A quote frequently heard from Police and Fire folks: “We put our life on the line every day for you”. Is this really true?

Police and Firefighters absolutely put their lives on the line every day for us!

Yes, “ALL OF US put our lives on the line every day”, but we are far more likely to make it safely through the day thanks to our Police Officers and Fire Professionals.

Is there a chance that any one of us could be involved in a fatal accident “driving in Broward County”? Absolutely, but I’m baffled as to how you can compare a traffic ACCIDENT to a Police Officer WILLFULLY running towards gunfire or a Firefighter WILLFULLY entering a burning building to save someone they’ve never met. The difference between the 2 is Intent. Police and Fire professionals intentionally put themselves in danger daily to protect us. I don’t know about you, but when I get in my vehicle it is my intention to get to my destination as safely as possible. (Not to mention the fact that God forbid you are in a traffic accident who do you think is coming to help/save you?)

As to your following statement:

“But when the economy is as bad as it is now, and when belt tightening must occur everywhere within municipal payrolls, should Police and Fire be exempt from that belt tightening? In my opinion, no.”

I’d rephrase that question as:

…when belt tightening must occur everywhere within municipal payrolls, do the citizens of Fort Lauderdale want to continue to receive the same level of protection of life and property from the Police and Fire Departments? In my opinion, yes!

Let’s face it if budgets and pensions are cut services WILL suffer.

We’ve already de-funded our educational system to a point where becoming a teacher is financially unattractive. It’s bad enough that we are penalizing our children in school. Let’s find another way to balance the budget so that we don’t have to cut services that protect our life and safety.

At some point we have to stop trying to balance the budget on the backs of public servants…

I see that word “services” in your reply, Glen!!!

Earl

Earl, there are no Democrats or Republicans at the local level anymore, just the “PWP” and the “PTP”. The former being “People With Pensions” and the latter being “Property Tax Payers”. The independents of this local landscape are the old and the young who are not related to the pensioned city workers but also don’t pay any property taxes. The Mayor and the Commission should feel liberated from these union bosses by this Hollywood referendum. They should drag these union bosses into a closed door session in which salary increases are offered in exchange for pension reductions. This will undermine the union bosses and make it all work. If the union bosses balk, you have the bargaining chip of throwing them to the voters. Since these union bosses primary goal is not service to and safety of the city, they will do what is in their interest and take the most they think they can safely get away with. We should be thankful that our canary in the coal mine, the City of Hollywood has shown us the way with this referendum. If we don’t act now we might be facing 28% annual property tax increases like the poor saps in Hollywood are. They got off easy, now that they defeated the unions, their property tax is only going up 11 percent this year.

Thank You Earl for bringing out what needed to be said if the Public Civil Server is a Team Player and if they are looking out to be fair to the City of Fort Lauderdale something would be worked out.

Any city employee, regardless of position, that is not paying attention to the Hollywood vote is going to be surprised when there is not enough to tax dollars to fund the ever increasing FLL pension costs. Wilton Manors is exploring merging with BSO, Deerfield did with their Fire Dept. Its usually reluctantly as autonomy is lost and maybe the oft quoted “levels of service” are reduced, but you live with it. In spite of ‘police presence” there is so much crime in FLL, and all of Broward these days, and they are rarely solved or perpetrators are caught. And if FLL refinances the plan, and it tanks down the road, the pension costs will only be more. The intent is NOT to take away the pensions that many feel they are entitled to, but look around at the economy in the last 4 years. The gravy train has left the station. Half a pie is better than no pie.

Though you are generally the voice of reason and your point regarding pensions is valid and has merit; comparing ‘all of us”to police and firefighters is ludicrous.

Earl
You have hit an ALL TIME low with this article.
I urge you to take a moment out of your life and think about the 13 brave men and women who gave their lives to protect the citizens of Ft Lauderdale.
If you need a reminder who these 13 people are, I’m providing you with a link:
http://flpd.org/index.aspx?page=46
Better yet, take a drive down to Riverwalk and place a flower and reflect at the base of the memorial that bears their names.
To even inject this baloney about our jobs being not dangerous is preposterous! Even one death is one too many.
This year alone, 124 officers nationwide have been killed in the line of duty:
http://www.odmp.org/
I hope you allow this post to stand as Ive posted many times before on your page and youve deleted my comments. I am going to post on your other article as well and hope for the same.

Joseph-
You still don’t get it. There are many professions that have more casualties than Police or Fire. People who join the force should know the dangers before they sign up. It’s sad and unfortunate that anyone dies when they are serving or protecting others, but that should not alter what we provide as fair compensation.

Earl Rynerson

Entitlements, entitlements, entitlements. One of the major causes of our impending financial doom whether on the National, State, or Local level. Me, me, me…..the unions (or individual police officers or firefighters) don’t give a sh*t about the community they work in as they often don’t reside in the same community. Who cares if the community goes broke? So long as they get theirs.

There are definitely some dangerous areas in South Florida to patrol in but what about firefighters? What are the statistics for actual fires in Broward County in which a mulitstory building is involved? We don’t exactly have NYC skyscrappers here. What is the “real” danger of being a South Florida firefighter? Are they at an increased risk to be hit by a shopping cart while standing in the Publix Deli line? Can someone please explain this to me? Thanks.

Earl, I’m sure you will delete this post but I will try. Your assertion that the sworn men and women who protect you are less likely to be killed performing their job is to say the least a disgusting. The difference between these brave public servants and those you listed is that they are: slain/murdered/assaulted/battered while protecting you (not killed by accident). As a tax payer I gladly pay my taxes to support your government pension even though you survived your tour of duty.

Thank you for your support Steve!
Earl

I would gladly NOT pay the police or fire fighters more in fact much less. Sorry, but you are really not worth the value you place on yourselves. And, I said it in an old blog, you knew the dangers of being a police/fire fighter, why didn’t you become an architect? The worst that could happen is that you’d fall off your chair. As Paul says, please explain the increased risk of South Florida?

Earl, Im sure that you will delete this post, as you do to anyone who doesnt agree with you. Before I begin I would like to tell you that I have served in the military and yes we are at a great risk, however, we are not always getting shot at or blown up. I have been to Iraq and Afganistan several times and not even been shot at. Should I not get paid? Or get benefits? But what about that one second that changes my life forever when I sustain a life threatening injury? Am I worth it then? I could come back parylized or dead. The same is true with fire and police. They also dont face danger 100% of the time, but, they face dangers besides getting shot and dying in a fire. What about responding to calls? Accidents on the road? People with communicable diseases? All of these could also alter their lives forever. The truth is, these people whether they sign up for it or what not, are placed at a much greater risk than those in other professions. The reason that the death tolls are not as high is because of better training, education and better equipment that thankfully us tax payers provide these men and women. By the way, for someone as up on politics as you claim to be, both unions, police and fire have not asked for any raises whatsoever for the next 3-5 years atleast because they know what kind of trouble these cities are in. So before you go bashing public servants, how about you get your facts straight. I just cant believe you have this much distain for these people who do nothing but protect us night and day. And just as I say to everyone in reference to the military, if you haven’t walked days in our boots, you have no place to open your mouth and form the opinions that I am seeing on here. Perhaps if some people on here would get an education as to what these professionals actually do on a daily basis, they would be in for a shock.

I’m sorry james, but I disagree with much of what you say. I don’t have disdain for police and fire, I simply feel that we can no longer to pay them such high salaries and pensions. We cannot afford it. I hope they take an inititaive to suggest additional ways that the burdern to the Fort Lauderdale tax payer can be reduced.

Earl