"It’s almost unbelievable that they’re getting a trained officer willing to work nights, weekends, and holidays and take the risks they do for what is little more than minimum wage."
-- A. wayne sampson, MASSACHUSETTS CHIEFS OF POLICE ASSOCIATION
To avoid costly insurance and pension benefits that full-time police officers receive, many suburban departments are turning to part-time officers as a way to cut costs.
Is Chesterfield and Hinsdale sharing a full time employee...To avoid costly insurance and pension benefits?
How much is the part time police officers in Chesterfield and Hinsdale making?
-- A. wayne sampson, MASSACHUSETTS CHIEFS OF POLICE
ASSOCIATIOn
Friday, September 21, 2012
By Bradford L. Miner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
Police departments in some of the smaller communities west of Worcester are having trouble attracting and keeping qualified part-time police officers. The culprit cited most frequently is hourly wages that are not competitive.
Of the towns surveyed, North Brookfield paid its part-timers the least amount, at a rate of $12.86 an hour.“It’s almost unbelievable that they’re getting a trained officer willing to work nights, weekends, and holidays and take the risks they do for what is little more than minimum wage. That’s very disconcerting,” said A. Wayne Sampson, executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association.“I can see why North Brookfield would have difficulty. Even part-timers must complete reserve or part-time academy training and hold minimum qualifications. Once they have that training, however, there’s no incentive to stay if they can do better in a neighboring town,” Mr. Sampson said.He said a significant trend not just across the state, but nationwide, is officers transferring out, taking better-paying jobs and jobs with better benefits.
See, this is a problem with the ideology of the Reformer. They portray these events in the eyes of the cheap and easy story of officialdom. Generally the Reformer and the Police departments are a mirror image of each other...don't have the resources to fully support their communities.
"The benefits are that you don't have medical (insurance costs), no vacation or sick time, they'd be covered by workers' comp and there's no pension liabilities either," Turano said.I am just saying...why did the Reformer us this side of the story? Why does the Reformer just give the side of officialdom. Who in our area sticks up for the greater interest of the middle class in our community...to the day to day police middle class officers who are in direct contact with the dirty side underside of the community. Why do they coddle these officials? Who serves the greater interest of our community better, the Reformer or me?
This is exactly the contempt the Reformers shows to their employees. Anything to cut cost and save the newspaper.Bottom line, the part timer police officers just dilutes the hard won income of the full time struggling middle class police officers. You just get what you pay for. All this is, is a scam for the selectmen to declare their towns will save money on your tax bill even as it shoots everyone in the town in the foot. This facilitates police force musical chairs....the high turnover of police officers.
Here is how a good newspaper reporter struggles to see the big picture...serve his community and our greater good. The Reformer's tack is to serve a personal libertarian ideological agenda of hating and belittling government. At the ends of this ideology, their aims is to belittle and humiliate the middle class in Hinsdale with chintzy
news articles.
BY GERALD CROSSPublished: December 14, 2014The statewide surge in heroin abuse is terrifying and shows no signs of stopping, while at the same time a growing number of municipalities find it harder to fund an adequate level of police coverage.
That’s one of the takeaways from a series of recent Pennsylvania Economy League civic leadership education events across the state that focused on the devastating heroin epidemic.
As the highly addictive drug migrates from big cities to small towns and suburban communities, it brings with it heroin-related crime, violence from drug deals gone bad and users turning to theft and burglary to support their habit. Problems spill over to the families of users and the community at large, leading to domestic situations ranging from child neglect to stealing valuables from loved ones and neighbors. Heroin ensnares the richest of the rich and poorest of the poor.
Against this backdrop is another reality: Many local governments and their police forces are ill equipped to deal with the epidemic. It is becoming increasingly difficult for individual municipalities on their own to fund 24/7 police departments staffed by full-time officers. The result, particularly in borough and township police forces, is fewer officers on patrol, increased overtime costs and more reliance on part-time police to fill in the gapsAlmost the same size:"Hinsdale has eight full-time officers, including Faulkner, and three part-timers."
The chief of a NortheastPennsylvania borough, who presented at one of our events, said his force of three full-time and seven part-time officers cannot keep up with the escalating drug problem. It is, he said, an overwhelming task, estimating 90 percent of burglaries, robberies and thefts in his town are linked to drug addiction.Northeast Pennsylvania borough: The population was 4,601 at the 2000 census. The median income for a household in the borough was $36,431, and the median income for a family was $43,250. Males had a median income of $33,939 versus $21,921 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $16,132. About 10.0% of families and 13.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.3% of those under age 18 and 11.9% of those age 65 or over.
It’s easy to see why many municipalities are turning to lower-cost part-time officers to bridge the police coverage gap. Part-time officers seem like a bargain. Hourly rates are less than for full-timers and there are generally no fringe benefits or long-term pension costs.
But scratch a little deeper and problems start to surface.
“Municipalities are looking at it strictly from a cost standpoint, not from a cost effectiveness standpoint,” said longtime police consultant Ron Smeal, an FBI-trained former police chief who has conducted police department operations and management studies for more than 90 Pennsylvania municipalities.
Part-time officers might be effective in the simple role of watchmen and report takers, Mr. Smeal said, but often lack the time or expertise to handle significant investigations or provide follow-up for complaints.
Uniforms, vests and other equipment costs for someone who might work only a couple of shifts a month add up. Part-timers generally have less of an investment in the community and may be unfamiliar or less sensitive to the dynamics of the local population.
Municipal liability is a problem, as well. Part-time officers often work two, three or more jobs. Shifts can be back-to-back, raising questions of fatigue that could lead to an injury, auto accident or even a shooting as judgment becomes impaired. According to Mr. Smeal: “It’s a liability issue waiting to happen.”
The increased use of part-time officers and similar penny-pinching measures serve to hollow out an already uneven level of local police protection across the state that makes us all more vulnerable to crime. Many towns are protected by minuscule police departments of only one or two officers, and 24-hour coverage is an illusion.
Nearby jurisdictions often fail to share information. Numerous municipalities don’t have local police coverage at all, relying on the stretched-thin resources of the state police.
State policymakers must come to the realization that our fragmented local police system is broken. Reform must occur so that local governments provide the service that citizens expect and deserve. The health, safety and welfare of our communities depend on it.Is the debts of the new police department building a part of this problem? Why did the town allow that dilapidated old building and the not up to codes shack to house the police department for so many years? Why has the town been so contemptuous to our police department over the decades. You got to know the Police chief went to this cheapskate Walmart philosophy in anticipation of the new police building. I am not saying we don't desperately need a new police station, I am saying we are destroying the police department in order to get the new police station.
Do you get what I am trying to say, poverty and insufficient resources of government and poverty of the people itself, cuts off government to it people...disrupts communication and trust between the government and its people. I got a feeling a high percentage of the people don't respect our police department and the legal system
Who would be one of the best resources
to help us set the standards of the police departments...to explain the short
comings of the police department and the system they are entrained in? Who
could give us a early warning on a decline of a police department. It would be
the district court judges and the prosecutors. They see the broad lens with the
behaviors of the particular police departments…particularly the prosecutors. Recent
events in Ferguson and Staten Island over deaths with black people speak to the
reality the courts and the prosecutors are overly dependent on the police
departments. If the courts and prosecutors speak to the problems of the police
departments, they feel it will undermine the relationship with the police
departments and courts. It is a dirty rotten shame the people who know the system the best
can’t speak about the shortcomings of the foundation of the legal system and
justice in general, directly to the people they serve. I don’t understand why
the prosecutor and a judge couldn't come to the local town, say once a year, To
report on the police department with a patriotic skeptical and independent eye
on the condition of the police department and its direction according to the
perspective of the prosecutor or the judge. The courts and the police departments are so isolated from their owners in small town America, the isolation of the part time volunteer selectmen town system who don't have the time and resources to keep the system straight. All this isolation from the peoples of a nation with the instruments of justice undermines faith in patriotism and love and respect of government itself. I don’t care how many highly trained police officers a town has, if a town doesn’t love, respect and understand their police force…it put the handcuffs on the whole lot of the police force and locks up the courts in a isolated jail cell itself.
The Dearborn Police Department is looking to hire both full- and part-time police officers.You just wonder if the police chief elbows the selectmen...give me a cut of the savings in my raise, I know a way to cut the cost of the police department across the board.
According to the job posting, the minimum qualifications for the part-time position include at least five years experience as a certified police officer and either an associate’s degree in law enforcement, two years of related college courses or a bachelor’s degree or higher in any discipline.
The position would pay $25 per hour up to 28 hours a week.Official college transcripts or a copy of the request to obtain transcripts must be submitted with the application
And yes, a significant percentage of our population are angry, feeling hopeless and poor... who would be beyond pleased if they drove the police officers pay to the income they have.
Part-time cops don't mean big-time savings
To avoid costly insurance and pension benefits that full-time police officers receive, many suburban departments are turning to part-time officers as a way to cut costs.A harder story to portray for a insufficient resourced 4th estate with a ideological bent, and I fault our community members here...is the examples in our communities where these community members don't receive the proper police and government resources. Where do we see this suffering of the people. Where do we see the world through more than one simpleton lens that always confers an advantage to the status quo. The default of the reformer with it limited resources and the staff having poor skills to understand the story, ask the difficult questions to create change in our world...it to bolster the status quo.
But the savings may not always pan out.Among 80 suburban police departments throughout six collar counties, nearly a third employ part-time officers in some capacity. That amounts to almost 150 officers used to fill service and funding gaps. Yet, while the practice enables some towns to realize savings by reducing the number of full-time officers, collective bargaining agreements and the cost of staffing part-time posts prevent many from seeing significant savings overall.Village leaders in West Dundee authorized three part-time officers last year at a cost of $18,942. But Police Chief Andrew Wieteska's budget this year calls for $74,100 to be spent on part-timers, while overtime is slated to be unchanged at roughly $150,000. Wieteska says he hopes to shave about 30 percent off that amount by the end of the fiscal year, but the village would still pay more for part-time labor than it will realize in overtime savings.Wieteska believes there are other advantages than big cost savings."Part-time police fill a niche," he said. "While our ranks declined in recent years due to budget cuts, our call volume did not see an equivalent reduction."Other departments also are moving away from identifying savings as the chief motivating factor for hiring part-timers.Rolling Meadows officials say their plan to hire part-time police officers is more about operational efficiency than dollars.
How you feel in a overwhelmed police force...if the police force feels pressures where they can't take the time to understand our problems when you need them to.Never before has the police chiefs, have they felt so intimidated by the libertarian philosophy of the selectmen in our small town and poverty stricken America. The events of Vernon Vermont speaks to this, where the selectman in a crisis can dissolve a police force to meet the ends of a small group of people supporting their destruction of town government. A select person have the ability to wreck the career of a police chief on a whim. What good police chief wants to work in this heartless environment. On the Hinsdale police force right now, we have a ex-police chief who felt the wrath of a out of control town government.
And I will give you a clue, part time police officers from one police department and then working at another police department speaks to the pressures of these police officers working for Walmart wages in their first job. And they won't be available if a crisis hit their towns. And they might be working in intoxicated condition with working too many hours and the officers not getting enough sleep.Just remember, Chesterfield is a different town than Hinsdale. Chesterfield by and large is lot more wealthy than Hinsdale. More collective wealth means less crime!!! You want less crime in your area and and a smaller police force, a better and stronger America, baby it is economic development and everyone having big huge piece of a beloved America.
Roswell Georgia (population 83,000)thinks it is a dangerous conflict of interest in hiring part time police officer that works in other police departments full time and restricts where they can work. This is basic newspaper reporter research...where is the Reformer in raising these issues. I know how it would pay out if the reformer wrote a difficult article challenging the Hinsdale and Chesterfield police departments. You would never get another cheapy article from these police departments and municipal governments ever again in our area...that is called intimidation.
Given that budgetary limitations were a factor, the policy was drafted so that applicants must already have obtained their Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council certifications. The return for Roswell was that the department was not paying for the training or for officer salaries while they attended the months of training. Furthermore, allowing only certified peace officers to apply ensured the experience level of candidates would be greater. Finally, the policy stated that PTR officers could not be employed full-time by another law enforcement agency. This was written to minimize conflicts between officers’ fulltime law enforcement employers and the Roswell department.
The policy recognized that PTR police officers would likely be employed full-time at a separate organization. The policy stated that “this primary employment must not be incompatible with their service as a PTR police officer.”2 Additionally, the department realizes each officer’s full-time employment schedule would take priority over service as a Roswell PTR police officer.That cheapskatism philosophy is bigger the more wealth you have. Roswell is a very wealthy town and I traveled it roads in a giant cement mixer truck once.
Roswell: According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $73,469, and the median income for a family was $103,698. The average income for households was $106,219 and the average income for families was $123,481. Males had a median income of $72,754 versus $45,979 for females. The per capita income for the city was $40,106. About 3.2% of families and 5.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.6% of those under age 18 and 0.7% of that those age 65 or over.[8]Hinsdale: The median income for a household in the town was $36,124, and the median income for a family was $43,413. Males had a median income of $31,440 versus $23,000 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,611. 6.4% of the population and 3.2% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 9.1% are under the age of 18 and 7.2% are 65 or older.Chesterfield: The median income for a household in the town was $51,351, and the median income for a family was $58,516. Males had a median income of $44,087 versus $26,547 for females. The per capita income for the town was $25,051. About 4.9% of families and 4.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.5% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.
So this is how the police chiefs put the happyland and
touristy spin on it...we are maliciously and dangerously undermanned for
decades. Because of our resource constraints, this is especially bad in our
underfunded courts, our jails, the care of the mentally ill and the drug
addicted...the small town rank and file police officers face more incoming fire
and dangerous gun conditions than in their wealthier bigger cities. The Police
officers not only feel the wrath of their underfunded police force...but all the
collective parts of a dysfunctional government above and apart of them. So if
you find a resource kink at the bottom end of police force, the death, damage
and destruction is going to get amplified all the way through the not properly
funded court systems, care of the mentally ill and jails. And poverty is definitely
a crime amplifier and the land of our lost souls.
But, it is a matter of survival, you make do with a pittance of a walmart style wage in our area? I will make the case these police chiefs make a pretty good income ...they would rather throw the lower level police officers who severely lack resources under the bus than risk their good incomes and careers. Make no mistake, the police departments and the courts are one of the most secrets driven organizations on the planet.
I'd like to see the overtime police officer policy of Hinsdale...how much overtime pay do they get and what are the overtime hour restrictions. I got a feeling they are forced to work a certain amount of straight time, then they bring in the cheap part timers.
Do they at least get time and a half pay after 40 hours and holiday pay? You can see how libertarian this model is a town Walmart...training is less, no health benefits or pension for the part timers and I'll bet you they are paid a lot less than full timers. Or are the part timers a lot more cheaper for the town, who economically undermine the full timers? It certainly is survival of the fittest in the jungle of a police department.
What happens when the part timers need to testify at court...do they have to do that on the nickel of their full time job?
"We should have about 15 officers and so should Chesterfield," he said. Hinsdale has eight full-time officers, including Faulkner, and three part-timers. Chickering said Chesterfield has four full-time officers and has not added one in 14 or 15 years. He said his department utilizes technology to make up for manpower.Do you see what I am talking about, does the reformer go around asking the citizens if they had any problem with the small town police departments? Asking, how can you make the department better.
I don't believe it for a second making these small town police officials being overwhelmed make for a better police experience. It is just diluting competence.
My answer to the dangerous Mr Drake experience for the police officer... have the resources to interact and disrupt his dangerous behavior before he points a gun at you? I just don't believe for one second these police officials and officers have the freedom to tell us all about their problems.
Soup to nuts: Small-town PDs learn all aspects of investigation
By Domenic Poli
dpoli@reformer.com @dpoli_reformer on Twitter
Posted: 12/17/2014 08:36:52 PM EST0 Comments| Updated: about 13 hours ago
Hinsdale police chief Todd Faulkner and Officer Josh Murray in downtown Hinsdale. (Kayla Rice ...
HINSDALE, N.H. Duane Chickering worked in the Los Angeles Police Department for several years. And, sometimes, it seems the problems law enforcement officers face there followed him home.
Chickering, named the chief of the Chesterfield Police Department in July, and Hinsdale Police Chief Todd Faulkner recently told the Reformer their towns may exude the charming vibes of small-town America, but both have their share of big-city issues. Crimes that get analyzed by countless specialists within large departments are usually handled from beginning to end at smaller ones.The difference between me and these two police chiefs is the importance of their department's web site...these statistics should be up on the web pages and updated continuously, and explained to the community. It has been long recognized the Hinsdale Police web site is stuck in the Stone Age. It is common knowledge for years the department has been in an overwhelmed situation, another indicator… The department has absolutely no slack to put crime statistics up on the internet...to properly develop their internet site and bring community communication into the 21st century. Hinsdale with all of government is in the backwaters of communication technological development.
"There's really nothing that we don't do," Chickering said, adding that the LAPD typically has specialists that focus on everything from fingerprints and DNA collection to sewing machine patterns. "What's neat about small-town policing ... is that you learn to investigate from soup to nuts."
Faulkner said police chiefs in towns like Hinsdale and Chesterfield roll up their sleeves more than would likely be expected.Does our chief really think that is what the middle class thinks of him with the Dunkin Donuts? Why can't he portray a accurate image with how he fills days out. It is puzzling why he thinks the good people of Hinsdale think so poorly of him?
"Right now, if you were to ask, 'What does a chief do?' This is what they'd perceive — you know, we're sitting behind a desk, drinking a cup of Dunkin' Donuts, doing nothing. That's the perception that I think a lot of people have and the reality is we both work the road," Faulkner said in Chickering's office on Nov. 24. "Duane is on call right now — if he gets a call, he's going. I'm the same way. I am regularly out on the street. So, we're known as what's called 'working chiefs.'
"Not only do we have our administrative duties ... we have a staff that need to make sure is safe and well-trained," he continued.
The big-city problems small towns face came screaming to the forefront in the past year. Faulkner explained Dean Wright, an officer who works part-time for him and full-time for Chickering, was working in the early morning hours when he was called to a domestic disturbance involving alcohol. When he arrived at the scene, a man named Kirk Drake emerged intoxicated from his home and pointed a shotgun at Wright.
"That turns into a very quick, volatile situation. Luckily, the officer does not employ deadly force, although he (would have been) completely justified to do so," Faulkner said, adding that Wright used other tactics he learned from his training to diffuse the situation and take Drake into custody. "This case could have gone very badly, very quickly. This case, while it's one case that is going to come to light, it's almost a normal thing that we deal with.
Cheshire County Attorney D. Chris McLaughlin, who prosecuted Drake, said the Hinsdale resident pleaded guilty to one count of reckless conduct, a Class B felony, on Dec. 5. McLaughlin said the prosecution requested Drake receive 12 months in jail, with six months suspended, but Judge John C. Kissinger sentenced him to 12 months of house arrest with electronic monitoring. McLaughlin said Drake can leave his home for work and medical appointments. He also said Drake, who had no prior criminal record, got three years of probation.
Another example of big-city crime happened in April 2013. The New Hampshire Attorney General released a report stating Cameron Prior of the Winchester Police Department was justified in using deadly force the previous month against Grafton, N.H., resident Larry Bohannon, who reportedly refused several demands to drop a gun he was holding and put his hands in the air following a car chase after allegedly robbing the Snow & Lear/Newton Business office supplies store in Bellows Falls, Vt.
Prior works full-time for the Winchester Police Department but was on a part-time duty shift with Alstead at the time of the shooting. Prior was cleared in the incident following an investigation and Winchester Police Chief Gary Phillips told the Reformer Prior correctly reacted to the situation and defended himself.
"These small towns — Hinsdale, Winchester, Chesterfield — we're tiny police departments ... but for us it's the same standard you get anywhere — New York, Chicago," he said. "The only thing is, they have more resources to deal with problems."
Phillips would not speak specifically about Prior, but said using a weapon takes a toll on an officer.
"People who go to war deal with the same thing. It's not like you give someone a slice of pizza and they don't like it and you give them another one — it's something that you never forget. It's stays with you," he said. "I respect the heck out of the guys who work for me."
Chickering said the Chesterfield, Hinsdale and Winchester police departments regularly serve as back-up to one another. In addition, they often call on, or support the Brattleboro, Vt., Police Department. Faulkner said just between Chesterfield and Hinsdale, the two have called for back-up more than 200 times so far this year and his department has responded to 500 disturbance calls involving violent action or the potential for violence. He also told the Reformer, according to FBI statistics, there is a national average of 2.4 police officers per 1,000 people in a community of fewer than 10,000.
"We should have about 15 officers and so should Chesterfield," he said. Hinsdale has eight full-time officers, including Faulkner, and three part-timers. Chickering said Chesterfield has four full-time officers and has not added one in 14 or 15 years. He said his department utilizes technology to make up for manpower
No comments:
Post a Comment