by Aaron Hanson, President

 Accuracy is important.  In the August 2007 issue of The Shield, the official publication of the Omaha Police Union, it was stated that the Matrix study concluded that wages and fringe benefits were roughly consistent with other communities.  It should be noted that particular finding of the Matrix study focused specifically on wages. 

It’s over…finally

The hoopla of the City Council’s "efficiency study" is now behind us and hopefully it is time to move forward. Before we do however, the taxpayers’ quarter of a million dollar "investment" deserves some additional review.

Compensation

A few weeks prior to the release of the study, Council President Dan Welch advised me that both the Matrix and Behrens and Tate studies showed that Omaha police officers are "the highest paid in the nation" (his words, not mine). You can imagine my surprise then, after reading the actual study, to learn that Omaha police officers’ wages "roughly consistent with those seen in other communities". (Actually, I wasn’t surprised at all). I was very surprised though to learn just how sloppy a product one can buy for $275,000. Councilman Welch refused to allow your Union representatives – or the Chief for that matter – to review this report prior to its public release and as a result (and as predicted), the data compiled for purposes of comparing police officers wages was INACCURATE in five of the six cities used in their comparison. How, you may ask, did Matrix find a way to screw up something as simple as wages? They found numerous ways. Old data in most cases, the incorrect interpretation of a wage scale in another (to the tune of $10,000 less by the way…but who’s counting?) and a flat out blunder on another. It took your Union less than 24 hours to compile and asses the correct data. If we were "roughly consistent" before the correct numbers were plugged in, then are we "smoothly consistent" now? Overnight, OPD officers went from being paid 6% over average to being paid just under the average – a fact has been ignored by most of the media who were quick to throw around the incorrect assessment that our officers are overpaid but disinterested when we provided them with proof that the numbers were askew. I’m not blaming the media. It’s reasonable for them to expect to be able to trust the facts from an expensive tax payer-funded study. Looking back, I hold no ill will against the media at all because I recognized that they were also pawns in Councilman Welch’s carefully choreographed media stunt.

Cruiser fleet

Not much surprise on this recommendation. The Union has been expressing concern over our aging cruiser fleet for some time now. Kudos goes to the Mayor for doubling the budget allotment for new cruisers in the proposed 2008 budget and back dated kudos also goes to the Council (including Dan Welch) for acting on our concerns over this issue way back in the 2006 budget. I can’t wait to see if Councilman Welch leads the expensive charge for a long-term fleet replacement plan. Speaking of cruiser costs, isn’t it interesting that Matrix neglected to place a price tag on this particular recommendation? Could it be that the cost would be so hefty as to eclipse their supposed savings and then some?

Staffing

Back in 2004, when six of the seven members of the City Council, along with the Mayor, passed the four-year police staffing plan ordinance, the focus of discussion was placed on the ratio of "officers per thousand citizens". At the time, Omaha was well behind the staffing average of other large Midwest cities. Recognizing that we needed to get ahead of the curve, the council (minus one) and the Mayor sprung into action to bring us back up to a more comparable officer-to-citizen ratio. In light of that, I read with suspicious interest Matrix’s virtual disembowelment of the concept of officer to citizen ratios, replacing it with a complex "analytical approach" which ultimately concluded that via civilianization OPD could cut 36 patrol officers. And by the way, who was that lone council man who voted against the 2004 police staffing plan? You guessed it: Dan Welch.

Training

At the risk of beating this dead horse into the ground we’ve said all along that we don’t get enough training and Matrix has confirmed that the hours we receive are below the average. Not a big surprise. Once again, I’ll be watching to see if Councilman Welch moves to increase training staff and budget.

Able 1

We have said our helicopter unit needs more budgetary investment and flight time. Matrix agrees. Once again, kudos goes to the Mayor and the City Council for already arranging to purchase the new choppers. I’ll be watching to see if Councilman Welch moves to further increase the fuel, personnel and maintenance budget in order to allow Able 1 to patrol the skies more often.

Pension

Matrix produced numerous charts in an apparent attempt to show how much better our retirement benefit is when compared to other cities. I would argue that their data simply shows that our pension is different rather than better. Matrix conveniently left out the fact that Omaha Police and Firefighter pension contributions are substantially higher than the level of other cities (in many cases almost double). In addition, we pay this higher contribution on our total salary, not simply our base. It’s a simple concept, the more you invest in your retirement, the better retirement you will receive. Our pension benefit is one of the most important benefits we have and I would argue that police and firefighters have the greatest stake of all in ensuring that our pension system is strong and well managed. The proper time and place to work on critical issues such as these are within contract negations. Our Unions have a proven track record of ensuring that reasonable minds and cooler heads prevail when addressing such important issues. We will not be swayed by political stunts and media spectacles. We will however, roll up our sleeves and work with our counterparts in the City to take a business-like approach in negotiations to ensure that our pension system remains strong and solvent.

If the Matrix study taught us anything, it is that we have a department to be proud of. It should also teach us a valuable lesson about leadership. Councilman Welch has upheld his responsibility to his constituents by asking tough questions. For that he should be commended, but I believe he also deserves sharp criticism for the self-centered manner in which he insisted this study proceed. Exclusion doesn’t promote collaboration and secrecy doesn’t promote trust, both of which are necessary components of joint problem-solving efforts. There were many things in this study that are probably worthy of careful consideration and it is for that reason that the political stigma attached to it is so unfortunate.

Stay safe.

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