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Tuesday, August 03, 2010
DPS trooper pay still lags big Texas cities
Brandi Grissom at the Texas Tribune ("State of Pay," Aug. 3) comparing Department of Public Safety trooper salaries to the larger Texas cities, citing low DPS pay as contributing the agency's more than 10% vacancy rates among troopers. Here's a chart from the Tribune detailing max pay at various agencies (excluding overtime):
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15 comments:
Grits, do you have relatives working at DPS or what? You constantly dog every form of cop in this state with charges of crimes and corruption, yet you stand up for the most worthless law enforcement agency around.
No, no relatives there. Also, I've criticized DPS plenty over the years, and I'm not sure how describing relative salary levels is "standing up" for DPS.
Perhaps what you're reacting to is that this blog both praises good behavior by law enforcement and criticizes bad no matter which agency I'm writing about. I know you'd prefer I only ever praise officers at your department and only criticize DPS, but that's not how we do things here.
What Grits said. Also, I fail to see how DPS is any more worthless than, say, Wilco's 'finest'. In fact, I see a preponderance of evidence pointing towards dps being far and away a better outfit than wilco. Wilco sheriff deputies have a legendary rep for being corrupt, racist, and downright ignorant. The worst you can really say about DPS is that they exist solely to write stupid tickets.
Law enforcement agencies are only as good or as bad as the people who work for them. Yes, some agencies have a hell of a lot of problems, corruption, liars, whatever. The bottom line is this. I, personally, have huge expectations of cops. I expect them to be at there best. I expect them to uphold there oath and, above all, I expect a moral compass that is above reproach.
I think cops should be paid and paid well. The rate DPS pay's troopers is a sham. You get what you pay for!
As Hook Em stated, you get what you pay for and when it comes to DPS I've always had the feeling that, in general, it was true. Not a lot of rocket scientists there. Also a lot of wasted manpower as they assign troopers to DPS stations (showing a lack of management skills).
Real scary is that the Rangers come from DPS trooper ranks. With average civilian candidates becoming troopers, the pool for state investigators only drawn from average troopers (who also have a different skill set than highway patrol types) becomes real limiting. :~)
TX DPS Trooper - DAVID RIGGS - Wise County - Decatur (Decatur)
How many of you have had the misfortune to have encountered Trooper David Riggs in his official capacity? Meaning - an illegal traffic stop, illegal search and seizure, violation of your civil rights, solicitation of sex-drugs-or money, etc. ? If so, report your event to the Texas DPS Inspector General's Office.
Unprofessional behavior and unlawful practices will not be tolerated?
Grits, I appreciate your blogging Brandi's article and thus drawing the attention of your readers to the state's shameful treatment of its state police.
I know you're not a big fan of civil service statutes, but even you should be appalled by the fact that the Legislature denies the state police the same due process rights and collective bargaining or meet-and-confer rights that it thinks are entirely appropriate for county and municipal officers. Combine that with the facts that
(a) you can make a lot more money at several other departments,
(b) you can promote from rookie to chief at other departments without ever having to sell your home or leave your wife or ask your wife to quit her job or sacrifice her career,
(c) you can reach the highest pay grade at other departments in eight or ten years instead of twenty,
(d) at other departments you'll never be ordered to leave your home and family for a month to go lean against your rifle in Uvalde, or sleep in your patrol car in a disaster zone;
and you'll come to understand why DPS has trouble recruiting and why its officers deserve better than what they get.
I had a good laugh a few years ago when Governor Perry championed a "statewide" meet-and-confer bill to curry favor with CLEAT and TMPA....it would have given meet-and-confer rights to every peace officer in the state except the state police. Thanks Guv.
What's so frustrating to me, is how easily our Troopers get suckered by every politician who calls him- or herself a "friend of law enforcement." What they usually mean by this is that they favor tacking on a few years to every oyster-related felony offense, and adding a couple of new ones. It rarely has anything to do with the pay, benefits and working conditions of the state police.
BTW, to Anonymous, that post of yours was a real profile in courage.
Troopers get to put up with that crap all the time, too. And in the 14 years I've been representing Troopers I have never ONCE seen the DPS refer the filing of a false report to a district or county attorney. So have at it with impunity.
I have commented on Grits before about my experience of having my vehicle searched, illegally, by a DPS trooper who was convinced he was going to find a cache of dope.
I have detailed here before and am not going to go into it again, suffice to say, DPS is NOT perfect.
Pay troopers better, get better troopers...it's that simple!
"Wilco sheriff deputies have a legendary rep for being corrupt, racist, and downright ignorant. The worst you can really say about DPS is that they exist solely to write stupid tickets."
Gosh Shackleford, you amaze us all with your wit and nothing to substantiate your claims.
"I think cops should be paid and paid well. The rate DPS pay's troopers is a sham. You get what you pay for!"
Interesting there BEVO. If DPS pay is a sham, how would you describe a county deputies pay at less than $25,000? A crime?
Anon, 2:54,
Depends on the county...and the workload.
Anny 2:54: Here's a couple of links to back up my assertions. And you're right, I AM witty. It's a gift. Don't waste your time being amazed, use that time instead to become a wee bit more educated about the chicken fried county in which you live. Call any other county copshop, and ask them about wilco sheriffs. When even other leos talk smack about you, you must really suck. Also, I never see you back up anything you say (I recognize your particular brand of idiocy from previous posts), you just parrot party lines and clumsily insult people. Not only do you bring nothing to the table, you're not even vaguely amusing. Weak.
http://realmedianews.com/corruption/alex-jones-talks-about-corruption-in-williamson-county-texas-1999
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=11&ved=0CBEQFjAAOAo&url=http%3A%2F%2Feyeonwilliamson.org%2F%3Fpage_id%3D2&ei=jB1cTPS7IpLQsAOo5bnYDw&usg=AFQjCNH8TxksynVqWXEz0NhcK4tFylNg_w
I've seen far less arrogance in DPS than any other LEA I have come across. One of those reasons is, they aren't corrupted by local or county ideals of using traffic/code enforcement as a cashcow. They do their jobs, and seem genuine in their dealings with you. Not saying I 'like' them, just pointing out a glaring difference I have come across.
You're going to go with Alex Jones?
Oh...Kay...
Yeah, I am. I posted the first two that popped up, out of hundreds of results. How bout you cowgirl up and post a link to some site detailing how wonderful wilco deputies are? You won't find one, 'cause they aren't. Now. I've come across with sources (at least one of which is reliable), and you came back with a poor attempt to sarcastically discredit those sources, but no factual rebuttal of your own. Ergo, you suck and I win. If you'd like to continue displaying your jackassery, send me an email in private.
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