Whoever said, “A few bad apples can bring the whole place down” knew what they were talking about. Here’s one story that certainly reinforces the that notion. According to The Boston Globe, 20 Massachuetts State Troopers are being investigated for theft of overtime pay. Reporters Mark Arsenault, Travis Andersen, and Shelley Murphy write: “In another black […]
Archive for October, 2016
The mind of Chris Christie
The most troubling aspect of 2016 presidential candidate Chris Christie’s refusal this week to make necessary contributions to his state’s pension system was not the budget maneuver itself — it was that almost none of the debate surrounding the move said anything about what it was really all about. Christie depicted the maneuver as a […]
Role reversal
Oh how the mighty have fallen. Rahm Emanuel, currently the mayor of Chicago, gets less popular by the day. The guy that instituted massive layoffs and school closures just doesn’t seem to get the credit he thinks he deserves for inflicting so much pain on the not ultra-rich residents of the Windy City, How unpopular […]
Rejecting an offer with no raises
Obviously frustrated over issues surrounding pay and discipline, Los Angeles police officers rejected a proposed one-year contract extension reached with Mayor Eric Garcetti and city negotiators. Officials with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file cops, said 5,823 members had voted against the contract over the last four days. The union […]
Gov uses robocalls to kill pensions
In Pennsylvania Governor Corbett is ramping up the pressure on the Legislature to pas a sension reform package this year. The Republican party has launched robocalls in southeastern Pennsylvania, home to several competitive state Senate races, urging voters to contact their local lawmaker, according to a post by the right-leaning Keystone Report. It’s tough to […]
Association helping wounded officer
In Canada, The Ontario Provincial Police Association (OPPA) has set-up a trust fund to help Constable Peter Tucker and his family. Tucker is a motorcycle officer who was seriously injured just over a week ago when he was escorting a motorcade. He was part of a training exercise and hit a goose and crashed. The […]
Bait and switch on pensions
Baltimore’s police and fire unions are fighting a new proposal from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to privatize part of the pensions of new employees. City finance officials say the privatization plan is the latest step needed to save the Fire and Police Employees’ Retirement System, which they say is struggling and carries a $765 million unfunded […]
Losing ground on pot
Massachusetts law enforcement leaders are sounding off against a Supreme Judicial Court ruling that says an officer catching a whiff of unburnt weed doesn’t have cause to search a car, while legalization advocates are calling it a win for civil liberties. “How is it any different from stopping somebody with an odor of alcohol on […]
Arbitrator backs officers
Raise will help some of the lowest paid officers in the area In Minnesota, a state arbitrator has awarded the St. Paul Police Federation, which represents more than 600 officers and civilian police personnel, a 6.25 percent pay increase over the life of a three-year contract. Despite the wage bump, which is retroactive to 2013 […]
Five percent sounds good
A pay raise for Albuquerque officers is being voted on by the police union. If approved, officers would receive a 5 percent raise and new hires would get a bump as well. The new contract would also allow extra pay for officers who stay the Albuquerque Police Department for long periods of time. If union […]
The end of D.R.O.P.?
According to news reports, the D.R.O.P. program (deferred retirement option plan) in Dallas has grown so fast in terms of cost that it threatens the entire $3.4 billion pension fund. D.R.O.P. is incredibly popular with police officers and firefighters. The way D.R.O.P. works is this – instead of retiring, officers can continue working at full […]
No freedom for new hires
In Connecticut, East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. is discounting claims by a top police union official that the Police Department’s contract that requires new police recruits to sign agreements that they will remain with the Police Department for three years violates state law. “The Town’s position is that the agreements are valid, enforceable, and […]
Is this legal?
Union takes legal fees from non-members’ checks Some North Las Vegas PD supervisors have refused to pick up settlement payments because of a union fee they say isn’t legal. Non-union command staff say the police supervisors’ union could face a lawsuit in the wake of a decision to charge non-members for their recently negotiated city […]
Sick out’s got people talking
Nearly 500 police officers reported out sick on Monday as part of a “Blue Flu” in Memphis. According to Memphis NBC station WMC-TV, the sickout, which has gone on for several days, forced the city to call in Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputies to help man the popular Beale Street entertainment district on Saturday. On Sunday, […]
Government employee unions expand
Unions representing government workers are expanding while organized labor has been shedding private sector members over the past half-century. A majority of union members today now have ties to a government entity, at the federal, state or local levels. Roughly 1-in-3 public sector workers is a union member, compared with about 1-in-15 for the private […]
Pulling no punches
At a recent press conference New Orleans PD Superintendent Ronal Serpas asserted that the French Quarter was adequately policed during a recent wave of shootings. But Mayor Mitch Landrieu was simultaneously saying that federal agents and state troopers were needed to bolster crime-fighting efforts in New Orleans. That total lack of coordination drew a heated […]
Another blow to unions
The Supreme Court’s decision in Harris v. Quinn was the latest blow to organized labor. HuffPost Live explores the decision, its implications and the war on workers in America. Read more.
Video as “evidence”— A cautionary tale
By the Board of Directors Los Angeles Police Protective League Police work is not just dangerous, it’s heavily nuanced. In this case, “excessive force” turned out to be a justified and logical response by highly trained professionals to a specific set of rapidly evolving circumstances. When viewed by itself and without any context, this video […]
Full-time release under attack
In Fort Wayne, Indiana, the city council exempted police officers and firefighters when it ended collective bargaining for city employees earlier this month. But there’s still a chance public-safety unions won’t entirely escape the fallout. Marty Bender, R-at large, told The News-Sentinel this week he is considering an ordinance that would prevent union officials from […]
Huge win for City police unions
In the end-of-session crush of last-minute actions, the New York State legislature quietly passed a bill that would make disciplinary procedures involving all police agencies, including the NYPD, subject to contract negotiations. The measure, backed by law enforcement officer unions across the state, was strongly opposed by the state Conference of Mayors and the Association […]
LAPD union announces tentative agreement for members
Late on Tuesday, the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Protective League approved a tentative contract proposal covering more than 9,900 LAPD officers. The next step of the process is for the League to take the tentative agreement to the membership for a ratification vote. “We have concluded negotiations for a new […]
Really, really, happy cops
This video from Baltimore PD has been a big success. What’s your take on it?
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