Originally Posted by
prairiepedaler
... Locally, the cops fight each other over who gets traffic detail for the last 5 years of their "career". They go nuts issuing traffic tickets because this effects their performance review and pushes up their bonuses. For the bulk of their "working" life, they'll get $108k/year. But, on traffic detail, their salaries go up to $160k/year and that is what their pensions are pegged to. They receive 60% of that $160k as pension (fully indexed to inflation) for the rest of their lives. It is one of the reasons I want to move away from here.
...do you have a link for this information ? It sounds a lot like some of the public pension "boosting" conspiracy theories I've heard repeated about California public safety pension employees. None of them turn out to be true here. Pensions are computed based on your highest base salary earning years, and bonuses or overtime pay are not considered in establishing the amount. I don't live in Canada, I live in California. But what you have repeated sounds familiar enough to prior erroneous statements that I would like to familiarize myself with the reasoning behind why your public safety pension system would be so obviously designed for manipulation.
To the OP: none of that is even remotely possible anywhere in California, where public safety pensions are primarily administered through CalPers.
But if you want to believe it (it sounds like you do), don't let me stop you. I get a pension from CalPers, so I might be in on the conspiracy.
They did used to run periodic "cycling enforcements" here in Sacramento. Stop signs and bike lane violations were the favorite citations. It's been years since the local constabulary has done this, though. I, myself, was involved in an advocacy effort here to put an end to it. But I guess it could come back, under a different city administration. Mostly, I think it's just easier to take whatever share the county gets from red light camera tickets, which rolls in automatically, and requires no personnel for enforcement. Both county and city cops here have been pretty short on numbers for the past 5-6 years at least.