Making things right with state troopers

Editorial by Burlington Times-News, December 7, 2015.

Now that we’re out of the economic slump and the state is running small surpluses, we ought to be making it up to the State Highway Patrol troopers who stayed on the line through hard times.

Roughly half the troopers in North Carolina’s Highway Patrol are suing the state over back pay, or the lack thereof. It’s unclear how that lawsuit is going to turn out. A Superior Court judge dismissed it on constitutional grounds a month ago, and the plaintiffs in the class-action case are appealing.

In terms of pure fairness, though, those troopers have a strong case.

Beginning state troopers start with an annual salary of around $34,000. Recruiting brochures and state promises, however, had offered annual 5 percent raises until a highway patrolman reached the rank of master trooper, making $60,000 a year or more.

Then the Great Recession hit. All state pay raises were off, for years, and they haven’t really been turned back on since. (Remember, all state employees this year are getting a one-time-only cash bonus of $750.)

Officers who joined since 2009 are essentially stuck. Those who have reached the master trooper level since then are only making around $45,000 or so. (Troopers’ pay varies by region across the state.)

Many troopers in the lawsuit say they quit police forces with higher salaries, based on the promises of those pay raises that never came.

Legislators did give troopers a 5 percent across-the-board pay raise last year and another 3 percent this year. Troopers, however, say that doesn’t make up for the raises they lost.

Many troopers say they’ve turned to second jobs to help support their families. Some have reportedly gone on food stamps, and the head of the state Troopers Association says his group has had to chip in to help members who fell behind on house payments.

Now, some people might think $45,000 is pretty cushy for a state job, especially one with health benefits and a potential pension.

Bear in mind, though: troopers work long, taxing hours on highways, often in bad weather, dealing with inexpert, road-raged or plain drunken drivers. They don’t know if or when they’ll face a violent situation.

And North Carolina isn’t being exactly generous. State troopers in Texas — probationary troopers, just commissioned — start at more than $60,000. According to the Texas State Department of Public Safety, troopers with four years’ experience can expect just shy of $90,000 a year.

New York State Police officers receive $74,140 after one year’s service. Kansas troopers make relatively less, about $56,000-$58,000, after five years’ service, but that’s assuming a 40-hour week.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the state Highway Patrol has been trying to deal with more than 125 vacancies on the 1,600-member force. Finding qualified recruits is reportedly harder than usual.

And short-changing peace officers is dangerous policy. Drug lords and gangs will gladly pay big bucks to informants in law enforcement. We don’t wait to make the temptation more enticing.

The trial judge ruled that matters of public policy, like employees’ pay scales, should be left to the legislature, not the courts.

Fine. But now that we’re out of the economic slump and the state is running small surpluses, we ought to be making it up to the troopers who stayed on the line through hard times.

The General Assembly reconvenes in April. That would be a very good time to find the money to make things right.

GateHouse / Halifax Media

http://www.thetimesnews.com/article/20151207/OPINION/151209262/15233/OPINION/?Start=2