Police Union Stops Push for More Officers : Agreement: POA swaps ballot initiative for city’s approval of two-year labor contract and willingness to hire 250.

San Diego’s police labor union has agreed to stop collecting signatures for a November ballot initiative aimed at adding hundreds of new officers in exchange for the city’s approval of a two-year police labor contract and its willingness to hire 250 officers by 1998.

Had the signatures been gathered and the measure approved, the City Council would have been forced to spend $145 million for 1,313 more officers by the year 2000. Labor representatives said they had collected two-thirds of the names needed to qualify for the ballot.

In February, the City Council refused to put the measure on the ballot, saying it was too expensive and would decimate other city services.

At the time, angry labor officials vowed to get the signatures anyway while reminding voters that all council members “campaigned on a platform to get officers on the street and have done nothing about it,” according to Harry O. Eastus, president of the Police Officers Assn.

But Eastus said the union agreed in April, at the start of labor negotiations, that the measure would put an undue burden on the city’s struggle to deal with a continuing budget crisis and, after careful study, decided to end the signature drive.

“We said we were going to make them get off their duffs and make the hard decisions on the money they had available,” Eastus said Wednesday. “But we also felt there was going to be some economic upswing, and there continues to be a decline. We are not an unreasonable organization and want to be fair to the city.”

The deal appears to heavily favor the city. The police union was already operating on the last year of a two-year contract in which officers were guaranteed a 2% raise July 1 and 2% next January. The union scrapped the contract and agreed to 1% increases in both instances.

Police are also to receive a 1% increase come June 1993, 2% in January 1994 and 1% in June 1994. However, if general revenues fall less than 1% of projections come April 1, 1993, the city has the right to scrap the deal and begin new negotiations.

The promise of 250 officers to be hired between July, 1993, and December, 1998, has yet to go before the council, which is expected to consider the measure Monday. Even if the council agrees that the move be adopted as “policy,” there is no legal guarantee that the officers will be hired.

Until this fiscal year, the city has been hiring an average of 50 officers a year. It hired 150 over the past three years. If 250 officers are hired over 5 1/2 years, as recommended by the city manager’s office, the city would be doing no more than meeting the hiring average. The city already had budgeted 52 positions for fiscal year 1994.

“The reason we ended up on an agreement like this is based on the close relationship of the City Council, the Police Officers Assn. and the city manager’s officer over the years,” City Manager Jack McGrory said.

McGrory said it is likely that, without an agreement, perhaps no new police officers could have been hired for several years. The city is grappling with a $35-million budget deficit that is likely to get worse, he said.

But several critics of the agreement, who asked not to be named, said the contract is severely flawed because officers have given up a guaranteed 2% pay raise in exchange for the possibility of a second-year raise that might never occur if city revenues wane.

Although the city is required to negotiate in good faith, critics of the contract say officials can use whatever figures they want in determining a drop in the general revenues.

Police Chief Bob Burgreen praised the “maturity” of the police union and its officers Wednesday in agreeing to a 2% cut and stopping the signature-gathering in exchange for the two-year contract and a promise of more officers.

“They gave back the 2% they had in hand, and they didn’t have to do that,” Burgreen said. “They could have told the city that there was an agreement, and the city would have had to live up to it. But times are getting real tough, and, with diminishing resources, there would have been an almost untenable situation if the POA ballot measure passed.”

Although Burgreen has called for more officers to allow the department to rival manpower of other big-city law enforcement agencies, he said the measure probably would have killed a number of city services, including parks and recreation activities.

“I don’t want to see law enforcement get all the marbles if more kids have to be put on the streets because parks are being closed,” he said. “That just leads to more problems.”

Eastus said the labor contract was approved within the Police Officers Assn. by 80.9% of the voting members on May 21. Critics say labor leaders sold the contract based on the potential of a 4% increase next fiscal year.

Although Eastus said enough signatures could have been collected to qualify for the ballot, it was costing the union $12,000 a week and might have ended up costing as much as $125,000 overall.

The city has agreed, Eastus said, to hire even more police if new funding can be found.

City Councilman Tom Behr, one of only three council votes to put the POA’s measure on the ballot in February, said Wednesday that he is committed to hiring more officers though there are no guarantees.

“What the (POA) has done is an incredible gesture on their part,” he said. “We’re in tough budget times right now, but I am pushing for an increase in the number of officers. I hope they see a greater commitment from all of us on the council.”