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NARR: :40
An N-Y-P-D rookie starts out making just $25,000 a year.
AMBI: OUTSIDE SOUND UP
Every morning, police cadets step off the train at the 3rd avenue subway stop in the east village.
They walk a few blocks to the Police Academy, wearing navy blue uniforms, matching hats, and shiny black shoes.
Most cadets refuse to answer questions from a reporter …. The few who DO talk … say that being a New York City Police officer is about service, not money … But most of them admit a raise would help.
AUX: (16)
(Woman): It's a calling .. nobody likes the low pay but it's a calling.
(Man): I was in construction, didn't like it, and thought this would be the best thing for me. I'm getting married soon, and it's tough.
NARR: :(35)
Albert O'Leary said he is concerned about the QUALITY of new officers being recruited to the force.
O'Leary is the communications director for the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, or the PBA … which is the union that represents the department's 23,000 officers.
AUX: (O'Leary) :20
In the last class, 40 percent of the class are people who failed to be hired in previous recruitment drives… people who failed the psychologial at the NYPD and were turned down to be police officers, were called back and hired. So if that's not an issue of quality, then I don't know what is.
NARR:
In recent contract negotiations, the city offered to bump up rookie salaries by $10,000 … But the union says that won't solve the staffing problem … as experienced officers are leaving in droves to accept higher paying jobs in nearby communities.
The union contends that more than 4,000 experienced cops have left the NYPD in the past five years for other jobs.
The city recently offered to bump up the salary of veteran street cops - from $59,000 to Sixty-three thousand. O'Leary says that's not enough.
AUX: (O'Leary) :19
If you have the option of becoming a New York City Police officer and making $59,000, a state trooper making 75, a Port Authority cop making 80, a Nassau cop making 92, or a Suffolk cop, making 94, which job are you going to take? It's a no brainer.
NARR: :08
Brian Donnelly thought so.
In 2002, he quit the NYPD to join the Port Authority Police Department ... even though he had to take a pay cut at first.
ACT: (Donnelly) (:13)
The day that I got my acceptance letter was the day I was getting married .. so I knew it was a good decision. Because when you reach top pay on the port authority … it is about $30,00 more than when you reach top pay with the NYPD.
Narr: :12
By September, Donnelly SAYS he'll make nearly $90,000.
If he had stayed with the NYPD, he'd be earning just $59,000.
A spokesman for the Mayor's office declined to agree to a taped interview, but sent a statement via e-mail… QUOTE:
"The City wants to give equitable raises to all City employees."
The city also said that the PBA has refused to negotiate a contract. Both sides will meet in arbitration later this year.
I'm Ellen Gabler, Columbia Radio News.