PG residents, did you get your letter yet? What do you think the real problem is here? Pacific Grove Police Officers’ Association P.O. Box 773, Pacific Grove, CA 93950 Dear Resident/Business Owner: We, the members of the Pacific Grove Police Officers’ Association, believe you should know the following: • We are severely understaffed. Our current number of officers is so low that shifts sometimes have only one sergeant and one officer patrolling the entire city. This is unsafe for the community and for the officers. Even when at our minimum allowable staffing of one sergeant and two officers, we are unable to consistently conduct proactive patrol and traffic enforcement, and can often only go from call to call. • It is not unusual for us to work six or more 12 to 16 hour shifts in a row in order to provide the minimum staffing needed to protect our community. This increases the chance of fatigue-related illness and injury, which is a significant potential cost to the City. It also devastates morale. • Animal Control and Parking Enforcement Officers have been reassigned to other support duties so the City has not consistently provided those services for some time. • We have not had detectives for years, so officers must conduct their own investigations between calls for service. This makes it extremely difficult to solve crimes and prosecute criminals. • The City now requires its police officers to pay the highest California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) employee contribution in the state, which has made it nearly impossible to attract new officers and has caused qualified officers to leave. • We do not receive health benefits. Our pay is considered a “total compensation package”, which means we must pay for health insurance out of that amount. Consequently, a recent salary survey showed that when benefits and CalPERS contributions are factored in, we are the lowest paid police department on the Monterey Peninsula. In its attempt to “fix” the statewide CalPERS system on its own by undercutting the police department, the City has made it impossible to recruit and retain police officers. Other departments offer hiring bonuses and are actively recruiting our officers. Those of us who have remained do so out of loyalty to this community. If our department cannot retain its current officers or recruit viable candidates, it will be unable to function and the City will have to contract with another department. The results of last fall’s Police Services Survey clearly showed that this is NOT what citizens want. We are not asking to be the highest paid police department in the area. We just want enough to be able to retain the outstanding people we have and be competitive in recruiting qualified candidates. At this time, we have NO candidates in the hiring process, which is a strong indicator that something is seriously wrong. The bottom line is that if things do not improve by the end of the year, your local police department will cease to exist shortly thereafter. We know that the real decision-making power is held by the residents and business owners of the City of Pacific Grove. Please make your voice heard by reaching out to the Mayor, the City Manager, and your City Council members. Their contact information is on the City’s website: cityofpacificgrove.org. In addition, please attend the City Council meeting on November 19, 2014 at 6:00 pm and join with us to voice your support for the Pacific Grove Police Department during the public comment time at the beginning of the meeting. With your help, we can continue to protect and serve this beautiful community. Thank you, The Pacific Grove Police Officers’ Association
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 02:54:43 +0000
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