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Please take a moment of your time to read this and see how screw up it is with this city.
"On Tuesday, September 22, 2009, the Council of the District of Columbia unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Support Act of 2009 (BSA). As previously reported, the BSA contains provisions, proposed by the Mayor, that reduce retirement health benefits for police officers and firefighters. The fact that the BSA would reduce retirement health
benefits for police officers was announced at the hearing and made clear to all council members prior to the vote. Despite that fact, every single council member voted to reduce police benefits. At no point did Chief Lanier or any of her command staff raise any objections to or question the necessity and impact of cutting police retirement benefits.
By passing the BSA, the Mayor and the Council have also moved to reduce the number of police officers by approximately 10%. The BSA provides for a hiring freeze for police officers (except for 50 positions paid for through a federal grant). We are already approximately 200 officers short of the statutorily authorized 4200 positions. Assuming conservative attrition, we will be at 3800 by this time next year. This means fewer officers on the street and in the neighborhoods, and more work for those that remain. Chief Lanier
has raised no objections to this reduction in the police force.
At the same time, as part of the BSA, the Mayor proposed and the Council approved $1.9 million for bonuses for executives, $1 million for the Historical Society, $85 million to buy an office building that has sat unused for 3 years, $2.6 million for the Office of Police Complaints (which adjudicates less than 15 complaints a year), and $20 million for the Mayor’s summer jobs program. In addition, D.C. council members remain eligible for annual statutory cost of living increases to their six-figure salaries (D.C. council members are part-time employees).
This past week has made several things clear; 1) we have no friends or allies on the D.C. Council - they do not care what happens to us; 2) the Chief and the Mayor will not follow the rules and will not support us; and 3) we can prevail through the courts and administrative processes (e.g., AHOD). FOP attorneys are already working on challenges to the reduction in benefits and we will pursue those to the end. But we, as police officers and as a union, need to make a decision. We must decide whether to stand and fight for our
rights and our jobs or to sit by and watch as they strip away the rest of our few remaining benefits and as the working conditions in this Department continue to decline.
If you choose to fight, we have to be prepared to really fight. We need to expand our legal challenges to the Department's unlawful behavior, we need go out and recruit candidates for office that are pro-police and tough on crime and work to remove those that are antipolice and soft on crime, and we need to let the public know what is happening to its police officers. To accomplish this, we will need resources. Next month, you will have an opportunity to vote to amend the By-Laws and increase the dues in order to provide those resources. Over the next several weeks you will be provided
with explanations of the changes and encouraged to discuss the changes with your union representatives. The decision to fight, and the future of this union, will be yours to make."
"On Tuesday, September 22, 2009, the Council of the District of Columbia unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Support Act of 2009 (BSA). As previously reported, the BSA contains provisions, proposed by the Mayor, that reduce retirement health benefits for police officers and firefighters. The fact that the BSA would reduce retirement health
benefits for police officers was announced at the hearing and made clear to all council members prior to the vote. Despite that fact, every single council member voted to reduce police benefits. At no point did Chief Lanier or any of her command staff raise any objections to or question the necessity and impact of cutting police retirement benefits.
By passing the BSA, the Mayor and the Council have also moved to reduce the number of police officers by approximately 10%. The BSA provides for a hiring freeze for police officers (except for 50 positions paid for through a federal grant). We are already approximately 200 officers short of the statutorily authorized 4200 positions. Assuming conservative attrition, we will be at 3800 by this time next year. This means fewer officers on the street and in the neighborhoods, and more work for those that remain. Chief Lanier
has raised no objections to this reduction in the police force.
At the same time, as part of the BSA, the Mayor proposed and the Council approved $1.9 million for bonuses for executives, $1 million for the Historical Society, $85 million to buy an office building that has sat unused for 3 years, $2.6 million for the Office of Police Complaints (which adjudicates less than 15 complaints a year), and $20 million for the Mayor’s summer jobs program. In addition, D.C. council members remain eligible for annual statutory cost of living increases to their six-figure salaries (D.C. council members are part-time employees).
This past week has made several things clear; 1) we have no friends or allies on the D.C. Council - they do not care what happens to us; 2) the Chief and the Mayor will not follow the rules and will not support us; and 3) we can prevail through the courts and administrative processes (e.g., AHOD). FOP attorneys are already working on challenges to the reduction in benefits and we will pursue those to the end. But we, as police officers and as a union, need to make a decision. We must decide whether to stand and fight for our
rights and our jobs or to sit by and watch as they strip away the rest of our few remaining benefits and as the working conditions in this Department continue to decline.
If you choose to fight, we have to be prepared to really fight. We need to expand our legal challenges to the Department's unlawful behavior, we need go out and recruit candidates for office that are pro-police and tough on crime and work to remove those that are antipolice and soft on crime, and we need to let the public know what is happening to its police officers. To accomplish this, we will need resources. Next month, you will have an opportunity to vote to amend the By-Laws and increase the dues in order to provide those resources. Over the next several weeks you will be provided
with explanations of the changes and encouraged to discuss the changes with your union representatives. The decision to fight, and the future of this union, will be yours to make."
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