|
September 28, 2007
Editorial
Nickel-And-Diming New Cops
The substandard starting salary for Police Officers is doing enough
damage to the NYPD's efforts to attract new cops and then move
them through the Police Academy and onto the streets. So why is
the department nickel-and-diming the rookies by forcing them to
spend between $59 and $79 for night-sights on their guns?
An NYPD spokesman responded, "This is nothing new," meaning
past recruits also had to go into their own pockets to cover the
cost of the night-sights. But past classes of new officers were
being paid a reasonable wage, not the insult of a starting salary
that emerged from a 2005 arbitration award for the Patrolmen's
Benevolent Association contract.
Both the PBA and the city share the blame for indicating to arbitration
panel head Eric Schmertz that they could live with the gutting
of the pay scale for new cops - the PBA because it was the most
politically painless way to pay for the 5-percent annual raises
the award provided to incumbent cops; the city because it insisted
on those savings to offset the cost of the raises, even as it made
recruitment for the job significantly more difficult.
And so PBA President Pat Lynch is guilty of grandstanding when
he calls for the NYPD to provide the sights for free, particularly
since his delaying tactics during the current round of bargaining
have made it likely that the next union contract - which is expected
to significantly boost starting pay - won't be produced until nearly
four years after the old one expired.
But Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who has frequently decried
the slashed pay scale, is not thinking creatively enough if the
best the NYPD can offer in explanation of why the underpaid recruits
are being stuck with the tab on the gun sights is that this is
the way it's always been done.
At the very least, the department should pay a portion of the
costs as a way of giving the new cops a discount that reflects
their marked-down salaries. The current starting pay of $25,100
is about 62 percent of what they would have received if the 5-percent
hikes had been granted without slashing entry salaries; it would
seem reasonable to have the NYPD pay 38 percent of the cost of
the sights until starting pay is upgraded to a more reasonable
level.
The money doesn't even have to come directly from the department's
budget. Mr. Kelly could ask the Police Foundation, which covers
certain unique expenses for the department, to pick up the tab
until the pay issue is resolved. For that matter, he might persuade
a certain private citizen who last year gave $165 million of his
fortune to charity that what would figure to cost him a fraction
of that amount might further demonstrate his interest in both good
works and public safety. If Mayor Bloomberg finds his private giving
to cultural groups an effective way to go where perhaps the city
budget can't, why not for a minor expenditure that makes a statement
to the new cops?
The 18-percent attrition rate so far in the current class is tangible
proof of the financial strain the low starting salary places on
the rookies. Making them feel like they are being gouged by the
company store is no way to convince those who stayed that if they
see it through, their perseverance will be repaid.
| 
