Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Brown to Buffalo police: stop malingering


The mayor's office says some Buffalo police are malingering. According to this article in today's Buffalo News, 13% of the current police force is unable to work. I have to say, most of the cops I know do not fall into this category. The department claims some of the injured are gravitating towards "sympathetic" doctors (translation-doctors who double as their friends).

Union President Robert Meegan comes up with a pretty feeble argument: Since we went to one-officer cars in 2003, we have better than 200-plus less officers, so we have less backup, as a result, and injuries are more prevalent," Meegan said. "The city was told there would be more officers injured on duty before we switched to one-officer cars." City officials had argued that many urban departments successfully utilized one-officer cars.

Less backup? I don't claim to be a police expert of any kind but I've seen enough calls on my street to know they send 10 cars to situations where they probably only need 2. Every time there is a domestic dispute on my street, it looks like a Bishop Timon reunion. What is he talking about, less backup? I do agree with Meegan when he talks about the city's Human Resource department being incompetent. I know something that should take one day to clear up probably takes six weeks with the jackasses the city of Buffalo hires these days. Ask anyone that's ever gone to city hall to try to take care of any sort of bill and they'll agree with that.

Police work is tough work and it's not for everybody. But the numbers don't lie. The small percentage of malingerering officers give the rest of the department a black eye. If you want some real comedy, read the reader comments underneath this story. That's one way to measure the court of public opinion...

Police injury claims soar, raising malingering issue : City Hall : The Buffalo News

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