The cop unions don't seem as bad as in my home county of Nassau, and its equally noxious sister county of Suffolk, where cops make six figures with overtime for driving around the mean streets of Great Neck, Port Salonga, and East Hampton.
I know the Jersey Cops can earn up to $80,000 per year - depending on the municipality - as patrolmen. They can retire in 20 years and a college degree isn’t required. Theoretically they can retire at 38 - 40. Their retirement is based on the last year’s EARNINGS, not salary. So in their last year they scoff up as much overtime in their last year’s pay as possible to boost their pensions. THEN they double-dip in another pension system.
In Jersey the Cops are bigger crooks than the crooks.
The average civil servant in Jersey doesn’t earn that much and they have to work until they are 55 or 60 to retire (?) not sure on the age, to get full bennies. Their pensions are a much lower percentage rate than the cops’ and they don’t get the same retirement perks.
The BIGGEST scam in the “Soprano” State is appointing career politicians who have held part-time “jobs” as elected officials to highly paid positions on select state commissions like the Parole Board where they often earn over $100,000 per year. Based on the old retirement system they only have to “work” in the appointed positions for three years and their “retirement” is based on their three highest years of service - the last three in the appointed position. I have seen some of the clowns apointed to these posts and there is no apparent qualifications on their part for them to hold these slots and I can’t POSSIBLY conceive of what they do there as “full time”.