NYPD Sees The Light, Will Buy Rookies Sights

By RICHARD STEIER

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly announced Sept. 25 that the NYPD will no longer require rookie officers to pay for the night-sights on their department-issued guns.

PATRICK J. LYNCH: Welcome news?

His decision to pay the tab came on the same day that complaints by some rookie officers about having to spend up to $79 on the sights when they are having trouble paying other bills with their $25,100 starting salary were highlighted in an article in this newspaper. An accompanying editorial was entitled, "Nickel-and-Diming New Cops."

'Tough Making Ends Meet'

Mr. Kelly's change of heart was spurred by an understanding of the fiscal circumstances confronting the new officers, said his chief spokesman, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

"Especially considering the difficulty in making ends meet on what the Commissioner has consistently described as a non-livable salary, he decided to reverse a practice that had been in effect since the .9-millimeters were issued 13 years ago," said Mr. Browne, referring to the guns that replaced the old .38 revolvers that had been the standard for cops.

Rookies who already bought the night-sights will be reimbursed. PBA President Patrick J. Lynch declined comment on Mr. Kelly's action.

One new recruit had told this newspaper that the added expense was a particular hardship because he and his colleagues had just spent close to $500 on new uniforms. All cops receive a uniform allowance, but it is not paid until the end of the year, and the NYPD had offered the rookies a $600 loan to cover uniform expenses in the interim.

Pay Hurt Recruitment

The low starting salary - which has been in effect for cops hired beginning in 2006 under a PBA arbitration award issued the previous summer - has had an impact on both recruitment efforts and the ability to retain officers.

The NYPD has had difficulty filling its past couple of police classes and is currently a couple of thousand officers below its authorized headcount. And the current Police Academy class, which began short, has suffered an unusually high attrition rate, with 18 percent of the 924 rookies who began training in July having already dropped out by mid-September.

While the Bloomberg administration, responding to Commissioner Kelly's complaints about the drastic effect of the starting salary on recruitment, has sought to significantly upgrade the minimum pay since the spring of last year, it has been unable to persuade the PBA to reach contract terms. The two sides are due to begin arbitration hearings next month, but a new pact that addresses the substandard pay scale may not be produced until next spring, if not later.

Mr. Lynch has objected that the city's offer to upgrade starting pay has been tied to a demand that the rookies give up other benefits to offset the costs. He also has maintained that an unusually high attrition rate among experienced officers will not be stemmed unless the city significantly improves maximum pay to make it competitive with what cops in neighboring suburbs are getting.