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California Highway Patrol salaries
- mikerhoads 16y agoInteresting. I dug down into one of the actual officers close to the last page. In 2008 he made a total of $156,703.56 and it breaks down like this - Base pay: $75,782.22, Overtime: $2,572.98, Other:$78,348.3 Does anyone have an idea what they mean by "other"? http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=Grant&lastname=Tallman&totalpay=156703.56&agency=CALIFORNIA+HIGHWAY+PATROL http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=Gra...
- zbanks 16y agoThe sum of Base & Overtime is $78,355.20... which is really close to Other. I don't know why the total is the sum, though.
- dotBen 16y agoAnd the same with this guy, who looks like the highest paid officer (ie not chief/sergent/etc): http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=William&lastname=Coop&totalpay=154734.71&agency=CALIFORNIA+HIGHWAY+PATROL http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=Wil... Base pay: $103,819.29, Overtime: $3,954.89, Other:$127,385.25 Total pay: $235,159.43 I'd love to know what OTHER includes. I'm guessing pension contribution but what else?
- cyen 16y agoI wonder if it would include something like injury compensation / some law enforcement-specific hazard pay... seems like it'd fit these large payouts.
- ojbyrne 16y agoThe explanatory text says: "Gross pay includes overtime, bonuses, housing allowances, sick leave payout, vacation payout and multiple other forms of cash compensation" So "Other" would be everything but base pay and overtime. Admittedly "multiple other forms of cash compensation" leaves lots of possiblities.
- dotBen 16y agoWell that leaves "bonuses, housing allowances, sick leave payout, vacation payout" Most of the time sick leave payout and vacation payout is no more than the same day rate of a 'working' individual. Thus it is hard to know why the OTHER column is bigger than the base salary.
- kscaldef 16y agoMany government jobs allow you to accrue vacation and sick time without limit. If you're retiring and cash out 30 years of unused sick leave, that's a big lump payment.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- icey 16y agoIs it possible that it OTHER reflects off-duty work? I know some cities allow their officers to work off-duty but in uniform, and the places that want to use them have to pay the city directly instead of the officer.
- dotBen 16y agoI would have thought that would be overtime, thus in a different column
- icey 16y agoOvertime is usually time spent on the clock while "on-duty" - i.e. still performing their regular police duties, but hours over their standard workweek. Whereas an off-duty officer might be patrolling a bowling alley parking lot or high school football game - still in uniform, but not on "official police business".
- anthonyb 16y agoTwo things that I can think of. Either it's retiring officers cashing out unspent holiday time, or else being injured and getting compensation. eg. This guy: http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=Michael&lastname=Teixeira&totalpay=162043.5&agency=CALIFORNIA+HIGHWAY+PATROL http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=Mic... has only a 70k base pay for 2009 (1/2 pay), and a 200k other, compared to the two other years. If you look a few pages down the list, you'll get more 'normal' salaries, like this one: http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=Jerry&lastname=Espinoza&totalpay=166561.77&agency=CALIFORNIA+HIGHWAY+PATROL http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=Jer... Which is still pretty astronomical, but then he is doing a lot of overtime...
- folz 16y agoIt'd be interesting to get comment from the highway patrol about what the "other" category is. Looking at the individual officers per-year, "other" was around $4,000 in 2007 and 2008, but jumped to about $140,000 in 2009. Kind of makes me want to become a California Highway Patrolman.
- oiuytrdrfghj 16y agoYou know a cynical person could suspect that the state wanted to claim that it was freezing or cutting public salaries - while paying the police a lot more!
- modeless 16y agoWow this is weird, I went to elementary school with one of these guys and now I can look up his salary on the Internet. His 2009 pay is more than my base salary this year at Google, though I will probably make more with my bonus. However, he's on a very steep upward trend so his 2010 pay will probably be more than mine again. I don't think I'd trade jobs, though, police work isn't for me. (Edit: also just noticed that his pay includes quite a bit of overtime...)
- SamAtt 16y agoI wouldn't trade jobs with a CHP officer either but I do have to wonder about the skill level. I'm sure it's harder than I think but the job still boils down to parking on the side of the freeway, spotting violators, chasing them for about a minute and then writing them a ticket. Is that really worth $48+ an hour? Because that seems to be around the average pay (The CHP has a very powerful union so their base pay hours are capped at an average 40 per week). I'm not for big cuts but cut $20,000 a year off each salary and they're still making $80,000 a year which is pretty respectable
- Elcho 16y agoIt obviously can be dangerous at times but considering how many people want to be police officers this pay level seems corrupt. This is just anecdotal but I've met far more people who want to be police officers / fireman than engineers or doctors; surely there is a large supply of eligible candidates, I can't believe that there is any shortage of capable labor to justify this almost CEO level of pay.
- Eil 16y agoIt's not to do with shortage of labor. Their salaries are high because being a cop is a life-threatening and potentially psychologically damaging profession. Some go their entire careers unscathed, some get killed, almost all have close calls every now and then. Most of them have families that care about them and know the sacrifice they might have to make one day. They deserve good salaries for their service. Believe you me, I have many gripes about the quality (or lack thereof) of law enforcement in this country. But how much they are paid isn't one of them.
- Osiris 16y agoI have two brothers that are in the Highway Patrol. Both are listed in the database. I'm pretty surprised to see the size of the increase in base pay from year to year. In their two listings, the Other category was negligible. I'm not sure what the Other category is, but it could be a calculation of the extra benefits they get that isn't paid directly to them. For example, it may be accrued time off that they save up for years (rollover) and then cash out. Maybe I'll ask my brothers if they have any idea.
- Osiris 16y agoHere's what my brother suggested is in the Other category: Other= overtime, cozeep (caltrans construction overtime), mazeep (caltrans maintenance overtime), compensation time off, education incentives, motorcycle pay, bilingual, flight officer, management, etc.
- rottencupcakes 16y agoWhile I understand how voters often want "public accountability" and itemized breakdowns of state budget, something like this seems like a mistake. There was another thread on the front page earlier today about why companies keep salaries very private. There are reasons why private companies do that. Forcing a government institution to publish these like this must make for interesting inter office politics.
- davidmurphy 16y agoThere was an article in the Washington Post (I think) about this very topic. It really is a harm to morale.
- carsongross 16y agoAs a CA taxpayer, it certainly harms my morale. Cheers, Carson
- heresy 16y agoMorale wouldn't be undermined if wages were fair and rules around raises applied predictably. It's when someone gets bumped to the next pay grade without merit that you're going to get sour grapes among those not as fortunate.
- CamperBob 16y agoPay me $48/hour to camp behind an overpass with a box of donuts and a radar gun and I'll probably get over it.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- rm-rf 16y agoMy salary is in a database just like this at a newspaper in another state. Big deal. I am a public employee. The public can, does and should know my salary. If they don't think I'm worth it, they (the public) should fire me.
- ryoshu 16y agoWait until the pensions kick in.
- wyclif 16y agoAnd they can up their pension by working lots and lots of OT, this is known as "spiking." Nice. Another reason I wouldn't want to live in CA.
- jister 16y agoIsn't this sort of thing supposed to be confidential?
- folz 16y agoNo. The Freedom of Information Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_information_act) allows anyone to request the salaries of government officials. Usually this means that newspapers request the salaries for all government officials and put it in a public database. My local newspaper does the same thing (http://datacenter.courier-journal.com/government/salaries/index.php http://datacenter.courier-journal.com/government/salaries/in...), and I presume yours does too, providing you live in the United States. Try searching for "$YOUR_NEWSPAPER_NAME salary database" in your favorite search engine.
- natrius 16y agoFOIA is only for federal information. Most states have some sort of equivalent, but the restrictions on what information is released varies.
- kprobst 16y agoI think it's quite simple. If I'm a taxpayer in California, I want to know how my tax dollars are being spent. Specifically, I'd like to know why a football coach is pulling in $2M a year while state employees are being threatened with furloughs and we're running the biggest deficit ever.
- jamesaguilar 16y agoThe theory is that the football coach, via increased advertising dollars from a successful football program, is bringing a lot of value. Say what you will, but big college football programs pay for themselves, and then all the other sports at the college too. At least, this is what my brother, a college sports nut, tells me.
- 16y ago
- gunmetal 16y agoHow did all those CHP's get over a $100K raise from 2008-2009?
- tensafefrogs 16y agoMaybe something like: the state has been poor so is cutting back on officers, so the ones left have to work tons of overtime to make up for it? If that's the case, then what's the difference between paying crazy overtime vs. hiring more officers.
- tocomment 16y agoOMG, why are these salaries so high? What's considered entry level for CHIPS? How much is that salary? Is this type of pay typical nationwide? I've been looking to get out of programming ...
- tstegart 16y agoOvertime.
- runT1ME 16y agoNo, it's not overtime. At least not being reported. if you click on a name they break it down, these guys are earning most of that in the 'other' category.
- SamAtt 16y agoThe people over $100,000 a year seem to be making a lot in the other category. But the base pay seems around $85,000 to $100,000 for most... http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/?agency=CALIFORNIA+HIGHWAY+PATROL http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/?agency=CALIFORNIA+HIGHWAY+PA...
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- thaumaturgy 16y agoIt's funny, one thing led to another earlier today and we found ourselves looking at the salaries for county workers in our area. Most of our county positions -- down to the road workers and clerical staff -- make more than I ever have. I'm struggling every month, growing a business, working a ton of hours, and these goons are drawing at least $50/month from every taxpayer in our county. I had to go outside and play for a while after that. It was extremely demoralizing. Coming back and seeing this didn't help.
- stretchwithme 16y agoAnd you should see how slowly they move when they do move. Some city workers were behind my condo complex reinforcing the levee. Took 2 vehicles and employees to spread stones out. One truck for 2 to take a perpetual break and the other to occasionally spread some stones around to look busy. I guarantee you a private levee gets fixed in 1/10 the time and for 1/20 the cost.
- stretchwithme 16y agooops. that should read "2 vehicles and 3 employees".
- noahlt 16y agoI see an exciting future in journalism that consists of building tools to help users navigate and manipulate data.
- nitrogen 16y agoIs this already a YC startup? I think that better data visualization tools would help reduce the hold journalists have on peoples' perceptions of the world. Journalists would interpret data more and tell people what to think less. http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs1.html
- rmc 16y agoGoogle Spreadsheet?
- ojbyrne 16y agoJust a little perspective, the 2 people at the top of the list (do search all) are football coaches making $2 million plus each year. And as an inspirational aside suggesting anyone can make it big, one of them coached in the Canadian Football League. He was probably lucky to make $40k a year there.
- tlrobinson 16y agoA head football coach who does well at a school like Cal can bring in revenue many multiples of $2 million per year. Unfortunately for Cal, that's not the case currently...
- startupgrrl 16y agoExcept all of that revenue is funneled directly back into the Team. Go Football!
- ojbyrne 16y agoI've heard that particular canard before, but its just hand-waving. Who says he has to get paid $2 million? What if it was $500k? I think if you looked at it objectively, you might find that it's like startup CEOs - cheaper is better.
- asmithmd1 16y agoNo one wants to hear this -- but why does everyone involved with college football make money except for the players? The schools have colluded to fix the players pay at 1 full scholarship. College football is treated like a business in all areas except for players pay, why shouldn't there be a free market for their services?
- yardie 16y agoShhh!!! No one is supposed to talk about the plantation system in the ivory tower. Some of them do get compensation like, tuition, room & board, tutoring and free jerseys. The ones that don't are supposed to do it for the love of the game! But life-altering injuries and head trauma are totally worth it. /s
- wildmXranat 16y agoHere in Toronto, Canada, we had a subway toll booth collector earn somewhere about 140K. When the top public jobs salary list was published, his earnings stood out like an eyesore. There was plenty of hub-bub about it, but it eventually went away. That report doesn't take the cake though. This year, our province of Ontario instituted a new tax called HST. Tax collectors that were previously hired by the province would get transferred as federal employees that would be reporting to the federal government. Guess what ? Instead of getting a plain job transfer, they got job severance payments upwards of $45K and all they had to do is show up at another government building on Monday morning. When it comes to tax payer's money, there is no logic applied during contract negotiation. It's cowardly politicians and greedy unions.
- dennisgorelik 16y agoDid anyone tried last page? ==== PUBLIC SAFETY DISPATCHER, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATRO 2007: $0.00 2008: $80,814.55 2009: -$80,814.55 ==== What does negative salary mean? Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/?name=&agency=CALIFORNIA+HIGHWAY+PATROL&salarylevel=#ixzz12loLGFMH http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/?name=&agency=CALIFORNIA+...
- tomhogans 16y agoHopefully they refunded the state their salary, realizing how excessive and improper it was. A guy can dream, right?
- NHQ 16y agoPoor Barbara Fogarty made $-80,814.55 http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=Barbara&lastname=Fogarty&totalpay=80814.55&agency=CALIFORNIA+HIGHWAY+PATROL http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/salary-details/?firstname=Bar...
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- chief100 16y agoThe salaries of local city police and fire employees in the Bay Area is far higher. Most seem to be making over 100k per year, many over 200k and some even over 300k. http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries
- jderick 16y agoAnyone notice the Med School profs making 1.5M/year? Wow.
- luckyland 16y agoThey're worth every cent. Teaching and research medicine improves patient outcomes and is ultimately for generations other than our own.
- luckyland 16y ago...and to the cynic these salaries secure notable individuals who can guarantee patent transfer (royalty stream) to big pharma.
- ScottWhigham 16y agoWhat? Your comment would seem to imply that it is normal and acceptable for a single med prof to earn $1.5m. Are you really that out of touch to think that this is sustainable? Let me guess - you were one of those complaining about how the education bubble is just terrible a few months ago?
- luckyland 16y agoHuh? Where was it suggested those salaries were typical? I'm saying in those cases where you see a seven figure salary for a department chair or chief of surgery position at a teaching and research hospital, it's because the state believes they have the very best talent available.
- robryan 16y agoWhat is your opinion on the massive college tuition bills people have to pay for them to be able to dish out salaries anywhere near this? Teaching staff scale badly, sure some would be benefiting greatly from this professors expertise, but others would have little contact paying the same hefty tuition to support this kind of salary.
- 16y ago
- chief100 16y agoThe pay of government employees, in the Bay Area at least, particularly the rank and file level are paid well beyond what they would make for similar work in the private sector. This goes for everything from meter-maids to file clerks or secretaries. The police and firefighters especially get a fantastic deal considering that they do relatively menial work that doesn't require much education or experience.
- chief100 16y agoThe injury and fatality rate among police and fire employees is far below that of many other jobs like fisherman, lumberjack jobs, and basic construction work. A private in the army making 30k year will see horrendous things and experience immense stress deployed in combat. Whereas I imagine most cops will never fire their guns out on the street over the course of their entire career.
- jmathai 16y agoMeanwhile, teachers struggle to get supplies for their classes and kids' music and art programs are cut.
- Hubbert 16y agoTeachers get paid pretty well for 9 months of part-time work; see http://www.lawsuitindustry.org/html/cr_50.htm http://www.lawsuitindustry.org/html/cr_50.htm and others. Of course some do work long hours during their 9 months, but many don't.
- gaius 16y agoTeachers are another similar category.
- jmathai 16y agoIs this in wealthier neighborhoods? As far as I know teachers in middle and lower middle class schools don't make much (many <$40k). And more important are kids programs which get cut altogether. I get that there's plenty of inefficiencies but the last line of defense should be schools/education but it often seems the first.
- tdfx 16y agoI know a gym teacher here in NJ that makes $95k a year. Drives a 5-series BMW, indoor pool, etc. And before you ask, his wife is a teacher, also.
- benzheren 16y agowow, what happened to that huge 2008-2009 jump?
- radioactive21 16y agoI know the local chief of police for a UC school, I will try to ask him about "other" pay. I know that University of California, police get paid very well. But i've been told that you need to be recommended into the selection process and it's also a very small group, about a dozen officers covering 20K-30K campus. Most I know are 10-15 year vets. These salaries have always been public, and they get criticized all the time. The Chief has told me that they have to make a case for having each one of these officers every single year. On an interesting note, UC police have jurisdiction for the entire state of California.
- jmm 16y agoA feel-good story about the UC Berkeley police... I was playing basketball at the Cal rec center and someone stole my iPhone from my sweatshirt. Later that night I texted the phone from my roommate's hoping that I could convince the thief of some kind of trade. I went to work the following day during which my roommate, who was a grad student at Berkeley (EECS!), received a text a from said thief. The thief tried to compel me or my friend to come to West Oakland (danger!), but my friend negotiated for a meeting at a Berkeley BART station. My friend called the UC police, and they organized a little sting to arrest the culprits and recover the phone. All for my first generation iPhone :) Pretty great. The transcript of the texts is pretty magnificent, too.
- d2viant 16y agoShare the transcript?
- jmm 16y agoHere you go (I had to type it up for the police report). My friend actually met the dudes at the BART station with a brown bag with a candy bar in it, the police waiting in the wings. All for my iPhone. What a guy... Me (on Steve's phone): Pick up the phone. And give it back. thief (the following morning): A man I find yo phone hit m e. Backs Steve: Cool how can i get it back from you thief: Sense I find the can i get a reward cause I was gone throw it away but i figured u needed yo phone thief: its up to u man thief: hello Steve: Yeah how much thief: 250 or 300 thief: I jus. Need the money man am am homeless Steve: Ok how about 100 thief: How about 200 Steve: Deal where do we meet thief: Meet me at the am pm in west Oakland ok Steve: Ok im at work til 8 see you there at 815 thief: Do u know anybody else dat can do it cuz datse a long time man thief: Hello Steve: Ok my pal can meet you at ashby bart at 3 thief: I don't have a way man tell to pal to meet me by am pm if u want yo phone i don't have all day man Steve: My friend doesnt have a car and im in sf till 8 and hes not going into oakland. ashby at 3 thief: ok i need a number tho thief: Ok tel yo pal to meet me at 19th. Street Bart and I'll give him my number ok thief: so wsup man Steve: Hes not going into oakland. ashby at 3 ok. if yeah i'll give you his number Steve: Ok hes leaving now for ashby 200 ok his number is 510####### thief: Ok were is he cumin from and tell him to put da money in a bag or something Steve: Hes coming from north and the money is in a brown bag
- sdh 16y agois this why we have a $19B budget deficit?
- rjett 16y agoSomething tells me that this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of absurd California state spending. Check out the proposed budget for 2010-11 at http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/BudgetSummary/SummaryCharts.pdf http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/BudgetSummary/SummaryCharts.pd... . The Department of Business, Transportation, and Housing will spend $12.5 billion or 10.5% of the total budget. The CHP is included in this amount, spending around $2.5 billion. If CHP comprises such a small percentage of the total budget and yet their salaries are so out of whack with their peers in other states or the people of similar skill-sets in the private sector, surely there must be abuses/distortions in the other line items of the budget. My last sentence is not necessarily a logical conclusion, but it makes me wonder how much of CA's budget crisis could be solved by normalizing expenditures with those of the 49 other states (which would probably entail pissing a lot of public employees off, fighting with some powerful unions, and cutting a few public works projects). I don't presume to know the answer, but once you give a mouse a cookie and a glass of milk and the mouse forms a union with all the other mice to get cookies and glasses of milk, and then the birds, bugs, and other critters form their unions to get similar deals, can you ever take the perks away and return things to their natural state?
- Osiris 16y agoDon't forget that Arnold has said the biggest problem with the budget is the state workers unions, like the teachers unions. They are under CONTRACT and cannot change those expenditures at will.
- SriniK 16y agoIt's weird. No offense but BART janitor makes 80K. Someone I know is a chemical research scientist, with advanced degree is making 70K. Now we are talking about cutting education budget, some schools are loosing non mainstream course work all together. This is absurd there is gotta be some solution.
- stretchwithme 16y agoWe can change the people who blindly approved such deals.
- harold 16y agoIt appears this sort of salary inflation is happening at many levels of government. Salaries for the city of San Luis Obispo, Ca. posted by the local paper here: http://slonews.thetribunenews.com/city_salaries/slo/ http://slonews.thetribunenews.com/city_salaries/slo/
- danielnicollet 16y agoObviously, entrepreneurship and showbiz is not the only road to riches in the sunshine state! Maybe, and if they are good at it, the cops can make a better contribution than some CEOs do. Then again, many CEOs of startups (like me) won't take $200K home in 2010.
- luckyland 16y agoUnintelligible rise in pay between 2008 and 2009. Stunning.
- patio11 16y agoIt is difficult to resist the conclusion that unions exercise total capture of the Californian budgetmaking process. (100% payraises in the face of the financial collapse? For line officers? In only two years? After they're the best paid in the nation? Before you consider the pensions?!)
- stretchwithme 16y agoThese guys are getting a lot of overtime in their last year so they can jack up their pensions. Some fools in Sacramento agreed to just consider the LAST year of work when calculating their pensions. Obviously, Californians are being taken for a ride. By the union, by whoever is approving the overtime (probably another union member), by the legislative majority and whichever governor signed this very bad deal for taxpayers into law.
- 3pt14159 16y agoThis happens everywhere. The Toronto Transit Commission does the best 4 years of your last 5 or something like that. I knew two people that worked there until they retired. The first was a "field clerk" (basically a secretary for a construction site) the other was a construction inspector. They both paid the same percent into the pension yet despite salary differences of $35k vs $85k they both took home the same amount from the pension fund because the field clerk managed to get promoted to construction inspector for the last 4 years of her 35 year career there. I tried to show them how stupid this system is using Excel spreadsheets and how either the lifelong construction inspector is getting screwed or the taxpayer who backstops the pension is getting screwed but they wouldn't hear it. Whenever someone complains about their defined benefits public pension cutting their payments I just roll my eyes because it seems like these people don't want to care about how things work, they pretend that there is a magical piggy bank with endless money. The worst part is that the construction inspector got bored at home so he eventually came back through an engineering firm as a "consultant" doing the same job he did before, but pulling both a salary and a pension now. Madness.
- jmathai 16y ago
- chadpaulson 16y agoIf the CHP were smart they would ban together and lobby for Prop 19.
- korch 16y agoWait, think about what you're complaining about—do you want your police to be low paid so they are more susceptible to bribes and corruption? Like they are in many other countries? And California is on the border with Mexico where massively funded global drug cartels operate. If the average cop salary is set at some X amount higher than non-cops, then they are Y percent less likely to be on the take. If our police are a lot less corrupt, then overall, society pays more, but in theory receives an equal yet intangible benefit from better law enforcement in general.
- jcromartie 16y agoOfficers at 2008 pay levels (around $150K) are not "low paid." That's a lot of money. $250K is just insane.
- Construct 16y agoI doubt anyone will argue that officers aren't owed a reasonably large salary in exchange for their training, the risks they take and their accumulated experience. However, it is unreasonable to be giving near 100% raises over 2 year periods like we see in this data. In these cases, they are obviously gaming the system to increase their pension payouts. This is an unintended consequence of basing pension payouts on the salary of a person's last year of employment. As mentioned elsewhere in the comments, it's very difficult to become a highway patrol officer. Just getting into the academy is hard to do. But apparently once you're in, you're set for life with a decent salary and these last-year-pay-raise games to make sure you have an unreasonably large pension as well. Artificially limiting the supply of officers in this way allows them to spread their budget over fewer people at the expensive of a smaller force. In this system, Californians lose out not only on tax dollars that go to artificially inflated pensions, but with a smaller number of on-duty officers as well. If anything, this sounds like corruption to me.
- smokeyj 16y agoWhen supply and demand don't dictate price, you have to wonder what does. There isn't a shortage of trigger happy kids wanting a job, the military recruits just fine. We overpay because it's taxed revenue so things like customer satisfaction really don't matter. They even call themselves 'public servants'..
- code_duck 16y agoWell, what am I doing here?? Looks like it's time to get a job rounding up drunks in Arcata.
- sedachv 16y agoIf you look down on the list, there seems to be an awful lot of typists employed. They should either make the officers do their own typing, or outsource that to India (send audio or scans).
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- president 16y agoso, what can we do about this?
- marze 16y agoThe jobs should be auctioned. A job is posted, the top 20 candidates are identified, and each submits a bid for how much to do the job and the lowest bid is accepted. This is the way many other jobs are assigned such as construction contractors or engineering consultants. CA taxpayers could save a bundle with this approach.
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoThe top 20 candidates somehow always end up being the relatives of the people running the auction. The low bidder wins, but every time someone is arrested for a crime not on the list in the contract (which is 90% of them), the state is charged an "change order" fee.
- marze 16y agoThe argument "there are other problems in the world so there is no point in fixing problem X" is weak to say the least. If there are other problems you find after cutting the cost of government worker salaries by 70%, fix them next.
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoThat wasn't my argument at all. My argument was pointing out the common problems with a bid based approach. In almost every locale, bid-based contracts are a bigger source of government spending waste than inflated government employee salaries!
- marze 16y agoFor something as generic as a law enforcement job or civil servant job, I don't see the potential for the problems you mention. Instead of two or three contractors and a murky selection process subject to under-the-table payments, you have a large selection of very similar candidates, and the selection process is as simple as "how much will you be willing to do job X for" with the low bid winning. Somewhere, some economist professor has to have named and analyzed this type approach.
- binspace 16y agoI am in the wrong profession.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- notmuchtotell 16y agoPerhaps people will notice that it isn't just the California Highway Patrol that is doing this. Check out the Transportation, Justice, and Parks and Recreation agencies for instance. They may not always be quite as egregious, but they all have people who are receiving huge pay raises in one year from some 'Other' source.