The powers at be are discussing offering an early retirement plan. Word is, there are 700 employees county wide eligible for early out, with the goal of having 400 people take advantage of early retirement.
One way to get eligible police officers out the door, is to implement a reserve unit. Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix and New York are just a few major police departments that have a reserve unit consisting of retired police officers. There is even a nationally known "Reserve Police Officers Association".
The county needs to be serious about ways to save money. This would be a win win opportunity for the police department, the police officers wanting to retire and the citizens of DeKalb.
Will the commissioners and Director Miller take advantage of this, or will they do it "The DeKalb Way" and let some snot nose assistant county attorney in the legal department let this opportunity slip away?
Monday, December 7, 2009
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10 comments:
I can't wait to see how much my pension contribution is going to go up when the additional 400 to 700 people start drawing on it at the same time.
Early retirements are going to be beneficial for two groups. The county and the people who are retiring. Everyone left is going to get the shaft.
The county needs to be cutting waste (does there really need to be garbage pickup twice a week?), raising taxes, or a combination. To dump the entire reduction in staff on the pension fund is only screwing the employees who are left working.
I've never understood why we don't use or offer to retire officers the opportunity to come back and work a few hours a week on screening or handling signal 3's.
This would free up full time officers to PROACTIVELY patrol instead of just writing a few tickets and answering calls. It would give the retired a chance to stay connected and earn a few dollars in retirement.
Im going with the snot nose attorney myself.
Great idea but it will never be implemented, why you ask because it makes sense.
The County attorneys do not make policy decisions. They review proposed changes and/or implementations and then make recommendations based on legal concerns, i.e. to ensure compliance with related laws or legislation or to limit County liability. The CEO could create an executive order empowering the Chief of Police to develop, manage, and maintain a Reserve unit. (Has to be under his control and not Director Miller because sworn personnel must answer to the COP)Alternatively, the County Commissioners could construct County legislation that would allow for the creation of the unit. I'm confident Chief O'Brien could create an excellent proposal with adequate standard operating procedures and the supervision and continued training needed to meet any POST or CALEA requirements. (Though I don't think there currently are any specifically for Reserve units)Chief O'Brien is wildly popular and could bring together a strong team of ex-cops or retirees. He'll need support, so if you want to see it happen, write, call or email the CEO or the Commissioners directly and ask for them to give strong favorable consideration to a proposal. This is one area of public safety that the CEO and the Commissioners should be able to agree upon, and it will help both the citizens and current DKPD personnel.
Well said "B Alexis". I'm all for it.Lets do it troops
The thing I like best about this idea is our department could be used for season 2 of "Steven Segal: Lawman!"
Well OJ Concepcion was just fired from Sandy Springs, maybe we could bring him back.
OH HELL NO OJ! YOU WERE POSTING SENSATIVE INFORMATION ABOUT DRUG SEZIURES ON FACEBOOK TIMES,AND PLACES surely you can see that this would endanger officers lives.
You have to be kidding me what the hell were you thinking, your little sticker said it best someone stuck you right in the back.
I guess ol bald man running (facebook page) wouldnt stand up for you huh, hell he's probably the one who shanked you.
Well Im guessing the county won't take you back after this but good luck keeping your certification.
Reserve units are always great, Sheriff's use them as well to assist with various programs to allow Deputies to continue with major duties of the Office. There never too much public safety and we could get back to being proactive such as doing clean sweeps in high crime areas, patrol blitzes, zero tolerance days where we hit hard county wide for quality of life issues and even strengthen bonds in the community with serious community policing. Theres enough work to keep us all busy.
O. J. was fired? I hate to hear that. He's a good person even if he did make a mistake. Sounds to harsh the penalty based on the alleged transgression. Perhaps he might could come back here and pick up a career here where he left off.
If reserves can help us out and work for free I say bring em on. As long as they are certified who cares. Might learn a thing or two from a retired guy or gal who knows the county. Better yet might get a bit of workload relief.
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