PBA Says NYPD Eased Standard For New Cops; Kelly Denies Charge But Calls Lowered Pay 'A Disgrace'

PBA Says NYPD Eased Standard For New Cops; Kelly Denies Charge But Calls Lowered Pay 'A Disgrace'

By REUVEN BLAU

PATRICK J. LYNCH: Can't compete with suburbs. The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association last week charged that the NYPD dropped its 2.0 college grade-point-average requirement in order to garner enough candidates to fill its just sworn-in class of recruits under the new, drastically reduced starting salary.

Paul J. Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman, vehemently denied that the department had relaxed the academic requirement. "It's not true," Mr. Browne asserted. "The Police Commissioner instructed the Chief of Personnel that there would be no lowering of standards."

Some Wiggle Room

Appointees are required to have 60 college credits and a 2.0 college GPA. But candidates who have a bachelor's degree with an overall GPA below the academic requirement can still qualify by using any combination of 60 credits to bring their GPA up, Mr. Browne noted. "We've always been doing that," he observed.

John Driscoll, the president of the Captains' Endowment Association, noted that the department sets the rules, "so they can drop them." But Mr. Driscoll, who worked in the NYPD's Personnel Division, said he had not heard that the department had changed its hiring prerequisites. "I'd be a little surprised because the Police Commissioner said he wanted to stick to all the standards," he remarked. "It might be a reflection of them having a tough time filling the class."

JAMES F. HANLEY: Tough bargaining ahead? The number of applicants for the February 2006 exam was down 31 percent compared to last year's test held during the same period, Mr. Browne noted. According to the NYPD, 28,457 applied for the 2005 test, but only 19,660 filed for next month's exam.

Kelly: Pay 'A Disgrace'

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly called the $25,100 starting pay "a disgrace" and said it was making it difficult for the NYPD to attract the "people that we need to protect the city from terrorism and to continue to suppress crime."

Increasing the starting salary for new cops, however, could create a domino effect for the city's other uniformed unions, which would surely seek a similar increase. "I think it will have spillover to other unions," said Joshua B. Freeman, a labor historian who teaches at the City University of New York Graduate Center.

Mr. Kelly asserted that increasing the starting salary should be "issue number one." Other national law-enforcement agencies offering more money, Mr. Kelly pointed out, are also having trouble recruiting officers. "That's the environment we are operating in," he commented.

Al O'Leary, a spokesman for the PBA, asserted that the NYPD eliminated the 2.0 GPA requirement this class. He added that the department was struggling to recruit and retain officers under the previous $36,878 starting salary, which was reduced based on a binding arbitration award issued in June. That award provided incumbent officers 10.25-percent in raises over two years in return for several concessions, chief among them a reduced pay scale that will cost new officers $48,000 during their first six years of service compared to those hired in 2005.

'Crisis Coming to Head'

"It's a crisis," Mr. O'Leary contended. "It's just coming to a head now."

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Savings a mixed blessing. Mr. Kelly said the city had sought to "amend the arbitration decision" before the new class of 1,121 officers were sworn in Jan. 9. "Unfortunately, although some things were attempted after this arbitrators' decision, it just proved to be too complex," he said.

City negotiators met Jan. 11 with the PBA, whose contract, while awarded just seven months ago, actually expired in August 2004. Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley described those talks as a "standard bargaining session," and said there was a "free-flowing exchange of ideas." He declined to elaborate.

Mr. Driscoll noted that the city's other uniformed unions would be watching the situation closely. "If the city raised the starting salaries without getting something from the PBA, the other unions would be back in the door asking for the same value," he observed. Mr. Hanley, however, was optimistic that an agreement would eventually be worked out. "There's always a way of doing it," he said.

But the Uniformed Firefighters' Association has already agreed to a 50-month contract, which provides a 17.52-percent wage increase funded in part by a cut in starting pay for new hires and other concessions. The first two years of the contract replicate the PBA raises and concessions; the last two years of that deal give Firefighters raises of 3 and 3.15 percent. City negotiators have asserted that those additional years have set the new pattern for this round of collective bargaining.

Cheap Not Always Best

Shortly after being elected in 2001, Mayor Bloomberg demanded that any pay raises for the city's municipal employees be connected to some type of productivity savings or union concessions in an attempt to close a gaping budget hole.

Union givebacks, however, can sometimes be counterproductive, Mr. Freeman said. "The goal of the city is not just to have the lowest labor costs," he remarked. "It is also important to have the most competent, satisfied, and productive labor force."

PBA President Patrick J. Lynch has contended that the department must increase the $59,588 maximum salary which officers reach after 5-1/2 years on the job. "Nassau County police officers start at [$23,000], but their top pay is $90,000," he told reporters. "They do not have a recruitment nor a retention problem."

Union insiders have noted that Mr. Lynch has not stressed the need to hike the starting salary for new hires, because those "unborn" officers are not yet union members. "It's shortsighted not being concerned with the starting salary of people not in your unit," Mr. Driscoll argued. "Because eventually they are in your unit and it will become a problem."

Mr. O'Leary responded, "It's not politically motivated at all. The bottom line is, if you pay a competitive salary, then you will have no problem getting recruits."

Other law-enforcement departments throughout the nation have been struggling to attract new officers. The Lexington, Ky. Police Department is offering new hires up to $7,400 for a down payment on a home, while many additional cities have granted police raises above the rate of inflation. According to the NYPD, the average recruit is 26 years old and received between $35,000 and $50,000 at his or her previous job, way below what the department is offering.

Puts Onus on Mayor

Mr. O'Leary pointed out that Mayor Bloomberg can restore the starting salary at any point. "They want to fix it, but they want the union to pay for it," he contended. "They want the union to fix a problem they created."

Some labor insiders said last week that Mr. Kelly's remarks may give the PBA the upper hand at the bargaining table. But Anthony Garvey, the president of the Lieutenants' Benevolent Association, said he didn't believe that to be the case. "I don't know if it gives leverage to one side or another," he remarked. "I'm just glad that there is recognition that the starting salary is not acceptable."