Recently in Public Safety Category

source: Shaun Bishop, Daily News (CA) 03/08/2010 07:02:03 PM PST

State firefighters and San Mateo County sheriff's deputies would respond to emergencies in San Carlos under a budget scenario proposed by the city manager. Outsourcing police and fire protection services would save the city an estimated $3 million to $5.5 million, said City Manager Mark Weiss, who on late Friday released his "two paths" plan to close a $3.5 million deficit in the 2010-11 fiscal year budget.

By Arindrajit Dube and Ethan Kaplan, Industrial & Labor Relations Review,  Vol. 63, No. 2 (January 2010), pp. 287-306.

Abstract: Outsourcing of labor services grew substantially during the 1980s and 1990s and was associated with lower wages, fewer benefits, and lower rates of unionization. The authors focus on two occupations for which they can identify outsourcing in those two decades using industry and occupation codes: janitors and guards. Across a wide array of specifications, they find that the outsourcing wage penalty ranged from 4% to 7% for janitors and from 8% to 24% for guards. Their findings on health benefits mirror those on wages. Evidence suggests that the outsourcing penalty was not due to compensating differentials for higher benefits or lower hours, skill differences, or the types of industries that outsourced. Rather, outsourcing seems to have reduced labor market rents for workers, especially for those in the upper half of the occupational wage distribution. Industries with higher historical wage premia were more likely to outsource service work.

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Source:  BY S. BRADY CALHOUN, The News Herald (Panama City, Florida), November 16th, 2009

 A Panama City commissioner said Saturday the city might be able to save money by abolishing the Panama City Police Department and contracting with the Bay County Sheriff 's Office for law-enforcement services.

 

..... The suggestion of outsourcing police duties came while the city is in its first negotiation with Teamsters Local 991, the union that now represents Panama City Police officers. The union has nothing to do with Kady's suggestion, he said.

 

Source: By Joe Davidson, Washington Post, Wednesday, November 18, 2009

 

..... The GAO paints a scary picture of a federal agency that poorly supervises a security force largely composed of private guards. That supervision, or lack of it, is one point the House Committee on Homeland Security is set to take up at a Wednesday hearing on the FPS.

Another subject certain to arise is the overwhelming reliance on private contractors to protect federal facilities. There are about 15,000 private guards, compared with fewer than 1,000 federal law enforcement officers, in the FPS.

The appropriate balance of contract workers and federal employees is a matter of debate in many government venues. But clearly, there are times when protecting federal facilities is "inherently governmental" work -- the standard by which that balance should be judged.

Source: By JACKSON WEST, NBC Bay Area (CA), 2:47 AM PDT, Tue, Sep 29, 2009

The police department in cash-strapped Vallejo, Calif., may have found a way to save a little money.

The Police Department is now using a transcription service based in Tennessee -- Nashville-McLintock Transcription and Consulting Services -- to write up its police reports.

 .......The practice is less expensive than hiring new personnel and could possibly elicit more details from officers who might otherwise keep it brief if they had to do the typing themselves.

Source: By Larry Sandler and John Diedrich, Journal Sentinel (WI) July 1, 2009


A former Milwaukee police captain was paid more than $600,000 through a no-bid contract to set up a police computer system that repeatedly failed to give commanders the information they needed to track crimes, city officials said Wednesday.

Source: By BOBBY WHITE, Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2009

 Facing pressure to crack down on crime amid a record budget deficit, Oakland is joining other U.S. cities that are turning over more law-enforcement duties to private armed guards.

 ........ Oakland is not alone in seeking to improve public safety while reining in spending. This month, the Chicago City Council, facing a possible $200 million budget deficit, proposed expanding the responsibilities of private armed security forces by authorizing them to write traffic citations. In New Orleans, neighborhood committees have sought to expand special tax incentives to pay for private security for neighborhood patrols.

Source: By CHRIS GERBASI, Herald Tribune (FL), Friday, January 23, 2009 at 12:45 a.m.


CHARLOTTE COUNTY - The county is exploring the privatization of jail and fire/EMS operations to save money. But the idea has sparked job security concerns among corrections workers and firefighters, who argue that it could diminish the quality of public services.

Source: Nancy Amons, WSMV (TN), 11:34 am CST November 21, 2008

A private security company that is trusted to help keep Nashville safe is accused of twisting the facts in order to get the job. Wackenhut wasn't the lowest bidder when Metro was looking for a security company. But Wackenhut got extra points by saying it would subcontract 20 percent of its contract to a local small business, Specialized Security Consultants (SSC), run out of a house in Mount Juliet.

Wackenhut was quick to lay the blame on SSC after the Davidson County Election Commission break-in last December and blamed SSC when Metro discovered it was overbilled. But now Metro lawyers have said the two companies really aren't very separate. Metro alleges that Wackenhut moved some its own guards to the SSC roster, Wackenhut did their payroll, ordered their uniforms, performed their background checks and that SSC used Wackenhut's office space.

Source: By NICK WERNER, Muncie Star Press (IN), June 4, 2008

.......... Mayor Sharon McShurley announced Monday she was considering -- among other things -- privatizing the Muncie Fire Department to help compensate for an expected shortfall of $7 million in tax revenue between 2009 and 2010 combined.