HUDSON VALLEY – Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, one of New York’s two US Senators, has been campaigning on a bill to help solve the staffing shortage plaguing many police departments in New York and across the country recently, making campaign stops around the state to tout a new bill during election season.
Gillibrand was in Albany on Friday, stumping for her solution to the policing shortage. “In a statement following her stop in the state’s capitol, Gillibrand said, “Police departments across New York face unprecedented workforce shortages,” while announcing a bipartisan bill she is cosponsoring, the “Providing Child Care for Police Officers Act.”
Gillibrand says the legislation would provide “$24 million in federal funding for each of the next five fiscal years for childcare services to support the men and women who put their lives on the line to keep our communities safe.”
Standing with elected officials from the Capitol Region, Gillibrand claimed, “Offering childcare services is a powerful tool to attract and retain new talent, and it’s an essential way to promote public safety while maintaining a stable law enforcement workforce.” She said her bill “would help provide these essential services and help police departments to retain and recruit the best talent into our law enforcement agencies.”
Several police officers in the local area talked to Mid-Hudson News following Gillibrand’s announcement in Albany. “We didn’t have a staffing shortage until state officials handcuffed the police and began coddling criminals, allowing people charged with attempted murder back out into the community without any bail,” said an officer with an Ulster County police agency, who requested anonymity. “Childcare isn’t the problem,” he said. “It’s archaic Civil Service laws that make lateral transfers difficult and experienced officers retiring by the dozen because of the dangerous bail reform laws in New York. Senator Gillibrand is missing the mark with this plan.”
The City of Poughkeepsie Police are experiencing a substantial manpower shortage due to retirements and officers transferring to other departments that offer better salaries. The department is short approximately 20 officers, resulting in current officers being forced to work additional shifts to cover the gaps. The State Police, Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, Town of Poughkeepsie Police, and occasionally MTA Police, have all been needed to respond to calls in the city because Poughkeepsie cops have been engaged in other calls for service.
City of Poughkeepsie Police Officer Kevin Van Wagner, who serves as the PBA president said, “Childcare is not the problem when it comes to staffing shortages.” He said the state “should consider a plan that is popular in southern states, noting that New York’s tiered retirement system makes it almost impossible for new officers to retire as a Tier 6 member.” Van Wagner explained that in the south, an officer who is eligible to retire can sign a contract with his or her department, guaranteeing to stay another three years or more. The department or municipality would bank the officer’s salary for the length of the contract and pay a large lump sum at the end of the agreement. Van Wagner says it’s an attractive option for officers eligible to retire because the officers can collect their pension during the individual contract they sign with the department and then get the substantial lump sum payment at the end of the contract.
