Civil Service use questioned by area PD's

By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
In the fall, the Fitchburg Police Department received funding to hire three officers. But finding suitable officers took months — and not because of a shortage of talented people interested in police jobs.

The reason, according to Police Chief Robert A. DeMoura, is that Fitchburg is one of a minority of communities in Massachusetts that still use the Civil Service system. Using the system for hiring is slow and inefficient, he said. When his department received the OK to hire the new officers, it had to restrict its choices to lists provided by the Civil Service unit. The first list did not have adequate candidates, he said.

“The top contender that is number one on the list could potentially have been arrested,” he said. “Nothing precludes them from taking the test and they can take it and be at the top, depending on their score. Some departments hire people with certain records — serious motor vehicle records and criminal citations. To me, that is not a top candidate.”

If a department bypasses candidates at the top of the list, it must send a letter substantiating the reasons, Chief DeMoura said. Those candidates have 60 days to contest the letter at no cost, but the appeals can cost the city thousands of dollars, he said. Chief DeMoura is just one of several Worcester County police chiefs who say the system needs to be revamped. Many communities have already abandoned it.

Retired Shrewsbury Police Chief A. Wayne Sampson , executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said at least one Massachusetts municipality a month is opting out of using the Civil Service system for hiring and for promotions for chief and deputy chief positions. However, if a community wants to do away with using Civil Service completely, it must negotiate with its unions — a much longer and more difficult process. Provincetown and Wellesley recently completely opted out, and about a half-dozen communities in the state are currently in negotiations to do so, he said.

In Worcester County, only 33 percent of municipalities are Civil Service communities, while 47 percent in the state use the system. “Towns want to make sure there is a well-established process for both hiring and promotions,” Mr. Sampson said. “We've seen that when a community really does their research and finds out there are viable alternatives, especially in the area of the promotion process, they become comfortable with the programs that are out there.”

Under the Civil Service system, state and municipal employees are hired and promoted through a merit system based on scores on a competitive examination. The Civil Service Unit within the Human Resources Division at the Executive Office of Administration and Finance runs the merit system.

Although the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association holds a neutral position on the subject, its current president, Kingston Police Chief Joseph J. Rebello, who has served as chief in both non-Civil Service and Civil Service communities, said it is much easier to function without Civil Service.

Kingston is the only Civil Service municipality where he has served as chief, Chief Rebello said.

“After coming here, I see it is a cumbersome way to operate a police department,” Chief Rebello said. “Getting any type of hiring list, promotion list, or anything of that nature, you are on somebody else's clock.”

He said that when a police department is faced with an unplanned opening, trying to get a list of candidates who have taken the exam in time to put them through the police academy takes too much time. “In a small department, manpower is an issue, and you don't have a lot of leeway for spending time on hiring,” he explained. “You have to pay overtime until you can get someone through the process.”

One of the problems, said Chief Rebello, is major budget cuts to the Civil Service Unit. Alex Zaroulis, spokesman for the Executive Office of Administration and Finance, said that since October 2008, four of the six employees in that unit have been laid off. “Within the last few years, major budget cuts to Civil Service have made an ineffective system even more inefficient,” Chief Rebello said. Municipalities, however, do not make the move away from using Civil Service, he said, because that, too, is a cumbersome process. “Most chiefs' positions were removed from Civil Service and this is fairly easy to do,” Chief Rebello said. “An entire department is much more cumbersome.”

Clinton Police Chief Mark R. Laverdure said it has taken him months to hire five needed patrolmen. If Clinton were a non-Civil Service town, he said, he could have placed an advertisement in the paper and hired them in a month. Chief Laverdure said he recently talked with the town manager about the matter.

“The reason for Civil Service, originally, was to eliminate political influences in hiring,” he said. “But that is not a problem anymore. Everyone wants the best possible candidate out there, and all you need to take the Civil Service exam is a GED and driver's license. Just because you score well on a paper test doesn't mean you're an excellent candidate.”

There is also preferential treatment given to veterans on the list, he said, regardless of what they scored on the exam. “Kids that have gone to school for this, and prepared for this, and spent money for a degree are not even being considered,” he said. “They are ranked way below veterans.” Gardner Deputy Police Chief Rock A. Barrieau said departments lose seats in the police academy while waiting for Civil Service lists.

“It is taxing on any city or town to hire through the Civil Service,” he said. “(In non-Civil Service communities) veterans coming back from tours in the Marine Corps in Iraq can just pop in, in great shape, have training as military police and they can hire you. You can't do that here. You have to wait for the results from the Civil Service and hope the person scores high enough to even be in the running.”

Lunenburg has always been a non-Civil Service town, says Police Chief Daniel F. Bourgeois. “We're not locked into a list,” he said. “It expedites the process when you don't have to go through that specific regimen of Civil Service. If people here retire or leave suddenly, we're in a bind because it is a limited force and we have to fill positions quick. We get to look at a candidate in its entirety — education and employment — not just someone on a list off an exam.”

In Auburn and Uxbridge, where the police chiefs' positions are part of the Civil Service system, the chiefs favor the system. Auburn Police Chief Andrew J. Sluckis Jr. said Civil Service takes politics out of decision making. Chiefs do not have to worry about not having their contract renewed every three years, he said, or having just-cause clauses written into their contracts.

Uxbridge Chief Scott J. Freitas said although the system is very difficult to navigate and needs reform, he favors the layer of protection it provides in decision making.As much as officials say reform is needed, state Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, said, no bills have been filed for that purpose.

“Until we find a way to give a job applicant a leg up because they are a veteran or child of a person killed in the line of duty while serving in public safety — until the system addresses those issues — I will support it,” said Mr. Brewer. “I acknowledge there are problems and it takes too long and is too cumbersome. If funding would solve that, it would be nice, but I cannot guarantee funding when there is difficulty funding problems across the board.”

The reason, according to Police Chief Robert A. DeMoura, is that Fitchburg is one of a minority of communities in Massachusetts that still use the Civil Service system.



Wtf....isn't that the exact opposite.

And the blatant politicization of Massachusetts law enforcement continues.

How much is a set of stripes going to cost?

"Look Chief. I don't care if you think this guy is a lazy layabout and he uses thirty sick days a year. He's the nephew of the chairman of the Finance Committee. You want new cruisers this year? Hire him."

I'm not saying this stuff goes on all the time, but the potential is there. For a recent example check out the Fall River Fire department Lt promoted to Chief over 10 or so higher ranking and more qualified people.

Civil Service isn't the best, and it can be manipulated too, but at least they have to work at manipulating it.

"Chief DeMoura is just one of several Worcester County police chiefs who say the system needs to be revamped. "

Agreed.

This.

To think that there is no one qualified on that list is a fucking insult to every guy working his ass off trying to get on this job.

I work in a non-civil circus town (both PD and FD), and while I agree that CS needs an overhaul I wish we had it. I have seen people get promoted who were not even able to get hired on a CS dept because they could not pass the CS enterance exam, and now they are supervisors!

When has this ever happened?

I think Civil Service in MA is good and bad. I think the current testing procedures help "limit" the political bullshit.

I totally disagree with "residency" requirements. I believe some towns (Carver?) are civil service but they don't have "residency preference". In other words, you could take the MA civil service test and be a resident of Montana. If you top the list and list Carver as a choice, you will get the job (assuming you pass the other steps). How could anyone argue that your not getting some of the best candidates then (nationwide candidate list versus a small town's population etc)? In my opinion you definitely limit the "talent pool" when you limit it to a particular city/town's residents. I don't buy the argument of growing up in a particular town/city makes you a better Cop for that same municipality. If anything it is a negative as everyone "knows" everyone, constant late night phone calls etc (I got a phone call recently at 0200AM from a guy I hadn't talked to in several years. I thought for sure someone was dead).

Why is it that Boston residents are the only ones who can be Boston Cops? Does the private sector work like this? Ahhhh no......Most, if not all, other big cities hire from all over........

For me it would be this and "residency" as well. Residency has to go, open up the talent pool. It's our backup.........

I see what your saying, but if my kids chose this path I would probably try to steer them elsewhere (different state). I am not a big fan as to how things are run where we work right now. The phone calls etc (politicians and the like) that go on seem to be a requirement to get a "specialty" job etc, just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I know things could change, but just saying....... I make the best of things, but I think you and I could agree that there are the "connected" people and the rest of us (I hope my observations are wrong, but it just seems quite obvious to me)......

The thing I will never understand on why it's so difficult to be a police officer in Massachusetts. I don't know if it's the culture, society, politics or whatever that drives so many people to be a cop.

You can go to any number of states (mostly in the south) and they can't beg enough people to try to get on their departments.

We are so understaffed right now that it's comical and it has nothing to do with our budget or the economy.

Police leaders don't want to get rid of CS so the can hire who they want--they want to get rid of it so they can fire who they want.

CS is just as much about retention as it is hiring.

There are so many half-truths spouted by leadership in that article, it's stunning. The best part is the second paragraph quote by the Gardner chief suggesting that getting rid of the lag time in the hiring process to veterans would somehow better serve them than the current system.

Delta, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this. The selectboard in my town is spending a small fortune in legal fees fighting some labor issues that they know they will eventually lose. They pursue them anyways, just because they want to be as difficult as they can out of spite on those issues. I've seen it over and over in my career where management does what they want and just pays the piper later with other people's money (taxpayers).

I would agree except for the cases in which a person is rightfully skipped (background check) and then a new admin comes in and games are played with the appeal before voila, they are hired.

Because we're a union state with some of the highest salaries & best benefits for police in the country. Unfortunately, we also have among the highest cost of living, but that doesn't mean anything to someone who already lives here, and is used to it.

buddy talked to a kid recently hired down south. he's covered by the department's medical , but his wife and kids aren't !

low pay and no union protection would be my guess why no one is running south looking for work.

There are plenty of guys going south. My point with this

was more to the fact that not many southerns (at least in VA) want to be police officers.

Pretty soon my department (one of the largest in VA) will have a born out of state majority. Ten years from now it won't even be close. My squad of 15 guys has 3 Virginians.

The largest groups of guys are from OH (a cs state btw), MA, PA, NY and NJ.