ESSEX — Orange, diamond-shaped signs that read "Flag person ahead" have popped up on the Causeway in Essex.

They are among the first signs that civilians have replaced police officers. While police waved directions to drivers, the flaggers turn "slow" and "stop" paddles to direct traffic through construction.

The Essex Route 133 reconstruction project, which began two weeks ago and covers a stretch of 1.1 miles on the Causeway, is one of 71 state construction projects using qualified civilians to direct traffic this summer.

The flaggers are a mix of MassHighway personnel and workers supplied by private contractors, depending on the state project. In Essex's case, all flaggers are hired by J. Marchese & Sons, a contracting company based out of Everett.

Gov. Deval Patrick's decision to use civilian flaggers at state construction projects instead of police details has brought a world of controversy, and the two sides of the new initiative are still butting heads.

Multiple flaggers contacted by the Times said they had been told not to speak to the media by their contractors and would not answer any questions, and it's no secret that local police across the state are unhappy with the law.

But it's also too early to disprove Patrick's hope that the decision will save between $5 million and $7 million in taxpayers' money.

"Obviously, I'm an advocate of police and I don't think there's any substitute for having police officers on the road," Essex police Chief Peter Silva said. "But if there is a cost savings, I'm in support of it." He also said that, while he may not approve of the policy, he will certainly respect it.

Silva said the Essex police wage for flag details is $43 per hour, and state law mandates civilian flaggers be paid the "prevailing wage." Adam Hurtubise, spokesman for the Executive Office of Transportation, said that civilian flaggers averages about $34 per hour.

Multiple Essex police officers have complained about the small difference in hourly wages between a flagger and a police officer, and said, with the cost of insurance on top of that, a single flag person can be more expensive than a police officer.

Jim Carnell, managing editor for the Pax Centurion, a bi-monthly newspaper published by the Boston Police Patrolman's Association, reported that five construction companies submitted bids for the costs of a flag person on a Fall River construction project, and the average cost per hour was $53.25, which included hourly wage, insurance, worker's compensation, and equipment.

But Colin Durrant, a spokesman for MassHighway, said that much of the initiative's cost savings comes from the ability to control the hours worked by flag people, not a difference in hourly wage.

Durrant said that, if the job calls for a minimum of a half hour of work, the state can limit the flag person to work only that half hour, while a police officer might work multiple paid hours or a union-required, four-hour minimum shift in some areas.

All flaggers are qualified through the MassHighway Certification Program, which mandates that they meet the standard of first aid training, work zone safety training, flagger training with exercises in mock flagging operations, and have passed a written exam of 50 questions with a score of 80 percent or better. They can be certified at any of the seven different programs approved by MassHighway, five of which are in Massachusetts.

Still, their credentials don't guarantee public safety, and Essex police have received at least two separate complaints about the flaggers this week.

One instance was reported Monday when a flag person allegedly left equipment in the roadway, and another was reported Tuesday when the flag person waved on two cars simultaneously and the complaining party said she had to slam on her brakes to avoid an accident.

Officer Rob Gilardi also said there was a slight problem during a call for medical aid when an ambulance needed to get to a house on Choate Street on Monday. While the flaggers followed their instructed protocol and stopped both lanes of traffic to allow the ambulance to pass through, Gilardi said a police officer would have known where the ambulance was coming from and cleared that particular lane before it arrived, creating a less congested and quicker route to the medical emergency.

"It's still early to make a formal opinion on it," Silva said. "But if it proves to be a cost savings then it makes sense.

"I'm just not convinced at this point."

Cameron Kittle can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com