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Paper: Police Just As Bad As Educators
You know, when the house organs of the right started attacking teachers, I figured it was only a matter of time before they started going after the cops. I just didn't reckon that it would happen so quickly.
It's interesting how they throw cumulative numbers around to make them seem bigger/scarier. "300 cops on the payroll at an annual cost to taxpayers of $22 million" works out to 73K per cop, which, while not nothing for sure, isn't like some insane salary (especially when you consider that's total compensation, not takehome … do you know what your total compensation is?).
It's interesting that suggesting that anyone who makes 125K a year (after deductions!) is rich elicits howls of outrage, while earning 73K a year (in total compensation!) makes one an awful fat cat.
73K paid to murderers and abusers for doing nothing is outrageous. Many people work 50 hours a week in NYC and don't make 40K a year. For most New Yorkers, 73K a year is good money.
However, paying them to type, file, and gaze into security camera screens is still cheaper than the possible cost to the city if any or all of these bad cops won some sort of BS lawsuit.
(And when did it become the goal of labor to make sure everyone is equally grossly underpaid, rather than fighting to get decent compensation for all?)
I don't know about the "goal of labor" but I do believe that the goal of government is to supply services to the taxpayer as efficiently as possible. Paying over a 100K for some rapist cop to eat doughnuts all day does not further the public good. These jobs could easily be filled by non-criminal workers who would be happy to work at half these wages.
Weakness of the emphemeral nature of commenting, I've seen people ask Lockheed that multiple times and never heard a response.
Haha, now all cops are rapists! And 73K is "over a 100K"! I am going to make funny noises with my lips now! Bllrrrrrrbbbbbpppppllllllbrrrrrrrbbbbb
"Trollin', trollin', trollin', keep that Lockheed trollin'…"
Good dialoging!
DD-
If you read the article many of the cops in question are making over a 100K and have dubious connections with various crimes including sexual assault. My comment was obviously directed towards the criminal cops covered by the article that was posted and not all cops in general.
Fair enough! Corruption or ethics investigations should be used to root out bad cops. What I find ridiculous is the leap from "this cop is a creepy rapey jerk" to "now let's complain about pay and benefits for cops." The two have nothing to do with each other. And any discussion of pay and benefits for a class of government worker is implicitly directed at all of them.
OK, this is totally sticking my hand right into the middle of the hornets' nest, so I'm steeling myself for the response, but… why, exactly, is it not utterly silly to keep a bunch of inactive, suspended-from-active-duty police officers on the payroll, including the guys who shot Sean Bell and Amadou Diallo, in perpetuity, rather than using that money elsewhere in the police department (for instance, to avoid laying off other, active duty police officers), or at least putting them into early retirement?
NYC could probably stand to downsize its police force a bit, especially (from what I hear) in terms of the number of officers on the payroll. Framing such a move as economic stimulus, however, is like shooting yourself in the foot in the hope that someone will invent a cyborg replacement leg that makes you a better runner.
What about laying more emphasis on NOT shooting unarmed black men? What about making individual officers, as opposed to the city (I.e. us) responsible for paying the costs associated with suits brought against them? What about ending the war on drugs? I think there are better ways of talking about this than as a plutocrat vs blue-collar issue. Teachers can't get away with murder, generally.
ABSOLUTELY those issues need to be addressed. Pay and benefits have nothing to do with any of them.
"Oct. 15, 2008: Accused of covering up for a fellow officer charged with sodomizing a man in a subway station"
That is some bad lieutenant shit there.
"SODOMIZE HIM AGAIN; HIS SOUL IS STILL DANCING."
Port of Call: The Bowels (literally) of NYC.
While the Post sure can't be faulted for being agenda-free or less than dependably repugnant, this is a little tricky to hang on pure anti-union bias, is it not? Do you want these people packing–and do you like having them on your payroll?
“First, they came for the public-sector workers that didn't reliably vote Republican, but I did not speak up. . .”
How soon will it be before the private police begin taking over the duties now run by the public sector. Will they parade in Brown Shirts?
Is this really "going after the cops"? Because, um, yes I would really prefer all 300 of these cops be fired IMMEDIATELY. If thinking cops who are accused of crimes shouldn't be cops any more makes me a republican, I'm not sure I want to be a democrat!
Haha yeah, considering the circumstances of individual cases is for chumps. If rigorous cherry-picking by the NY Post isn't due process enough for you, GO BACK TO FRANCE.
No, I mean to step back, obviously not every one of these cops is a criminal. But do you think that the people who shot sean bell should still be police? Seriously? And can we please stop acting like being a public servant means you should be impossible to fire?
I didn't really think you believed that. Just pointing out that you weren't saying what you meant.
And yeah, actually, the NYPD (along with a lot of other police forces) are in DESPERATE need of better ethics enforcement and accountability — no disagreement there. All I'm saying is that coupling that argument to union-busting or bitching about a cop's five-figure salary is ludicrous. Why not go to the union with the offer that you can keep wages and bennies better for most cops by making it easier to fire bad apples over ethics violations?
Good lord yes. At least a teacher usually can't beat an old lady up, taser her 12 times, then arrest her for resisting arrest because she thrashed around while being tased.
Now I could be wrong – if anyone has been near LA Unified recently and this is in fact commonplace there (or elsewhere), I'd love to know, because it's about time for my expectations to be reset downward again.