Stamford residents to get 5-point boost on police recruit tests

A starting salary, witn no experience makes it a hardship to buy a home in Stamford? Too bad. Maybe the new rookies can wait and save as we had to. Who goes to school for a matter of weeks/months and expects to be ready to "buy" a house? And Hey,$52,000 is not a bad starting salary, take a poll, not too many jobs start that high. Poor cops. I'm shedding tears now. NOT. Are all of the rookies married? Doubt that, so again $52K is doing well and to those who are married add another $35,000 and they must be some of the best paid locals.

Amy wrote:

A starting salary, witn no experience makes it a hardship to buy a home in Stamford? Too bad. Maybe the new rookies can wait and save as we had to. Who goes to school for a matter of weeks/months and expects to be ready to "buy" a house? And Hey,$52,000 is not a bad starting salary, take a poll, not too many jobs start that high. Poor cops. I'm shedding tears now. NOT. Are all of the rookies married? Doubt that, so again $52K is doing well and to those who are married add another $35,000 and they must be some of the best paid locals.

You sound really bitter.

Once again the BOR does what they want and ignores logic. If the Police Chief doesn't want this then why would they put this in?

Yikes - easy on the self-righteous condescension! Amy makes some valid points, and it's not healthy debate to dismiss her as "bitter." $53k is not a bad starting salary, and I would add that it is nearly double the amount I've heard NYC pays its rookies.
David is right. Why does the BOR overrule the chief of police's wishes? As a taxpayer and a resident, I'm for hiring the best police officers available to us.

MikeVitti wrote:

It makes sense, I think residents should have first dibbs, say there was an emergency that required off duty police officers to respond.

The problem with that is they get points for being a resident when they take the test. Once they get the job they can live wherever they want.

Mike G wrote:

Yikes - easy on the self-righteous condescension! Amy makes some valid points, and it's not healthy debate to dismiss her as "bitter." $53k is not a bad starting salary, and I would add that it is nearly double the amount I've heard NYC pays its rookies.
David is right. Why does the BOR overrule the chief of police's wishes? As a taxpayer and a resident, I'm for hiring the best police officers available to us.

I will agree with you on my post not being healthy debate but won't own your assertion that it was self-righteous or condescending. Assuming we're all out of middle school, "Poor cops. I'm shedding tears. NOT" is a little condescending, don't you agree?

Given the level of risk associated with the job, I don't think the starting pay is even close to being too high.

We all choose our careers for different reasons. Police officers don't choose theirs to become rich. I would love to have a vibrant community of Stamford residents that includes our police officers as well as other civil servants.

And I am happy for my tax dollars to go towards recruiting the best possible officers.

Yikes wrote:

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Police officers don't choose theirs to become rich.

Well, have you seen the list of highest paid city employees published by the Advocate annually. Police officers dominate the list.

WoW wrote:

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Well, have you seen the list of highest paid city employees published by the Advocate annually. Police officers dominate the list.

They work a lot of hours to get that pay but that OT and extra duty gravy chain is coming to an end. The city has already slashed OT and there aren't as many extra duty jobs available with the slowdown in construction; plus with the increase they just got for side jobs many places that used to hire them are cutting them out.

David wrote:

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They work a lot of hours to get that pay but that OT and extra duty gravy chain is coming to an end. The city has already slashed OT and there aren't as many extra duty jobs available with the slowdown in construction; plus with the increase they just got for side jobs many places that used to hire them are cutting them out.

Very true.
Not having closely followed the BOR's thinking on this issue, I will assume that its genesis involved improved response time, local talent, and reduction of (City? other?) vehicle use to and from job. Your point on retention is a good one.
All this avoids the chronic issue of understaffing as a result of failure to have on-going testing, training, and certification. That understaffing is central to the overtime issue.

The police Commission is the one that came up with this idea and put it to the BOR to approve it. The Police Commission may have a better understanding of the need for Stamford seeing as many of them have been on the commission longer than the Chief as been here.

Vox Pop wrote:

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Very true.
Not having closely followed the BOR's thinking on this issue, I will assume that its genesis involved improved response time, local talent, and reduction of (City? other?) vehicle use to and from job. Your point on retention is a good one.

I see some good reasons for doing this, but i also see that they can, and likely will, be thwarted by someone moving out of town after getting the job.

So...I am left to speculate that perhaps an unspoken advantage to this is just letting the home town boys (friends? relatives?)get a job.

I seem to remember that in the hiring for the fire dept some jobs went to low scorers who knew the right people.

David wrote:

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...that OT and extra duty gravy chain is coming to an end.

That should have been gravy train. Fingers and mind were not working together.

Publius wrote:

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I see some good reasons for doing this, but i also see that they can, and likely will, be thwarted by someone moving out of town after getting the job.
So...I am left to speculate that perhaps an unspoken advantage to this is just letting the home town boys (friends? relatives?)get a job.
I seem to remember that in the hiring for the fire dept some jobs went to low scorers who knew the right people.

Or were related to the right people.

At least this has potential, and hopefully represents a sincere effort by the Police Commission.
Perhaps there's a way to make it contractual, with a financial disincentive, a penalty period?