Privatizing Police Jobs

There has occasionally been noise about "civilianizing" certain police jobs and we've seen it in bits and pieces over the years:

• traffic aides
• lockup keepers
• desk personnel

We don't really recall anyone at the FOP putting up much of a fight - we couldn't strike over it and that may have been the beginning of Desk and Lockup bid spots being locked in - we aren't sure. Hell, we've advocated civilianizing the entire CAPS operation and even front offices to get more cops on the street.

This seems a bit far though:

• For the past two years, the Forensic Services Unit has been going through a major and controversial shift after the City brought in a private company, Ron Smith & Associates. The company was supposed to help get the lab accredited and train Latent Print Examiners. Since then, the City has paid them more than $4 million, and there are growing questions about what that money has actually delivered.

  What started as a limited consulting job has turned into something much bigger. Instead of finishing the work and stepping away, the contract keeps getting extended. Nearly two years later, the training still isn’t done, and the unit is more dependent on this private company than ever.

  At the same time, leadership changes have closely followed this shift. James Snaidauf, a former employee of Ron Smith & Associates, was appointed Director of Forensics. According to multiple sources, the qualifications for this job were written so narrowly that no one else realistically had a shot—it all but guaranteed he would get it. This wasn’t an open, competitive hiring process; it was a position built for a specific person. Since taking over, there’s been a clear push to move out sworn personnel and replace them with civilian hires, including people coming through pipelines connected to Ron Smith & Associates.

  Matt Marvin, who is also tied to the company, has been involved in this transition as well. Multiple people have reported hearing him make comments about how much he enjoys firing people and his hatred for unions. He has also allegedly told supervisors that there are future job opportunities waiting for them with Ron Smith & Associates. If true, that raises serious concerns about what's really driving decisions inside the unit.

  The pressure is now hitting the Latent Print Examiners directly. About two years into their roles, they were told they now need to get certified through the International Association for Identification or risk losing their title. This requirement was never part of the original job, and it isn’t required by any state or national standard.

  What makes this even more concerning is who’s tied to that certification. Multiple employees from Ron Smith & Associates—including Matt Marvin—sit on committees within the same organization that issues it. In other words, the same group connected to the City’s contractor is also helping shape or influence the certification now being pushed onto these officers.

This is a testable spot, correct? And as the writer points out, there is no history of these certifications being required at the State or National levels. This seems like a money grab for some connected company to (A) get rid of unconnected Officers, and (B) create a politically connected job market for the favored few. 

This also opens the door to a entire swath of testable spots being eliminated. The FOP used to fight over bid spots and job titles. Is that a thing any more?