Boston, MA-Today marks a milestone for Local 1067 state college and university police officers in their long fight for retirement reclassification. HB2786 - An Act Providing for a fair and equitable Group 4 retirement benefit for police officers working on Massachusetts Public Higher Education Campuses— received a favorable recommendation from the legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Service and will now move to the House Ways and Means Committee for an in-depth cost analysis. The action by the Committee marks the best progress for this legislation over multiple legislative sessions.
The bill, filed by State Representative Paul Tucker D-Salem in partnership with AFSCME Council 93, aims to correct longstanding inequalities in how campus police officers have been classified at campuses across the Commonwealth and would provide them with the same retirement benefit as their fellow police officers working in municipalities.
AFSCME Local 1067 represents roughly 200 men and women protecting public higher education campus in the state – including the urban campuses of Fitchburg State University, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, and twenty-two other state university and college campuses. These dedicated public safety officers have been classified as Group 1 retirement, the same group as clerical workers, teachers and librarians who work on these campuses, for decades while their counterparts at UMass campuses are classified as Group 2. Rep. Tucker’s bill would also improve the retirement classification the UMass officers who are represented by various other unions.
Reclassifications are often warranted due to changes – not so much in job title, but rather, due to significant changes in duties, responsibilities, and risks associated with the job. This is clearly the case for the police officers this legislation seeks to help. The primary reason for different classifications for campus police officers was historically UMass Officers carried firearms, while other campus police did not. However, with the exception of one campus, all officers protecting the students and staff on state university and college campuses, carry firearms - as they should given that our college campuses stopped being the safe havens they used to be – many years ago.
If there has been any doubt over the years, as to whether or not Local 1067 campus police officers are on the same level as their fellow officers working in municipalities – that doubt was put to rest in 2020 when the Massachusetts legislature passed an Act relative to Justice, Equity and Accountability in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth, - now Chapter 253 of the Acts of 2020.
This new law, commonly referred to as Police Reform, expressly defined a law enforcement agency as any public or private college or university police department - right alongside the state police and a city or town police department - and most importantly for today’s purposes, defined law enforcement officers as any officers working for a law enforcement agency. Furthermore, campus police officers have completed the same training, have the same responsibilities, the same powers, and face the same dangers as their counterparts working for cities and towns across the state.
HB2786 recognizes a long-overdue injustice, an injustice that is forcing men and women – dedicated law enforcement professionals who just like police officers in big cities like Boston and Springfield – and small rural communities like Dunstable and Lennox – put their lives on the line every day.
State college and university police officers have been forced to make one of two tough choices – retiring at the age that all other police officers can retire (55-58 depending on when they were hired) and then try to survive on a drastically-reduced pension, or doing a difficult and dangerous jobs far longer than it is safe for them to do so. HB2786 rightly reclassifies all campus police officers as Group 4 and recognizes the danger, commitment, and sacrifices these dedicated public safety officers have made.
While passage out of committee is a milestone, there is still much work to be done and Council 93 is committed to working with other public safety unions to make sure all campus police officers receive the recognition in retirement that they rightfully deserve. Council 93 thanks Representative Tucker, who spent many years working as a law enforcement professional including serving as The Salem, MA Chief of Police, for his efforts and ongoing support for our union.
