It’s no secret that many members of the North Miami Beach Police Department have been less than thrilled with certain changes that have been implemented because of the budget cuts last year. One police officer made the following request to me:
Stephanie,
Perhaps you could create a blog addressing some of these issues and raising some of these questions on your website? It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of residents on the cuts to the budget as well as police services. Agree with the mayor or not, it is certainly a controversial topic and it would surely increase the traffic on your site. Yes?
Never one to back down from a challenge, I said, “Sure. Why not?”
I decided to post his unedited comments and questions, and throw them out there for discussion among my readers. As a courtesy, I am giving this police officer a chance to voice his opinion in a public forum. I think it’s only fair to give him the opportunity to air his concerns and address the residents he serves.
Although this officer specifically charging the Mayor with the sole responsibility of implementing these policies, I would just like to point out that, unlike Miami-Dade County, we do not have a “strong mayor,” but a “council-manager” form of government. As directed by our City Charter, there are seven elected officials on the dais, each of whom have only one vote in any decision. In addition, the city manager is responsible for implementing policy and negotiating contracts. Regardless of whether anyone agrees or disagrees with these policies, the credit and/or blame should be shared equally by all those who run North Miami Beach. In my opinion, whatever the outcome, it’s a team effort.
That’s my opinion, for what it’s worth. Without further ado, below are the comments and questions posed by this police officer. Please feel free to post your comments, as they would be greatly appreciated.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”
Mayor V can do whatever he wants with the budget. The consequences of his decisions will impact the quality of police service received by the public, then the voters can express their approval or disapproval of his performance at the ballot box. Democracy in action.
Citizens….has Mayor V’s layoff of 17 cops made police response time better, or worse?
To fill the holes created by Mayor V’s layoffs the police department eliminated the gang, motorcycle and community patrol units.
Citizens…has the absence of a gang unit made the city seem more safe, or less safe? Does there seem to be more shootings, less shootings or about the same?
Citizens…has the absence of a motors unit made traffic seem better or worse in your neighborhood? Do cars seem to be driving faster on your street, slower or about the same? Do you see more cops on traffic stops, less cops on traffic stops or about the same?
Citizens…has the absence of a community patrol unit made your neighborhood better or worse? Are there more problem homeowners on your block, less or about the same?
Detectives routinely have to temporarily suspend work on their criminal cases and are forced to work uniformed patrol to fill in the holes created by Mayor V’s layoffs. Every day there is a detective assigned to cover shortages on the road.
Citizens…are you happy with the level of service and communication you get from detectives assigned to your case? Has the need to take detectives away from their cases resulted in better service, worse service or about the same?
Citizens…is your tax bill 15% smaller or is just your police department 15% smaller?
Citizens…does Mayor V’s decision to layoff 15% of the police department make your home more valuable, or less valuable? Easier to sell, or harder to sell?
Citizens….what impact do you think Mayor V’s layoffs and budget cuts will have on the quality of recruits that choose to come to your city in the future? Do you think it possible to pay less than everyone else and still have quality recruits?
Citizens….what impact would poor caliber recruits have on lawsuits and civil liability, and how does that ultimately impact you, the taxpayer? Do you think Opa-locka pays out more or less than North Miami Beach in civil settlements as a result of police corruption and brutality?
This questionnaire could not be timelier! I was just going to call you and ask if you have noticed how totally out of control the speeding is along NE 19 avenue. I thought I had not seen anybody stopped for speeding in a long time, and now I know why. Just this morning I had someone behind me visibly upset about me going at the posted speed, as if I was the one committing an offense; and forget about crossing this avenue on foot, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets killed.
Same things happening in North Miami and everywhere else around the county. Nothing new.
True. Did you know that I also heard that the motorcyle unit was disbanded as a result of the layoffs?
True about the speeding on 19th avenue and the other streets. Did you know that I also heard that the motorcyle unit was disbanded as a result of the layoffs?
Kudos to the police officer speaking up and to you for giving him a place to do it! Police services are a crucial need in any city. Proactive police work like community patrols really decrease crime. Although do not live in NMB, I frequently visit and do my shopping there. While it is much larger than SIB, there is definitely not a high visibility of officers as there is here in SIB. Out of curiosity, do you happen to know the ratio of officers to citizens?
I am glad you pointed out that Mayor V is not the deciding factor in these cuts. The officer really should not be pointing the finger at only one person out the many that are in charge. I don’t like it when people get hung out to dry. I’m sure the Mayor is doing his best with the resources he has.
Mayor V can do whatever he wants with the budget. The consequences of his decisions will impact the quality of police service received by the public, then the voters can express their approval or disapproval of his performance at the ballot box. Democracy in action.
Answer: Dumb Statement…the Mayor is only one of seven votes.
Citizens….has Mayor V’s layoff of 17 cops made police response time better, or worse?
Answer: Probably worse, too bad the 30 or so retired police officers in the DROP didn’t retire and leave space for the 17 to stay employed. Or better yet, make some concessions to save the jobs of their 17 borthers in blue. Instead of doing that, the senior police officers threw thr rookies under the bus.
To fill the holes created by Mayor V’s layoffs the police department eliminated the gang, motorcycle and community patrol units.
Answer: Don’t forget the marine unit too, the guys that ride around the Haulover sandbar waving to their fellow police officers from MiamiDade County, North Miami , Indian Creek and the Coast Guard…and a few women in bikini’s too. Patroling the high crime area of Haulover Sandbar. The recently passed red-light camera will take the place of the motorcycle unit and the cameras can’t go into the DROP and collect 8 years of double paychecks.
Citizens…has the absence of a gang unit made the city seem more safe, or less safe? Does there seem to be more shootings, less shootings or about the same?
Citizens…has the absence of a motors unit made traffic seem better or worse in your neighborhood? Do cars seem to be driving faster on your street, slower or about the same? Do you see more cops on traffic stops, less cops on traffic stops or about the same?
Answer: Cars seem to be driving the same speed both before and after the discontinuance of the motor unit.
Citizens…has the absence of a community patrol unit made your neighborhood better or worse? Are there more problem homeowners on your block, less or about the same?
Answer: With a few exceptions, our police department shows up mostly after the fact a crime has been committed and does a great job at showing sympathy to our citizens, handing them a card and telling them to go down to the police station ion 72 hrs to pick up their report and telling them to contact their insurance company.
Detectives routinely have to temporarily suspend work on their criminal cases and are forced to work uniformed patrol to fill in the holes created by Mayor V’s layoffs. Every day there is a detective assigned to cover shortages on the road.
Answer: Sounds like an efficient use of police services since most detectives in our city don’t bust many perps anyway. Better that they fill in when they can and do something productive to help out.
Citizens…are you happy with the level of service and communication you get from detectives assigned to your case? Has the need to take detectives away from their cases resulted in better service, worse service or about the same?
Answer: The same both before and after the “sequester” While some detectives do outstanid work and actually make some arrests, the actual success rate on catching burglars after they break into someones house and steal there stuff is very small. Margery Love’s break-in is a typical example of that scenario. Did the police ever recover any of her stolen property or her Corvette? or cathc the guys that stole her stuff?
Citizens…is your tax bill 15% smaller or is just your police department 15% smaller?
Answer: The 15% plus a whole lot more is being used to pay the 8% interest on the the DROP accounts of the 30 retired police officers working in the Police Department that are collecting both a retirment check and a regular paycheck at the same time, many have been collecting those two paychecks fro almost 8 years. Putting this in perspectiove, the top four retired police officers still drawing a regular paycheck have more than $500,000 EACH in their savings accounts that the taxpayers of NMB have to pay 8% on their accounts, essentially paying them 8% on their retirment checks that they save in a account. Those Four top police officers are costing the taxpyers over $165,000 a year in interest on just these four police officers.
Citizens…does Mayor V’s decision to layoff 15% of the police department make your home more valuable, or less valuable? Easier to sell, or harder to sell?
Answer: My home is no easier or harder to sell due to whether our city has the NMB Police Dept. on duty or the Miami-Dade Police Dept. on duty. In fact, due to our much higher property tax rate that we pay than the surrounding unincorporated areas, it makes our homes slightly harder to sell than the same home in the lower taxed county areas. We pay a lot more because our police department costs us a lot more.
Citizens….what impact do you think Mayor V’s layoffs and budget cuts will have on the quality of recruits that choose to come to your city in the future? Do you think it possible to pay less than everyone else and still have quality recruits?
Answer: No impact what-so-ever. There is a long line of competant, qualified recruits that are willing to take the jobs of our retired DROP participants in a heartbeat. There will never be a shortage of recruits for our PD.
Citizens….what impact would poor caliber recruits have on lawsuits and civil liability, and how does that ultimately impact you, the taxpayer? Do you think Opa-locka pays out more or less than North Miami Beach in civil settlements as a result of police corruption and brutality?
Answer: Boy you really opened a can of worms with that question. Looking back at our Police Departments track history of lawsuits by the public, it’s been the senior police officers, not the rookies, that our taxpayers have paid out millions of dollars on. Does the name Nelson Reyes ring a bell? or the guy who in the wheelchair who was shot in the back refresh your memory. I don’t want to bring up others . My point is not to say whtehr they were justified shootings or not but the fact that you insinuate that only rookies put our city in an extened liability mode is ludicrous.
One thing you ARE CORRECT ABOUT, is that you will get opions from the public with your statements. One more thing, I heard the most opular saying in the NMB PD is not “what’s in Your wallet” as is said on the TV commercial, but it’s “What’s in your DROP account?”
Thank-you to the police officers of our NMBPD that actually do a good job, especailly since they have to carry their share of their brothers in blue for being slugs.
Mr. White,
You seem very disgruntled. If I may ask, did someone in the drop program sleep with your wife? Before you continue with such an un-factual narrow minded rant let me ask you this: Which employee is cheaper to retain? The only with 25 years in the DROP program or the one with 25 years and not in the DROP program. You mention the 8% collected.. One more question? What interest does the money make? Does it make over 8% and reflects no cost to the public?
Answer is quite simple. The employee in the DROP program is cheaper, go ahead, ask one of these elected officials you seem to be protecting for cutting public service. Hey, I have an idea. Let’s just close all the Fire Departments too. Fuck it.. Let the homes burn, people have insurance right? Heart attack?? Who cares, it does not affect you right? Traffic accident?? OOPS Maybe a bystander has a spare set of jaws in his car he can lend you.. Maybe you will get lucky enough to find a Veterinarian who carries medical supplies in his truck who can administer medication to keep you alive long enough to get to the hospital. Are Cops Slugs as you put it?? THERE ARE SLUGS ALL OVER and I am sure in your profession also. I am sure if you were robbed at gun-point your attitude would change.. Less Cops equals the potential for more crime as less lights around your home and an open door does the same. Look around you Mr. White.. High crime areas have lower property values do they not?
Let’s be realistic about this story could ya for just one minute?? There are certainly problems we must change but lowering the amount of public protection and service is not an option anymore.. Yes there are also problems with retirements too. Why do we not deal with the redundancies of these services in South Florida and Merge all Police and Fire together?? Then retirements will be in one tidy package and accountability will be in that same package also.. Each city spends Millions and Millions each year on services that are separated by an imaginary line. WHY!!!! REDUNDANCIES NO MORE…
Hey, YOU asked the questions and just because you don’t like the answers, you don’t have to bring up the fact that one of your collegues DID sleep with the wife of someone he was investigating and had to resign due to it. I didn’t want to bring that up but you did. By the way, say hi to Ed for me.
As to your DROP interest rate, please tell me anywhere in the U.S. where an investment is GUARANTEED to earn 8% interest compounded monthly? If you go back ten years, the average return has been less than 3% and only just this past year has it exceeded that in most 401k and 457 plans.
Ok, now lets do the math on the cost of a rookie vs. the cost of the 25 year police officer. The rookie gets paid about $45,000 a year to start, the 25 year guy is making at least twice that. While the city does have to pay the pension contribution of the rookie, averaging about 50% of his pay ($22,500) that makes his total cost, without other benefits $67,500. This is still well below the $90,000 DROP particpating police officer in cost to the taxpayer, even though the city no longer contributes to his pension. However, the taxpyers DO get to pay the DROP officers 8% interest. somethiong the taxpayers do not have to pay the rookie. I already showed you that the top four DROP police officers have over 1/2 million dollars each in their accounts, the average for all the rest is somewhere between $250,000 to $300,000 depending on how many years they are in the DROP. As you know, these accounts increase by the amount of each monthly retirement check put into them and the compounding of the 8% interest. Please tell everyone how this is a much better deal for the taxpayers of the city.
This is the main reason the 17 police offcers were let go becasue there just isn’t enough money coming in to keep making you guys millionaires at the expense of the $40,000 income average of the taxpayers of the city. Please don’t try and hang those layoffs on the Mayor or the Councilmembers.
I have to jump in here, Bob. The person who wrote the response to you is NOT the same person whose comments/questions in the blog. That much I can assure you.
BOB, BOB, BOB,
Sorry I struck a nerve it seems. You are way off BTW these are not my colleagues or my city and saying hi to Ed means me walking out to my Barn and saying hello to 16 hands of solid horse measurements.
First let me address that your anger, or rather frustration seems to have clouded your reading ability in my previous post. 25 years vs. 25 years has nothing to do with replacing older workers with newer ones.. Oh CRAP.. There are laws against that. Sure, lets fire all the old people then I will have to listen to you whine about Social security I’m sure. OH WAIT.. That seems like the best pension system and the only one that survived the great depression even.. Hmmmm.. Kinda makes you think huh? Truth is Bob, I am tired of hearing the CUT CUT CUT.. I want to see MANAGE,MANAGE and MANAGE.. You cant spent more than you take in concept.. When property values started to fall did the citys cut back on spending dollars? No. They blamed the employee’s who go to work just trying to make a living. As the state is in the rears we see privacy walls 21 ft high lining the sides of the expressways. Newly planted trees at every intersection through out the state at a blinding cost of course. 5 TIMES over normal retail. Fountains, concrete, signs, lighting.. Look BOB, it seems to me you are a politician yourself, and I applaud you for that bold move. I cant recall looking back in my long life remembering when a child had a dream of becoming a politician, but do recall hundreds wanting to be cops, fireman, astronauts. If that is your chosen path, so be it, just remember: Politicians were to serve a term then go back to their normal lives. Hey, have you checked the benefits for the elected officials in your area lately?
Oh BOB.. I forgot.. Check your statistical information at an 8% compounding monthly yield.. I think you meant annually unless you have a special interest calculator that was given to you by Bill Gates.
I wish Bill would give me a calculator like the ones you guys have.The 8%annual rate is added monthly, not annually. 8% compounded monthly means that each month that your monthly retirement check in deposited into your DROP savings account, the 8% ANNUAL interest rate (about 2/3% a month) is added to your total amount and the same thing happens again at the end of each succeeding month, making the effective annual interest yield closer to 9% than 8%.
Like I mentioned previously, although you stated your are tired of hearing CUT, CUT, CUT, you haven’t taken any cuts. You stated you want to see your pension and compensation MANAGED and that is exactly what the Council is trying to do. They are trying to balance the City’s revenue against the expense of running the ENTIRE city, not just the Police Department. as far as paying more for your pension and more for your insurance, now you know what the rest of us are having to deal with. You just jumped in the boat we have been in.
As far as not getting a cost of living raise, those are things of the past and hopefully, things of the future. Right now almost everybody I know is just hanging on and happy to be employed. If they also have the “luxury” of having a pension and some of their insurance paid too, thats just icing on their cake.
Guess what Bob, my neighbor didn’t get a cost of living raise but his employer did just give him a bonus. Good for him right, I wish him well. If he lived next to you he would have to fear you calling his employer to complain about that bonus.
It certainly does not take a trained eye to see that there is a huge problem with violent crime in North Miami Beach. I am in the process of drafting a presentation to present at the April 16th council meeting regarding gang violence. However – it is not just a problem with gang violence. It is violent crime as a whole and numbers of home invasions that will leave you shocked.
Let me give a summary of a timeline that I found interesting:
1. January 2008 – Detective J. Walker shot in the head -with an AK47. WHERE – NORTH MIAMI BEACH.
2. Mid 2009- OPERATION DEAD END – local and federal law enforcement (I believe gang units) participated in a collaborative takedown of scores of criminals – removed from our streets (arrested).
3. Late 2011 – North Miami Beach laid off 17 police officers. The Gang Unit and Crime Suppression Unit were dissolved and we were left with a bare bones Street Crimes Unit (only 5 detectives and 1 supervisor).
4. Fast forward to March 30, 2012 – shooting at funeral home at 14990 West Dixie Highway (one block away from NMB). Here is a summary of a response I received from a public record request to the MDPD on 3/20/13.
“There were 11 people struck by gunfire, and 2 of them died as a result. Two of the victims were children. Neither of them died.”
Face it folks – a mass shooting – basically in our own back yard.
5. Fast forward to the period of 10/1/12 to 1/31/13. TWENTY FIVE SHOOTINGS DURING THIS PERIOD. RIGHT HERE IN NMB. TEN OF THESE SHOOTINGS WERE GANG RELATED.
12/1/12 – Young adult male shot and killed at 169th street and NE 20th avenue. RIGHT NEXT TO A PARK.
In response to these shootings, ,the NMBPD established a special overtime detail of 10-12 officers (Feb/March 2013). In a three week period, as a result of this detail, there were 52 arrests and 4 guns were taken off of the street. As a result of this special overtime detail, shootings have all but stopped.
I have a lot more info to discuss but I am in the midst of preparing this to present to council. There is so much shocking data about crime in NMB that we cannot ignore it.
It is obvious that the aftermath of the police layoffs that crime has spiraled out of control. We need these special units reinstated so we can take back our city from violent crime.
I can best put it as a friend of mine told me a week ago after her home was burglarized. She told me: “I am afraid to live in my own home.”
Karin, like you I was surprised that the Gang Unit was disbanded because of the cuts. This is the one special unit of the PD that was and is obviously needed the most. Since 2005 I have been to two presentations by the Gang Unit and I was impressed by the extensive knowledge about gang activity and the unit’s ability to control this problem in our city. If any city needs gang control, it’s NMB. I support you in your effort to bring back the Gang Unit. Unfortunately, at least one of the top officers who led that squad has resigned and found employment elsewhere. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to replace her.
Thank you so much for supporting me in the effort to bring back the gang unit. I think, after I compile all of the data, you will also support my opinion that we need to bring back our crime suppression unit. The numbers are compelling evidence that we have a big problem in NMB and I really hate to see this happening in our city. I am sorry to hear we lost an officer that was an integral part of the NMBPD and I hope we can put the brakes on losing more good people.
Correction…
The lead Detective did make an arrest in the M. Love case. The juvie was convicted and got a slap on the wrist as usual in Dade County. Her vehicle was also recovered burned in a northern county.
What “Bob White” is mentioning is the guaranteed 8% return, but his comments appear to be that of a “low-information” citizen so lets discuss this. Yes, the current DROP members are getting a guaranteed 8% return, but when that 8% return was negotiated, the economy was great and the city was making money by investing the officers retirement check. Essentially it was a win win. During the collapse of the economy, the officers were getting their 8% return and the city was forced to contribute to the DROP plan to make up for any shortfalls. Now the economy is turning around (slowly), the city is once again making money off the officers retirement check (2% was the last i heard). Now there’s a lot of people in this city that are trashing the officers for negotiating this deal, when at the time, the city was more than happy to agree. The benefit of the drop plan is to keep seasoned officers around without losing their experience to other agencies. It also allows for the city to stop their contribution to that particular officers retirement plan. One aspect of not having a DROP plan is an Officer can stay 25, 30, 35+ years as long as he/she is fit for duty. To use myself as an example, my current retirement check will be about $48-50k if I leave at 20 years. If there’s no DROP, I plan on staying somewhere between 25-30 years. If I stay 30 years, my retirement check will be somewhere near $75-80k a year. Staying an extra 10 years (with no DROP) will require the city to contribute 10 more years to my retirement and pay me more $ when I decide to retire. Whereas with the DROP, the city would stop contributing to my pension at year 20 and would continue to make money off my retirement check (as long as the economy continues to improve of course). Now as far as the 8% return goes, we as a UNION are trying to negotiate with the city to come up with a better plan to help the city financially and be beneficial to the Officer. We’re not expecting an 8% return, nor are we expecting an 8 year DROP plan. The problem were having is the city isn’t negotiating ANYTHING. If you’ve attended the negotiations, you’ll see that were trying to negotiate with the city and its like talking to a wall. The problem with this is if the city gets rid of the DROP plan, you’ll have officers staying longer in the pension system, costing the city more money towards pension contribution, and paying out more when the Officer leaves. Now tell me how thats good for the city and it’s citizens?
Now it is a gamble. If the economy takes another dump, as the DROP is currently set up, the city would have to put forth the 8%, but if the economy continues to improve, the city would be putting out nothing and making somewhere near 2% or more (again, if improvement continues). As I previously mentioned, were trying to lower that percentage so the city continues to make more and the Officer still benefits from entering the DROP.
Now “Bob White” is making a few jabs at some units in this agency and I’m not gonna even entertain that. He has no stats to back his statements, he’s making false statements, and its obvious he’s a “low-Information” citizen. What this city needs to decide is if it’s beneficial for them to keep the DROP (officer has no choice but to leave after 8 years) and negotiate a reasonable plan thats works for all or do they just get rid of it keeping officers here the same amount of time but having the burden of contributing to their pension, 5, 10, 15+ more years.
We appreciate all citizens who continue to support us and we urge any citizen that wants information about our benefits, pay, pension, crime stats, current work conditions, etc, to just ask US and not the neighbor. As “Bob White” has pointed out, being a “low-information” citizen just ruins your credibility.
Thank you Stephanie for this blog. 🙂
While your blog comments are very articulate, you fail to compare the NMB DROP to other DROPs in other cities. Most Cities do not contribute nor guarantee any interest in the retirement checks of the employees. The employee is mandated to set up an outside 457 Plan in which their account is totally controlled by the employee. The employee is free to choose a guaranteed return (usually 3 to 4%) or take a riskier higher returning mutual funds. If there are big gains, the employee gets it, if there are losses, the employee takes it. The city neither makes money nor loses money on those DROP accounts, unlike in NMB where the city is exposed to all the losses. The average return on investments for the past 6 years has been less than 3%, some years there were actual losses that the city had to fund at a much larger contributions. I already explained previously that the NMB DROP has no financail advantages whatsoever for the City or its taxpayers. The pension money saved by being in the DROP is negated by the higher salary costs of the senior police officers and the guaranteed 8% the city has to fund in DROP interest.
You mentioned that the city is now making 2% on the DROP money yet you fail to take into account the years the city paid into it where there was no investment return and outright losses. The 10% return you state the city is getting on money invested has only been for the last 3 months and is no way guaranteed to be that much in the future just as it hasn’t been in the past. 2% is not a windfall when the city has to pay you and guarantee 8% on your retirement checks. As far as I am aware, there are not any city’s that have an 8 year DROP plan, most are 3 to 5 years maximum.
I’ve only taken return “Jabs” at the officers throwing out their wisecracks and one-sided comments and realize these are just the comments of a few who appear to be bitter. Most do a great job and there are some truly great officers and sergeants on the force. Like any group, there are those that are outstanding, those that are good, those that are mediocre, and then a few that are slugs. My jabs are aimed at the last group that only seems to whine and complain about their compensation yet fail to see how good they really have it. To date, NOT ONE POLICE OFFICER has taken a pay cut or had their benefits cut. If they have had to pay more into a pension or pay more for health care, well join the general public in doing the same thing they do.
Bob White, trying to help is disussing our DROP plan as its set up now. We are trying to negotiate less return and less years. Comparing us to other agencies serves no purpose. If you wanna trot down that road then lets get our take home cars back, lets contribute less to our pension, lets contribute less to health insurance, give us a cost of living increase, etc etc.
And by the way, mentioning we haven’t had a benefit or pay cut is false information that you probably heard from your “neighbor”. Loss of the take home car has personally set me back $800/month (car payment, insurance, gas, tolls) as well as many other officers who once shared a car with their spouse but had to purchase an additional car. So lets add this up, 800 a month x 12 months = $9,600 a year. my salary was $72k prior to the loss of the take home “benefit” so my new added expense has me basically now making $62,400 a year. Seems we joined the “general public” more than a year ago. So how much more of my income would you like “Bob White”. Please tell me what me and my family deserve and why were at it, let me know your occupation is so we can discuss what your worth.
The take home car program never should have happened in the first place. It was sold to city administrators in Miami Dade by saying the cars parked in the neighborhoods would deter crime. No one brought up the fact that most police officers in Miami Dade live in Borward County, as you do, and that one “small” detail was overlooked in the agreements. There is very little reason to give any police officers take home cars unless they live in the municipality they work for where the car will stay inside the city most of the time. Not only should the taxpayers not be paying for gas, tires, and maintenance to go to and from Broward County, the added liability the city incurs by having police officers drive 100 mph to and from their out of town work place puts the city at great financial risk. Just yesterday a Miami Dade police officer (not sure which agency) rear ended a car on 1-95 going to his job from his home in Broward and caused a huge traffic jam in additon to the damage he caused. As we know everyone has accidents and the only sure way to cut down on them is by being on the road less than more. Since the take home car program has been discontinued in NMB, the city’s self-insured losses have decreased substantially. Like was previously stated by your collegue on how the city “jumped” at the chance to give you guys an 8% guaranteed DROP interest rate, that was done at a different time and when the economy and our city was doing better. The city can no longer afford that perk and has done away with it. The City attorney also lost her car and cell phone allowance too. There are many NMB police officers who joined the city when there were no take-home cars and when the benefit was added, there was complaining or comparing take-home pay to everyone else, now that the cars are gone, you gave us a detailed breakdown of what it costs you to lose the benefit.
The bottom line is that all pensions and benefit packages nationwide are undergoing extreme scrutiny because of the current cost of maintaining them. they are eating up so much of city budgets that there isn’t money left for capital improvements, hence why none of your guys want to live in our ****hole as you call it. Its far nicer to live in Pembroke Pines where there are those walls, fountains, and landscaping that one of your collegues was complaining about that the state was paying for instead of giving free pensions to their employees.
Keep up the good work and be safe. We really do love you and wouldn’t want anything to happen to any of you either on or off duty.
Okay so most miami dade police officers, including myself, live in broward and we drive 100 mph to and from work. See “Bob”, every post you’ve made has been nothing more than false and misleading information that you can’t even have an intelectual conversation. It’s unfortunate you’d rather stick to your “stereotype” arguements rather than using this opportunity to educate yourself with those here that this truely effects. Good luck to you sir.
Tryingtohelp,
My hats off to you.
Phenomenal post … Factual, to the point and no B.S.
Thank you for your brave service and I would like to apologize for the ignorance of some. “Some give so others may live”
but then there are the few who are never happy and avoid the facts at all costs to make their point.
Ms. Stephanie Kienzle: Thank you for allowing others to post on this topic. It is not often a writer will open their forum and allow all comments to be read. Although I am not a Civil Servant, I appreciate all they do on a daily basis and respect the professionalism displayed by most.
Dang it. I put together a very thoughtful and detailed post but the system erred when I submitted it. Spent too long putting it together to redo it now. Oh well.
Support the NMBPD. I do.
David, I’m sorry you had that problem. I hope you’ll find time to post another comment as I’m sure my readers would like to know your thoughts. If you’re going to post something long, may I suggest typing it first in Word or Notepad and then cutting and pasting it into the comment box. That way, if there’s a system error and your post gets lost, you will have already saved it and will be able to re-post it with no problem. That’s what I do when I write these blogs and post comments on other websites. It saves much time and frustration.