No charges to be filed in Woburn flagger protest

October 16, 2008 04:56 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By David Abel, Globe Staff

The Middlesex district attorney’s office has decided not to prosecute three police officers for their actions during a protest in Woburn last week of the state’s new civilian flagger rules.

"Based on the evidence that we were presented with by the Woburn Police Department, there is insufficient evidence to prove that criminal conduct occurred,” the district attorney's spokesman, Corey Welford, said in a statement. “While we must respect the First Amendment rights of all citizens, we also will continue to look at any other incidents like this and are certainly willing to move forward with criminal charges if supported by the evidence."

Woburn officials had asked prosecutors to investigate the conduct of the three out-of-town officers. Woburn police Chief Philip L. Mahoney said today that he had called the chiefs of the two departments where the officers serve and requested that they be disciplined for actions unbecoming of police officers.

“My concern is that these officers be held accountable,” Mahoney said in a phone interview. “Their conduct was inappropriate – absolutely inappropriate.”

He declined to identify the officers or the communities where they work.

The Oct. 7 protest included about 50 off-duty officers from Arlington, Medford, Everett, Stoneham, and Woburn who heckled flaggers to protest new state rules that curb police details at road and construction projects, which often earn officers $40 an hour.

At a news conference Wednesday, Mahoney accused one of the officers of driving recklessly in the wrong lane of traffic and the two others of screaming at one of the flaggers in an effort to distract him from his work.

The new regulations, which the administration estimates will save the state between $5.7 million and $7.2 million a year, replace officers with civilian flaggers on nearly all state roads where the speed limit is below 45 miles per hour as well as low-traffic roads where the speed limit is higher. Civilians will also be used when barriers block construction sites on high-speed, high-traffic roads. Some projects can go forward without anyone directing traffic.

Police officers, who can earn tens of thousands of dollars in extra pay from details, will continue to direct traffic on busy roads with speed limits of 45 miles per hour or more.

Harry MacGilvray, president of the Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition and Medford Police Patrolman’s Association, described last week’s protest as a “lawful assembly.”

“I think the DA saw what we saw -- that there was no criminal activity at that site,” said MacGilvray, adding that one of the accused officers serves in Medford. “I think the allegations that officers were acting criminally was politically motivated. We had a right to do what we did. I think the charges were an effort to discourage us from protesting in the future.”

He said officers have no plans for another protest but may decide to demonstrate again.
“We don’t have any evil plan to disrupt work sites,” he said. “We’re taking one day at a time.”

Woburn's Chief Mahoney on Wednesday released a general order that he issued last week, requiring all officers protesting the new law to “conduct themselves in a professional manner.”

“While the department recognizes an officer’s right to participate in picketing activities, conduct unbecoming a police officer will not be tolerated,” the order said. “Members of the department shall not engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct at any picketing location, within or outside the City of Woburn, which may tend to reflect discredit upon the department.”

Mahoney ordered officers to avoid parking illegally on any public or private street at a construction site, walking within a marked construction zone, interfering with workers, directing obscene language or gestures at workers, or any other actions intended to disrupt the flow of traffic or impede work.

The chief said officers who violated his orders would face suspension or termination.