Many Raynham police officers make the same and often more than their counterparts in the city of Brockton

RAYNHAM – Police Lt. David LaPlante’s compensation of more than $230,000 last year made the small-town police officer the second-highest paid public employee in the region – thanks in large part to more than $86,000 earned in overtime pay.

The lieutenant’s pay of $232,517.71 in 2015 led the way for a Raynham department with compensation on the rise in recent years. Town payroll records show that police earnings have risen from $2.475 million to $3.393 million in the past five years, a 31 percent bump.

LaPlante, records show, made more in a town of 13,000 people than all but one of Brockton’s 190 police officers, who serve a crime-plagued city of nearly 100,000.

Despite the differences in size and crime rate, many officers in Raynham made more or about the same as their counterparts in Brockton. Raynham’s Chief Jim Donovan made $179,933.36 last year supervising 27 officers, while Brockton Chief John Crowley, overseeing one of the largest departments in New England, made $183,093.66.

Donovan said the department’s budget has remained consistent and the increase in staff pay is a result of private detail shifts – and the town only pays for public detail work.

Further, Donovan and Selectwoman Marie Smith said LaPlante’s total compensation and extensive overtime hours actually saved taxpayer dollars in not requiring more officers in the department.

“There’s no getting around it — it saves money,” Smith said. “What are you going to do? If you can’t afford more officers, the ones that are there are going to work overtime. The only reason I’m okay with (the amount of pay) is because those are actual hours that they’ve worked. When a person puts in the time, they should be paid for it.”

That opinion was not shared by the Citizens for Limited Taxation, a grassroots government watchdog group that believes Raynham Police officers are taking advantage of the system.

“What is particularly egregious is that overtime compensation alone in some cases are double what the average working person makes in a year,” said director of communications Chip Faulkner. “Most taxpayers don’t have the generous pensions awaiting these so-called ‘public servants’ upon retirement, if a pension at all. What happened to the concept of ‘public service,’ working for the public good instead of enriching themselves at our expense?”

Raynham recently released its 2015 town payroll after a public records request by The Enterprise. As with other nearby towns, the list shows that Raynham’s highest-paid employees were public safety employees. Town Administrator Randall Buckner, who earned $112,182.24 in 2015, was the only non-police or fire personnel in the town’s top 45 paid employees.

LaPlante was one of six police officers who earned at least $179,000 in 2015. Now-retired Lt. Brian Carr was the second-highest earner last year at $197,447.66, followed by Sgt. William Donnelly ($191,618.84), Capt. Richard Pacheco ($184,554.97) and Donovan ($179,933.40).

All compensation levels for police are determined by the Raynham Patrolmen’s Union collective bargaining agreement with the town, which is set to expire at the end of the month.

LaPlante’s compensation was about $4,000 less than the top public earner in the region, Brockton Police Lt. Bruce Zeidman.

But overall, Raynham police had the edge on Brockton officers in terms of average compensation. Officers in the much smaller community had an average base and overtime pay of a little over $117,000 — about $5,000 higher than their counterparts in the city, according to payroll records.

Smith was asked if an officer from a small town with little violent crime should be earning the same pay as an officer in Brockton.

“When someone picks up the phone and calls for a Raynham officer and their service is impeccable – that’s all people want,” Smith said. “I don’t think people think, ‘How much did I pay that officer?’ or care about, ‘How much did he make last year?’ We deal in safety and service.”

The Enterprise tried to talk to a couple dozen town residents about Raynham’s police pay, but none would allow their comments to go on the record.

Nineteen of Raynham’s 27 police officers made six figures last year, with only the newer members of the department falling below that amount. But Bridgewater State University criminal justice professor Mitch Librett, a former police officer, said that the profession is an “awesome responsibility” and, if anything, underpaid.

“I would argue, and I have argued in a paper, that (all) police officers should be earning at least $100,000 per year,” said Librett, a 22-year veteran of the New Rochelle Police (N.Y.) department. “A large percentage of the general population sees that a police officer is making six figures and they don’t consider the occupation to be worthy of that level of compensation. In my opinion, the outrage or concern of the general public is really misplaced.”

Smith said the large amount of overtime comes from the town’s inability to hire more officers, but that paying overtime is significantly less expensive than hiring more cops.

“I feel badly that they work that many hours, but I’m okay with them doing it as long as it doesn’t interfere with their health or the safety of the community,” Smith said. “It’s their job to take that spot when needed.”

Donovan said the department carries a policy of not allowing officers to work more than 16 hours consecutively, but that there are no limits on the amount of overtime an officer can work in a year. The chief said he worked up to 80 hours per week when he was a detective and is not worried about LaPlante’s 1,027 overtime hours or the hours worked by other officers in the department.

“If it was something that concerned me, I would take action on it,” Donovan said. “Nobody is falling asleep (on the job).”

The chief also said younger officers tend not to volunteer for overtime assignments, meaning veteran officers often pick up those shifts.

“It’s a generational thing,” Donovan said. “Our younger generation of officers don’t want to work overtime and details, and it’s not just our department. When I started in the job, you had to fight for those shifts.”

Another way for officers to augment their salaries is by working detail assignments, which are not paid for by the department’s budget and done outside of a regular shift. Detail pay is $46 per hour for private assignments and $43 for town-related work, according to the union contact. After eight hours, overtime detail pay is $69 per hour for private and $64.50 for town work.

Carr retired in July, but still earned nearly $200,000 in part due to working 955 detail hours, according to town records. Carr made $42,910.72 working details not paid by the town last year.