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Even Before,
Recruiting for the Blue Could Be a Hard Sell From the New York Times, March 22,
2006 Wanted: 800 intrepid men and women willing to fight crime in the
nation's biggest city. Starting pay is unimpressive, but sick days are
unlimited and veterans can retire after 20 years with a pension worth half
their salary. For officials with the New York Police Department, Mayor Michael
R. Bloomberg's commitment of $33.8 million for the additional
salaries also presents an enormous challenge. Like police departments across
the country, New York City's has struggled to draw high-quality applicants in
recent years, a task made more daunting by salaries that are far lower than
those offered by neighboring municipalities, many of which have been poaching
some of the city's officers. In announcing his decision yesterday to increase this year's
hiring by 800, Mr. Bloomberg acknowledged the difficulties faced by
recruiters but suggested that the perks and prestige of the job more than
outweighed the low pay. The recruits are paid at an annual rate of $25,100
during training, but that rises to $32,700 after six months and to $59,588
after five and a half years. "I think this is one of the great jobs in
the world, it's the greatest police force in the world," the mayor said.
"If people want to come to work here, they're going to have a heck of a
career." Union officials and outside experts say the Police Department
faces a potential personnel crisis even without the burden of finding 800
additional recruits this year. Almost 3,000 officers retire annually, and the
department has been struggling to replace them at that rate, conducting
traveling recruitment campaigns aimed at college campuses, military bases and
small town newspapers across the country. The city spends $5.6 million annually on recruiting efforts, and
to make the application process more attractive, the department even
abolished the $35 fee. Critics say the greatest obstacle to drawing more top-notch
applicants, however, is salaries so low that, union officials say, several
new recruits have been forced to rely on food stamps. "You can't support
your family on this job alone," said Al O'Leary, a spokesman for the
union, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. "Your spouse has to work
and you often have to take on a second job." He said that at top pay, officers working for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, for
example, average $30,000 more than city officers. His son, he said, was
recently lured to the Port Authority from the Police Department. "Morale is low and the attrition rate is high," he
said. When it comes to wages, the New York Police Department ranks 157th,
behind cities including Newark, Atlanta, Yonkers and Detroit, according to an
analysis by Policepay.net Inc., a police compensation consultant. Robert J. McGuire, who was the police commissioner under Mayor Edward
I. Koch, said he worried that a smaller pool of recruits could
eventually harm the overall quality of the force, which is budgeted for
37,038 officers this fiscal year, down from 40,710 in 2002. "You end up
with both quality-control and corruption issues if you recruit people at a
salary level that is really not livable in New York City," he said. Police Commissioner Raymond
W. Kelly said that he intended to address salary concerns during
contract negotiations now under way, but that he did not believe money alone
would affect the quality of potential new recruits. "We are not lowering
our standards in any way, shape or form to reach those numbers," he said
at a news conference yesterday. Chief Rafael Pineiro, who has overseen
the department's aggressive new approach to recruitment, said he believed
that focusing on compensation tended to overshadow other attributes of the
job. "We have the world's greatest detectives, the aviation
unit, the bomb squad and opportunities to work in countries around the
world," he said. "You don't come to this agency for the pay. You
come here because we give you the kind of experience and skills that are very
marketable when you leave." Montgomery Mayor Seeks Police Pay Raise With the state's announcement of a pay raise for state troopers,
all three public law enforcement agencies in the Montgomery area will offer
roughly the same starting salary. This is problem for Mayor Bobby Bright
because he feels the bulk of police work in Montgomery County falls on the
city police department. Bright says, "They are doing the hard work. They are doing
95% of the work and their pay and benefits need to reflect [that]." By hard work, Mayor Bright is referring to the number and type
of calls Montgomery police officers respond to versus county deputies and
state troopers. According to data gathered by the Alabama Criminal Justice
Information Center, Montgomery Police worked 95% of the major crimes in
Montgomery County in 2004. The statistic is not surprising since the majority
of the county's population is within the city limits; and so is the majority
of the crime. Montgomery County Sheriff, D.T. Marshall, says, "It's not
the police officers. They do an outstanding job and yes I think they should
get more money. On the other hand they don't do any more work than the
sheriff's deputies." Sheriff Marshall points out every felony arrest made in the city
of Montgomery is taken to the county jail and when suspects are indicted, it's county deputies that make the arrests. Marshall's
argument is: the workload is the same, the responsibilities are different.
This point is the very reason Mayor Bright wants to raise the salary of city
public safety employees. Bright says, "When I find out the pay is the same, that really has a major influence on our
recruitment." Plans to increase Montgomery police officers' and firefighters'
salaries are still on the drawing board. Mayor Bright is working with
department heads to find the resources. While a pay increase will address one
of the mayor's concerns, it won't solve the problem competitive salaries in
law enforcement. Sheriff's Marshall adds, "You can bet if they get a raise,
we'll be going to the county commission to look for a raise for our
deputies." It's been four years since Montgomery police officers got a
raise except the cost of living increase. Mayor Bright thinks they need a
raise-- and so do local firefighters-- but he's not willing to say how much
the city might increase pay, or for that matter, when it might come. The raise Governor Bob Riley gave state troopers this week
places their starting salary just above the entry level for Montgomery
police. Danbury
cops upset with new contract From THE
NEWS-TIMES, March 21, 2006 DANBURY —
City police officers, who have been without a contract for three years,
finally have a new pact — but they're not happy about it. The officers
will receive a 3 percent annual pay increase dating back to 2003, but they
had asked for 3.5 percent. The increase, including the pay bumps for the past
three years, will boost the salary for a typical patrol officer who now earns
$52,645 to $59,253 on July 1. The
department's roughly 150 officers also will have to cover a higher percentage
of their medical benefits, with their co-pay increasing from 5 percent to 12
percent on July 1. In all,
state arbitrators sided with city officials on nine of 11 issues in dispute.
The major union victory? Holding the line on officers' contributions to their
pension fund. Officers hired after 1983 will pay 4.5 percent of their salary
toward pension costs. Perhaps
the best news for Danbury Police Union Local 891 is that negotiators will be
back to the bargaining table before long. Negotiations will start early next
year for a contract that will take effect July 1, 2007. "We're
not going to lay down and give up," said union
President Michael Farrell. "The main sticking point was insurance. We
feel we should be able to keep the insurance benefits we fought for over the
years." The
dispute between the police union and city officials had become increasingly
bitter. Several officers mentioned the dispute as one reason they left the
force. One officer brought an inflatable rat to a rally to protest Mayor Mark
Boughton's stance during last year's mayoral
campaign. On Monday,
Boughton said the arbitration board's ruling
validated the city's offer. "The arbitration panel found the city's
offer was fair and reasonable," Boughton said.
"(This) contract was in front of the police officers a year and a half
ago and a better contract was in front of them in July." Farrell
agreed the July proposed contract was better than the one approved March 15.
For one thing, the July contract had a more generous cost of living
adjustment in the pension plan. As it stands, retired officers will get a 2
percent cost of living agreement after five years. The
contract talks dragged on, in part, because the union kept changing
leadership. The negotiations that started in April 2003 were led by one group
of union leaders, who were knocked out of office in September 2003. Officer
George Chelso took over as union president but was
unseated in the spring of 2004. Farrell
said a major sticking point was medical benefits. He said officers are upset
that they will end up paying more money for benefits that aren't as good.
"Guys felt they were trying to rub it in their faces," Farrell
said. "They're disappointed." Police
Chief Alan Baker said he could relate to the frustration felt by his
officers. "I've
been an officer for 30 years. I think they were hoping for a split decision
(by the arbitration board). What they got was more one-sided," Baker
said. "What I'm happy about is we have a lot of good things
happening." Baker said
city voters will consider providing money for the new police headquarters in
May. He said the city is hiring new officers. And regardless of the outcome,
the three-year impasse over the police contract is over. "I
hope we never let it drag out this long again," Baker said.
"There's too much wasted energy." Rialto nearing agreement with police union From the Inland Valley Daily
Bulletin, March 23, 2006 RIALTO - Moving swiftly to keep pace with three days of brisk
change, police union and city representatives emerged from three hours of
negotiations Wednesday on the verge of agreement over a two-year contract. A follow-up meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 4. The meeting at City Hall busted a stalemate that ossified the
two sides since last month, when the city declared an impasse and halted a
string of court-ordered “meet and confer'' sessions following opposition to
the City Council's decision to disband the Police Department. The council backed off its plan Tuesday. City Attorney Robert
Owen told a stunned crowd at the council's meeting that officials would cease
their drive to contract with the Sheriff's Department. Owen's announcement
was the finale in a series of rattling developments, beginning with Monday's
notice from the Secretary of State's Office that the city had improperly
invalidated some 4,000 signatures on a citizen petition that sought a public
vote on the fate of the Police Department. The petition, which has 5,665 signatures, awaits a second round
of vetting by the county Registrar of Voters. Councilman Ed Scott, who supported dumping the police, and Mayor
Grace Vargas, who opposed that plan, joined the city's team of representatives
at Wednesday's meeting with union officials. Scott was mum on details following the meeting, but said it was
positive. “We are probably pretty close to an agreement,'' he said. Union attorney Dieter Dammeier said the
two sides made “progress on this one. The city is on board with keeping the
department, and they're making a forthright effort to come to a resolution to
save the department and make it a premier agency.'' Dammeier said the
lone sticking point was the “three at 50'' issue, a retirement package
favored by many departments that provides veteran officers 3 percent of their
salary upon retirement multiplied by their years of duty at 50 years of age. Dammeier said
achieving a competitive retirement package is integral to the department's
push to bolster its ranks. Personnel sagged to about 80 percent of normal levels as
officers fled what then looked like a moribund department. Scott said he and Vargas would relay what transpired at
Wednesday's meeting to the rest of the council in a closed session Monday. Despite the shocking turn of events in September the Police
Department's demise seemed imminent the negotiations apparently haven't
cleansed months of bad blood. Many residents are watching the situation warily. “Two weeks ago they were saying the sheriff's were coming in,''
said Sherry Lovell, a resident who signed the petition. “I think what they may be doing is trying to pacify us now so
they'll be able to go ahead with what they want to do later,'' Lovell said. At the Sheriff's Department on Wednesday, it was business as
usual despite the apparent loss of what would have been a more than $10
million contract. “If they believe they can take care of business there, and they
obviously do, we're happy to see them continue as a Police Department,'' said
sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Beavers, who added that in her 10 years with the
department she had never seen a sheriff's takeover scuttled so late in the
process. Meanwhile, the mood across at the Police Department headquarters
seemed optimistic. News of Tuesday's events traveled fast, said Lt. Robert Kellum. Kellum said he thinks
the odyssey begun in September has made the department more tight-knit. Officers say the swirling politics don't change the way they
look at their jobs, but most are attuned to the issue. Some office doors are
stuck with stickers: “We support Rialto Police, No Sheriff.'' “It brings our spirits up,'' said Officer Nick Borchard, a 14-year veteran of the department, as he
walked out the back door toward his patrol car. “The officers who stayed
here, who've hung in, have had to work harder than we ever worked before. I
feel a sense of relief.'' Ithaca police tentatively agree to contract ITHACA - After more than a year of
negotiations and mediation, city officials and Ithaca Police have come to a
tentative agreement on a contract that could be ratified by Common Council in
April. “They wanted us to start contributing
toward health care, and we said ‘Yes,' “ said Jeff
Huddle, president of the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association, the union that
represents 68 police personnel. “That was probably the most important thing
for the city to have.” Under the new PBA contract, employees
would contribute about $500 each per year toward health care. In exchange,
police benefits were increased, including longevity pay, salary and college
credit rates. The last contract, signed during the
administration of former Mayor Alan J. Cohen, expired Dec. 31, 2004. A
mediator had been brought into the negotiations after both sides reached an
impasse. Huddle said the mediator came with sample contracts from other
Central New York police departments of similar size. “We just wanted wage increases that
were inside the market,” Huddle said. After a Feb. 22 meeting with the
city, Huddle said he brought the proposed changes before the PBA members for
a vote, and they agreed to the compromise. Mayor Carolyn Peterson said the
city has not been formally notified of the PBA's
decision but praised the union's efforts to reach an agreement. “They have been cordial,” Peterson
said. “We've worked together on a number of issues, and we've worked together
real well. We've had regular meetings throughout this process.” Peterson said the PBA has been the
city's last unit to negotiate employee health insurance contributions.
Self-insured, as an employer she said the city pays $6,000,000 toward
employee coverage. “Each unit has a different
methodology, formula and scale to calculate individual contributions,”
Peterson said. “Health insurance is expensive for all employers, and that's
why we're moving toward contributions by employees, elected officials and
even management.” Calls to City Attorney Dan Hoffman,
City Human Resources Director Schelley Nunn and
Alderwoman Robin Korherr, D-5th Ward, were not
returned Tuesday. Huddle said the PBA had been advised by its legal counsel
against releasing the tentative contract. Gayraud Townsend, D-4th Ward, a member of Common Council's City
Administration Committee, said while he didn't know the specifics of the new
contract he knew PBA members had discussed and voted on it. “There is a tentative contract that's
been agreed upon, and PBA has ratified among their ranks,” Townsend said. “There's some big accomplishments on the police side. I
know one of the agreements they came to was about college credits. An
educated police force helps the community as a whole.” Townsend said he had requested a copy
of the tentative contract to review before the April 5 council meeting. “The PBA has been one of the most
successful negotiating bodies with the city, from my experiences with them in
the past,” Townsend said. |
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