Informed Opinions on Today’s Topics : Should L.A. Give Police Pay Increase?

Negotiations between the Los Angeles police union and the city are near an impasse just as the city is preparing to welcome thousands of soccer fans for the World Cup games. Police have threatened to refuse voluntary overtime and take other job actions that may embarrass the city just as the eyes of the world turn to Los Angeles again. The Police Protective League membership rejected a city offer of a 3% pay raise for each of the next two years that did not include retroactive pay for the two years police have been working without a contract. This week, police conducted a three-day “blue-flu” sickout with as many half of the officers calling in sick. The union also rejected Mayor Richard Riordon’s proposal to bring in an outside mediator to help settle the dispute.

“Do Los Angeles police officers deserve a pay raise?”

Ellen Bagelman, police community representative for the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Watch:

“Absolutely. I think that policing in the ‘90s is more than just being a law enforcement officer. It’s a commitment to public safety requiring placing your life on the line during the hours in which you are on duty. I think that it’s time the professional law enforcement people are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve and be compensated very well. . . . I don’t think what they’re asking for is outrageous.

Karol Heppe, executive director of Police Watch, a nonprofit lawyer referral service for victims of police abuse:

“Generally, pay raises are based on some degree of merit. If one were to take into account the recent evidence that the LAPD routinely uses excessive force against members of the community; that ‘problem’ officers are not adequately dealt with; that officers suffer from a serious attitude problem. . .; that the department has not adequately reformed itself within the past three years and has resisted numerous reforms, and that the overall problem of police brutality and lack of departmental accountability still exists . . ., (then) it is hard to find any meritorious reason for pay raises.”

Laura Chick, Los Angeles city councilwoman:

“Absolutely, yes. They deserve a pay raise. That’s what the City Council has been trying to give them. There’s absolutely no disagreement on the council that the police officers deserve a raise and we have offered them one. What people don’t understand, the question that should be asked of the public, is ‘Do you think we should pay police officers everything the police are demanding, which is $40 million more than the city budget can handle.’ . . . If we give the (Police Protective League) exactly what it’s demanding, we have to use up a huge chunk of the money that would have been used for police overtime and that is the quickest and most effective way of getting officers on the streets . . . This is, to me, a very very serious question and I have great concern that the public doesn’t understand. . . . Do you understand that giving them everything they want means less officers on the streets?”

Geoffrey Garfield, spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Protective League:

“The answer is absolutely yes. They have a unique and special responsibility . . . unlike other city employees, police officers put their lives and physical well-being on the line. They, therefore, should be treated as unique and special when it comes to compensation. The city makes the argument that other city employees in their contract negotiations chose as their priority job security over a cost of living increase. Job security is not an issue, particularly when elected officials unanimously agree that public safety is the city’s No. 1 priority . . . The mayor’s ambitious Project LA plan has at its heart a reliance on the present police officers working overtime. That is merely recycling the same angry and frustrated police officers in using overtime to compensate them instead of a truly deserved cost-of-living increase.”