Slog - Comments on Seattle Police Officers' Guild Agrees On a Contract

Comment by elenchos

elenchos — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:16:27 -0800

Is it dumb to think that if we had enough cops they would screw up less? I think the reason they beat people up is that they're scared.

Comment by Y.F.

Y.F. — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:39:43 -0800

Kind of a tangent, but did you know that the starting pay for rookie cops in N.Y. city is around $25,000?

Comment by Cale

Cale — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:40:56 -0800

Good. We should have the highest paid cops in the state since this is probably the most difficult to police city in the state. Give them the compensation they deserve for keeping us safe and then they need to respect us when we make sure they are doing their job correctly.

Comment by Tom

Tom — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:56:35 -0800

has anyone looked for a officer downtown at night?

a friend and I noticed this a few months ago....and we decided to try....took us 2 hours...

and at the end....all we found was a security officer!

where are all the seattle cops? all i see are security officers and meter maids.

Comment by ellarosa

ellarosa — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:21:22 -0800

4, that's why they had to hire more cops. sounds like they were desperately understaffed, from what i've read here.

Comment by Snort

Snort — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:29:50 -0800

The contract hasn't even been shown to the members yet, much less voted on.

Until it has been approved by a majority of the membership, it's just a proposed contract.

The Guild Negotiation Committee didn't approve the contract, they just voted to allow the members to see the offer.

And I'm voting "no".

Comment by Russell Harmon

Russell Harmon — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 01:37:21 -0800

@6: why no?

Comment by Jonah s

Jonah s — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:09:44 -0800

if it can get past the hard-liners at the guild, I don't think it will be tough to get the rank and file to approve it.

Comment by six shooter

six shooter — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:12:00 -0800

@8 Jonah --

You've clearly never been through a contract negotiation before.

If the Guild is anything like our Union:

40% of the members will vote No because they believe you should always vote No on a first offer,

30% of the members will believe the SPOG execs cut a deal behind closed doors to screw the membership or protect a special group of the membership,

20% will have no idea how to vote and won't bother.

It may pass, but when it does, I doubt anyone involved will say "it wasn't tough."