The Positive Voices

We live in a sensationalized culture of quick sound bites and “gotcha journalism”. Tragedy and mayhem sell papers and produces ratings. This leads the media to regularly, and usually credibly, report on incidents that threaten the safety of our neighborhoods and police officers. The horrific murder of Grand Rapids Police Officer Robert Kozminski in 2007 justifiably garnered front page status in the Grand Rapids Press and lead story coverage on local TV for days and weeks after the senseless tragedy. More recently, the layoff of 20 police officers in Grand Rapids and its impact on residents has also rightly received significant media attention. There is another insidious assault on our police officers, however, that has received little coverage and when it has, the local media has typically been complicit in promoting it. It is an attack that is not as shocking as a physical assault on a brave officer, but is just as damaging to our families. Its indirect result threatens the long-term safety of our cities as much as reduced staffing levels. This attack is not easy to see and produces no wanted posters or composite sketches on the nightly news. However, its perpetrators have attempted to deeply hurt every police officer in the State of Michigan. The unreported assault on our police officers often comes from politicians and political think tanks claiming to be advocates of law and order, even often stating their goals as promoting “safe streets”. Over the past several years, a significant long-term threat to the overall ability of local governments to provide professional and dedicated police service has come in the form of a steady stream of proposed legislation that weakens collective bargaining rights and promised employee benefits for those serving in public safety. As municipalities understandably try to cut costs, the individual employee is usually targeted first. It has become trendy for politicians, pro-business lobbyists, and Grand Rapids Press editorial writers to scapegoat police officer benefits as being responsible for budgetary constraints. After all, lowly public servants are easier to pick on than the flawed tax policies, trade agreements, and the greed first mentality of politically-powerful multi-national corporate executives with downtown buildings named after them. It’s just simpler to claim that the streets will be lined with gold if the police officer weakens his right to binding arbitration (known as PA312 of 1969) or gives up his defined benefit pension or health insurance, than it is to fix the larger systemic problem. Unrealistically low tax rates for millionaires and billionaires must be preserved at all costs. Quality professional police officers are expendable. This attitude has attributed to several pieces of legislation that risk having the long-term effect of turning back the clock to a day when police officers were far less educated, training was deficient, and quality police officers were difficult to retain. Representative Bill Haveman- R (Holland) has recently proposed legislation that weakens PA 312. Moreover, Representatives Dave Agema-R (Grandville) and David Hilldebrand-R (Lowell) introduced legislation that would require all government employees in Michigan to pay 15% of their health insurance premiums, irrespective of terms negotiated in individual collective bargaining agreements. Representative Agema drew the ire of police unions across the state when he too sponsored legislation to change binding arbitration for public safety officers back in his first term. The Grand Rapids Press editorial staff seems to almost have a standing order to attack the police officers that the media never reports benefits of City employees in the editorial pages on nearly monthly basis. Distorted reporting of the City’s budget crisis always without exception leads them to conclude that the employees, including police officers, need to sacrifice more. On several occasions The Grand Rapids Press has also promoted the idea of eliminating binding arbitration. Eliminating or modifying the employees’ ability to have contract disputes settled by an impartial third party arbitrator through binding arbitration greatly tips the scales in the favor of the employer, essentially leaving the employees with no bargaining power and limiting unions to “take it or leave it” ultimatums given by the employer. This weakening of the employees’ bargaining strength will undoubtedly lead to reduced compensation and poorer working conditions in an effort to garner short-term savings. This may sound appealing to some who are desperate to find savings at any cost. However, the steady reduction in the standard of living of our police officers will eventually lead to lesser educated, lower quality police applicants. This is a greater threat to the neighborhoods’ safety and quality of life in the long run than is the cost of fair compensation, as police abuse, corruption, apathy, and low retention rates will follow closely behind. This is readily apparent in Southern “Right to Work” states with no binding arbitration, where low wages, shoddy benefits, and high turnover rates of police officers is the norm. None of these consequences seem to be taken into account by the sponsors of said legislation, nor by their willing accomplices in the media. This leads me to conclude that the biggest assault on our police officers and neighborhoods often comes not from the common street thug, but from those lawmakers and public policy shapers wearing three piece suits as they trumpet their dedication to public safety. I can not tell you how many times I’ve had politicians tell me, “I appreciate what you do and your service to the community”, while at the same time proposing policy that precludes their obligation to pay for it. These actions are the real assaults on the psyche and morale of the men and women that put their lives on the line every day. More importantly, the attack on our police officers and their families has caused a black eye on society that hurts us all.