The Overtime Option

I agree with the last poster, but we can have 20 police officers patrolling the streets at any given time if we change the current schedule we have. Going to 11.5 hours or 10 hour shifts would be beneficial to the city and us. We can achieve in getting take home cars if we follow Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, and Jupiter's take home car policies with the change of shifts. What bothers me is most of the officers that come on here wanting a merger is just doing it for their self interest and benefits. All the options have not been exhausted. The funny thing is hearing a poster mention 20 officers will leave here for the Sheriff's Office if the merger doesn't go through. Go ahead! PBSO has a long waiting and it's even more rigorous to get in now. It would probably take you a year, if not more to get through the process. I can say this for a fact SO would not higher a large number of cops from one single agency to paraylze it and then have to take it over by mandate at their expense. Good try on the scare tactic.

I agree with the last poster, but we can have 20 police officers patrolling the streets at any given time if we change the current schedule we have. Going to 11.5 hours or 10 hour shifts would be beneficial to the city and us. We can achieve in getting take home cars if we follow Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, and Jupiter's take home car policies with the change of shifts. What bothers me is most of the officers that come on here wanting a merger is just doing it for their self interest and benefits. All the options have not been exhausted. The funny thing is hearing a poster mention 20 officers will leave here for the Sheriff's Office if the merger doesn't go through. Go ahead! PBSO has a long waiting and it's even more rigorous to get in now. It would probably take you a year, if not more to get through the process. I can say this for a fact SO would not higher a large number of cops from one single agency to paraylze it and then have to take it over by mandate at their expense. Good try on the scare tactic.

We also have a hard working tactical team doing their best with limited resources. Majority of the police officer here are hard working and have done their best with what they have. They should be commended.

On Tuesday, June 3rd the City Commission will consider a proposal to fund additional Police overtime targeting high crime areas in the city for the remainder of this fiscal year – until Sept. 30th. If approved, $100,000 will be transferred from the Commission Contingency account.

The CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) www.lakeworthcra.org has funded Police overtime for western neighborhoods for the last year. They started with $80,000 in April of last year and increased it to $150,000 for this fiscal year. The results have been phenomenally successful. Below are some of the statistics of the activity being done strictly by the CRA patrols in the area (6th Ave South to 7th Ave North from C St to F St.) The police patrols are presently working Thursday- Sunday. These stats are from April 07 to April 08.

Mary this won't work , as before some Sgt's were able to change thier hour's and they sucked up all th OT working along Lake and Lucerne and it did nothing. This will happen again and they will get rich and again nothing will happen. One of these Sgt's made over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS working the OT by the CRA, becuase he was able to change his hours, why don't we just assign him there with no OT he does nothing anyway.
If we were to go SO they would bring in the staff for thing's like this with no out of pocket spent. They did it in Belle Glade, besides the regular units working out there when they had a problem they brought in over 50 extra untis to attack the problem and they solved it in 3 months.


Citizen Contacts: 5,317
Arrests: 243
Citations (Traffic & Criminal): 1,120
Vehicles Towed: 243
Red Tags Abandoned Vehicles): 182
Community Action Orders (code issues): 103

What the stats don’t show is the impact that up close and consistent contact with the police has had on the neighborhood. People have come to know the officers and have a much greater appreciation for what you all do. People are less hesitant to report suspicious and/or criminal activity. More and more neighbors are actually watching out for each other because they have greater confidence that when they report something – it’s going to be addressed by an officer they have frequently seen on patrol and have spoken with.

Targeted and consistent neighborhood policing works and I hope the Commission approves this additional expenditure. BUT, there’s a fundamental flaw in this whole picture. At what point does it make more sense to simply hire more officers and put more boots on the street all the time. Overtime expense is justified as a short-term solution, but crime in Lake Worth is not a short-term problem. We have not added officers for years now even though we’ve annexed more territory and our population has exploded with undocumented and non-tax-paying residents who draw a disproportionate share of public safety services. Foreclosures and abandoned or neglected rental properties have skyrocketed. Code compliance is severely understaffed and underfunded. Misguided political correctness intimidates and inhibits city leaders from supporting vigorous code and law enforcement.

Enough Already! The CRA community policing stats for the last year PROVE what LWPD can do when they have the resources to do it. We need precisely this kind of laser-beamed and consistent police presence in every neighborhood and we need it yesterday for heaven’s sake. I live on the edge of the CRA district and I’m grateful for what’s been accomplished, but how in the world can the city, even with help from the CRA, continue to fund adequate police services at time and half?

I’m holding Sheriff Bradshaw to his word that PBSO will bring all the resources we need to get this city under control. I’m holding this Commission to their word that public safety is their top priority. Either make the deal and make it soon with PBSO or tell us how much it going to cost Lake Worth taxpayers for permanent, citywide overtime police protection.

Above all, Thank You and Be Safe.
M.

On Tuesday, June 3rd the City Commission will consider a proposal to fund additional Police overtime targeting high crime areas in the city for the remainder of this fiscal year – until Sept. 30th. If approved, $100,000 will be transferred from the Commission Contingency account.

The CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) www.lakeworthcra.org has funded Police overtime for western neighborhoods for the last year. They started with $80,000 in April of last year and increased it to $150,000 for this fiscal year. The results have been phenomenally successful. Below are some of the statistics of the activity being done strictly by the CRA patrols in the area (6th Ave South to 7th Ave North from C St to F St.) The police patrols are presently working Thursday- Sunday. These stats are from April 07 to April 08.

Mary this will not work , in the past the CRA gave moneyt for extra patrols along Lake and Lucerne and it didn't work. The only thing that happened is that the Sgt in chanrge of the COP's got rich and made over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS from it. He was able to change his hours and work all the OT, we could of just assigned him there on his regular duty and it would have done the same thing, it's not like he does anything all day.
If we were to go green the Sheriff would bring in extra units to handle things that this like he did in Belle Glade. Besides the regular units working out there he had an 50 more units work out there over a 3 month time period and they came from around the county, it cost the city of Belle Glade no extra money for OT and the problem was solved.
We need the SO and the free man power.



Mary this won't work , as before some Sgt's were able to change thier hour's and they sucked up all th OT working along Lake and Lucerne and it did nothing. This will happen again and they will get rich and again nothing will happen. One of these Sgt's made over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS working the OT by the CRA, becuase he was able to change his hours, why don't we just assign him there with no OT he does nothing anyway.
If we were to go SO they would bring in the staff for thing's like this with no out of pocket spent. They did it in Belle Glade, besides the regular units working out there when they had a problem they brought in over 50 extra untis to attack the problem and they solved it in 3 months.


Citizen Contacts: 5,317
Arrests: 243
Citations (Traffic & Criminal): 1,120
Vehicles Towed: 243
Red Tags Abandoned Vehicles): 182
Community Action Orders (code issues): 103

What the stats don’t show is the impact that up close and consistent contact with the police has had on the neighborhood. People have come to know the officers and have a much greater appreciation for what you all do. People are less hesitant to report suspicious and/or criminal activity. More and more neighbors are actually watching out for each other because they have greater confidence that when they report something – it’s going to be addressed by an officer they have frequently seen on patrol and have spoken with.

Targeted and consistent neighborhood policing works and I hope the Commission approves this additional expenditure. BUT, there’s a fundamental flaw in this whole picture. At what point does it make more sense to simply hire more officers and put more boots on the street all the time. Overtime expense is justified as a short-term solution, but crime in Lake Worth is not a short-term problem. We have not added officers for years now even though we’ve annexed more territory and our population has exploded with undocumented and non-tax-paying residents who draw a disproportionate share of public safety services. Foreclosures and abandoned or neglected rental properties have skyrocketed. Code compliance is severely understaffed and underfunded. Misguided political correctness intimidates and inhibits city leaders from supporting vigorous code and law enforcement.

Enough Already! The CRA community policing stats for the last year PROVE what LWPD can do when they have the resources to do it. We need precisely this kind of laser-beamed and consistent police presence in every neighborhood and we need it yesterday for heaven’s sake. I live on the edge of the CRA district and I’m grateful for what’s been accomplished, but how in the world can the city, even with help from the CRA, continue to fund adequate police services at time and half?

I’m holding Sheriff Bradshaw to his word that PBSO will bring all the resources we need to get this city under control. I’m holding this Commission to their word that public safety is their top priority. Either make the deal and make it soon with PBSO or tell us how much it going to cost Lake Worth taxpayers for permanent, citywide overtime police protection.

Above all, Thank You and Be Safe.
M.

Having the CRA though $ isn't the answer. They did give the PD alot of money for over time on Lake and Lucerne and it didn't work. However it did get one Sgt from the COP unit very rich he worked all most all of the OT by changing his hours, he made over ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND last year with all of that OT. I wounder if his job is so unimportant that he can change his hours to work OT then that mean's he has nothing to do at a certin time so why didn't the chief change this Sgt's hour's and make him work the slot at regular pay instead of OT.

So if approved this mean's everytime we have a problem the city is going to fork out 100 K in tax dollars to try to solve it, I don't think so.

If we were to go SO they would handle it, example in Belle Glade a contract city, they had a problem so the Sheriff had 50 units from elsewhere in the county go there and work for 3 months with no Ot billed to the city and the problem was solved, they can do the same thing hear..

I agree with the last poster, but we can have 20 police officers patrolling the streets at any given time if we change the current schedule we have. Going to 11.5 hours or 10 hour shifts would be beneficial to the city and us. We can achieve in getting take home cars if we follow Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach, and Jupiter's take home car policies with the change of shifts. What bothers me is most of the officers that come on here wanting a merger is just doing it for their self interest and benefits. All the options have not been exhausted. The funny thing is hearing a poster mention 20 officers will leave here for the Sheriff's Office if the merger doesn't go through. Go ahead! PBSO has a long waiting and it's even more rigorous to get in now. It would probably take you a year, if not more to get through the process. I can say this for a fact SO would not higher a large number of cops from one single agency to paraylze it and then have to take it over by mandate at their expense. Good try on the scare tactic.

Thanks for your input sgt or LT. But officers want more change than just shifts. Go PBSO.

Any word on the merger?

First of all there is no year wait to get on at that SO, this is a scare tactic. And the 11-hour shifts will not solve any problems, it will only satisfy the cry babies that don’t want to work 5 days in a week.

When we go SO the 11 hour days will come automatically.

For those who weren't able to listen in to the Commission meeting tonight -

The Commission approved the $100,000 in overtime for the rest of this fiscal year. They seemed to acknowledge that it's a short term response to the public fear and outcry over the recent shootings but they did not address any kind of a Plan B if the merger falls apart.

They did approve Commissioner Vespo to act as "liaison and be intimately involved" in negotiations and they also called a special meeting next week to present their individual ideas for what they want the contract to include. Thursday the 12th at 4pm.

It's the most positive forward motion I've seen yet from the Commission on this matter. Just my opinion, but I think the prospect of cutting 10% from the Police budget, as the City Mgr and Finance Dir wants to cut from every dept. budget is just to scary to seriously consider offering to the public.

I remain optimistic.
M.