The billboards the Stockton Police Union has started putting up around the city are upsetting. They are bad for the city, and I don't think they help the police officers' cause in the long-run.
Their generous contracts are killing the city's budget, it is an indisputable fact. The city's tax revenues are a function of the city's economy, yet the police union insists that their salaries are well above the average of a group of comparison cities with much higher income. And don't get me started on their pensions.
I can understand the Police Union being upset about being asked to make serious concessions and they have the right to question them and make alternative proposals. However, as public servants, I expect that the well-being of the city is also something they consider.
Apparantly not? Otherwise, they would not be hanging these destructive and deceptive billboards around the city. Complete with blood spatter. Wonderful.
Last week, the FBI released statistics that showed crime in Stockton was down 14% in 2009, a greater decrease than the 5% avg. decline nationwide. Ordinarily, I would be giving the police kudos for their contribution to the decline, but that is difficult when they are exploiting the City's high crime rate for their personal profit.
Crime rate was down last year because there were more officers. The police are undersatffed now and the murder rate alone is up almost 400%. It does not take rocket science to figure this out.
ReplyDeleteStockton has 32.9 million dollars hidden in various accounts that was located by an independent audit group that the police, fire, and city hall agreed upon to locate monies. Since then, the city has been caught red handed and declined to comment on the money. This audit is available for you to read. You can conatct the police association or fire department association.
Also keep in mind the city likes to do underhanded things such as emminant domain like the Tower Park building. That property was illegally taken by the city, demolished, and now is part of their ball park. A federal judge ruled Stockton has to pay the former property owner millions of dollars because there was no basis for emminant domain. Mayor Johnston was a city council member at that time.
Police and fire did not cause this defecit. In fact the biased newspaper (Stockton Record) is printing up smear campaign articles such as fire and police employees who do not live in the city as less loyal than employees who reside within the city. What a crock of BS. There was no rule of an employee having to live within the city when they were hired and if the city felt an applicant's loyalty was in question because they lived elswhere, the city should have never hired them.
Officers of the Stockton Police Department have the tough and sometimes thankless job of protecting our city. We can all agree on that. It's also understandable that everyone would like to keep their job. You can't blame someone for feeling that way. You can react with disgust, however, when people who are supposed to serve the public with pride and dignity are reduced to playing games to scare the public into supporting them.
ReplyDeleteDue to the current economic situation, just about every business and governmental agency is understaffed. If I can use some rocket science and surmise that more officers = less crime, then why the quote about the murder rate going up 400%(?). There were no Police Department layoffs last year, so what gives? Why did the murder rate go up? Maybe this issue is a little more complex than just throwing more officers out there.
As far as this hidden money discovered by the same auditors hired by the Vallejo Police Department, love the conspiracy theory. I'm sure the city is just hoarding this huge sum of cash while everything bleeds dry. That would have to mean the Council had some shred of fiscal constraint. Something that they haven't been accused of as far as I can remember.
PD and Fire have been granted lavish pay and retirement packages. Everyone was gaga about these american heroes after 9/11 and they more than benefited from the attention. Feel free to view how much these guys & gals make and remember they can get 90% of their pay for life if they stick around for 30 years (3% per year)at everyone's expense. Here is a link from Channel 10 to City of Stockton salaries:
http://www.news10.net/news/pdf/Stockton-salaries.xls You can see for yourself the outrageous pay some of these "public servants" are raking in (I'm trying not to think about what Firefighters make, the focus of this article of the Police Department) A "crock of BS" should be the claim (as in the Record's article) that these people cannot live in Stockton making this kind of money.
It's always easy to blame the messenger as being biased, but the facts are there. People who don't live here have no vested interest in making this city a safer place. That's just human nature. People want to protect what’s theirs and what affects their neighbors. If some feel that they can’t handle the job with a smaller workforce, I’m sure there would be many who would like to step in and take their place. There is no draft, no one forced you to sign up.
This city has made strides to bring people downtown for events and to the movie theater. It's not uncommon to see hundreds of people downtown on a Friday or Saturday night with no incident whatsoever. Thousands come down for hockey games and it seems everyone makes it back OK. Come on, Police Department don't throw your city under the bus. It goes back to the article's title. Do they care?
The people in charge of these decisions either don't care or are so shallow in their thinking that they don't consider the meanings of their actions. And I have a feeling that the general culture in a city like Stockton's police department would prevent officers who do care from coming out against ads like this.
ReplyDeleteI think this is an illustrative example of how local politics in the valley especially very much requires citizens to fight against these types of powerful interests to get just action or good policy - this is also very hard because of the diverse/fragmented culture of the valley and low education levels.
Wow, I saw the discussion between the mayor and the police union president on CNN this afternoon. I think the police had a very good arguement. I guess the city does have money hidden in various accounts.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize how many people left the police department since last year through retirement and the ones who left before the lay offs were recalled. There are already 60+ officers less than last year.
Who wants to be a cop when the head librarian is making more than the police chief. LOL! More wasteful spending.
Boo Hoo! The truth hurts! The billboards are correct. Stockton is a BAD place for crime! Instead of laying off police officers, they ought to be hiring more. We can save money by getting rid of the ridiculous amphitheater and Yacht harbor that are loosing the city millions because everyone is afraid to come here!
ReplyDeleteTHIS CITY IS FULL OF CRIME!! QUIT TRYING TO PUT BANDAIDS OVER IT AND LET'S GET IT CLEANED UP!!
Then maybe we can take time to beautify our city and keep the tourists safe!