First, I have a hard time believing Kaczmarek retired from a career as top law enforcement in the City to dabble in drug running. I'm pretty confident looking at the police departments record during his leadership, that it is more than a coincidence that he became involved in dealing drugs after he left. It's not like he retired and opened up the yellow pages and looked up 'cocaine runner' looking for part time work. It's my opinion that Schenectady had an organized drug ring being facilitated by the police department for a long time. The cops were extorting the drug dealers and the chief was covering, and the union boss was well aware of all of it, and leveraged it during contract negotiations. The SPD doesn't get the top 28 spots on the highest paid city employees by accident.
Second, I never said that Kaczmarek brought the drug dealers to Schenectady. Actually, I agree with a lot of your assessment of WHY the city is decaying. What I am saying is, the police facilitated the drug dealers for their own personal gain, and developed a pay to play environment for the drug dealer. Once the word was out, it opened the flood gates for violent drug dealers from downstate to open up shop in Schenectady.
some nurses dont become nurses to nurse.....you can't pick apples in a pumpkin patch.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
How DARE any of you Nayboobs ATTACK the police when each day they put their LIVES on the line.... You should all drop dead... Visitor, I recommend you not answer ANY more of their questions.. They are incessant JACKASSES!
How DARE you ATTACK the financially struggling homeowners who have pay almost the highest taxes in the whole dang USA while being FORCED to pay super high salaries to police who avoid paying taxes and live far far far from the crime that the taxpayers are forced to put up with.
How DARE you ATTACK the financially struggling homeonwers who lose their homes because they are FORCED to pay OT for police to take pleasure drives outside of the city!!!!!!!!!!
How DARE you ATTACK people who lose their homes due to being unable to pay their taxes which go to pay $150,000 a year for city employees who do not comply with residency rules
How DARE you ATTACK the poor people who are forced to pay high taxes in salaries for department heads that get paid fat salaries and refuse to live with the city.
How DARE you ATTACK the financially struggling taxpayers in the city when your socialist mayor who excuses his political crony department heads from having to live in the filth and high taxes of the city
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Since I know nothing of the specific details of the Schdy police force, I can only comment on the post in general.
~Overtime is paid to those near retirement... Could it be that overtime is given first to the highest seniority (as is common in other PD's?)
~Overtime hours are rounded up. One half hour OT is rounded up to 4 hours. Some industrial contracts will require 4 hours OT even if only 1 hour is worked, BUT, once you accept the OT you are required to work the 4 hrs if needed.
~The police are put on paid leave for disiplinary issues and the rest get OT. If an officer is out for what ever reason... how would you suggest they cover his shift with out OT?
~The police accrue an insane amount of guaranteed paid sick days and holiday pay... Is "INSANE AMOUNT" similar to like PD's in the area? Some corporations allow their employees to accrue sick days, others don't. If the Schdy police contract is out of line with similar PD's in the area, it should be negotiated at their next contract.
~ If they take 2 sick days (8 hours) and then work 40 hours they get rewarded for by 16 hours of OT. Some Private industry works on a M-F shift... anything on the weekends is OT. Anything over 40 hours is OT, regardless if the 40 hours is vacation/sick time or worked.
Police work, by it's nature, will always require added hours at unscheduled times, to cover weather emergencies, major traffic accidents, or traffic duty for fires or other unplanned events. Some OT will always be necessary. If the Schdy PD's OT is consistently higher than other similar PD's, then possibly they need more straight time officers and less OT.
feds only require OT when over 40HOURS OF WORKED TIME....excluding vac/sick/benefit time......most if not ALL small businesses.....only union jobs make companies/taxpayers hand out money for no work.....
that's just plain STUPID.....hell, why dont you hire me to work 40 hours a week, give me every friday off because I have 6weeks paid vacation a year,,,,AND you can pay me OT when you beg me to work on Saturday otherwise the doors would have to be closed......EXTORTION OR STUPID?
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Cicero - You are wrong. I know Kaczmarek and while I don't limke to get into talking about specific personalities, for the most part, he was not a drug dealer when he was with the Department, in my opinion. He was really more of an abuser who drug dealers thought had a law enforcement background that might give them some cover. When he went to jail - he didn't have mush to show for it, probaboy just a drug habit.
Drug ring run by cops - nope. That's not what the trial found. My conclusion - Department and city ill prepared to handle the drug trade. Some officers became overzealous and made some bad decisions.
RE: Luibrand's statement. Then he said there was not enough supervision. Now he says they are too rigid. Luibrand will make wahtever argument he needs to make to win.
Sh Drug ring run by cops - nope. That's not what the trial found. My conclusion - Department and city ill prepared to handle the drug trade. Some officers became overzealous and made some bad decisions.
When there is a pattern of 'some bad decisions' a culture is created. When the drug addicted police chief lies to the city council and the police union was getting ready to put up another $25k to defend Siler until he copped a plea, that tells me leadership was making a concerted effort to cover up these 'some bad decisions'.
Cicero - You are wrong. I know Kaczmarek and while I don't limke to get into talking about specific personalities, for the most part, he was not a drug dealer when he was with the Department, in my opinion. He was really more of an abuser who drug dealers thought had a law enforcement background that might give them some cover. When he went to jail - he didn't have mush to show for it, probaboy just a drug habit.
Drug ring run by cops - nope. That's not what the trial found. My conclusion - Department and city ill prepared to handle the drug trade. Some officers became overzealous and made some bad decisions.
RE: Luibrand's statement. Then he said there was not enough supervision. Now he says they are too rigid. Luibrand will make wahtever argument he needs to make to win.
that is a grey area....being a police officer HAS to be difficult....I'm not one because I am not waiting for a judge....that couldn't be trained 'out' of me.....ill prepared and watching while it was being built up to the degree that it is????? I'm not being sarcastic or difficult....just looking for answers....
this may be off the topic in a short skip(soon not to be)...but it seems that officers have become required to become deacons, due to the failure of other social netting.....folks may think they are stronger without self-discipline(church,tai-chi, etc etc), as the moving away of such(fine with me) but making government become responsible for that kind of crap, leads us here in the quandary of my post-script......raising up a police government based on fear has VERY VERY VERY BAD CONSEQUENCES......for all parties involved....JMHO....
thanks to the police who police and their choice to do so....but remember,,,,NO ONE MADE YOU CHOOSE THAT PROFESSION.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Does anyone honestly believe that 'some bad decisions' are not common practice today?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
You are assuming the police union and Chief were on the same page - that is doubtful.
RE: Siler and Barnett - they were not teh officers I referred to as being overzealous and making bad decisions. Their crimes were altogether different.
RE: Siler and Barnett - they were not teh officers I referred to as being overzealous and making bad decisions. Their crimes were altogether different.
That's what I was talking about when referring to Kacz. lying to the City Council and cops shaking down drug dealers, and cops tipping off drug dealers to drug raids. That all happened under Kacz. That's why I say it is no coincidence that after he retired from law enforcement he returned to the drug trade. To think he wasn't dealing with drug dealers while he was chief is naive. That is what I mean when I say a culture has been established, and downstate drug dealers are well aware of the Schenectady reputation. To think the fact the chief of police being involved in drug dealing and a history of corruptible cops doesn't have the effect of attracting the criminal element is illogical. Even in legit business, business opens where there is a demand, and it is easiest to conduct business and most profitable.
Also, the police union supported Siler and Barnett to the hilt. To suggest R. Hamilton doesn't or didn't know what his boys are doing out on the streets is not believable. You don't become union president and hold the position for so long by not knowing what your guys are doing day to day. His boys kept voting him back in as president because he knew, and when his boys were caught, he and the union supported them to the end, no matter how bad their behavior was and how negatively it reflected on the city.
OT is corelated with seniority but not based on it. POsitioins are based on seniority like detective assignments so that is why senior people get it.
The crime in Schenectady was precipitated by three things: GE and high paying jobs leaving the area, the introduction of cocaine and lucrative marijuana market and the deterioration of the family unit. Single parents struggling to raise children. Additionally, when MP, Hamilton Hill, and other areas became populated by tenants as opposed to owner occupied - that created a more tansient neighborhood.
Taht's what led to crime spiking in this area.
And why did GE and high paying jobs leave Schenectady? Why are they returning to Malta and Albany, not Schenectady? Any reason why cocaine and marijuana got introduced more effectively in Schenectady? Any reason why Schenectady didn’t downsize like Troy did when all these things happen? The try to build revenues rather than control expenses. The leaders of this city made it a haven for crime......they sold out.....they got lazy and they taxed the sh1t out of the high paying employers and residents. The Housing Authority is weak on enforcement of residency requirements. The high taxes and arket rents in reputation of the city has pushed down the market rents in Schenectady and attracts even more Section 8. The Courts are weak also....they arrest but don’t convict. Can’t don’t convict due to shoddy work or poors police work, rep of the police? Not sure. Little of both? Again, the root cause issues are not being addressed.
Wanna solve the problem? Use the laws that are already on the books The city needs to put pressure on the Housing Authority to do a better job . The city managers need to make the city employees who use company vehicles complete mileage logs and then report the personal use mileage on the tax forms. Nothing the Union can say. Rotate the police in different sections of the city. Switching it up prevents pay to play and failure to work. Rotate the pairs of police that work together. See above same reason. Link the police pay in the next contract to the crime statistics. Less crime higher pay. Create or increase rewards for whistleblowers and citizens tips that lead to arrests. Implement a moratorium on all condo and rental property building. Pretty hypocritical to say that housing units need to be reduced or lowered and then approve more units to be built. Facilitate the reopening of the second track between Albany and Schenectady. Build a bigger station on the other side of the track and connect it to a parking garage that is linked to the backsides of the businesses on State with bridges or tunnels. This will get businesses and residents to move to Schenectady. Make it easy to travel to NYC, Saratoga and Syracuse, Buffalo….etc.
Could go on and on….
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid - John Wayne
TIP TO NEW VISITORS TO THIS FORUM - To improve your blogging pleasure it is recommended to ignore (Through editing your prefere) the posts of the following bloggers - DemocraticVoiceofReason, Scotsgod08 and Smoking Bananas. They continually go off topic, do not provide facts and make irrational remarks. If you do not believe me, this can be proven by their reputation scores or by a sampling of their posts.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
10 biggest paychecks Schenectady's top earners in 2011 Job title Salary Gross John Ericson Police investigator $66,345 $149,429 Michael Seber Assistant police chief $123,816 $149,182 Jack Falvo Assistant police chief $123,816 $146,853 Eric Clifford Police Lieutenant $80,070 $141,615 Mark McCracken Police Lieutenant $80,070 $140,260 Wayne Bennett Public safety comm. $124,432 $138,173 Patrick Morris Police Sergeant $71,899 $136,624 Thomas Adach Police investigator $66,345 $127,804 Jeremy Pace Police investigator $66,345 $125,202 Michael Della Rocco Fire chief $129,933 $124,582 Source: City of Schenectady
These numbers are only part of the facts you'd need to make a reasonable assessment on this issue. Have the number of police been reduced in the last 10 years?... if so it would explain the overtime pay that drove up these numbers. Could the city actually save money by hiring more personnel at straight time, and reduce the overtime paid out to others?
So this one has really stuck with me for a while. It is pretty hard to earn 100% more than your base salary in one year in a public or private company. I did a little analysis below and if OT is based upon 1.5 Times Salary then Ericson would have had to of worked 33 hours extra per week for 52 weeks to earn that much OT. Thats considering no vacation....
If OT is 2 Times base pay he would have had to work 25 hours per week in OT to make $149,000. I don't know many people who can work consitently for 65 hours per week week in and week out and either do a good job or burn out. So either the job is a cake walk or quality is suffering. And quality can not suffer in forensics without cases being blown. Plain and simple. Would love to hear visitors response. Maybe he can provide me with what I am missing here.....
10 biggest paychecks Schenectady's top earners in 2011 Job Title Salary Gross John Ericson Police investigator $66,345 $149,429
Base Salary . $66,345.00 Salary Per Week . $1,275.00 Per Hour . $31.88
OT . $83,084.00 1.5 Times Base . $47.81 Hours Per Year OT at 1.5 . 1,737.80 Hours Per Week (Hours/52). 33.4
OT . $83,084.00 2.0 Times Base . $63.75 Hours Per Year OT at 2.0 . 1,303.28 Hours Per Week (Hours/52) . 25.06
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid - John Wayne
TIP TO NEW VISITORS TO THIS FORUM - To improve your blogging pleasure it is recommended to ignore (Through editing your prefere) the posts of the following bloggers - DemocraticVoiceofReason, Scotsgod08 and Smoking Bananas. They continually go off topic, do not provide facts and make irrational remarks. If you do not believe me, this can be proven by their reputation scores or by a sampling of their posts.
Logged
