The Details On Details

Yesterday, Gov. Patrick announced on 96.9 WTKK that he's finally ready to "consider" changing the policy that makes Massachusetts the only state mandating cops, not flagmen, work every road project and pothole filling.

Why is this important to you? Because detail work at state projects alone cost you more than $13 million last year. In 2003, this policy drove local detail costs for city and town projects to more than $93 million.

As a result, 123 state police officers earned $150,000 or more in 2006. Four earned more than $200,000, and one Boston cop earned $240,000!

Meanwhile, there were six shootings in 24 hours in Dorchester, and Boston's murder rate remains near a 10-year high.

Sen. Kerry publicly blamed George W. Bush for the high crime rate here in Boston (gee, I didn't even know the president was in town), saying that more cops would cut the crime rate, but President Bush won't pay for it.

But if John Kerry's right, then why won't MASSACHUSETTS pay for it? Is Kerry's position really "Until George Bush picks up the tab, we're going to keep letting kids get shot!"? Or do more cops only prevent crime when the feds pay for it?

Hey, here's a crazy idea: Why not take every cop working a detail right now and put them to work in high-crime areas instead? And we could pay them using the millions we save by hiring flagmen instead of professional cops. Sounds good to me.

It also sounds good in every state in the union...except Massachusetts.