I am a Peace Officer. I am not a Police Officer. ie: A NY State Corrections Officer. As such, even though we have the same certification, at least in this state, we get treated as the redheaded stepchild. The public hates us because the Governor tells them that State Workers are the reason our state is going broke, even though he has given himself & his cabinet payraises even though they make in the 6 figure salery range. We are some of the ONLY state workers that have a self funded pension. Yet they have the public believing that they pay for our pension. Anyway, they even told us that NYS does NOT recognize HR218. I have no idea how this is possible. I thought Federal Law trumped State Law. I believe soon, they will have 2 classes of Corrections Officers: those with Peace Officer status & those without, and of course along with that, will come a drastic reduction in pay. I am glad i only have a few years left. Soon, it will become a minimum wage job. Yet they want you to put your life on the line everyday. We may not carry a gun inside the prisons, but we still have to deal with HIV, TB, blood, feces, urine, throwers & a multitude of weapons & other things. We get trained every year in a multitude of things, including weapons qualification. Anyways we can NOT carry just anywhere in our state on a CCW. It has to be registered on our badge. I refuse to do that for a few reasons. 1) if we just get ACCUSED of certain crimes, you automatically lose your weapons & have to report it at work, blah, blah, blah & disciplinary action can be taken. 2) If we get ACCUSED of certain crimes at work, we get locked out without pay & also lose your peace officer status during that time & the police/sherrifs/troopers will show up at your house & remove all your guns. Mind you, i said JUST ACCUSED. I did NOT say found guilty. In NYState, it says right on my permit: This permit can be revoked for any reason. & usually is. We have had 3 people i work with, go through a brutal divorce, wife falsely accused them of threats (because lawyers said if there were threats or abuse, it would benefit them in court) & they lost all thier guns, were never compensated for them, lost thier premit. Wife admitted making this stuff up & said she was sorry. No charges filed on them. They had to get a lawyer & fight if they wanted thier guns & permit back. Who has the money to do that? We will be moving out of this state when we retire. Everyone i work with says the same thing. Tennessee is looking better everyday.
Doesn"t this sound like a wonderfull place to work for ? The courts make the rules for our prisons now it seems, & yes, they are liberal.
