Roca/NewsBillboard for the Seattle Police went up on the West Side Highway a few days ago.
Posted on 04/04/2008 9:51:36 AM PDT by Stoat
Friday, April 4th 2008, 4:00 AM
Roca/NewsBillboard for the Seattle Police went up on the West Side Highway a few days ago.
The Seattle Police Department is scheming to steal cops from the shrinking NYPD - paying for a huge billboard along the West Side Highway and papering bus shelters with recruiting ads.
The pitch is simple: Seattle pays its new hires nearly twice as much as the NYPD.
And if that's not enough, they'll throw in another $5,000 to cover moving expenses.
"We get people who go, 'Whoa! It's going to take me a long time [in the NYPD] to get to ... even your beginning salary,'" Seattle police recruiter Monique Avery told the Daily News. "And our cost of living is a lot less."
NYPD cops and other New Yorkers who want to protect and serve the Emerald City don't even have to leave here to take the Seattle Police Department exam.
The written test is being offered April 19 at New York University. Of the 200 people who have signed up, about 20 are city cops, Avery said.
Seattle pays its police recruits $47,334 a year and the annual salary rises to a maximum base pay of $67,045 in just six years.
NYPD recruits get a paltry $25,100 annual salary while they are in the academy. Their pay jumps to $32,800 after graduation and tops out at $59,588 after seven years.
Considering it costs about 20% more to live in New York City than Seattle, NYPD officers would have to earn about $80,000 to maintain the same standard of living as in Seattle.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has blamed the department's starting salary for hurting recruitment. The pay scale was imposed by an arbitration panel in 2005 after the city and police union couldn't reach a deal. Kelly also must cut the police force by 1,000 cops because of looming budget shortfalls - resulting in the smallest department in 16 years.
"There's a long history of other departments hoping to recruit the Finest - and the Finest are at the NYPD," Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne said. Browne said the NYPD's "low starting salary remains a problem, no question about it."
Seattle officials made a smaller attempt to recruit in New York City last year - and their results were so good that they launched this year's larger campaign, Avery said.
The billboard along the West Side Highway near 54th St. was unveiled a few days ago, Avery said. It shows a Seattle police officer's shoulder patch and department crest.
"A Job Like No Other" the billboard declares in big, bold letters above the address for the department's recruiting Web site, Seattlepolicejobs.com.
"It does sound like a dream," said an NYPD cop who graduated from the Police Academy in January. "I would definitely take the test if I saw that sign."
"I love being a city cop and pretty much everyone I know does too," said the cop, who asked not to be identified. "The only problem is everyone works a second or third job."
Avery insisted the billboard and other advertisements are not aimed only at NYPD cops.
"We are not coming to New York to specifically target NYPD officers. I pray that they get a huge raise," she said. "They are definitely welcome to apply, but we are encouraging everyone who is interested to apply."
The city's largest police union said the only way the NYPD can fend off recruiters from other departments is to raise the city's top pay.
"Our veteran officers don't have to travel across country for higher top pay because virtually every other police department in the metropolitan area offers a top pay of $20,000 to $40,000 more than the NYPD," said Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch.
"Can anyone blame them for leaving?"
I knew that things were getting obscenely expensive here in The People's Republic of Seattle, but I had no idea that we are only 20% less expensive than NYC....a sad testament to decades of hard-Left City administration here.
I agree with many of the posters at the New York Daily News site who are hopeful that this will spur a new look at Officers' salaries in the Big Apple....hopefully the city will begin to treat them better if they begin losing large numbers of recruits.
Seattle cost of living has skyrocketed the past decade due to higher taxes and government regulation.
Can someone please explain to me how this is “stealing”?
Will the city of NYC be offering a refund on bribes?
Tabloid hyperbole :-)
Poaching is more like it. Oh well, the NYPD officers will be bored stiff in sleepy Seattle
The didn't add in "the pad" and other graft--
And I see no end in sight....from voting demographics, it appears that the city is becoming more and more Left all the time and so it will only get worse.
If new residents can get used to the climate here (New Yorkers will probably have an easier time than Arizonans) they will likely appreciate the scenery but it won't be long until prices are nearly indistinguishable from NYC....that's been the goal of Seattle city administrators for ages...there's a desire to be perceived as a "big city" and that's our ultimate fate.
When I was living in Belltown, I felt like a bull in a china shop.
They will also miss good Italian food, diners, and people who have a concept of the passing lane.
The Seattle cops have advertised in Europe for GI’s as well...and I’m thinking that they have a fair turn-over rate...which makes me curious why a necessity exists for so many new cops.
When I was living in Belltown, I felt like a bull in a china shop.
They will also miss good Italian food, diners, and people who have a concept of the passing lane.
As a lifelong Seattleite (unfortunately) I agree on all counts.
You like Cannoli? Don't count on the city's ONE Italian bakery (Borrachini's ) to have them available if you drop by; or for that matter for the place to be staffed by actual Italians....know-nothing kids from the 'hood and a surly attitude is the most you can expect.
be advised... the NYPD is NOT into the touchie feelie westcoast culture/lifestyle. careful what you wish for
Another thing ex-NYPDers must be careful of is the treatment of the homeless. You can just order someone to the men's shelter if they are harassing passersby as in New York.
Oh, so is the surliness usual in Seattle? I noticed when I visited earlier this year, but I though I was just marked as a tourist or just unlucky.
Seattle is another world. These ladies and gents better be prepared for culture shock.
Smiling, yet standoffish is the best way I can describe many of the folks I met. Nevertheless, I still made friends with such people, it was just a little difficult.
The folks who really PO'd me were the Cheech and Chong-types that would always be around whenever I needed directions:
"I need to get to the trail at Green Lake"
"What?"
"The trail at Green Lake?"
"Green aint here, man..."
If you're identified as being Conservative, yes...count on surliness and more...much more. Don't park your car in King County with a Republican bumper sticker on it and expect to find it unscathed upon your return, and don't put a Republican yard sign in front of your house around election times unless you like cleaning egg remnants off of your porch and windows.
If you can avoid political conversations (hard to do, as for many on the Left, politics is their religion) then it's usually not any worse or better than anyplace else.
As to my post referencing surliness earlier, I was expressing that sentiment in the context of the staff at Borrachini's being mainly hood-rats.
Thanks guys,
It was one of the cities my wife and I were thinking of relocating to get out of NYC.
I was wondering if I was being unfair. Anyway, I think we like Vancouver (WA) better.
Thanks again.
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