The police union leader has one of the most difficult union tours in the nation, he takes the task on with great vigor.
August 22, 2021 – By G. C. Bonner Blue Line News Staff:
When Philadelphia police officers start their shifts, they never know what awaits them when they hit the streets, but one thing they do know is their union, FOP Lodge #5, and specifically its leader, John McNesby, has their back.
For confirmation, all you need to do is read the statement on the home page of the union’s website that states it will “vigilantly and vigorously protect, promote and improve the working conditions, legal rights, salary compensation, pensions and benefits of Philadelphia Police Officers and Deputy Sheriffs’.
“We are out there every day supporting officers on the street,” McNesby said of he and his staff at the union’s headquarters located on Caroline Road in Northeast Philadelphia. “We are out there helping to supply them with everything they need to do their jobs.”
McNesby joined the Philadelphia Police Department 1989 and rose through the ranks, starting as a patrolman and later serving on a tactical unit where he specialized in narcotics investigations. He left street duty in 2002 after he was elected to one of four vice president positions with the union. While serving in that role, he focused on grievance and disciplinary negotiations.
In 2007, McNesby was elected president of the union and has been serving in that position since. During his tenure he has been able to negotiate steady pay increases for his officers as well as enhanced benefit packages. He also won the right for officers with five years on the job to live outside the city limits, presided over the FOP’s move from Spring Garden Street to the northeast and was also instrumental in the union gaining more political clout.
Philadelphia’s police department is the sixth largest in the country. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #5 represents over 14,000 members, 6,500 of which are currently on active duty. Like a number of other departments throughout the country, in cities large and small, it faces challenges daily dealing with Covid-19, protests, attacks on its officers and an increasing crime rate, specifically an alarming number of homicides. As of August 17, 2021, Philadelphia had already recorded 339 homicides which is 25% more than last year at the same time.
McNesby knows all about the numbers. They have gone up, year over year, for six of the past seven years and this year is trending to be the deadliest, on target to easily surpass the total of 2020. He also is acutely aware of the inherent danger Philadelphia police officers face when they go out the precinct door and start their shift. The streets aren’t safe.
“Would you bring your family to visit Philadelphia?” asked McNesby. “I wouldn’t right now. It’s not safe. These thugs have no respect for law enforcement or the people in the community. They are getting more brazen all the time. They don’t care if it’s in the middle of the day. They don’t care if there are witnesses. They don’t even care if there are cameras. They just don’t care. A 16-year-old kid gets shot in the head in a laundromat. How is that acceptable?”
It’s not but it has become all too common in Philadelphia. It used to be that you would turn on the 11 o’clock news on a Sunday night and the first 10 minutes would be about all the shootings in the city over the weekend. Now it seems shootings and homicides on city streets lead newscasts on a daily basis.
If the trend continues unabated, it begs the question will the department have the personnel on the streets to handle it. McNesby is concerned.
“We constantly have people retiring, going out on disability, and with firings we’re probably losing about 15 to 20 a month,” he said. “That’s probably about normal. But we also have about 400 people signed up for the DROP program and that is a spike.”
Patrolmen who enter the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) make an irrevocable commitment to retire no later than four years from signing the paperwork. They can go out before, but no later. During that time, they are still employed and perform their regular duties but cease to accrue service time and pension contributions stop. However, the retirement benefit is determined and credited to an officer’s DROP account. Upon retirement the officer collects his pension as well as the ability to take a lump sum payout from the DROP account. It has become an attractive option.
With the number of patrolmen entering the program, it is important to recruit to replace those who are leaving, but with Covid-19, increasing crime rate and the well-documented struggles police are subjected to on a daily basis, recruiting replacements is difficult.
“That’s a problem right now,” McNesby said when asked about recruiting. “We have offered to help, but it’s a tough sell. It’s just not very appealing right now and we have some hurdles to clear to get people to sign up.”
But as undeterred as the city’s patrolmen are to keep peace on the streets, McNesby and his staff are equally as resolved to provide them with the support they need to continue to do their jobs effectively.
“We have a great team of people here and we are going to be out there supporting our people so they can do their jobs and go home safe at night,” he said.
