Good Idea....Squandered?

It's no secret that the Department is shorthanded - criminally shorthanded we might argue.

There are solutions to be had. In fact, this site and its readers suggested dozens over the years - they're still posted in the archives if you want to dig around. One of the ideas that made the most sense was to hire back retirees. Not for the street  (what idiot would volunteer for that?), but for administrative tasks to free up sworn officers for street duty. 

So imagine our surprise when the Department actually started hiring retirees as role players for scenario training. We were shocked that someone in a position to make this obvious change actually made the change. We were less shocked to hear that this seems to be falling by the wayside. 

PLET, a company with ties to previous Supernintendo David Brown, got millions of dollars to teach those Consent Decree required courses. Numerous members of the company worked with and for Brown at different times. Bunches of the instructors in the classes we attended had connections to the Dallas PD at some point in their careers. It was a typical Chicago-style business arrangement, so we weren't surprised in the least. We were mildly amazed at their pay scale and per diem that the instructors got for essentially reading slides to classes of uninterested and un-engaged cops, but again, a typical Chicago-style contract with assorted cutouts and connections - Chicago was doing it long before the Bidens.

But now, we heard the Academy is "shorthanded" again, and they're taking cops off the street to fill the roles that retirees were more than willing to do. 

This might be a temporary arrangement though as there is supposedly a company run by a couple of high ranking retirees already incorporated and set to begin reading slides to uninterested and un-engaged coppers very shortly, thereby keeping the millions in Consent Decree dollars closer to home and enriching a bunch of people already collecting six-figure gold braid pensions.