You see them at neighborhood festivals, doing crowd control.
Detail officers watch over construction, road repair, utility installations. Directing traffic, preventing accidents, keeping people safe.
They're off-duty state and local police, hired by private companies. But our investigation found hundreds of companies promise to pay for police details, and then don't! In police departments across Massachusetts, we found millions of dollars in bills: unpaid and overdue. And police sometimes powerless to collect their money..
Hank Phillippi Ryan"The police have provided a service to these people and they're just deadbeats,"
Chief Paul Keenan, Quincy Police "That's pretty much it."
Look at these invoices, all way past due! In Fall River: $65,068, in Norwood $84,533. In New Bedford $176, 950.
In Quincy, detail deadbeats owe $309,018.
Chief Paul Keenan, Quincy Police"I think its disgraceful."
In Cambridge police are owed more than a quarter million dollars and in Worcester, they're out half a million!
In Boston, delinquent details now total a staggering $6.9 million.
Chief Robert Dunford, Boston Police"We don't want outstanding accounts so we do pursue these companies aggressively."
So who's in debt for the details? Police accounting records list hundreds of companies with overdue bills, including big names like companies NStar, National Grid, and even state agencies. The Mass Turnpike and the Highway Department. All insisted they were "investigating" and gave reasons like paperwork issues and administrative delays and complications with subcontractors.
NStar agrees they're $200,000 overdue to Boston alone! They told us their payment processing "can be overly time-consuming."
Police departments told us utilities do pay, eventually. But for the lists of companies who don't, they say there's not much they can do about it.
Hank Phillippi Ryan"You're the police, you'd think they'd pay you!"
Chief Paul Keenan, Quincy Police"You would hope that they would, but unfortunately we don't have any extra clout."
At least Quincy and Boston among others, do charge interest.
But not in Billerica, where there's $28,000 past due. Or in Newton where $47,500 is late!
In Brookline, out $204,709, the new officer in charge says they've have taken deadbeats to small claims court, but that's their biggest ammunition.
Hank Phillippi Ryan "Do you charge interest on outstanding bills?"
Sgt. Larry Fitzgerald, Brookline Police
"No not to my knowledge."
Hank Phillippi Ryan "Late fees?"
Sgt. Larry Fitzgerald, Brookline Police"No."
Hank Phillippi Ryan "Why?"
Sgt. Larry Fitzgerald, Brookline Police"I don't have the answer to that."
When bills get too high, some departments just say "no" to any more details. But in other towns? Records prove even the worst late-payers still get police protection and still ignore their bills.
Chief Robert Dunford, Boston Police"Without a police officer to mitigate that situation and respond to that situation, you'd have chaos."
Hank Phillippi Ryan "As a direct result of our inquiries, Brookline is "looking into" charging late fees and what's more tens of thousands of dollars are now being paid." (Copyright (c) 2009 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)