It's been the position of the Derry Patrolman's Union that there is a serious issue with police moral and that the administration is "uncaring" about its officers so much so that they attribute 8 officers of leaving the department because of the horrific working situation that they must endure in the department. We see the articles in the newspapers of the campaign to get someones attention to their issues. On their website http://www.derrypoliceunion.com
you will see the plea for an independent study of moral in the dept. They do not accept the findings of previous town administrator John Moody when he did a study of police morale last year.
Union president Micheal Houle has even come up to the town council and stated that he feels there is a dis-connect from the police administration and has said in his examples that nobody came to see the officer that was hit by a car and was in a Boston hospital. No one came to the retirement party for some of the officers that recently retired and that current officers never get a positive compliment from their supervisors and that he feels that this is something lacking in the department.
And then we read an article in the UL today that states that there is a huge shake-up in the Manchester Fire Dept. upsetting many of the fire fighters there who are accustomed to some working with others for as long as 22 years in same firehouse, same shifts and same working hours. The reason for the shake-up? Complacency! And the mayor is agreeing with the new fire chief. It's too friendly with the administration and with the firefighters on many levels and a "shake-up" was long overdue is what has been stated.
So we see two different but similar situations. Who's right and Who is wrong? That's for the reading public to make that call. What are your thoughts? I'm interested in hearing from you!
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15 comments:
I do not like it when department issues are dealt with in a public forum rather than through the proper channels. The interim town administrator looked into it and thought it had no merit. The new town administrator refused to look into it further.
I know the union head cares about the town but I don't agree with how he is going about this. Did he list each and every issue with the interim town administrator? If so, it would be nice to see the interim TA's response to each issue. There may be legitimate issues but I suspect most police departments have issues. The claim that the police chief did not visit the injured officer is a concern and if true, one has to ask why.
One of the retired officers spoke with me personally and he was upset that the union head was speaking out on his behalf. He told me that his retirement had nothing to do with the issues the union head was raising.
So, what are the real issues? Is it morale? Is it that the union head simply dislikes the chief? Is it a promotion issue since the chief and the captains are not moving on? Too much conflicting information to make a reasonable conclusion.
You spelled "morale" wrong.
I think that the Town and Police union should share the costs with of a study conducted by a third party. It can't hurt to bring in an outside source.
Maybe the Town is trying to squash something by having this be a dead issue.
All I know is that the Derry Police Dept is looked poorly on by other departments in the state.
It may be the Chief, it may not. I suspect there could easily be issues with having the same fire chief for 35 years. The fire department had to bring in a new Chief from outside of the department last time around. Maybe the PD is in need of a restructuring.
correction: same police chief for 35 years
"the Derry Police Dept is looked poorly on by other departments in the state"
Says who? Do you just trash organizations for the fun of it?
Ask the police officers in this community... they will tell you the real deal.
Here we go again lets just spend more of our taxpayers money....on third party studies. This is just what we need more moneygoing out the window. Why not have the current council and TA do a proper study with some sort of rep from the police dept and the union to get both perspectives. I am sure if some sort of evaluation were done on the superiors, some issues would have surfaced. If there are no such evaluations then maybe one should be done by everyone on the force, submitted and then reviewed by the union and TA. This could be and effective and inexpensive way to get to the issues. I don't know if anything like this can be done because it is a union. It has been done in other work environments and I see no reason why not here.
I just heard that two additional police officers retired effective last Friday.
Where are the SPECIFIC examples of the grievence process failing ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Are pending changes in the State Retirement System causing retirements???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
3/1/08 4:23 PM-- retired or quit? We can not stop the aging process.
I think that it's time for the police officers to go public with their concerns. They have been beating around the bush long enough. Clearly noone at the Town level will hear their issues.
Do I hear a vote of no confidence in the air?
Why is this even still an issue?
None of the officers who have left or retired have made any kind of public statement. Surely after leaving the department there cannot be fear of retribution. In fact the ONLY person who has spoken publicly on this alleged morale issue is the head of the union who has not produced one union grievance (the first step in resolving issues such as this) and just signed a new contract with the town.
In a recent article in the Derry News the head of the union was quoted as saying the issues have nothing to do with the contract that was signed and that he would have given up the raise the union received to get this issue resolved. This could clearly be made a contract issue by the union so why didn’t he make it one?
Anyone who has spent any time working in a union environment knows that ultimately there are only 2 ways for unions to resolve issues with employers, the grievance procedure and negotiations at contract time. They would also know that union/employer issues are not exactly uncommon, that’s why there is an established procedure to deal with them.
Kudos to Derry News writer Eric Parry who gave a nice overview of the grievance procedure, it’s good to see some objective journalism telling both sides of a story in this paper again.
If the union president would rather take the money than fight for this issue at the bargaining table, that’s his prerogative. If no one in the union wants to file a legitimate grievance, that’s their choice as well. But not one dime of taxpayer money should be spent looking into an issue the union has steadfastly refused to address through the proper channels.
BC: What do you as a councilor think should happen with this issue?
Brian,
Again I will ask what your opinion is as a Town Councilor.
Anon 7:01,
My opinion is that this needs to be addressed through the proper chain of command. We have gone that route already with John Moody as acting admin. Then Gary Steinhouse has had a chance to review the report and speak with the police administration and he is satisfied with the report. As a single councilor, there is not much that can be done according to charter rules. So at this point, what is expected???? If there really is a problem that is as bad as the union says it is then we will see first hand the problems. Do I think everything is perfect, no. Do I think politics are being played by a few inside the police dept? probably. Do some inside not like each other meaning admin vs union leaders? no doubt- Should policeman continue to be professional and we as councilors support our men and women on the force- Absolutly!!!
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