View Full Version : I officially live in the hood
My normally nice quiet neighborhood has turned into south central.
Monday night I took the dog outside only to see 3 police cars outside of my house, and they were checking a vehicle in the driveway across the street. I figured someone broke into their truck or something.
Tuesday the guy across the street comes over to let me know he set up spot lights in his yard and told me if it bothered me to let him know. When I asked what was going on he told me his truck had been shot multiple times, and he was blaming the guy that lives next to me. I really do not know how I did not hear gun shots the day before.
Tonight I hear gun shots, like 5-6 shots and hit the deck. This time it seems that the house next to me got shot at, the house of the guy accused of the first shooting. The police had the street blocked off for 4 hours.
I used to sit ouside my old house with my 870. Now its my rental and I live about 15 miles away in a good area. Sucks doesnt it? Hell shoot back, the cops cant say shit....;)
I couldn't take the city anymore. It seems to be changing everywhere. Try moving to a rural location with few if any neighbors. People can be difficult everywhere but in the country you run into less of them. Good luck with your neighbors.
Wait until LE stops responding or takes 45 to an hour to do so hehe.
Had a drive by, called the police to report it, never heard back, neighbors called as well.
Had a drunk trying to make his way through my door, called the police, half hour later they called me back asking if I still needed an officer. I had a 12ga ready to go had the dumb ass made it through.
Call for a car thief running down the street and 12 patrol cars show up :eek: I guess pursuits are funner than paper work.
Welcome to urban paradise :p I rather enjoy going outside and watching the "ghetto bird" make its nightly rounds. Even have the pitbulls and bars on the windows (things aren't worth a damn, but they look scary) :D
Have had a few cases in the past where I've had a officer talk crap about my neighborhood (hey our home is our home) but I've gotten over it. It's really not that bad, it's some what of an oasis in the middle of the shit, most of the neighbors are older folk, but that's changing and newer jackasses are running around.
After working as a city pd LEO, I will never live in some, maybe any neighborhood there. I will comute to my job until I retire! Every day I come home and think to my self, how in the world do these people living in the neighborhoods I work make it day to day!
This neighborhood used to be mostly older families that own and live in the houses. Now everytime one dies or moves the house turns into a rental property. It is still a nice place to live, besides this nonsense, and I have no desire to move. Most of the people here keep to themselves and mind their own business, but most people at least wave or say hi if they are outside. I liked things alot better when military families were the ones renting the houses.
Wait until LE stops responding or takes 45 to an hour to do so hehe.
Had a drive by, called the police to report it, never heard back, neighbors called as well.
Had a drunk trying to make his way through my door, called the police, half hour later they called me back asking if I still needed an officer. I had a 12ga ready to go had the dumb ass made it through.
Call for a car thief running down the street and 12 patrol cars show up :eek: I guess pursuits are funner than paper work.
Welcome to urban paradise :p I rather enjoy going outside and watching the "ghetto bird" make its nightly rounds. Even have the pitbulls and bars on the windows (things aren't worth a damn, but they look scary) :D
Have had a few cases in the past where I've had a officer talk crap about my neighborhood (hey our home is our home) but I've gotten over it. It's really not that bad, it's some what of an oasis in the middle of the shit, most of the neighbors are older folk, but that's changing and newer jackasses are running around.
Sorry for my upcoming rant, but I am fed up with people who complain about police responce time. They are quick to calculate how long an officer took to answer a call, but never take the time to research and understand what goes on in a patrol car. Biggest problem with major city PD's is understaffing, theres a surplus of people who complain about responce time, and a shortage of those who are willing to serve. Another thing people dont understand is how calls are prioratized. I will give two diferent versions of a scenario and explain why one gets a higher priority over the other:
Scenario 1: You get home and notice that your car which is parked in the driveway is littered in bullet holes, you call the police. The dispatch then enters this call as a low priority "criminal mischif" patrol comes to the scene after 45 minutes the call has been holding.
Scenario 2: You pull up to your drive way and all the sudden bullets start to hit your car, you call police, dispatch routes this call as a high priority "active shooter" police get there running lights and sirens anywere from 1-2 minutes.
I'm currently in an "any second it could turn to shit, on the fringes" type of a living arrangement. Apartment complex made up of mostly families, but there are a few dealers, and given the management I don't doubt that if they needed money they would rent to anyone. But, it's better then where I have been, and I know the type to watch out for.
My personal worst was on the west coast, in an area of a small city where the Meth dealers had actually stopped requiring money for Meth. Yes, you heard me right, the dealers cut the pawn shop out of the equation. They actually started allowing their junkies to "trade" for product. You have NO idea the shit that happened!!! These f@ckers would steal anything. I had a hippie neighbor, and he actually had someone steal a rock out of his garden for Meth.
I literally posted on the porch during the day, drank a beer and cleaned my shot gun for about two weeks (only gun in the house at the time). If we left town, I gave my friends 40-100 bucks to drive by my house and drink beer on the porch all night. Every time I came home, every screen was out of the windows. The kicker though was when a camper trailer that was a Meth lab exploded less then 400 yards from our house.
I left the West Coast to get away from Meth Heads. I hate them, I think they are the lowest form of scum on the bottom tier of this society. I have since decided after living on the East coast for 5 years, and spending plenty of time in DC, Philly, NYC, and Boston, that I will take a crack head, or a junky any day over a meth head.
My worst East Coast experience was hearing gun shots at 4 in the morning in Philly, and then at breakfast the next day when I brought it up to the friend I was staying with (who also heard the shots), she said: "Well we live in a good neighborhood in Philly, that's all I can ask for."
I'm not a tin foil hat person, and I really don't think it's Obama, or Bush's fault, but this country is a powder keg right now!!!
Rural living is a great way of life. I could leave my door unlocked, garage door open, and keys in the cars and there would be a low probability of anything occurring. Crime around here is almost non-existent. The only gunshots we hear are in hunting season.
Rural living is a great way of life. I could leave my door unlocked, garage door open, and keys in the cars and there would be a low probability of anything occurring. Crime around here is almost non-existent. The only gunshots we hear are in hunting season.
Right. In fact, if I leave my garage door open, my neighbor comes over and let's me know. :)
C4
We had a murder in the middle of the street in front of the house a few months back. The dogs woke me up at around 0100 and when I went to the front door to check what was going on it looked like a block fight. As people started running away I saw a kid laying in the middle of the street covered in blood. By the time we got on the phone and called the police the sirens were inbound. All I could do is stand watch at my front door with my pistol and make sure it didn't spill over into my property.
A couple of years ago I hear gunshots outside my house...I run outside with a 12 ga and see a car hauling ass down my street and my neighbor’s cutlass had been pushed into the street. He had exchanged fire with the thieves.
A few months after that my other neighbor had a drive by….
Rural living is a great way of life. I could leave my door unlocked, garage door open, and keys in the cars and there would be a low probability of anything occurring. Crime around here is almost non-existent. The only gunshots we hear are in hunting season.
I went to HS in an area like that, couldn't even see a neighbors house. I think 40 cars were stolen and other random crap, all because everyone knew people feel safe.
I took the time to call the mayor, shootings are not something he deals with, and was direct to call my alderman. I contacted my alderman who is actually a really cool guy, and seemed really concerned about the situation, turns out he isnt my alderman but he told me he was mailing my alderman and the police chief about the situation.
I then called my alderman, who really had no idea where I lived, but I told her I talked to the other alderman and she finally realized I lived in her district. She had no clue of what went on, where it went on and would ask for a report from the police dept.
WTF, I can call the police dept my self and bitch, and they will actually get the call instead of an alderman claiming to call. Yes this makes me want to move to the county, I would if I could.
I went to HS in an area like that, couldn't even see a neighbors house. I think 40 cars were stolen and other random crap, all because everyone knew people feel safe.
I live in the country, and we are prime targets for theft/burglary/whatever. We don't dare leave the house door unlocked or keys in the cars.
Police response time is on the order of "Never". I'm not going to bitch about it, we can hold our own against the thugs.
What keeps them in check? Two things: Guns and making everybody think you're one crazy ****er. The area criminal element gets the word that if they venture onto your property, they ain't leaving.
I don't know the best ways to make people think you are nuts living in the city. The methods we use out here won't work.
We move cars around frequently, so it looks like someone is always home. We shoot at odd hours and frequently. We have two dogs (worthless, actually, IMHO, but the sight of them does help). We greet unwanted visitors while visibly armed (when you come out of the garage with an axe over your shoulder, the Jehovah's Witnesses leave and never come back). We run the meat seller trucks off the property right damn quick and scare the shit out of them.
We've almost never been messed with. Other than the time one of our old dogs (long ago) grabbed ahold of a tire thief...that guy left in a hurry.
bobvila- Had a suspicious car cruising the "neighborhood" around a month ago. I learned after the fact that there were 3 calls to the SD within minutes of each other. SD there within 10 min. Car was stopped, asked what their business was(no good answers), and they were told not to return. SD took all their info. SD feels it was a theft ring that was operating one county over coming to case houses and farms. Maybe where you went to school was not vigilant, but not here. We also have an excellent sheriff and a dept. with high moral. We like our SD.
bobvila- Had a suspicious car cruising the "neighborhood" around a month ago. I learned after the fact that there were 3 calls to the SD within minutes of each other. SD there within 10 min. Car was stopped, asked what their business was(no good answers), and they were told not to return. SD took all their info. SD feels it was a theft ring that was operating one county over coming to case houses and farms. Maybe where you went to school was not vigilant, but not here. We also have an excellent sheriff and a dept. with high moral. We like our SD.
Well that is not like where I lived, NO POLICE, NO SHERIFFS, the state police would drive by once a year or two.
What keeps them in check? Two things: Guns and making everybody think you're one crazy ****er.
I see salespeople, cult recruiters or similar, I just answer the door naked. :eek: I never see the same ones twice after they've hurried off, stuttering and shaken, and I'm not skylining myself by brandishing anything.
You can do amazing things with a little bit of ruthlessness and a knowledge of societal taboos, and have fun at the same time.
I see salespeople, cult recruiters or similar, I just answer the door naked. :eek: I never see the same ones twice after they've hurried off, stuttering and shaken, and I'm not skylining myself by brandishing anything.
An indecent exposure charge would suck... but I still think it's funny! :D
Sorry for my upcoming rant, but I am fed up with people who complain about police responce time. They are quick to calculate how long an officer took to answer a call, but never take the time to research and understand what goes on in a patrol car. Biggest problem with major city PD's is understaffing, theres a surplus of people who complain about responce time, and a shortage of those who are willing to serve. Another thing people dont understand is how calls are prioratized. I will give two diferent versions of a scenario and explain why one gets a higher priority over the other:
Scenario 1: You get home and notice that your car which is parked in the driveway is littered in bullet holes, you call the police. The dispatch then enters this call as a low priority "criminal mischif" patrol comes to the scene after 45 minutes the call has been holding.
Scenario 2: You pull up to your drive way and all the sudden bullets start to hit your car, you call police, dispatch routes this call as a high priority "active shooter" police get there running lights and sirens anywere from 1-2 minutes.
I can't even begin to remember how many times I've had to call the cops while working for stuff on fire, stuff spilling or blowing up, dudes with weapons, all sorts of ridiculous stuff. Response time virtually everywhere for the serious stuff was a uniform 2-3 minutes - with the sole exception being one location where the station was 25 miles away.
Everything else is what pisses off your normal citizen who, as you say, does not understand. Unfortunately "everything else" includes stuff that is still pretty damn important to people.. like car theft and vandalism, burglary, etc., stuff that can be catastrophically expensive for people who are poor to begin with.
Understaffed or not, your major PD's are not going to be making friends by having the entire night shift parked together and sleeping in their cars while one guy stays awake and monitors to the radio. While they're not out patrolling, all this other shit is going on. It doesn't happen everywhere, but where it does, it's a pretty big fail.
I've also lived in places with no police at all, and it was a small town but not really that rural. We had no crime issues to speak of outside of domestic issues once or twice a year, everyone looked after everyone else.
There is simply nothing worth living in the ghetto, in my opinion.
Sorry for my upcoming rant, but I am fed up with people who complain about police responce time. They are quick to calculate how long an officer took to answer a call, but never take the time to research and understand what goes on in a patrol car. Biggest problem with major city PD's is understaffing, theres a surplus of people who complain about responce time, and a shortage of those who are willing to serve. Another thing people dont understand is how calls are prioratized. I will give two diferent versions of a scenario and explain why one gets a higher priority over the other:
Scenario 1: You get home and notice that your car which is parked in the driveway is littered in bullet holes, you call the police. The dispatch then enters this call as a low priority "criminal mischif" patrol comes to the scene after 45 minutes the call has been holding.
Scenario 2: You pull up to your drive way and all the sudden bullets start to hit your car, you call police, dispatch routes this call as a high priority "active shooter" police get there running lights and sirens anywere from 1-2 minutes.
So what's a drive by? Is it not an active shooter? Call me crazy, but anyone shooting at me I consider an active shooter.
I see salespeople, cult recruiters or similar, I just answer the door naked. :eek: I never see the same ones twice after they've hurried off, stuttering and shaken, and I'm not skylining myself by brandishing anything.
You can do amazing things with a little bit of ruthlessness and a knowledge of societal taboos, and have fun at the same time.
I'mma have to try that with a belt and a drop leg and my cowboy hat.
RogerinTPA
05-06-10, 18:26
After those episodes, one can appreciate buying a home out in the boonies or gated communities if forced to live in proximity of a major city.
PdxMotoxer
05-06-10, 19:31
How did a simple thread about an unfortunate incident that IMHO
can happen anywhere at anytime turn into such an anti-police bitch -fest
on a site that CLEARLY has a NO ANTIPOLICE comments tolerance
and policy.
Now a thread that could be a good discussion will be locked and closed.
*shakes head at some will never learn basic and simple rules*
I used to live in what used to be rural and farming community but after only a few years
of the illegals flowing in to work the farms it quickly turned into gang central.
Sadly with the hard working wanting to live the "american dream" life,
were also the "bad seed" mexican and asian gangs and all fighting for the same
part of town.
On night i was getting home late after swing shift and checking my mailbox when a car driving by opened fire.
No bullets hit me but did graze the junk mail i was holding and my mailbox i had my hand on.
fast ending: after another close call we HAD to and were lucky enough
to be able to move to a very high end part of town.
Last summer there was a murder 3 houses down.
That's yet another reason the wife and i take classes and both CCW
and advocate practicing classes and proper safe CCWing.
IMHO As long as their are other humans, sadly there will also be violence.
I fought MMA for many years and the first rule, like in boxing and life...
Protect yourself at ALL times.
I see salespeople, cult recruiters or similar, I just answer the door naked. :eek: I never see the same ones twice after they've hurried off, stuttering and shaken, and I'm not skylining myself by brandishing anything.
You can do amazing things with a little bit of ruthlessness and a knowledge of societal taboos, and have fun at the same time.
After meeting Riverine, I don't doubt at all that this is true.
It's a fact. From a temperament standpoint, I generally hover somewhere between "puckish" and "scorched-earth policy."
My own neighborhood is a border town, of sorts. Not bad, per se, but not great, either. Could be way worse, but the less savory segments of the population don't act up too badly because...well, Quantico is about 6 miles north. Lots of Marines/former Marines, most of us are armed, and we're not too shy about it. Thanks, Virginia!
There's still occasional flare-ups. The knee-walking drunk dude that decided to try and pound my front door in at 0200 got treated differently, with a naked rifle muzzle in his face, quickly followed by zip-ties and a call to the Sheriff's office, which is all of about 600m south.
wild_wild_wes
05-07-10, 00:12
Wait until LE stops responding or takes 45 to an hour to do so hehe.
Just do what that old gentleman in England did.
His garage is getting burgled for the Xth time. He calls the Police and they say "we will get there in 30 minutes". Old guy hangs up, then calls back a minute later "Don't bother sending the Police; send an ambulance, for I have just shot the burglar".
The Police then show up in 3 minutes flat!
So what's a drive by? Is it not an active shooter? Call me crazy, but anyone shooting at me I consider an active shooter.
If you are in the car while the shit is going on, yes! Even if you call the police right after the fact, they will still prioritize this as a high priority active shooter or a shooting that just occurred, depends on the dispatch working that day. But, and I always tell citizens this, its all about your wording when you call 911 how the call ends up being prioritized. like I said before on my example, if you call police and say, "hello I just got home and saw that my car is full of bullet holes, can you send some one out" this will more than likely be a low priority since your life is not in imediate danger and its after the fact. In the other hand if you say "hello, I just heard gun shots and looked outside and saw this car (insert description here) shooting at my car and he speed away (insert direction of travel here)" this will be a high pri active shooter, since your life is still in danger and suspects are at large in the area, this call will be dispatched right away and officers, depending on department policies will respond lights and sirens.
If you are in the car while the shit is going on, yes! Even if you call the police right after the fact, they will still prioritize this as a high priority active shooter or a shooting that just occurred, depends on the dispatch working that day. But, and I always tell citizens this, its all about your wording when you call 911 how the call ends up being prioritized. like I said before on my example, if you call police and say, "hello I just got home and saw that my car is full of bullet holes, can you send some one out" this will more than likely be a low priority since your life is not in imediate danger and its after the fact. In the other hand if you say "hello, I just heard gun shots and looked outside and saw this car (insert description here) shooting at my car and he speed away (insert direction of travel here)" this will be a high pri active shooter, since your life is still in danger and suspects are at large in the area, this call will be dispatched right away and officers, depending on department policies will respond lights and sirens.
Man, I'm not trying to be anti-anything here, but the logic behind this is just flawed to me.
How many calls does an average PD get in, lets say a week, that are "I just came home, and my car is full of bullet holes"? Even in a highly volatile urban environment, how often does this happen? Compare that number to the number of calls that receive a quicker response time in the same week, and how many of those calls involved an actual immediate threat to someone's life? For me, anything that travels through the air at 1000's of FPS (and some times randomly) should be a priority for any PD. Unless of course all of the officers on duty are currently involved confronting active shooters. Then of course, the bullet riddled car can wait...:D
I realize that not all officers on said night will be engaging active shooters, and that some will be responding to other calls that involve an immediate threat to someone's health, or well being, but I don't believe for a second that the aftermath of a drive by should be dropped to a lower tier that results in a 45 minute response time.
Man, I'm not trying to be anti-anything here, but the logic behind this is just flawed to me.
How many calls does an average PD get in, lets say a week, that are "I just came home, and my car is full of bullet holes"? Even in a highly volatile urban environment, how often does this happen? Compare that number to the number of calls that receive a quicker response time in the same week, and how many of those calls involved an actual immediate threat to someone's life? For me, anything that travels through the air at 1000's of FPS (and some times randomly) should be a priority for any PD. Unless of course all of the officers on duty are currently involved confronting active shooters. Then of course, the bullet riddled car can wait...:D
I realize that not all officers on said night will be engaging active shooters, and that some will be responding to other calls that involve an immediate threat to someone's health, or well being, but I don't believe for a second that the aftermath of a drive by should be dropped to a lower tier that results in a 45 minute response time.
I agree that the "system" is flawed, if it wasnt we probably wouldnt have crime at all. Unfortunately I am not smart enough to figure out a new system in which each call for police gets an immediate responce.
unfortunately theres got to be this "priority" system in place to cope and make sense of which calls need be answered first. There are days were we literally answer a call that was placed a day prior(of course these are probably property crimes and such) nothing life threatening. Usually this is on a weekend when its real busy. I know this is probably not the norm for a small town, but in a major metropolitan city like the one I work, this is just the way it is, untill the city funds their PD a little better and we can hire more officers, then we are left with about 200 officers each shift for a 2.0 million people metropolitan area. think about that ratio for a second. If you got a better system in mind, by all means, let us know about it.
The_War_Wagon
05-07-10, 10:08
I ran off (by LEGAL means!!! With help from the local police chief, County Sheriff's Drug Task Force Sgt., Asst. D.A. in charge of nuisance properties, et.al.!!!) a 0-level white boy-eee wannabee bad guy drug dealer from a Section 8 house across the street and a couple doors up from me, right after moving here. THAT house used to be a HUGE beautiful home here, until the slumlord section 8'd it into 3 apartments.
He finally realized I wasn't going to take any crap off his tenants :mad:, and after the guy was arrested for possesion - which he had spread out on a living room table when the cops responded to him beating his shack-up - the mother of his kid :rolleyes: - he finally gave him das boot. Nice quiet family lives there now, thankfully.
If I could move back to th sticks again, I would! I grew up in a town of 1,200 people in rural NC at the tail end of "the Mayberry days." Now I'm 4 miles from downtown Pittsburgh. They film episodes of "COPS" near here... :eek: Ah feel, yer pain...
It's a fact. From a temperament standpoint, I generally hover somewhere between "puckish" and "scorched-earth policy."
My own neighborhood is a border town, of sorts. Not bad, per se, but not great, either. Could be way worse, but the less savory segments of the population don't act up too badly because...well, Quantico is about 6 miles north. Lots of Marines/former Marines, most of us are armed, and we're not too shy about it. Thanks, Virginia!
There's still occasional flare-ups. The knee-walking drunk dude that decided to try and pound my front door in at 0200 got treated differently, with a naked rifle muzzle in his face, quickly followed by zip-ties and a call to the Sheriff's office, which is all of about 600m south.
Man do I love that:D.
QuietShootr
05-07-10, 11:10
It's a fact. From a temperament standpoint, I generally hover somewhere between "puckish" and "scorched-earth policy."
My own neighborhood is a border town, of sorts. Not bad, per se, but not great, either. Could be way worse, but the less savory segments of the population don't act up too badly because...well, Quantico is about 6 miles north. Lots of Marines/former Marines, most of us are armed, and we're not too shy about it. Thanks, Virginia!
There's still occasional flare-ups. The knee-walking drunk dude that decided to try and pound my front door in at 0200 got treated differently, with a naked rifle muzzle in his face, quickly followed by zip-ties and a call to the Sheriff's office, which is all of about 600m south.
I like the cut of your jib.
jasonhgross
05-07-10, 12:49
Sounds like a nice neighborhood still, if it were south central, nobody would have even called the cops in the first place. And if they did, the cops wouldnt have responded.
MarshallDodge
05-07-10, 13:07
Rural living is a great way of life. I could leave my door unlocked, garage door open, and keys in the cars and there would be a low probability of anything occurring. Crime around here is almost non-existent. The only gunshots we hear are in hunting season.
Agreed. I live 4 miles from the nearest stoplight and have had cows in my yard a few times but that is about the extent of the crime in this area. :D
CarlosDJackal
05-07-10, 14:30
You think that's bad? I have a Driveway Alarm attached to my mailbox about 200-feet from the house. It sets off the alarm that I have in the house to warn me that someone is coming down the driveway.
I finally had to shut that damned thing off because it was constantly getting set off by deer, rabbit, raccoon, feral cats and any of the many critters that likes to walk down my driveway. Sometimes, I have to stop and let the herd of deer that had been feeding on my law go by. I'm surprised my insurance hadn't gone up with as many close calls I've had just going down my driveway. :p
I also can't sleep in because of those damned Woodpeckers, Finches and crickets. I'm constantly in fear of catching rabies because of all the bats that like to feed themselves off all the insects. I'm not even going to say anything about the deer, foxes, possums, squirrels, and wild turkeys that like to visit me once in a while.
Sorry, I just had to post just how thankful I am to live out in the boonies. I was really cursing a lot during those recent snow storms and was considering moving closer to the city. But I think I'll stay where I am. :D
FromMyColdDeadHand
05-07-10, 21:13
I used to sit ouside my old house with my 870. Now its my rental and I live about 15 miles away in a good area. Sucks doesnt it? Hell shoot back, the cops cant say shit....;)
A bad neighborhood is when guns in the house are not a deterrent, but an attractant.
sandman99and9
05-09-10, 13:59
I took my son to chuck e cheese on the west side or Orlando yesterday for his birthday and there was an orange county deputy working the front entrance :eek: Have not been there in a long time but now police at the chuck e cheese ?? Wow O-town is really on the slide:mad:
S.M.
I took my son to chuck e cheese on the west side or Orlando yesterday for his birthday and there was an orange county deputy working the front entrance :eek: Have not been there in a long time but now police at the chuck e cheese ?? Wow O-town is really on the slide:mad:
S.M.
He was more than likely just working an off duty job(part time job). This is common in a lot of large Cities. The individual businessess can have a LEO at their business provided they get approval from the city. So, dont be alarmed, this is nothing that out of the ordinary, were I work we do the same. Be glad he is there, at least that business has taken a proactive aproach by having a cop there all the time.
theblackknight
05-09-10, 15:33
Biggest problem with major city PD's is understaffing, theres a surplus of people who complain about responce time, and a shortage of those who are willing to serve.
Really? I thought compitition was huge for PD slots? I have no problem serving, but uncle sam owns my ass for another 2 1/2 years.
Really? I thought compitition was huge for PD slots? I have no problem serving, but uncle sam owns my ass for another 2 1/2 years.
Move to Boston for their PD. Follow link for rest of story: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/05/06/police_pay_can_exceed_250k/
Even as Boston police officials laid off cadets and cut popular units like the mounted patrol, some police officers managed to dramatically boost their paychecks last year, in a few cases to more than a quarter of a million dollars.
Some of the officers earned extra cash because contracts require that officers working a detail or testifying in court be paid for a minimum of four hours. In one case, a lieutenant was paid for four hours after 15 minutes of case preparation.
All of the officers benefited from a retroactive, one-time salary boost under a new police contract. And all worked a lot of overtime.
Some examples:
Robert Ciccolo earned almost $237,000 as a police captain in the hackney unit — $37,000 of it attributed largely to staying late, doing paperwork.
His cousin, Steven Ciccolo, a lieutenant in South Boston, took in nearly $248,000, a salary made larger by almost $54,000 for patrolling parades, filling in for other officers, and testifying in court.
And James Claiborne, a popular captain who retired last year, made about $248,000, boosting his annual salary by almost $44,000, largely by going to community meetings and events in a high-crime district that covers Mattapan and North Dorchester.
These three officers were among the department’s top 10 earners in 2009. The highest-paid officer took home $272,000, and another earned $265,000; the other eight earned between $237,000 and $248,000.
The officers’ payroll records, released to the Globe under a public records request, show how it is possible for police officers to more than double their salaries, even at a time when the Police Department and other city agencies are facing enormous budget pressures and attempting to cut back on overtime spending.
“The salaries are excessive,’’ Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said in an interview. “Clearly the average person on the street does not make this kind of money. We’re completely aware that this is a difficult topic to discuss, but it’s a function of a system that’s been in place for decades.’’
The department declined to make any of the officers available for comment. Police cannot speak to the press without permission from the department.
But Superintendent-in-Chief Daniel Linskey said that, while police salaries are high, the toll the job takes on officers is significant.
“Quality of life definitely goes down,’’ Linskey said. “Cops are away from their kids a lot, away from their families a lot. It does take away other dividends . . . I can’t tell you how many officers retire at 64 or 65 years of age and don’t even get a full year of their retirement before they die of cancer, heart attack, other instances.’’
The Globe’s review of payroll records found that five of the 10 highest-paid officers had at least one week in which they received more than 90 hours worth of pay. And on more than 10 occasions, officers were paid for more than 100 hours in a single week.Continued...
Really? I thought compitition was huge for PD slots? I have no problem serving, but uncle sam owns my ass for another 2 1/2 years.
Nope, not here, we went from having an academy class each month last year to 1 every 4 months this year.
QuietShootr
05-10-10, 06:26
Indiana State Police just had over 5,000 applicants for <30 positions. Clearly, recruitment is a problem.
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