No doubt police brass are at fault for not making it clear what the operational needs during high demands of social control is required and that (lets say) only 10% of officers can go on vacation at that time. Instead Police brass kept silent - no wonder senior officers are jumping ship.
Cityhall and Police did sit together when the contract was written and there was a lot of reliance on senior police for input.
JCPD senior brass have taken cityhall and residents for a ride for years. Comey was nothing more then a Union Boss and not a Police Chief......This is why I will always view Comey as an ass-wipe and Healy complicit with all the major fook-ups in this city

I understand what you said. However, because of the contract they cannot stop officers from taking their time because it was agreed that operational readiness would not be impacted as long as no more then 20% of the district is on vacation. So the bosses cannot, in the absence of a state of emergency, force anyone to forgo their desired dates, according to a legally binding contract approved by the city council. That is the bottom line.

Now, understandably, the idea that in the middle of summer 20% of the force may be on vacation leaving the district short handed, is upsetting to most people. However the blame rests not with the supervisors but with the people who negotiated and approved the contract. The city can't ignore the parts that now seem unfair or inconvenient. You seem to have a hard time understanding that you can't break the work rules of a contract. The supervisors can ASK that officers change their dates, but they cannot refuse to let them have the time as long as the staffing numbers stay at or above the percentages called for by the LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACT.

I think you missed my point. I will break it down for you: no one (at least, not me) is advocating for police brass to not allow policemen to use and enjoy their earned vacation. What I am saying is that the brass has a responsibility to review and approve vacation time requests. They don't HAVE to APPROVE every time request. Certainly, they should balance all requests to ensure that police force capacity and personnel levels remain at such level as to ensure that operational readiness and work output is not significantly affected.

As per the story in the OP, and the one relayed by Brewster, commanders have already stated that operational readiness is already affected, as personnel staffing levels are below necessary levels to provide for basic police services (i.e., foot patrols).

Quote:

"It's in the contract" means that superiors cannot prevent the workers from taking their contractually agreed upon vacation until the contracts limits are reached. The superiors hands are tied. They are " providing the service they are LEGALLY REQUIRED to render." No more than 20% of the force is on vacation, that is what the LEGALLY AGREED UPON contract calls for.

The question is, since everyone feels this is such a problem, why did this contract pass a Fulop controlled City Council without a nay vote on March 13th of this year?

http://www.jerseycitymagazine.com/vie ... salaries--cap-sick-banks-

Brewster, your story clearly illustrates the failure by the brass and superiors to effectively, efficiently and coherently manage the police force. "It's in the contract"?! Does that mean that it is also in the contract that superiors can abdicate their responsibility to the city and its citizens and NOT perform their managerial jobs??? A true leader would work to set vacation schedules that give employees their earned time off, while still providing the service they are LEGALLY REQUIRED to render. Unbelievable. And, scary. I wonder if the criminals "know" that Summer is basically open season on the "unprotected" masses. Apparently they do...

I've been repeating this for many years since a captain stunned me with it at an HPNA meeting. 20% of the force is on vacation just when crime is highest. His explanation: "It's in the contract". Like that explains away anything stupid, as long as it's in writing because an administration wanted to balance it's bloated budget and gave away our safety in return.

This highlights how Healy, Comey and senior JCPD District Commanders that are 'jumping ship' were fudging the books and lying about how they were on top of crime and figures were always on the decline.
Its a pity we can't / don't charge them for deception and data manipulation.

During the 1990s I suggested that the city negotiated a better deal for taxpayers. Then too much money was paid for overtime during the parade season. I suggested then the city should only allow police officers to take one week vacation during the summer and use their vacation time during the other part of the year. Unfortunately, no one listened.

Quote:

+1

Just the leadership showed up whenever they felt and then cashed it all in.

Thought they never took vacation or sick days?

Stuff like this is why we can never compete with Brooklyn. Amazing how backwards this city is.

Crowdfunding idea -- "Send a gang member to summer camp"

Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

There are so many Jersey City police officers on vacation the force can?t do foot patrols in the most violent neighborhoods, according to an email obtained by The Jersey Journal.

The news comes as the city has seen almost as many homicides this year as it did in all of 2012, five alone this month.

The spate of violence caused a 27-year-old account executive who lives near Ocean Avenue to email Capt. Frederick Younger, commander of the city?s busy south district, to inquire about the police department?s response.

The woman asked Younger if the department planned to send cops there to perform foot patrols.

Younger?s response? He can?t ? the cops are on vacation.

?The months of July and August are heavy vacations periods and ? officers normally assigned to walking post have been reassigned to radio car patrols,? Younger said in the email.

The response stunned the woman, who lives with her boyfriend and 1-year-old son. She asked that The Jersey Journal not identify her.

?Quite alarming,? she said. ?I said, ?Are you kidding me? ? you have people?s lives at stake.??

According to city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill, the city?s contract with its 777 police officers keep more than 20 percent of one district from going on vacation at one time (The Jersey Journal didn't find that requirement in its copy of the contract). The city has four districts, but Morrill declined to say how many cops in the south district are off the job right now.

"As a policy, we don't release manpower allocations in order to not jeopardize the safety of both officers and residents,? Morrill said. ?The manpower allocations is fluid and allocated based on the chief and director's decision.?

Police officers receive 15 days of vacation starting with their second year on the job, and for officers hired before 2003, the number hits 30 days after five years. For offices hired after 2003, five years gets them 17 vacation days.

The woman said Younger told her the city was taking extra steps to monitor her neighborhood, including the Eye on the Sky surveillance tower and security cameras, but that doesn?t make her feel any better.

?If you have drug wars going on, what honestly do you think a camera is going to do?? she asked.

The president of the Jersey City police officers union did not return a request for comment.