Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Will CC Wake Up When The Last Deputy Departs?

Chron.com | Low pay could force deputies to join HPD

Come on, Commissioner's Court! Get the lead out! No offense to the good deputies staying behind, in fact, God bless you for staying, but at this rate all we're going to have left is the old heads who aren't about to break a sweat and the new hot heads who've yet to be seasoned! It's not rocket science.....just pay these folks a decent wage and give them some real overtime and quit scrapping off so much off the top for health care. Raise our taxes if you must, just make damn sure that increase goes into the pocket of the deputies and not into the pockets of the CC, etc. We can't afford not to give them a raise or increased benefits to make them stay and be able to lift their heads with pride once again!

Harris County Deputies Deserve Better Pay NOW

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Commissioner's Court has them exactly where it wants them; tearing into one another and full of the same in-fighting that ruined HPD's chances at decent pay for years. The CC "knows" it can get away with this because most people simply care about their property taxes; fighting any efforts to reallocate funding as they, the tax payers, desire.

What can the deputies do to gain decent pay? Aside from leaving for HPD or other agencies, they can band together and start seriously looking at either combining unions or getting them to work together. They need to stop acting like the red-headed step children of the world and get some political backing as well. At some point, they'll need to drop a few bucks in a political action committee (PAC) and be loyal to those who would return the favor as well.

TxGoodie said...

They are showing their frustration and anger and they can't step back and see how that's perceived. I feel for the guys, they are floundering without some tangible leadership. All CC has to do is read for 2 minutes and they'll know that nothing is going to come of any planned demonstrations because they can't even get along with one another long enough to mount an "attack".

As for the union splintering, as I understand it, the FOP has strict rules about what they can and can't "get into". They don't "do" PACs and stay away from politicial intrigue ... I think they are more about social and perhaps humanitarian activites. The other group is cursed because of the taint of corruption at its core, at least in the past. But from where I sit, the real problem is neither group is going to give up any of its "power" in order to yield to the other and the deputies and other employees are almost shell shocked from being manipulated by all concerned.

They need someone with political insight who knows how to organize and plan a course for them. Bearing in mind, these are the same guys that couldn't get off their butts long enough to pass the collective bargaining petition for their own benefit. As LEOs, I believe, they are conditioned to distrust motives and that includes each other's motives. If someone offers them some suggestions, they turn on them and accuse them of being a major or a captain, etc. They are reacting when they should be acting as a unit with common goals.

May God help them all.