Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 4036 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: NOVEMBER 2016 I n Florida, represen- tatives of the City of Venice and the Fraternal Order of Police have agreed on the amount of money it would take to create a new pay structure to help keep highly trained cops from jumping ship for better pay at other agencies. The question is how long it will take to get the money to do so. During two recent budget workshops, members of the Venice City Council agreed to set aside almost $164,000 to create a new performance-based pay structure that would tie raises to levels of training. But between the work- shops and actual negotia- tions, the City Council met in executive session and decided to phase in the pay structure over three years. City officials want to ex- tend the reopened contract three years — otherwise they would just have to sit down at the table again in 2017. “The concern is losing good people after we’ve in- vested in training,” Venice’s labor counsel, Mark Levitt told the Herald Tribune. “We feel our bottom pay and top pay are competitive.” Levitt says better pay is a good idea – it’s just a ques- tion of timing and scale. “The commission just feels this is a prudent way to do it,” Levitt said about the three-year phase-in. “Ifyoudiditinoneswoop, some people would be get- ting 30 and 40 percent wage increases,” he continued. Police say the three-year phasing will provide a win- dow for seasoned officers to seek employment else- where. “We have gotten, I would say, bread crumbs thrown our way,” noted Venice Police Officer Brett Wood- worth, one of the union negotiators. “When I first came here, there was a step plan; I enjoyed it for a year, and I haven’t seen it since.” The last time the city and the FOP made a deal for a contract in 2014, they did away with annual step increases. But they did provide a three percent cost-of-living increase for the people at the top and the bottom of the pay scale. In the last six years, 14 officers resigned from the department to pursue other jobs. Add to that the recent retirement of seven senior officers means that half of Venice’s police officers have been with the city three years or less. Negotiation is not a policy. It’s a technique. It’s something you use when it’s to your advantage, and something that you don’t use when it’s not to your advantage. – John Bolton Raise 40 percent? Baltimore’s police union F.O.P. Lodge #3 is calling on city and federal officials to include better training, more hiring, technology upgrades and whistleblower protections. The detailed nine-page letter sent to the Civil Rights Division of the Dept. of Justice is a response to the release of the U.S. Depart- ment of Justice report on Baltimore FOP sends their plan to D.O.J. policing in the city. Baltimore F.O.P. President Gene Ryan and his mem- bers are asking for clearer policies, less focus on arrest and other statistics, faster in- vestigations into complaints against officers, refurbished facilities, a scaled-back use- of-force policy and a “citizen academy” to teach local residents what it’s like to be a cop. The F.O.P. is also request- ing that the Justice Depart- ment weigh in on the trend of local residents filming po- lice encounters, and makes the suggestion that the city establish a rule requiring observers to remain a sig- nificant distance away from officers at all times. You can read the complete letter on the F.O.P. Lodge #3’s website.