Police Overtime Lawsuit

Here we go again: If you are not following the latest problem within the Troy Police Dept. then you better start. A federal lawsuit has been filed against Police Chief John Tedesco, Mayor Harry Tutunjan AND the City of Troy. That is YOU! Anytime the City of Troy is sued, the Citizens are being sued.

In a time when many Folks are in a uproar over the out of control Pension plans, they should be taking a close look at the overtime being worked in our Police Dept.

When Mayor Tutunjian was making his considerations on whom he wanted to appoint as the new Police Chief, Tedesco said one of his priority's would be to cut down the Overtime that is overwhelming the budget, and he is trying to do just that. There are somewhere in the area of 125 Officers on the force, some excellent Officers and others maybe a little marginal. Some have been there forever and some are brand new on the force. So they may be reading this and saying, what the heck business is it of hers or of anyone else's , how we put in for, or work our overtime! Well, my dear people, WE are PAYING for it and we most certainly have every right to be concerned over the amount, or HOW it is accrued, ESPECIALLY if it is being accrued as a Scam. Much is the talk going around how one Officer will be assigned to a shift and call in sick so a fellow Officer can come in on overtime and then the 'favor' is returned. How much of this is in dispute right now, we are not sure but we will most certainly find out. Also a concern to us is the fact that those pulling their pay off of the Taxpayers are themselves not residents who have to pay for it, OR will have to pay for the Lawsuit that has been placed, and am I right, Bobby Fitzgerald himself? Chief Tedesco and Mayor Tutunjian want this stopped, and we agree! There should be strict guidelines involving overtime and I am sure there are, but are they being followed? All of the Citizens of Troy should get on board with this issue and make it their priority to be very vocal about it. The Overtime embellishes the Pensions and on and on it goes. How much $$ can the City/Citizens support? Did our Officers join on to protect the city or become rich? We never object to a well paid Officer for a job well done, but some of this is overdone. We need to make sure all time worked is quality time. If the Police Dept. were a private entity would you be seeing this as such an issue? How do we deal with a contract that is grieved mostly on pay and benefits and not on performance?

Also, seeing the Taxpayer is who pays the salaries, wouldn't you think we would be able to vote on the Contract? I think maybe that should be put into play here. If retired Police Officers who no longer work for the Police Dept. can, then those who PAY the salaries should be able to. Maybe all this nonsense would stop. Also we should have some say on the final decisions on Grievances. If we think the Officers are not being paid correctly or there is some other problem with the ranks that is being grieved, we should be able to have some say on righting the wrong OR disciplining the offending Officer. If the grievances continue, maybe we should fire the whole Police Dept. and start all over again, hiring on the Officers who really want to work as a Public Servants and eliminate those who think we are a private bank. I want to see a LOT of comments here, I want to know how people feel about this, let us know if you are a Police Officer responding or a Taxpayer. Also for the Police Officers state how you feel about the Grievance, Lawsuit and/or Overtime. Because, "That's the Way it is!"