Loss of hours and use of patrol car led to Kirbyville officers leaving

[AZXD]

Isn't it great

The repercussions of the GREEN mentality are upon us.
A town is going lawless as it's officers quit and government workers walk off the job.

LE Reason = High fuel costs (MSNBC stated they have spent their entire years fula budget)

Yep, it's gotta hurt or people will not conserve.

Lock & Load it's gonna get worse before it get's better

Loss of hours and use of patrol car led to Kirbyville officers leaving



By FRED DAVIS

July, 8, 2008


Slashed hours and losing the benefit of taking their patrol cars home proved to be too much for the four Kirbyville police officers who have resigned in the last week.

Kirbyville Mayor Giles Horn said Tuesday those two items were at the forefront of the officers leaving. Their departure didn't necessarily catch Horn by surprise, he said, but he wasn't expecting them to leave so soon.
He added there is no discord in the police department; instead, the mass resignation is an indication of hard economic times.

"I keep a pretty close ear to what's going on with the police department," Horn said.

The sudden departures left Kirbyville with only Police Chief Paul Brister - who's on vacation until Thursday - and officer Aaron Tippett, who is leaving when Brister returns.

"That's my understanding," Horn said regarding Tippett's intentions.

Horn said Tippett will work days until Brister comes back, and all other patrols are being handled by committee, thanks to help from the Jasper County Sheriff's Office, the Jasper Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The city also will contract out work to off-duty Jasper and Newton police officers.

"We've got everything covered," Horn said.
The four officers all have found other law enforcement jobs, according to Horn, and he said he hopes to have at least one of the officer vacancies filled by the end of next week.

"There's people out there looking for jobs," Horn said.
In fact, he said he received an e-mail this week from a former officer in the now-defunct Rose City department.
"We're not the only ones dealing with this right now," Horn said.

A clearly frustrated Horn said by phone that the town has had to make cutbacks and changes in its city work force as high fuel prices continue to ravage the budget of the small community of roughly 1,800.

A decision was made at the town's last city council meeting June 16 to cut the hours of all 27 city employees by eight hours each week - essentially giving the employees a day off without pay.

Horn said the cost-cutting plan was temporary, a situation explained to city employees, and he expects they will go back to their 40-hour work weeks when the July 17 pay period starts.

The average hourly salary for Kirbyville city employees is $13 an hour; supervisors get from $13.45 to $14.53, the same average hourly rate that the four police officers were making before they resigned.

Since the cost-cutting measure, Horn said other city employees have either quit or been let go and the town is down to 19 employees.

Longtime Kirbyville resident Hannah Karales, 82, said she'd heard about the officers not being able to take their cars home, which she didn't have a problem with.
"We're all suffering from the gas problem," Karales said.
However, she doesn't blame the officers for taking other jobs.

"I'm sorry they left," she said.

Meanwhile, safety hasn't become a problem.

"I've noticed there's not as many cop cars on the street, but I don't feel any different, yet."

[Dave Starr]

Originally Posted by AZXD

Lock & Load it's gonna get worse before it get's better

Done

[Broadside]

Oooooohhhhh my $14 an hour. Damn glad I left LE when I did I was making $12.25 an hour and that was 13 years ago. I don't blame them for leaving.

[Tomahawk]

it's a damn shame.....

[Dhunter55]

$14 an hour is peanuts for putting your butt on the line but a lot of other folks making less money have to use personal vehicles to drive to and from work. We're all making sacrifices because of fuel prices.