"The job doesn't care"

 

NY Post

When Jason decided to join the NYPD in the early 2000s, he did it because he wanted to chase down bad guys, seek justice for vulnerable crime victims and above all, help the people who needed it the most. 

But these days, the longtime cop has become disillusioned with the job, and he’s counting down the days until he can hang up his badge and retire. 

“I hate it, I can’t speak enough terrible things about it,” Jason told The Post during a recent interview.

“I want to actually be free, free of this mental abuse that I’ve been through. I don’t wish this profession upon anyone.” 

The Post spoke with 14 current members of the NYPD, including patrol cops, detectives, sergeants and lieutenants spanning a wide range of ethnicities and time on the force, who painted a picture of a department in crisis. 

While anti-police sentiment, criminal justice reforms and progressive politicians are frequent explanations for the crisis given by police unions and NYPD brass, the officers interviewed for this story say their primary issues with the job come from within.

Those problems stem from mismanagement and nepotism throughout the department, being held to unrealistic expectations, answering to a revolving door of out-of-touch chiefs and working among a force that’s turned its back on itself. 

“You’re abused by your own brothers and sisters in blue and harassed to the point of having thoughts of suicide, then have to deal with the hate from the community while still dealing with everyday life stresses,” said Mark, an NYPD cop. 

“I hate this job.” 

Since 2020, a staggering 9,180 officers have left the job – 36% of whom quit before they were eligible for their full pension – and the NYPD is on pace to see more than 4,000 cops retire or resign this year.

As of Sept. 30, 1,628 officers have retired and another 1,426 quit, the most resignations seen since the post-Sept. 11 exodus in 2002 — and more than 2019 and 2020 combined. 

The NYPD is so desperate to stem the bleeding, community affairs officers have been knocking on the doors of people who passed the exam but never moved forward with the hiring process to encourage them to join the academy. 

“It’s one thing to have a recruitment problem, and it’s one thing to have a retention problem,” said John, who works in a busy Big Apple precinct. 

“When you have both, it’s just a perfect storm for f–king disaster.”

Isn't that convenient BOE?

 

NY Post

An ex-con busted for robbery as a teen is among a group of employees of New York City’s embattled Board of Elections who cashed in with massive overtime payouts last year, records show.

The BOE, embarrassed by a huge gaffe in the vote count for the mayoral race, forked over $107,031 in overtime pay to Alvin Samuels in 2020 on top of his salary of $106,627, according to records compiled for The Post by the Empire Center for Public Policy.

“That’s just extraordinary, bringing in that much overtime. I can’t imagine what he’s doing for that much overtime,” said Ken Sherrill, a professor emeritus of political science at Hunter College and a former Democratic district leader.

Samuels, an administrative associate, was among 10 BOE employees pulling in more than $60,000 in overtime last year at the agency which has long been assailed as a patronage mill.

Antonio Ortiz Jr., a senior systems analyst, worked a whopping 2,342 overtime hours and took home $164,791 in extra pay, dwarfing his regular salary of $116,128. The payout was not an anomaly. The previous year he got $139,475 in overtime.

City employees rollin' in dough

From the Daily News:

Overtime pay gave nearly two hundred city employees a salary bonanza in the last fiscal year.

Most of these workers — spanning a range of city agencies — were able to double their earnings with the extra hours, according to the latest data.

All told, the city shelled out $1.7 billion just in overtime pay to 167,851 workers — and 195 actually doubled their salary, according to the numbers compiled by the Empire Center.

Most of those — 90 — were in the Department of Transportation, 35 at the Department of Correction and 26 in the FDNY.

Of the top five overtime earners — including many who have have been pulling down big bucks for years — four work for DOT and one for the FDNY.

DOT employee David Russell, a highway repair supervisor, scored the most overtime — $177,630. That raised his total pay to $274,352 for fiscal year 2015, which ended June 30.

Right behind him was FDNY marine engineer Frederick Domini, who earned $153,787 in OT and $262,926 in total pay.

DOT bricklayer Edward Alfano laid down $146,118 in OT, for $239,462 total pay,

Car wash workers ripped off

From DNA Info:

A group of car washers is accusing its Jamaica employer of paying less than the minimum wage and cheating workers out of overtime.

The workers, who filed a lawsuit against A.J.A. Car Wash at 107-05 Merrick Blvd. in Brooklyn Federal Court Wednesday, said they are seeking back wages which they estimate add up to $400,000.

“I generally worked six days a week for over 70 hours a week but the boss doesn’t pay us any overtime,” said Miguel Yax, 34, who has worked at A.J.A. Car Wash for more than 15 years.

According to the lawsuit, Yax, who in 2009 was making $4.75 an hour, currently gets $7 an hour.

Other workers, the lawsuit claims, are paid $6 an hour.

The lawsuit also says that the car wash sends workers home without pay on rainy days and does not divide tips equally among the employees.

MTA Police are rolling in dough

From the NY Post:

Nearly nine out of 10 MTA police officers who patrol the Staten Island Railway, Long Island Railroad and Metro-North rake in more than $100,000 a year, according to MTA salary data obtained by The Post through a Freedom of Information request.

The commuter-rail cops averaged $27,000 in annual overtime and more than $127,000 in total pay last year. More than 86 percent took in $100,000 or more in total earnings, and 11 cops topped $200,000.

The biggest cheese of all — bagging an eye-popping $234,641.84 last year — was Brian Sullivan, a Metro-North detective sergeant who joined the force in July 1992.

He took home $76,000 in overtime and almost $158,000 in base pay, which, in a 40-hour work week, would mean he was paid $75.96 an hour. But according to the MTA, his hourly pay rate in 2012 was only $53.21 an hour. Sullivan’s total earnings could buy more than 93,800 MetroCard rides, 11,732 round-trip tickets from Grand Central Station to New Rochelle, or eight MTA police cars.

Spending more for less

From the Daily News:

There's gold in those public housing toilets - and under the snow, on Rikers Island and on fire trucks zipping to blazes. As the Bloomberg administration has slashed the number of city employees, the smaller workforce has put in so many extra hours on the job that the overtime bill has surged to a projected $1.2 billion for the last fiscal year.

Our Erin Einhorn reports:

That's up roughly $76 million from the year before, the Independent Budget Office reports.

The figures don't even include the NYPD: City payroll data supplied to The News did not include police or district attorney employees - pending a review to remove undercover agents.

City officials defended the bank-busting expenses as a necessity, saying it's cheaper to pay fewer workers overtime than pay the pensions and health benefits of more employees. Experts say it's hard to know if that's true without a thorough review.

The city's overall payroll expenses are up, even as the headcount is down. The expenses are influenced by rising health care and pension costs - as well as hefty overtime pay.

Overtime can also increase pension costs since some employees pad their pensions by racking up extra hours - and pay - in their final years.

OT in overdrive

From the Daily News:

Of the top 20 overtime earners from the start of the year through Aug. 31, 13 have already matched or exceeded their base salaries.

Twelve of the top overtime earners work at state psychiatric hospitals. Five work at state prisons. Two others work at state-run facilities for the mentally disabled. Another big earner works at a SUNY-run hospital.

While OT is a distant memory for many private-sector workers, total overtime pay for state workers is up a hefty 8% so far this year over last - despite Gov. Paterson's vow to rein it in.

Through the end of last month, the state had doled out a whopping $299.4 million in extra pay, up $22.4 million from the same period last year, according to the controller's figures.

Erik Kriss, a spokesman for the governor's budget division, blamed budget cutbacks for the OT increases. He said state agencies have to do more with less staff.

MTA: spending their way

From the Daily News:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Bus Company spent millions on high-grade fuel rather than switching to a cheaper, lower-grade fuel to power the fleet, according to an audit by state Controller Thomas DiNapoli.

"They squandered more than $39 million of taxpayer dollars due to outdated, expensive contracts and delayed decision making," DiNapoli said.

The MTA revealed two years ago it got caught in a no-win, eleventh-hour contract negotiation with the fuel provider. Only one company bid for the business and imposed exorbitant rates to keep the fuel flowing to run buses.

From the Daily News:

A quarter of bus and subway workers took more than two weeks worth of sick days last year - driving the MTA's overtime bill into the stratosphere, officials said Thursday.

Abuse helped inflate the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's annual overtime tab to $560million.

Officials complained that outdated work rules and lax managers also are boosting crippling costs.

"Some overtime is needed to put out a reliable service and respond to emergencies," said MTA Chief Operating Officer Charles Monheim.

"But much of it is unnecessary and can't be justified," he said.

MTA brass vowed to slow the OT torrent, including cracking down on sick- time abusers.