And, the department's troubled history has little to do with pepole thinking they acn act lawlessly. People seel drugs, shoot at each other, beat their wives and girlfriends, and steal beacuse the police department has ahd a lot of problems. Ridiculous. So, gievn teh sam epopulation the crime would be lower if police officers had not gotten in trouble.
The reputation of Schenectady attracts the criminal population. Crooked cops entice organized crime and the drug traders to populate your city. When you have a chief of police involved in organized crime that went undetected by the SPD, it's tough to shake the reputation of corruption. The common criminal can read between the lines. When the leadership - the police chief - acts not only unethically but illegally, it encourages and attracts the criminal element to open business in the city where the authorities are easily bought.
The overtime is up because the contract rewards them to get overtime. Overtime is given to the highest paid and near retirement. Overtime hours are rounded up. One half hour OT is rounded up to 4 hours. The police are put on paid leave for disiplinary issues and the rest get OT. That makes sense. The police get disability pay that never ends. The rest get OT because of it. The police accrue an insane amount of guaranteed paid sick days and holiday pay, then get OT. If they take 2 sick days (8 hours) and then work 40 hours they get rewarded for by 16 hours of OT. Makes sense. Same thing for a holiday combined with a sick day and 40 hours worked in a week.
Since I know nothing of the specific details of the Schdy police force, I can only comment on the post in general.
~Overtime is paid to those near retirement... Could it be that overtime is given first to the highest seniority (as is common in other PD's?)
~Overtime hours are rounded up. One half hour OT is rounded up to 4 hours. Some industrial contracts will require 4 hours OT even if only 1 hour is worked, BUT, once you accept the OT you are required to work the 4 hrs if needed.
~The police are put on paid leave for disiplinary issues and the rest get OT. If an officer is out for what ever reason... how would you suggest they cover his shift with out OT?
~The police accrue an insane amount of guaranteed paid sick days and holiday pay... Is "INSANE AMOUNT" similar to like PD's in the area? Some corporations allow their employees to accrue sick days, others don't. If the Schdy police contract is out of line with similar PD's in the area, it should be negotiated at their next contract.
~ If they take 2 sick days (8 hours) and then work 40 hours they get rewarded for by 16 hours of OT. Some Private industry works on a M-F shift... anything on the weekends is OT. Anything over 40 hours is OT, regardless if the 40 hours is vacation/sick time or worked.
Police work, by it's nature, will always require added hours at unscheduled times, to cover weather emergencies, major traffic accidents, or traffic duty for fires or other unplanned events. Some OT will always be necessary. If the Schdy PD's OT is consistently higher than other similar PD's, then possibly they need more straight time officers and less OT.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
The reputation of Schenectady attracts the criminal population. Crooked cops entice organized crime and the drug traders to populate your city. When you have a chief of police involved in organized crime that went undetected by the SPD, it's tough to shake the reputation of corruption. The common criminal can read between the lines. When the leadership - the police chief - acts not only unethically but illegally, it encourages and attracts the criminal element to open business in the city where the authorities are easily bought.
Exactly correct. When the 'community' knows, sees, experiences the rampant crime...knows who the criminals are........where the crimes are being committed............gives info to the cops.............and yet the crime continues, right out in the open..........then ya know there is a potential 'cop issue'.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Since I know nothing of the specific details of the Schdy police force, I can only comment on the post in general.
~Overtime is paid to those near retirement... Could it be that overtime is given first to the highest seniority (as is common in other PD's?)
~Overtime hours are rounded up. One half hour OT is rounded up to 4 hours. Some industrial contracts will require 4 hours OT even if only 1 hour is worked, BUT, once you accept the OT you are required to work the 4 hrs if needed.
~The police are put on paid leave for disiplinary issues and the rest get OT. If an officer is out for what ever reason... how would you suggest they cover his shift with out OT?
~The police accrue an insane amount of guaranteed paid sick days and holiday pay... Is "INSANE AMOUNT" similar to like PD's in the area? Some corporations allow their employees to accrue sick days, others don't. If the Schdy police contract is out of line with similar PD's in the area, it should be negotiated at their next contract.
~ If they take 2 sick days (8 hours) and then work 40 hours they get rewarded for by 16 hours of OT. Some Private industry works on a M-F shift... anything on the weekends is OT. Anything over 40 hours is OT, regardless if the 40 hours is vacation/sick time or worked.
Police work, by it's nature, will always require added hours at unscheduled times, to cover weather emergencies, major traffic accidents, or traffic duty for fires or other unplanned events. Some OT will always be necessary. If the Schdy PD's OT is consistently higher than other similar PD's, then possibly they need more straight time officers and less OT.
It doesn't matter what other cops in the area get paid. The government and council have no backbone. They wanted votes and sold out. 4 hour overtime for 1/2 hour of OT is rape. I dont care what the contract says. All OT to senior cops another rape job. Pension based on highest salary paid another one.
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid - John Wayne
TIP TO NEW VISITORS TO THIS FORUM - To improve your blogging pleasure it is recommended to ignore (Through editing your prefere) the posts of the following bloggers - DemocraticVoiceofReason, Scotsgod08 and Smoking Bananas. They continually go off topic, do not provide facts and make irrational remarks. If you do not believe me, this can be proven by their reputation scores or by a sampling of their posts.
OT is corelated with seniority but not based on it. POsitioins are based on seniority like detective assignments so that is why senior people get it.
The crime in Schenectady was precipitated by three things: GE and high paying jobs leaving the area, the introduction of cocaine and lucrative marijuana market and the deterioration of the family unit. Single parents struggling to raise children. Additionally, when MP, Hamilton Hill, and other areas became populated by tenants as opposed to owner occupied - that created a more tansient neighborhood.
I guess the police union has never heard of equalization of overtime in which the low man on the overtime list is asked to work OT as long as the person is qualified to do the job.
And, there is no evidence that the Chief you referenced got involved in drug trafficking until after he left the Department. And, if you think drug dealers did not coem into this City until he became Chief you don't know the history of the City.
Again:
Loss of GE and well paying jobs
Owner occupied properties vacacted for a flight to suburbia, especially Mont Pleasant, Hamilton Hill, and Central State Street
I would argue our City is undergoing one of the finest Renaissances in modern urban history -- when the results are fully in - I predict that Mayor Statton will be elevated to a very high position in our Federal Government...perhaps even U.S. Senator.
"We have to talk about liberating minds as well as liberating society." ---Angela Davis
"When you put a tiny and despised minority up for a popular vote, the minority usually loses." ---Andrew Sullivan
They rotate the assignment unless there's someone whose going to retire the next year then everybody turns the OT down and gives it to the future retiree to build up his pension. I know people in the PD that have done and are going to do the same thing, it's legal and until the state legislature changes how the pensions are calculated this practice will continue. I wish I could have done the same thing the last year I worked I'd have a much better pension but I worked in the private sector.
10 biggest paychecks Schenectady's top earners in 2011 Job title Salary Gross John Ericson Police investigator $66,345 $149,429 Michael Seber Assistant police chief $123,816 $149,182 Jack Falvo Assistant police chief $123,816 $146,853 Eric Clifford Police Lieutenant $80,070 $141,615 Mark McCracken Police Lieutenant $80,070 $140,260 Wayne Bennett Public safety comm. $124,432 $138,173 Patrick Morris Police Sergeant $71,899 $136,624 Thomas Adach Police investigator $66,345 $127,804 Jeremy Pace Police investigator $66,345 $125,202 Michael Della Rocco Fire chief $129,933 $124,582 Source: City of Schenectady
These numbers are only part of the facts you'd need to make a reasonable assessment on this issue.Have the number of police been reduced in the last 10 years?... if so it would explain the overtime pay that drove up these numbers. Could the city actually save money by hiring more personnel at straight time, and reduce the overtime paid out to others?
it could be fixed....the problem being the elected always use the unions as podium puck/guaranteed votes for the future payouts on the backs of the future generations....those future generations still have to pay the CURRENT employed and continue to guarantee the retired.....NO FUTURE PLANNING FROM THIS DEEP DARK HOLE OF "It doesn't matter now we can sign the contract."
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
''It's the department's culture and lack of supervision that has unleashed officers to do simply what they please,'' said Kevin Luibrand, a civil-rights lawyer who has developed an expertise in Schenectady police practices. ''That's the common theme in the whole situation: they don't feel limited.''
Chief Gregory T. Kaczmarek, a 25-year police veteran and son of a Schenectady officer, acknowledged that the department's procedures are inadequate and that some officers have an arrogant sense of entitlement. But he said that he has brought the concept of internal affairs from theory to practice, and was working to make a department chock full of good officers more professional.
But Chief Kaczmarek has his own image problems. Earlier this year he admitted that he had purposely lied to the City Council about a detail relating to the Sampson case because he wanted to find the source of leaks to the news media. And a few months ago he had to apologize to the Council for engaging in some off-color banter while appearing on a morning shock-jock radio program -- with the mayor.
Mayor Albert Jurczynski defended his police chief and criticized the City Council Saturday in the wake of revelations that Chief Gregory T. Kaczmarek lied to the council in a closed-door briefing on the federal investigation into alleged extortion and drug dealing by police officers. ``As a general rule, you are not supposed to lie,'' Jurczynski said. ``In a very narrow view of this situation, on the surface, it's a terrible thing. ... But I was not upset with him because there was a serious, serious problem with outside interference (in the federal investigation).'' The meeting with the council took place in August 1999 at Jurczynski's behest, a year before the indictment of officers Michael Siler and Richard Barnett on extortion and drug-dealing charges.
And, there is no evidence that the Chief you referenced got involved in drug trafficking until after he left the Department. And, if you think drug dealers did not coem into this City until he became Chief you don't know the history of the City.
First, I have a hard time believing Kaczmarek retired from a career as top law enforcement in the City to dabble in drug running. I'm pretty confident looking at the police departments record during his leadership, that it is more than a coincidence that he became involved in dealing drugs after he left. It's not like he retired and opened up the yellow pages and looked up 'cocaine runner' looking for part time work. It's my opinion that Schenectady had an organized drug ring being facilitated by the police department for a long time. The cops were extorting the drug dealers and the chief was covering, and the union boss was well aware of all of it, and leveraged it during contract negotiations. The SPD doesn't get the top 28 spots on the highest paid city employees by accident.
Second, I never said that Kaczmarek brought the drug dealers to Schenectady. Actually, I agree with a lot of your assessment of WHY the city is decaying. What I am saying is, the police facilitated the drug dealers for their own personal gain, and developed a pay to play environment for the drug dealer. Once the word was out, it opened the flood gates for violent drug dealers from downstate to open up shop in Schenectady.
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