Unusual move: publicizing crime to get a raise
This graphic was developed by FOP Lodge 133.
FOP Lodge 133 denies using crime stats as a negotiating tool, but maybe it’s a good idea.
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 133, which represents officers working for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, is reporting a marked increase in the number of guns seized from the students. Recently they sent out a press release announcing that police confiscated a .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun from a middle school classroom. The gun, the FOP reported, was the 22nd firearm confiscated during the 2013-2014 school year from students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
If accurate, those stats would represent a significant jump over recent years, when roughly 14 to 18 guns were confiscated each year by police working in the schools. The Police Department says the stats are inflated.
The union’s step of issuing its own news releases is unusual. For just about every police department, a media-relations office controlled by the police chief issues releases about crime and arrests.
“I’ve never seen that, where the union takes on the department’s role,” said John Rivera, longtime president of Miami-Dade’s PBA. “If there’s something we find interesting, we will put out a press release. But the actual incidents and stuff like that, we don’t do that.”
Read the entire article by reporter David Smiley from the Miami Herald.
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