Police meet on layoffs

NOTE: THIS STORY HAS BEEN CLARIFIED.

A SOMBER 11th-hour exercise, or an unnecessary attempt to create more panic?

Those are among the opinions of a meeting Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey held last night with about 150 police officers who stand to lose their jobs, along with hundreds of other cops, if the city implements its dreaded "Plan C" budget.

Ramsey and his top commanders stressed that they were unsure how the city's budget saga will end, but still detailed how the unemployment process would work for the 739 cops who could receive layoff notices tomorrow.

"He wanted to say that we're here for you, that you're not just a name on a sheet of paper," said Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross, who attended the 5 p.m. meeting at the Police Academy in Northeast Philadelphia.

"We're not going to turn our backs on them. If it [layoffs] does happen, we would have fundraisers for those who find themselves in dire situations," Ross said.

Ramsey will host similar meetings at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. today at the academy for other cops who could be laid off, he said.

Some viewed the meetings as a spectacle orchestrated by Mayor Nutter's administration.

"I don't think they needed to have a meeting. It's premature," said John McNesby, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5.

McNesby said he has spent the past few weeks meeting with Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg, and believes a resolution to the city's budget crisis will arrive "in the next few days."

"You can't cry wolf too many times. To put fear in people in the community and the department while we're already under stress is just unnecessary," he added.

The city has pinned its budget hopes to legislation pending in the state General Assembly that would increase the local sales tax by 1 cent on the dollar and defer payments into the pension plan.

That legislation has bounced back and forth between the state House and Senate for more than a month and is mired in the larger politics of a state budget impasse. Both Philadelphia and Pennsylvania were due to start their fiscal year 2010 budgets on July 1.

The city's fallback budget calls for layoff notices to be issued tomorrow to 3,000 employees if that legislation is not approved, while also closing all library branches and recreation centers and slashing other services. The fallback budget eliminates 972 jobs in the Police Department, including 739 officers and 43 civilians along with 190 jobs left empty.

The Senate Republicans, who control their chamber, plan to meet today to discuss the city's legislation and decide how to proceed.

A vote by the full Senate could come as early as tomorrow afternoon or could be pushed into next week if the legislation is amended, as it has been once already by both the state House and Senate.

Ross said Ramsey encouraged cops who attended yesterday's meetings to have their relatives call legislators in Harrisburg.

"He had a simple message," Ross said. "He said, 'Tell them to pass the damn bill!' "

 CLARIFICATION

The original version of this story quoted Fraternal Order of Police President John McNesby saying that Officer Richard Decoatsworth would be among those losing his job under layoffs. The mayor's press office said that Decoatsworth would not be on the layoff list of 739 officers, which was compiled based on seniority.