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

[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.