Gothamist: Mayor Bloomberg Goes to Washington

Jimmy (D-NY)

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 12:58:57 -0500

Daniel Millstone, Jake How many "senior - soon to retire" officers take part in the overtime to pad their retirement? How much money is paid to the "soon to retire" officers for overtime at scheduled training and exercise programs, compared to the unforseen events such as bomb scares, hazmat threats or some other threat that forces the police to stand posts in subways and bus stations? That's nonsense.

jake

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 11:43:58 -0500

that's a good point. I never quite understood the value of the overtime in this case as those monies could just have easily have gone to additional personnel. The only thing I could think of was this was a way to pad pensions and salaries.

Daniel Millstone

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 09:03:10 -0500

To the degree that the NYC application sought money for NYPD overtime, it appears wasteful. Even worse, to the degree that senior -- soon to retire officers -- take part, such overtime would provide extra boost their pensions and impose hidden costs. Planned training and routine exercises should be scheduled as part of the regular duties of the Department. Overtime should be reserved for unforeseen events. The rejected proposals were not carefully costed or thought out, as I see it.