Thursday, April 5, 2007

Eight LAPD Officers Finally Get Paid What They Deserve


(Los Angeles) Patrolling the mean streets of LA is a rough job. Gang warfare, high speed car chases, possible terrorism at LAX, (and avoiding the drunk driving of Paris, Linds, and Nicole) are daily dangers of being in law enforcement at the LAPD.
Simply put, you have a bad day at work - paper cut, fight with a cohort, bad review from a boss, you end up with hurt feelings. You have a bad day at the LAPD, you end up dead.
Because of that we were happy to hear that the pay of those who put their lives on the line for our safety is finally hitting some reasonable mark.
The LA Times today reported that eight LAPD officers made over $200k last year, about half of which from working overtime to protect and serve your collective asses. With considerably fewer than the number of officers needed to patrol the city, the LAPD has for years used overtime accounts to keep a presence in neighborhoods.
And that situation is not likely to improve any time soon. In fact, the department said this week that it expects to exceed its $62-million overtime budget for the current fiscal year, ending June 30, by $12 million.
We can't wait to see the day when teachers, firefighters, and social workers start seeing these sorts of figures.
But until that day comes, we are seriously happy that some of the daily heroes of our city are finally getting what they deserve. Yes there will always be a few notable bad apples in any large group, but for what they do day-in and day-out, we have nothing but respect for the LAPD who have a huge city to patrol and do an excellent job.

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