On March 12, the New York Post newspaper printed a Letter to the Editor written by PBA President Daniel M. De Federicis. The letter was in response to an article published on March 7 entitled “New York’s OT Insanity.” In the article, which featured such phrases as “rakes it in” and “insanity,” it was reported that “many of the top OT earners last year worked at psychiatric facilities or for the State Police.” While this is technically correct, the PBA pointed out in the Letter to the Editor that our hard-working and dedicated New York State Troopers are many times forced to work this overtime to keep New Yorkers safe. New York State Troopers risk their lives each and every day to serve and protect the public, and no call for help is ever ‘routine.’ The text of the Letter to the Editor, as it was published in the Post, is included below along with a link to the letter on the on-line edition of the newspaper.

TROOPER TRUTHS

The Post’s article, “New York’s OT Insanity,” (March 7) fails to take into account why a state police trooper was listed as a top overtime earner.

Phrases in the article such as “rakes it in” and “insanity” imply abuse of the system.

Much of the overtime earned by troopers is forced. Troopers are ordered to work on their days off and are taken away from their families.

The majority of this overtime is used for homeland security.

Troopers were deployed by nightfall on 9/11 to New York City. For the next five months, troopers guarded bridges and highways into the city, assisted with recovery efforts at Ground Zero, and worked with municipal police.

Today, troopers ride commuter trains in New York City during times of high alert, safeguard the Canadian border, protect government buildings and work to collect, interpret and disseminate intelligence.

To put it bluntly, insinuating that troopers who earn high amounts of overtime are abusing the system for personal gain is “insanity.”

Daniel De Federicis,

President

N.Y. State Troopers PBA

Albany