To Ease Pay Squeeze
Offer Rookie Cops A Uniform Advance

By REUVEN BLAU

The NYPD has started to offer new recruits a "uniform advance" to help them pay for their equipment and uniforms in an effort to aid the cash-strapped officers, THE CHIEF-LEADER has learned.

RAYMOND KELLY: Rookies feel the pinch.

The department offered the 924 officers sworn in last month a $600 advance to pay for an initial list of 41 pieces of clothing and equipment that includes three shirts, a raincoat and an expandable baton.

Funded by Uniform Cash

Roughly 700 of the new cops have borrowed the money and taken advantage of the program, which is unique to the current class, an NYPD spokesman said. Those officers signed a voucher allowing the department to withhold their $1,000 uniform allowance, which is issued in December.

The new recruits earn a pro-rated $25,100 - or $12,550 - during their first six months of training under a controversial arbitration award issued in 2005. But after taxes, officers receive only about $600 each bi-monthly paycheck.

That low pay has made it difficult for them to buy their uniforms and equipment, which can cost up to $2,000, veteran officers said. Currently, recruits must use close to 25 percent of their take-home salary to pay for that work-related expense. The department supplies officers with bullet-proof vests and firearms, but they must pay for practically everything else.

To help the recruits, the Municipal Credit Union has also started offering them a $500-limit low-interest credit card, which was first reported in the Daily News.

MCU Loaned $3M

"We were charging them a significant amount of money up front for their equipment," said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly July 26. "Now what we are doing is deferring that, and you can pay for that through a loan through the Municipal Credit Union."

The MCU has also reportedly loaned more than $3 million at 10.45-percent interest to new police recruits since 2005.

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association declined to comment on the increasing number of recruits seeking financial help due to the drastically reduced starting pay. After nearly a year of legal wrangling, the PBA's contract arbitration process has finally moved forward with the selection of a panel chair, Susan T. Mackenzie.

Kelly Holds Out Hope

The hearings, however, will likely not be scheduled for several months. The process is expected to drag on until next summer, barring a breakthrough in negotiations. Police Officers are working under a contract that expired Aug. 1, 2004, while their supervisors have all agreed to extended new deals with the Bloomberg administration.

"There's certainly a possibility that something can be negotiated. That's my hope," Commissioner Kelly told reporters following the announcement of the Captains Endowment Association's agreement. "I'm always optimistic, but it's going on for quite a while now."

To ease equipment costs for all officers, the NYPD has also recently launched a new on-line site that allows them to buy the clothing and gear free of shipping costs. "I think this is a major convenience," Mr. Kelly said.

The on-line catalog sells everything from cargo shorts to gun belts and holsters. Previously, officers purchased that equipment at 1 Police Plaza in lower Manhattan. Officers using the Web site must finish an enrollment form, create a user name and password and submit their personal identification number. Individuals outside the department cannot access the site.