[Vision2020] Union Support Not a Conflict

Thu May 25 11:27:25 PDT 2006

Thank you, Wayne.

Very well phrased.

I prefer that Starsky and Hutch remain on television where they belong, not
on the streets of Moscow, Idaho.

Tom Hansen

Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the REALIST adjusts his sails." 
- Unknown 

  _____  

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Art Deco
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 11:17 AM
To: Vision 2020
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Union Support Not a Conflict

Dan, et al,

I not sure your assessment that retention problems in the MPD is because
"Moscow is boring" [to police officers] is entirely correct.  Further, such
a viewpoint may give a hint to part of the reasons for the union/officer
dissatisfaction issue.

It takes many different qualities and much training to produce an effective
Law enforcement officer (LEO).  The need for excitement (which is not the
same as the need to "catch bad guys" as there are LEOs who are sometimes the
"bad guys") is a useful quality to keep interest in a law enforcement job.
But two points:  

1.    A LEO can have too much need for excitement which can lead to some bad
decisions and also to neglecting other important parts of their job.

2.    The need for excitement is not a have/have not quality but one with a
quasi-continuum of values.  This amount of quality in an individual needs to
be balanced with a lot of other qualities depending on the area in which the
LEO operates.  Successful LEOs in high-crime areas need more of this quality
than those in lower crime areas.  [Further, crime prevention and detection
is not the only job of LEOs; there are many other services they provide.]

Please have a little patience while I give an example:

When I lived in Boundary County, there was an outstanding ISP officer who
worked that area.  Almost all of his citations (he gave out many, many) and
arrests resulted in either forfeited bail or a conviction.  He seldom gave
warnings.  He played no favorites.  (It was frequently said that he would
ticket his own mother.)  Once he interdicted a suspect offender, a citation
or an arrest occurred. 

Officer Hicks had an interesting point of view (paraphrased):  "I see every
situation no matter how serious or how trivial as a personal challenge.  I
try to figure out (and execute) a way to bring every situation calling for
enforcement to a completely successful conclusion consistent with the law
and the goals and policies of the ISP.  This keeps the job satisfying and
keeps it from being boring."

When someone applies to be a LEO, she/he should understand that it is not
all cops and robbers.  Very little of it is.  A lot of it is unexciting.
Some of it is quite unpleasant.  In my opinion, it is a matter and a sign of
personal integrity if a person holding any job does what is required
regardless of its excitement/pleasure value (except those things required
that might be illegal or unethical.)  Hence, a prospective LEO should ask
themselves whether they are willing to do the all aspects of the job they
are applying for in a workman like way.  If they are not, perhaps another
vocation or an application in another area should be pursued if their
personal integrity is important to them.

There are positive signs that for at least some MPD officers, this workman
attitude is present.  The Public Records items in the Daily News point to
increased DUI enforcement.  [Good for the MPD!!!!!]  This is not always a
pleasant or exciting task.  To gain a conviction, procedures must be
laboriously and carefully followed.  To be successful in bringing a
successful conclusion to a DUI interdiction, careful, time-consuming,
attention to detail is necessary.  However, officers with attitudes similar
to that of Hicks above will not find such work boring, but satisfying.

Likewise, when looking a candidates for the MPD, it is important for the
hirer to determine as nearly as possible how much a need for excitement a
candidate has, how it might interfere with other needed qualities, and if
the combination of qualities found in the applicant would give a high
probability of their being a successful, long-term officer for the MPD.

If officers are leaving the MPD because they are bored and long for more
action, this is a problem with the hiring practices among other things.

There is plenty to do for a conscientious,
proud-of-their-workman-like-attitude LEO in Moscow.  When driving in Moscow
in the late evening, apparently impaired (some very impaired) drivers are
generally observable.  Hardly a day goes by when in a short period of time I
don't see several drivers running stop signs.  It is not unusual for people
to run red lights (To observe:  just stand at Washington and Third or at
Sixth and Jackson for a few minutes.)  The list could go on and on.  Boring
work?  Not for a LEO with the right qualities and attitude for the job.

Will a union help?

As a consultant in southern California for many years, some of my jobs
included helping companies avoid unionization.  In short, this is not done
by clever, devious tricks and legal maneuvers.  It is done by providing a
better working environment, better pay and benefits, and more flexibility to
the employees than having an union would provide, and without the union dues
and other problems that union membership creates for employees.

A union can seriously impair management by making effective discipline
difficult, by making it difficult to enforce standards and rates of
performance, by making job assignment/duties less flexible, and by creating
a Them/Us wall of suspicion and hostility between workers and management
which further hampers both the workers and the company from achieving their
various goals.  A well managed non-union company has good rapport and
effective two-way communication between labor and management and a shared
motivation to achieve that which as far as possible promotes the welfare and
goals of both the workers and the company.  In the 1970s these concepts were
called "quality of working life."

It would have been nice if the city had fostered this kind of quality of
working life practice with the LEOs of the MPD.  They did not, especially
the previous mayor and city council.  One of the most astounding things I
heard was the chief's statement when the union issue first surfaced that he
had no idea that such a move prompted by officer dissatisfaction was at
hand.  What a horrible, horrible disconnect.  In a private company a quick
termination would likely have occurred and a new manager found.  [The
present city manager also shares in this culpability.]

The MPD officers, finding the city unresponsive to their concerns and
unable/unwilling to communicate them to their chief, looked for other
alternatives.  Unionization was the alternative they chose.  If a content,
effective workforce is a goal, then part of achieving such is to listen to
the concerns of the workforce.  If they are not listened to, then
performance problems and turnover will result.  The reasoning of the MPD
officers shows that they think the only way left to bring genuine attention
to their concerns is by having union representation.

In my opinion, the MPD officers should continue to consider unionization as
a solution to their problems.  They should continue to do this unless they
see a strong good-faith effort by the city council, mayor, and city
management to listen to and to attempt to address their concerns.  The MPD
officers are also entitled to a chief and a city manager capable of
communicating effectively with them, bringing their concerns forward, and
fostering resolution of them.

An effective, fair, well trained, well disciplined police force is an
essential ingredient for a community.  If the city is now willing be a
quality of working life employer to the MPD and to genuinely hear and to
attempt to resolve the concerns of the MPD officers, this would be the best
solution for all.  Else, the officers of the MPD are entitled to find
alternative ways to bring their voices out.  Unionization is the simplest
way for them (but not necessarily the best overall solution for themselves
or the community).

I hope that heads and hearts have not hardened so much that further
negotiation and communication is not possible.  I certainly see the
officers' point of view.  What is difficult to accept is the lack of
professional staff leadership and the reticence of some city elected
officials to meet and to attempt to solve the underlying problems perceived
by MPD officers without bringing in an interloper.

Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID  83843

(208) 882-7975
waf at moscow.com

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Dan Carscallen" <areaman at moscow.com>

To: "'Vision 2020'" <vision2020 at moscow.com>

Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 6:59 AM

Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Union Support Not a Conflict

> 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.
> 

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