Category: Recent Developments

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The Rochester Police Department is trying to respond to increased shootings and murders while dealing with a staffing problem. The Rochester Police Locust Club, which is the police union, says almost every officer is working double shifts because so many officers have retired, transferred out, or been pulled from the road.  In the last year and a half, 65 members of RPD have either retired or…

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SHELTON — The six police officers terminated last year have filed a suit against the city, charging Mayor Mark Lauretti and Police Chief Shawn Sequeira with, among other things, defamation and violating their Constitutional rights. The suit, which named Lauretti and Sequeira, was filed June 9 in U.S. District Court by Lt. Dave Moore and officers John Napoleone, Michael McClain, Dan Loris, Caroline Moretti and Roger Falcone. The six…

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Unions representing workers at Connecticut’s prisons want state lawmakers to pay them what is being called “heroes pay” because of the level of exposure they had to COVID-19. Sal Luciano, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO, said this is for workers at all of the prisons, whether they come in direct contact with inmates or not. For every hour Department of Correction employees have worked since the start of the…

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TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – A mediator will be called in to help negotiate more pay and more officers in a new contract between the City of Topeka and the Topeka Police Department’s Union. The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #3 says contract negotiations with the City of Topeka came to a stalemate on June 9. It said the two organizations began to meet in February and were scheduled to…

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FALL RIVER — The Fall River Police Department has more than $3.2 million in unfunded liability in police officers’ comp time, due to years of collective bargaining agreements and past practice obligations — often during some of the city’s fiscally leanest times. And according to a recently completed outside audit by a Boston-based police consulting firm, nearly $1.48 million accounts for time owed to police personnel that exceeds a federally mandated cap of 480 hours of accumulated comp time per officer.  Those findings…

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Corrections officers were among the second group to get early access to coronavirus vaccines late last year. Sgt. Eric Olsen jumped at the opportunity. “I also wanted to do the right thing for the rest of society and not just protect my health, to protect other people’s health too,” Olsen said. The 51-year-old works primarily in the infirmary at the Denver Reception Diagnostic Center, a smaller-capacity, mostly temporary stay facility. Olsen got…

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Could Jersey City face a shortage of police officers? That’s what Detective Joe Cossolini, the Jersey City police union’s new president, is worried about. Cossolini, who was elected head of the Jersey City Police Officers Benevolent Association last month, has a number of goals for his tenure atop the union. He wants to improve the union’s outreach and communication with the public, and hopes to open a new office…

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The Philadelphia police department has reinstated an officer fired in 2019 over Facebook posts saying among other things that refugees should “starve to death.” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that officer Christian Fenico was reinstated with full back pay after an arbitrator in a grievance filed with the police union ruled Fenico’s social media posts did not prevent him from being a valuable officer. Fenico’s posts were among hundreds from Philadelphia officers published…

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland’s police union on Thursday called for the resignation of Safety Director Karrie Howard and the U.S. Justice Department to end their court-ordered consent decree aimed at police reform in the wake of a string of officer firings. Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association President Jeff Follmer said at a news conference that Howard is a “puppet” for the Justice Department. He said Howard’s harsh stance on disciplining…

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The Nashua Police Department is implementing an incentive program to keep its force in top physical and mental shape. New Hampshire state standards require police officers to perform, at minimum, within the 35th percentile of the Cooper Aerobics Institute Standards for their physical fitness exams. “Which is abysmally low and embarrassing to say in public,” said Deputy Chief James Testaverde of the Nashua Police Department. “That is the state…

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The union for Houston Fire Department firefighters has launched a charter amendment petition as it eyes making binding arbitration the solution when the city of Houston and the union are at an impasse in negotiations. The union—Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association—is seeking 20,000 signatures for its petition, the amount required by the city of Houston to put the item before Houston voters during the November election, the group announced…

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SACRAMENTO, CA — An early morning fire burned down two campers in a transient area in South Sacramento. What was called in as a 2 a.m. tree fire in the industrial block of South Watt Avenue and Elder Creek Road turned into a bigger situation for the Sacramento Fire Department. “The first arriving engine company found a large amount of vegetation that was on fire that already spread to what…

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DENVER, CO — A female firefighter in Colorado will receive $100,000 in a lawsuit settlement against the Denver Fire Department after a former fire department lieutenant placed a secret camera in her fire station bedroom and recorded her changing clothes, city officials said. Denver City Council approved the settlement after the woman filed a discrimination charge against the department with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The Denver Post reported…

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LEXINGTON, KY — Like many law enforcement agencies, the thin blue line continues to shrink at the Lexington Police Department. Officers are leaving at an alarming rate, causing staff shortages according to Sgt. Jeremy Russell, President of the Fraternal Order of Police Bluegrass Lodge 4. “I personally predict we’ll be 100 below by July 1,” said Russell. That’s 15% shy of full capacity which is 633 officers. Russell says…

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SYRACUSE, NY — Following a violent week in Syracuse including the death of two teens, Mayor Ben Walsh warns of “dangerously low” staffing numbers at the Syracuse Police Department and worries about having enough officers patrolling the streets. Currently, there are approximately 360 officers on the force. When Walsh took office nearly four years ago, there were about 400 officers. Veteran officers remember a 500-strong force in the 1990s. Based…

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Lawmakers have proposed the Wandering Officers Act which will prohibit police officers from joining the force who have been fired in or out of state New York is taking steps toward holding police officers accountable. Lawmakers have proposed the Wandering Officers Act which will prohibit police officers from joining the force who have been fired in or out of state, as reported by ABC News. “What this bill basically says is any…

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SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A year after the riot in downtown Salt Lake City, in which the Salt Lake Police Association said officers were placed in danger because of decisions of administrators, the SLPA maintained Wednesday problems persist in the police department. May 30, 2020, dozens of officers were injured after violence that included flipping over a police car and setting it on fire, smashing windows and damaging buildings. The mayhem followed the…

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Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35, a union that represents officers in Montgomery County, is suing the county over a new policy that restricts officers’ ability to use force, saying the policy is not subject to collective bargaining. The County Council passed the use-of-force policy in July 2020 in response to local and national concerns over police brutality. The change followed the death of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis who died…

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas’ plan to dramatically change police funding was met with swift political reaction Thursday. Leaders from the Kansas City Police Department and the Fraternal Order of Police union, to city hall and the statehouse in Jefferson City all spoke out on the issue. A Missouri representative confirmed to FOX4 that a group of lawmakers are already planning to ask Gov. Mike…

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May 21—MORGANTOWN — A dozen labor organizations representing public employees have filed suit to block the Paycheck Protection Act, a bill to prohibit public employers from deducting dues or fees for unions, labor organizations and clubs from public employee paychecks. The bill, HB 2009, passed the Legislature March 19 and was signed into law March 30. The organizations filing the suit said in a Thursday press release that the…

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Police officers across the country are vaccine hesitant, raising concerns over their potential to spread the virus during interactions in communities they are sworn to protect, reports 4029 News. Many agencies are “strongly encouraging” officers to get the vaccine, but reports across the country show they are lagging behind. Of the NYPD’s roughly 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees, 40 percent had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine,…

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As another wildfire season looms over California, the U.S. Forest Service is running short of the most experienced and elite firefighters in the country — the forestry crews known as hotshots, who travel the nation putting out wildfires, according to interviews with union officials and agency employees. A combination of low pay, competition from state and local fire departments and exhaustion from fire seasons that are longer and more…

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Last October, firefighter Ryan Bellanca and his crew battled to keep the raging Glass Fire from devastating an upmarket Napa Valley vineyard. But Bellanca wasn’t working for any fire department. He owns a private company that had been hired to protect the vineyard. Authorities from Cal Fire and the Napa County Sheriff’s office eventually stepped in and detained the private firefighters for several hours, according to Bellanca and a…

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ROCHESTER, NY — New York state police raided the home of Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren on Wednesday, and her husband was later arrested on drugs and weapons charges, officials said. The mayor said she’s not a target of the probe against husband Timothy Granison, but questioned whether the timing of his arrest is tied to her current bid for a third term at City Hall. “I find the timing of yesterday’s…

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Most police agencies in recent federally court-ordered reform agreements saw violent crime rates skyrocket immediately, according to an Axios examination of departments under consent decrees since 2012. Why it matters: The increases in violent crime rates — in one case by 61% — suggest that there can be unintended consequences, at least in the short term, to the policing changes many Americans have demanded in the year since George Floyd’s…

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