Pensions prove it pays to be a retired government employee
By Kathryn Reed
There comes a time when it doesn’t pay to work. That time is when government workers are tapped out in the Public Employment Retirement System and it makes more sense to start withdrawing from that account.
Former El Dorado County Sheriff Jeff Neves a year ago said he was leaving office a year early to spend time with his family. He might be. He certainly has the cash to do so.
Neves, 56, is collecting $15,202 a month. He is not the only person in the county making more than $100,000 year off the taxpayer funded retirement system. Though he is the highest “paid” ex-county employee at $182,424.84 a year.
Here is what other former El Dorado County employees are collecting annually in retirement:
• Robert Altmeyer, $139,006.20
• Robert Brown, $118,633.68
• Steven Davis, $132,624.12
• Marty Hackett, $117,003.48
• Michael Hanford, $120,500.76
• Keith Harvey, $106,491.36
• David Koupal, $101,294.52
• John Litwinovich, $134,142.72
• Doug Nowka, $102,240.72
• William Whealton, $134,209.56.
Gayle Erbe-Hamlin, who retired earlier this month as the county’s chief administrative officer, doesn’t register on the list – but she will.
CalPERS recipients receive 60 percent of their highest annual salary.
Even though Erbe-Hamlin’s base pay was $185,661 per year, she actually got paid $307,141.23 in 2010, according to county Auditor-Controller Joe Harn. The larger dollar amount includes longevity pay, management or administrative leave pay, buyout of sick pay and vacation time.
A letter from Harn this month to the Board of Supervisors warns the county’s unfunded pension liability is $264 million and growing. It doubled from June 2008 to June 2009.
That figure is part of the estimated $1 trillion in unfunded retirement and health care packages nationwide. It’s one of the reasons state, county and city budgets keep running a deficit.
South Lake Tahoe has initiated a two-tier pension system so new hires will get less when they retire. The county has not enacted such a policy.
But the city also has former employees who are collecting more than $100,000 a year through their pensions.
Former South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Terry Daniels, 52, is the top money collector at $123,630.84 a year, or $10,302.57 a month. He retired a year ago.
Current Police Chief Brian Uhler makes $145,000 a year – to work.
Two former South Lake Tahoe fire chiefs are also in the $100,000 club:
• Mike Chandler, $101,670.48
• Jim Plake, $101,145.24.
Placer County has 21 ex-employees with pensions of more than $100,000 a year. Truckee has three people in that category.
All of this data is accessible to the public via this website.
Statewide, there are 9,111 retired government workers with pensions of more than $100,000 a year.
California has 59 city or county public employee retirement systems. Collectively there are 2,330,929 members – of that figure, 1,779,811 are active. There are 1,032,360 people receiving periodic payments.
Nevada has two PERS accounts with 117,794 members. Of those, 106,168 are active and 38,197 receive payments.
Below are two charts from the U.S. Census Bureau regarding PERS.
The 2008 survey covered fiscal years that ended between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008, and does not reflect revenue data for the entire calendar year of 2008.
| State and level of government |
Total receipts |
|
Government contributions |
Earnings on |
|||
|
Employee contributions |
Total |
From state |
From local |
||||
| United States |
79,649,581 |
36,929,944 |
81,996,539 |
36,261,593 |
45,734,946 |
(39,276,902) |
|
| State |
56,419,735 |
31,639,290 |
63,869,874 |
35,755,522 |
28,114,352 |
(39,089,429) |
|
| Local |
23,229,846 |
5,290,654 |
18,126,665 |
506,071 |
17,620,594 |
(187,473) |
|
| California |
(3,740,451) |
7,784,280 |
15,767,098 |
4,705,733 |
11,061,365 |
(27,291,829) |
|
| State |
(6,204,256) |
6,039,098 |
11,371,374 |
4,691,795 |
6,679,579 |
(23,614,728) |
|
| Local |
2,463,805 |
1,745,182 |
4,395,724 |
13,938 |
4,381,786 |
(3,677,101) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| Nevada |
739,892 |
131,333 |
1,167,578 |
174,655 |
992,923 |
(559,019) |
|
| State |
739,892 |
131,333 |
1,167,578 |
174,655 |
992,923 |
(559,019) |
|
Expenditures of state and local public employee retirement systems for fiscal year 2008 in thousands of dollars.
| State and level of government |
Total payments |
Benefits |
Withdrawals |
Other |
| United States |
193,808,914 |
175,423,416 |
4,634,335 |
13,751,163 |
| State |
157,410,232 |
143,453,487 |
3,211,317 |
10,745,428 |
| Local |
36,398,682 |
31,969,929 |
1,423,018 |
3,005,735 |
| California |
30,195,419 |
28,019,958 |
606,055 |
1,569,406 |
| State |
21,397,173 |
20,194,042 |
482,035 |
721,096 |
| Local |
8,798,246 |
7,825,916 |
124,020 |
848,310 |
| Nevada |
1,243,467 |
1,033,622 |
16,830 |
193,015 |
| State |
1,243,467 |
1,033,622 |
16,830 |
193,015 |
| Local |
– |
– |
– |
– |
Outstanding journalism that exposes a widespread and reckless pattern of local politicians awarding unfunded, unrealistic pensions and benefits. Once again Kae Reed has performed a valuable and courageous service to her readers.
This is absolutely ridiculous and unsustainable. I remember a former South Lake Tahoe police chief once telling me why continue to work when at 90% funded retirement benefits, he would be making only 10 cents on the dollar by actually coming in to work. No surprise these people then apply for full paying jobs elsewhere as they continue to collect these outrageous retirements.
Taxpayers are having their pockets picked clean.
This is not rocket science and the warnings have been in your face Taxicali for two decades.
The Peoples Republic of Taxicali have turned the tax paying citizens into indentured servants…
Now we are on a new wave of foreclosures that is going to drive home prices down further and unemployment is going up.
How many people are going to stay in California
NO More BailOuts – Obama stimulus backed up this system and further hid the problems. Lots of us pointed it out to the land of the great UnAware fools … basically he just gave your futures to your government employees.
I no longer own California real estate worth having so I moved to Nevada where they started dealing with this issue years back but I don’t plan to buy again and tie myself down until I see that it’s fixed.
What is wrong with retired public servants retiring at 50 or 55 and making the public their servants? Time for bankruptcy and a new scheme.
The corrupt politicians sold us down the river for union money. The partys over especially for public safety as the gullible, overwhelmed public arises from its slumber.
Kae ,How many retired members of congress have been on the dole since Bob Dole ran for President. Then we haddy Liddy Dole play the game that put her on the congressional dole.
Pensions pensions for congressman???? Put them on Social Security and Medicare. Especially multi millionaire Senator Doctor Bill Frist of insider trading of Wellpoint, his family owned Big health insurance company.Keep adding both sides of the aisle including pensions of of a wife.Like Dan Lundgren’s she had a great job in the city of Folsom. A confidential analyst, when asked what does a confidential analyst do the answer was “It’s Confidential.” If no pension, then Social Security at age 62.
It’s easy to condemen public employees now in a bad economy, a couple of years ago contactors and business owners were showing off their vacations to Costa Rica, boats and motorhomes. Its the story of the grasshopper and the ant. Law Enforcement is a noble profession. It pays a fair salary for the Character, Education and Courage the job requires. It’s not easy working graveyard, holidays and long shifts, not to mention the inherit dangers of not knowing what your next call has instore for you. The job is currently taking applications. How’s your background, are you a problem solver in decent shape, fairly educated strap a gun on and hit the bricks.
” I’d rather you just say thank you or pick pick up a rifle and stand a post.”
Very good reporting and thanks LTN for your constant efforts to make information public!!
And when these salaries and benefits are criticized some come out of the woodwork and state that people are just jealous and a few even say that the public employees are entitled to what they get! A very few say that and it seems to me that’s a very large stretch of the imagination. But everyone is entitled to their opinion!
But why this info. matters is that I don’t know anyone that can argue this is sustainable?!?! At the state, county & local levels it clearly is not! (And perhaps not at the federal level either.) Very soon there’s going to be an effort to increase are all ready very large tax burden to pay for all this! And just keep this info. in mind when you’ll hear the argument, “Oh we’ve already cut all we can cut! Now we have to go to the taxpayer if we’re going to maintain vital services!” Remember this!
I may feel everyone in the world deserves a nice salary and benefit package, but I can’t give it to everyone, to do so, is “Magical Thinking”.
You may be worth it, but we can’t afford it, not to say your going to be reimbursed peanuts, but yes, things need to be scaled back to a more realistic level
Everyone in the world’s career matters, I don’t hold any one persons career higher than another, just different.
We all have different callings in life, and I am glad that some are called to emergency services, I’m also thankful for lifties, waitresses, slot machine attendants, mechanics, massage therapists, grocery checkers, farmers, cooks, and all the other occupations that make our world go ’round.
Oh, and news reporters ;)
dotherightthing are you a police union official? You don’t know what you are talking about but it sounds good to the uninformed. How do like the service you get here in SLT from the cops?
Our deployed soldiers get half the pay, half the retirement and 20 times the risk.
I work for the government and I am not going to deny that many of these public employees receive way to much benefits when they retire. Cops and firemen have the extreme end, but even front desk workers and normal reasonable paid (<50K/year) workers get this benefit. It ranges from around 2% at 50 to 3% at 55. That means that a fireman who works for 30 years will retire at 90% of his max salary when he is eligable. Thats why these people love these positions and why even I believe they need to make changes to the system. A 2% employee over 30 years will get 60% of their salary. If they retire at 55 years of age at 60K thats around 36K/year in retirement. Not much for the average worker… When you are in PERS you are not paying or eligible for social security… So for the top heavy portion, its a waste.. Thats why management needs to slim down and informed people watchdog them… The whole system is flawed… Im a component of it, see it and wonder how long it can last. Another thing, I have paid over 50K of my own funding into my PERS and most others contribute to their retirement while being matched by the gov. So its not entirely given.. We need cops and fireman, but they drain the system hard with their high salaries and incredible retirements. I hope its there when I retire… There are so many government workers that are a waste of our money! Cant be fired, cant demote, stuck in a system with crazy benefits… Its nuts… How can that be? No accountablity or continued employment that is based on performance and need.
OMG Yall are missing the pernt!!!! The elected officials that control their employees and their own future along with everyones taxes, are playing the “what who me” game. How much pension and or health insurance do your county and city elected officials reap and or rape the taxpayers for.It has to be public info.
It is common sense when a retirement plan guarantees how much one will receive, without any limit to how much it will cost the employer, that sooner or later the plan will be unsustainable. The wave of change for these public employee benefits is sweeping from town to town and beginning to swell. Just look at all the laws recently passed across the nation limiting how much public employees will receive in pay and benefits, with a thank you nod to Bell, CA for pointing out what can happen when the public doesn’t pay attention.
Cap public retirements. Limit how much tax payers contributes. Require public employees to contribute, if they love these plans so much, they should help pay for it. If they say its not fair and they don’t like these ideas, let’s see how fast they quit, but since we know they won’t quit, their cries are empty. If they do quit, I’m sure the unemployed in this town will be happy to stand in line and take their place.
Okay Irony, this is what I mean. “How do like the service???.”
I have a friend that is a young Marine Corp Capatin. He earns 90k a year and is eliglable for a 50% retirement at 20 years of service. I have three nephews in the Army. Young men serving, two in high risk combat deployments, one finishing a four year tour with no high risk deployment. It’s rare for a law enforcement officer to go a day without a high risk confrontation. I have the highest respect for the military service. Don’t compare the two they are different.
A big range of retirement benifits for city of SLT employees and el dorado county employees. Leaving out the 3% at 50 people, city employees make 2.7% for each year of work after 5 years, so if you work 30 years and make $100,000.00 your last year of work and its your highest year, you make 81% of that per yr. $81,000.00 plus another apx. $16,500.00 in health,dental and vision, bennies. Eldorado county employees make 2% per yr. so their retirement would be 60% after 30 yr. $60,000.00 plus bennies. The elected bodies of the above, approved all of this and they all leave before their decisions come back to haunt all of us.
SLT city tries to be like a big city-they are not. The county pays less and offers less generous benefit packs. Time to dissolve city and put everyone on same field. It may happen due to inability to pay for entitlements. The city is only paying interest on their employee retirement contributions-ouch.
plus the one time cost of paying sick leave and vacation time not used, which could reach over $100,000.00. This is a line item not in the budget.
And we wonder why the city hires “family members” or better yet, why family members want to work for the city!!
I spent 32 years in Law enforcement, having spent several years in Los Angeles and 23 years working in South Lake Tahoe. Police work is the same in every jurisdiction. It is dangerous. There seems to be a sense by many in SLT that cops and firemen are paid too much. During my career in Los Angeles I was in two fatal shootings and shot at twice. In SLT I was shot at during an exchange of gunfire, stabbed by a combative suspect, assisted with rescuing officers pinned down by gunfire, not to mention all the other “man with a gun” calls and other types of calls that raise the hair on the back of one’s neck. Is the job dangerous? Yes. Did I choose to be a cop? Yes I did. I chose it for many reasons. I learned a long time ago that the lack of pay and lousy hours spent away from my family on holidays and week ends, not to mention the risks I took daily at least gave me SOLID employment with benefit packages which were negotiated for in lieu of pay raises. For years, pay raises were not received. We failed to receive COLA (cost of living adjustments) well beyond the city’s Destiny 2000 days. Rather, adjustments were made by city association groups bargaining with benefit packages. Most often these adjustments chipped away at benefit packages which were were set up years ago, once again in lieu of pay raises.
For years contractors and plumbers would come into a friend’s local eating establishment which I frequently ate at. They would laugh at how much they made in salary when the building boom was high in SLT. They bragged about the expensive vacations they took, the boats and other toys they would buy, and redicule me regarding why I could work at a job which compared to them had such low pay when I was making about a third of what a plumber would charge to change out a toilet. Well now they are on hard times and expect everyone else to join them. They made their choices and I made mine. My pay and benefits were determined through a negotiated process. I cannot raise my income simply by charging more for a week end call out since most of the time I was already working the week ends and holidays.
Public sector employment for total pay and benefits is below the private sector across the nation.
I worked in a proud profession. I made a decent wage but certainly no wage is worth what I risked myself for at times, yet be grateful there are those of us who chose to do the dirty work of protecting the community that so many others are too afraid,too unskilled, or too civilized to do themselves.
You think it is easy? About 3% of those that apply ever make it to the street. Cops and firement retire younger because of the physical demands of the job. In police work the suspect is always 17 years old even though the cop ends up in his fifties.
By the way, I know how to do construction.
Correction Retired Cop! Public sector pay is above private sector pay across the nation! And that is especially true here in So. Lake Tahoe!
NO ONE is saying we don’t need police, fire or other public services! NO ONE is saying just anyone can do the job! What there’s a debate about is how much we can afford!
The public sector unions in Tahoe all the make point of how much less they are paid relative to their big city counterparts. Well everyone in Tahoe is paid less than their big city counterparts! And again, while we need the services in our town, I do believe; and police, fire and the rest of the public sector have admitted to me, their workload is not as heavy as their big city counterparts!
And finally, you and others make the point that not everyone can do your job. Agreed! Hopefully there is a high standard to be hired! But the public of SLT would like to see what those standards are! Is it just a coincidence there’s so much nepotism in the City government? Please then Retired Cop be a force for making the City of SLT an open source of information, and help end its “None of the Public’s Business!” mindset of keeping the public in the dark!
Public workers should get a fortune, so should everyone. I would like to have steak and lobster every night. Regardless of what retired cops say, we simply cannot afford it. I think that combat soldiers should be paid a lot more than cops. But, again, we can’t afford it. This may be difficult for some to comprehend but it is simple mathematics. Period.
If your proud of your feelings, show your real name, its what full discloser means!
Hi Mr.Pierini,
Is your comment directed at me?
For Parker; my comment included that police work is dangerous everywhere. When I got shot at here in SLT it did not matter that it was the ONLY time in Tahoe compared to LA. The fact is it can happen anytime. People need to understand that police and fire fighters are not paid for a particular task, but rather for what they are expected to do at any time 24/7. Cops and firemen get paid less in SLT, guess it is what we gave up when we chose blue sky and green trees. When I left LA County Sheriffs for SLT my pay loss was $100.00 a month. Now it is over $1700.00 less compared to an LA County Deputy. I would never have come here today with that much of a difference for the same job.
If an individual did not take care of their own pension planning, don’t take it out on the public employee who has the benefit of a NEGOTIATED BENEFIT. Two governors have already tried to get into PERS money to balance the California budget woes. Each time the Supreme Court has told them it is illegal and not the state’s money. Or in other words if you have a lot of money saved and invested as a business and I need it, then I should just be able to take it for my needs. This is called stealing not “borrowing.”
Additionally, state safety members and teachers have huge reductions (more than 7/8’s) regarding social security benefits due to having a solid retirement plan in place. The only exception to receiving the full social security benefit is for career military and railroad employees. Check out your social security statement sometime, if you have ever! I guess some would think cops and firemen should work until social security kicks in.
And yes, I see in this blog the argument of some based on a minimum wage and tip mentality work force. I am not trying to be condensending but it is a simple fact of much of what this town is made up of regarding its work force.
“Public sector employment for total pay and benefits is below the private sector across the nation.”
I don’t believe that statement for a minute. Which profession are you comparing yours to? Professional athletes? Actors? CEO’s? I would guess that the largest portion of the people in this country are supporting families on 20-50k a year.
I have no idea what the statistics are, but I’m going to say at least 80% of the people in this country make under 100K a year, and probably around 50-60% make under 50k. Many of these people have gone to college, have degrees, and still will never be able to get paid anywhere near 100k a year.
And as far as a pension, I can’t think of any companies in the private sector that still provide them, though I’m sure there might be a few, I’d guess less than 5% of the private sector jobs in the US provide pensions for their employees.
I am very thankful that you chose the career of a cop, and I feel that what is promised needs to be met to some degree, but also that it is not unreasonable that the existing pensions from these public sector jobs should be trimmed back a bit, maybe 5-10%, or maybe no COL raises for awhile, and that people should be thankful if the whole thing doesn’t collapse; which would result in 0 pension.
All new people coming into the field should be on a totally different contract.
The rest of us can’t live in poverty, and work our a$$es off to pay some privileged few sweet packages that we have no chance of ever acquiring because we didn’t join the special club, but are required to fund it’s members.
Oh, and I do have family on this dole, and they have collected way more than they ever put in. It’s a very sweet deal for them.
for everyone
To Careaboutthecommunity…
Since you have relatives on this “dole” then you must also know the flip side of it too is that the reason why PERS has so much money in it is because of good financial planning and investment along with the fact that cops and firefighters die much younger then the general public due to the nature of the job. The average life expectency for these professions is 5-10 years following retirement. When a collecting member dies the funding stops. It does not get inherited as does 401 plans, etc.
Frankly I don’t know what to tell you about my retirement. I worked hard for it, earning every dime by putting in 32 years of dealing with every type of scum out there, seeing and dealing with things you could not imagine, and trying to raise a family on the income of a cop. So I have no problem whatsoever of receivng my 90% retirement every month. I took great risks and did so for long hours and low pay knowing that in the end if I made it, I would have a secure retirement. At least I earned mine…not like our Congressmen after serving one term!
If you don’t like the system then change it for new people coming in. In SLT the age of earliest retirement has already been changed (added 5 years of service)for new employees hired after a certain date.
I too sense that future hired safety employees thoughout the state will be on a different system with longer age requirements (55yrs) and yearly percentages of 2.5% rather than 3%, or a combination of age at date of hire and service years. Still, police and firefighting is a young person’s game. Even a tougher job as we get older.
The reason why the 3@50 plan was accepted thoughout the state was to develop the safety jobs into professions rather than just careers.
This was a process that had developed over most of my career. It was to make it attractive to get a higher caliber of candidate and from what I have seen it was a success.
Additionally for different periods of time, people were not taking on these jobs. When the Microsoft Age arrived, it was extremely difficult to get QUALIFIED people into law enforcement. Lets see now, if you are a young person and you got offered a job by a microsoft company years ago you were offered 65k,a company car, expense account, worked only 8-5 with all holidays and week ends off, along with a 40l plan matched by the employer. Now as a new cop you make 30k, work week ends, graveyard, holidays, and get to deal with the dregs of society, spit on, beat on and maybe shot or worse, killed. Pretty easy to see which job most people would accept. This is why law enforcement became a profession in order to compete with the private sector. Incentives are well earned through higher education and training.
I forecast that when this war ends and there is a great inflex of soldiers coming home, there will be many candidates willing to take on safety positions with less benefits based on the current economy we have.
It is not our (my) fault the private sector is now suffering and that I should be blamed for it by the retirement I have and have so earned.
Parker,
Go to http://www.post.ca.gov You will find the minimum standards that are required to be a police officer in this state. You will also find more information under Government Code section 1030. The city can’t stop you from seeing those standards. They are statewide. As for the nepotism, there are city policies in place that address the issue.
For the rest of the comment makers:
The police officers in SLT are currently paying for their retirement. This was done as a gesture of good faith as they know times are tough.
I concur with “dotherightthing” but I would go even further and tell folks, go and try to be a cop. Go through the testing, background, academy and training processes. Pass all that and do five years on the road. Survive that and then feel free to comment on the current work load or their pensions.
Oh No Louise! Sure there are minimum standards to be hired! But it’s clear the SLTPD uses some subjective screening on who it picks among the candidates. That’s true of all the City’s hiring practices!
And the City has nepotism policies in place?? That are followed?? Not according to the Grand Jury and not that could be answered to this news site!!
Now for the record, I strongly feel that on the balance good dedicated people work for the City in all its departments! And we need the services of these departments! It is also clear that these are very good, well-paying jobs to have in our town! Many would be willing to fill them at a significantly lower cost! (For the record, I am not one of the people that have ever desired to have one of those jobs! I make more than some City employees, some make more than me!)
So I don’t state what I state out of any personal envy!! We have a bureaucracy in both our City & County that we just can’t afford!! Period!! Part of the reason it got out of control was that hiring practices and compensation giving was kept out of public view!
It can be stated all anyone wants how the bureaucracy, be it police, fire or whatever deserve what they get. But it is just too expensive as we are headed to budgetary disaster! While simultaneously are private sector is in a recessionary state worse even than the one in CA as a whole or nationally!
The City of SLT needs to very quickly change course, get its expenditures, and all unfunded obligations!! in line with revenues, and start focusing on stimulating the private sector if we’re going to have a sustainable revenue base!
The retirement benefits for police officers are the same for what’s called safety workers. These workers include firemen, food inspectors, probation officers, prison guards, and many others. Police officers benefits are fair, but the others that get 90% of their highest wage, usually their last year of employment, are not and must be reduced to the other gov. employees defined benefits plans which is 2% for El Dorado county employees, i.e. 60% of highest wage. The city paid 16% of the employees pay toward their retirement plus health, dental, and vision costs, 14 holidays, 12 to 14 sick days, and an average of 17 vacation days. So the total cost of someone working 215 days, at $60,000.00 is close to $90,000.00, if you include benefits, which is $418.60 per day, employees are paid $52.30 per hour, which is more than 6X the min. wage in CA. Is this fair? Ask your policy makers.
Hey Parker,
Certainly there are minimum standards to qualify to be a cop or firefighter. But I don’t want a “minimum qualified” person responding to my house on a “hot call for help,” just as I would not want a minimum qualified surgeon operating one me, would you? Besides the minimum standards, an applicant goes though a complete background check. This is the area that sinks most people from getting offered a law enforcement position. During a background check an investigator will talk not only to the folks offered as character references but the investigator will then ask these folks for additional references not listed to determine additionally whether or not the candidate meets the requirements. What part of minimum standards don’t you understand? That means the basic bottom level. Would you hire bottom level in your business?
I retired out along with two other officers recently which helped reduce the city’s cost of paying officers the incentives for experience (training, education, expertise) which takes years to develop as a cop. It takes years to develop into a “seasoned cop.” In our positions new rookies were hired at a much lesser wage and benefit package,thus a savings, but a trade off for lack of experience.
You said people are willing to fill positions at a lower cost. That is exactly what happened when I left and a rookie took my spot, but they qualified.
If you are suggesting we offer jobs to the people willing to do them for less as a qualifying reason to be hired, well then tell you what. How about since I am retired I come do your job for say 2/3 of what you get paid. Don’t worry whether or not I can do it as proficiant as long as I meet some minimum standard. The hours and days worked won’t matter to me for I have worked them all, often staying up for 48+ hours at a time to get the job done!
Additionally I know of many applicants with SLTPD over the years (even some friends), who I thought would qualify for the job and they failed during the background phase. The process is to hire the best for the benefit and safety of the community. If friends of yours were not hired, it for reasons they are not telling you. Period.
I have to agree with Louise. If you can qualify, go be a cop. Put on a badge, uniform, and gun. Then deal with the junk from every walk of life. You want to feel true prejudice from every race? Put on that badge that makes you distinct from all others. Oh and do the job exactly right every time, in a split second or suffer criticism from the media, community members, or get sued. Most folks are law abiding good people. Only about 8-10% are truely bad all the time. I also learned that the people who pay the least amount of taxes get the most amount of service. I determined a long time ago that usually the police see generally good people at a poor or tragic time in their lives. Problem is that 8-10% and the good folks having a bad moment is what a cop deals with day in and day out. Yet they are to do it cheerfully, over and over.
When I came to SLT in 1986 we fielded 6-7 cars on any given shift. Over the years with budget cuts the Department puts out 3 cars on a shift and if someone calls in sick there are often only two police cars on the street for the entire city. The reason to not call in an officer for the third spot is to save on costs at a risk of officer safety. This has been going on for the last several years. What this equates to is that with one domestic violence call the entire working department is tied up and there is not a unit available to go to the next call. For years I asked the public how many cars they thought we put out on the street and the reply was usually 8-10 cars. They were always surprised when I would tell them 2 or three were all that was out there. Now factor in the fact that calls for service have at least doubled since I started here and you will see the work load that each cop has to deal with. I don’t have the exact numbers for the increases of calls over the years but feel free to contact the Department and the numbers will be shared with you. Additionally, the Detective Divison has been cut to the bone, thus many crimes are not even investigated as they once were. Patrol officers are now required to investigate crimes and do their own follow up to relieve the burden to Detectives. Too many people think it all gets wrapped up in an hour like on TV. More time is spent writing reports then being out on the street with all of the reductions of staffing, the increase of work load, and of course, no one wants to admit that services to the public should be cut at all in order to function.
So,as Louise has offered, go put on that badge and talk to me in five years. Tell me then all about it.
No, I am not a “golden goose” deserving of more than others but as I have said, I have earned my retirement, bad back and all.
Okay Retired Cop and whomever else, let me be emphatic-I do not state what I state out of any personal issue! I’ve never applied to work for the City in any position, and there have no friends that I’m bothered were not hired by the City. Period!!
There have been instances when people and journalists asked questions about the choices the City made on whom to hire and the City responded in effect, “None of your business!” That attitude is very irksome as government should be responsible to those paying their bills!
When people question the compensation of the City’s employees some respond that’s the amount it takes to retain good, qualified people. I strongly question that fact! If people disagree, that’s a good debate to have! It would be great to have all the facts in the debate and that’s why the City should be more open about the decisions it makes on whom it hires. Again a Grand Jury has questioned the City’s hiring practices!
As I stated, I know good people who work for the City! If it’s stated that the City always hires the best people for the job, it would be great if the taxpayer was furnished with some backup info. for that statement, not just, “Shut up and take our word for it!”
Finally, I don’t know who can disagree with the statement that the City needs to reduce its expenditures?! So Retired Cop, let’s be constructive! Where do you suggest the City cut?
And Retired Cop, who actually if you are whom I think you are, you’re one of the good people I’m thinking of when I say I know good people who work, or have worked for the City! But you talk about even overworked. I’d buy into the PD being cut the bone if I didn’t see things like in the peak Summertime, the PD sending 6! that I saw of, maybe there were more?, to Chevy’s because some underage kid used a fake id!
I’m not saying they shouldn’t go after a kid for using a fake id, but c’mon!! They sent 4 PD into Chevy’s looking for him, and I know they had at least 2 officers blocking off the lot so people couldn’t leave. When I asked what all the fuss was about, for fact!, the kid wasn’t on the run, a felon, anything like that. 6 officers for a kid using a fake id whose Mom ratted him out?
I want police, good police, available if I’m robbed or threatened!! But I just don’t buy into the belief that the SLTPD is a lean operating machine!
Well Parker, there you go again being critical of the police and to tell you the truth the fact is why the police were there at all IS actually none of your business just as if the cops show up to your house or business it is not your neighbors or passerbyers right to know what goes on.
I worked there Parker, you didn’t. Possibly some of the cops inside were trainees with their training officers which is considered a one man unit since the recruit is in training and not cleared yet to function as an officer on his own. In fact last summer I know the Department had several trainees with training officers. Or the call may have come out at an overlap of shift time frame. Or maybe other cops were nearby and decided to stop since they were near by. Or possibly it was a slow night but I never saw 6 cops go after a kid like that in my years oof work. Maybe, just maybe, the information you were given was only a small portion of the real picture, eh? Again you, nor anyone else not involved has absolutely no right to know what the cops are at a location for. My friend, you have absoultely no right to know. Additionally, training includes four phases of training for a rookie to get out on their own and even after that they are on probation for a total of 18 months from hire date, beyond the academy. This is another area that some, even lateral officers hired, are terminated from the department.
I suggest you go on a ride-along and talk to the cops and Supervisors that have to try and fill shifts. For a long time, cops have been responding to calls which are two officer calls by themselves due to staffing issues. Only by luck has a cop not been seriously injured. Shifts have actually been staggered based on time frames for the most calls but who can tell when the serious calls will come in? There is no prediction for that.
Granted as in any line of work, some days are slower than others even for SLTPD but more often than not the cops are busy. As I suggested, get the numbers. Go to the Department and get the numbers for calls for sevice, self initiated activity, numbers of arrests, etc.
I know before I left I was working the assignment of what previously three officers would cover with one of those assignments being a beat assignment often.
Anyway Parker, I don’t have the answers to the budget issues of SLT, California or the country. I find it ironic though, as when I first got into this topic web, those who criticized me for doing a danerous job at low pay for years while they were fat cats, are the big complainers now about the retirement I am now receiving which was well earned just because their 401k plans and fail to invest properly is now here today for them.
Retired Cop, this will be my last comment, on the matter as I won’t continue the back & forth-
#1-I’ve done a ride along w/ the SLTPD!
#2-It’s very unfortunate that you do not feel the taxpayer has a right to know! That says a lot about the bureaucratic mindset, huh?! And it’s very unfortunate the mindset is so prevalent towards those paying the government’s bills!
#3-6 officers, and I believe there were more, are way too many just for some unarmed kid with a fake id! In LA, SF or Oakland that would not happen!
#4 But I’m glad you’re happy with your pension! And it’ll just be left to others to deal with the financial problems our City, County & State!
I think the overall point is that these kinds of benefits are unsustainable, not to be critical of the police, firemen, or public employees. Our town simply cannot afford these kinds of retirement packages and something needs to change. It seems the people getting most up in arms about this issue on this forum are the ones benefiting at the downfall of the rest of the community. So go ahead and keep enjoying your hefty retirements while the rest of us work, sometimes several jobs, to make a third of that.
Lou, If Steve Kubby can drop dime on “cowboy 25” and tell us who he is then I guess we can say who “retired cop” is. Someone already posted his name but it never came up on the blog here. As I know who it is I must add that I think he was one of the good guys and did earn his pay as I saw him quite often and had dealings with him but he now lives in Gville enjoying his retirement. Lou, there were two officers that retired, one was Terry Daniels who still lives here and the other was Scott Wilson who lives in Gville. Take your pick as to who you think it is.
Yep. I think I have put a fork into this issue and it is done, not to mention I may have “over cooked” it.
“Hi” to the Ski Bum and Lou. I do miss the Deli days at TKD. Best sandwich in town!
Retied Cop- AKA Scott Willson
PS Gone Fishin’
Thank goodness we have a Cheif from the FBI, Now we can bring justice all the bad cops who live, work, and run businesses in our community. Is this police department being given a bad name due to a few bad cops or reserve cops?
Is this communities police department so crupt that our local law enforcment can play by thier own rules? Is this department already under investigation from the FBI? Is that the reason for Mr. Uhler’s presence? There is always more than we can see
Has anybody noticed that all the cops in question seem to be leaving our community?
There is a level of law enforcment that is higher than our local police. Will the people of our community ever come forward
We’re talking about a perfect storm: more state services needed for an aging population, a workforce that will spend more years in retirement than they did contributing to the funds, and a smaller ratio of working-age taxpayers and contributing state workers to pay for it all.
Some of the key findings in the report include:
• By around 2012 or 2013, the three major state pensions’ obligations will be more than five times as large as total state tax revenue
This is old news to people who watch the finance indicators.
I worked for the County of Los Angeles for 33 1/2 years, i paid into my retirement plan for 30 years, i got 65 percent of my salary, it is not much and we do not always get a 3% percent raise exery year like the Board of Supervisors or other high paid positions. When i started working for the County i was a perfectly healthy person, now i have diabetes, and high blood pressure from stress, i should have been eligible for a Disability Retirement but i was not, my Parents did not have diabetes, Also the County pulled out of Social Security in 1983, I have my quarters in but it won’t be more than $300 dollars a month when i am eligible if i live that long, i retired because i became to ill to work. So don’t tell me i don’t deserve my Retirement, i paid in 30 years, i won’t live 30 more years.