Articles

Philadelphia Inquirer

------------------------------------------------------------------------Posted on Fri, Mar. 11, 2005

Four-year contracts with raises approved for police, firefighters
The cost: An additional $8 million. The pacts do not address the divisive issue of rotating shifts.
By Sam Wood and Dwight Ott
Inquirer Staff Writers

Despite objections by members of a state-appointed blue-ribbon panel, Camden's City Council last night approved four-year contracts for the city's Police and Fire Departments.

The contracts, approved by all six Council members who were present, gives police officers and firefighters a $1,500 raise the first year and an average 4 percent increase each successive year.

The agreements will cost the city an additional $1 million this year and a total of $8 million over the contracts' lives.

The state panel of law enforcement experts and community members was appointed by Attorney General Peter C. Harvey to study the Police Department's problems for 90 days.

Its report to Harvey did not oppose the raises but did call for ending the "outmoded" rotating police shifts.

"How did we get to this sad moment?" panel member Jeffrey Brenner, a Camden physician, asked at last night's meeting. "Everyone here supports steady police shifts, but it's not contained in the contract... . When Camden is listed as the most dangerous city, who dropped the ball?"

Another member, Sharon Miller, also was upset.

"I am very angry because we have not been heard," she said. "We deserve better than this."

But the city's state-appointed chief operating officer, Melvin R. "Randy" Primas, who helped negotiate the contract, said the document gave the police chief the deployment flexibility needed to deal with Camden's crime. He said steady shifts could be negotiated later.

"We're not opposed to permanent shifts. It's something we're moving toward," Primas said.

As the contract stands, officers work four 10-hour days followed by three days off, then four 10-hour night tours followed by three days off, and finally four eight-hour midnight shifts followed by two days off.

The panel cited numerous studies that found rotated shifts were unhealthy for police.

The city's police unions, who said they had requested steady shifts at the start of contract negotiations, said additional officers would have to be hired to make them possible.

The panel wrote that more officers were not needed if the department "assigned more officers to the patrol function and fewer officers to specialized units."

The panel said police departments that have jettisoned rotating shifts had seen marked improvements.

After the Police Department in Abilene Texas, went to steady shifts, it was able to "offer in-service training, reduce overtime expenditures by 32 percent, reduce sick leave, reduce employee turnover and increase officer morale," the panel wrote.

"Steady shifts are an issue that deserves serious consideration," Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said yesterday. "I hope that all the parties will be willing to come back to the table to discuss implementing steady shifts as recommended by the state-appointed public safety commission."
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Contact staff writer Sam Wood at 856-779-3838 or samwood@phillynews.com. Inquirer staff writer Elisa Ung contributed to this article.

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Courier Post

Pact fails to settle on shifts

Friday, March 11, 2005
Future talks may focus on steady police hours

By LUIS PUGA
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
Police officers will not be deployed on fixed-time shifts, under two contracts passed by city council members at a meeting Thursday.

The council had tabled the two, four-year contracts with two police unions two weeks ago after state Attorney General Peter Harvey requested time to review the contracts.

Randy Primas, the city's chief operating officer, told council members Thursday while steady shifts, thought to be more effective in fighting crime, were not included, the option was there to negotiate with the unions in the future.

"Steady shifts are an issue that deserve serious consideration and I hope that all parties will be willing to come back to the table to discuss implementing steady shifts as recommended by the state-appointed public safety commission," said Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi before the meeting.

Residents who support steady shifts bemoaned the fact that law enforcement, union and even city officials supported steady shifts, but could not put them into these contracts.

"I am so angry because (residents) have not been heard," said Sharon Miller. "I have to be here in the city every morning. Many people do not. Please stop disregarding (residents) in this way."

At the same meeting, council members unanimously voted to table the Central Waterfront Redevelopment Plan so members could meet with Primas, and members of the Camden Waterfront Alliance.

The Alliance, made up of port industry owners and employee unions, is opposed to the plan because it call for residential units to be built near their industries. They feel that would create a conflict between residents and port businesses.

Council also passed two resolutions allowing a subsidiary of Marlton-based Michaels Development Corp. to enter into a payment in lieu of taxes agreement for affordable housing in Cramer Hill.ADVERTISEMENT - CLICK TO ENLARGE OR VISIT WEBSITE

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The agreement will help Michaels earn tax credits for a project for 160 units of affordable housing that would be replace Ablett Village. That apartment complex is slated to be demolished under the Cramer Hill Redevelopment Plan.

Council President Angel Fuentes and Councilman Ali Sloan El differed on whether Ablett residents supported the plan and on fliers posted on homes in Cramer Hill.

The fliers directed owners of properties to contact the firm of Zeller and Bryant by March 22 or face condemnation. State Sen. Wayne Bryant, D-Lawnside is a partner in the Cherry Hill firm.

Fuentes called the fliers a "scare tactic," but Sloan El said they were copies of yellow stickers posted on the homes.

Sloan El was the only council member to vote against the two resolutions.

WHERE TO CALL

* If you want to comment on the Central Waterfront Redevelopment Plan, you can contact council members at (856) 757-7115.
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Reach Luis Puga at (856) 541-3994 or lpuga@courierpostonline.com
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