Shame on you

I think the public safety budget takes up most of the budget for the city...and a package of about 150k per year per officer(benies inc) is a lot of money for a city that's bankrupt...the clerk at 7-11 gets a gun pointed at him and gets called names...he doesn't make 100k a year.

I think we'll agree it's not a pleasant job (neither is pumping out septic tanks which doesn't pay near as much). However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't even list police officer in it's top 10 most dangerous jobs. http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2009/09/04/ameri... in America. Police are extremely necessary and I would not live in a society without law enforcement. The issue is that we cannot afford to continue to pay out 80%(or more if the amount that goes into the general fund decreases) and ever get out of bankruptycy. If the police won't decrease the amount of salary, then we MUST decrease the number of police. It's simply math. 100 divided by 10 equals 10. 100 divided by 5 equals 20.

I like your math Miss D

what is the city's plan to provide minimum police services after they cut more out?
what is minimum?
seems a lot of folks have firmly entrenched views on why the police force is getting smaller, but the policy makers are responsible for coming up with a corrective action, not the employees or the police chief.
always comes back to a revenue problem, no matter how you slice it.

Miss directed have you ever paid to have a septic tank pulled? I have and was charge 110.00 per hr! That was the lowest bid. It is also a egregious mistake to keep saying public safety is 80% of the General fund, this is not true and you need to review you facts. The General fund in itself is a small part of the overal city budget.

Bill McClinton and the others ( Miss Directed) are what we the citizens for a better Vallejo will get if Gomes is re-elected. No on Gomes!!!!

So long VPD. The city has over 50 million in unrestricted funds it could have used to get the city through this mess. Our council choose this path. They ( our council ) voted into bankruptycy and drove down the value of assit in the city, including our property. Gomes said she wanted to take back control of the city but then turns it over to the Attorneys ( who live out of town)at a price of over 7 million to us tax payers, supported a city manager from out of town and now a city manger who lives out of STATE!!! A consultent ( Sandy Salerno ) who makes 22,000 a MONTH with no set standard on performance or objectives. NO GOMES

10/18/2009 03:46 PM ID: 81205 Permalink

Police Syndicate Wins £10 Million Lottery - Town's Entire Police Force Quits
Hungary: Police officials have been forced to deploy backup units to the town of Budaors after the 15 officers employed there won a £10 Million lottery and immediately quit their jobs.

The backup units will remain deployed in the town until it is possible to recruit officers to replace them. According to the Daily Telegraph the pot was the sixth biggest ever in Hungary.

Source: www.ananova.com
now, it appears the city should lay off all police officers and establish a new title and job discription, then set the pay at a level the city could have what is consedered a reasonable level of officers to properly patrol the city then hire them. this proves a city can loose 100% of its officers over night and survive. as miss d says " It's simply math. 100 divided by 10 equals 10. 100 divided by 5 equals 20." this is the same thing i have been saying. the same amount of money to pay out goes further with a smaller share.

This letter is obviously misdirected, the appropriate recepients should be Gordon, Mustard, Nichelini, Davis, Sunga, Bartee, Hannigan, and Willson. It was they that decided it was better to shrink the Police force by giving raises rather than a 10 percent cut in total compensation.

So lay off cops if that's all we can do. Gomes does not believe there is any reationship to number of cops and crime. So lay them off I dare you or is to close to the election?

Get rid of Section 8 housing??? Where do I vote YES?? Youre right, this would be a huge benefit, but with all these liberals running things, it'll NEVER happen. Too bad.

VtownBeatdown wrote:

So lay off cops if that's all we can do. Gomes does not believe there is any reationship to number of cops and crime. So lay them off I dare you or is to close to the election?

Apparently people like Gordon, Mustard, Nichelini, Davis, Sunga, Hannigan, and Willson that voted for raises rather than saving cops simply do not care about relationship of the number of cops to crime.

Officers leaving Vallejo for higher paying jobs? Where is that? I have talked with a few officers and there is no where to go in a hundred miles for a higher paying job.

Frankly Earnest wrote:

Officers leaving Vallejo for higher paying jobs? Where is that? I have talked with a few officers and there is no where to go in a hundred miles for a higher paying job.

"there is no where to go in a hundred miles for a higher paying job."

- that should read nowhere to go in 3000 miles for a higher paying job.

Frankly Earnest wrote:

Officers leaving Vallejo for higher paying jobs? Where is that? I have talked with a few officers and there is no where to go in a hundred miles for a higher paying job.

Oakland, Richmond, San Francisco, Hayward, Bart, San Jose, and Fairfield! ALl agencies that pay more! You haven't spoken to ANY officers because you don't have a clue what you are talking about! Get the facts before you open your pie holster!

Frankly, the issue with the police force os over. The PS is now officially decimated. Great job to all who participated (All City COuncil members voting for Bankruptcy...Unanimous, city staff, Chamber of COmmerce, etc!) This was not the fault of labor. Labor is not in the business of creating and seeking out business to the City of Vallejo. That is the responsibility of the above listed. However, they will be made the scape goat for the simple thinker who cannot see the forest through the trees! So let a dying horse die and move on. The city CHOSE to attack labor. They dismantled the FINEST police Department in NOrthern California! Quality employees left for more secure and BETTER paying jobs! Get over it and enjoy your (5) police officers on the street at ANY given time! Dummy's!

Jobs with the highest fatality rates
The following 10 occupations had the highest fatality rates in 2008:

1. Fishers and related fishing workers
Fatality rate*: 128.9

2. Logging workers
Fatality rate: 115.7

3. Aircraft pilots and flight engineers
Fatality rate: 72.4

4. Structural iron and steel workers
Fatality rate: 46.4

5. Farmers and ranchers
Fatality rate: 39.5

6. Refuse and recyclable material collectors
Fatality rate: 36.8

7. Roofers
Fatality rate: 34.4

8. Electrical power line installers and repairers
Fatality rate: 29.8

9. Driver/sales workers and truck drivers
Fatality rate: 22.8

10. Taxi drivers and chauffeurs
Fatality rate: 19.3

Jobs with the most fatalities
The following 10 positions saw the most deaths in 2008:

1. Motor vehicle operators
Number of victims: 908
Most common manner of death: 66 were highway-related.

2. Construction trades workers
Number of victims: 720
Most common manner of death: 37 were attributed to falls

3. Material moving workers
Number of victims: 248
Most common manner of death: 14 fall-related fatalities and 12 were struck by objects

4. Law enforcement workers
Number of victims: 144
Most common manner of death: 38 were highway-related and 33 were homicides

5. Agricultural workers
Number of victims: 33
Most common manner of death: 19 highway-related fatalities

6. Grounds maintenance workers
Number of victims: 128
Most common manner of death: 20 deaths each from falls and being struck by an object

7. Sales supervisors
Number of victims: 124
Most common manner of death: 52 homicides

8. Vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics, installers, repairers
Number of victims: 110
Most common manner of death: 30 were struck by objects

9. Supervisors, construction and extraction workers
Number of victims: 108
Most common manner of death: 24 fall-related deaths

10. Metal or plastic workers
Number of victims: 102
Most common manner of death: 15 from being struck by an object and 13 from falls

Most dangerous industries
These industries led in the number and rates of fatalities in 2008:

1. Construction
Number of deaths: 969
Fatality rate: 9.6

2. Transportation and warehousing
Number of deaths: 762
Fatality rate: 14.2

3. Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting
Number of deaths: 651
Fatality rate: 29.4

4. Government
Number of deaths: 522
Fatality rate: 2.3

5. Manufacturing
Number of deaths: 404
Fatality rate: 2.5

6. Professional and business services
Number of deaths: 389
Fatality rate: 2.7

7. Retail trade
Number of deaths: 290
Fatality rate: 2

8. Leisure and hospitality
Number of deaths: 233
Fatality rate: 2.2

9. Wholesale trade
Number of deaths: 175
Fatality rate: 4.2

10. Mining
Number of deaths: 175
Fatality rate: 18

*Fatality rate is the number of fatalities per 100,000 workers

so how dangerous and why such high pay? GREED!!!!!!!!!!

Captain wrote:

<quoted text>
"there is no where to go in a hundred miles for a higher paying job."
- that should read nowhere to go in 3000 miles for a higher paying job.

Doesn't Richmond pay more?

Throughout California, police and fire unions are agreeing to take salary cuts rather than have the staffing levels decreased. Police won't discuss it here. So what are the options. Here, the police and city council majority of 5 (NOTE, NOT GOMES!) agreed on a contract which gave automatic raises (starting 7/1/2010) and 100% benefits that the City could not at the time of the vote, nor now, afford. Oh yeah, a key term of the contract: no staffing minimums. With the General Fund down from $79 million to $65 million, over the last 2 years, and with a $6 million deficit looming for 2010/2011 (same year as automatic raises!), the only contractual option is to lay off police. VPOA and Chief Nichelini have stated they will not agree to reopen this contract and discuss salary reductions. The VPOA and majority council who voted this contract set up this problem of balancing the general fund with lay offs. I want police in this town; I want 150 officers at a minimum. But we cannot afford it with the salaries and benefits the city pays, and with pending raises, how can we? How is fighting for fair salaries and benefits that allow this city to function and hire more police officers anti-police? Shame on you, Rod Smith.

muddy helmet wrote:

I think the public safety budget takes up most of the budget for the city...and a package of about 150k per year per officer(benies inc) is a lot of money for a city that's bankrupt...the clerk at 7-11 gets a gun pointed at him and gets called names...he doesn't make 100k a year.

RIGHT ON - the 7-11 clerks are sitting ducks. They don't even have a gun to defend themselves. What do they get paid? Minimum wage likely. Retirement? hahahahah. Health Insurance? more hahahahaha. I wonder if Kumar's family even got life insurance after he was shot to death at point blank range.

Police in this town are mercenaries.

VPD did take an 18% pay cut over three years. So far they have given up 11.5% in pay, 6.5% out of pocket and 5% for the raise they were owed this past July 1. So to say VPD has not taken concessions is ridiculous! VPD has helped this city financially by giving up raises, deferring raises and agreeing to having fewer cops to help the city. When the 145 cop rule was in effect contractually and the city said they can't afford it, VPD worked with 141 cops for 3 years. The city only wants to cut VPD's budget and staffing to be vindictive. VPD has continuously bailed this city out and now they're tired of fixing the city's money problems. It is not any employees obligation to balance their company budget. This is the job of management (city council) to bring in revenue. Vallejo owns over 600 properties, many of these properties are rented for $1/mo, when they could get $1000/mo or more. Being broke is solely the fault of past and present council and managers. VPD does a great job in protecting this city and should be paid accordingly. Thank you VPD!!!

Tony wrote:

VPD did take an 18% pay cut over three years. So far they have given up 11.5% in pay, 6.5% out of pocket and 5% for the raise they were owed this past July 1. So to say VPD has not taken concessions is ridiculous! VPD has helped this city financially by giving up raises, deferring raises and agreeing to having fewer cops to help the city. When the 145 cop rule was in effect contractually and the city said they can't afford it, VPD worked with 141 cops for 3 years. The city only wants to cut VPD's budget and staffing to be vindictive. VPD has continuously bailed this city out and now they're tired of fixing the city's money problems. It is not any employees obligation to balance their company budget. This is the job of management (city council) to bring in revenue. Vallejo owns over 600 properties, many of these properties are rented for $1/mo, when they could get $1000/mo or more. Being broke is solely the fault of past and present council and managers. VPD does a great job in protecting this city and should be paid accordingly. Thank you VPD!!!

Deferring raises is how we came to be in this untenable financial position. It wasn't until bankruptcy and the pendency plan that we saw mild concessions from the $200,000 club. The public safety unions have only given something up when they were "forced" to.