Hiring within?

SORRY FOR POSTING THAT 4 TIMES.......DIDN'T THINK IT TOOK!!


ANYWAY, JUST APPRECIATE THE HELP YOU HAVE WITH THE PSA'S....AT THE RATE WE'RE GOING, MOST OF THE OFFICERS WILL BE TERMINATED WHEN THEIR I.A.'S ARE COMPLETED..........

WELL, ON SECOND THOUGHT, WE DON'T FIRE ANYONE HERE

Picture this... Ring Ring Ring, line #1, Ring Ring Ring line #2 up to how many lines does that freggin SDO phone have? I pick up the phone, officer my house is on fire! Hold on dispatch is sending down in progress calls again! Line #2 Yeah, umm my baby daddy slapped me! Hold please--- "Excuse me, I see your talking on 6 lines but someone stole my credit credit and used it at 15 places in Lakeland.. Oh, just give me a quick second to type those 15 separate reports! Yes separate reports! > BUZZ, BUZZ crap someone wants in down in Book-In, even though they know the code..BUZZ, Just a second!! Ring Ring Ring!!! More lines, more lines, more lines!! Officers come up "Hey can you do me a favor?"...Meanwhile one phone to each ear, typing a report, pushing the Book-In button with my foot, while giving someone directions to Munn park, yes Munn Park!! Give me a break. Citizens stands at the window "This is rediculous I have been waiting here for 7 min.!!!! I want to talk to your supervisor! Officers walk up and quickly walk away, never offering to help, get food or drink, or just cover for a 5 min.break.... The desk is busy during the day!!!! But the street is no different. 10-65 21R..The reportee advised approx. 5 mobile homes broken into, other PSA's cant help because they have been ordered by Sgt's to work on TAC projects because they can't get the officers to do it and their tired of fighting with them. AH, we can just make a PSA do it, right? That is what everyone's been saying for years "We can have a PSA handle that" Read the SOP, we are already going above and beyond what we are supposed to be doing. We out there standing by the officers sides at gas leaks, fires and everything else, and are the first to respond to fatal accidents and hold hands of people who are dying, yet we are not considered first responders or emergency workers. We are standing next to officers at accidents where if they get hit by a car they're covered by the city, but we are not offered those same benifits. If something we to happen to me, my family is on their own. We aren't allowed to work any S15's including directing traffic at baseball games.. Most of us can't afford to live on our own, thats humiliating! Even though we are stretched to our limit, that's fine, but we are not covered for that which we are asked to do in our duties. So why should we bend over backwards for nothing? As far as the cars, we were jumping our cars every morning in the parking lots, breaking down on the side of the road, meanwhile dispatch "10-52 to 10-8 we have 3 21'V's pending for you. One by one the PSA's have been pushed to their breakin point and we've already lost quite a few. Eventually either the third floor will get tired of all the complaining and do away with the program completely, or we will all move on to something else. Don't get me wrong most of us are eager to work and help out, but there aren't many up sides to our job, so when people are talking about putting us at the desk at night and asking even more from us, it's just one more weight on our shoulders, anything else?

IF I WERE A PSA I WOULD RATHER WORK THE DESK AT NIGHT. I WORKED THE DESK DURING MY PATROL TIME AND IT WAS A LOT CALMER DURING THE NIGHT. AFTER ABOUT 10 THE NATIVES GO TO SLEEP OR ARE TOO WASTED TO CALL.
OCCASIONALLY YOU DO GET A CLUSTER AT THE DESK BUT THERES A REASON CABLE T.V. IS INSTALLED AT THE DESK AND ITS NOT BECAUSE THEY DONT HAVE TIME TO WATCH IT.
IF YOU DONT WANT TO HANDLE THE CALLS, AT THE DESK OR ON THE STREETS, MARCH UP TO 5800 N. RD. 98 AND ASK FOR AN APPLICATION.
IM SURE WAL MART WILL HIRE YOU SINCE YOU ARE THE HARDEST WORKER EVER BUILT BY HUMANS.
LET ME KNOW HOW THAT WORKS OUT FOR YOU....

Maybe this will make things a little clearer. The majority of the tensions between officers and PSA's is a result of dispatch. Almost every call that comes in has suspect information because "so and so is mad at me or my baby daddy did it". The problem is that the correct questions are not asked by intake, i.e. did you or someone else witness this and if so describe the suspect and direction of travel. So Officer Friendly gets dispatched and arrives to find out there isn't dizzack, but a 21 or 39 or 51 or whatever without witnesses or evidence needed to make a charge. Then the officer is made to seem like a jerk or lazy because he is dumping on PSA's for asking dispatch to send one. So PSA thinks, "they are there so why not just handle it?". Answer: Because my zone partner may be on a 10-50 without even a drive by, much less 10-99, or a hot in progress call goes out requiring all of the few available officers. "Sorry partner, would have been there to help you but I was throwing print dust around". Hopefully this is not said at a hospital bed or God forbid a funeral. PSA's we do appreciate what you do, you do make our jobs easier. You have to remember what your job entails and that is taking reports which do not require an officer. If that means that the call pends for three hours then so be it. If it keeps one of us from getting hurt or killed it is worth it. I do agree that you guys should be considered first responders and your title clearly states that you are public safety personel and you should recieve better pay and benefits. Hopefully this will give you some insight from the officers' perspective. Our main goal every day is to ensure that ourselves and our brothers/sisters make it home to their family at the end of the shift. That takes priority over Joe Blows report without suspect information which will not even be assigned to a detective for follow up. Just keepin it real. :roll:

I don't mind handling calls, it is my job to do so. When we are short on the street most of us do keep officer safety in mind and handle calls that we shouldn't just to keep officers 10-8. I have had many a report rejected and a Sgt. says "An officer should have handled this". Of course that depends on the Sgt. you send it to. I can't speak for all the PSA's but I know I keep my ears open and when I hear an officer get dispatched to a 21 or 51 with "suspect information" I usually either speak up and the radio for that officer to advise when he gets there if it really is "Suspect information" or if I know the officer well I will call him/her on the cell phone and let them know I will be around the corner if I'm needed.. I don't mind when an officer says "Send a PSA" because I understand the man power shortage, last week we had 3 officers to one side of town. That is insane. I don't mind working hard, it makes the day go by faster. Yes I agree, dispatch has caused friction between PSA's and officers. I have been dispatched to calls where the suspect is still 10-97 because intake didn't ask enough questions. I understand people make mistakes but I don't want to end up hurt or dead because of a mistake like that. I have nothing to protect myself with, except my spray which I dare not spray anyone with because when I was sprayed "I could still fight" Yeah, its sucked but it just pissed me off. There are officers that watch out for us, very few, but those of you that do are greatly appreciated. As far as the TV at the SDO comment, some days you might have an hour or so where it is calm. Like on Sundays or when it's raining, but most of the time I don't have time to watch it and that's the truth. In fact it was an officer that origanlly brought it up there and left it when he left. Maybe he had time to watch it because he serviced everything. Some of you know who I am talking about...LoL!!!!.... People have to understand the PSA's get frustrated with a lot of things, as do officers, but the main thing that concerns me is not the work, but being coverered by the city of that which we are asked to do. That is my beef. If some of us take our frustration out on officers then I'm sorry for that. But usually its just a handful of them that drive us crazy. As far as working the desk at night, that's not really a big deal, I don't necesarily want to, but who does? But if we're going to in fact handle more work then we should at least get more pay or more coverege and I think most officers agree with us on that. It not yall's fault we don't get payed more...

[AFOR]

This above is true, and well said. But I still feel that the PSAs are some of the hardest working members of the department. They perform an invaluable service, do the grunt work, and get little or no respect, or even acknowledgment. I still feel that they need their own supervisor. One that is completely in tune with the needs and career desires of a PSA, not of that of an officer or civilian. The PSA falls somewhere in between the categories of officer and civilian.

If an officer arrives on-scene and finds that the call has been dispatched incorrectly, a PSA should be sent to handle it. Where the problem comes is where the officer has been on scene for up to an hour, then calls for a PSA. Or if the PSA arrives and the officer stays on scene, out of service, watching the PSA handle the call.

No one is saying that the PSAs are perfect or carrying the weight of the department on their shoulders. But it should be acknowledged that they do work hard, doing the jobs that the officers would rather not do. I do not want to hit the streets without the PSAs.

FOR THE GUEST WHO PREVIOUSLY STATED "IF I WERE A PSA I WOULD RATHER WORK THE DESK AT NIGHT" THE FACT REMAINS, YOU AREN'T A PSA AND YOU WOULDN'T BE ONE KNOWING THE WORK LOAD YOU WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR @ $15.00 AN HOUR AFTER 7+ YEARS OF SERVICE. FOR A ONE INCOME HOUSEHOLD THIS TRANSLATES TO SCRAPING BY EVERY TWO WEEKS TO PAY BASIC BILLS. NO LUXURY ITEMS, AT ALL, EVER. NO VACATIONS OUT OF TOWN AND LORD FORBID THERE IS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY WITH THE LOVELY HEALTH INSURANCE PROVIDED. WHAT IF THE ONLY CAR YOU OWN BREAKS DOWN? WHAT IF AN APPLIANCE BREAKS? WHAT ABOUT THE UPKEEP ON A HOME THAT IS 40 YEARS OLD THAT YOU LIVE IN BECAUSE YOU DON'T MAKE ENOUGH MONEY TO HAVE A NEWER HOME? WHAT IF MY CHILD NEEDS HELP? WHAT IF A PET BECOMES ILL? WHAT IF THE ELECTRIC BILL KEEPS SKYROCKETING? THE MAJORITY OF THE PSAs CONSIDER THEIR JOB A CAREER, NOT JUST A JOB, THEY ACTUALLY ENJOY WHAT THEY DO. IT IS HARD TO READ SOME OF THE POSTS ON HERE BECAUSE YOU DO GET THE FEELING THAT COWORKERS FEEL PSAs ARE NOT DOING ENOUGH AND WHAT THE PSAs ARE DOING IS NOT APPRECIATED. TRY TO IMAGINE HOW IT FEELS TO LOVE WHAT YOU DO, GIVE 100 PERCENT, RUN FROM CALL TO CALL TO CALL, FIND YOURSELF DOWN 5 OR 6 REPORTS TRYING TO CATCH UP AND REPEATING THIS EVERY DAY YOU WORK KNOWING IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND YOU WILL NOT BRING HOME ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY BASIC LIVING EXPENSES. I AM NOT SUGGESTING THAT SWORN PERSONNEL ARE ROLLING IN THE DOUGH, FAR FROM IT. BUT IT WOULD BE NICE IF PEOPLE WOULD ACKNOWLEDGE THE FACT THAT PSAs SERVE THE PUBLIC AND THE OFFICERS FOR VERY LITTLE BENEFIT. TO THOSE WHO HAVE POSTED POSITIVE FEEDBACK REGARDING PSAs: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. AS I STATED BEFORE, THIS IS NOT JUST A JOB, IT IS A CALLING (NO ONES IN IT FOR THE MONEY :lol: )

Why aren't PSAs covered by our union? If we supported them, we would want them to join us to get better work conditions. Did someone turn them down or did no one ask?

IT IS MY UNDERSTANDING (AND PLEASE SOMEONE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG!) THAT AS EMPLOYEES CLASSIFIED AS CIVILIAN, NON-FIRST RESPONDER, NON-EMERGENCY, NON-ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL, PSAs CANNOT BE REPRESENTED BY ANY POLICE UNION DUE TO THEIR JOB CLASSIFICATION.

BECAUSE OF THEIR JOB CLASSIFICATION THE PSAs CAN'T WORK FULL DAYS ON SATURDAYS. WHERE ARE ALL THE PSAs ON SATURDAY? THEY HAVE TO GO HOME EARLY OR COME IN LATE SO AS NOT TO EARN THE BUILT IN OVERTIME. ASK ANY OF THEM AND THEY WILL TELL YOU THEY WOULD LOVE TO WORK A FULL SHIFT SATURDAY BUT ARE NOT ALLOWED TO. THAT LITTLE BIT OF EXTRA MONEY WOULD HELP GREATLY!

I HAVE A SNEAKING SUSPICION THAT IF A UNION WERE TO APPROACH THE PSAs AND THE HIGHER UPS GOT WIND OF IT, THE PSA PROGRAM WOULD BE DISCONTINUED. IT FEELS LIKE A LOSE/LOSE SITUATION.

ok, not to beat a dead horse, but we should consider sending our own employees to the academy first, rather than hire total strangers who may or may not even make it through the academy, as is the case several times now with people who will skate through the system because a new, non sworn deputy chief allows it.

at least three times now new applicants that LPD has sponsored haven't made it through the academy and had to finish on their own.
'
we send people through the FTO program and try to get rid of them, but no one around here seems to get fired.

the logical issue with the PSA's is to pay them at least what the Comm center gets paid.

I have been here long enough now to have fought for each of the causes someone has brought up in this forum. The fact of the matter is when you were hired as a PSA, you knew you were not a first responder. This hasn't changed in the ten years I have been here, and it's not apt to change. Pay us more money, and let's get back to seniority playing a part in things around here. Experience does matter.

Thanks to alot of the Officers who do bust their butts, there will always be lazy people, no matter what job you do.

More pay, more respect, that's all I want - oh yeah, maybe my own car - another subject in itself.

Fire the people who aren't cutting it, or who have been involved in an I.A. since they started here.

The issue at hand was hiring from within, which we don't do anymore because if you want to go to the academy, you pay for it, and have to go part time, which takes most of the year. Your time on at the department doesn't count once you get hired on as sworn - that in itself is wrong.

Most of us cannot afford to send ourselves to the academy, nor should we have to when we see some of the people the department has paid to send. In some cases, not money well spent.

Good luck in your fight to be reclassified - we've tried it, and were turned down flat.