Cops got a FAT Raise (New York, Union: loans, living in, cost of)

[MottHavenDude]

Yes agreed..we are going in circles here. The bottom line is..the higher credentials are better but guarantee nothing. We agree.

[dman72]

Originally Posted by Miles

I'm no good looker myself. Only way I can touch my toes is when I'm in a tub. Graying hair, round belly. Just getting by in life. Struggling to achieve the American Dream. Look at me and you got to figure that this guy sure needs his ship to come in.

Do I want my cops looking like me? Absolutely not. What's with the recent poor image of the NYC cop? And I don't mean their public relations image - we all know that this thread has been examining that.

But whatever happened to the PHYSICAL image? I mean, I look around and I see an upsurge in the number of potbellied, out of shape, awkward looking men and women in the force working the beat near the subways and on the streets.

These fellas look like the only thing they're capable of chasing is a donut rolling down the sidewalk. Can these guys and gals in the force run after the cops and robbers of today? Are they physically fit? Are there any physique requirements to join?

Then we have their demeanor - a lackluster, overly laid back style. Saw a bunch of them hanging - and I mean literally hanging like a bunch of junior high students after school - at the 96/Broadway subway during the recent construction there. Shirts hanging out of pants, arms hugging the stairways, bellies sticking out. Walking up a few stairs to inform the public that one entrance was closed left one officer puffing and panting and searching the sidwalk for a misplaced donut to recharge the batteries. What a sorry looking bunch.

No, we don't need our cops to look like Denzel Weshington or Brad Pitt or a Victoria's Secret model, and we don't need them to win beauty contests either. But is this acceptable to have our cops in such a sorry physical state lacking uprightness and neatness and the appearance that commands respect and adulation?

We've got to do something about our standards of admission to the force. If not every sorry looking dude like me will feel that he can be a cop - and heaven help the city if that's what we have to defend us from the bad guys.

With a $27,000 a year starting salary until just recently, no on should be surprised. You can make more than that in Manhattan delivering pizzas or chines food with tips.

[MottHavenDude]

Umm....but the reality was that even when the salaries were supposedly "good" and "fair" back in the 50s through the 80s...the department was in fact far worse than today. The guys they had in their were uneducated brutes/thugs that policed communities by terrorizing them, were heavily involved in corruption/mob, violent far beyond what you see today, and had accepted/rampant racism. It was not salaries...it was the same problem back then that we have today..a sick culture that comes from the top down...and pervades every segment of the force. Until that changes...we will be discussing these same issues, regardless of salary, in 2018, 2028, etc..

[Sanman04]

N.Y.C. Dept. of Sanitation should get a FAT Raise!!! The Books Are Open.

[ogplife]

While I don't think raising educational standards are necessary for the job (many efficient PDs across the country require only a high school diploma), I do think the educational requirements should be raised. My reasoning is the more education you have the more you have at stake. You have invested 4 (most cases 5) years in school of work and in many cases you have a healthy loan too. People work best when they have something to lose.

[ogplife]

Originally Posted by Sanman04

N.Y.C. Dept. of Sanitation should get a FAT Raise!!! The Books Are Open.

No offense, I hope you get your raise, but I don't see the correlation between the two jobs.

[dman72]

Originally Posted by ogplife

While I don't think raising educational standards are necessary for the job (many efficient PDs across the country require only a high school diploma), I do think the educational requirements should be raised. My reasoning is the more education you have the more you have at stake. You have invested 4 (most cases 5) years in school of work and in many cases you have a healthy loan too. People work best when they have something to lose.

Yes, being a cop should not be about making the following decision:

Should I work for UPS unloading trucks, deliver pizzas, or be a cop?

If someone has to have a CJ degree, you will weed out many of the clowns.

[dman72]

Originally Posted by ogplife

No offense, I hope you get your raise, but I don't see the correlation between the two jobs.

It's called "They got their taxpayer money, I want mine!!"

The cops needed it, DSNY does not.

[Sanman04]

Originally Posted by ogplife

No offense, I hope you get your raise, but I don't see the correlation between the two jobs.

Do my job then see how much you think we should get paid. Not as easy as you think.

[ogplife]

[quote=dman72;5004796]It's called "They got their taxpayer money, I want mine!!"

The cops needed it, DSNY does not.[/QUOTE

I am a state employee (Virginia, but I have been a NYC employee too) and it is attitudes like that that make people dislike government employees. I am not even saying DSNY don't deserve a raise, there are plenty of reasons to get a raise (COL, job requirements change, difficulty recruiting etc), but the fact that a position that is not comparable got one and dsny would want one on that basis is a slap in the face to taxpayers. I could see if a Correction Officer was licking his lips looking for a fat raise, but I honestly don't see the correlation between cops and DSNY.