City Comptroller William C. Thompson recently released an audit that provides extensive support for DC 37's civilianization proposals.

Examining only the administrative units of the Police Dept., he found 831 uniformed officers performing mainly non-law enforcement duties. The study concluded that filling those jobs with civilian workers, who generally earn considerably less than police officers, would save the city $15.2 million.

"Civilianization provides an opportunity to save costs and increase patrol strength," said the comptroller.

Civilianization and contracting-in (saving money by returning work from expensive outside firms to public employees) were the centerpieces of the "white paper" DC 37 issued May 2 in an effort to deal constructively with the city's looming $5 billion budget gap. The 43-page report was titled "We Can Do the Work: How the City Can Save Over $600 Million Without Cutting Services."

The plan said the city could save $127 million by civilianizing, $121 million by contracting in, and $30 million by improving efficiency and adopting "work smarter" initiatives, and it called for $320 million in revenue enhancements.

When DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts released the savings plan at City Hall, it made waves like dropping a big rock into a small pond. City Council members and Speaker Gifford Miller studied the document in preparation for budget discussions, and the New York City Independent Budget Office was intrigued by one of the proposals (see "scofflaw").

In talks shortly after the paper was issued, the MTA agreed to bring $750 million worth of design work in-house to members of Local 375, which had been demonstrating on the issue (see Local 375 wins 2nd Ave. subway work).

Not all agencies got the message: The Board of Education planned to hire teachers at more than double the pay of School Aides to monitor students in summer feeding programs, and the NYPD moved to hand another high-level computer job to an armed, uniformed lieutenant or sergeant (see below).

Beyond the mayor's plan
The Police Dept. computer operation was among the worst of the 34 administrative units of the force that the comptroller studied. His audit, released in late May, charged that civilian workers should replace 121 of the 122 cops in MISD, saving $1.5 million a year.

In the property clerk's office, the audit concluded that civilians should replace 132 out of the 209 officers. With the cops in that unit averaging $63,570 a year, replacing them with civilians averaging $41,997 would save almost $3 million a year, said Thompson.

In his initial budget proposal, the mayor called for saving $43 million by replacing uniformed officers with 800 civilians in non-enforcement jobs in precincts and law-enforcement units. Focusing only on the administrative units - such as building and vehicle maintenance, the pension section and license division - the comptroller identified an additional 813 jobs that should be civilianized. The DC 37 proposal said that a more "aggressive" plan might civilianize as many as 3,500 more positions.

Confronted with the comptroller's evidence of waste in his department, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly told the NY Post it might really take two or three civilians to replace a single cop.

"That's an insult to our members, and it's certainly not true," said Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez.
Mr. Rodriguez, who applauded the comptroller's audit, was one of a half-dozen local leaders who joined Ms. Roberts as she pressed the union's case on civilianization in the NYPD at a recent hearing. City Council Civil Service Committee Chair Allan Jennings, who said that up to 4,205 police jobs could be civilianized, saving $226 million, hosted the session. He also pointed to the need for civilianizing jobs in the Fire, Corrections and Sanitation departments.