After receiving an invitation from acting Police Chief Chris Moore to address the troops at a series of shift briefings, Mayor Chuck Reed might have taken it as an opportunity to mend some fences. But according to several cops in attendance, the mayor did little to try and dispel the acrimony from the election season battles over Measures V and W. Instead, in the first meeting, Reed reiterated his judgment that San Jose’s finest were riding a “gravy train.”
Describing the scene when his boss met with the men-and-women-in-blue, Jose Salcido, Reed’s law-enforcement goat roper, understates: “They werent’ happy.“ At a subsequent meeting, Reed offered what Jim Unland, the police union veep, describes as a begrudging apology.
That didn’t stop Sgt. Paul Francois from penning a blistering screed about Reed in the POA’s monthly newsletter, which goes to print Jan. 25. “If there was any doubt before, there isn’t any now: he hates us,” Francois writes. “He hates us and thinks we’re over compensated good-for-nothings.” Members of the POA called the mayor “defiant,” “arrogant” and “a hypocrite.”
City Manager Debra Figone will have her work cut out for her as referee of the continuing contract negotiations, which will likely end with the police conceding 10 percent in pay and pension reform, or suffering more layoffs.
And like any good rumble, the fight isn’t just confined to two parties. January’s POA newsletter also included a nasty message from president George Beattie to former POA leader Bobby Lopez, who is recruiting members to form a new union known as the Fraternal Order of Police. Under the headline “Notification of Condemnation,” Beattie uses a rather unfortunate analogy: “Do I get into the mud and get dirty with the pigs? Or do I stand aside and watch them sully themselves?” To think we’re only three weeks into the new year.
No one said that Beattie was the sharpest tool in the shed.
> “If there was any doubt before, there isn’t any now: he hates us,” Francois writes. “He hates us and thinks we’re over compensated good-for-nothings.” Members of the POA called the mayor “defiant,” “arrogant” and “a hypocrite.”
And these people are allowed to carry guns, arrest citizens, and show disrespect and contempt for the elected “government by the people”.
Our servants are behaving as if they think they are our masters.
Harshly Divisive:
I believe free speech still exists and we at the POA still have a right to speak re the politics that effect us. The fact that we carry firearms and have powers of arrest is irrelevant. The servant/master comment is simply a bit excessive…
“Instead, in the first meeting, Reed reiterated his judgment that San Jose’s finest were riding a “gravy train.””
…..and that’s not showing disrespect and contempt? Chuck Reed has you fooled. He is certainly YOUR master. Enjoy your ballpark and Chuck Reed’s legacy.
As the Murky News recently reported, the cost of pensions for most city workers in the upcoming budget year will be 46.69% of payroll. It’s 69.83% of payroll for firefighters, and 72.26% of payroll for cops. So, the YEARLY pension cost for a cop making $100k is $72,260.00. Sounds like a gravy train to me.
The private sector employee gets 12.4% in Social Security, split evenly between employer & employee. So, we mere private sector schmucks earning the same $100k get a lowly $12,400.00/year—one-sixth of what a cop gets.
That “TOOT” you hear is the gravy train rolling along, pushing the city toward a train wreck.
Mayors and councils throughout this once great state should pull the plug by declaring bankruptcy, and we can start again from square one with a compensation system the taxpayers can afford.
I am not sure where you are getting your information. My recent gross pay looking at my last my last paycheck from the police department was around $4,000 for 2 weeks. Out of this, I paid $971 off the top into my retirement. Please understand, that is the amount I payed. It translates into well over 20% of my gross pay. The city paid $1,625 into the retirement, or about $40,000 a year. I am that cop making about $100,000 a year and have no idea where you get that the city is paying over $70k a year into my retirement. I am taking these figures right from my paystub.
I understand that right now we are the popular scapegoats, but at least use accurate figures to be fair.
Thank you for posting this Tom. I know most people won’t believe you, but I know it is the truth.
Thank you for your service to us. Please, stay safe out there.
He’s not misspeaking. I am not a police officer, but I am a city employee and I have noticed and made the same statement. It’s real. mr reed (I refuse to capitalize his name being that I equate his status to that of an amoeba) is so anti-employee. I have never seen anything like it in all of the years I have worked. He DOES hate us. How many employers do you see bashing their employees in the public. Generally, employers take care of their people…stand beside them. mr reed puts them down…hurts them. These are the people who run this city. Dedicated, hard working people and he kicks them in the teeth. I wonder if his mother loved him? Somethings missing.
Mr. Reed is not your employer—we the people are. We are also his employer. He knows which way the wind is blowing, and it ain’t in your direction. Rough seas ahead.
Sounds rough, you aren’t love by the people above you, and the public isn’t taking your side in the dispute because they kinda agree that city workers through the collective bargaining process and insane hiring binge last decade have screwed the city with gold plated pensions, inflated salaries and basically a dysfunctional bureaucracy that rather than espouse quality customer service merely tolerates the public as a necessary evil.
I’m curious what motivates today’s public servants? I suspect its not the sense of duty and service to others that we had in the past, trading a lower pay check for job security and a retirement but deriving personal satisfaction from intrinsic value of service. The equation got flipped in the dot com years when everyone wanted a fat paycheck and job inflation was rampant. Job inflation is where you take a long serving secretary or something and give them a fancy title and big raise, then add a couple of people under them to justify the promotion. Same or less work for triple the cost, and the person above them is now even more important because they are managing more people and have a bigger budget. A great example of NONperformance based budgeting.
I became a public servant because I truly cared about the public and working with them. I was proud to be a public servant and I loved working with the people. I’ve worked both in private and public sectors, for over 40 years, total. Well, I do not enjoy working with the public, anymore. They are whiney, snively and oh so envious. When they were making their fat paychecks and doing well, they looked down their noses at the public servants. Now, that their bubble has busted, they look at OUR pensions and the fact that we still have our jobs and they are envious. Enter mr reed who stirred the pot to heat it up a bit and they took the bite. Now, you’ve got a bunch of sniveling public, who want every body else to be as miserable as they are, making stupid comments about our retirement and salary. I won’t even say what I wish for them. You would be shocked to hear it. I have been in the private sector and all of this “we don’t get that in the private sector” and the private sector didn’t have this and the private sector didn’t have that is a bunch of baloney. Let me tell you, in the private sector I had great benefits, a great salary, great pension. I was vested at 5 years. Whatever I saved in my employee fund, my employer matched it, stock options, 401k, etc. Much, much better than what I have with the City…BUT I loved the public sector much more than the private sector, so I gave up my huge salary and came back to the public sector and that is where I am finishing my career. I am close to retirement, so all of this MESS is not going to affect me as bad as others, and I feel for them all. As for the public, mr reed did a great job of making a mess of that too. They do not like us and I absolutely detest them. I can’t wait until I am free of them. I look at them and want to vomit.
YOU didn’t hire me. YOU can’t fire me. You the people ARE NOT my employer. Your personal SMALL amount of taxes go into a HUGE pot to help pay to run this city, which includes salaries. If you, personally, didn’t have a job and couldn’t pay your small tax portion into the huge pot, I would still have a job. Get over yourself. mr. reed heads this city, along with the city manager, council people who make the decisions. THEY are the people who employ me, via this city government. When you can make the decision to hire me or when you can fire me, which THEY can, THEN I will consider you as being my employer. PS, I pay taxes, too…so with your thought process, would that mean that I am my own employer??????? Can I hire and fire my own self??????
Anyone that trust Mayor Reed, Figone, Oliverio, are fools. I have been in city government for 33 years and never seen a Mayor alienate all his work force. You be hard pressed to find if the librarians or the people at the maintenance yard like this guy. He has been able to pull the wool over some peoples eyes.
How can it be good to cut the police department that was 600 officers short from 1500 to 1000. Think about it people your safety is at jeopardy. People on other forums are already saying they are waiting 2 hours for the police to come to a minor accident. We soon will have the crime that SF and Oakland already does.
The SJPOA should be careful in the Scare Tactics techniques. 2006 was a spike in violent crime for the City of San Jose. Murder and Rape. I think the department was at full strength during those times.
Will the SJPOA apoligize to the mayor if San Jose has a murder rate of 20 like that of 2010? Wasn’t the staffing in San Jose in the 1200’s for 2010? You guys need to hire better consultants. Working vs. attacking along with scare tactics only backfire. Try “ACME” Consultants for a better presentation. Todays times require different ideas vs. the old “Wait till San Jose crime waves hits”
Crime doesn’t “pay” in todays times.
Fair Press,
It interesting how sometimes really stupid notions can be made to sound reasonable. Your post is a good example.
When the POA warned of the consequences of cutting an already understaffed department—the “scare tactics” to which you refer, they were forwarding their objection based on common sense and professional experience, not some infallible (and non-existent) behavioral forecasting model. It is common sense that tells us that to fight street gangs a police department must make arrests, take guns off the street, collect intelligence, and impede the free movement of gang members; it is professional experience that tells the cops that this is best done by officers in a dedicated unit, like the Violent Crime Enforcement Team.
The situation is identical in regards the overall staffing of the police department; reduce the manpower of an already understaffed department, one whose officers are already quite familiar with existing enforcement gaps, manpower scheduling woes, and reduced services to the community, and the POA has no choice but to frame the threat of job cuts as what they are: a guaranteed reduction in preventative, pro-active enforcement; a worrisome threat to response times; a serious officer safety concern; a morale-busting message of a city’s diminished commitment; in short, a threat to public safety.
Crime patterns defy reliable prediction, for the simple reason that human behavior is affected by too many variables; to use its unpredictability as a tool to impeach the credibility of those who do battle with it is reckless and dishonest. The responsible approach when attempting to meet the demands of such a challenge is to base one’s forecast on the historical record, which is exactly what it done when the state budgets for unemployment or the city for liability payouts. Thus, it is only fair, Mr. Fair Press, to allow the POA to do the same.
As an example of the aforementioned variables—one for which no police official or organization is to blame, nothing in the past twenty-five years could have had a more positive effect on crime reduction that had the federal government aggressively policed its borders. No cop on the beat, no police union president, no department chief could have done or dreamed up any anything that would’ve cut 25% of the inmates out of our expensive prisons, would’ve spared tens of thousands of victims, or prevented thousands of gang murders, as would have the simple act of having kept our borders secure. Ominously, had the cuts proposed today been put in place in 1986, the impact of illegal immigrant crime on this state would have been immeasurably higher, and the ghoulish army of beheaded corpses now plaguing Mexico would be littering our own streets today.
Had the clueless liberals elected to office, many of whom still govern us today, stood tall for our nation’s sovereignty, the law of the land, and the interests of the people they were sworn to serve, SJPD’s need of a anti-gang unit might not be so critical today nor the demand for police services so very high. But rather than heeding to the reasonable voices of these past twenty-five years—voices that were branded as racist and warnings they dismissed as “scare tactics,” amnesty and sanctuary were offered to lawbreakers, billions in tax dollars were spent on those who don’t pay taxes, and the wage-earning ability of our citizens was sacrificed to the interests of desperate foreigners and corporate scoundrels.
Your sarcastic notion that crime doesn’t “pay” anymore couldn’t be more wrong. Oh, it may not pay so well for those fighting it—something that apparently pleases you, but it still pays well for the criminals, and it is still paid for by the same people: the general public, who will pay for it in personal injury and death, lost property, vandalized schools, higher insurance rates, real estate values impacted by blight and gang activity, and a tax base shrunk by once-thriving business districts turned inhospitable.
Fair Press,
BS Monitor is correct. I want to add to his/her post. If you have ever had your car vandalized or broken into, you won’t see a Police Officer come out like they did in days gone by. As a matter of fact, unless you are being murdered, assaulted, or something of a high priority, you can forget getting an Officer out there any time soon.
Many cases have gone by the way side simply because so many departments have been cut. It isn’t going to get any better either. You and others can say that the POA is crying wolf but they aren’t. I worked in Victim Offender Mediation for almost 7 years, and I can tell you first hand, our SJPD has been understaffed for at least a decade now.
We have never had enough Officers to handle our population. With more people moving into SJ and new housing being built, and unincorporated areas being added to the City as we speak, I can tell you our SJPD is in deep trouble, and so is our community, once the cuts of 200 Officers are made.
Also, if you don’t think the criminal element out there isn’t paying attention to these cuts, well then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you. We have had a lot of murders this year already. Gangs are growing, and so is crime.
My friend was murdered in a bank parking lot in broad daylight, on a Friday afternoon, at a bank that had been robbed at least FIVE times before. If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you, nothing will. Don’t be so quick to ignore the truth to justify hating Unions. I can guarantee you; you’ll be wishing you had listened before it was too late.
Police officers still enjoy First Amendment protections which are only somewhat curtailed while on duty. We are certainly allowed to speak our minds and express ourselves when we think an elected official’s behavior is contemptible.
Also, city employees are not ‘servants’, and citizens are not our ‘masters’. City employees are exactly that: employees, not servants. I find it disturbing that you feel so free to use such divisive language and double standard when it comes to the protections that the Constitution affords EVERY citizen – government employee or not.
Any employee of the government (local/county/state/federal) is a “public servant” because their salaries are paid by taxes collected from the public.
Police are a department in city/state government that receives funding from tax dollars.
From Wikipedia:
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:
* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations.
* The body of employees in any government agency other than the military.
A civil servant or public servant is a civilian public sector employee working for a government department or agency. The term explicitly excludes the armed services, although civilian officials will work at “Defence Ministry” headquarters. The term always includes the (sovereign) state’s employees; whether regional, or sub-state, or even municipal employees are called “civil servants” varies from country to country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_service
@Dave hodges. U must be attorney! Anyone with common sense knew the blogger was talking about servant as in doing someone elses work, like a slave; is what the blogger was referring to… I suggest you look up common sense.
Anybody who quotes Wikipedia as a reliable source is certainly suspect to begin with.
Bobby:
Is Toolshed Manager your new call sign?
Dont be a coward and put your name!
Officer X I didn’t write that I have the courage to sign anything thing I write. I don’t hide,when I have something to say I will look you in the eye. Apparently you can’t.
Officer X, Might be time to sit down with Bobby. You say you didn’t write the statement. Well then write a comment as such. I Believe that you said you can look him in the eye. Well now is the time. Look him in the eye and speak. Do not put a statement such as yours in print if in FACT you will still not identify yourself. A true leader will sign his name. If at best maybe meet Bobby. I think the two of you may come away from a meeting with some positive results. You do not have to identify yourself on this web site do it in a personal positive manner. I hope things work out between you.
LOL, thanks for the well wishes. All is well here. The on-line bravado ala, “Don’t be a coward, put your name”, etc,…is borish. I highly doubt that the person identifying themselves as Bobby is ACTUALLY Bobby Lopez. I give him much more credit than that and would be disappointed if it is HIM.
Re the topic, the element represented by former POA Pres Bobby Lopez is a very small fringe element that is making noise from the outside looking in. Lopez can’t see the forest for the trees of his anger/passion. The POA will outlast his efforts. The real enemy of all unions in this city is Reed the Terrible. The Merc and SJI simply fan the flames because simply put a fist fight draws more viewers than 2 men shaking hands.
Your the one that brought up his name. You say you are from the POA, is this a sample of the integrity that you at the POA bring to the table. You have no honor to ask the question on a public forum then try and dance around the fact you got called.
Great, thanks. Just checking,…
Jose Salcido, Reed’s law-enforcement goat roper, understates: “They werent’ happy.“
With sagacious observations like that, I’m beginning to understand why Reed created a what otherwise appeared to be a spurious position for Mr. Salcido, the retired sheriff’s lieutenant who couldn’t make the cut at SJPD when he started his career, but nonetheless had the audacity to claim during an interview recently published in SJPOA’s Vanguard that had he returned to the department for a second try he’d “probably be a deputy chief.” My goodness, what a few decades can do to the confidence of a failed recruit; I wonder if Salcido also believes that had he continued on with his seminary studies he’d today be pope?
Mr. Reed’s presentation at SJPD was a classic: arrogance, chutzpah, and contradiction delivered as an embalmer delivers his preservatives. The mayor was apparently under the impression that he could undo at least some of the damage he’d done by scapegoating the coppers for the city’s financial ills, which shows how skewed one’s sensibilities can get from playing politics to excess: the mayor actually forgot that some people take words seriously.
As a measure of Reed’s cluelessness consider this: at a presentation to a group he’s publicly insulted because of their pay and benefits, he brought along his advisor, a failed politician from Victor Ajlouny’s cartel who’s collecting a six-digit pension from the county PLUS a six-digit salary for his service(?) on the mayor’s staff. Stupidity, of the in-your-face variety. It’s enough to make one wonder who he’ll bring with him should he address Planned Parenthood? Perhaps the Octomom?
Responding to “BS Monitor” comments: It is kind of sad that politics have evolved to this point. Nobody argues about the fact we are in a terrible economic climate with hard choices that have to be made. It’s not business as usual.
Don’t misunderstand, I think officers should be highly paid, trained professionals. Most are very professional.
The public starts looking at cities going bankrupt, losing officers, curtailing of government services they’ve come to expect. I don’t think anyone is happy about that.
So what happens? Attack Salcido and whoever else. As DSA president, he obtained better working conditions for the deputies who put their lives at stake, just like all law enforcement officers do.
Try and make him the bad guy? He has more integrity than a lot of folks we read about. Sure, I suppose you can twist and manipulate facts to make even the Pope look questionable.
Like a lot of lawyers when defending their clients; attack the officer. In this case, personal attacks against the messenger (Salcido) while side-stepping the real issues. Failed politician? Part of a cartel? Stupidity? Who are really the stupid ones?
PRFB,
Why should Salcido be off limits? He has, through his political connections with Victor Ajlouny, landed a job (that didn’t previously exist) with scarce qualifications (he was a corrections consultant—San Jose doesn’t run a jail), with a mayor who has shown he will stop at nothing in waging his holy war against this city’s police officers.
What message has Salcido for the cops on the street or the citizens in their homes? What benefit has his employment provided to anyone other than those of the Ajlouny-Reed-Salcido cartel? Would Salcido be a city employee today had he not FAILED in his effort to unseat Laurie Smith?
Call me stupid, but better yet, prove me wrong! Chuck Reed is waging war and Jose Salcido has chosen to stand at his side. What, did Ajlouny fail to warn him there could be consequences? That sometimes there’s complications along with those six-figures and no work? What he did in the past for the sheriff’s office is the past. He’s in San Jose jurisdiction now, and there are plenty of people not happy about it.
Once again, BS Monitor, in my opinion, your logic doesn’t hold true. I think there are other dynamics involved. Laurie Smith, Victor Ajlouny………..who else are you going to try and throw into the mix?
I don’t know who the “plenty of people not happy about it” are, except maybe those who are hearing disinformation in an effort to get at the Mayor (or others).
Anyway, everyone has their opinions and maybe nobody is right. Either way, it’s kind of hard to justify some positions with the Mayor’s clear majority landside election.
Whether we like or dislike someone, I think the public should be the focus. After all, I think that’s the real boss. By the way, wasn’t it the SJPOA who endorsed Reed for Mayor or did you forget?
BS Monitor,
Jose Salcido is an integrity ridden, decent man who loves our men and women in blue as if they were his own biological family. He is the best thing that ever happened to SJPD, and to our community. He was hired to bring Law Enforcement and the community together. He has been doing that very effectively, and if you bothered to attend community meetings, you’d know that.
After years of unfair press waged on the SJPD, and accusations of bad behavior by our SJPD hurled by Raj and his buddies at almost every Council Meeting, the Mayor hired Jose to advise him on Law Enforcement issues, and to try and repair the damage the Mercury News, Raj, and his cohorts have done to the SJPD with their misinformation campaign.
Jose has spent countless hours explaining Police procedures and policies to a very ignorant community. If you divide the $120K, BENEFITS INCLUDED that he earns, by the 55-60 hour weeks he works, you’d see that he more than earns his pay. For those efforts, you should be thanking him not bashing him because the “bash the SJPD articles” in the media have been greatly reduced.
It seems to me that you Officers who either don’t know him very well, or resent him working for a Mayor you hate, or supported his opponent Laurie Smith are waging the attacks made on Jose because you have an axe to grind with him or the Mayor.
This type of behavior coming from San Jose’s finest is truly distressing to me personally. I’m really disappointed in you and others on the force that hurt your brothers and sisters like this in public, whilst hiding behind an anonymous name.
@ Kathleen, here is problem,,,, Mayor Reed has a police chief making that much money too so why not have the chief do that job or answer mayor questions,,, seems like waste of money…. Especially if he disagrees with chief…..there can only be one chief…. And San jose has FOUR…. Figone weighs in on everything related to police… She addressed troops and scolded them not long ago…. Reed came to briefing and told the cops they were on gravy train………so he sound slike chief too….Reed is dumb to pay for four! If Reed felt Davis incapable then Figone should got rid of him long time ago. Instead we have a lot of incompetent adminstrators that know nothing about police work trying to run the department. If Jose was real cop he knows this and when mayor ask question he would say why don’t you ask chief…. There is nothing jose doing that not any SJPD Officer could do.
Steve,
I understand your anger and frustration. I get that what I said in my posts may be hard for you to agree with, but I am telling you the truth. Mayor Reed does care about the SJPD, and he is trying to save your jobs the only way he knows how to.
I do concede that he could have gone about it in a better more collaborative way, but let’s be honest here, so could the Unions. Had you guys been out there years ago educating the public about your benefits, and your contributions, you may have withstood the storm of V and W better.
As you know, I am a very strong supporter of Law Enforcement. Having said that, I know your plight better than the average citizen. The only reason I know about your benefits and contributions is because I made sure I educated myself on the issue by asking Law Enforcement, and by reading public documents through the City Clerks Office about this issue.
As to Jose, I again stand firm in my assertion that he is and has been trying to educate the Mayor on your position and on your needs, as well as, working with the community to bring us together with Law Enforcement. You can’t beat him up for doing his best just because you hate Mayor Reed.
I personally, find the hateful remarks on this site, on Mercury News blogs, and in the Vanguard to be part of the reason our SJPD is in this mess with the public, and the City.
I get that you guys are angry, and I get that your moral is low, and you feel disrespected for the dangerous work you do every day on the street, but to drag in Jose’s dead brother, and Bobby’s wife into this, to terrorize our City Manager whilst she was eating lunch at a restaurant, and to publicly bash our Mayor, George Beattie, Bobby Lopez, our City Manager, and Jose Salcido is simply just crossing the line.
All sides have gone too far, and we citizens want you to stop it and work together.
William Smoke,
You might consider this, since some members of the public don’t trust the SJPD, how on earth would you expect them to believe, or collaborate with someone representing the SJPD?
While you might be correct in top heavy management in the SJPD, that is common EVERYWHERE throughout both private and government organizations. Hopefully this economy will create a change in this area!
PRFB,
“Like or dislike someone?” Are we passing notes in class or addressing contentious, grown-up political issues?
Plain and simple: Jose Salcido is a politician, one who desperately wants/wanted to be sheriff of this county. His expertise lies in county government issues: he has no special knowledge of San Jose nor of SJPD policies or community relations. His connection with Mayor Reed, his current employer, is through their shared political consultant, Victor Ajlouny. It is reasonable to view Salcido’s current position as a case of one Ajlouny stablemate, one who gained a seat in government, accommodating another, one out on the street after several failed schemes to become sheriff. Anyone who thinks Salcido is in that spot to serve anyone but himself and Chuck Reed is a fool.
Salcido’s track record is fascinating: first, he ran for sheriff and lost. Then, according to a 2005 DA’s investigator’s report, he made a quid pro quo deal with the county executive, bargaining off his union’s support for binding arbitration in exchange for better wages and, reportedly, the promise of the sheriff’s job should Laurie Smith vacate it, as was expected, for the CHP commissioner’s job. And finally, in the last election, with his own political résumé tarnished, he threw his support behind a Chuck Reed-endorsed sheriff’s candidate who couldn’t command a police kiosk—another dud from Ajlouny’s stable, in exchange for promises we can only guess at.
Feel free to offer whatever evidence your have of Mr. Salcido’s value to the taxpayers of San Jose, who are already paying a fortune for the policing expertise and community relations skills that the SJPD command staff stand ready to share with the mayor.
Kathleen,
“and to try and repair the damage the Mercury News, Raj, and his cohorts have done to the SJPD with their misinformation campaign” is laughable. Reed could care less about repairing this damage, and has gone way out of his way to cause further damage. Reed has rallied the public against us. I am sure he loves reading about the internal power struggle in the POA caused by Bobby Lopez, as it just weakens the POA. We do not trust Reed as far as we can throw him so although Mr Salcido might be a great guy he does not help his reputation working for Reed.
@Kathleen it waste of money….Reed is wasting our money ,, if chief can not do this then get rid of chief. The few people that don’t like or trust SJPD that you refer to don’t like cops anywhere in world! Jose or anyone cannot change that. The complaints this small few have about profile or use of force is an issue in every city in America ,..google any city police brutality,,,, Raj has been cloned in every city….. Mayor screwed that up when he put cop hater on a public committee thinking that would apese him….. Waste waste waste. Get rid of jose,,, if mayor don’t like sjpd chief then go talk to one of his assistants,,,, there 4 other deputy chiefs…. Seems like a lot of people could answer his questions
Once again you deflect the real issues here.
The contentious bias and emotions really are demonstrated in your last comments. You seem to portray yourself rich in knowledge, far smarter than the average public citizen. There are three types of folks that one can never reason with……..but perhaps you just need to talk to someone.
BS Monitor, you said,” Plain and simple: Jose Salcido is a politician, one who desperately wants/wanted to be sheriff of this county.”
So are you saying Jose should not have run for Sheriff even though the men and women of the DS wanted him to? Give me a break here BS. Most people who run for Office care about their community, the public, and/or the men/women they serve. BTW- If the Sheriff’s department is run anything like the last Sheriff’s election I’d hide my head in shame, not brag about them on a public blog. I was at the two DSA forums for the Sheriff’s election. Sad~
I gather you haven’t been to any of the community forums held in SJ since Jose has been at the Mayor’s Office, if you were, you’d stop making ignorant statements like, “His expertise lies in county government issues: he has no special knowledge of San Jose nor of SJPD policies or community relations.”
It seems that you have a real axe to grind with Jose and the Mayor, and may be you have better reasons for your bias than you are posting here, but re-writing Jose’s resume to push your own agenda isn’t working for me. Jose isn’t going to run for Sheriff again. With all the connections he has in Washington, he’ll probably be working for President Obama when he leaves the Mayor’s Office!
You say, “Feel free to offer whatever evidence your have of Mr. Salcido’s value to the taxpayers of San Jose, who are already paying a fortune for the policing expertise and community relations skills that the SJPD command staff stand ready to share with the mayor.”
Happy to oblige BS, I will post the next set of community meetings for you to attend. After all, “seeing is believing” isn’t it?
William Smoke,
If you are a Police Officer than I suggest you re-think your position on this. The Police need to have a good working relationship with citizens, as we are the EYES AND EARS you need when you are so short staffed.
If community members fear the SJPD then they will not come forth with vital information to assist a great PD. And in my eyes, SJPD is the finest! My friend was murdered two years ago and thanks to the awesome work of our PD, several of the co-conspirators are sitting in jail.
You said, “Mayor screwed that up when he put cop hater on a public committee thinking that would apese him….. Waste waste waste. Get rid of jose,,, if mayor don’t like sjpd chief then go talk to one of his assistants,,,, there 4 other deputy chiefs…. Seems like a lot of people could answer his questions”
The Mayor is a man who has the good sense to be inclusive. While I strongly disagree with Raj and his buddy’s methodology, they do have a right to be heard. Again, since the point I’ve been trying to make has been heard yet, the Mayor wants to bring Law Enforcement together with the community. His work is invaluable t o the community. Like it or not William, Jose is doing an awesome job. Come to some of the community meetings and see for yourself.
PRFB,
I wish I was smart enough to understand what exactly it is you object to in my posts. At least with Kathleen I realize that I am up against that huge heart she wears on her sleeve, but you, I’ve got to admit, have me stumped.
Your first objection was that I attacked Jose Salcido, someone you believe has no real part in the fray. Fair enough. You are obviously of the opinion that it is possible for the allies of one’s opponent to remain unscathed no matter how down and dirty the fight. I would imagine that, going into this, Mr. Salcido thought the same, banking on the good name he earned with local cops as head of the DSA.
I am of a different opinion and, in a follow-up post, explained in detail the justifications for directing my focus on him. Your response was to suggest mine was a personal objection, hint that there might be other factors involved, and then argue that my conclusions were obviously proved wrong, by virtue of the election results.
I replied to your post by revealing the tangled political web that connects Chuck Reed and Jose Salcido, relying only on information readily available to the general public. This you interpreted as biased and emotion-based, and called into question my commitment to a factual discussion.
In short, what you’ve accomplished was to go from a “sticks and stones” objection to my first post to chucking your own sticks and stones in your last post. Where exactly did you learn to debate this way? I’m not dealing with emotions here. Hell, had Jose Salcido won the sheriff’s seat when he first ran for it I wouldn’t have cared one bit. But he didn’t win it, and what he’s done since then, and where his political ambitions and personal ego have taken him, are deeply troubling. There are real reasons to believe that, were it not for the political ambitions of Karyn Sinunu back in ‘95, Mr. Salcido would’ve been charged with perjury (uncovered by a DA’s investigator) committed while playing politics. Now, this one-time leader of a law enforcement employee group works for a mayor who has unfairly scapegoated a group of law enforcement employees and appears quite willing to gut the police department in order to get a damn ballpark built.
It doesn’t take personal bias to recognize that Mr. Salcido is BOUGHT AND SOLD.
Generally I enjoy your posts Kathleen and know that you support the SJPD. However, in this case you are so far off base that your credibility just took a major hit. Mayor Reed does not care a whit about the rank and file SJPD officer. I have never seen such blatant arrogance and to say that most SJPD officers despise him would be a gross understatement. Mayor Reed and Debra Figone have done more damage to the SJPD over this past year than even Rob Davis over the course of his Chief’s position. As for Salcido, he is simply a stooge for Reed to mine for information on how to more effectively screw the FD and PD better. Mark my words, darker days are ahead and the devil pulling the strings wears a suit and tie.
Sorry Kathleen, you are off base,
I guess we have no other choice but to agree to disagree on the Mayor caring about our SJPD, and Jose Salcido’s vital work on your behalves, and his work in the community. Jose is only in a position to advise the Mayor, and once he has, it is up to our Mayor to either take his advise or not.
Having served on countless Advisory Boards and Commissions myself, I can tell you it is a depressing position to be in, to have good advise, and hard work be ignored. It is one of the main reasons I rarely ever serve on Boards like that now.
You are correct when you say there are darker days ahead. As long as each side stays firmly attached to their position, nothing will change for the better.
Having said that, in fairness to you and other Officers who are venting your anger on this blog let me say this, not all citizens hate you. The vast majority of us deeply appreciate your service and your commitment to us. I know you give up countless holidays, time with your children, family and friends. I know you have pictures in your head that, even after retirement, won’t fade a way. For that selfless commitment to the public, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Your service and commitment to us is why I started the annual Candle Light Vigils, and am undertaking these community meetings with the backing of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Association of Santa Clara Valley, Jose’s and Council Member Chu’s assistance.
It is my effort to get vital information about your selfless work, and my way of trying to educate both sides to the other’s plight, as well as, trying to bring Law Enforcement closer to the community. When they see you and your hard work to protect them, my hope is that they will support, trust, care for, and respect you the way I do. I hope you’ll join us.
Please take care, and stay safe out there.
Kathleen do not try to convince the cops that REED likes the police. His words speak loud and clear. His actions of cutting the police speak loud and clear. There will be another cop killed because of staffing shortages.. This is REEDs fault.
If Jose is doing such a great job and our 5 other chiefs cannot do this job. Then lets make Jose the Chief.
As you say he doing such a good job we should make him chief.
Oakland has 600 cops and they have a lot of homicides. San Jose is going from 1500 to 1000 it only makes sense we in San Jose will have a lot of homicides. You need police to investigate and they are overwhelmed.
William Smoke,
“Kathleen do not try to convince the cops that REED likes the police.”
I’m not trying to convince you of anything. I am just stating my personal opinion. You have the right to yours as well. We can agree to disagree on this.
“His actions of cutting the police speak loud and clear. There will be another cop killed because of staffing shortages.. This is REEDs fault.”
We can agree to disagree here too. It will be the criminal’s fault, not the Mayor’s, for any cop that gets killed in the line of duty. I know Mayor Reed’s effort to reduce benefits and pay will result in the HIRING of more Officers, and that is a fact, not my opinion.
“If Jose is doing such a great job and our 5 other chiefs cannot do this job. Then lets make Jose the Chief. As you say he doing such a good job we should make him chief.”
You’ll get no argument from me on this idea!
Jose would be an awesome Chief of Police!
“Oakland has 600 cops and they have a lot of homicides. San Jose is going from 1500 to 1000 it only makes sense we in San Jose will have a lot of homicides. You need police to investigate and they are overwhelmed.”
I agree 100%! But even with the understaffed department we’ve always had, and have now, SJPD does an awesome job investigating shootings, stabbings, murders, and gang activity. They do a far better job than Oakland, that’s for sure.
Kathleen,
First off, I know you are a huge advocate of ours ans hope the best for us.
Having said that, I totally disagree with your statement, “I know Mayor Reed’s effort to reduce benefits and pay will result in the HIRING of more Officers, and that is a fact, not my opinion.”
Two contracts ago, we voted to have 5% taken from our gross pay to prefund our retiree’s health care. Last contract, we gave back almost 6% more to fund our pension. We gave up our annual uniform and gear allowance. We have worked with the city and made huge concessions. This has not resulted in the hiring in one office; we are in fact being told by the city manager that upwards of 200 officers will be laid off if we do not conceded to more. This from a department that has been perenially understaffed by at least 600 officers and has the lowest citizen to officer ration in the United States.
The awesome investigations you speak of will for the most part no longer exist, since entire investigative units are in the process of being disbanded. Wait a few months and see what crimes will no longer be investigated and which calls patrol officers will no longer respond to.
Please do not believe that more concessions will result in more officers being hired.
Steve,
My apologies. I wasn’t very clear in my statement. Let me clarify what I meant. What I meant was that Mayor Reed is of the belief that if he gets a 10% concession from the SJPOA, he will be able to hire more Officers. On the one hand it makes sense that if you are paying out less, you should be able to hire more Officers with the excess money you have left, especially once the two-tier system is in place, and incoming Officers are getting a lower salary, and paying more into their benefits.
Having said that, I know thanks to V and W, which I voted no on by the way, that a two-tier system is inevitable. Once you have more Officers coming in at a lower wage, economically speaking, it would make sense that more Officers could be hired.
It might seem like Simple Economics 101, however, my personal belief is that the SJPOA has already gotten members to take a cut and contribute more; therefore, it is unfair to not only ask them to take ANOTHER 10%, and invoke a two-tier system, you are doing a great disservice to incoming Officers, and Officers who are presently employed by the City. Why? Because presently employed Officers are being made to do more with less, they are being asked to take a lower wage and benefits offered by other cities. Offering a lower wage/benefit package to incoming Officers will make it very difficult to attract Officers who can get a better deal in other cities.
I know you guys are paying out a lot already. I know many of you are barely hanging on and some of you are drowning. I also know a two tier system will dissuade good recruits/Officers from joining the SJPD. I also know and am already seeing that crime is on the rise. You only have to look at how many homicides we’ve already had this year to figure it out. With 200 LESS Police Officers on the street, crime will most certainly rise. Clearly, this is something our Mayor and Council will have to see to believe before they get it.
Kathleen Who’s fault when cop gets killed in SJ. This will be on the shoulders of Reed/Figone.
See when there are suppose to be 7 Officers working in an area that is 8 miles wide and you then go out to patrol with maybe 3 there is a problem. Not only can the officers not protect the citizens they are barely able to protect each other.
Say you have a couple of thugs punching the crap out of you do you want 2 other officers working in this 8 mile area or 7 officers.
The Oakland Officers blamed their mayor also for doing the same cuts that cut into the safety of the Four Oakland Officers that died in one incident.
If you think that SJPD will be able to provide any type of quality service when you cut a third of the force; to a force that was already 600 officers short. Well Kathleen you must be smoking the weed with Oliverio behind city hall.
“Sure, I suppose you can twist and manipulate facts to make even the Pope look questionable.”
Well, yeah. Some lawyers have recently uncovered Papal correspondence from years back urging that parishioners not be informed about pedophile priests.
“And these people are allowed to carry guns, arrest citizens, and show disrespect and contempt for the elected “government by the people”.
Or then again maybe they have the same Constitutional right you do to express their opinions including dislike for an elected official. Just because a person chooses to work for a city, county, or state doesn’t remove their right to disagree with elected officials performances. In fact, most elected officials term out long before the employees finish their careers. I would hope a career employee would speak out when they see incompetence enacted by anyone in their organization, elected or otherwise.
Go back to your cave. Fig and Reed will go down as the worst city leaders of all time! The Mexican gang wars are just heating up folks and its still winter! Nortenos and Surenos are nothing compared to the mix that the Cartels will add. We got a small taste of it 2 weeks ago at the Mexicali Club. Now when the thugs from the eastbay realize that the shop is open and no one is watching the register………..It will be back to the days of Family Crip Gangsters, CWA, San Jose Boyz, West Side Mob, EHP and Varrio Horse Shoe… This is because SJ doesnt have a gang problem, the cops (VCET) were never the reason a lid was kept on gangs and last but not least cops are overpaid and not needed at all. You get what you as for! Let the circus begin… The ill informed may chime in now from their safe secure keyboard.
The SJPOA is out of control. They lied and misled the citizens about measure V & W. Over the last year or so the POA went from a 80% approval rating to an 20%. The POA has built walls up all around the city. During these fiscal times every other organization has brought the animosity and walls down. Good luck POA. I feel bad for your officers. I know several officers and they want to quit.
Everyone look on the SJPOA web site. Beattie did make that statement and then rolls in the mud. What has happened to what was once a decent organization? If you try to leave a comment on the blog they support it will not be taken. You have to register with them to leave a comment. This is another sign that they will not take other ideas or thoughts.
Maybe Chief Batts can stop the boys and girls in blue from fighting with each other since they will lose more than they have already lost at City Hall and in community support
POA is no longer political powerhouse it once was because of well coordinated efforts between Mercury’s Webby and Marshmann, City Manager police department’s boss and supported by 3-4 Council members
I know Mayor Reed, Bobby Lopez, and George Beattie very well. All three of these men are decent people who are just trying to do the right thing for the people they serve. While I don’t agree with their methodology all the time, I do know their hearts are in the right place.
Having said that, when we elected Mayor Reed to steward our City, we knew he’d be given the task of making tough decisions that will save our City from bankruptcy. We also knew he isn’t the most warm and fuzzy guy but he has the business sense to pull us through the tough times.
He’s a down to earth, no bones kinda guy who says what he means, and means what he says. I do know that Mayor Reed is also a fair man who has and will own up to his mistakes when they are pointed out to him, hence the apology he made to the SJPD for the “gravy train” remark.
Could Mayor Reed have done a better job of collaborating with the POA and other Unions before launching the volatile and sometimes dirty V and W campaign? Yes, he could have. But the Unions share some of the blame here too because they forgot we aren’t living in a time of plenty, and that this is the worst economy since the depression. We must all pull together in tough times, and spread the wealth in good times.
As to George Beattie, he took on the job as POA President during one of the worst economic times any POA President has ever faced. I can’t imagine the stress and pressure he must be feeling in trying to keep his men and women employed. Many of you don’t realize how many of our Police officers are struggling to make ends meet and feed their families. Imagine being at the helm of a ship with the responsibility of a thousand or more people’s livelihoods in your hands.
Contrary to the media reports and gossip on this blog, Bobby Lopez was planning to start a FOP two years ago. (Yes, while he was POA President.) It is not nor was it ever his intention of bringing the POA down, nor is he trying to hurt the POA. He is simply trying to give the men and women of the SJPD another organization to get assistance from. Not one SJPD Officer has to give up being a part of the POA to be a member of FOP; so all these claims of Bobby trying to sink the POA are unfounded.
Having said that, I do wish all three of these men would sit down and talk things through. I think the lack of communication, and their pride is getting in the way of their good leadership to those depending on them to do the right thing.
They, like the rest of us, must pull together so we can get through these rough waters together, leaving as few causalities behind as possible.
As Rosalynn Carter once said, “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”
Just to put things straight. I trained Jose, Bobby and countless others from the Sheriff’s Office. we all worked 2nd deck at the Old Main Jail and patrol together.
Yes Bobby was a Deputy for many years before he jumped ship, but it was a good move for Bobby as he has un shakeable integrity.
Unless you actually know what these fine gentlemen have gone through protecting you please keep your idiotic comments civil.
Jose is a very good man and pillar of what law enforcement administrators should be a model of. Jose really cares for his community and the law enforcement family,wheather it be Sheriff or San Jose Police.
George Beattie is another straight shooter an excellent example of great leader. George and I met many years ago. He is the real deal regarding law enforement administration for San Jose.
Until you have walked in the shoes of these fine gentlemen you have “no clue” of what you are spouting off about.
These men have watched their friends and partners lose their lives while protecting all of you. I personally have lost a partner and know the feeling of hopeless abandon of doing the job of a law enforcement officer. You are constantly thinking of your family, your kids, your now departed partners family and what could have been changed make things better for all.
I will end this with a comment about Mayor Reed. He unfortunately is the most corrupt leader the City of San Jose has ever had. My veiw is he has some real major “Napoleon Syndrome” issues.
God Bless all of you that are still on the job, you deserve all the benefits you can get.
Keep up the fight and Never Give Up!
Fraternal Order of Police? FOP? Not a good name for a group of cops. FOP COPS??
Go practice law or something. Pick your nose.
San Jose needs to have a open honest discussion about what are the city’s budget priorities why they do they match up to where our taxes are actually being spent
Hundreds millions taxes have been and millions more are proposed to be spent during budget shortage for lower priority services, inappropriate city and redevelopment spending or given to non government groups and political favorites while not properly funding those city services that cities exist to provide
For too long, the Council has not been honest with public about where our taxes are being spent and the real reasons why
Mayor Reed was asked in swing briefing the following: Since the passage of Measures V & W basically makes it easier for City Hall to create pay and benefit packages which are less competitive with those of other agencies around the bay area (check out SFPD, SCPD, Fremont PD, PAPD, Redwood City PD), what is City Hall’s plan to continue to attract and retain the best candidates for public safety positions?
Mayor Reed’s answer was that, if hiring became a problem under the current hiring standards, he would be willing to re-examine the standards in place as hiring guidelines. He said this in a room full of 100+ cops, and, in my estimation was even more of a slap in the face than his ‘gravy train’ comments. It communicates to those of us hired under the current standards that he values our professionalism and qualifications less than he values getting the city’s financial house in order.
Municipal government has the final core responsibilities: administration, infrastructure, education and public safety. Now, take a look at the city’s budget and ask yourself how that represents a financial house that is in order. Clearly, the city values pet projects and various forms of income redistribution (i.e. subsidized housing) more than sustaining core services.
Here’s another slap in the face of public safety from Reed and company: at the same time they have cut police positions filled by about 13% since I got hired, and while officers are making historically high contributions to our benefits, Reed and Co. have authorized the construction of tens of thousands of new housing units, which will push the city’s coffers further into the red and make the job of public safety even more challenging – more work distributed across fewer shoulders.
20 years public safety, 60% pension.
30 years, 80% max pension.
Criminally prosecute workers comp fraud for disabilities.
Average 3 highest years wages for pension calculation.
Require full funding of pension annually, with 50-50 split between city and employee.
Move retirement age to 55 or 60. Create more community based policing (walking patrols, etc) for older officers with a staffing plan designed to allow a quick reaction force as back up. Maybe even patrol in pairs. For firefighters, use older workers in enforcement, but don’t let them cash out early just cause their heroes and they spent a tough 20-30 years cooking, lifting weights and responding the medical calls and one or two fires a year.
Allow for more career growth within the ranks, add a CPL rank and allow officers to grow into this to allow for extra supervision at less cost. Reward best practices by allowing some new policing ideas to perculate up from the ranks or the mid ranks and try some new things rather than just linear top down management by some PC appointee on top who’s only going to stay long enough to max their retirement.
Blair,
The current system for police is 50% after 20 years and a minimum of 55 years old. Why do you want to increase it to 60%.
Also, once you turn 60, strap on 30 pounds of gear, walk around all day on bad knees and hips, with a bad back, then fight a 250 pound criminal, high on drugs who just got out of prison, and let us know if you still think it is a good idea.
Lastly, I do agree that workers comp fraud should be prosecuted. I can think of an ostensibly healthy city council member who is collecting a lifetime disability from the police department, while the city council, mayor and city manager turn a blind eye to him.
Blair Whitney
You have a lot of opinion on the matter. But do you know what police and firemen really do. Most police do not reach 30 years of service because they have broken up bodies by the pure nature of the job. Do you really want a 60 year old women fighting a 20 year old at a bar fight? Give me a break you are clueless. Patrolling in pairs would require a lot more police and FIGONE is cutting the department from 1500 to 1000 when they were already 600 short.
For the last 20 years or so the police and fire and other city unions have negotiated with the city to give up a pay raise for a better retirement package. So should we go back and re – negotiate all those contracts?