Police Pay and Benefits Under Siege

Ron DeLord, the special counsel to the 18,000 member Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, has been warning about this problem for years. Now the rubber is hitting the road, people may take notice. – Cynthia Brown

Police Pay and Benefits Under Siege
by RON DeLORD
American Police Beat
December 2010

In this election the Republicans and Tea Party candidates were successful in campaigning to “get the government out of our lives.” If you thought the current media and public outcry to stop the excess debt on the tax payers caused by unfunded liabilities of public employee retiree health and defined benefit pensions was loud, the volume has just been turned up. For officers voting for this mantra, what part of “less government/more private business practices” does not include the police?
The conservative political surge will accelerate the paradigm shift in policing toward cheaper labor costs, i.e., civilianization, privatization, 401K plans instead of defined benefit pensions, ceasing public subsidies of retiree health insurance, and raising the retirement age. Governments now realize that they can contract out virtually every aspect of public employment at great savings to the tax payer, including contract employees and civilians in the police service.
A paradigm shift is driven by change agents and we just witnessed one big change. Police union rallies and emotional arguments about the risks police take to serve and protect the public are falling on deaf ears. The private sector is 91 percent non-union, they may have a 401K, or health insurance partly subsidized by the employer, but these tax payers have no job security and they are afraid to retire until age 65 or even later.
No one is entitled to anything in this world. Wise police leaders have recognized the paradigm shift and they are seeking alternative wage and benefit schemes that keep their members ahead of other public employees and create an incentive for qualified people to join the police force. Refusing to bend or recognize the new political reality is a plan, but one guaranteed to fail. We always get the government we vote for, and this government wants to cut the size of government.

Ron DeLord is Special Counsel to the 18,000 member Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. He was a police officer for 10 years and President of CLEAT for 30 years. He has published numerous books and articles on police unionism and political action.