Goudie's Folly

Well that was some horribly half-assed reporting. Chuck left out a bunch of stuff that might have explained why Daley and Beale are attacking the police:

• No one disputes that police and firefighters deserve to be paid as much as the taxpayers can afford. But since 1980, rank and file officers have been paid hundreds of millions of dollars more than their publicly budgeted salaries.

The Unions took those payments in return for accepting drastically reduced salaries at the time. Uniform and Duty checks were not pensionable at that time. To eliminate the City's obligation and help balance the budgets in trying economic times, the Union and the City came together and hammered out a way to give the officers extra money for uniform upkeep and expenses without saddling the City with extra pension debt.

We all see how that's worked out ever since - our pension is funded at something like 42% and dropping every year despite State law that says it must be maintained at almost double that. That would be an interesting I-Team investigation. And a more interesting Federal investigation, too.

• The I-Team has been told by police and fire officers that these payments are common across the country. We checked New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. Most pay uniform allowances that are significantly smaller than Chicago.

If other places pay it, it isn't an issue, is it Chuck? And if it's a negotiated item in a contract, then how is it the Officers' fault? Channel 7 even supplies a partial list of what is required to be bought by an Officer to be properly outfitted according to General Orders. The basic total is over $5,200. After taxes, the $1,800 Uniform allowance shrinks to under $1,200, so you won't recoup your hiring expenditures for about five years, by which time, you need a new vest, pants, shirts, shoes/boots. Now let's talk dry cleaning or even laundering expenses. Are you beginning to see the picture Chuck? Just to get hired by the CPD, you have to lay out between $5,000 to $7,000. And promotions? Or assignments to Special Units? Another $1,000 or more for BDU's, riot gear, marine and mounted specialized gear. That's out-of-pocket that you pay taxes on and cannot claim against your IRS filing until you surpass the amount granted.

How about this - weapon maintenance and proficiency. We aren't sure what other Officers do, but we like to shoot more than the 30 rounds the City makes us qualify with every year. Ammo costs have doubled in the past year. The Department is finally offering us the opportunity to carry rifles. We disagree in principle with the jumping through hoops, but what would you rather carry? A city supplied rifle that sits in the radio room collecting dust, not zeroed in to your eye, dropped, poorly maintained and pretty much treated badly? Or maybe a decent rifle, sighted in for your body, cleaned and maintained by you and touched by no one except you? That's a years worth of uniform checks to buy a tool that might save your life, your partner's life and the lives of countless citizens one day.

• No one pays 'duty availability.' They do pay what is called 'shift differential' to compensate for overnight and weekend work. But in other cities that is paid per employee, not the entire work force.

No one else calls it "bonuses" like Chuck does in his report either. It isn't a bonus - it's a contractually negotiated item in a contract. And it's not "hidden" as Chuck so casually alleges in his report. It's on the FOP website under "Current Contract" and has been for at least six years since the CityWide Team got elected. And again, since it's negotiated, bring it to the table. Oh wait, Shortshanks took everything off the table, then cried to the media that the FOP was being "unfair" and they better "get real." And Chuck ate it up.