Appalling behavior

[unixronin]

Boston police threatened to arrest a traffic flagger at a construction site for doing her job, then later denied it had happened.

The tension has been simmering since October 2008, when Massachusetts became one of the last states in the nation to allow civilian flaggers to work at construction sites.  In the weeks after the law was passed, police in some communities taunted civilian flaggers at construction sites.  In Woburn, for example, where the first civilian flagger was used, 50 off-duty officers shouted down a union-represented civilian flagger, calling him a “scab’’ and “pathetic.’’

And we're expected to respect the police.

Comments

[nephthys510.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that Boston has no crime so the police are free to do important things like traffic control.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was thinking much the same thing.

[montieth.livejournal.com]

It's their off duty job. So they can make more money.

[hugh-mannity.livejournal.com]

To protect the status quo and serve ourselves.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

You got a problem with dat?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, DAT doesn't hold enough data to be useful. ;)

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

International Brotherhood of Teamsters?

[montieth.livejournal.com]

One of the few states?

We have Traffic flaggers down here all the time that are not cops.

(Cops are civilians as they are NOT subject to the UCMJ)

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Cops are civilians as they are NOT subject to the UCMJ

Yup. But not in their minds.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i've been told by a cop dude at my old gym that these gigs are usus
ally snagged by senior officers, in their off- hours but as they are sanctioned events, it goes towards their yearly numbers for their last 3 year period, boosting their benefits.

of course too, the extra money is sweet, they have time to do the odious paperwork cops have (a total suck fest really), and chill from double shifts all month long.

so while it's not an easy job, they do have to suck it up that the often expensive extra work may have to go, and that loophole (like the fireman's supervisor one) should be perhaps re-visited. bad enough teamsters sign up their babies so they get senior benefits later...

#

[masgramondou.livejournal.com]

I'm unclear what a "flagger" actually does apart from risk life and limb by not being a concrete barrier.

In Europe flaggers are pretty rare and never ever police. Large lumps of conrete generally do a better job of ensuring that traffic goes around the workers and if some driver isn't paying attention you don't have to scrape the flagger off the road.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

At least in Maine, the flagger is usually in charge of alternating traffic on a narrow lane, coordinating by hand-held radio with the other end of the construction zone. Concrete barriers don't communicate as well.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Flaggers are there to do things a concrete barrier can't do, such as stop traffic when a construction vehicle is about to enter or leave the construction area, or to safely control alternating-direction traffic flow on a section of road that's reduced to one lane when there's no practical alternate route.

[masgramondou.livejournal.com]

In Europe we use traffic lights for alternate traffic flow mostly. These days they mostly have a motion/object sensor to determine whether there is anyone waiting.

Flaggers are really there for very very short duration events such as letting a truck in/out or perhaps something like fixing a streetlight which takes a few minutes and just requires traffic to maneuver around a parked vehicle.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Traffic-sensing signals are still extremely rare in the US. They cost more. :p

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

And they don't recognize bicycles . . .

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

or motorcycles, usually.

[echristo.livejournal.com]

Did you see the article about the Seattle PD? Think it made the rounds yesterday:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/418746_video.html

Ugh. Jackbooted Thugs.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw that. Troubling. There's been quite a few troubling incidents lately.