The numbers of Police Officers and fire fighters are decreasing everyday. This is not news. Neither is the fact that both HPD and HFD have warned of the impending crisis as the City fails to get serious about hiring replacements for the attrition of Police Officers and Firefighters. And if my sources are accurate, which they usually are, it is going to get much worse as June and July approach and numerous retirements are expected.
Combine that with the uncertainty created by the Mayor's efforts to balance the City's budget on the backs of employee salaries and pensions, and we have a real recipe for disaster.
It is somewhat interesting that the New York City Police Department can recruit and graduate over 600 Police Officers in one shot, yet Mayor Bronin tells us he can't even find a dozen qualified applicants to enter the HPD Academy as recruits and HFD is finding the same fate.
The starting salary for a NYPD Officer is $42,500 while Hartford is slightly higher at about $43,800 but Hartford is still lower than most surrounding towns. Most Police Officer's and Firefighters get into the business because of family tradition or their desire for public service, many of them have already served their communities and their Country through military service. The second leading reason is probably, to be completely honest, the job security and the benefits, including the pensions.
The uncertainty in Hartford over the future of the City finances and the future of those benefits and pensions is a big reason for the attrition, early retirements as well as people just applying to other towns where the future looks brighter. And where the support of Administrators looks more sound than Hartford.
Another major reason for finding qualified applicants is the cumbersome state of Hartford's hiring process. If someone is serious about finding a job and starting a career. they will go to a town where the process takes months, as opposed to a hiring process in Hartford that sometimes (actually most times) drags on for a year or longer So during that delay time, good applicants are going to get grabbed up by other agencies that know how to streamline the process.
Hartford also needs to get serious about recruiting efforts. If applicants aren't walking in the doors at 253 High Street, then they need to go out and find them. That may involve a little bit of salesmanship at places like career shows, college campuses and military installations. It also should involve people that take pride in their uniform and wear it proudly and take pride in their chosen career. Not "toning it down" by wearing a smurf colored Polo shirt.
Look at the two web links below and decide which one will draw in applicants. NYPD that provides pertinent information or Hartford.gov that says fill out the card and we will get back to you.
And finally, is Mayor Bronin serious about hiring or is he more interested in the budget dollars saved by not hiring. Do the math , failing to hire 100 police officers at $50,000 roughly in annual salary for each is $6,250,000 saved for each year those positions are left unfilled. Add the same number for Fire Fighter unfilled vacancies and that is almost $13,000,000 a year saved. That is $26,000,000 over the time Bronin will be slashing the budget so far. A big help for a precarious budget deficit to save $ 26,000,000 plus roughly another 40%of that amount for fringe benefits
If NYPD can do it, why can't Hartford? Or is it just our inferiority complex we are led to believe exists that is keeping applicants away
Let's get serious about recruiting to avoid the impending disaster headed our way for Public Safety
http://www.hartford.gov/police/recruitment
http://www.nypdrecruit.com/
19 comments:
JUST A ONE WORD ANSWER AND REASON. "RESIDENCY" NEVER WORKED NEVER WILL.
Regarding Papa Smurf and "recruitment", where do we even begin?
Saving money by not hiring public safety officers, Fire and police, is a play from the previous Segarra administration book. It has continued to create a public safety crisis in a variety of ways. The departments are strained to fill needed shifts, officers work an excessive amount of overtime, the constant overtime by the same officers can create a fatigue hazard.
But the administration is willing to increase the salaries of a deputy director of public works in an effort to attract a highly qualified applicant. Subsequently, increasing the salaries of many more individuals in that class. The person hired as deputy director didn't last as he eventually couldn't do the job.
The City of Hartford management and council repeats the same financial blunders, Report to be in financial debt, request union concessions, get union concessions usually from the DPW local 1716 employees, and now Fire.
Then give bonuses and or raises, ipads and new laptops yearly to the same middle managers.
Brookman....why would anyone want to work for the HFD anymore? Our paychecks have been slashed, the benefits which attracted us have been lost, and now we are forced into a low budget health care plan that has good employees running for the door. The work is as busy and dangerous as ever, the city has been burning up lately. Your confidence in Freeman was misplaced, I never had it. Nothing has been accomplished during Freeman's tenure and the department is years behind on the hiring curve. It is the responsibility of the Chief to ensure, by whatever means, that the department is adequately staffed. If young Reggie wants the title, he has to shoulder the responsibility. If freeman can not persuade city leadership into staffing the department, then he should officially resign with full disclosure to the media.
And who slashed your paychecks? Who forced changes in your healthcare? While you are working on the answrs to those questions, you may wan to brush up your Labor Law. Chief Freeman is not your bargaining agent and has to remain neutral on any negotiations, by Law. Maybe you should be directing your anger at the guy who has led you down this terrible path, your Union President. What was in it for him to sell his membership out the way he did? nd since Chief Freeman just had his one year anniversary, I don't think you can blame him for being "years behind the hiring curve? And one more correction, it is the Mayors' responsibility to ensure that HFD is properly funded and the budget allows for necessary hiring. The Chief is responsible for managing and living within that budget. Again, where is your Union President screaming about the lack of staffing which potentially endangers firefighters safety?Did I miss that or does Vinnie have laryngitis?
Hartford can recruit plenty of job candidates. They choose not to by enforcing residency requirements. Until residency is removed in its entirety, the city will never get a large enough pool of applicants to fully staff HFD and HPD. Unfortunately Hartford does not have enough residents that are interested in actually working, are not smart enough to pass a test, are not in good enough physical condition to do either job, and finally cannot pass a background or drug test. Why the council continues to push for residents only befuddles me.
As for the previous post about the HFD contract, that must be an idiot who doesn't understand the workings of their job, (city resident). Freeman has NOTHING to do with contract negotiations. You can blame Fusco, and the union members who ratified it. Why are you complaining anyways, you are absolutely killing the OT, almost doubling your pay! You will really be crying if and when OT dries up and you go back to regular pay, minus all the added new deductions for the shitty medical you pay way more for, and the huge increase your paying into your pension, and don't forget the zero raises for the next 4 years. Your pay will actually decrease each year of your new contract.
Yes it sucks, but wise up and blame the people who sold you the bill of goods, not the Chief.
I just have one question for 7:27am and you Kev, Why did Freeman sit on the same side as that big fat liar,weasel ,incompetent lawyer and now incompetent mayor Bronin early on in the negotiation talks? There is always a head of the table ,why didn't he sit there? It's hard to keep the best interests of others or your subordinates when your more interested in benefiting yourself. At the very least how about a simple pat on the back for putting out a fire instead of dissecting,Monday morning quarterbacking and sending out morale killing critiques. Sorry Brothers and Sisters , I hope believe in the power of prayer.
Regarding "Anonymous April 24, 2017 at 9:02 PM" Kevin is correct in his response to your misplaced blame for the degraded benefits and salary for HFD.
Your blame for the degraded salary and benefits belongs to the current mayor for convincing your union president to convince the membership to accept downgrading their salaries and benefits.
If you are truly a current or past firefighter I would have expected that you would know a lot more about how and who negotiates union contracts. It seems that you, Anonymous April 24, 2017 at 9:02 PM, have some bias against Chief Freeman to the degree you want to blame him for Hoffa and Kennedy.
If I'm wrong about my suspicions of you I apologize. If I'm correct, then I would say to you give the man a chance, he's been Chief for one year. Hold him accountable for his responsibilities and do not blame him for the political and financial ineptitude of others. Peace be with you!
3:23 pm THANKS FOR THE LAUGH!!!! "Hold him (Freeman) accountable for his responsibilities " ???? What duty do we hold hiim responsible to,PUBLIC WORKS OR THE FIRE DEPT??? Any COMMITTED Chief would not spread themselves that thin if they were genuine in the seriousness of that position. It lets bottom line it ,the city would have ample money for public safety if there weren't so many freeloaders sucking the taxpayers dry!
When Hartford wants to generate revenue they look to "out of towners" to come in and spend there money, Welcome suburbanites with open arms, but when it comes to paying money, "Hiring out of towners" no way. Until this policy changes I urge all to boycott Hartford and spend their money where they are truly welcome, not in a place that is racist and don't want you there. Hartford, wake up and start hiring the best candidates you can, be it from local residents or across the country, open up those jobs, charge a small application fee like many areas do, and you will gain some revenue and create a large pool of applicants that you can pick from. If you truly have the interests of the citizens at heart, fill city service jobs with the best possible candidates that can provide the best service to your community. Seems like a no brainer, but in Hartford, no.
As for people not wanting to be FF's, how could you blame them with the hits made to the salaries and fringes. The OT is short lived, what people want is long term security, and that is gone. And don't forget we recently found out just how much your life is worth, Roughly, 250-300 grand minus attorney fees, Absolutely disgraceful.
Union? Brotherhood? Solidarity? no, it started under Discipio, and Vinny really perfected it, Run in a year ahead of time cut some fast deal before all the other unions even know what is going on. Real union men don't screw fellow union men, even if they don't wear the same uniform. All my old HFD shirts are worn for dirty yard work, as they become soiled I throw them away, you won't see me under or behind any HFD logo in public.
The worst part is even through this the average FF's still perform at a consistently high level but have to hang their heads due to all this BS.
I'm in the process and hope to make it on.
Brookman..... it is amazing how you others continually absolve Reggie Freeman from any responsibility regarding the continual downward spiral that is the HFD. Reggie should accept responsibility for this department just like his officers accept responsibility for their crews everyday. I have never seen this department in this kind of distress. We are dangerously under manned, losing the rest of our most experienced employees, weakly led from behind, and morale is at an all time low. Any organization faces difficulty from time to time, HFD is no different. The problem here is that HFD management provides no real proactive strategies to mitigate our employee exodus or to speed the timeline on hiring. Face it Brookman, Reggie is out of his depth, not what he says he is, and in the past year has done nothing to turn around the HFD.
10:58am
I guess we are talking to different people. The Hartford Firefighters I have talked to are happy and also optimistic for HFD under Chief Freeman's leadership and have noticed positive changes and accountability. You need to be fair and admit that the problems you mentioned "dangerously under manned, losing the rest of our most experienced employees" are huge issues, but are not the fault of Chief Freeman, you should be directing your comments at Mayor Bronin as well as your Union President and Officers who seem more than willing to endanger firefighters lives by allowing a crisis in hiring to occur. Where are all the firefighters the Mayor promised to hire when he did his dog and pony show last fall for recruitment or did he forget to tell to tell us the grant to hire the firefighters was denied and he knew that beforehand. Plenty of games but no plan by the Mayor
Plain and simple, Reggie Freeman is just a Chevy with Mercedes paint and emblems, from a far it looks great and sounds OK, open the hood and you find the oil leaks and rattles.
OK he's not a FF and doesn't claim to be, he's a manager and Motivational technician, Right, that's his signature, motivational speaking and career development. Well, how about motivating the politicians to get your numbers up and your record OT bill, down. Reggie's singing to the politicians about Officer career development, but hasn't even covered the basic's of staffing his dept. in full. Specifically, you can't get the basic FF staffing acomlished but your worried about developing, on paper I might add, your officers. Once developed , who are they going to manage, each other?
Vinnie,
Give it up trying to trash Reggie while you are busy kissing Bronin's ass. You are much more incompetent in your position than you could ever claim Reggie is
Shut it Vinny or Cookie whichever one of you union rats is posting this crap about the best chief we've had in a long time. Just because you two are grossly incompetent don't try and spread the wealth.
5:16 and 8:17PM
Well said. I have never been trained as a firefighter and I would probably have a hard time physically doing it now, but I would follow Chief Freeman into a fire any day and be comfortable with his leadership. I don't think I could say that about some of his predecessors
Ok Vinny, you guys give us a shitty contract by jamming it through with lies and scare tactics. Quick question did union leadership take a 11 per cent reduction in extra pay that WE pay you in solidarity with your "brotherhood"? Answer - no Vinny, Cook and whatever that kids name is whose treasurer kept your full 35, 30 and 30 per cent top firefighter pay respectively, kept your extra salary unscathed. You greedy fake union leadership ! #sellouts!
The application process for HPD is absolutely ridiculous Kev. Most applicants apply to multiple agencies local/state/fed and whomever hires them first that's what they'll go with. You have no idea kev how many qualified applicants we lose to surrounding PDs. We get a lot of qualified folks of all races that wanna be cops in Hartford but the regime is literally handicapping us in that area. I understand the need for the police to reflect the community but the community doesn't want to work in our field or the members of said community are usually horribly unqualified. We can't draft folks into the PD and city hall needs to get ahead of this looming mass exodus quick. (especially after yesterday's gun battle between the zetas and San Juan cartels on Franklin)
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