Tell legislators, governor to resolve budget crisis now

BY KENNETH BRYNIEN

This past month has been a tumultuous one for PEF

members. Gov. David Paterson has delayed the implementation of our negotiated raises until a final state budget is adopted, attacks on our raises and benefits have appeared almost daily in the media, and state employees have been portrayed as greedy and unwilling to shoulder our fair share of the state’s fiscal crisis. Rather than work constructively to address the budget

crisis, the governor has sought to score political points by vilifying the state work force, appealing to the worst nature in people by promoting an us-versus-them attitude to provide cover for what is a contract violation and an illegal act. We believe the savings the governor has demanded

can be achieved without impairing agreements that have been negotiated in good faith by the state’s unions. The state work force has sacrificed throughout this fiscal crisis. Zero growth has been allowed in state agency

BRYNIEN

—Photo by

budgets since the fiscal crisis began. The budgets have been pared to the bone year after year, and our members are doing do more with less as the need for state services grows. We have and are sacrificing, doing our part to lessen

the state’s fiscal crisis. We continue to offer constructive solutions to address the state’s budget shortfall that will more than accommodate the cuts the governor is seeking from the state work force. As I have said in many of my messages to you, you are

our best advocates; an active and informed membership is vital to our success. I encourage you to get informed, and contact your legislators, which you can do online through the PEF Action Center at www.pef.org. Urge your legislators to act as swiftly as possible to address the budget issues affecting the state work force. You have my promise: We will take whatever actions

Ken Dischell

are necessary to ensure the state lives up to its obligations under our contract.

Parole tragedy heightens safety concerns

BY DARCY WELLS

The job of a parole officer can be a

dangerous one on any given day, but April 15 that danger came right to the desk of veteran parole officer Samuel Salters. Salters was shot as he sat at his desk in

his downtown Brooklyn office. He was wounded in the shoulder and rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center where he reportedly suffered two heart attacks while undergoing treatment. He remains in guarded condition as this publication goes to press. At his arraignment on attempted

murder charges, the parolee charged in the shooting told reporters he intended to kill Salters. According to eyewitnesses, Robert

Morales sat quietly in the parole office waiting room until his name was called. He calmly approached Salters and shot him. The incident ignited renewed calls for

metal detectors in parole offices, something PEF has advocated since the late ’90s. “We are the only law-enforcement

officers without metal detectors,” said PEF Division 236 Council Leader Manuelita Clemente. “This shooting is exactly what we

feared.” The union and the state Division of

Parole (DOP) had been working out terms of a pilot program agreed to in 2009 that would install two metal detectors in offices in New York City. However, the program stalled over disagreement on how to staff the detectors. “DOP now plans to install metal

detectors at our offices in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx,” Clemente said,

www.pef.org

“but we still are unclear on who will staff them.” For the time being, parole officers plan

to take on the added responsibility, while PEF secures proper training for them and monitors the implementation of the pilot program to ensure officers who are pulled from their regular duties are not disciplined for failing to meet paperwork filing deadlines as a result. “The most important issue right now is

the safety of the parole officers, visitors and other parolees,” said PEF President Ken Brynien. “Our officers are trying to deal with caseloads that have become unmanageably high. Pulling officers off caseloads to staff metal detectors creates additional risk to public safety.”

Rapid Response

A day after news of the shooting broke,

Gov. David Paterson issued a statement directing the DOP and the state Office of General Services to review security measures at parole offices. “Parole officers have a critical role in

promoting the security of all New Yorkers, and it is imperative that we do what we can to protect their safety,” Paterson said. Assembly Member Charles Lavine (D-

Glen Cove) introduced legislation April 21 calling for enhanced security at all locations where paroled felons report. “Just how that felon got his hands on

such a sophisticated weapon remains a mystery and presents a separate set of challenges to a civil and safe society,” Lavine said. “But under no circumstances should he ever have been permitted to easily carry

that pistol into a public office and shoot officer Salters, a dedicated professional whose speedy recovery we are all praying for.” Lavine’s bill includes language on the

need to hire personnel to monitor security devices.

Always on guard

Less than one week after the shooting,

parole officers outside the same Brooklyn office where Salters was shot, arrested a parolee and charged him with having a loaded .45 Caliber handgun in the glove box of his car. The discovery was made during what is

called “operation clean sweep”, in which every parolee is frisked before a scheduled visit. Officers were instructed to wear bullet proof vests as a hightened safety precaution. In March 2009, another parolee brought

a weapon into a parole office in Queens. That parolee was shot to death at the

office after grabbing a parole officer and holding a knife to her throat. “These incidents are constant reminders

of the dangerous careers parole officers have chosen,” Brynien said. “We are committed to their safety and to

the safety of those they serve. We all can agree safety measures need to be increased. It’s figuring out how to mesh that priority with the equally important task of juggling high caseloads that remains an issue. “Our thoughts and prayers are with

officer Salters during this difficult time. His commitment to public safety has not and will not go unnoticed.”

The Communicator May 2010—Page 7

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