A database on salaries for 2011 with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety shows dozens of state police troopers and corrections officers at the state's prisons earn more than $100,000 and in some cases more than $200,000 annually .



The information was gleaned through Open Checkbook, the state's new program to promote transparency in government by making information about state finances available over the Internet.

MassLive.com has been compiling information under Open Checkbook for different state departments into searchable databases.

"The public databases are always popular with readers," said Ed Kubosiak Jr., Editor-in-chief of MassLive.com. "The data can be used to take a closer look at a number of relevant issues, including how compensation for public sector jobs compares to private sector work, relative salaries for men and women, and more."

Among the initial findings in the database on the Executive Office of Public Safety is there are 23 state police officers earning more than $200,000 per year and several dozens more making more than $100,000 and more than 20 employees with the Department of Corrections earning more than $100,000.

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Officials with the state police and the Department of Corrections said on Thursday the salary numbers by themselves typically raise eyebrows, but in most cases those salaries are the result of people working lots and lots of overtime.

“Police officers historically are at or near the top of these lists, be they statewide or municipalities. That is nothing new, and it reflects the nature of the job,” said state police spokesman David Procopio.

Among state police, there are 23 people earning more than $200,000 last year.

That includes the State Police Superintendent Marian J. McGovern, who with a salary of $203,705, ranks 20th on the list of top state police salaries.

Number one on the list is trooper James R. Talbot, who earned $233,582 in 2011. His base salary of $94,361 was less than what he made in overtime, $139,221. Overtime money equaled nearly 60 percent of his total salary.

Among employees with the Department of Corrections, the list of the top ten salaries is dominated by corrections officers, earning between $129,000 and $145,000 in 2011. The lone exception among the top 10 is Commissioner Luis Spencer, who is 4th with a salary of $137,000.

Making more than Spencer are Corrections officer Terrance Fougere of Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, a maximum security facility in Shirley, and Capt. James Gentile and corrections officer Richard Palmer, both of the Massachusetts Treatment Center, a medium-security facility for sexual offenders in Bridgewater.

Palmer last year made $145,000, followed by Gentile at $141,000, and Fougere at $140,000. Palmer and Fougere each have a base salary of $76,600, while Gentile, because of his higher rank, has a base of $85,5000.

Procopio said state troopers frequently log overtime hours as part of emergency response to critical incidents, for investigations and to provide testimony in court, he said.

Troopers also earn overtime for working details are road construction projects or for crowd control and security at various events and projects, he said. In those instances, the salaries are paid by the agency in charge of the road project or the organizers of the event, and not from the state police budget.

Procopio said Talbot is assigned to the state police barracks on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Westfield. He said he was trying to get a breakdown of the number of overtime hours he worked last year.

Procopio said there are limits on the number of overtime hours troopers can work in a given day and for each week, out of concern for what he called the wellness of troopers. The union contract stipulates no trooper may work more than 16.5 hours in regular time and overtime in a 24-hour period and no more than a total of 92 hours per week.

Diane Wiffin, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections, said overtime comes with the territory.

The department is not understaffed, she said, but there are times when there are vacancies for illness or absence and additional people are needed.

“We are a 24/7 operation, we sometime have needs that require more staffing,” she said.

“There are a lot of times (where overtime is necessary) that we can’t plan for that we need to have proper staffing” she said.

Examples would be if an inmate requires an outside trip to a hospital for a health emergency, or if an inmate is placed under a mental health watch. In each instance, a corrections officer would be needed to keep continual watch on the inmate.

Gentile logged 865 overtime hours, Fougere 995 and Palmer an astounding 1,168 hours.

Divided by 52 weeks, that averages 16.6 hours per week for Gentile, 19.1 for Fougere, and 22.4 hours per week for Palmer, she said.

Overtime pays 1 1/2 times the base salary, and the base salary changes by rank and length of service. "These are skilled public safety professionals," she said.



The DOC requires that corrections officers cannot work more than 16 hours in a row without an 8-hour break. There is no weekly limit on how much overtime a corrections official can work, she said.