Police Union Chief Assails City Council : Says It Was Irresponsible in Failing to Consider Officer Deaths in Setting Pay

The president of the police officers union Thursday charged that the City Council acted irresponsibly in approving a contract that fails to compensate officers for working in the city with the highest police mortality rate in the nation.

Sgt. Ty Reid, president of the 1,380-member Police Officers Assn. (POA), called for a meeting between council members and officers--”who have some questions for their elected officials.”

“Basically, the officers want some answers about their future and about the fate of their careers as employees of the City of San Diego. We want some real frank discussion to take place, and we want the officers to be able to address the council directly,” Reid said.

He said invitations formally requesting that council members appear at a May 23 meeting with officers would be sent today.

The proposed forum is one of several actions planned in response to the council’s approval Tuesday of a new contract that, among other things, reinstates a disability retirement system eliminated in 1981 and awards officers a 5.5% pay increase. POA leaders had sought a two-step raise--a 5% increase on July 1 and another 5% pay hike on Jan. 1--before an impasse in negotiations was declared and the contract subsequently approved by the council.

On Wednesday, police overwhelmingly rejected the contract. But it was a symbolic vote, as the new agreement automatically takes effect July 1 regardless of opposition. And City Atty. John Witt said that San Diego’s city charter prevents any reversal or amendment of the council’s action “except under extraordinary circumstances,” which do not include threat of a strike.

“If they were hoping that the council could reconsider this matter, I’m afraid they’re out of luck,” Witt said.

In addition to calling the meeting with the council, Reid said the POA has formed a committee to “examine a wide range of possible responses to this situation, both positive and negative.”

One option likely to be pursued is the organization of an information campaign to rally public support for the officers, Reid said. The campaign would be part of the POA’s effort to place on the ballot a measure proposing that salary negotiations be subject to binding arbitration. A similar referendum was narrowly defeated by voters in 1979.

Other tactics the committee will consider include staging the “blue flu,” or a sickout, and a strike, Reid said.

“We don’t feel that some little old lady who lives alone in North Park should be frightened and suffer just because the council acted irresponsibly,” Reid said, “but we will consider a strike as an absolutely last resort.”

(On Monday, the state Supreme Court ruled that public employees have the right to strike, invalidating a San Diego ordinance that prohibits strikes by city employees and requires dismissal of any who strike. The court made exceptions, however, for law-enforcement officers and firefighters.)

Reid and other officers say that without the two-step pay increase, San Diego police will still earn significantly less than their counterparts in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other major California cities.

“We are simply not keeping up with salaries in other cities, even though San Diego has a much higher police mortality rate than these cities,” Reid said. “The council does not seem to understand that a working police officer cannot divorce the risk of death or injury from the compensation.”

Reid predicted that the new contract may trigger a “mass exodus” of officers from the force. In 1978, when salaries were comparatively low, more than 700 officers left the department over an 18-month period, he said.

“I think the council has failed to see that when officers leave the force in coffins, it affects police morale and police performance, particularly when compensation is not adequate,” Reid said.

Another area of concern is the 53 officers former City Manager Ray Blair proposed adding to the force. The POA, which is urging the department to permanently deploy two-officer patrols in certain high-crime areas of the city, has called that number “ridiculously low.”

Council members contacted by The Times had mixed reactions to the request that they meet with officers. Councilman Bill Cleator, who cast the lone vote against the contract Tuesday, said he would decide whether to attend after he received an invitation and learned “more about the issues to be discussed.”

Councilman Dick Murphy said he felt “blind-sided” by the burst of protest over the contract, but would attend the meeting “if I don’t have a conflicting engagement.”

“I was a little surprised by the reaction, because after my discussions with police leadership I didn’t believe a 10% pay increase was their top priority,” Murphy said. “I’m not sure what we can do about the contract at this point, but I don’t have any problem with meeting with the officers.”