Debt-ridden Stockton a battleground for police union, City Hall
19.05.12
The first eyebrow-raising salvo in the fight between the cops and this city was the billboards.
"Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California: Stop laying off cops!" read one at the city's entrance. Other billboards posted by the Stockton Police Officers' Assn. depicted splattered blood, gave a running tally of the city's record number of homicides — and the city manager's phone number.
Since then, the fight moved closer to home: The police union bought the house next to City Manager Bob Deis.
"In 30 years of labor negotiations I've never seen anything like this," said Jonathan Holtzman, a San Francisco lawyer representing Stockton. "Tires slashed; late-night phone calls — but buying the house next door to the boss?"
As cash-strapped cities up and down the state demand concessions from employees, the police union in nearly bankrupt Stockton is fighting hard — and some say dirty — to keep the fiscal crisis from breaking
Source: Los Angeles Times