Who Will Keep Us Safe?

Recently, 278 San Jose police officers received layoff notices. The Mayor and his allies seem content to let these layoffs occur as—despite cynical statements professing insincere desires to retain officers—they have rejected multiple contract proposals from San Jose’s officers which would have saved these jobs, provided for a 10% pay cut, reformed police pensions and saved San Jose residents staggering amounts of scarce tax dollars.

Rather than working with our officers to arrive at concessions that would correct much of San Jose’s council created structural deficit, it seems the Mayor and his allies have chosen to trap officers in a pension system that is hugely expensive to police officers and to the city. The truth is, the Police Officers’ Association recently conducted a survey of its membership and found that at least 40% (but likely much more) of our officers would voluntarily opt-in to a less expensive retirement system. Why? Because officers currently contribute nearly a quarter of their paychecks towards their retirement. If officers were allowed to opt into a less expensive plan they could save thousands each year and the city could save tens of millions.

Unfortunately, the Mayor isn’t interested in working with officers to find solutions. Instead, he seems determined to follow a path of confrontation.

Just as no one could convince Ahab to cease his pursuit of the white whale, it is doubtful that anything will change the mind of this mayor. Fortunately, there are 10 others on the Council that have minds of their own and can chose to steer San Jose away from disaster.

The San Jose Police Officers’ Association remains committed to negotiating with the city in good faith to arrive at solutions that will save jobs and save taxpayers money.

Please type in your address in the box that says "Contact City Hall" in the upper right column of this page and send a message to your Council Member today imploring them to work with officers rather than wasting millions of your hard earned dollars on illegal ballot measures, unnecessary elections and protracted legal battles.