The People’s Contract: Toolkit
Community Demands For A New BPD Contract
NON-NEGOTIABLES
New Disciplinary Procedures
Common Sense Overtime And Court Time Reform
New Disciplinary Procedures
- No extra protections for disciplining or firing officers beyond what is required by state law
- Complaints must be investigated and officers disciplined by an independent civilian oversight body as proposed by the Buffalo Police Advisory Board
Common Sense Overtime And Court Time Reform
- No officer should be paid for more hours than they actually work and should not earn more than time-and-a-half for overtime. Total overtime and court pay should be capped at $10,000 a year per officer.
- No extra protections for disciplining or firing officers beyond what is required by state law
- Complaints must be investigated and officers disciplined by an independent civilian oversight body as proposed by the Buffalo Police Advisory Board
- No officer should be paid for more hours than they actually work and should not earn more than time-and-a-half for overtime. Total overtime and court pay should be capped at $10,000 a year per officer.
No Free Passes
Residency Requirement
No Free Passes
- Police should be held accountable by superiors with regular (at least quarterly) evaluations. Poorly performing officers should not be promoted or receive raises.
- All promotions and rewards should be made on merit, not seniority
Residency Requirement
- If Buffalo residents pay your salary, you need to live in the City of Buffalo. All BPD staff should be required to live in the city for the duration of their employment.
- Police should be held accountable by superiors with regular (at least quarterly) evaluations. Poorly performing officers should not be promoted or receive raises.
- All promotions and rewards should be made on merit, not seniority
- If Buffalo residents pay your salary, you need to live in the City of Buffalo. All BPD staff should be required to live in the city for the duration of their employment.
NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US
No New Contract Without Robust Community Input
- The City Law Department should send out a survey requesting public comment on community priorities for the union contract and should negotiate accordingly
- Mayor Brown and the Common Council should hold listening sessions explaining the contract process and should hear the community’s priorities and act on them
- When a new contract is proposed the full contract should be made public and at least 3 hearings should be held before the Common Council votes on the contract
- The old contract should be reorganized into a coherent document and a summary of the major provisions should be written in simple language and posted on the city website. Any new contract should follow the same format
ACTION: TOOLKIT
Why it matters
Why it matters
So many aspects of policing are influenced by the police contract – yet residents have virtually no input over what is in it! During COVID one of the only ways elected officials hear from their representatives are by phone, email and social media, so this is how city legislatures hear from YOU what matters to YOU.
Call or email Corporate Counsel (the City’s lawyer) Tim Ball:
Call or email Corporate Counsel (the City’s lawyer) Tim Ball:
Phone: (716) 851-4343
Email: tball@city-buffalo.com
Sample Script:
Sample Script:
As a Buffalo resident, I’m very concerned about a police contract being negotiated with no public input at all. In your negotiations with the police union we need the following changes:
- No extra protections for police from being disciplined or fired beyond what is required by state law
- All investigations of complaints and disciplinary actions should be done by an independent civilian oversight board
- Overtime and court time pay should be capped at $10,000 a year per officer and they should only be paid for the hours they actually work
- All new officers should live in the City for the duration of their employment
- All promotions and rewards should be given based on merit, not on seniority
- All officers should have ongoing performance reviews, at least quarterly
The police work for US. They are paid by OUR tax dollars and WE, the people, deserve to decide when, how and if we are policed.