More on Police pay
July 5th, 2012 at 1:00 pm by David FarrarTracy Watkins reports:
Police pay negotiations could be the next political fight, as figures emerge showing the number of police constables who are paid over $80,000 a year.
The figures were on a National-aligned blog yesterday. Police bosses are in pay negotiations with the rank and file. …
The National-aligned Kiwiblog yesterday posted figures showing about 640 police constables earn over $80,000 a year, while about 40 per cent of sergeants are on more than $90,000 a year, along with 80 per cent of senior sergeants.
Police Association president Greg O’Connor said yesterday it preferred to conduct pay negotiations behind closed doors.
Good God, I never thought my post yesterday would be seen as anything to do with the Government and the Police pay negotiations. It is all rather innocent. I blogged a couple of weeks ago on how the Police have a binding arbitration mechanism in their salary negotiations – a panel of three choose between the Commissioner’s offer and the union’s offer, if they can’t agree by themselves. This means that any stand off can be resolved.
I got an unsolicited e-mail (as I often) do from a reader who said:
I saw your post on Kiwiblog today questioning the amount that police are paid. I got curious about this myself so I did an OIA request over it: the results of which are attached. The top police officers appear to be paid in the $110,000-$120,000 bracket.
The OIA which I published shows it was a Josh Grainger, who I think it is fair to say not aligned with the Government 
Josh actually did the OIA in 2011. I just found the data interesting, as you don’t normally see such detail in media stories, so I blogged it. I actually said:
The numbers are interesting, but for one I think they are appropriate. Police officers have to put up with a lot of crap.
So no, it wasn’t a post to help the Government fight the Police pay demand. As I have tried to explain several times, there is an arbitration mechanism in place. If the Police union think the Commissioner’s offer is crap, and their offer is fair – then they can seek a binding arbitration on it.
The nice thing with the binding arbitration is that it is all or nothing. They have to go 100% with the Commissioner’s offer or the union’s request. What this tends to do is moderate both parties to be reasonable. Quite unlike most other pay disputes where massively unrealistic claims are made.
Tags: Police
July 5th, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Should, I think, read ‘top non-commissioned police officers’. It ignores the rank of inspector, whose holders still often play a role in investigative policing
Off topic, it does seem a long bow to draw to associate a blog post on KB with an expression of government policy/tactics!
Vote:July 5th, 2012 at 6:19 pm
Encouraging some officers to remain PC’s or Sgt’s for 25yrs with reasonable pay is a good thing and in our interests as a populace, we want level experienced heads in police ranks.
Vote:Having to push for promotion to get decent pay and opportunities won’t necessarily get the police force we need.
July 5th, 2012 at 10:46 pm
“Good God, I never thought my post yesterday would be seen as anything to do with the Government and the Police pay negotiations. It is all rather innocent. I blogged a couple of weeks ago on how the Police have a binding arbitration mechanism in their salary negotiations – a panel of three choose between the Commissioner’s offer and the union’s offer, if they can’t agree by themselves. This means that any stand off can be resolved.”
Oh, puh-leese! Give me a break, David. Don’t be so hypocritical. You know pretty damn well what you’ve been doing and why so don’t give us this butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-your-mouth ploy.
Either stick by what you’ve written or keep the hell out of other people’s private lives.
Since when is the earnings of other people your business any way?
Are you going to give us a break-down of what you earn?
If you think that cops’ pay is public business, then cough up the details of your income. Otherwise STFU, because you’re coming across like a petty Stalinist with a nanny-state complex. Christ, even the Labourites weren’t as bad as this kind of shit.
“It is all rather innocent.” – my arse.
Vote: