With all that has been going on recently in the NYPD, such as the
Louima Case, the Livoti Case, etc., this topic may appear rather
mild. But it should be mentioned.
In the June 29th edition of The New York Times, a story entitled "Rent-a-Cop Program: The Best Protection Money Can Buy," just about tells it all. Officially called the "Paid Detail Program" within the NYPD, 10,000 officers have made themselves available to work part-time, in uniform, as security guards to "keep the peace at your private affair," as the news story reports it.
Many of you reading this may just be, in fact, reading it while on an off-duty security guard assignment and saying, "So...what's the matter with that?" Yes, it is a very well known point that MANY departments authorize their members to work in such a capacity...and the officers are happy to have the work. But there is more to this NYPD story.
During the recent contract negotiations between the Patrolman's Benevolent Association and New York City, the PBA presented the pay scales and contracts of the adjorning jurisdictions surrounding New York City. The differences in salaries, between the "NYPD Blue" and their rather bucolic neighbors, were substantial, to say the least! The Nassau County, Suffolk County, and Port Authority Police will finish their multi-year contracts with salaries in the $70G area, while the NYPD will have to be content with the low $50's, but only if you are an active cop with much arrest activity. Like everything else, politics came into play, as to why the City of New York would not give their 40,000 Police Officers a good raise.
You see, if Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was to authorize such a large pay increase for the cops, he would also have to give the same increase to the 8,000 firefighters and fire officers, and about 90% of that same increase to the Sanitation workers. Politically, not a healthy situation (Oh, did I mention that there is an EIGHT BILLION DOLLAR surplus in the NYC budget?)
So, what is the alternative? The alternative is to get someone else to pay the increase in salary! Sure, we want our Police Officers to make an outstanding wage, but we don't want to pay it! Never mind the fact that a police officer's home life, already suffering from the strains of working around the clock, and having to deal with the lowlife of society, as well as one of the highest divorce rates, will have to take on yet another burden of working SEVEN DAYS A WEEK! Giuliani even said in one of his press conferences (right after an NYPD Detective was killed working one of these security guard jobs) that working a second job was a traditional thing in all parts of society.
But, Mr. Mayor, there aren't too many parts of society that have to pull a gun, decide whether to shoot, then have to justify their actions to a hostile community...all before going to "keep the peace at your private affair..."
Another self-proclaimed "friend of the cops," former mayor Ed Koch, on his daily radio program, frequently tells cop callers that they should quit if they don't like the salary, and a cop in the NYPD "..should be thrilled just being a NYC cop...they make TV shows and movies about them..." I'll mention that to the dentist when my child needs braces, Mr. Koch.
Refering back to the Times article, an unnamed Police Department official reports that "enough safeguards" have been built into the Paid Detail Program to address "the old anxieties," presumably the longtime "anxieties" of corruption. Yet, this is the same department that had a very long standing order that uniformed officers shall not make arrests for drugs or gambling offenses, even if they occured right in front of the officer! This is the same department where the term "Corruption Prone Location" is splattered all over precinct maps and reports, to the point where an officer has to go outside the precinct boundaries to get a decent meal! This is the same department that prohibits an officer to make a personal purchase of any kind within the precinct where the officer works! And it goes on and on. But now, faced with the political backlash of having to pay the members of the department what other police officers are paid within a short drive of New York City, "anxieties have been addressed..." regarding the officer working for, and being paid by, some of the richest people and organizations in the City, if not the world, enforcing the mandates of the private employer, and in effect, allowing the officer to become the Praetorian Guard of the elite of the City. And now corruption is no longer a problem. Who are they kidding?
As PROSAY said on the first page, the police officer as a political pawn is not a dying breed! They are developing and multiplying, and becoming easily detected and experimented with by the political anthropologists.
Spouse's Report in on the Workload of Police Work
