Category: Recent Developments

KANSAS CITY, MO — Seventeen Kansas City police officers who formerly worked in a unit that failed to properly investigate crimes against children have been disciplined, with seven of the officers no longer working in the department, Police Chief Rick Smith announced Tuesday. Smith’s announcement came after a nearly three-year internal investigation into the department’s former Crimes Against Children unit. The investigation began in 2015 when police officials learned…

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A single exam next month could put dozens of police officers in Hawaii on the path to a significant pay raise. That is, if they move to Seattle. Welcome to today’s police recruiting wars. For the first time in more than 15 years, the Seattle Police Department is coming to the islands. On Feb. 27, the Seattle department will offer “lateral” exams in Honolulu for new applicants and veteran officers. The timing…

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DANVILLE, IL — In an increasingly competitive job market, the city of Danville has had a tough time recruiting civil engineers for positions that pay between $50,000 and $90,000 a year. The solution, some aldermen believe: eliminate the requirement that professionals must live in Danville if they want to work for the city. It’s not a rule that’s unique to Danville: Of 72 area towns surveyed by News-Gazette Media,…

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A second FDNY firehouse in Queens was shuttered on Friday after a firefighter there was confirmed to have scabies — the second station to be closed in the borough in two days because of the skin infection, officials said. FDNY Engine 251 on Union Turnpike near 255th Street in Glen Oaks was closed Friday afternoon to make way for cleaning crews to rid the building of scabies-causing mites, the…

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On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court denied a police union’s last-minute petition to change a new police transparency law, rejecting the union’s effort to make the law – Senate Bill 1421 – apply only to records created after Jan. 1, 2019. SB 1421, authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), requires that certain personnel records and records relating to specified incidents, complaints and investigations involving peace officers and custodial officers…

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METHUEN, MA — A law firm retained by the City Council issued an opinion Monday saying the police superior union’s contract is “unenforceable.” The City Council hired Valerio, Dominello & Hillman LLC — a Westwood-based firm specializing in labor and employment law — amid the ongoing police pay dispute that has pitted councilors against the mayor for months. In a letter Monday, attorney John Foskett said there are several…

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WARWICK, RI — Mayor Joseph J. Solomon was forced to scramble late last week when he wanted to examine a vacation benefit written into the firefighters’ union contract. He wondered if a benefit not approved by the City Council in 2015 had, nevertheless, found its way into the text of the contract. The version of the contract posted on the city’s website had no signatures on it. Solomon didn’t…

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