By Terry Date
Staff writer
May 18, 2008 05:45 am WINDHAM — Selectmen will review a plan tomorrow night to use retired Windham police officers on traffic details and in emergencies, as needed. The concept has majority support on the board, but the police chief opposes it. Board supporters include Selectmen Chairman Dennis Senibaldi and Vice Chairman Bruce Breton, who proposed the idea. "It is a cost savings to the town," Senibaldi said. "Look at what you pay a special officer compared to the overtime officers." Breton estimates the part-timer program could generate $10,000 to $15,000 a year. Windham police now turn to other towns, including Salem, Pelham and Hudson, for police officers to work road construction details when the department can't fill those shifts, he said. When an officer from another town covers a detail, that other town receives the difference between what the officer earns and what that town charges the contractor, Breton said. When Windham covers the details, Windham receives the difference between what the officer is paid and the $42.50 an hour the town bills the contractor, he said. Police Chief Gerald Lewis said, in general, he opposes the use of retired officers as part-time officers for any purpose. However, he agrees the officers could perform the functions. Lewis said part-time officers present liabilities to the town and other officers. "(T)hey would tend to have outdated intelligence, officer safety and other police related or procedural information," Lewis states in a May 5 letter to Town Administrator Dave Sullivan. Lewis also argues that the special officers would incur training expenses to meet annual department and Police Standards & Training Council standards. He recommends the special officers be required to pass a physical fitness test. Earlier, selectmen voted, 3-1, to support the special officer program, in concept, and asked the town administrator to report back with a proposal that reconciles the differences between Breton's and Lewis's ideas. Selectman Galen Stearns voted against the motion. Earlier, he suggested the town consider contracting with private flaggers to work construction details. Sullivan said he wants to see a program get a one-year tryout. He said the town had special officers previously and eliminated them in the mid-1990s. They weren't needed then. The union contract provides details first be offered to regular officers, and the regular officers could handle the volume of details a decade ago. Of late, with the Route 111 construction project, there has been a greater call for details, and the town has contracted some of them to officers from other towns when Windham's force has been unable to fill the slots. Windham officers worked 7,852 hours of details between January and December 2007. Out-of-town officers worked 1,459 hours of details between April and December 2007. The police chief, however, expects the need for details to decline significantly by mid- to late summer.
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