Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Getting a raise

It looks like I'm getting a raise. Governor Blanco, through the powers of her office, is giving all the cops, firefighters, and corrections officer a $125.00 raise in the supplemental pay.

Supplemental pay is an interesting concept. Normally, a cop is paid by the city or parish in which he works. There are great, huge differences in the pay rates of the various agencies. Generally large outfits pay better than small ones, however that is a generality and isn't always true.

The politicos in the state, years ago, decided that since a great portion of our time is spent enforcing state law, that the state should pony up some of our pay. The current state supplemental pay comes to $300.00 per month for each first responder.

State Police don't get supplemental pay. They are already paid completely by the state. Probation and Parole officers don't get supplemental pay, nor does the State Fire Marshall's office, or any of the horde of inspectors, detectives, or investigators that the state sends forth to harry the populace. Supplemental pay is for us local guys, set at $300.00 per month. It looks like I'm going to get a raise to $425.00 per month, courtesy of the Queen Bee herself.

Before anyone sheds any tears for the State Police, spare me. Those boys, whose primary duties involved writing speeding tickets and working wrecks, get paid a princely salary, with lots of perks. No one in the State Police is underpaid, and most of them retire to luxurious leisure, taking their pleasure in exorbitant style.

Before all the cheering and huzzah-ing dies down, we must remind ourselves that the Governor is a political beast, facing a substantial challenge in 2007. There are a lot of folks who would like to see her go away. Look for raises for teachers, for state employees, and any other way she can spread the government largesse while running her campaign. This raise is pure politics folks, with more to come.

Of course, I'm not going to turn the money down. That would cause huge headaches in the payroll department and I'm going to keep those folks happy.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the days of inception of supplemental pay it was a great idea. The street cop was working accidents and things of that nature on State highways. It has now degraded to where even secretaries qualify. Any government idea is normally great at inception but degenerates over the years to just another boondoggle.

Havn't there been cases of Police Chief Secretaries receivng supplemental pay?

Pawpaw said...

I wouldn't know, not ever having been a Chief. However, I know that it is only available to POST certified officers who have more than one year's experience whos primary duties are in law enforcement. If the Chief's secretary is POST certified, has more than one year's experience, and can justify what she does as law enforcement, then who am I to judge?

Anonymous said...

What is a POST certified Officer?

Anonymous said...

Registration of Officers: As mentioned in the POST Law, those officers who were employed prior to January 1, 1986 are exempt from POST training requirements. Those officers who fall into this category and have not attended certified training may be granted a "registration" certificate in lieu of certification. The certificate is evidence of the fact that the officers are "grandfathered in" under the POST Law.

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Anonymous said...

At 11:15 AM, Anonymous wrote ...
"What is a POST certified Officer?"

POST is Peace Officers Standards and Training.
In Louisiana, the state organization with oversight as to requirements for peace officer training. Analgous to Texas commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards & Education (TCLEOSE.)


From the Southeastern LA Univ. POST Academy site, to be POST certified:
Minimum Training Requirements:

All full-time officers, as defined in R.S. 40:2402, Shall Complete a basic training course as prescribed and certified by the Council on Peace Officers Standards.

The Student will complete a training course with a minimum of 320 hours for full certification and meet the POST requirements for firearms certification.


http://www2.selu.edu/police/training/post.html

JPG