NYPD Short Of Hiring Target; Low Pay Cited;
PBA Wage Stalemate Means Relief Not Yet on Horizon

By REUVEN BLAU

The NYPD revealed last week that it came 231 candidates short of meeting its target for new Police Officers to bolster the department's ability to fight crime and prevent terrorism as the city's population continues to increase.

RAYMOND W. KELLY: Poor pay hurting NYPD.

The department began training 1,511 new recruits July 10. The NYPD, however, had initially planned to hire 1,742 cops, which would have brought the total force up to 37,438 officers, according to Paul J. Browne, the NYPD's chief spokesman.

Mayor Bloomberg had announced the city's plan to hire an additional 800 new cops and 400 administrative workers for the NYPD on March 21.

NYPD: 100 More Soon

"We'll hire another 100 or more in coming weeks," Mr. Browne said in an e-mail message last week. "These include candidates who hadn't reached their 21st birthday on July 10, but will have reached 21 in the days since then."

But the additional officers will likely do little more than replace the approximately 5 percent of recruits who withdraw before Police Academy training is completed.

JOSHUA FREEMAN: 'Mayor's strategy boomerangs.'

The department originally estimated it would need to hire approximately 2,000 officers for the July class, but attrition was lower than anticipated, Mr. Browne said. The latest hiring, he noted, brings the department to 37,207 officers, which is lower than the authorized target but higher than last year's 37,038 headcount.

The real headcount is closer to 35,000 cops when considering the number of officers on personal, sick, and terminal leave as well as those placed on modified assignment, said John F. Driscoll, the president of the Captains' Endowment Association, who has worked in the department's applicant review unit.

Says City Hurts Itself

"People don't want to work for the city anymore," said Joshua B. Freeman, a labor historian who teaches at the City University of New York Graduate Center. "The shortsighted nature of the Bloomberg bargaining strategy to decrease benefits sometimes boomerangs."

In March, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly welcomed the additional funds for the increased staff. He had cautioned earlier, however, that the $28,900 annual pay for new officers 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." In an effort to enhance the NYPD's struggling recruitment efforts, the city June 28 offered to increase new cops' salaries to $37,800, from $25,100, for their first six months on the job, and then go to $40,000, for an overall first-year payout of $38,900, exactly $10,000 above the current first-year compensation. The maximum pay would increase to $63,309, from the current $59,588, after 5-1/2 years on the job.

PATRICK J. LYNCH: 'Recruits not buying.'

'Paying for Own Raises'

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association has rejected that offer, partly because of the demanded concessions. "Once again the city expects Police Officers to pay for their own raises while failing to close the gap at all levels of salary between New York City Police and surrounding communities - from entry-level to critical top pay," said PBA President Patrick J. Lynch, referring to the city's offer in May. "Prospective recruits won't be fooled and veteran cops won't be satisfied."

JOHN F. DRISCOLL: Where's anti-terror bonus?

Since the starting salary was slashed as a result of an arbitration decision last summer, NYPD recruiters and city officials have stressed the fringe benefits of the job to potential candidates. "We are certainly not talking about the pay," a high-ranking NYPD source said.

Mr. Lynch has argued that in order to help recruit and retain officers, the city should offer an education differential to cover the 60-college-credit requirement, and an anti-terrorism duty bonus. He also has advocated that the maximum salary needs to be significantly increased.

Reduced Force by 4,000

During his tenure, Mr. Bloomberg has reduced the NYPD's headcount by more than 4,000 officers through attrition due to fiscal constraints that the city imposed because of the financial impact of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and overspending by the Giuliani administration.

The new cops were supposed to be part of the largest boost since Rudy Giuliani concluded the massive build-up of the police force that began 15 years ago when then-Mayor David Dinkins launched the Safe Streets/Safe City program.

In 2001, the NYPD peaked at slightly more than 41,000 officers, but over the past five years the department downsized to 36,450 cops. The NYPD has lost roughly 3,000 officers annually over the past several years due to retirement and officers transferring to higher-paying jurisdictions, and has not replaced all of them. Despite the reduction in staff, statistics have shown that the NYPD has continued to reduce crime throughout the city. According to Mr. Kelly, since 2001 overall crime has fallen 18 percent. Last year, he noted, the city's murder total dropped to 540, its lowest level since 1962.

One Ominous Sign

In late June, however, the NYPD reported that homicides were up by 9 percent compared to the same period in 2005, causing some concern despite a 5-percent decline in major crimes overall.

Adding more cops during the first few weeks of training is not unusual, Mr. Driscoll said. "They've done that before," he remarked during a July 12 phone interview. "The problem you have is just getting qualified people to take that salary. As you see, it's not easy."

In March, Mr. Kelly said he was hopeful the salary would be increased by the time the new class started training. "I think prospective candidates will see that it's a real possibility," he told reporters after testifying a City Council hearing.

Contract negotiations between the PBA and the Bloomberg administration, however, reached a new nadir when the city July 7 petitioned the Public Employment Relations Board to declare an impasse in the stalled talks.

A Pyrrhic Victory

"It is extremely ironic because the very low starting salary is at least indirectly the result of the city itself insisting on productivity givebacks and seeking arbitration the last round," Mr. Freeman said. "They won a battle and don't like what they achieved."

The PBA called the city's petition "outrageous" and charged that the Bloomberg administration was once again failing to negotiate in good faith. "New York City is a town that is nothing if not competitive," said PBA spokesman Al O'Leary. "Whoever is paying the most money will get the best candidates. That's been our contention all along."

In January, Mr. Kelly called the new starting rate a "disgrace," and said that increasing it should be "issue number one." But under the city's initial proposal, the raises for new officers would be financed by the annual loss of 10 vacation days, six holidays, and $100 toward new hires' annuity funds until they reach maximum pay.

Eye on Troopers' Bonus

"If they really wanted to encourage people to become Police Officers, there are things they could do," Mr. O'Leary said. The PBA is seeking a special anti-terrorism compensation similar to what the state Troopers' Benevolent Association negotiated last summer.

That deal included a pensionable $2,575 "expanded duty pay" bonus compensation for their added anti-terrorism responsibilities since Sept. 11, 2001.

In June, an arbitration panel awarded the same benefit to the union representing state Environmental Conservation Officers and Park and University Police.

"Isn't that a joke?" Mr. Driscoll said indignantly of the lack of such a bonus for city cops. "We are certainly doing a higher level of that work than any other agency in the United States."

He was skeptical that a possible arbitration panel assigned to deal with the PBA contract dispute would issue an award with a similar benefit. "I've given up predicting what arbitrators will do," he said. "It's a real roll of the dice when you go to arbitration."

'Get More From Fewer'

Joseph Pollini, an Assistant Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said last week that the reduced headcount would have a "profound effect on crime reduction in the city."

"They are going to have to squeeze more work out of less manpower," the retired Detective said. "[Mr. Kelly] is going to really have to do a lot of juggling with the resources he has to try to suppress the increased violence in the city."

He pointed out that promotion opportunities are often limited for cops on patrol because the department may not have enough officers to use in their place. "People will have to stay on patrol for a longer period of time," he commented. "Commanders will expect more from their manpower." The PBA has charged that to fill the last two classes, the department relaxed many of its standards, a contention the NYPD categorically denies. The PBA contends that the department dropped its 2.0 grade-point-average requirement as well as its residency and driver's license requisites.

"The NYPD refused to lower standards to meet goals," Mr. Browne countered.

Blocked PA Transfers

The PBA also charged that the NYPD is breaking the law by purposely withholding the personnel records of 36 of its officers seeking to transfer to the Port Authority Police Department.

The union has sued the NYPD over the matter. A Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Feb. 9 ordered the NYPD to release the records, but the city appealed that decision. A hearing is scheduled for September, Mr. O'Leary said.

The officers stand to earn 57 percent more by working for the PA, which has a maximum salary of $94,000 after five years on the job.

Last Dec. 19, a group of the nation's top law-enforcement experts teaching at John Jay College of Criminal Justice urged Mr. Bloomberg to increase the starting salaries of Police Officers, Correction Officers, and Firefighters. The 30 professors faxed a letter to him asking that he reopen the contract talks with the unions representing those workers.

Charges Exploitation

"It's ridiculous," said Professor George Abraham. "It is close to what they are doing in Iraq with the reservists. They are doing all the heavy lifting and they are getting nothing in terms of a reasonable living salary."

The John Jay professors maintained that the average young student won't join the NYPD under the current pay schedule. They also contended that the reduced pay makes it nearly impossible for older persons with families and valuable work experience to join the NYPD or the city's other uniformed agencies.

The current starting pay rate goes back to a level not seen since 1985, asserted Gene O'Donnell, the Professor who organized the press conference in December. "This makes the recruitment process, which has never been easy, extraordinarily difficult," he said. The new starting salary, Mr. O'Donnell charged, is "ridiculously low" when contrasted to other jurisdictions in the area. The New York State Police and New Jersey State Police starting salaries are in the $50,000 range, according to Mr. O'Donnell.

Maria "Maki" Haberfeld, the Chairperson for John Jay's Department of Law and Police Science, said the reduced starting pay may create an integrity concern. "Based on my experience, agencies with low salaries are much more prone towards misconduct," said Ms. Haberfeld, who has surveyed law-enforcement agencies in 15 countries.