Norfolk County COs Win “Correction Officer of the Year” Awards
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| IBCO Public Safety Director David Bernard (left) stands with "Correction Officer of the Year" winners John Dunne (center) and Kevin Sheehan. |
Two correctional officers from the Norfolk County House of Corrections were recognized for heroism at the Commonwealth’s annual “Correction Officer of the Year” awards ceremony at the State House on June 23.
Captain John Dunne and CO Kevin Sheehan were given the Medal of Valor for their actions in Norfolk Superior Court in a highly publicized incident from February 2007. (Another CO, John O’Brien, was also cited but was unable to attend the ceremony.) Defendant Che Sosa was about to stand trial for nine counts of aggravated rape when he slashed his own attorney in the face and neck with a sharpened piece of plexiglass he had secreted from MCI-Cedar Junction (where he was being held for trial on other charges). The correctional officers were among the security force that subdued Sosa.
The IBCO asked Dunne if he had ever seen an attack of that nature in court before. “No, that’s pretty original, to say the least,” he said. “It was a very unique situation.”
“We were briefed about how [Sosa] was, his demeanor, so it was a little intimidating at first,” said Sheehan. “We had a good group of guys we were working with, and we handled the situation the best we could.”
The attorney, John Courtney, was treated and released from a local hospital after the attack. Sosa was later convicted on the charges for which he had been standing trial the day of the attack.
Encouraging Progress on Protecting Mass. Details
After meeting last week with the Patrick administration, fellow law enforcement organizations and legislative representatives, IBCO leaders are growing more confident that the state’s proposal to use flagmen on construction details has a dim future.
IBCO Director David Bernard took part in a meeting at the Transportation Building to discuss developing standards for deciding which personnel should perform traffic control at construction sites. One of the most encouraging signs for continued use of law enforcement officers at such details involves the state’s prevailing wage, which would be about $38 an hour for detail work.
“Replacing officers with flagmen wouldn’t generate any real savings at that wage,” said Bernard. “It became evident that the governor and the legislature have no real appetite for changing the prevailing wage, so I suspect strongly that we won’t see any significant changes to current practice.”
In 90 days, the governor must give legislators a detailed report on the proposed policy and a realistic projection of costs and savings.
DLR Issues Complaint After IBCO Files Prohibited Practice Charge
The state’s Division of Labor Relations has issued a prohibited practice complaint against the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office after the IBCO reported an alleged violation involving forced overtime. A hearing on the case has been scheduled for later this year, at which the DLR will hear evidence and issue a decision.
The Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office made an oral agreement with the IBCO in the fall of 2006 to apply inverse seniority when assigning forced overtime shifts at the HOC. This policy was to apply to COs except for lieutenants and captains who serve as facility shift commanders. But in November 2007, management sent the union an email message that included the following:
Forced OT: I will discuss with Peter. It is my belief that I have informed you of our stance being that a [correction officer] would get forced before a Sergeant.
That statement from the Sheriff’s Office contradicted its earlier agreement with the IBCO, so IBCO attorney Timothy Bailey filed a charge of prohibited practice with the state’s Division of Labor Relations. The DLR found probable cause to believe that management had failed to bargain in good faith by issuing that statement, issued a complaint and scheduled a hearing on the matter for later this year.
Bailey said, “An oral agreement is just as binding as a written agreement. You can’t just arbitrarily violate an agreement, whether it’s oral or written. I look forward to seeing this case through to the hearing.”
