Public Employee Press

Union activism paves way for civilian win at NYPD

Leaders and activists from DC 37 joined City Council members at a news conference on the steps of City Hall June 11, calling for the additional hiring of civilian workers at the New York Police Dept.

Vanessa Gibson, chair of the City Council Committee on Public Safety, said the city would save millions of dollars and improve public safety by returning 200 Police Officers currently doing deskwork to street patrol, and replacing them with civilian employees. In a victory for the union, the final budget agreement will fund double that number - 400 public employees will be hired.

City Council members Andy King and Elizabeth Crowley, chair of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice, accompanied Gibson at the press conference.

Alma Roper, executive vice president of Local 1549, which represents clerical workers at the Police Dept., said civilianization would not only enhance public safety but also improve the relations between the police and the public.

She noted that over the years, Local 1549 have won three arbitration cases in which the NYPD was ordered to replace Police Officers doing deskwork with civilians. Michelle Keller-Ng, 1st vice president of Local 375, also spoke in favor of civilianization.

"The jobs that the City Council funds are jobs that lead people to the middle class," DC 37 Associate Director Oliver Gray said, speaking about the societal benefit of the hiring. "Those jobs are very important."

"People want to be protected in their neighborhood," said Local 1549 2nd Vice President Ralph Palladino.

The savings from replacing Police Officers with civilian workers could be used for other city services, Palladino said. Police Officers cost the city roughly twice as much as civilian clerical workers.

— Gregory N. Heires