[Vision2020] Union Support Not a Conflict

[Debbie Gray]

As someone married to a county law enforcement officer who is 
the father of my 2 kids and someone I hope to have around for 
many years to come... one of the MANY reasons I prefer to stay 
in this size of town is the fact that Latah County IS a bit 
safer than, say, Los Angeles. Or 'boring' as some have put it. 

However, that doesn't preclude the fact that their jobs are 
dangerous and they put themselves out there in situations most 
of you cannot imagine. Believe me, I try NOT to imagine what 
they deal with most of the time because then I wouldn't EVER be 
able to sleep at night while he is out patrolling =)
Our family has lived through the after effects of an officer-
involved shooting, these things don't just happen in big cities. 
Every patrol stop/response to a domestic violence/etc have the 
potential to develop into something 'dangerous aka nonboring'
Most people have no idea what goes on in this city or the county 
on any given night and assume there is little or no crime. 
People have actually asked my husband 'so, what do you guys do 
all day. there's no crime in moscow or latah, do you guys just 
sit around all day?' that plus the donut jokes and 'i smell 
bacon' jokes are really endearing...

If the majority of MPD officers want to unionize, that's up to 
them. However, pay is not the only reason people decide to stay 
in Moscow or leave Moscow. And the people who choose to stay in 
Moscow (whether police officers, professors, medical doctors, 
etc) shouldn't be considered those too unskilled to be hired 
elsewhere. The sheriff's office pay is substantially lower than 
the moscow police department on all scales, I don't see anyone 
clamoring to improve their salaries...