Police Chief Terms Force Salary Setup 'Ridiculous'

THE ANN ARBOR NEWS

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Wednesday, September 28, 1955

Police Chief Terms Force Salary Setup ‘Ridiculous’

Report Says Department 20 Men Short

National Safety Council, Enkemann Disagree Over Required Complement

By Ken Slocum

A National Safety Council recommendation that the Ann Arbor Police Department “badly needs" 14 more men was met yesterday by a stinging statement from Chief Casper M. Enkemann that "because this city won’t pay an officer what he deserves, we can’t even fill the complement we have now." The force has been short six men for weeks.

Enkemann's statement followed a meeting of local police, judges, school heads and the City Gouncil’s traffic and safety committee with State Police Sgt. Michael Sibal, a representative of the National Safety Council.

Sibal said statistics on Ann Arbor traffic volume, population and car registration indicate the city is undermanned by 14 policemen. Full complement is 66, the force should have 80 and currently has 60, according to Sibal’s figures.

That’s bad," Sibal said. “That’s very bad."

Traffic Handling ‘Good’

He pointed out that the department’s “good" handling of traffic and accidents had placed it 38th among 197 cities of similar , size in the United States.

Said Sibal, “Personally, I don't see how you did it.”

Police Capt. Roliand J. Gainsley retorted, “I’ll tell you how we did it. We don’t do anything else.”

Gainsley pointed out that when the city was struck by a safecracking wave early this year, many of the officers worked regular patrol during the day and retumed at night in their own cars to assist in breaking the crime.

“That’s the only way we had enough men," Gainsley said.

Sibal also pointed out that Ann Arbor's somewhat questionable rate of convictions on traffic arrests probably was connected with its shortage of manpower.

“An officer can’t properly investigate an accident and collect admissible court evidence if he has to gather up the pieces and rush right off to some other job,”

Enkemann, represented but not present at the meeting, later termed the Safety Council’s recommendation of a 14-man increase as being “undoubtedly legitimate” but classified the whole situation as “absurd.”

Salary Standards Hit

Said the chief, “I think it’s ridiculous that the city government compares police work with other sections of city employes when they discuss salaries. They refuse to boost police pay because they say if one group gets a raise the others want one, too.

“But the same officials are the ones who demand that officers stand head and shoulders above other city employes—physically, mentally and morally.

“We can get men. We can hire all we want tomorrow. We turn away candidates by the dozen. But they are not the ones we want to guard the city of Ann Arbor. We can’t hire the good ones because we can’t compete with industry in pay.”

Sacrifice Made

A police recruit makes about $4,000 his first year, Enkemann pointed out. “But the sacrifices he has to make—the things he can’t do, the hours he puts in without pay, the swing-shift and the 24-hour on-call phase—these things are worth the salary before he does any work,” he said.

“Take a look at the overtime setup.for police,” Enkemann said. “Hourly city employes, guaranteed a 40-hour week, are paid for all overtime. But a policeman can work an eight-hour day and all night, too, and he won’t get a cent for his overtime. The best he can hope for is a day off. My boys make an arrest at night and during the day when they should be sleeping, they have to come to court and testify at a trial. No pay for that either.

"This city government never thinks of the sacrifices made by a. police officer when it talks of a pay raise. This city government is going to wake up too late.”