The KCDOA Board of Directors are very aware that many of our members are very frustrated, and rightfully so. As such, we want to let you know what we are trying to do to make things better for our members.
As you’re probably aware, we’ve submitted a 12 hour shift proposal to admin. We’re told it is currently with Commander Komin and that he may give us a response late next week (presumably on whether or not he will be recommending it to the Chief). The proposal would have those in security work 84 straight hours in a pay period, but it would include giving up “all hours worked” in relation to sick leave only. We’ve heard from many members that both support and oppose the idea and it would ultimately go to a vote of the membership if the department opts to proceed with it.
Aside from that, we’ve requested that as much AO school as possible be postponed until Spring (after the new hires are online and functional). We do not know if the department will act on this…
We’ve asked that admin consider changing AO school times to 0600 (or 0700) to 1500 hours so that everyone attending would not be exempt from OT during the week they are in school. We do not know if the department will act on this…
Of course we’ve hammered away on the need for additional paid cores, but the Chief and Undersheriff (to this point) have refused to make any commitment for them and they’ve told us they are not budgeting for them… They continue to believe laterals will get the job done even though the CCF’s are all reopening and drawing existing staff and future prospects away from us.
We’ve asked (for months and months) that the female officers TDY’d to CRF be returned to Lerdo as their downtown assignments add 60+ shifts per month to the OT system which we can not afford. They have now agreed and said they will be returning to Lerdo in November.
We’ve asked that people on light duty not be completely exempt from OT and instead be susceptible to light duty mando assignments. We believe this request is under consideration.
We’ve asked that people with certain hour restrictions (such as no more than 8 hours of work per day) be assigned in other ways (ex: on their RDOs). This would only apply to that group.
The Chief and Commander have indicated that they intend/hope to discontinue the mando system following the cadets being full duty around the holidays. We’ve asked that they put a notice out to staff explaining this and outlining their vision for fixing the understaffing mess that administration has allowed to happen.
We’re continuing the fight (via the meet and confer & arbitration processes) to try and get either stand by or availability pay for everyone affected by the “rotational” OT system. It wouldn’t be a fix, rather a minor token really, but it would be some additional compensation for staff not being able to use their own time for their own purposes.
Finally, we’ve worked with Lt. Wright and Cmdr. Komin to continually tweak the OT guidelines to be as fair as possible for everyone involved, and to be fair, they have been accommodating to many of our requests. (ex: the recent change allowing staff to see everyone’s squad and days off and the recent change showing mando shifts as “assigned by supervisor” instead of incorrectly labeling them as volunteer or voluntary).
There may be other efforts that are not listed here, but this covers most of what we’ve been trying to do to offset the crap that is routine forced overtime.
As Board Members, we all do not get a chance to speak with all KCDOA members as frequently as maybe we should, but we collectively felt this info should be passed on to our members so that you would know that we are trying to improve things as much as we have control over. Please feel free to let others know what we’re doing and have them call or message a Board Member if they have any questions, complaints, or suggestions etc.
Also, if you have any ideas for what KCDOA can do to improve this situation, please let a Board Member know.