[Tin Knocker]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Most cops do not make $150,000 per year. Those that do get it by working overtime. That overtime is from working on things like road construction or special event crowd control which is mostly reimbursed to the city. Don't begrudge someone that works hard their pay for it. You would want to be paid for working extra time wouldn't you???

Sure I would. But the industry I work in cant support it anymore so it doesn't happen. Yet with municipal employees that I still need to pay, it goes on unabated even though their industry, local & state govts, cannot support it. I dont think we need trained highly paid police to direct traffic anyway. There are many options but often the police unions stand in the way of hiring less expensive options for things they view as their territory. Heck I'd direct traffic for $25.00/hr with bennies in a heartbeat.

What should not be happening is that this overtime be counted toward the calculation of their pension. Usually cops and other public employees will work a lot of overtime their last three years before retirement so that when their pension is calculated, it is based on those high income years. This is a game that employees have played for years and is one of the reasons the pension plans are suffering right now. In addition, the medical insurance is very expensive now and public sector workers pay less and have much better policies that private workers have these days. Also killing them is the 20 years and out plan where all a worker has to do is work 20 years to get their full pension. That pension then has to pay out for the remainder of their life which could easily be 30 to 50 years. Jay

Agreed. They should work until whatever the retirement age for SS is, but again the police unions would go nuts if you expected a cop to actually work until retirement age before being eligible for retirement.
I'm friends with more than a couple police officers who were retired in their 40's & able to work another job after that & end up with 2 pensions. I dont begrudge them that, but the golden years are no longer here.
Something needs to give & since CT cant seem to grasp the concept that ONE of our issues is municipal & state unions the only option open is to lower those unionized worker numbers.

[Tin Knocker]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

First of all, I don't know ANY cop who makes 150k per year, and I know a lot of officers. They top out at 60-70ish in most towns, and if they work their butts off working OT, they're lucky to break 90k.

Well in Norwalk for several years our highest paid employees were police, might not be the norm but even 60 or 70 thousand is ALOT considering the benefits & retirement. Time was a municipal job was great not for the pay but the benefits, now you get both & if a taxpayer has the gall to complain they get ridiculed.

Regarding overtime, you obviously have no clue how they're paid. If AT&T wants to have an officer direct traffic around their guys, THEY pay it. If a bar wants a cop to work private duty on a Saturday night, THEY pay it. The only time taxpayers will foot the bill is when a department is understaffed due to layoffs or budget failures, and officers are forced to work OT.

No I understand just fine, I understand that that overtime is used, as Jay noted, to boost pension & retirement benefits that I do pay for. If the towns, cities & unions didn't force AT&T or club owners to hire the police those entities would do like any other & look for cheaper alternatives, of which there are many. I'm certain that many unemployed people in CT would love to be paid to direct trafic or work security. In many cases the forced expense ends up closing events down. In Norwalk we had an annual fair at the St Annes club for at least the 34 years I'v lived here. Last year we canceled it because of the cost of the mandated police presence. The year before we barely showed a profit because of it. On top of it they arent even really working for you & dont have to listen. When all 6 of them are hanging together eating FREE food instead of spreading out & actually providing crowd control and theres nothing you can do what good are they? At least with a private firm when YOU hire them YOU are the boss.
Forcing private entities in a city or town to pay for things whether they can afford to or not or need them or not isn't much different than just paying them from the tax roles. Who do you think pays for it when a contractor or utility os forced to use the most expensive option? You think they take the hit or do you supose its passed on to the customers instead?

The fact is that we still bear the burden of that overtime and its likely more expensive because those contractors & utilities incur administrative costs to hire & coordinate the use of those "off duty cops"

[Trainspotter]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Agreed, but on the News 8 website, another top story is Shooting at Dunkin Donuts in New Haven | WTNH.com Connecticut

I don't think it's unfair to call on people to protect themselves.

I think too many folks in New Haven are arming themselves for "protection".