Thursday, Feb. 5th, The Police News published two stories in which Galveston Police Officers were referred to as 'rich, overpaid police.' Both stories were about incidents in which the officers were involved which do not happen everyday.
One story involved officers rescuing a potential suicide jump from the 75 foot high Galveston Causeway into Galveston Bay. The other was about detectives and crime scene investigators at the scene of a brutal murder and probably savage sex assault.
Needless to say, our use of the terms 'rich and overpaid', brought an immediate assault from readers. "Are you stupid?" asked one reader.
Here is our explanation for our use of these dreaded words. On Jan. 25th, the publisher of Galveston's only newspaper, produced an editorial with the title line "Rich police bleeding island dry." We wanted to see what readers, and yes, the officers themselves, would have to say if we referred to them as 'rich and overpaid' in a story about their lifesaving and investigative performances in these two stories. Well, we found out. The emails began coming in immediately in a steady stream. One police officer even called by phone. He couldn't believe The Police News would do that.
This morning there is another editorial in the only newspaper in town, trying to sooth the wounds left by the first editorial and denying the use of specific words that were insinuated, but not used.
The paper denied using the word, 'overpaid' but said, "The city has a finite amount of money to spend on all Galveston's needs. So, every dime paid to the police and other employees affects what it can spend to fix potholes, improve drainage and repair broken traffic lights."
So, wouldn't the average reader take that to mean the police are 'overpaid' since we still have potholes, drainage pipes and traffic lights that are broken and not working? Wouldn't that mean that if we take enough money away from fire and police, we could fix all those things? Doesn't it sound like these cops are being overpaid?
Then the publisher unleashed an assault on police and fire unions and the fact they bargain with the city for wages and benefits. According to him, nothing good can come from this kind of system. Apparently that newspaper doesn't believe city officials and police can be trusted to bargain in good faith and reach an agreement that does not abuse the public treasury.
The median income in Galveston is $34, 153 according to the newspaper. Cops shouldn't make more than the people they serve apparently.
These police and firefighters are the same police and firefighters that remained on Galveston Island as Hurricane Ike assaulted the city, destroying property and killing people. They stayed on the island and protected the property of wealthy newspaper editors and publishers. They stayed on the island as newspaper employees ran for higher ground.
These rich police officers pulled a distraught woman from the top of the Galveston Causeway before she leapt to her death.
These rich cops are desperately trying to find and arrest the savage killer of a woman on Broadway who was beaten to death and probably raped.
Twenty of these rich cops are in graveyards around the city, having been killed while working the streets of Galveston. None of them died sitting in an air conditioned office writing letters to the editor or reading the newspaper.
These rich cops are also citizens. Citizens who get together every three years, sit down with their employer, and talk about such things as how much pay they can get in the next three year cycle, what of of insurance benefits the city can provide for their families, what kind of pension they can expect 20 or 25 years from now. They talk about the same issues that many other citizens talk about with their employers. Do newspaper employees have that privilege? I don't know, but what would be wrong with it if they did?
And by the way. Last month police and firefighters took a voluntary pay cut of 3% in an effort to help their city recover from the devastation left by Ike.
Did the price of the local newspaper go down, or is it still the same as before Ike?
These rich cops are sitting across the table with people we elect to take care of this for us. Do we not trust them to represent us fairly in these talks? Are we so stupid that we elect people to represent us that we can't trust? I think not.
I don't know about you, but if some deranged idiot bangs on my door in the middle of the night, or if some savage freak rapes and murders someone in my family, I hope some of those 'rich cops' take enough time away from counting their money to come help me and my family.
Breck Porter, Editor/Publisher
The Police News
editor@thepolicenews.net
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2 comments:
My brother goes into burning houses to save people lives and for people not to honor our men and women in uniform is so sad. How much do you pay someone for saving your life? Well done on getting your point across. Shame on the Galveston Newspaper. Thanks for the insight.
Scratching my head here. When I read those stories it was very clear to me that you were referring tongue-in-cheek to the Daily News editorial, and in fact you had me LMAO in my chair. Some people need to check their facts and think before posting their comments.
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