The Miami-Dade County p
olice UNION members finally gave up the ghost and made a deal with their bosses – in essence, the taxpayers – to renew their contract by coming to the realization that it’s far better to work than stand in an unemployment line. Makes sense to me. An article in today’s Miami Herald, Miami-Dade police union agrees to pay cuts to avoid layoffs (http://www.miamiherald.com/
Now, that’s what I call team spirit!
Something the members of the North Miami Beach Police UNION seem to be sorely lacking.
Unlike our own International Union of Police Associations (IUPA) president Mike Pons, the county’s Police Benevolent Association (PBA) president John Rivera, showed true leadership by knocking sense into his members. The Herald quoted him as saying, “This is a clear example of our unity…We stand together. We will die together. We will protect our family – from the youngest rookie to the one who has been sacrificing for 30 years.”
For a UNION dude, he’s not such a bad guy. I guess there is something to be said for good leadership after all. Which is also something that our NMBPD seems to be sorely lacking.
I’m sure I don’t need to list yet again the follies committed by some of our cops of late. Suffice it to say that we have gone from having one of the finest, most professional police departments in not only the county, but in the entire State of Florida, to having a police force that has brought us almost as much embarrassment as the former and fired mayor, Myron Rosner, did during his reign of terror.
Speaking of Myron, word on the street is that he’s been meeting secretly (or, not so secretly as it were) with some members of the police department, no doubt conspiring with them to try to bring down the current Mayor. Some of the posts on LEOAffairs.com have veered into the political, which leads us (me and the mouse in my pocket) to believe he is behind some of the chatter. Too bad for the cops, though, most of whom don’t live here and can’t vote in our local elections. Oh, darn.
Enough about Myron, though. Back to the county cops…
Just because they cut a deal with the county, it doesn’t mean they were necessarily happy about it. In fact, some of them quoted in the Miami Herald were pretty disgruntled about having to give up some of the goodies they’ve become accustomed to grabbing. Detective and UNION board member Nubia Azrak said,
No, ma’am. We don’t forget. We constantly hear about what a dangerous job you have. We get it. We appreciate your sacrifice. We are so grateful you chose law enforcement as a career move.
We also appreciate the hundreds of thousands of young men and women who VOLUNTEER to defend our homeland in foreign lands, under the most brutal conditions known to mankind, who get shot at every single day without respite, and who do it for about one third of your salary.
And they don’t get overtime pay for going to court.
So, yeah, we’re kinda sick of hearing about your hardships.
There were county cops who voted against the contract, like Miami-Dade Officer Mark Slimak, who “will be particularly affected because he works the midnight shift and frequently appears in court in the morning. The contract slashes incentive pay for officers who work nights, as well as overtime for court appearances.” He was quoted as saying,
Now I have no idea what Officer Slimak’s base salary is, but apparently if his “incentive pay” and “overtime” compensation is more than the base pay of an active duty soldier, I’m thinking his family is in no danger of starving any time soon. So, yeah, sorry. My heart ain’t bleedin’ just yet.
Then there’s the grudge the county cops have over the firefighters in what they perceive is “a ‘sweetheart’ deal that avoided deep cuts.” I spoke with a few long-time, currently active members of the Miami-Dade County Fire Department to see if I can get a bead on what kind of “sweatheart” deal the cops were complaining about.
According to what I’ve been told, on July 1, 2011, both the cops and the firefighters got an across the board 3% raise. On top of that the cops got an additional 10% raise. Wow! That sounds like a sweetheart deal to me. For the cops!
The firefighters took the 3% raise, but lost three paid holidays, and agreed to other wage adjustments on incentives, which includes overtime.
Yeah, they got a sweetheart deal, alright.
Apparently the cops are kvetching about the amount of money they pay for their health insurance as opposed to what the firefighters pay. The cops are complaining that they already pay 5% of their salary toward their insurance and if other budget cuts are made, they might have to pay another 5%. According to the information I was told, back in the early 1990s, when both contracts were being negotiated, the firefighters conceded to receive their raises in steps AND pay 5% of their salary into a healthcare fund, which ostensibly the county kept and of which the firefighters never received the benefits. Many years later, the firefighters eventually got the right to receive back the 5% of their salary that they doled out for nothing in return.
The cop UNION likes to call this reimbursement a “raise.” It is not a raise, but as we all know, UNIONS like to twist the truth to their advantage. No surprise here.
In any event, and despite the grumbling by some members, the Miami-Dade County police UNION cut what is described as “a fair deal for everybody,” according to the Herald article.
Now, let’s see if the North Miami Beach police UNION takes a hint from the county and starts negotiating in good faith.
Yeah, right.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
I`m so sick of people bringing up the differences in pay between a cop and an active duty military service member. Especially from those who have never served. Being an 8 year vet and a cop of 4 years, I, as well as almost every cop would take the military pay and benefits package. Let me give the non-military people out there a comparison. I made E-6 in 6 years, thats 34,000 base pay, plus 1989 a month for housing, another 300 a month for BAS, FSA of 250 a month, danger pay of 200 a month, flight pay of 500 a month, uniform allowance of 45 a month, plus free medical for my family to include no co-pays, free retirement, and a vast amount of military discounts. My last year in the service, I took home 56,786.23 after taxes. My wife gave birth to our two kids without paying a dime, and I was able to get a free education plus an extra 1803.00 a month for housing for the last 3 years for the post 9-11 GI Bill. Lets no forget the 75,000 signing bonus I received for re-enlisting for my Special Ops MOS in 2004 and saving on the 26% taxes because I was deployed to Iraq. That destroys my 56,000 cop salary and 15,000 in OT and Off Duty. If you wondering why I and many others leave the service, it`s simple, I was tired of leaving my family. My last 4 years I averaged 300 days away from home. Not to mention that every 3-4 years I had to relocate to a new base. I wanted stability for my wife and kids and sad to say the military doesn`t offer that. But as people keep comparing a cops salary to their military counter parts, I tell you this. Please, write your commissioners, speak to your elected officials. I would gladly swap benefit packages…..Please! Service members earn every penny, I know I did. I missed every holiday for 7 years, I missed a birth, I missed graduations, but it was all worth it. That`s something that people who have never been their can ever comprehend!
These cops do put their lives on the line i.e when they are eating donuts on the job. All of that cholesterol clogging their arteries….it does take a toll.
Cops take home cars for 20 years do wipe out any incentive packages the army can give. Free gasoline to and from work, free equipment to do private jobs, free cars. Blood sucking pensions, like a mill stone around taxpayers necks. Transferable pensions, OT that are pensionable. DROP programs. Carlos Gimenez is on the right track, but became too soft only taking back $56 million. Should have taken more….
Almost as much embarrassment as Rosner! Most NMBPD cops don’t live in NMB! One does at last check. Time for a reality check. Here’s an Officer in NMB for you. NMBPD officer Capote badge # zero254 recently stated to me that he has no “Brothers or Sisters” in law enforcement. His friends aren’t cops and his neighbors aren’t either and doesn’t live in NMB. After I said to him, after he said to me: What’s this “Photography is not a Crime”? And I told him it was a website that has to do with Law Enforcement and he should check it out,you will see some of your “Brothers and Sisters in Blue” there. Just some things to think about when thinking of North Miami Beach. If you could have would you have spelled it apostrophe S ( voter’s )? That probably throws people off.