me? Read it and weep;

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2005/10/08/news/news06.txt

Now, should this employee have been terminated? That’s not for me to decide, but if that’s the bar that’s set for public safety employees in the City of Quincy, how can anyone possibly say with a straight face that O’Connor should have been terminated?

With our assistance, O’Connor filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), and has already had a preliminary hearing, which I attended. Trust me when I tell you, the look on the hearing officer’s face when he heard the story of the male employee serving time in jail while still employed was absolutely priceless.

Not to sound like a broken record, but in the case of O’Connor, we’ve again made several appeals to both the mayor’s representatives, and also him personally. In the case of O’Connor, she’s willing to sign a general release with much more palatable provisions for the city than Kaes, but once again, we’ve been rebuffed each time. It’s my opinion that if the city allows this to play-out to the end, she will not only get her job back, with back pay, but she’ll also have a nice 6-7 figure civil judgment to go along with it for her troubles, which at this point, she richly deserves.

For someone who’s worried about a looming financial crisis, the mayor seems to be content to whistle past the graveyard when it comes to admitting he screwed-up, big-time, by appointing the Lyin’ King as police chief. In the case of Coletta, Bandera, Perch, and McDonough, the damage is already done. In the case of Kaes, the damage is coming as sure as the sunrise tomorrow morning.

In the case of O’Connor, the mayor has the chance to not only right a tremendous wrong, but also save the city some serious cash, as well as repair at least a tiny bit of the horrible reputation the Quincy Police Department has in regards to its treatment of female employees.

Mister Mayor, the offer we presented to your representatives not long ago in regards to O’Connor still stands, but the clock is ticking. I’m sure the city council will have several questions for me about the huge amounts of money the city has paid out in civil judgments.

You’re the only one who can cap it where it is now.

Friday December 29, 2006 2:28 AM

Pass the Sparklers - Bruce Tait

“As long as people will accept crap, it will be profitable to dispense it” – Dick Cavett

There is a great episode from season 8 of the TV show “M*A*S*H”, where the 4077th is completely exhausted after a marathon surgery session. The main characters head off to their tents for some well-deserved sleep, but each of them are haunted by disturbing dreams that reveal their true feelings about the war and themselves. For example, Margaret dreams of her wedding day, only to have the dream end with her wedding dress covered in blood.

Charles Emerson Winchester dreams that he’s a magician, arriving on-stage wearing a top-hat and tails. To the delight of the crowd, he does some standard magic tricks, which are greeted with enthusiastic applause. However, for his final trick, a dying soldier is wheeled in front of him, and the audience gasps as they wait to see how Charles will handle this. He proceeds to try more magic tricks, such as taking a quarter out from behind the dying man’s ear, and pulling colored scarves out his own ear, to no avail. Finally, with the audience saying “He’s dying, doctor”, he resorts to holding a burning sparkler in each hand, and starts tap-dancing, even though there’s no music playing. Needless to say, that doesn’t work either, and the man dies.

Well, it’s become obvious that Chief Sandy’s management style consists largely of tap-dancing while holding burning sparklers, and nothing is more evident of this than a recent article in the Patriot Ledger entitled “Police commission 28 member dive team”;

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2006/12/26/news/news08.txt

Now, let me be perfectly clear on one thing; If I were the chief of police, my motto would be “If it’s free, it’s for me”. I have nothing against the dive team, and recognize it’s a valuable asset. However, when the staffing levels for the delivery of basic police services are so unsafe that the safety of my members is jeopardized, I would be absolutely remiss as union president if I didn’t make a whole lot of noise about it.

There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that The Party will try to turn this around, and try to say I’m against the dive team.

Not so.

However, I’m absolutely livid that Sandy has, once again, demonstrated how completely screwed-up his priorities are. On December 18th, at about the same time he was lying his ass off to the city council about morale and staffing levels, Officer Steve Kelly was fighting with a felony suspect by himself, because the sector car that would have ordinarily backed him up on the call went unstaffed, due to Sandy’s notorious penny-wise but pound-foolish policy on overtime hiring. Officer Kelly ended up going out injured with a shoulder injury, and I hold Sandy personally responsible for that. As of today, Officer Kelly was still out injured, so to save a few bucks on overtime costs, Sandy let a cop get hurt.

That’s simply disgusting.

Of course, Crowley’s penny-pinching only extends to the patrol division. He opens the purse strings when it comes to other aspects of the department, especially the higher-ups on the command staff. As the year draws to a close, I was looking at the overtime hours for every sworn member of the department, and it made for very interesting reading. Let’s just say that for marching into the city council chambers with Sandy on December 18th, a lot of the brass have been extremely well-compensated for their loyalty.

EXTREMELY well-compensated.

I’ll have a whole lot to say about that, soon enough.

And speaking of staffing, my research continues for when I appear in front of the city council in 2007. To say I will have stacks of incontrovertible proof that Sandy blatantly lied to the city council would be a major, major understatement. By the time I get done speaking to the councilors and answering their questions, they’re going to feel like they just bought a $2,000 undercoat and glaze package on a used car, they’re going to feel so screwed. It’s going to be very interesting indeed to see their reactions when it dawns on them that the chief of police lied to their faces.

Because I’ll be completely exposing Sandy as a liar, some QPPOA members have expressed doubt that I’ll be allowed to speak in front of the council. I hold out hope that the deck isn’t that badly stacked, but I do have a contingency plan, should that problem arise. If I’m locked-out of the council, we’ll have all of my documentary evidence posted on this website, and we’ll take out huge advertisements in the Patriot Ledger and the Quincy Sun, inviting the citizens of Quincy to see it with their own eyes. As a matter of fact, we’ll probably do that anyway, regardless if I go before the council or not.

So, the next time yet another puff-piece appears in the Patriot Ledger about how we got combination bolt-cutters/floor polishers from a Federal grant, just picture Sandy tap-dancing with the sparklers.

“Chief, your officers are getting hurt because you won’t safely staff the patrol division!!!!”

(tap-dancing) “Dive team…..Federal grants……”

“Chief, every car in the city is tied-up, we don’t have anyone to send to felony calls!!!!”

(tap-dancing) “Morale is great…….overtime for lieutenants & captains…….”.

Eventually, the tap-dancing is going to stop, and Sandy will have to face the real music. I really hope that after I’m done speaking with the city council, Sandy will be invited back to answer some hard questions about his truthfulness and competence.

And, if Sandy doesn’t want to play dueling city council appearances, I suggest a debate between him and me on Quincy Access Television. Name the time & place, and I’ll be there.

No entourages, no smokescreens. Just me & and Sandy, mano-a-mano.

Are you up for the challenge, Sandy?

Sunday December 24, 2006 10:45 PM

Merry Christmas! - Bruce Tait

On behalf of the membership of the Quincy Police Patrol Officers' Association, I would like to extend our best wishes to all for a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season. As you celebrate this wonderful time of year, please take a moment to remember the brave men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces who are unable to be home this time of year, and whose daily sacrifices ensure your ability to be with your loved ones.

To the residents of Quincy; as you gather with your families to celebrate the holidays, remember that the members of this association are out there in the black & whites, ready to answer your calls for help 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.

Here's to a happy and safe 2007.

Tuesday December 19, 2006 3:00 AM

Chief Pinocchio - Bruce Tait

“No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar” – Abraham Lincoln.

Tonight, there was a special session of the Quincy City Council to address public safety, specifically the police and fire departments. First up was the fire department, and my counterpart on the fire union spoke to the city council on the danger of taking Rescue 1 out of service this time of year, when there are typically a larger amount of fires. To his credit, the fire chief admitted it would be a good idea to bring Rescue 1 back in service, and this was done.

Next up was our fearless leader, the head honcho himself, Chief Sandy. Of course he didn’t come by himself; he had an entire entourage of brass with him, who marched into the council chambers like the Marine Corps Silent Drill Team. I had fully planned on being there to speak myself, but the very problems that were discussed this evening prevented me from doing so.

As with so many other nights, we were running short-staffed on the evening shift. The sector cars that would ordinarily cover North Quincy and Adams Shore were not filled tonight, meaning we had only 11 cars to cover the city instead of the full complement of 13. At the very time I was planning on walking into the city council chambers, I was running blue lights and siren across the city, going to an “Officer in Trouble” call.

Just before the start of the council meeting, Officer Steven Kelly was dispatched to the Ocean State Job Lot on a call of someone trying to pass a bad check. This type of call is always handled by two officers, because the chances of the suspect either running or fighting are very high. Unfortunately, because the North Quincy car wasn’t staffed last night, there were no clear cars to assist Officer Kelly, so he had to go to the call alone. Sure enough, he ended up in such a desperate brawl with one of the suspects, he couldn’t even use his radio to call for help, he had to frantically press his “emergency button” which automatically sends a radio signal alerting dispatch the officer needs help.

While this was going on, I was driving to city hall when the emergency signal came in. I was near 1000 Southern Artery when I got the call, and had to race to Ocean State Job Lot, which is literally on the other side of the city. One suspect was still at large, so I had to regretfully call Councilor Raymondi from the parking lot to tell him I couldn’t make it to the meeting. Even after that situation was under control, it was simply too busy for me to justify taking myself off the radio for an hour, as we were short-handed enough as it was. Unlike our chief, I actually care about the people I work with, and didn’t want to leave them hanging.

By the way, as a result of having to go to this felony-in-progress call alone, because we were running short…..AGAIN….Officer Kelly, who is as tough as nails, injured his shoulder while fighting with the suspect. He refused treatment at the time, but by the time the shift was over, it was bothering him enough that he was going to go to the hospital or his own physician. So, to save a few bucks, one of the best cops on the job will probably miss work for at least a few days with an injury that was totally preventable.

As I mentioned, Sandy did make it to the meeting, and the event was taped for posterity. He doesn’t, and never did, have to worry about pesky little things like radio calls and officers fighting with suspects, so he had all the time in the world to spin his version of events.

Now, I think I’ve made it clear in the past that Sandy is not exactly known for being courageous. However, I have to give him his due for what he did tonight, because it took a lot of stones. However, this wasn’t a good type of courage; it was a reckless, out-of-control courage. It was a stupid courage.

He blatantly lied to the city council. Yes, he got in front of the Quincy City Council, and lied to their faces. And, I don’t mean he told a fib or a little white lie.

He lied his ass off.

I admittedly haven’t seen the whole tape, but let me address a few of Sandy’s whoppers right now. I know from what I did see, that the councilors do read this website, so I’d like them to know ASAP the chief of police lied to them.

A mere sampling of the lies;

1) There is no morale problem at the Quincy Police Department – That’s the Mack Daddy of all lies, right there. That’s the hydrogen bomb of lies. If God truly struck people down with lightning for lying, then 1305 Hancock Street would be a smoldering foundation right now. If there is no morale problem, then why did the patrol officers’ union take a no-confidence vote in the chief, a measure where 90+% of the membership voted, and 90+% of those who did vote, voted no-confidence? Read it for yourself;

http://ledger.southofboston.com/articles/2006/09/08/news/news07.txt

No morale problem? Are you kidding me?

The morale problem at the Quincy Police Department is off the charts. One of the most senior patrol officers on the department, appointed in the 1970’s, told me it’s the worst he’s ever seen, by far. One of my biggest disappointments of tonight is that none of the councilors asked any of Crowley’s posse if they agreed with his assessment of the morale problem.

2) There are never less than 11 cars per shift – This is where Sandy got reckless, because that’s a fat fastball, right down the heart of the plate. He should really know better than to lie about something so easily provable. When it finally did quiet down tonight, I spent my dinner break printing out past rosters, and I have a stack of them that clearly shows we do indeed go below 11 cars on some shifts.

3) The Hough’s Neck car is always staffed – Yet another lie. Councilor Kelly will be very interested in seeing the even bigger stack of past rosters that show the Hough’s Neck car unfilled on many, many instances.

4) The “Delta area” cars are always staffed – Lie. See above.

5) The community police officers who were assigned to the high school Super Bowl game were sent there at 8pm, after their shifts ended – Another lie. They were there at 3pm, and I have a whole pile of witnesses who will attest to that.

6) Assignment to the recently constituted dive team was made available to the entire department – Never happened. As union president, I make myself intimately familiar with anything that comes out of the chief’s office, and the first I heard of the dive team was when someone gave me the list of names of people who had already been appointed to it.

7) “Tait could have been here” – No, I really couldn’t. If Sandy had ever actually worked as a street cop, he would know that an “Officer in Trouble” call takes priority over everything. If you’re a police officer and you hear those words over the radio, you drop anything and everything to get to that officer as soon as you possibly can, because if a police officer needs emergency help, that’s as drastic a situation as you can imagine. Also, you know the call has total credibility. Unlike the many bogus “man with a gun” calls we go to, called-in anonymously from pay phones & cell phones, an “O.T.” has 100% veracity, because the reporting person is another police officer.

Some other tidbits.….At one point, Crowley referred to “Bruce Tait and his men”, as if I were Jim Jones getting ready to mix the Kool-Aid.

Well, they’re not MY men, Sandy, they’re YOUR men, AND women. I just represent them and stand-up for them when you make their job more difficult or unsafe. That kind of statement is just further proof that Sandy has lost control of the department.

One of the most mystifying things I’ve noticed since becoming QPPOA President is how certain members of the command staff, certain lieutenants and captains, will defend Sandy and circle their wagons around him, no matter what. The answer was so obvious; if it was a snake it would have bitten me. I very recently received a rather interesting e-mail from a superior officer of the Quincy Police Department, one of the “good guys” who shall remain anonymous, which spelled it out for me. It all makes sense now, but that can wait for another day.

Let me just say, this isn’t the end of this issue. I fully intend to have my day in front of the city council. I want my day in front of the city council. I’m relishing the opportunity, and I’ll be more than happy to field any questions the councilors may have for me. If I happen to be working that evening, I’ll take a vacation or personal day to be sure I can make it. Unlike the chief of police, everything I say to them will be either the truth, or my opinion.

At one point during the meeting, Sandy referred to this website as “trash”. I realize my style isn’t for everyone, and Sandy is certainly entitled to his opinion, but guess what?

He didn’t say it wasn’t true.

Monday December 18, 2006 1:06 AM

Commendations - Version 2.6 - Bruce Tait

“Be not extravagantly high in expression of thy commendations of men thou likest, it may make the hearer's stomach rise” – Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)

Believe me, that’s the mantra of the Quincy Police Department.

So, I was flipping through the Patriot Ledger the other day, when I saw something on page 13 (how appropriate) that caught me off-guard. What did I see, but Chief Sandy’s smiling mug staring back at me. Seeing Sandy’s image or name in the Ledger isn’t exactly surprising in and of itself, considering he’s never met a camera he doesn’t like, and when it comes to Sandy, the editorial staff of the Patriot Ledger should really invest in some pom-poms, skimpy outfits, and practice some dance moves to make it official.

In this case, it was the reason why I had to endure yet another shameless plug for Sandy that got to me. He, along with some other people, received an award for combating underage drinking. They looked like pretty nice awards too, something you could hang on your wall. This must have been Sandy’s proudest moment of 2006….finally, someone recognized his obsession with kids drinking in the woods. However, it must have also been a bittersweet victory, considering he’s gotten his butt kicked this year, with two major defeats coming in the last couple of months (the Kaes arbitration and the p-day arbitration).

Keeping kids away from alcohol is all well and good, but in case Sandy hasn’t noticed, the Quincy Police Department has had more important things to deal with recently. In spite of The Party declaring Quincy the second-safest city in the state, the trend of almost nightly armed robberies in the City of Presidents continues unabated.

Saturday night, a man ran into the Rent-a-Center in Quincy Center, pistol-whipped a totally innocuous customer who was looking at a computer, then pistol-whipped the manager, who was on the phone with a customer in Braintree. Hearing the commotion, the customer called 911, but obviously got the Braintree Police instead of us.

I was inside the store literally within seconds of the incident, with Officer Dan Parisi right behind me. We found the manager bleeding profusely from a gash on the back of his head, and the customer had a nasty bruise/laceration on his face. After clubbing the manager with the gun (the severity of the wound told me it was a real gun, a toy would have broken into pieces from the impact), the robber kept pointing the gun in the manager’s face, threatening to kill him if he didn’t get the money. After getting the money, he ran out the back door. Probably when Officer Parisi and I were coming in the front door.

Now, let’s see if that incident makes the Ledger’s Monday edition. Maybe it’s me, but I think a gun-wielding lunatic, pistol-whipping innocent people and robbing them, is a bit more important than Buffy and Chip getting their hands on some Bud Light. Especially when the scene of the assault and robbery is right next to where I used to take my children for pizza after seeing a movie across the street. Notice I said “used to”, as in past tense.

Well, the story of the robbery will probably make the Ledger now, since I’ve let the cat out of the bag, although I wouldn’t put anything past Pravda and The Party.

What makes Sandy receiving that award all the more galling is the dichotomy of how he treats his patrol officers, versus how he conducts his own life. In many instances, like when he went out of his way, in violation of a confidentiality agreement, to reveal details of a disciplinary hearing involving members of the QPPOA, he could dish it out, but he certainly couldn’t take it when we requested his financial disclosure from Quincy College. And yes, that’s far from being a dead issue.

In the case of awards and recognition, he can’t dish them out, but he can certainly take them.

Recently, the Massachusetts State Police conducted a sobriety checkpoint on Quincy Shore Drive, and requested assistance from the Quincy Police Department. One of the state troopers involved in this checkpoint was involved in the stolen vehicle pursuit I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, where a Quincy Police Officer was struck by the stolen car. The suspect in that case was on probation, had 100+ entries on his criminal record, was driving a stolen car, and tried to kill a police officer. The Quincy Officer who initiated the pursuit (Dennis Keenan) and I were both recommended for commendations by one of the patrol supervisors that evening. A really, really bad guy was taken off the street (he’s still in jail awaiting trial), a stolen car was recovered, as well as a boatload of stolen property, and no one was seriously injured. Sounds like a win-win to me, right?

Apparently, Sandy doesn’t think so. The state trooper told our people that he and some other state police personnel involved in that pursuit received “Commander’s Awards” or something like that. It’s apparently a semi-big deal with the state police, so I apologize in advance if I butchered the name of the award, but they were certainly recognized for their efforts.

Now, in spite of being recommended by the supervisor, do you suppose either Officer Keenan or I have ever received any type of commendation, or even any recognition of what we did that night?

No, you say?

DING-DING-DING-DING-DING!!!!!

Now, I couldn’t care less if I actually get a commendation. I’ve apologized to Officer Keenan several times, because I suspect I was the “poison pill” for that particular recommendation. In any case, Dennis, you’re not missing much. Unlike Sandy’s award for relentlessly obsessing about kids drinking in the woods, QPD commendations are basically a cheap copy of a letter on letterhead, encased in a genuine imitation Naugahyde folder. I have a few of them somewhere in my house, I couldn’t tell you where, because they’re certainly not suitable for framing. Well, that’s what they used to look like, but things have changed a bit. More on that later.

However, it’s not the actual award that should count, it’s the effort behind it. Officer Keenan, myself, and several other Quincy Police Officers risked our lives in a vehicle pursuit during awful weather (snow on the ground) to take a dangerous felon off the street. Any police officer who has actually worked patrol and has been in a vehicle pursuit (which automatically excludes Chief Robert F. Crowley) will tell you it’s a terrifying experience. You have to be careful to avoid “tunnel vision”, you have to stay calm on the radio, you need to know where you are, and you need to counter the insane driving of the suspect with minimal danger to the public. After the conclusion of every significant pursuit I’ve been involved with, my hands are shaking, and I have a feeling of total relief that it’s over.

It’s absolutely astounding to me that Sandy hasn’t at least recognized the efforts of Officer Keenan that night. As I mentioned, I couldn’t care less if I get a commendation, but Officer Keenan was relatively new to the job back then, a “shiny penny”, and a little recognition of a job well-done would have further cemented a solid employee. Instead, he hears of police officers from another agency getting commendations from a pursuit he initiated.

I recognize I may well have poisoned that incident, but here’s another one to chew on, which had nothing to do with me.

On October 27th, 2006 a motorist had a seizure while driving, so his car, with a full-throttle stuck accelerator, hit a tree on Furnace Brook Parkway near Quarry Street. The car caught fire, which quickly spread from the engine compartment to the dashboard area. Off-duty Quincy Police Officer Paul Murphy happened to be driving by when the accident happened, and immediately stopped to help. The car was going up in flames, the operator was unconscious, and the doors were locked. On-duty Quincy Police Officer Dave Zupkofska arrived, and used his collapsible baton to break the window, and he, Officer Murphy, & a passing citizen were able to drag the victim out of the car, suffering from burns to his legs. Moments after the officers got the victim out of the car, it was fully engulfed in flames. I’ve spoken to Someone Who Was There, and they told me there is no doubt whatsoever the victim would have burned to death if Officer Murphy and Officer Zupkofska didn’t take quick, decisive action.

Because this crash happened on a state road (Furnace Brook Parkway), that’s the primary jurisdiction of the state police. I’ve been in contact with the trooper who filed the crash report, and he told me the same thing….the victim would have died if it weren’t for the quick actions of the QPD Officers. This trooper even said, “I hope your guys get recognized for this”.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but would you care to guess whether Officer Murphy or Officer Zupkofska have ever received any type of commendation or recognition for saving this man’s life?

I think you know the answer.

Well, in all fairness, they did receive some recognition…..from the Quincy Fire Department. The QFD Deputy Chief on-duty that day wrote a letter to the fire chief, praising the QPD Officers who saved the man’s life, which was then forwarded to the Chief Sandy’s office. The officers then got a copy of the QFD Deputy Chief’s report, along with a Post-It from Sandy’s secretary, stating it would be included in their personnel folders. Apparently, blue genuine imitation Naugahyde is out, and blue Post-It notes are in.

Did you get that? The Quincy Fire Department recognized the lifesaving efforts of 2 Quincy Police Officers, while the Quincy Police Department has officially ignored the entire affair.

Why?

I can only speculate, but it’s pretty obvious that Sandy is loathe to recognize the good work of his patrol officers because he hates our guts. I believe it’s a deep-rooted jealousy, because he never did the job we do, and couldn’t do it now, even if he wanted to, which he doesn’t. This isn’t just limited to the Quincy Police Department…..it’s a general hatred of the line officers in the trenches.

Just recently, one of our officers was working a detail on a street off Quincy Shore Drive, a pretty significant construction project that extended on to Quincy Shore Drive. Because that road is owned by the state, there was a state trooper also working the detail, on the QSD end. He and our officer got talking, and the trooper mentioned how he hadn’t seen Sandy drive-by yet, as he had most mornings. The QPD Officer asked if Sandy waves when he drives by, and the trooper just laughed. Not only does Sandy not wave, he calls the state police barracks to complain if the trooper isn’t standing in the street, wearing his hat, etc. The trooper was mystified by this type of behavior, until our officer broke it down for him. In Sandy’s mind;

Silver badge + marked cruiser = A**hole.

Of course, this is a pretty dangerous game that Sandy is playing. Considering he lives in Squantum, it’s damn near impossible for him to get home without using a state road, and he’s gaining a reputation among troopers that we’ve known for years. When you piss-off the line officers of the two primary police agencies in the city you live, you best live your personal life like Ward Cleaver.

Getting the hint, Sandy?

Anyway, I have become so sick and tired of the disgustingly selective process of awarding commendations in the QPD that I’ve decided to take the bull by the horns, so to speak. If Sandy refuses to recognize the heroic actions of his patrol officers, then we’ll recognize ourselves. Seeing Sandy’s smiling mug in the Ledger, while patrol officers who literally save lives don’t even get an “atta-boy” from the department “leadership”, was the last straw for me.

I’m in the process of appointing a QPPOA Awards Committee, who will decide which QPPOA members are deserving of special recognition. This committee will be entirely composed of QPPOA members, and will be entirely autonomous. I and the rest of the executive board will have nothing to do with the process, other than initial appointment. Whatever they send me, I’ll sign off on it, and believe me, the award will be suitable to hang on a wall. Any cop will tell you the greatest compliment they can receive is recognition from other cops, and that is our goal.

PREDICTION – Now that I’ve put it out there that we’re going to start publicly commending our members, the “official” commendations will suddenly start blasting out of the chief’s office like Trident missiles out of a nuclear submarine.

But remember The Party line……no one reads this website.

It’s ineffectual and counterproductive.

Friday December 8, 2006 1:06 AM

Just Call Me Mr. Fix-It - Bruce Tait

““Every kind of peaceful cooperation among men is primarily based on mutual trust and only secondarily on institutions such as courts of justice and police” – Albert Einstein

Around this time last year, I happened to be in Stop & Shop on Southern Artery while off-duty and wearing civilian clothes. Somewhere in the produce section, I was approached by a woman who I didn’t recognize at first. I had responded to a call at her house for a domestic argument, and it was such a routine incident (as far as domestics go), she had to prod me with several clues until I actually did remember it. The thing that did it was when I saw the woman’s daughter, she was the type of little girl who was so cute, you can’t help but to remember her.

Although that incident didn’t turn violent, the little girl was terrified at the time. I remember squatting down to talk to her, explaining that grown-ups sometimes have arguments, but that doesn’t mean that mommy & daddy don’t love each other, or don’t love her. Maybe it’s because I have a young daughter myself and have learned to relate to little girls, but she really seemed to take a liking to me that night, in a very chaotic situation. However, that day in the supermarket, she was looking at me with a very quizzical look, like something didn’t make sense. The mother kept saying “Say hi to Officer Bruce”, but she just kept looking at me.

Finally, she tugged at her mother’s sleeve, and using the whisper that young kids think no one can hear, but everyone does hear, she asked “Mommy, why is he dressed like that?”

It eventually dawned on me….in her mind, I was a police officer, and police officers wear uniforms. She probably thought I lived at the police station, and all my waking hours were occupied with catching the bad guys.

Sometimes, we don’t give our children the credit they deserve, because they very often make adult observations, and we don’t even notice it. Although I realize no adults think we live at the police station and always wear the uniform, there is sometimes the public perception that we’re somewhat less than human. I don’t mean that in a degrading way, I just mean it’s very easy for John Q. Public to think the boys & gals in blue are unthinking, unfeeling robots.

Well, the reality is that we were human before we raised our right hands, and we’re still human even many years afterwards. We’re husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters. We’re uncles and aunts, godfathers and godmothers. The rules and customs of civilized society did not cease to exist when we pinned the badge and strapped-on the gun.

We’re expected by our families to be there for weddings, birthday parties, graduations, and any number of other family events. We all realized when we took the job that nights, weekends, and holidays were all in play. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve worked Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day in my career. If I ever complained about it, I can’t remember, because I knew going in that, yes, I might have to work holidays as a police officer. Been there, done that, many times over.

However, most (certainly not all) police officers start their careers while they’re in their 20’s. Believe me, when I graduated the police academy at age 22, the last thing in the world I cared about was family events. My kids weren’t even a gleam in my eye back then, never mind worrying about getting the night off for their baptism, 1st birthday party, etc. Fast-forward 19 years, and I have a radically different view on life.

Thankfully, the former leadership of the Quincy Police Department recognized that police officers are indeed human, and occasionally need to be excused from their scheduled shift for family reasons. Our research has shown that as early as 1984 (as far back as we could find so far), the collective bargaining agreements (contracts) between the City of Quincy and the Quincy Police Betterment Association (later renamed QPPOA) have included “family days”, which we commonly refer to as “p-days”. Family days were intended to be just that; for officers to spend time with their families, extended or otherwise. They were the equivalent of a free kick in soccer, you could use them as you saw fit, unlike vacation time, which is subject to fairly strict guidelines.

When I was appointed to the Quincy Police Department in 1994, p-days were sacred. If you wanted to use a p-day to take the day/night off, you automatically got it, no questions asked. We got/get 4 of these days per year, so once every three months, we could be excused from our shift to deal with a family issue.

I know that many of you are waiting for the other shoe to drop, so here it is. In 2000, then-Chief Bill Falco, who helped to negotiate the very contracts that included p-days, suddenly decided by dictatorial fiat that p-days were now glorified vacation days, and would be treated as such. If the use of a p-day resulted in overtime hiring, that officer would be refused the p-day.

If I had more time on my hands (my cell phone rang so often today/tonight I wanted to throw it into the ocean) and if it would benefit us, I’d like to do a little research into how many p-days were used by Officer/Sergeant/Lieutenant/Captain Falco that resulted in overtime hiring over the years. The results would probably be very interesting, but that’s tilting at windmills at this point.

Anyway, a successive series of QPPOA Executive Boards tried to rectify this problem through labor/management meetings. I was on some of these e-boards, not on others. We (the collective QPPOA) went above & beyond being reasonable in numerous attempts to work this out, both with Falco, then with Chief Robert Crowley when he assumed the chief’s job in July 2004. During our first meeting with the new chief (I was the QPPOA Vice-President then), we mentioned rectifying the p-day issue, and were met with an enthusiastic response. That quickly wilted like week-old lettuce, among other things we were promised, so the struggle went on.

When I took office as QPPOA President in December 2005, we again tried to come to an agreement with Crowley during a labor/management meeting right after the new e-board took office. This was the infamous meeting where Crowley was more concerned with eating his Wendy’s sandwich than listening to the union leadership who represented the 150+ police officers under his command, so you can imagine how far that went.

After that meeting, I came to the regretful conclusion we were spinning our wheels, so we filed a grievance, took it through the grievance process, and then filed for arbitration. Filing for arbitration is not something to be taken lightly; It costs many thousands of dollars, and you best have your ducks lined in a row when you go before the arbitrator, because he/she is much like a judge. They know labor law inside & out, probably better than most judges, and are not afraid to rule based on that law.

On September 26th, 2006 we had our arbitration hearing concerning p-days in front of Arbitrator Sarah Kerr Garraty. As usual, our attorney Paul Hynes put forth an excellent case, and I was actually a major witness for our side, since I’m one of the more senior patrol officers, and could therefore testify as to how p-days were treated in the past.

Let me say here, much love out to my predecessors on the e-board, for keeping such meticulous records. To the surprise of the arbitrator (I watched her reaction), we introduced a copy of a memo from then-Chief Francis Finn, dated August 31st, 1984 that stated officers shall be granted p-days, unless it results in an emergency situation for the police department.

BUZZZZZ!!!!!!

Oh, so sorry City of Quincy! Thanks for playing, and we have some nice parting gifts for you.

We just received the arbitration decision, and it was yet another total victory for us. To use the arbitrator’s exact language;

“The City shall cease and desist from imposing the limitations on family days described in the decision accompanying this award”.

Translation = Unless the sky is falling, we can use a p-day.

Not surprisingly, The Party is already trying to form this into Newspeak. The Party’s line from the chief’s office is that this really wasn’t a victory for the QPPOA, in spite of the arbitrator ruling for us on each & every issue. In fact, she stated that while hiring overtime to cover officers using p-days was “not palatable” to the city, it wasn’t relevant to the issue at hand.

I should mention here that Sandy is “celebrating” (such as he can) his birthday this week, so I’d like to say “Happy Birthday”, and offer up this arbitration award as our gift to him. Yet another total defeat, and a kick in the cojones to boot. At what point will city hall realize they have a loose cannon on their hands?

My prediction is that one of two things will happen in response to this, maybe both. Suddenly, probably next week, in spite of what the arbitrator decided, the possibility of hiring overtime will suddenly be declared an emergency situation for the Quincy Police Department. The other response is so outrageous, yet so within the capability of Sandy, that I don’t want to give him any ideas, so I’ll withhold comment at this time.

Little by little, we’re repairing the damage that Sandy has done to the Quincy Police Department, which is why I called myself “Mr. Fix-It”. Tim Kaes is back to work as a Quincy Police Officer, our p-day policy is back to where it was, and we have some other things going on that need not be made public at the moment. While I may be Mr. Fix-It, I’m merely the public persona of the QPPOA. This is a collaborative effort, and as evidenced by a recent vote at a union meeting, the overwhelming majority of the membership approves of the union leadership.

Pass the screwdriver.

Tuesday December 5, 2006 8:28 PM

A Christmas Blessing - Bruce Tait

I'd like to thank the many people who e-mailed me, expressing concern for and a desire to help the homeless family I referenced below. I've received word they have indeed received emergency housing, and are no longer living in their car.

This doesn't change our commitment to help them, and when the mechanisms are in place, the QPPOA will make a generous donation to help the family have a proper Christmas. I've received word the Quincy Police Superior Officers' Association intends to do the same, as the story of this family's plight has really struck a nerve within the Quincy Police Department (minus one person), and we want the Cratchets, especially Tiny Tim, to know there are people in the world who truly care.

To the many who want to donate money, as soon as I know how you can do this (we want to protect the family's identity), I'll make the process known here.

Saturday December 2, 2006 3:13 AM

A Crowley Christmas Carol - Bruce Tait

“Christmas is a holiday that persecutes the lonely, the frayed, and the rejected” – Jimmy Cannon (1910 – 1973)

While you wouldn’t know it from the weather, the holiday season is upon us. The area around city hall is beautifully decorated as always, and the nativity scene in the cemetery next door just puts an exclamation point to the statement. This is one of my favorite times of the year; I enjoy the decorations, the lights, and the Christmas music, while most everyone seems a little nicer. Of course, besides the carnival that arrives across from the police station every summer, nothing packs up and scrams faster than Christmas spirit, but for about a month, there seems to be some good will in the world.

Of course, there is also a dark side to this time of year. As I mentioned to the members of the QPPOA in the members-only section, a lot of people lose their minds around the holidays. Suicide rates are higher this time of year, and it seems like we get a lot of domestics also. This isn’t a recent phenomenon, far from it. When I arrived for work tonight, the latest edition of “Old Cops Know Stuff” was in the roll call room. It addressed exactly what I’m talking about, how things can get crazy around Christmas. The author related a story of how many years ago, he responded to a call on Christmas Eve in Quincy Point, arriving to see a Christmas tree come flying off a second story balcony and onto the street. The tree-tossing husband escaped out the back door, taking all the gifts intended for his 4 year-old son, leaving nothing for the boy to open on Christmas morning.

This type of story isn’t unheard of. I myself responded to a call in South Quincy on Christmas Eve where the drunken father decided to ring in the holiday by beating his wife to a pulp in front of their kids, then throwing every present into the Christmas tree, destroying it. Fortunately, he didn’t escape out the back door, and had his Christmas turkey loaf in cell #3 at 1 Sea Street.

The author of “Old Cops Know Stuff” made a statement that’s dead-on accurate;

“Throughout the year people have no trouble committing selfish acts, but during the holidays these acts become that much more vindictive in nature, thereby making people more miserable than they already are”.

Truer words were never typed.

Now, I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, or perhaps it’s the epiphany of fatherhood, but I’ve become much more sympathetic to people in need over the years. When I was a naïve 20-something police officer, human suffering didn’t really get to me. I wanted to catch the bad guys, and if the result was making someone’s life easier, that was just a bonus. Now, when I see bad things happen to good people, it really bothers me. For instance, I’m sure you’ve seen the TV commercial where the mother kisses her son & his teddy bear goodnight, shuts off the light, and the camera pans away to show them sleeping in a car. When I see that commercial, I have to change the channel, because having kids of my own around that age, it really gets to me. To the uninitiated, that may seem a little melodramatic, but believe me when I tell you, those situations exist, and sometimes right under your nose.

The other night, I was dispatched to see security at a store concerning someone sleeping in a car. When I got there, the security guard told me that a certain car had been parked way in the back of the lot for a couple of days, and he had seen a young child getting out of it tonight. I went over to the car, finding a man sitting in the driver’s seat. The car was packed with blankets, pillows, and assorted clothing. I asked the guy to step out of the car, and he volunteered his driver’s license without my asking. I’ll call this guy Bob Cratchet. Well, he told me a story that broke my heart. He and his family were down on their luck, and were recently homeless. He, his wife, and his 8 year-old son (I’ll call him Tiny Tim) were living in a medium-size 4 door-sedan in the parking lot. I offered to try to get them into a shelter, but his response spoke volumes about the type of person he is;

“We want to stay together”.

Mr. Cratchet was stone-sober, has a full-time job (employed by the same store in whose parking lot he was staying), and showed no signs of drug abuse. He was simply the victim of bad circumstances and bad luck. I asked him what his plans were, and he said he was hopeful of getting emergency housing the next day. I asked about Tiny Tim, and was told he was enrolled in school, and the Department of Social Services was already involved. Because the weather was warm that evening (I didn’t have a jacket on and wasn’t the least bit cold), there was no danger of sleeping in a car, and because it certainly isn’t illegal, I wished Mr. Cratchet good luck, and went on my way. I explained the circumstances to the security guard, and he said they could stay there as long as they wanted.

This incident really bothered me, and after speaking with Peter Curley, the QPPOA Treasurer, we agreed we wanted to do something to help the Cratchets. We were going to give them some money, and if they were still living in their car before Christmas, we were going to put them up in a hotel over the holiday, as well as buying some toys for Tiny Tim. No child should wake up on Christmas morning in the back seat of a car. The next night, I went back to speak with them, but the car was gone. Thinking they had received emergency housing, I felt a lot better about the situation.

Enter Chief Ebenezer Crowley.

One of my rituals on the days I’m working is to read the police journal, which lists all the activity for the department, as well as all the reports written. I can gain a lot of information that slips through the cracks and doesn’t get mentioned at roll call by reading the reports that are written when I’m not working. Well, besides being surprised at how busy the midnight shift was the other night, I saw a “Non Criminal” report written by a midnight officer that simply blew me away. A Non Criminal report is where there has been no violation of the law, but the officer wanted to simply document something. I should stop being surprised when Chief Sandy outdoes himself, but this one is a humdinger. It was so outrageous, I had to call the officer myself, just to verify what took place.

As I mentioned, the midnight shift on this morning was crazy. The midnight officers were racing around on calls all night, and caught a B&E suspect in the act (nicely done, gentlemen). At about 4:40am, one of the officers assigned to West Quincy received a radio call to call dispatch via phone. When you get this kind of message, it usually means someone doesn’t want something on the radio, which is recorded. Calling dispatch, this officer was told that Sandy wanted an officer to go to a parking lot and roust some people sleeping in a car.

Now….note the time; 4:40am. Sandy ostensibly works 8am-4pm. I’m the last person in the world to criticize someone for staying up late, but I have an excuse, seeing how I don’t get off work until midnight. Even on those occasions when I manage to get out at exactly midnight (which seem to be getting rarer), I don’t get to my house until at least 12:20am. By the time I peel-off the blue suit and get settled, it’s already past 12:30am. I say those times are getting rarer, because some of the officers I work with and I have a joke that there’s an “a-hole alarm” in Quincy, which usually goes off sometime after 11:10pm. Shortly thereafter, we get dispatched to some nightmare cluster that keeps us past midnight. For example, the a-hole alarm went off in a big way for yours truly the other night, when I got a drunk driving, head-on traffic crash by Dairy Queen at 11:15pm. I got home after 1:30am that night.

Anyway, I digress. The officer went to this parking lot, and guess who he found? The Cratchets. This time, the whole family was there, so he was able to verify that Mrs. Cratchet and Tiny Tim were indeed okay. Tiny Tim’s only concern was getting back to sleep, and I had to chuckle when I read the officer’s report stated “(Tiny Tim) was in good spirits, and acted as any 8 year-old would when awakened by the police at 5am”.

Seeing exactly what I did, a decent family who were in a rough spot in their lives, this officer told dispatch he was clearing the call. He was then told “that party (Sandy) wants you to stand-by”. The officer then had to wait about a half-hour, waiting for Sandy to make some sort of decision. By that time, Bob Cratchet was nearly in tears. It was humiliating enough to live in a car, but now the police were rousting him and his family from a sound sleep for no obvious reason.

Finally, this officer was told (again over the phone) he could go clear, but he needed to write a report, not on the police reporting software, to Sandy, detailing everything that happened during this encounter. In other words, he wanted a written report, but only for his eyes. He didn’t want something that was imbedded in the mainframe computer, that couldn’t be altered or made to disappear. You see, all our reports are written on a computer program called “NIBRS” which stands for National Incident Based Reporting System. It’s basically a tool for the FBI to compile crime statistics for the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), but there’s a standing order that all our reports have to be done through NIBRS. Except those, of course, that Sandy wants to have some “flexibility” with.

My questions;

1) Why was Sandy awake at 4:40am, and how did he know about the Cratchets?

2) Why did he take such a keen interest in this, instead of just letting his officers handle it?

3) What the hell was he doing for 30 minutes while this officer waited? Knowing Sandy, he was probably searching the law books for something to have the Cratchets arrested on.

4) Why on earth would he not want this report to be made “official” by having the officer write it on the computer?

5) With the QPD patrol force being overwhelmed with radio calls lately, driving crappy or hand-me-down cruisers, why is the chief of police choosing to focus his energies on harassing a homeless family?

6) The most puzzling thing of all - What does he have against the Cratchets?

This officer, very smartly, decided to CYA and write the report on the report writing software, so it appeared in the journal.

Like so many other things in life with Sandy, this wasn’t the end of it. The next night after this officer’s encounter with the Cratchets, I received a call on the radio to be on the lookout for people sleeping in a car, at the store where I first encountered the Cratchets. The officer assigned to West Quincy got the same call for the store where the other officer encountered them. Both of these calls were logged by the chief’s office. Now, when you receive a call like that, the understood message is to move the people along if you find them.

Apparently, Sandy is expanding his target list, going from patrol officers and kids drinking in the woods, to harassing homeless families right before Christmas. Way to spread the old Christmas cheer, Sandy. Do you have a single shred of human empathy in your body?

The really sad thing is that I’ve been trying to locate the Cratchets, to tell them we want to help, but I can’t find them. I’d like to think they’ve received their emergency housing, but it’s more likely they moved out of Quincy because they got tired of being rousted by the police at Sandy’s behest.

Do some people get vindictive around Christmas? You bet they do.

ASSORTED NOTES - The QPPOA is mourning the loss of retired Detective William Donnelly. Bill was a strong union person, a true gentleman, and an all-around class act. Our deepest sympathies to Bill's family and friends.

Thursday November 30, 2006 2:58 AM

Fuzzy Math - Bruce Tait

“Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives” – Anonymous

Those who have been reading this website know what a pathological penny-pincher Chief Sandy is in regards to spending the money the city council appropriates him to adequately staff the police department. However, he’s more than happy to blow through money like a drunken sailor when it either benefits him, or screws with us.

For example, as I’ve stated before, in July 2005 he treated himself to a brand-new Ford Explorer, while those of us in the patrol division were driving literal death traps, and the former chief’s unmarked cruiser had about 12,000 miles on it. Check the Media Gallery of the website, and click “Sea Street Junkyard”. Although that particular cruiser was finally put out of its misery, I keep the pictures there as an example of what we were driving when Sandy got his new toy. As a matter of fact, the very first time I saw Sandy’s Explorer, I was driving that exact abomination of a cruiser. I was sent to a motor vehicle crash at Southern Artery & Furnace Brook Parkway, and as I approached the intersection, I could see a black Explorer with so many blue lights flashing, it looked like the final battle in “Star Wars”.

Guess who?

I barely had time to take it all in, because Sandy hightailed it out of there, as soon as he saw the marked cruisers arriving. Anyway, after the accident was cleared, I got back into that deathtrap, and noticed it was about to overheat. When you have your emergency lights activated for an extended period, especially with the older strobe bars like that cruiser had, you need to keep the engine running, so the battery doesn’t die. I half-expected to see a Hiroshima mushroom cloud come through the hood, because the temperature gauge was literally pinned to the red side. I turned the heat to maximum (to dissipate heat, even though it was July), turned on the siren, and made a mad dash back to the station. The whole time, steam was coming from under the hood of the cruiser, and I saw several people pointing and laughing at the smoking cruiser. It wasn’t exactly the highlight of my law enforcement career.

So, there’s an example of Sandy blowing money to benefit himself. Here’s one to highlight how he blows money just to screw with us.

Tuesday night, two of the MIAA (Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) high school football playoff games were played at Quincy’s Veteran's Stadium (Marshfield v. Weymouth at 4:15pm and Xaverian v. Everett at 7:15pm). This only makes sense, since the stadium has a huge seating capacity, and also has “Field Turf” installed, the same playing surface recently installed at Gillette Stadium.

Now, when the MIAA books football games at a stadium, they pick-up the cost of everything, including the necessary police detail officers. These are necessary, because some people think the appropriate way to celebrate high school athletics is to get obnoxiously drunk, and/or start a fight with the opposing team’s fans. Those of you who have been to Veteran’s Stadium know how big it is, and how hard it is to move through a large crowd.

So, with someone else picking-up the entire tab, how many detail officers do you think Sandy thought would be adequate to deal with the 10,000+ people crowd that night? Keep in mind we have over 150 patrol officers and well over 100 were off-duty last night, leaving them eligible to work a detail.

Crowd – 10,000+

QPD on detail – 6 patrol officers, 2 sergeants, 1 lieutenant.

The QPD Officer in charge of assigning details very strongly suggested to Sandy that more detail officers be hired, considering the expected crowd, and the fact that it would be no cost to the city, but no dice. 6 patrol officers was it.

Now, when these 6 officers arrived at the stadium, they were in for a surprise. It seems that Sandy ordered about 8 QPD Community Police Officers, along with their respective supervisors, to work at the game. On its face, this would seem to a cost-saving measure, as the CP Officers were working anyway, and their usual hours are Noon-8pm. However, the second game went well past 8pm, and some of the CP Officers had worked a day shift to cover a funeral detail, so at some point during last night, some earlier than others, all the CP people started the overtime clock. This is significant for a few reasons;

1) It was non-voluntary. I’m sure at least some of the CP Officers had other plans for that night, but were ordered to work the football game, thereby keeping them well past the end of their scheduled shift.

2) Forcing officers to work overtime always (or did always) occur when the overtime was offered to all other eligible officers, and refused. Then, the junior officers are forced, by seniority. The CP Officers knew at 12pm they were going to be forced, so there was an 8-hour period to offer the overtime/detail to officers who actually wanted to work it.

3) For many, if not most QPD personnel, the “city overtime” rate is much more lucrative than the private detail rate. The 6 officers hired on detail were receiving detail pay, while the CP Officers, who were ordered to be there against their will, were receiving the city overtime rate.

4) Sandy could have authorized 20 detail officers for that night, the MIAA would have picked-up the tab, and that would have been the end of it. Instead, he bare-boned the patrol officers on detail, supplemented them with CP Officers, but in the end, who pays the overtime for the CP Officers?

The city, of course.

5) This is further proof that Sandy likes to use our contract as his personal roll of Charmin, because this is a blatant violation of our Collective Bargaining Agreement, specifically the sections concerning fair & equitable distribution of details and overtime.

So, to review, Sandy could have ensured adequate police coverage at these football games, at absolutely no cost whatsoever to the city, but his apparent compulsion to screw with the patrol officers once again got the better of him. He forced the entire CP Unit working that day to work the football game, as well as stay past their scheduled shift, which resulted in the city having to pay huge overtime costs, especially considering the CP supervisors (who make 23% and 46% more than us, respectively) were also forced to work OT.

Keep in mind when you read this, that Sandy routinely short-staffs shifts in the patrol division, resulting in neighborhoods in the city not having dedicated police coverage. Just ask the 13 people who had their vehicles broken into in Hough’s Neck on November 8th, when there was no police officer assigned to Hough’s Neck, because that would have resulted in overtime hiring.

I freely admit math isn’t my strong suit, but having made it through Statistics in graduate school, I like to think I’m capable of simple quantitative analysis. Let’s examine what Sandy could have had for free, versus what he wanted, and got. For calculating the overtime costs, even a guess isn’t possible, since overtime rates are calculated differently for different situations, and I have no idea how many hours each person received.

What Sandy could have had - MIAA pays the cost of detail officers;

1 captain
2 lieutenants
4 sergeants
20 patrol officers - Net cost to city = $0

What Sandy ordered;

MIAA funded
1 lieutenant
2 sergeants
6 patrol officers – Net cost to city = $0

+

On city overtime
1 lieutenant
1 sergeant
8 patrol officers – Net cost to city = $0> (cost impossible to calculate)

Now, when I say the cost to the city was greater than $0, it was a LOT greater than $0. Many hundreds of dollars more than $0. Put it this way; the money Sandy spent Tuesday night could have easily funded TWO patrol officers down Hough’s Neck on November 8th, and then some.

So, you may be asking yourself….why does he do things like this? If I knew the answer to that, I’d be publishing articles in psychological journals instead of shagging 911 calls. Try as I might, I cannot comprehend why the chief of police, who cuts every corner imaginable when it comes to the patrol force, would refuse a totally free, well-staffed detail presence at a high-profile sporting event, instead choosing to force people to work overtime who really didn’t want to, incurring hundreds of dollars in overtime costs, while parts of the city go unprotected nearly every weeknight because he doesn’t want to hire patrol officers on overtime.

Perhaps this is his offhand way of getting back at us, after he completely got his ass kicked in the Tim Kaes decision. Perhaps he’s making irrational decisions because he’s so distracted by the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head in the form of the impending intentional tort lawsuit against him, where he literally stands to lose his house.

Whatever the reasoning, it will soon come to light. I’ve heard through the grapevine that a powerful city councilor is very interested in speaking with me, concerning the leadership of the Quincy Police Department. Especially how said leadership has cost the city over $1 million in civil lawsuit damages, with many more to come, and how people’s lives have literally been ruined by the heavy-handed tactics of the leadership. If this councilor would like me to appear before the full council, I would be honored to do so. I’m sure they’re also going to want to hear of how the chief of police spends overtime money foolishly and unnecessarily, while the sector cars that cover their constituency go unfilled on a regular basis.

As you can probably guess, I’m going to have a lot to say about all those subjects.

Saturday November 25, 2006 3:21 AM

Crime? We have no crime! - Bruce Tait

“Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but; unlike charity, it should end there” – Clare Booth Luce

I hope everyone had a happy & safe Thanksgiving. I know I have a lot to be thankful for this year….family, friends, great co-workers, and mostly great bosses. I’m thankful our little spat with the supervisors concerning Thanksgiving was short-lived; we got to spend at least half the holiday with our families, and in return, they are more than welcome at our kid’s Christmas Party this year.

I’m especially thankful that justice was finally served, and Tim Kaes is now once again a Quincy Police Officer. His first day back was Wednesday, and after some refresher training, he’ll soon be back where he belongs….with us.

One of the things I’m most thankful for is that no member of this union has been seriously injured or killed because of our chronic short-staffing, thanks to the penny-pinching of Chief Sandy. Just to review, he returned nearly 2 million (yes, million) dollars to the city over the last two fiscal years, while we’re running short-staffed nearly every weeknight, in crappy cars.

When the Quincy Police Department went to one-officer cruisers nearly twenty years ago, the patrol sectors were redefined so the city was divided into 13 distinct sectors, each (theoretically) patrolled by one patrol officer in a marked cruiser. That’s the way it was when I was hired in 1994, and that’s the way it still is now. The big difference is that back in 1994, all 13 sectors were staffed on all shifts, and the evening shift (4pm-Midnight) actually had 3 dedicated walking beats in the business districts (Quincy Square, Wollaston Center, & Norfolk Downs) in addition to the 13 sector cars. If that resulted in hiring patrol officers on overtime, then so be it. Then-Chief Francis Mullen understood that police coverage is exactly like buying insurance; you may never need it, but God help you if you do need it, and it’s not there.

Now, Quincy is a pretty large city, I believe it’s something like #7 or 8 as far as size in Massachusetts. When I was hired in 1994, it was busy, but nothing like it is now. One of the big reasons is that there’s simply more people in the city. Since I first started with the QPD, the real estate developers have been in an absolute frenzy, wedging condos and apartment buildings into every postage-stamp sized piece of property imaginable. Sometimes the buildings are huge, like Good Times on the top of Quarry Street, officially called the Cabrini-Green proj…..I mean Highpoint. Many others are small, where a single family house will be knocked to the ground, and replaced by what I not-so-affectionately refer to as “sideways condos”. There are 4+ units in the building where a single-family home once stood.

For a perfect example of how this phenomena has led to absolute insanity, look no further than the intersection of Quincy Avenue and Faxon Park Road. A beautiful single-family home once stood there, but it was demolished a couple of years ago, to be replaced by sideways condos. For whatever reasons, the building has stopped (it never really got started), and there is now a huge hole in the ground, surrounded by a chain-link fence. It’s a serious eyesore to the neighborhood. Maybe the developers jumped the gun and didn’t get the proper permits, or maybe they figured out that traffic trying to exit that plot onto Quincy Avenue is a disaster waiting to happen. Whatever the reasons, it’s completely ridiculous.

Whether the real estate disasters are big or small, the end result is more people in Quincy. Of course, The Party line is that the population of Quincy is 88,000 which hasn’t budged in the 13 years I’ve been here. I’ve heard that the new population figure is going to be 90,000, which is equally absurd. If the actual population of Quincy is anything less than 110,000 people, I’ll run down Hancock Street naked at rush hour. Of course, the less the official population, the less police officers, firefighters, and teachers the city needs to hire.

If the call volume was the same as it was in 1994, I wouldn’t really be concerned with the current situation. Unfortunately, the call volume has skyrocketed, which isn’t just due to an increased population. We’re being asked to do more with less, thanks to an increased population, as well as rampant drug abuse (prescription & illegal), alcohol abuse, and an ever-increasing demographic who think it’s okay to go on SSDI (a.k.a. free handout from Uncle Sam) because they’re drunks, junkies, or they’re “depressed”.

Look who I have to work for. I’m depressed; can I get a check every month?

Ooops, I probably shouldn’t have said that. Sandy might have someone at my door in the morning to seize my gun permit and service pistol, put me into a straitjacket, and ship me off to Doctor Dippy’s Retreat to be “checked out”.

Relax, Sandy. That was a Homeric simile. Go look it up.

Anyway, all these factors have led us to being non-stop on almost any given shift. For an example, I point your attention to this past Sunday on the 4pm-Midnight shift. I use this shift as an example so often because that’s the shift I work, so that’s where my experiences are. The problems I describe are department-wide, on all shifts.

In true Sandy fashion, we only had 10 sector cars staffed that night, which was actually 9, because the Hough’s Neck cruiser was sent to guard a prisoner at Quincy Medical Center for a good amount of time. So, the “Charlie” area, which has 3 sectors, had only one patrol officer. One police officer to cover Adams Shore, Germantown, and Hough’s Neck. That’s complete insanity.

If this was Mayberry, such staffing might be acceptable. Well folks, we’re not Mayberry. The mother-in-law of one of our members, who lives in Quincy, has commented many times, “All I hear at night now are sirens”. Welcome to Quincy, 2006-style.

That Sunday night was completely crazy, and we were literally running all over the city like chickens with our heads cut-off, trying to answer calls. Within a few minutes of each other, we had 2 armed robberies of businesses where a gun was shown, and the evening was capped-off with a stolen car pursuit that ended in a foot chase and an officer being sent to the hospital with a nasty gash to his hand (yes, we did catch the guy). But remember….The Party line is that we’re the second-safest city in Massachusetts.

That night was so crazy, I was sent to a radio call on Casco Street, which is down Hough’s Neck. My patrol sector is Quincy Point, so those of you familiar with the city know how far away those two areas are. For those of you not familiar with Quincy, Casco Street is so far from my patrol sector, I had to ask dispatch for directions on how to get there.

So anyway, the major tally for the night was two armed robberies with guns, and a stolen car chase that ended with the arrest of someone who has over 100 entries on his criminal record, has pending court cases, and was out on bail for armed robbery.

Would you care to hazard a guess as to whether any of these stories found their way into the Patriot Ledger the next day? If you said “YES”, then thanks for playing, and we have some nice parting gifts for you.

Of course they didn’t, because that would seriously damage the illusion that Quincy is the second-safest city in Massachusetts. Armed robberies? Stolen cars being driven by junkies who have nothing to lose? Such things aren’t discussed in polite company!!

Now, I’m not quite sure who to blame for this blatant non-reporting of crime in Quincy. I have a very good relationship with a couple of Patriot Ledger reporters, and those reporters have always been more than fair with us. I know the Newsroom of the Ledger has a police scanner, because I’ve heard it in the background several times when I’ve called there at night, so I find it hard to believe they didn’t hear the insanity on 453.225 on Sunday night.

My gut feeling, and this is nothing but speculation on my part, is that the higher-ups at 400 Crown Colony Drive have some type of alliance with Sandy, because it’s very rare indeed, almost unheard-of, for them to offer any sort of criticism of the management of the Quincy Police Department, in spite of the over 1 million dollars paid so far by the city to QPD employees for the bad decisions of the QPD command staff.

Of course, that 1 million dollar mark may likely be doubled, and then some, after Tim Kaes has his day in Federal court, and I’ll be very eager to see what the editorial staff at the Ledger has to say then. And, trust me, that’s just the beginning. If they haven’t already, the city might want to think about floating some bonds to finance the lawsuits that are coming, solely because of the piss-poor decisions of the Quincy Police Chief.

I am so tired of the pathological penny-pinching in the Quincy Police Department, as well as the blatant censorship of crime figures in Quincy, whoever is at fault, that I’m going to fix at least one aspect. I’m going to speak to my tech person who does the tech stuff for this website, and do some redesigning. I’m thinking there should be a section where everyone can see the ACTUAL crime statistics for Quincy, not just what Sandy, the Quincy Sun, and the Patriot Ledger wants you to see.

Slowly but surely, we’re undoing the damage that Sandy has inflicted upon the Quincy Police Department. Tim Kaes has his job back, and we’re working on some other things that need not be made public right now.

As I mentioned in the beginning, I have a lot to be thankful for in 2006. If there’s a shred of justice in the world, I’ll have a lot more to be thankful for in 2007.

Wednesday November 15, 2006 11:02 PM

Complete and Total Victory - Bruce Tait

“The possibility that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just” – Abraham Lincoln

Today, the long awaited decision on the bogus termination of former Officer Tim Kaes was issued by arbitrator James Litton. While I’m positively thrilled, I can’t say I’m the least bit surprised it was a complete and total victory for Tim and the QPPOA. This is the equivalent of a game-winning grand slam home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 7 of the World Series. I’m tempted to toss a batting helmet in the air and go hug someone, David Ortiz style.

Litton ruled the city did not have just cause to terminate Kaes, and ordered him reinstated to the Quincy Police Department with full back pay & benefits. Each of the city’s arguments was addressed, and they were knocked-down, one by one.

While only the mayor can fire someone, we firmly believe he acted in good faith, based on terrible advice from his police chief, and we never would have gotten to this point if it wasn’t for the meddling of Chief Robert Crowley. I think it’s obvious I don’t have much use for the guy, and I enjoy needling him here, but I say this in all seriousness, after much consideration:

Robert Crowley should immediately resign his position as chief of police.

Not only should he resign, he should hang his head in shame on the way out the door. In the Kaes matter, he completely fabricated criminal charges from his bedroom that resulted in someone being wrongfully terminated. That’s beyond disgusting, beyond reprehensible. It’s borderline criminal.

As a quick recap, Kaes was involved in a motor vehicle accident while off-duty. Because he couldn’t locate his cell phone after the crash, he headed for the one place he knew would have a public phone, the Wollaston MBTA station. Upon seeing a marked cruiser, he flagged it over, told the officer he was in a vehicle crash, and requested a supervisor respond. Hardly the actions of a guilty man.

A supervisor did indeed respond, and he held the same opinion as all the other officers at the scene; it was a simple vehicle crash. Of course, that wasn’t good enough for Chief Sandy, who didn’t even bother to go to the scene. From his house, he ordered Kaes arrested for drunk driving, even though no one except him thought he was intoxicated. Without seeing or speaking to Kaes, Sandy ordered him arrested. Fortunately, Kaes decided to leave the hospital because he felt fine, and thus avoided arrest. He was instead criminally summoned for a clerk-magistrate’s hearing.

After hearing the so-called evidence, the clerk not only found no probable cause for criminal charges, he realized how outrageous the charges were, and actually apologized to Kaes for having to sit through such foolishness.

In a move I guarantee will come back to haunt Sandy, he called the district attorney and requested they appeal the clerk’s hearing to a judge. Yes, THE district attorney, not just the DA’s office. For reasons I can’t fathom, this was done, and Sandy must have done a bit of judge-shopping, because the judge ordered it go to a full trial, where Kaes was found not-guilty on all charges. Keep in mind that appealing a clerk’s decision of no probable cause is so unprecedented that many of us didn’t even know it could be done. There is positively no way that would have happened if Tim Kaes wasn’t a police officer.

How did the city repay the district attorney for doing this favor for Sandy? In its brief to the arbitrator, their argument was that the ADA who prosecuted the case was incompetent, and all the Quincy Police Officers were liars. Now, I sat through the entire criminal case, and the ADA was anything but incompetent. Granted, he didn’t have a case, but he did the best he could with the bag of crap that was dumped in his lap. By the way, this supposedly incompetent ADA is now trying cases in Norfolk Superior Court, a promotion over handling district court cases.

I also know the supervisor and all the officers who were involved in this case, and I can personally vouch for the integrity of each and every one of them. No one with half a brain is going to jeopardize their job over an alleged drunken driving case. The city’s contention that Sandy is the only honest member of the QPD would be laughable if the implications against the other officers weren’t so serious.

This case also starts the counter on the money that Sandy’s rash decisions are going to cost the city. Previous lawsuits, totaling over a million dollars, technically happened under other chief’s administrations, although Sandy’s fingerprints were all over the John McDonough case. Well, this one is all Sandy’s, and the counter starts somewhere in the vicinity of $150,000 which is a rough estimate of what they’re going to have to pay Kaes, just from the arbitrator’s award. While the decision ultimately rests with Kaes, I’m certain a huge civil lawsuit is in the works. John McDonough was awarded over a half-million dollars, and he never lost his job. Tim Kaes lost 26 months of his life, had his name smeared in the media, and was wrongfully terminated. I don’t think a 7-figure judgment is out of the question, and this is but the first of many lawsuits on the horizon.

Because I haven’t had a meaningful conversation with the chief in quite awhile, it’s about time I communicated directly to him. A state of the union address, if you will.

AN OPEN LETTER TO CHIEF ROBERT CROWLEY

Dear Sandy,

I may be the first one to tell you this, but you look like death warmed-over lately, and you probably don’t feel much better. Well, sorry to say, but it just gets worse from here on out.

Let’s face facts; there’s nothing here for you anymore. Whatever fun or enjoyment you got from being chief is past history. We’re watching everything you do, so when you do something stupid, people will read about it here. When you sound like a boob on the radio, people will hear it here. The aura of invincibility and omnipresence you once held is gone; it’s nothing but a distant, unpleasant memory. People have seen you for what you are, a badge-heavy bully.

What do you have to look forward to here? Arbitration hearings, depositions, and lawsuits. If you think you had a tough go of it during Tim Kaes’ arbitration hearing, you ain’t seen NOTHING yet. We call our labor counsel, Paul Hynes, “the laser surgeon”. Because his legal practice is almost exclusively in front of civil service, arbitrators, and judges, he doesn’t need to use the aggressive tactics and histrionics of a litigation attorney. He very coolly and professionally gets his points across. It may not seem like it, but you were handled with kid gloves during that proceeding, compared to what’s in store for you down the road.

Our other lawyer, Richard Bardi, IS a litigation attorney, and believe me, he’s no laser surgeon. As a matter of fact, the famous lawyer J. Albert Johnson once referred to him as his “pitbull”. Would you care to guess who is most likely going to represent Kaes during his lawsuit against you and the city?

Let me tell you something, Sandy. When Bardi gets you on the witness stand, we’ll be able to sell tickets, it will be so entertaining. The pitbull will have free access to you, and you’ll be wearing a prime rib suit. Remember those very uncomfortable questions the arbitrator didn’t make you answer in the Kaes case? The questions about YOUR conduct while on and off-duty? Well, all those and more will be back in play, because a judge will most likely want a jury to hear the answers. Remember, you’ll be under oath. And also remember, you’ll automatically have zero credibility when the jury hears how you just thumbed your nose at the law when you didn’t file the financial disclosure required when you were on the Quincy College Board of Governors.

Richard Bardi is by far the best courtroom lawyer I’ve ever seen in my life, like someone you’d see on “Law & Order”, and he’s salivating at the opportunity to get you on the stand. I happened to see him at Jamie Cochrane’s benefit last month, and when I mentioned your name, his face grew dark. That doesn’t bode well for you. If I were you, I’d be scared. Very scared. Like…..about to wet your pants scared. Unlike you, I’ve actually testified many, many times in criminal proceedings, and while I think I’m pretty good on the witness stand, I would want no part of a Richard Bardi cross-examination. We may even hire a courtroom sketch artist to document the event for posterity.

And, I’ll be there in court, with a ringside seat to the show. I wouldn’t miss that spectacle for anything.

Also, here’s a legal term you should intimately acquaint yourself with, because you’re going to be hearing it a lot in the coming months;

Intentional tort.

You see Sandy, because you very deliberately created the circumstances that resulted in Kaes being wrongfully terminated, you’re personally liable for damages. If you don’t have a lawyer yet, I’d call one fast, and he’ll tell you that insurance does not cover intentional torts. Because the city is self-insured, you’re going to personally be on the hook for any civil judgment against you. I’ll bet the jury is going to love how you called-in a favor with the district attorney to get the criminal charges against Kaes reinstated. If that isn’t an intentional tort, then nothing is.

Of course, the city could theoretically choose to pay your damages anyway, but I know the mayor is not a stupid man, and he’s probably a little bit pissed at himself for listening to your advice about this. Rest assured, if there is any attempt by the city to pay your civil judgment, I’ll be in front of the city council before you can say…….intentional tort.

In closing, let me say I realize your nature is to dig-in your heels when challenged. However, I think you’ve taken enough of a public flogging in the last 11 months. It’s time for it to end. You always liked to say how money means nothing to you, why not practice what you preach and just leave? There is no possible way you’ll ever gain the confidence of your patrol officers, and even many of the superior officers mock you behind your back. I’m certainly not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, and I intend to be the president of the union for as long as the membership does me the honor of electing me, or at least until your portrait is hanging in the conference room.

All this acrimony and rancor immediately ends when you’re gone. Do everyone a favor, including yourself, and just hang it up.

Sincerely,

Your favorite patrol officer.

P.S. Wait until you see what we got you for Christmas this year.

Wednesday November 15, 2006 12:17 AM

The Death of Traditions - Bruce Tait

“A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril” – Sir Winston Churchill

One thing I’ve learned in the last few days that has absolutely astounded me, is how incredibly fragile the egos are among people in power at the Quincy Police Department. For instance, the captain in charge of night patrol called me into his office the other night. This was actually Round 2, as we had a very cordial conversation a few hours earlier, concerning the recent spike of verbal warnings, and associated decrease in written traffic citations. That was apparently before he read the then-latest entry in this space, concerning how we patrol officers have become an island unto ourselves.

For Round 2, the captain was quite pissed-off over how I wrote here that if some superior officers weren’t with us, they were against us. That was a simple statement of truth, made all the more relevant by the fact that just about every superior officer I have any contact with will bad-mouth Sandy freely, when given the opportunity. Quite simply, we’ve become tired of having superior officers approach us, and basically say “Yeah, I know he’s crazy, but can you make my life easier by making your life more difficult?”

No, we can’t. Not anymore.

To get down to brass tacks, every superior officer of the Quincy Police Department needs to make a decision. Carry Sandy’s water, or stand-up for what’s right. If they don’t want to make that kind of decision, they never should have taken that promotion exam.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank two specific sergeants for trying to stick-up for us at a recent staff meeting, and also to say “Shame on you” to the other superior officers present at that meeting, who sat mute while Sandy tore those two sergeants a new one. We know who those sergeants are, and we won’t forget them. They’re forever okay in our book.

Anyway, this captain has apparently decided to manifest his anger with me in the most petty, juvenile manner imaginable. During our Round 2 discussion, he must have told me a dozen times “I’m with management”. Not that I doubted him, but his actions since then have made it perfectly clear that he’s cast his lot with Sandy. In true Sandy fashion, this captain has lashed-out at the patrol officers under his command, without thinking of the long-term consequences of such a decision.

I'd also like to mention here that this captain waited until I was on days-off to make this announcement. I was at work last night, but he waited until I wasn't at roll call to drop that particular bomb.

Coincidance? I think not.

For the almost 13 years I’ve been with the Quincy Police Department, and dating back to before I was even born, there has been a tradition that on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, the shifts are “split”, meaning everyone only has to work half the shift. By seniority, everyone on the shift picks what half they want to work, in my case I chose to come in at 8pm on Thanksgiving. This works well, because those holidays are always dead, so half the shift can more than adequately cover the few calls we receive, and there is always the caveat that you can be called-in if things get busy.

Well, this captain has decided to suddenly cancel this long-standing tradition. He apparently wants to “get back” at me for some perceived slight, and also wants to bust the union. For many reasons, this was a piss-poor decision, mostly because that’s the last bullet in the gun for management. There’s absolutely nothing else they can do to us to further ruin morale. They have nothing left, and now we have positively nothing more to lose. Their gun is now empty, and we’re still standing strong.

Unfortunately for Sandy and his minions, we still have many magazines full of ammunition, which are going to be fired down range in short order. Because this captain’s petty decision is going to effect the family lives of our members, one good turn deserves another. Our children are going to be very disappointed this Christmas because Daddy or Mommy won’t be around.

No problem, because two can play that game.

Another long-standing tradition in the Quincy Police Department is a huge Christmas party for the children of department employees. The QPPOA foots just about the entire bill for this, from the rental of the school cafeteria/auditorium, to the clowns, face painters, and refreshments. The only thing we’ve ever asked is for the superior officers’ association to foot the bill for the gifts to the children of their members. Or course, actually getting the money is like pulling teeth, and they still owe us over $1,000 for last year’s party.

Well, I don’t break bread with my enemies, so this year’s party is only going to be open to the patrol officers and civilian employees of the Quincy Police Department. The superior officers can go have their own party, because they’re not welcome at ours.

I truly feel bad for the good superior officers who stand with us when times are tough, but that’s something they need to address with the night captain. He started this childish tit-for-tat game, and we’re just playing along.

Taking this a step further, the QPPOA Family Day for 2007 will also exclude superior officers and their families. Once again, concerns should be addressed to the night captain, because his decision to cancel the half-days on holidays is the sole reason for this decision.

These measures are certainly not our last bullet, far from it. Effective immediately, every member of the Quincy Police Department who wears a gold badge is subject to being followed by a private investigator. I’m sick of the raincoat inspections, as well as the veiled threats we’re going to be held strictly accountable for wearing our hats, staying in our specific sectors, and other petty bullshit. The four of us on the executive board conduct our personal and professional lives to the highest standards possible, and I certainly can’t say the same of certain superior officers.

Of course, we know who our friends are, so the “Airedales” have nothing to fear, and I wouldn’t waste the union’s money following someone who is on our side. The superior officers who want to continue to do Sandy’s bidding best make sure they have their all their ducks lined in a row before they start screwing with us.

The brass at the QPD apparently seems to forget that cops know where the bodies are buried. We know ALL the peccadilloes of our supervisors, but until now, we really didn’t care. We know who the barely functional alcoholics are, who can’t make it through an 8-hour shift without getting snookered. We know who likes to take a keen interest in what their patrol officers do during traffic stops, but also likes to leave the city, unauthorized, on personal errands. We know who likes to spend the entire shift on their living room couch. We know who likes to spend intimate moments, while on-duty, with women other than their wives. And, we know where those women live.

Yup, we know it all. And eventually, if this crap continues, you will also. I’ve often been asked what the first video files posted on this website will be. Now, you know.

Former Chief Bill Falco liked to say “Everyone has to be treated the same”. While he certainly didn’t practice what he preached, it was a noble concept. I’m going to make sure it’s enforced to the letter this time around.

As I stated previously, when the bad feelings start permeating 1 Sea Street, the superior officers who side with Sandy need to remember it didn’t have to come to this. For many years, it was more convenient for them to expect us to comply with his B.S. than to take a stand for what’s right.

Well, we’re not going to make it that easy anymore. You can do the right thing, or you can join the band in playing “Nearer My God to Thee” as the ship goes down. Personally, I don’t care either way.

Your decision, gentlemen.