Handful of Detroit Police Officers Stage Sickout

[lilpup]

How could anyone take this job for less than 40k? An entry level office position usually starts around there.

You're out of touch. Most entry level clerical jobs start in the 20s, if that. Teachers start in the 20s, too. My part-time, taxpayer-supported job, after more than two years' employment, still only pays $8.98/hr.

[rid0617]

Perhaps if they were required to live in the city they wouldn't be so quick to walk off the job? If their families and homes were at stake they might think twice. This is part of the reason Detroit needs the residency rule for city employees. Individuals being paid by the city should have a vested interest in the city.

That was how I was required to spend my entire career with APD

[rid0617]

If it is done as it was in Atlanta, off duty officers were used and paid by the organization needing the assistance.

[Bham1982]

You're out of touch. Most entry level clerical jobs start in the 20s, if that. Teachers start in the 20s, too. My part-time, taxpayer-supported job, after more than two years' employment, still only pays $8.98/hr.

That sucks, and I'm really surprised. I had no idea that public teacher salaries started in the 20's.

That means that teacher salaries are down by half? Is that possible? I know folks who started around 40k many years ago. Figuring in inflation, that's a 50% pay cut.

Honestly, I don't know how folks do it. Kudos to you and to others trying to make it work.

[Searay215]

Don't misunderstand me. I am not for privatization of any service.

The funny thing is that the suburbs have privatized cops [[Macomb County Sheriff) Not individual police for some citys, garbage is private, so is lighting, EMS.....the only thing that isn't is the fire department, and I'll bet that is not far behind. And yet we have better service than Detroit....Hmmmmmmmmm Yea your right go ahead keep it the status quo.

[Bham1982]

That was how I was required to spend my entire career with APD

There are academic studies on the relative benefits of residency requirements. Most public policy types conclude that limiations of residence puts restrictions on recruit quality.

Generally speaking, it seems to be a good idea to have as broad an applicant pool as possible. City residence restrictions will greatly narrow that applicant pool.

Of course, there are benefits of city residency rules. Assuming folks aren't cheating the system, there's a greater tax base and possibly more employee buy-in re. community improvement.

[Buy American]

The funny thing is that the suburbs have privatized cops [[Macomb County Sheriff) Not individual police for some citys, garbage is private, so is lighting, EMS.....the only thing that isn't is the fire department, and I'll bet that is not far behind. And yet we have better service than Detroit....Hmmmmmmmmm Yea your right go ahead keep it the status quo.

St. Clair Shores has their own PD; Warren has it's own PD; Harper Woods has it's own PD; Eastpointe has it's own PD; Sterling Heights has it's own PD. Where is the privatization in Macomb County?

[Buy American]

DPD tried on many occasions to recruit from within the City of Detroit but couldn't find enough applicants without felony records to fill the bill. Look at the thugs roaming the neighborhoods in Detroit...would you want one of them wearing a badge and carrying a gun? It's bad enough that they're carrying guns already!

[Danny]

Having no Detroit Police in the Streets is unethical! It would trigger more violent crime and little response time. No Cop should give up on Detroit for any circumstance. Civilaztion is structed every must follow the rules no get no priviledges.

[Locke09]

You're out of touch. Most entry level clerical jobs start in the 20s, if that. Teachers start in the 20s, too. My part-time, taxpayer-supported job, after more than two years' employment, still only pays $8.98/hr.

Teacher salaries start out in the mid-to-high 30's, even at charter schools. That is a teacher with just a Bachelor's right out of college. I know many teachers, including new ones, so this is first-hand knowledge and not from a study.

The median salary for a general clerk - entry level in the U.S. is $26,988. So, we should probably pay our police officers more than $12 more than an entry level general clerk. BTW, that is median. Some entry level clerks make over $30k.

[Buy American]

It's not only a pay cut the administration is talking about...it's paying higher premiums for health insurance and elimination of vacation days as well. So, the 10% is only a part of the cuts. Anyone who is fortunate enough to have a job today should make enough to live on. There are certainly no perks for a Detroit Police Officer unless you are one of the Chiefs [[like Gary Brown was when he retired at $100,000/yr., which is a very large sum of money for anyone retiring from the DPD). In my opinion, there are too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.....

[lilpup]

The median salary for a general clerk - entry level in the U.S. is $26,988. So, we should probably pay our police officers more than $12 more than an entry level general clerk. BTW, that is median. Some entry level clerks make over $30k.

Some entry level clerks work in Manhattan, too. Many more work in employment markets with much lower unemployment rates than Detroit. Most of us could earn a hell of a lot more if we left the area.

[Meddle]

Easy way to get around that residency tax if you don't live in the city is find a friend or relative in the city if you have any and see if you can use their address. That's what my brother in law used to do.

That's fraud. It'll get you fired and possibly jailed.

How could anyone take this job for less than 40k? An entry level office position usually starts around there.

I don't know where 'here' is, but I've never seen an office job start above about $20K. Even after 6 years with the Feds, we were only around $30K

The vast majority of Americans are under that.

In my opinion, there are too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.....

No doubt about that. Start at the '60' level and cut from there up.

[jackie5275]

elimination of vacation days as well ....

No way!!!! Every worker, especially cops, need their vacation time. Without it, all workers just get burned out. A burned out worker is not effective or productive. It's bad enough that here in the United States we get the smallest amount of vacation time among the industrialized country, but to propose eliminating it is ludicrous. That's just the person I want coming to to my rescue a burned out, tired cop or firefighter.

[Detwa]

Teacher salaries start out in the mid-to-high 30's, even at charter schools. That is a teacher with just a Bachelor's right out of college. I know many teachers, including new ones, so this is first-hand knowledge and not from a study.

The median salary for a general clerk - entry level in the U.S. is $26,988. So, we should probably pay our police officers more than $12 more than an entry level general clerk. BTW, that is median. Some entry level clerks make over $30k.

It really depends on the school district. My best friend is a teacher in Pontiac, with a degree/license, and after about 4 years she is still under 30k, I believe she's somewhere around 26-28k. And she works at a charter school in Pontiac.

[Detwa]

I don't know where 'here' is, but I've never seen an office job start above about $20K. Even after 6 years with the Feds, we were only around $30K

Depends on what you mean by "office job". My 20 year old niece just got her first office job, with word processing, basic spreadsheet use, faxing and appointment scheduling, she is getting $13 an hour through Kelly. I believe that's over $20k. Previously, she worked at McDonalds, and Kelly trained her in basic office apps, then placed her.

Someone just answering the phone and handing out mail and/or filing, might get much less, but most office jobs these days require general computer applications.

I have to add too, that nearly 30 years ago, I went from an office job with the city for $6 an hour, to $12 an hour with GM, after learning word processing. That was a LOT of money back then, and we had word processing pools then, people didn't have their own computers in the office.

[313WX]

How could anyone take this job for less than 40k? An entry level office position usually starts around there.

Do you have something to back that claim up?

Or other than Accountants, Lawyers and Politicians, who do you know in Detroit that had a starting wage of 40K for an office job?

Even Paralegals and Recruiters only start at 30K. Administrative workers and CSRs do good to make $10/hr these days.

[Meddle]

43-9061 Office Clerks, General 2,789,590 $12.79 $13.58 $28,240 0.2 %

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes439061.htm

43-4121 Library Assistants, Clerical 110,210 $11.12 $12.07 $25,120 0.6 %

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes434121.htm

I think the variations in numbers on that page are due to locality as much as anything else. I know you won't get that in most communities.

[lilpup]

Michigan numbers - these are across all, not just [[lower paid) new hires


43-9061 Office Clerks, General

median hourly: $12.77
mean hourly: $13.76
mean annual: $28,210

43-4121 Library Assistants, Clerical

median hourly: $9.73
mean hourly: $10.77
mean annual: $22,390

00-0000 All Occupations

median hourly: $16.26
mean hourly: $20.81
mean annual: $43,280

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_mi.htm

[Searay215]

St. Clair Shores has their own PD; Warren has it's own PD; Harper Woods has it's own PD; Eastpointe has it's own PD; Sterling Heights has it's own PD. Where is the privatization in Macomb County?

My dear uninformed freind,
Macomb Twp, Mt Clemens both have out sourced police to the Macomb County Sheriff, Pontiac has Oakland County Sheriff, instead of their own police and that just happened.

Most of Macomb county if not all has private EMS and garbage. Works just fine!!! I live in Macomb twp and don't have to wait 5 hr for police to arrive. Garbage gets picked up right on time every week. When my daughter was in a horific head on accident, the private EMS was there in less than 30 seconds.

"The we must have our own city services" is an outdated way of thinking..... No body looses their jobs, they just go to work for the private sector.

Like I said before you can have your city services.....mine are just fine!!!

[313WX]

I always thought it was normal for small towns [[or suburbs in this case) to outsource their services, since they're not nearly big enough to support their own waste management and EMS system [[and in some cases police/fire departments).

[stasu1213]

DPD tried on many occasions to recruit from within the City of Detroit but couldn't find enough applicants without felony records to fill the bill. Look at the thugs roaming the neighborhoods in Detroit...would you want one of them wearing a badge and carrying a gun? It's bad enough that they're carrying guns already!

Sometimes it will take an exthug turned cop to deal with these thugs. I would not want that thug to deal harshly with innocent people.

[lilpup]

If they want to use felons as informants or if the felony is eligible for expurgation that's one thing, but there's no way in hell a badged officer should have a felony record.

[Bham1982]

What is an office clerk anyways? Sounds like some 1950's-era union classification.

I was referring to office-based positions, meaning admin staff + professionals.

I don't know any office-based positions that pay anywhere near these levels, but I don't doubt that they exist. That is why I was shocked they want to pay a police officer 27k. That isn't enough to get by, unless you're living a life of incredible modesty.

The city needs to cut everything nonessential. Outside of education, if it isn't directly related to folks' safety, it should go.

[lilpup]

Keep back peddling there. Someone might come close to believing you.