Police Patrol Unit Contract Approved
Officials try to craft contract to entice patrolmen to stay in Hopedale
By Theresa Knapp
The Hopedale Board of Selectmen has entered into a contract with the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, AFL-CIO Local #164 -- the town’s police patrol unit.
Highlights of the 37-page contract include, in part:
• Effective July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024
• 40 hours with consecutive days (four on, two off)
• Overtime guidance
• Detail guidance
• Vacation days (10 days after one year of service, 15 days after 5 years, 20 days after 10 years, 22.5 days after 15 years of service, 25 days after 20 years of service)
• Provisions for court time
•Clothing allowance
• Equipment to be provided by the town: all approved leather goods, handcuffs, service weapons, magazines, holsters, belts, night sticks, shoulder patches, ammunition and badges and mandated approved body armor, carriers, trauma plates and fasteners.
• Longevity incentives
• Education incentives
• No Strike clause
• Drug testing guidance
These contract details are an attempt to entice current patrolmen to stay and new patrolmen to join the Hopedale Police Department. Town officials have recently voiced concern that Hopedale is serving as a training ground for new recruits who then move on to other towns that pay higher salaries.
Police Chief Giovanella has noted it can cost the town approximately $40,000 to train a new policeman. Costs include the Police Academy (26 weeks), equipment, backfilling shifts to ensure two people are on at a time, plus any benefits the employee receives from the town.
Selectman Louis Arcudi III, who helped negotiate the contract, said they compared the salaries of several surrounding towns, as well as the towns to which former Hopedale patrolmen have gone to work, with the intent of “increasing salaries for trained patrolmen coming in” and increasing their step raises. “We’re just trying to keep our officers,” he said.
Arcudi said, historically, patrolmen leave Hopedale between years two and three. “They can go and become a Step 1 Officer in a surrounding town and be paid more there than our Step 2.”
Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Brian Keyes said, “It’s unacceptable for us to be staffed at a proper level and then lose really good officers who want to stay but they’ve had to move on, and I think we need to nip that in the bud and come up with a solution...to make them want to stay. You may say, ‘How can we afford it?’ - we can’t not afford it.”
Keyes said town officials continue to work toward a solution.
By Theresa Knapp
The Hopedale Board of Selectmen has entered into a contract with the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, AFL-CIO Local #164 -- the town’s police patrol unit.
Highlights of the 37-page contract include, in part:
• Effective July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2024
• 40 hours with consecutive days (four on, two off)
• Overtime guidance
• Detail guidance
• Vacation days (10 days after one year of service, 15 days after 5 years, 20 days after 10 years, 22.5 days after 15 years of service, 25 days after 20 years of service)
• Provisions for court time
•Clothing allowance
• Equipment to be provided by the town: all approved leather goods, handcuffs, service weapons, magazines, holsters, belts, night sticks, shoulder patches, ammunition and badges and mandated approved body armor, carriers, trauma plates and fasteners.
• Longevity incentives
• Education incentives
• No Strike clause
• Drug testing guidance
These contract details are an attempt to entice current patrolmen to stay and new patrolmen to join the Hopedale Police Department. Town officials have recently voiced concern that Hopedale is serving as a training ground for new recruits who then move on to other towns that pay higher salaries.
Police Chief Giovanella has noted it can cost the town approximately $40,000 to train a new policeman. Costs include the Police Academy (26 weeks), equipment, backfilling shifts to ensure two people are on at a time, plus any benefits the employee receives from the town.
Selectman Louis Arcudi III, who helped negotiate the contract, said they compared the salaries of several surrounding towns, as well as the towns to which former Hopedale patrolmen have gone to work, with the intent of “increasing salaries for trained patrolmen coming in” and increasing their step raises. “We’re just trying to keep our officers,” he said.
Arcudi said, historically, patrolmen leave Hopedale between years two and three. “They can go and become a Step 1 Officer in a surrounding town and be paid more there than our Step 2.”
Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Brian Keyes said, “It’s unacceptable for us to be staffed at a proper level and then lose really good officers who want to stay but they’ve had to move on, and I think we need to nip that in the bud and come up with a solution...to make them want to stay. You may say, ‘How can we afford it?’ - we can’t not afford it.”
Keyes said town officials continue to work toward a solution.
