The Police Benevolent Association was banned from participating in Delray Beach parades for a year after its mobile billboard, shown above, changed its messaging in the St. Patrick’s Day parade from holiday-oriented to one critical of the city’s elected officials. Photo provided
By John Pacenti
Delray Beach banned the Police Benevolent Association from participating in parades for a year after the union changed a “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” sign on a mobile billboard during the March 15 parade to one that attacked elected officials over the state of contract negotiations.
It was just the latest stunt by the PBA, which has been telling residents that crime is spiking in the city and that their electeds want to defund the police.
At the City Commission meeting on Feb. 18, the union filled the gallery with dozens of members. Officers in the front row puffed up their biceps and flashed their extensive tattoos.
Officer Friendly this was not. Some residents critical of the PBA have written emails to city officials, calling the union’s tactics “thuggery.”
John Kazanjian, president of the PBA in Palm Beach County, said during the public comments at the Feb. 18 meeting that officers were fleeing Delray Beach.
“I’m not saying that we’re in a crisis yet, but I’m going to tell you, the city of Delray is that close to being in a crisis. You’ve lost eight officers since we’ve been negotiating the contract,” he said.
Then came the mobile billboard. First showing up the weekend of Feb. 22, the signage was adorned with images of Mayor Tom Carney and Vice Mayor Juli Casale. “Violent crime is rising in Delray Beach,” one slide read. It urged residents to contact elected leaders “to start funding our police force.”
The city said the PBA promised, in its application to participate in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, to use its mobile billboard to wish residents a happy holiday. Somewhere along the March 15 route, the billboard changed the display to images of Carney, Casale and Commissioner Tom Markert. “Our police are among the lowest paid in Palm Beach,” the billboard read.
The stunt did not go over well with City Manager Terrence Moore, who wrote to the PBA on March 19 that the union submitted false information and would be suspended for a year from participating in city parades.
“Well, there’s a time and a place for everything, and this wasn’t the time or the place,” Carney said.
Kazanjian fired back in a letter on March 21, saying Moore was lying about the permit, calling it “more of the same from the city: silence critics and hide the truth from the city’s residents when it comes to low officer pay, poor officer retention and rising violent crime statistics.”
Kazanjian ended the letter by saying the union would not abide by the ban. “We look forward to participating in next year’s parade whether we’re ‘allowed’ to do so or not.”
Delray Beach, in the meantime, released information that violent crime had gone down by 70% and property crimes decreased by 65% since 1996. The city said it has offered police a 14% increase over three years and a comprehensive benefits package.
“The city of Delray Beach remains committed to ensuring public safety through proactive law enforcement and community partnerships, resulting in a steady decline in crime since 1996,” Moore told The Coastal Star.
“While we negotiated in good faith with the PBA, we continue to stand by our offered competitive compensation package that supports our dedicated officers without compromising the city’s financial responsibility to residents,” Moore said.
Carney added that officers and their families have free rein of services at Delray Medical Center. “We have this Wellness Center, which has doctors and everything. They don’t pay a dime. They’re in the system. They can take their kids there. They get free drugs,” he said.
Some of the highest-paid employees in the city are police officers, with 14 making well north of $190,000 a year, according to data provided to The Coastal Star. The city does concede nine officers have left since contract negotiations started last June, but says it has recruited replacements.
Carney said the real issue for the union is retirement benefits for the top-ranking officers in the department. He said the union wants an expansion from five to eight years of the Deferred Retirement Option Program — known as DROP.
“If approved, this extension would allow senior officers to collect their full salaries while simultaneously receiving at least 70% of that salary in retirement benefits, for three additional years,” Carney told residents in his news release.
Senior officers have advanced to supervisory roles, holding the rank of sergeant, lieutenant, or captain or chief.
So tax dollars, the mayor said, would go not to providing more officers but to paying retirement benefits. The city says 17 Delray Beach officers are currently in the DROP program. Hypothetically, an officer earning $100,000 per year would continue collecting his or her full salary while also banking at least $70,000 per year in retirement benefits, Carney said.
“It’s the senior officers, and there’s a bunch of them that are in the five-year drop, that are coming off the five-year drop, which means they want to stay an additional three years to collect their salary. I mean, I’m sorry,” Carney said.
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