Camden new jersey to throw in badges and fire helmets

[FreeOperator]

Camden police layoffs and economics | NJ.com

It's a blog post, but it makes my point wondefully.

Camden officers are making on average, $77,000 a year before overtime.

They had 360 officers on the payroll, and had to drop 160.

In Seattle, a city of 650,000 people, they have just below 1100 officers. Officers there top out at $90,000, only after they've reached six years on.

Now, I would say that even that salary is a little high, but apparently Seattle can swing it.

How officers in Camden, a town of 80,000 could afford 360 of them at $77,000 per is beyond me. This is economics.

 

[b7spectra]

I thought the union was made up of members? Or are you saying the leaders of the union overruled their members?

In the Unions, even though the members may vote to accept pay cuts, the Union brass will do what THEY think is best for their members, and if saying NO to a pay cut is what THEY say, then NO is what is given to the City. One thing about these Unions, the upper levels of them DO NOT belong to the cities, counties, states, etc., moreover, they are employed by the unions, so they get paid regardless what happens to their members.

This is why more and more places are starting to say NO to the unions (case in point is Delta Airlines who bought Northwest Airlines - even after THREE votes, the Union has been given the boot - and, again, they are asking for yet a fourth vote!).

 

[APTN]

In the Unions, even though the members may vote to accept pay cuts, the Union brass will do what THEY think is best for their members, and if saying NO to a pay cut is what THEY say, then NO is what is given to the City. One thing about these Unions, the upper levels of them DO NOT belong to the cities, counties, states, etc., moreover, they are employed by the unions, so they get paid regardless what happens to their members.

This is why more and more places are starting to say NO to the unions (case in point is Delta Airlines who bought Northwest Airlines - even after THREE votes, the Union has been given the boot - and, again, they are asking for yet a fourth vote!).

Yep. The lack of union concessions plus the lack of a tax base equals trouble for the already troubled City of Camden.

 

[VE3RADIO]

If I was a cop in the craphole city of Camden there is no way on God's green earth I would take a pay cut! Police officers in safer cities put their life on the line every day with risk, yet in Camden it would be a much much higher risk.

 

[rdale]

Don't worry about it - as we found out last week all the taxpayers in the nation have decided to pony up and hire back the FFs, thanks to Congressional intervention (I don't recall being asked, but that's another story.) I expect the PD to be getting some of my money too soon.

 

[b7spectra]

There are LEO that make $35k starting and put their life on the line the same as a starting $77k LEO does. Even as a paramedic, I was making way less than a LEO and I had been shot at, looked down the barrel of a gun, stabbed, assaulted by both sexes and spit on more than once. There is NEVER enough pay for anyone in public safety!

 

[FreeOperator]

I second that.

The only thing a law enforcement officer can ask of the community they defend is that they pay what they can afford.

Many officers in my area go to work for far less, and are subject to the same dangers, problems, and short comings.

 

[Ensnared]

Invalid thread? Interesting. Let me figure this one out. I believe police and fire departments have been known to use radio communications. If there is no department, the scanning ceases, does it not?