We are just asking to be fairly compensated for bargaining away the so called “gold standard” medical insurance that we currently have. The city stands to benefit from this with not only actual savings right now but also future savings as health care costs grow 10-15 percent annually. I would suspect based on what I have seen and heard around the valley the last few years that our current plan is probably better than most plans and the proposed plans would put us in line with most public and many private employers…

For the guy who said “screw ’em”: is that really how you want to treat your police department? Do you really want your police department to be paid less than every other department in the valley? Do you really want all the best officers to go to other agencies and have Boise pick up all the ones that couldn’t get hired someplace else? And for your information, when you pay better than everyone else you’re not getting people without college degrees. I would bet a paycheck that most cops in Boise have a better education than you.

But keep that fine “screw ’em” attitude and maybe you’ll end up with a police force full of those who didn’t or couldn’t go to college while all of the smart, educated ones are working for Meridian, Ada County, Nampa or Garden City. You get what you pay for. Would you go to a hospital where they could only afford to hire doctors that didn’t make it through med school? Maybe you did. That would explain your impaired thought process.

As for Mr. Logic, no cop is out there making 70,000 a year by working a 40 hour, 4 day work week. If they’re making that kind of money it’s by working overtime to get it. Why don’t you try putting in a few 60 hour weeks, month after month, missing all your kid’s ball games, missing the parent teacher conferences, missing your kid’s birthday parties, working a 16 hour shift and getting home at 7 am so you can catch 2 hours sleep before you go to court for 4 hours and then catch another 2 hours sleep before you go back to work.

Have someone file a complaint against you because they didn’t like your attitude fresh off your 4 hours of sleep in two hour blocks. Arrest a drunk transient who vomits on your leg and has head lice, or the IV drug user who spits blood in your face and then tells you he has AIDS so you get to be tested for HIV for the next ten years and have to wonder if you’re transmitting anything to your wife.

Go to a domestic violence without backup because the city doesn’t want to pay overtime for guys to fill in for those who are off sick or on vacation. Try to handle every call for service in the largest city in the state with only 6 cops on duty because your bosses don’t want to call guys in on overtime. Then deal with the citizens when they’re pissed off because you didn’t get to their call in 30 seconds. Or better yet, have a citizen complain on you for driving too fast as you try to hurry and get to that next call.

The bottom line is: the job sucks, the hours suck, court sucks, the family life sucks, the way you people talk about cops sucks. Who the hell in their right mind would want to be a cop? You can’t win and you will never understand until you spend a week in a cops shoes.

I am definetely not trying to hide any figures here, like I said we are not destitute but whereas 8 yrs ago we out earned all other agencies near us we no longer do. Also, ACSO and Meridian are looking at decent raises again in October so will continue to gain. This is not all about just the wage either as the city is looking at saving 300-400 a month on each member by us accepting a reduced health package so we view it as taking money out of our left pocket and funding a large portion of our own raises and putting it back in our right pocket.

I am not asking to be rich but just for the city to be upfront and staff and pay us adequately, I know some will support us and some will not and I am fine with that, but Dave will at least back me on this point and that is that I firmly believe the taxpayers need ALL the facts and then give their input no matter what the topic when it comes to government.

That is a firm belief of mine even when it may not be easy to persuade folks why we need this raise or that benefit. Have a Happy 4th all.

I don’t begrudge any officer their salary, this can be a difficult profession for all. The above figures range from 25-800 dollars a month that we trail these agencies. When I came to work from another agency we made substantially more money than any other peers in the area, that is simply no longer the case.

Are we destitute? No, but what we are asking is that are wages continue to put us in a position to draw the best applicants around, but since we are being surpassed by many local agencies that makes it difficult. If we have a “Good many” officers drawing over 70,000 a year they are working hours away from family and friends. I am not here to debate the merits of our pay but to simply provide facts for those of you asking for them and let you make your own decisions.

Neither JJ nor the G man said anything bad about Boise’s finest. You ignore JJ’s plea for some LOGICAL thinking and less emotion. No one on this site is begrudging the cops their wages or benefits. It just seems LOGICAL that a good number on the force earn in excess of $70,000 annually for a 4 day work week, based on pay scales. The old union boss made over $60,000 nearly 10 years ago as a patrolman/specialist according to a release from the former mayor.

To expect them to be a social worker, sociologist, psychologist, psychiatrist, referee, drug councilor, judge, jury, and sometimes, even an executioner. No, I think there aren’t many of us who would be willing to do that job for twice the pay.

And for the city to say “that’s all your worth” is an insult. One of the things anyone wants, and needs, is to know that their efforts are appreciated, that they are respected. So it doesn’t really matter what we pay them as long as Alan Shealy thinks they ” are on drugs and dog food”. No, I believe this has gone far beyond wages and benefits. It seems to me that it has entered the arena of respect and appreciation. It’s a good thing they can’t strike. Then we would really learn to appreciate what they do and who they are. And we would learn that very quickly!

This whole police/union/bargaining/city won’t listen /yadda yadda has been played out many many times before. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for the police union. Their job is to try and extract as much money from the taxpayers as they can. To me public service unions are a total oxymoron.

Dick Eardley’s biggest mistake of his mayoralty was to recognize the union. It’s been one big hassle after another ever since.