PSP Col. testimony

[PSPRoaddog]

Did anybody happen to see the Col.'s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Comm. on PCN yesterday? I thought he did a good job. He seemed to be locked on when asked any questions by the panel. I especially liked what he had to say about the 800 mhz radio system. He didn't dance around the issue and gave them a straight answer on a radio system that we have been pouring money into ($700 million so far) and still doesn't work correctly.
Thoughts?

[PABear31]

I just watched Commissioner Noonan on line since I don't get PCN through my television provider. I was suitably impressed by his and the Deputy Commissioners' testimony. They seemed to be more forth comming and did less dancing around some issues than some previous PSP administrations did. What disapointed me was that there was no indication that there might be any request for an increase in the complement either now or in the future by the Corbett Administration. This particularly bothered me in the area of Gaming Enforcement. The Gaming Law gave PSP an increase of 50 troopers to the complement yet the Commissioner testified that the Gaming Division of tbe Bureau of Liquor Enforcement as of July 1st will have 162 sworn members assigned to it. Thats 112 troopers that used to be on the road that are now walking around on casino floors. My biggest frustration with DHQ during my career was the belief that the road dawg could just absorb more and more responsibilities with fewer people to do the basic job. I would have been much happier if He would have aleast acknowledged the very heavy work load that most troopers carry. An indication that the Department minght request a increase in complement to relfect the increased work load over the past 35 years or so would have been great.

As a side note (question). Has Commissioner Noonan followed the example of Commissioner Dunn in not adopting the rank of Colonel? His appearance before the Committe in civies and would seem to suggest that.

[PSPRoaddog]

PABear, when we get messages from DHQ, his sign off at the bottom states "Acting Colonel". I don't know if he's going to keep this Colonel rank or Commissioner rank when he finally gets his confirmation by the Senate.
As far as more guys on the road, I did hear him and at least one of the Senators state that they would like to see an increase in the complement, so that was mentioned. Gaming is just a small blip, I believe that they could take from there and some other specialized positions to increase the amount of guys out on the road. You have 25 plus with this Department and I have 20 now, and I have never seen during anytime in my career that there was ever enough road dogs out there. The road dog will always be asked to do more with less and I don't believe this will ever change.
Like you I was impressed by his and the Deputies testimony. The only complaint I have was during the spot where he was asked about enough qualified candidates for cadet, I was hoping that he would ring up or be asked by one of the Senators about this silly sixty college credit requirement to get on this job. I am not knocking higher education, but they are missing out on a whole lot of qualified persons who really want to do this job. Military vets come to mind as the ones who are getting shafted by this requirement. Anybody else on here please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe they only waive thirty of the credits if you were active military. If this is still the case, they need to get rid of this and waive all sixty.

[PABear31]

Thanks for satsfying my curiousity about Noonan taking the rank. I was under the impression that he had already been confirmed by the Senate. Since that hasn't happened yet he can't wear the uniform.

As far as the college requirement let me play Devil's Advocate here for a second. While it's true that the lack of sixty credit hours may eliminate some people that would make excellent troopers so did the requirement that applicants have a high school diploma when it was introduced. All that the college credits prove is that the candidate has the ability to learn. While I was never in the military it is my understanding that all of the services have provisions for enlisted personnel members to earn college credits while serving. Additionally, I would find it highly unlikely that a retired FBI agent would consider the educational requirements unreasonable since the FBI has long required an advanced degree for its Special Agents. I can't tell you how many times I've had discussions like this around the station. I've never thought about it before but it was always guys who were hired before the requirement that take your position, and usually they were troopers that didn't have any college. I'd guess that they personalize the requirement and believe that they wouldn't have been hired if the requirement had been in place when they came on the job. What they haven't considered is that if they were 15 or 20 years younger they too would have had the increased opportunities to go to college that kids have today. Even back in '83 when I came on the job most of my academy classmates had at least a couple of years of college. The few that didn't struggled in the classroom. Since most major police departments now have a similar requirement that job applicants have at least some college I'd have to agree with the puzzle palace that the college requirement has validity.