[Vision2020] Union Support Not a Conflict

[Dan Carscallen]

Tom says:
 " The most important goal in maintaining an efficient and proficient
organization, be it public or private, is RETENTION. "

Okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it takes a different breed
of cat to be a cop.  

I'm going to go further out on that limb and say that maybe wages aren't
the main factor in why the City of Moscow has a hard time keeping cops
around.  I will dangle out there a little more and say a union probably
isn't going to keep them around any better.

I'm just gonna throw this out there.  I believe one of the biggest
reasons we can't keep a "veteran" force here in Moscow goes back to that
"different breed of cat" that is a cop:

Moscow is boring.

Now I don't mean Moscow is boring in the way the rest of us think.  We
have a fairly eclectic mix of things always going on in this town, from
Jazz Festival to Renaissance Fair to Rendezvous in the Park to purt near
every City Council meeting.  I mean Moscow is boring for a cop.  There
just ain't much action.  Yeah, we have our occasional murder, but we
sure as hell aren't Detroit or Washington D.C.  Heck, we aren't even
Wenatchee or Kennewick.  We're Moscow, and other than maybe getting to
put the hammer down on a few DUI's on the weekends or the occasional
"White male riding a bicycle north bound on Main St. The male is wearing
a cowboy hat and a g string." (yes, it's true --
http://tinyurl.com/mhk5m, report #05-M3918), there's not a heckuva lot
going on during the rest of the week, and I'm sure these guys get pretty
bored.

I'm thinking that most people who become cops want to be cops because
there's a chance for some ACTION.  There just ain't much action goin' on
'round these parts.  For the rest of the citizenry, that's okay!  I like
it like that.  And I'm sure if you ask them, our police force would say
that it's nice that Moscow is relatively mellow.  But deep down inside,
there's that little voice saying "GIMME SOMETHING TO DO!!!"

I don't see how a police union is going to help that situation.

DC

P.S.  From what I gather, a union might not even be the be-all end-all
solution that is needed.  Maybe just opening up lines of communication
directly between the police force and the City Council (rather than them
having to go through the chief or whoever) is the proper course of
action.