Mayor Richard Berry believes the reason the Albuquerque Police Department is having trouble recruiting/retaining officers is because of changes to the PERA retirement plan. He stated he will lobby the Legislature to enact a deferred retirement option plan (DROP). This will only harm the entire state, as the work done in 2013 to make PERA solvent would be compromised by such a plan.
Changes to PERA did not create the staffing crisis at APD; Berry’s policies have.
There are four reasons why APD cannot recruit/retain officers.
First, Berry ended the veteran officer retention program. This in-house Albuquerque program provided a bonus for officers who delayed their retirement. A total of 129 officers delayed their retirement when this program was in effect, swelling the ranks of senior officers at APD to almost 1,200. There may be a plan in the works to bring back a retention program, but it will be too late to stop retirements slated for the end of 2013. Why didn’t Berry act months ago to stop these dozens of officers from retiring on Dec. 31?
Second is the change in hiring requirements that Berry imposed. APD applicants must have either 60 college hours or three years active military. This is not a “raising of standards” as Berry has stated. This only reduced our hiring pool to a puddle. This is why APD graduates fewer than 20 officers from the academy each year. This standard allows a 21-year-old with no work history, who lived at home, who has $30,000 in student loan debt, a 2.0 GPA, a majority of classes in “food arts” and only 60 hours to show for four years of college to apply with APD. This policy excludes the 30-year-old, who worked since 18 years old, owns a home, has no debt and has maturity through life experience.
APD must allow for an applicant who has maturity, but does not have college or military experience, to apply. These citizens make good police officers.
Third, the contract impasse of the last four years has ruined morale. Finally there is a contract offer, but any city offer that does not recognize police officers as being just as important as Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry will probably go down to defeat. Handing Perry a 22 percent pay raise and offering the police 1 percent will not get a contract ratified by the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, and will lead to a further erosion of morale and officers leaving.
Fourth, the Department of Justice investigation has embarrassed Albuquerque on a national level.
Who wants to work for a department that has had so much scandal with no accountability? From the adultery “nature at play” comments made by the past chief to the millions in court judgments, something is wrong at the top of APD. This can be fixed by Berry refocusing accountability at all levels, but most importantly in the command staff. A good place to start will be for Berry to order a full investigation into why ex-APD officer Nelson Begay (arrested on child pornography charges) was able to pass all levels of the APD recruiting process – including polygraph, background and psychological testing – to become an APD officer.
Is there a flaw in APD’s recruiting standards? Who is accountable for Begay being hired? We will not know unless a full review is ordered by Berry. I urge Berry to drop the DROP plan. Berry owns APD’s current mess; it is time for him to take responsibility and start fixing it in Albuquerque, not in Santa Fe. APD’s problems and solutions start and stop at Berry’s desk. Passing the buck to the Legislature is not the type of leadership Albuquerque needs.
As we've seen with the proposed police contract, it seems the Berry Administration has no interest in fixing this mess.
21 comments:
Klein makes very valid a arguments regarding the condition of APD and the contract. The problem is, the general VOTING public just does not care at all about APD and do not think anything is wrong with the Department. Berry is very popular with voters and will remain so as long as the Journal and TV news media do not report what is really going on. Cops and Firefighters are viewed by the public as nothing but a bunch of complainers with a sense of entitlement to raises when they should just be thankful that they even have jobs in this economy. Berry wants to reduce the size of government and get rid of unions and APD and AFD are a good start for him. Four more years of stagnation and both Departments reduced to nothing but shells of what they use to be. APD's union and rank file were no where to be found during the election and they have no one to blame but themselves. You can complain all you want, but no one is listening. The general public does not read this blog and only the politicians read Monahan. Very sad.
In case people aren't checking their email:
"Dear APOA Members,
I have received a lot of phone calls in reference to errors that were listed in the contract draft sent out. I would like to be able to clarify some of the rumors that are being spread in reference to this contract.
1. The lawsuit is not been given up for the ratification of this contract. It is still set for District Court and will be heard at the end of February or March.
2. On page 10 your families health care will not be given up or changed that language was in reference to the percentage going from 83 to 80%
3. Your restitution pay of 2.7% breakdown is as follows: 1.2% is going to PERA, which is equivalent to $.28 an hour. You will see 1.5% on your paycheck and is equivalent to $.38 an hour unless you have super longevity, which would then be equivalent to $.39 an hour.
We are currently working on installing the online voting portal through the APOA membership website NMAPOA.COM for those that will be unable to vote on that day.
I understand everyone's frustrations, especially when you realize what we have given up during these past four years. I know this does not come close to getting back everything we have lost, but please understand that this is a year-to-year contract. Negotiations will resume in February for the fiscal year of 2014 and will give me the opportunity to work on items for those of you that were not taken care of in this contract. I would love to be able to take care of the whole membership all at once; however a little bit at a time is what the city allows me to do.
Thank you for those that take the time to call and ask questions. If you have any questions comments or concerns please feel free to contact the vice president, the office or myself.
Thank you,
Stephanie Lopez"
"....is what the city allows me to do."
Give us a freaking break. I guess at least you're honest about it Stephanie.
What a joke. "City allows me to"". Just making it up as you go along it seems. Quit digging in you just look more foolish. Please most where we can meet to confront the APOA before the vote. They can't hide forever.
How can you possibly denounce this contract?? You agreed to it! We're just tired of you .
Great job Sgt Klein pointing out these items. This seems so obvious yet they don't seem to grasp the concept. Back in the day APD had the best reputation, the best academy, and due to being in a high crime city we were looked upon as peers by much bigger departments. The last chief and the current mayor own this. Mayor Berry needs to find a real cop who is not a ''yes man'' and consult on the future or you are headed the way of Trenton, Camden or New Orleans PDs
Any attempt to directly tie the pera adjustment to a " raise" in the form of .28 cents is blatantly misleading and false. I would love for you to try and explain this without admitting that you're full of scrap. Don't fall for this folks. Why would you take this pera adjustment as a raise. If we had a higher hourly rate at least we could factor that into overtime and other benefits like retention. So even though pera costs one percent more, we are left in a position to have a higher wage and a higher pension. But you're trying to pass this garbage off like we are idiots. Give them this one percent pera back and convert it to a raise.
I vote Dan Klein for APOA president...
I've said it before, and I'll say it again : the APOA simply cannot compete with the city when it comes to contract negotiations. The city spends thousands upon thousands of dollars on professional negotiators while the APOA tries to use 'trained' association members. It's like putting a little league team on the field against the Yankees.
Of course APOA can compete with city in these negotiations. It's called solidarity. Try acting like cops. You all talk a big game of brotherhood and sisterhood. Well step the fuck up or take your crumbs and be quiet.
I wonder how much of Perry's raise is ending up in Slowpezze's and Willowboy's pockets.....they have obviously been bought off....
Nature at play + S & W...ummmm Does someone have video????
Due to APOA using poorly trained cops as professional negotitators, why, I dont know. But that is the reason we need to stick together on this, show unity and vote no.
Don't confuse the agenda with the facts when dealing with APD, the APOA, and the COA. Notice... there is an "A" for Ass in all three except for the APOA which has two. Need I say more?
When you do bad things, break laws, and lie to get people to cause harm to others so that you can get yourself out of prison, and your plan fails, those you've contracted now become the witnesses against you when the shoe is on the other foot. The illusion you failed to prove, now becomes your own guilty verdict. The lies, your own, and the crimes your noose....
RS
KL
PF
RB
JP
RP
RB
RS
BP
JS
FM
FG
SM
NK
In atrocity level order.
Figure it out folks.
The DOJ already has.
Hey oh chai drinking hot yoga stretchen yogi, why does AB get a pass???!!!
I will believe the DOJ has figured it out once the so called report of findings is in and made public.. This is a joke.
Someone tell Stephanie she doesn't need to salute Perry or take orders from him.
Another story (sorry not on this topic) is the city's position on not settling the Han lawsuit. Wow DOJ I hope you're following this one. Another debacle and trampled crime scene, this time it involves the brass stomping through the crime scene and photographing the deceased Mary Han. Wait till this goes to trial. What's that sound??? Cell phones being broken in half, SIM cards being destroyed and a whole lotta cops destroying evidence. I sure hope someone out there can attest to the fact that Chief Schultz, Chief Banks and Rob Perry were all at that crime scene. Why was the city CAO there??? DOJ can you investigate this? And please operate on the premise that whatever the administration tells you is a lie....good luck!!!!
Here's an idea, take the money for Willoughby and lopez's salary and return them to the field. Use that money to hire a pro, not a Ron Olivas wanna be or some local bull shit attorney, but one of these New York Chicago Detriot "union thug attorneys". Someone only known by their reputation to go toe to toe with the company outfit the mayor uses.
Stop dicking around. You want my 4.5 hours vacation? I'll give it up and then some if it's going to some east coast ass kicker who gets shit done!
Let that person explain how negotiations are done, and why if you don't honor our contract then legally we cannot be touched with your SOPs or Rules and Regs. That's right, no contract, no bull shit write ups, no transfers as punishment, no more of your made up merit system.
It's the law and we are the law dammit!
4:19...Boston cops are one of the most wicked bad ass departments in the country. I'm proud to say I'm kin to a few. And also to the Boston Hose Draggers as well. Just kidding! My uncles are cool also.
My point is they wouldn't for one second put up with this lame-ass lip service that APOA is forcing on you. The cops in Boston run their union, not the other way around!
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