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GETTING GOOD CAPTS.

Getting Good Captains

To the Editor:

As a retired Deputy Warden with over 23 years in the Correction Department, I believe the correction career path is and will be in serious jeopardy. When I was promoted to Captain in 1987, it took three years to reach top pay, and I was receiving Captain's pay from Day One in the Academy with no givebacks.

My promotion to Assistant Deputy Warden in 1999 meant a $25,000 cut in pay and additional tours and free overtime. Yes, I took the promotion so I could move up the ladder, but at what expense? My family suffered because of the loss of revenue.

So is it really worth it? The city contracts are horrible, and buying a contract is No Contract. Additionally, as you report that one union president believes the department should have an oral exam, the old-timers remember the oral part of the ADW exam in the 1980s. Oral exams are too subjective, and the connected get connected.

One thing that maybe will help produce good Correction Captains is time and experience. A Correction Officer should have at least five years of service to take the exam, and experience in the facilities. I found that the best Captains came from working the Intake, General Office and Courts. They had more experience in handling court documents, which lessens the possibility of an erroneous discharge. Also, they have experienced the probe team at all levels.

As an academy instructor, you can teach the required courses, but you need adjunct instructors to teach those courses for the technical aspects of the job, such as court paperwork, investigations, etc.

Spend the money to teach staff how to conduct a proper investigation, and how to do inmate discharges. There are great people in the department, but egos and who's connected get in the way.

I gave Captains' classes in the facilities, and I can say that a good majority of them passed the exam. Not just from reading and studying the directives and rules and regulations, but from experience.

NEIL SCHULMAN, Retired Deputy Warden