In my recent column on Bloomberg, I argue that concern over the pension crisis is causing many people to rethink their deference to police officers. If police unions are scamming the public on this pension issue, then they might be scamming us in other ways, also. Indeed, the peace officers bill of rights, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in the 1970s, has made it almost impossible to get rid of bad police officers.
Their disciplinary records are shrouded in secrecy. The next public-sector union issue is about accountability. How can we have great public schools when bad teachers cannot be fired because of union protections? How can we have humane and effective police agencies when the unions make it impossible to fire those officers who abuse their power and misbehave? How can we have well-run fire agencies when firefighters refuse to jump into 60 degree water to save a drowning man because of union work rules?
One of the scams used in police and fireman pensions is how they are calculated. In many places, they are calculated on: last year or the average of the last 3 or 5 years income. The way contracts are worded this was not annual base but total income : base plus overtime. So the scam is to load up a pending retiree with overtime to raise their pensions. In some infamous local cases, the retiree worked the equivalent of a double shift thus doubling their pension.