A former pension chief in New York City is claiming that City Comptroller John Liu’s pension-investment strategy resulted in nearly $2 billion in lost earnings in the last fiscal year. Liu claimed he made 12.1 percent return on investments in fiscal year 2013. The city’s five pension funds (allegedly) grew from $111.3 billion to $124.8 […]
In case you think things were turning around in terms of public opinion, fuhgeddaboudit,, as they say. For the first time, voters in California say labor unions do more harm than good. They may not be thinking about their police officers, but the results are worrisome nevertheless. Read this editorial from the Sacramento Bee. […]
Look what you can do with a couple hundred dollars, members that are willing to dress up like inmates, and a sense of humor. This 30 second ad produced by John Rivera, the Dade County PBA, and the Florida PBA, was the single most powerful thing that derailed the Tea Party governor’s effort to privatize […]
Watch Denis Lemelin, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, make an impassioned plea to save his country’s postal service. He says if the proposed changes were to go through at Canada Post, it would be the “end of an era.” It would also be the end of mail delivery that was affordable and […]
Many of us have been using smartphones for years, but are we getting the most out of those expensive gadgets we’ve always got by our side? There are over a million iPhone apps and nearly as many Android apps, so it’s not just easy to miss the good ones, it’s nearly a guarantee that you’ve […]
Before Detroit, Stockton, California was the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy. Now, Stockton is working its way back, and city leaders see lessons in its ordeal for other struggling municipalities. The video – Includes some wise words from the Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones who explains when you’re the most understaffed police department […]
In Kansas, the Bonner Springs Police Department battled it out with the city’s mayor recently at a standing-room only city council meeting. Here’s the background- about two years ago, the Bonner Springs City Council considered allowing collective bargaining between the city and the Bonner Springs Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police. That was proposal […]
“The ruling on municipal pensions in the Detroit case has caused understandable concern and anger for public workers well beyond the Motor City. Despite the rhetoric, it is too early to tell what will happen to pensions in Detroit or to what extent Detroit represents a sustainable legal or political precedent. What is clear is […]
Union leader blasts move as “grand larceny” One day after Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a new pension bill into law, a top union leader blasted the package as “grand larceny.” Henry L. Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, said it’s outrageous that the General Assembly has chosen to cut meager benefits for state […]
In Sunday’s New York Times, columnist David Brooks writes a thoughtful article on suicide, one of the worst problems plaguing the law enforcement profession. The Irony of Despair By DAVID BROOKS We’ve made some progress in understanding mental illnesses over the past few decades, and even come up with drugs to help ameliorate their effects. […]
When you learn that some agencies of the United States federal government are still using floppy disks – a relic from the 1980’s – it’s not hard to understand why the HealthCare.gov website was such a disaster. According to a report by Jada Smith, a reporter for The New York Times, The Federal Register, is […]
There was a time in the U.S. where Democratic presidents and conservative Senators and Representatives each gave up something to compromise and make a deal on major legislation that moved the country forward. It’s the same dynamic that’s so important for police unions when they sit down to negotiate their contracts. But sadly the spirit […]
There were so many momentous decisions impacting law enforcement officers and other public sector employees in the last week that our heads were spinning. We will briefly summarize the ones we felt were the most important and give you the link if you want to read more. Illinois Legislature Approves Retiree Benefit Cuts The controversial […]
“We are professionals doing the most difficult of jobs” Some take the insults quietly, fuming inside. Others get pissed and speak out. And that’s exactly what Jim Christie, president of the Ontario Provincial Police Association did when a local reporter criticized a salary increase for his members despite the fact that they worked without a […]
If you’re a cop the chances you’re burned out are off the charts. There is no profession out there whose employees are more in danger of experiencing burnout than law enforcement officers. Every single risk factor is endured by cops everywhere in spades and it’s a problem we cannot ignore any longer. Today PubSecAlliance […]
Reflections on the Detroit bankruptcy; “Just one way they are attacking us all” Submitted by Mark Diaz, President, Detroit Police Officers Association There are two retirement systems in Detroit. The general retirement system which covers all of the civilian employees and the police and fire retirement system which covers police and fire but not EMS. […]
One of the services PubSecAlliance can provide to you is coverage and analysis of complicated issues impacting law enforcement unions and associations in English speaking countries around the world. Today we have compiled some news articles we thought were intelligent coverage of the disastrous decision yesterday by a federal judge allowing the City of […]
It’s no secret that GPS tracking devices are controversial with patrol officers, deputies and troopers. Boston cops are the latest group to express concern about putting the tracking devices in all the Boston PD cruisers. The Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment but several officers who wished to remain […]
Corrections Corporation of America has been charged with “criminally understaffing their jails.” This would not be happening if the prison was run by a government agency and the employees were represented by a union or association. So who needs a union? The employees of CCA do. A for-profit prison company allegedly put an elderly woman […]
It would be hard to find a law enforcement officer who has not experienced burnout in some form or another. In the third installment of our week-long look at this serious problem, we take a deeper look at the problem and then give you some tips from the experts on how to lessen the impact […]
Helping cops suffering from “burnout” is becoming a concern for police associations and unions. Officers experiencing burnout are emotionally exhausted, cynical, detached from other people, overcome with extreme negativity, have feelings of incompetence and show a loss of productivity at work. Among certain professions – law enforcement, social workers, nurses – the problem of […]
PubSecAlliance is a growing online community of union and association leaders from groups representing sworn personnel in law enforcement agencies in the U.S., Canada and around the world. It is
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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 […]
When is Police “Use of Force” Justified?
It seems like every law enforcement agency is grappling with changes in use-of-force policies, which are too often implemented by people that are not familiar at all with the complicated, risky, and high-pressure world of law enforcement, especially when it comes to the use of deadly force. The press conference you are about to watch […]
FBI Will Not Investigate Detective’s Homicide
The FBI won’t be taking over an investigation into the homicide of a Baltimore city detective who was slain amid a corruption investigation. Detective Sean Suiter was shot in the head with his own weapon on Nov. 15, a day before he was to testify before a federal grand jury investigating wrongdoing by fellow officers […]
The Madison Police Department in Wisconsin is making some changes to its policies on the use of deadly force. According to an article in the Wisconsin State Journal, the changes come after several law suits against the city were successful with payouts in the millions. “When it comes to the rules our police officers are trained […]
Via the Chicago Tribune: On his first full day as president of Chicago’s largest police union, Officer Kevin Graham appeared at a news conference to address reporters seeking details of his plan for leading the embattled rank-and-file of the police force. With cameras and reporters ready at the Fraternal Order of Police lodge in the […]
No matter how you feel about Donald Trump, this bit from “Jimmy Kimmel Live” will leave you laughing.
Deputy Martha Lohnes of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Department in South Carolina has responded to some weird 911 calls, but this one takes the cake. Aaliyah Ryan is just two years old. But she knew enough to call 911 when she was having a problem. The dispatcher told Deputy Lohnes that it sounded like a […]
In this section we will bring you articles, videos and pictures that make it obvious who needs a union – we all do. When employees have the right to sit
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