Dear PBA Officers,

I hope this update finds you well. Progress on everything remains much slower than I’d like and often seems to be one step forward, two steps back. At times, I am the bottleneck, as I still run a zone and my Lieutenant has recently left for the Master’s Program. Fortunately, the Troop A officers (especially EM Lt Joe Paolucci) are always willing to step up and help me out, and my alternates, Kat Rohde and Jim Cleary, save me an incredible amount of travel time.

Superintendent Troop Visits: 

The Superintendent has commenced a tour around the state to meet all the commissioned officers. I plan on attending these visits and providing lunch & a brief PBA meeting following the Superintendent. At the first meeting in Troop B, the Superintendent provided everyone the opportunity to ask questions and engage with him. This is a rare opportunity and one I strongly encourage you to take advantage of. Even as your representative, I rarely have direct access to the Superintendent. These meetings give us an opportunity to make our concerns known, as well as present ideas.

Officer Surveys:

I intend to conduct a survey of the Commissioned Officers and will hopefully conduct them with regularity going forward, assuming good participation. This will help me guide my time and efforts as your representative to the topics that matter most to you. In addition, I will use the results of surveys to help show Division the needs of the membership. Please email me with ideas for questions you would like to be asked.

Climate Survey:

Speaking of surveys, as of August 28, the Climate Survey data is still being processed in P&R and has not been released.

10-Hour Pilot:

My first meeting with Division since the inception of the pilot in Troops D and F is on September 10th. After the first month, the 10’s are preferred by about a 4 to 1 ratio of officers in D/F.  My push will be to expand the pilot to more troops as well as allow for officers who prefer 8’s to remain on 8’s. The purpose of the 10’s is not to increase efficiency, but to increase morale among existing officers and remove an obstacle from potential test takers who don’t want to lose their current 10-hour schedule, while maintaining current efficiency. If the 10’s are not beneficial to an officer, there is no reason they should be forced to work them.

Retirement:

Please contact me when you set a date for retirement. I can get the process started for your shield/statute/check, which otherwise waits until paperwork from Division arrives at the PBA office. If you’re having a retirement party, please let me know if you want the PBA to do any presentations.

Subsidized Vehicle Program Pilot:

On August 20, Div. Counsel raised some potential administrative problems with Division covering personal vehicles used on-duty. I have to do further research to see if these problems can be resolved before we can move forward.

Officer Vehicles:

With the Impala and Malibu being discontinued, the ONLY officer vehicle being purchased in the next cycle is the Chevy Equinox. These should begin arriving around mid 2025. I plan on doing a survey specific to vehicles to see how outdated our current CO fleet is and how much you care about what they give us going forward.

Signal 30:

So far, I’ve facilitated Signal 30 checks for 6 members. While each of these members merited Signal 30 assistance, not one of them asked for it. They were all brought to my attention by other members. More often than not, it is a health crisis being faced by a family member. If you hear of a possible need, bring it to my attention and I am happy to look into it.

Contract:

As of this writing, mediation continues.

As always, feel free to reach out with ideas, questions, or comments. Officers@nystpba.org or my cell at 585-734-0933.

Fraternally,

Dan