Stoneham PD abandoning mid shift?

It's been a long time since this issue came up. I think I remember this issue creating an absolute mess on this board only a few months ago. Hopefully it stays civil. As I've stated a million times, I do not support the Sherrif's departments serving any sort of patrol function at this time. There are much better and more pressing things that we need to be spending our money on, namley safe staffing in our correctional facilities. While the Sheriff's Departments, for the most part could legally do patrol work, it really doesn't make sense to expand our duties or authority at this point in time. Nor, are the logistics in place to do it safley for both the officers and the citizens.
Aside from throwing out where I stand again, I just wanted to remind everyone to keep this thread professional. I understand that it is going to be a heated subject, but I just hope we will stick to the facts, and avoid the generalizations that have caused so many problems in the past. At the end of the day, this is a political issue, decided by politicians, and we should do our best to not wage war against eachother. I am both a Deputy Sheriff and a Police Officer. I wouldn't want a Sheriff taking my police job, and I wouldn't want a cop taking my Sheriff job. They are exclusive, and should stay that way.
If it is true that Stoneham is abandoning their entire shift, that'd be pretty sad. They are way to big of a city to be policed by an outside agency, no matter who it was. There is a lot to be said for a city government providing police services to it's own community. It's their job, and they shouldn't farm it out.

Thumper,

Although I don't support any county's decision to do patrol work, I thought I'd point out that you seem to be making generalizations about Sherriffs. You infer that A) All Sheriffs want to be cops. This is by far not true. Most cops don't want our job, and most Sheriffs don't want to be cops. If you spend some time in a facility, you will find that there are a lot of guys that have no interest in the dangers and crap that come with working the street. B) You infer that every Sheriff receives their position by making some sort of donation or political connection. Again, if you spend some time in a facility, you will find that there are a lot of regular guys, who know no body, never paid anybody, and just got hired based on a good background. Most guys are people who wanted to work in criminal justice, and were attracted by the money and the benefits the state offers.
I do agree though, our unions should get together and fight this. If the state can afford to fund the Sheriff's departments well enough that they have enough staff to do police work (Which they don't, so I don't understand why this is being done), then they have enough money to fund the police. There is an inherent financial problem with Sheriff's doing patrol work.
Nothing personal here Thumper. You should be careful of generalizations. Just because you know a few bad apples, or even a lot, doesn't mean the whole bunch is bad. Generalizations are dangerous. If you'd like to meet some great people that don't meet your stereotypes, drop me an email, and I'll take you on a tour someday :wink:

As I have said before , yes there are Deputy's that didn't pay for their job but earned it, but there are an inordinate amount that have not. Any organization that allows people to pay $2,000 or have everyone in their family contribute $1,000 then there is something wrong. Right now a certain Sheriff is in a tight race and poof, all of a sudden three police union officials sons are hired, hhhmmmmm. Until such time that all are required to take a realistic test without political influence then everyone knows it is a tainted system and the respect will be LACKING...
And yes this issue might be decided by the politicians, and most of the Sheriff's are ex-pols, just hope that the paying public doesn't find out about the $$$ being spent on Yukons, and machine guns and command posts, when the average patrol officer might not have a bulletproof vest or even a MDT that might save his life. That $$ that goes to have all these connected Deputies to drive around in Expeditions and Yukons should be used to give hard working police officers the equipment that they need and some people should do the RIGHT THING.

As to my spending some time in a facility, a very large majority of Troopers and other Police Officers have come from the ranks of the DOC and or Town or City police or sometimes both.

Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass on the tour as I have worked 10 Block and Essex 1 at MCI-Walpole... soooo much for generalizations

Pearl,

The fact of the matter is that the Sheriff did OFFER to take over police services for free. Just because he offered them doesn't mean CRAP because the town will pay forever in legal bills and backpay to the officers if they accept the offer. You keep saying that sheriffs don't want to be police officers. That is the biggest crap I ever heard, I have never ever met a happy correction officer that says "I love my job, can't wait to go in and do this for another 30 years". The fact is that the Sheriff is trying to push their foot in law enfocement because their flunkies could not make it through a legitimate hiring process to get on a police department. The bright ones move on and go on MSP or local, federal. Just becasue you are the EXCEPTION and love being a correction officer and have no aspirations to go to a PD does not mean that the rest of the guys do too. All the PDs have to get together and stop this guard nonsense taking over PDs. MCJTC is already putting a stop on training deputies to their FT academies and hopefully that will nip in the butt. I know you will respond to this and this will go on forever. Let's not forget the real issue here, JAIL GUARDS ARE TRYING TO TAKE OVER POLICE DEPARTMENTS. It's that simple!

H50,

Free or not, the Sheriff's Department should'nt be doing any sort of patrol work. I thought I made that clear, but I could be wrong. We just don't have the staffing or training to do anything other than working in the jail Hands down, police work is not our job, and we have no business being there. If I was unclear, I apoligize.
If you read my post more carefully, you will not find that I said sheriffs do not want to be police officers. You will find that I said all sheriffs do not want to be police officers. Some do, some don't. I object to blanket statements which make all deputy sheriff's out to be "cop wannabes" as some here would chose to call them. There are a lot of guys who would never take a police job if you offered it to them. They are perfectly content with the relative safety that our happy corectional facility provides.
Just for the record, I did want to be a cop, so as suggested by many, I took the test and got hired. Now, I'll just quietly do my job everyday until the city offers me a full-time job, because like you said, I don't like my job, and I do not want to do it for 30 years. When that comes, I'll leave the jail without question. I have no problem putting that out there. So, being an example myself, deputy sheriff's are not all flunkies who can't get hired by a police department. Some of us were just young guys, looking for a job to support our families, while waiting for civil service. More than likley, most of us on this board either are or were in the position at one point. I never took this job in the hopes of being a screw my entire life. I respect that job that I do as a corrections officer, but it's just not where I want to be. I'm just a guy who wanted to be a cop, and needed to pay my bills in the interim. Not a flunky.

Thumper,

I agree that the system needs to change. I just argue the point that you generalize all deputy sherif's into one category. Personally, I know no one, do not donate to anyone, and do not care to. Some how, I feel that you lump me into the "hack" category, just by nature of my employer.
Additionally, you somehow try to divert blame from the politicians involved, to the actual Deputy Sheriff's who are on the receiving end of the equipment. It doesn't seem to make sense to me. If my Sheriff decides to go out and get a grant and pay for some expensive un-needed equipment, and I am ordered, as it is my job to use it, am I at fault? or is the Sheriff? Realistically, you can't expect me to say "No, a police officer should have this piece of equipment. I'm not using it Sheriff". It just doesn't make sense. This is a problem of politicians, and those that choose to involve themselves in politics. The rest of us should do what we can to thwart it, without losing our jobs.
As far as working for the DOC, I can respect that. I actually work with those guys nearly every day, and I have the utmost respect for them. Unfortunatley, I think that the DOC and the Sheriff's Departments are completley different entities. Just because you were a corrections officer doesn't make you knowledgeable about how my facility runs. I only suggested spending some time or a visit, because it seems that you lump a lot of good CO's in to the "hack" category. As I now know you were once a corrections officer, I would hope that you would remember where you came from, and remember that there are a lot of good guys, and a lot of clowns. We need to separate the two in these types of discussions, and give the good hardworking guy like you and I, a little respect.

YES, you are where it happens , Just say NO!! Tell the boss "Dont you think that there are police officers on the street that might need this equipment, and might get injured if they dont get it, we are correction officers and not police officers". Make change , dont go with the flow stand up for yourself and make a difference. Do the right thing...!!! And for the 14th time I dont lump everyone together, but yes you must have your eyes closed because of the five guys I know that work in my county for the SO or their relatives three got it with donations or hacks...

The 3 votes I was talking about was within ONE PD......

Hmmm what do you think the Leominster Officer thought as he got pulled over the other day by a Deputy Sheriff and he tried to lecture him by saying "You should know better" before the Leominster Officer had a meltdown and drove away leaving the Deputy stammering on the sidewalk mmmhhhhhhhhhhhh

A correction Officer is a correction Officer. Joint by joint yes there are different institutions but the job overall is the same as LEO's but with different enviroments, MCI-Walpole just happen to have guys that were doing anywhere from 10-400 years and had nothing to lose.