Oakland needs a complete overhaul when it comes to law enforcement! (Berkeley: safe area, safe)
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How many of you would do their job? Few. Work that holiday year after year? Not be able to make that kids birthday party? How about working a double shift on Christmas? You like to sleep at night? How about working from 10:30pm to 6:30am and then pull extra shifts?
You people that sit in judgement of a retirement for those that do what you'd never do are a real piece of cake. You're better off resting in your recliner, sipping a drink and trying to figure out which movie to watch.
My post was only a reflection of how much things have changed since my Deputy Sheriff uncle died in the line of duty in the 60's...
At that time... all of his friends on the force worked second jobs if they had a family... at least till they made rank. My father also worked as a Deputy in Nevada for a short period... he left law enforcement for teaching and later went into business...
I live in Oakland and had the misfortune of applying to several departments at a time hiring was frozen and the academy was cancelled...
The Chief of a nearby city was gracious enough to have a sit down with me in his office and said there was simply no money to pay someone to attend the academy and to pay the cost of the academy...
He was poaching from other agencies to fill spots and the two he had hired paid their own way through a private academy and were at the top of their class.
It is a little unfair to make a blanket statement about nights and weekends... I'm on salary and work 24/7... nights, weekends, call outs... if the Hospital needs me I'm there... even had an emergency call the evening of my father's funeral...
Being on call means no alcohol... can't plan a day with the family or spend the day away without advanced planning... and no... I don't make more than my LEO friends and retirement... what retirement?
Not complaining because the East Indian family that owns the corner market work 12 hour days 7 days a week... Christmas too... Twice he has been shot at and robbed many times.
Then there is the Vietnamese restaurant where the owner has not had a single day off in 12 years...
As demanding as law enforcement is... the benefits are the best of the best. Twelve from my High School went right in with 2 year Admin of Justice Degrees...
I thought I would be smart in get my 4 year degree first and in that time everything changed...
Oakland is the de facto training agency for much of the Bay Area... several local Chiefs of Police started their careers in Oakland...
Many retire from Oakland and go on to second careers in Law Enforcement like the link I posted...
One point that I think is not mentioned enough is the toll law enforcement can take on the spirit when dealing day in and day out with criminals... ones that will lie to your face without a second thought... it can easily make one jaded or distrustful of others... and why many keep a tight knit close circle of friends or turn to coaching and youth activities in their spare time just for balance...
I've gone on a lot of ride alongs with several different agencies and highly recommend it for those wanting a glimpse of the day in the life of a LEO...
I do think we need more police officers from the community... and by that I mean officers that live in the city they serve and their children attend the local schools...
It was very much this way when I was in school... each class had a couple of LEO parents... now, it seems almost no one on the force has community ties... it is a job and the family life is over the hill in Moraga, Walnut Creek, Dublin, Castro Valley, Peasant Hill... for starters.
My post was only a reflection of how much things have changed since my Deputy Sheriff uncle died in the line of duty in the 60's...
At that time... all of his friends on the force worked second jobs if they had a family... at least till they made rank. My father also worked as a Deputy in Nevada for a short period... he left law enforcement for teaching and later went into business...
I live in Oakland and had the misfortune of applying to several departments at a time hiring was frozen and the academy was cancelled...
The Chief of a nearby city was gracious enough to have a sit down with me in his office and said there was simply no money to pay someone to attend the academy and to pay the cost of the academy...
He was poaching from other agencies to fill spots and the two he had hired paid their own way through a private academy and were at the top of their class.
It is a little unfair to make a blanket statement about nights and weekends... I'm on salary and work 24/7... nights, weekends, call outs... if the Hospital needs me I'm there... even had an emergency call the evening of my father's funeral...
Being on call means no alcohol... can't plan a day with the family or spend the day away without advanced planning... and no... I don't make more than my LEO friends and retirement... what retirement?
Not complaining because the East Indian family that owns the corner market work 12 hour days 7 days a week... Christmas too... Twice he has been shot at and robbed many times.
Then there is the Vietnamese restaurant where the owner has not had a single day off in 12 years...
As demanding as law enforcement is... the benefits are the best of the best. Twelve from my High School went right in with 2 year Admin of Justice Degrees...
I thought I would be smart in get my 4 year degree first and in that time everything changed...
Oakland is the de facto training agency for much of the Bay Area... several local Chiefs of Police started their careers in Oakland...
Many retire from Oakland and go on to second careers in Law Enforcement like the link I posted...
One point that I think is not mentioned enough is the toll law enforcement can take on the spirit when dealing day in and day out with criminals... ones that will lie to your face without a second thought... it can easily make one jaded or distrustful of others... and why many keep a tight knit close circle of friends or turn to coaching and youth activities in their spare time just for balance...
I've gone on a lot of ride alongs with several different agencies and highly recommend it for those wanting a glimpse of the day in the life of a LEO...
I do think we need more police officers from the community... and by that I mean officers that live in the city they serve and their children attend the local schools...
It was very much this way when I was in school... each class had a couple of LEO parents... now, it seems almost no one on the force has community ties... it is a job and the family life is over the hill in Moraga, Walnut Creek, Dublin, Castro Valley, Peasant Hill... for starters.
My beef with OPD, is even though the city is strapped for cash, starting salaries at OPD are basically the highest in the nation. That's ridiculous. Most cities, even high cost ones, are hovering at $40-50k to start.
Some other city's starting salaries:
OPD: $70K
NYPD: $35K (this seems to have dropped actually, it used to be like $45k)
Chicago: $43k
Boston: $49k
Detroit: $30k
SF: $89k (holy crap!!!!)
San Jose: $72k
San Diego: $46k
Miami: $49k
Seattle: $45k
Long Beach: $60k
Cleveland: $33k
Denver: $46k
Austin: $54k
Kansas City: $33k
Sacramento: $50k
Honolulu: $48k
Hey, I did my part offering to proudly wear the badge and serve the city where I live
From what I know... it's not even the salaries causing the problem... it's the huge cost of benefits.
Some retired OPD are receiving double or more the amount they earned while working on the force if they fall under the old system...
The other thing is the voters have approved extra taxes to fund more officers and where has the money gone?
It wasn't all that long ago the department was holding hiring fares at major cities around the country because they simply couldn't fill open positions?
Hey, I did my part offering to proudly wear the badge and serve the city where I live
From what I know... it's not even the salaries causing the problem... it's the huge cost of benefits.
Some retired OPD are receiving double or more the amount they earned while working on the force if they fall under the old system...
The other thing is the voters have approved extra taxes to fund more officers and where has the money gone?
It wasn't all that long ago the department was holding hiring fares at major cities around the country because they simply couldn't fill open positions?
Exactly! In order to fund pensions of LEO's long since gone, the cities/counties either have to let go current employees or not replace those that leave. One way or other, current service is going to be adversely affected. This is plain stupid....
Hey, I did my part offering to proudly wear the badge and serve the city where I live
From what I know... it's not even the salaries causing the problem... it's the huge cost of benefits.
Some retired OPD are receiving double or more the amount they earned while working on the force if they fall under the old system...
The other thing is the voters have approved extra taxes to fund more officers and where has the money gone?
It wasn't all that long ago the department was holding hiring fares at major cities around the country because they simply couldn't fill open positions?
Those problems are administrative and could be remedied if the voters really wanted to do something about them.
There is no reason to use overtime to calculate retirement pay, yet municipalities do just that. Look at the state of California retirement system, they don't calculate retirement pay based on overtime so why do the cities?
Then there are the managerial positions in law enforcement that get retirements way out of proportion to what line staff get. Again, they aren't under a collective bargaining situation so why is Oakland or any other city heaping obscene rewards on those flying desks their most of their careers?
It is true that there are excesses but for the most part, those excesses are distributed more in administrative and managerial positions than rank and file.
The comparisons between Oakland and other cities in other states isn't really valid. If it were, every police officer in those other cities would be moving to Oakland and getting a job there right? The plain fact is that they'd rather stay put than work in Oakland.
Then lets take the other post about how many people apply for PD jobs in Oakland. While it is true that there are literally hundreds and somethings thousands of applications, they are just that, applications. Of those, relatively few are actually qualified. Just because there are 1000 applications and of that only maybe 25 truly qualified, doesn't mean everyone wants to work in Oakland. Going through the qualification process, background checks and so on, you end up with very few candidates you'd want to hire as a police office in any city. This isn't Mayberry RFD you know.
Like I said before, those benefits gets paid on average, 5 years before the recipient dies. Some more, some less but that is the average. Contrast that to say the military where the average lifer (20 years) lives an average of three times that more. That takes nothing away from military retirements but it does show some comparison.
When the economy was booming, no one ever complained about retirements. Now that many are without a job or have one without benefits, suddenly everyone is up in arms and jealous because that is mostly the root cause.
You lose your house or job and suddenly it is why does the guy next door drive a lexus when you can't afford gas? Human nature.
Many couldn't make the cut on the physical and others had a record... so right there the majority were eliminated...
Oakland was also under a consent decree for decades??? Women and minority under represented... so a woman minority that could pass the physical without a record moved to the head of the class... they were offering special pre physical instruction on how to pass the physical for women... not for men.
The slightest domestic violence issue or driving under the influence and kiss your chances goodbye... not saying it shouldn't be this way... only that many desire to serve and they are turned away...
My friend in the floor covering business turns away maybe 90% because they are not insurable on his company auto insurance...
Those I know most retired around 51-52 with some going out earlier in their 40's...
The floor covering guy retired OPD and bought a business and is doing quite well...
You are right... it is hard when public servants... use to say this on patrol cars, have golden retirements and those footing the bill have none...
I don't look for it to get any better...
The reason I went into medical was a great benefit package... even took a cut to get it... It's all gone through mergers and acquisitions...
No one said CalPERs is THE problem. It's a huge drain on municipal budgets though, and has already helped bankrupt numerous cities in California already. CalPERs has been a failed system since the beginning, anything the relies on 7% returns is destined to fail.
No one said CalPERs is THE problem. It's a huge drain on municipal budgets though, and has already helped bankrupt numerous cities in California already. CalPERs has been a failed system since the beginning, anything the relies on 7% returns is destined to fail.
How municipalities manager their involvement with CalPers is the problem. Each municipality gets to decide the benefits it offers their employees, it isn't decided by the state. There is nothing that stops a municipality from using an alternative benefit system, something other than CalPers.
It always comes down to voters. Most people forget that they are the system and if they fail to participate in it, they reap the results regardless.
Look at the benefits accorded to city managers and such. Some complain about it but not much ever happens. That is because every time a politician promises something, there are plenty of people that put out their hands to get as much as they can.
If the voters of Oakland decided to do something about the benefits provided to city workers, the PD included, something would be done.
If the voters of Oakland decided to do something about the benefits provided to city workers, the PD included, something would be done.
And what exactly would those options be? The city has already adjusted the benefits package for new/incoming employees. The cost is for people that are already in the system based on the older rules. Already retired. You can't exactly go and say, "hey I know your employment contract said you would get XX in your retirement, but we decided that was too expensive, so we are going to drop that amount by 50% starting right now."
Hiring Bratton is the best thing Oakland has done to fight crime.
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