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Lobbying your elected representatives is "doing" something.
And how do you know that people posting here don't *DO* anything? You have no way of knowing. So, what is the point in your argument? It's "don't complain about cop and teachers salaries", that it.
Tough luck, you aren't going to silence anyone with your "why don't you *DO* somethings".
I agree. I write lots of letters because teachers make too much money. This needs to change.
Bettering ourselves? I think it's wrong to assume that everyone complaining about the taxes is somehow worse off than cops and teachers. To some, it's a matter of having a sound fiscal policy for the future of Long Island and NY state.
There is no way we will attract businesses and improve our area if teacher/cop compensation is sucking the life out of our budget. High cost of living + high taxes means companies will look elsewhere. I don't think that is the future we want here on LI no matter where we currently stand.
While being a PO isn't a "cush job" (or at least has the potential to not be one), being a PO on LI is about as easy of an assignment as it gets for a police officer.
As for police work being inherently dangerous - many jobs can say that they are inherently dangerous, that doesn't mean they should be overpaid because of it. The guy who cuts my grass has a much more signifcant risk to his health every day he goes to work than a police officer does.
And finally, asking "how many teachers have been hit by DWI's, are in danger, etc" is a moot point because teachers have other factors in their profession that make it "difficult", such as paying for a masters degree. In Suffolk County, the police (SCPD) only need a GED.
What this means is that compensation should be (and is in the private sector mostly) paid based on the replacable skill value of the person filling the position. Both teachers and cops are easily replaceable, and their excess compensation is a result of a broken system, pure and simple.
Brentwood, CI, N Bayshore, N Bellport, Gordon Heights/Coram, N Amityville aren't plum spots. I'd sooner teach in Brentwood than patrol there! My friend teaches elementary level in B'wood and despite having a problem kid here or there, has had a wonderful experience overall.
The guy who cuts your grass doesn't have to worry about handling MVAs, DOAs, runaways, abused children, domestic abuse, rapes, burglaries, DWIs, drug possession, psychotic people, illegal hand guns, pedophiles, etc. His big concern is not sticking his hand into the blade while it's spinning, or a rock kicking back and striking him in the head. Chances are the guy cutting your lawn or his employees most likely has a history.
Paying for a masters degree or pulling over a bunch of mutts in a stolen vehicle. Who wouldn't opt for the 'difficulty' paying a known loan vs the unknown in the stolen vehicle?
SCPD had to drop college to accept applicants who were 'discriminated' against by virtue of coming from minority or underpriviliged backgrounds. It might serve us best to have reasonably bright, intelligent individuals serving the SCPD, but sometimes street smarts trump book smarts -- especially when one's dealing with skel.
You're right about the system being broken -- no argument there.
Bettering ourselves? I think it's wrong to assume that everyone complaining about the taxes is somehow worse off than cops and teachers. To some, it's a matter of having a sound fiscal policy for the future of Long Island and NY state.
There is no way we will attract businesses and improve our area if teacher/cop compensation is sucking the life out of our budget. High cost of living + high taxes means companies will look elsewhere. I don't think that is the future we want here on LI no matter where we currently stand.
With all due respect, you could copy and paste your reply in any year since 1985.
Oddly, for the first time in a very long time, someone actually did something to shift the burden of paying police officers (Levy using Sheriffs for hwy patrols) so your response is a little "Off", if you will. Unless you think we should just chop cop and teacher salary down to nothing? Surely that will help LI's future.
I've already volunteered for Levy's campaign. I plan to do a lot over the next few months to get him in office. Time to crush the Taylor Law and make local school districts more accountable for their outlandish budgets.
OK, let's at least get one thing straight: SCPD is as CAKE a police job you can get anywhere in the country.
Frankly, you could pay SCPD officers the same as NYPD officers get and people would line up to do the job.
Know what? TAXES WOULD STILL BE HIGH!
With all due respect, you could copy and paste your reply in any year since 1985.
Oddly, for the first time in a very long time, someone actually did something to shift the burden of paying police officers (Levy using Sheriffs for hwy patrols) so your response is a little "Off", if you will. Unless you think we should just chop cop and teacher salary down to nothing? Surely that will help LI's future.
I've only been on LI for 7 years, so I can't speak for what was said in 1985. I do know that since that time, companies have been closing and moving elsewhere. I don't blame them.
No one said we want to cut teacher/cop salaries to nothing. However, there can be some cuts and certainly we can revamp the pension and medical benefits portion of their compensation.
We can no longer afford to pay for 2 police forces...one out on patrol and the other collecting checks down in Florida.
I know they would still be high..but at least they would stop growing exponentially like they are right now. Taxes for our schools and police have gone up over 100% over the last few years. We've got to get control of that.
If teachers and policeman were not paid off of the tax payers balance sheet we wouldnt be having this discussion. Anytime some pays another with tax dollars issues like this arise. There is a reason those in the government sector have generous pensions, excessive vacation time and dont have to pay obscene health insurance premiums; it's because they are being paid with OUR tax money. I personally dont believe (either it be Rep or Dem) have any incentive to not give out our tax money at alarming rates. We all know they continue to get elected year after year even as our taxes rise again and again. Teachers and their union cronies want a guaranteed 8% return on your penison even though the average 401K (employee funded) crapped itself, well lets just raise taxes because teachers deserve it and then the old argument(one of many) comes into play that if we dont pay our teachers home values will plumment and our kids will suffer, sheesh. Police officers want to retire with 200K a year plus pensions, guess what, pass a bill that increases the tax base across the spectrum. Your local firedepartment needs a brand new engine and an additonal two bays even though they already have 3 trucks too many to begin with, well.. you know the answer. When will it end?
I have plenty of cops in my family including my grandfather, mostly NYPD. I don't intend to diminish the death of any 1 single individual.
I would never believe you would do that. My experience of seeing my dad go to work and (as I grew old enough) knowing that something could happen, made me realize I was very fortunate when he came home. We're talking in the days of the black panthers, Fort Apache, race riots on up through angel dust and crack. He retired after Eddie was assassinated.
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However, in the context of the argument pertaining to SCPD being a dangerous profession, and even 3 or 4 cops killed by gunfire in 40 years is too much, if you look at statistics, this is not a dangerous job. There's always that underlying chance, no question, but you are also armed and you have vest and an armed posse to back you up.
One thing we've all agreed upon is that statistics can be manipulated to suit the needs of the person or group supplying them. In the case of Suffolk County, we're looking at stats going back to it's rural days when the population was a lot smaller up through today. If we look at a smaller window, we see more violence against officers than in the early days. One thing we don't get to see (assuming here we would have to FOIL) is what goes on in the field which doesn't make it to the news.
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Honestly, you should be more afraid working behind the counter at 7-11 late at night, unprotected dealing with cash. My brother had guns held to his head on 2 different occasions working late nights during the late 70's, one time by the same guy who killed a Big Barry's employee. None of the half dozen relatives I have who are/were cops have been shot at, period, and I think one had a gun pulled on him.
And if we increase the 7-11 salaries, the cost of coffee & donuts (and Slurpees!) is gonna skyrocket
Back to seriousness: my classmate was one of the girls who (back in the 80's) were kidnapped from Taco Bell, raped and dumped. You've made a very good point -- anyone working late night should be afraid and is at exponentially greater risk for harm.
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