CHAPTER II

CLAIMS AND JUDGMENTS

The Committee recommends the appropriation of $50,980,863, the amount of the estimate, for claims and judgments rendered against the United States. Of this amount, $40,612,967 represents damage and other type claims, the payments of which are due under various laws, and $10,367,896 represents judgments rendered by the U.S. Court of Claims and U.S. District Courts. Details concerning these claims and judgments are contained in House Document No. 254 and 258, 90th Congress.

CHAPTER III

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Two provisions are included:

1. The stereotyped language, routinely carried in all the general appropriation bills, limiting the obligational availability of appropriations in the bill to the current fiscal year unless otherwise expressly provided in the bill.

2. Language exempting funds in the accompanying bill from the provisions of Title II of H.J. Res. 888 (Reductions in Obligations and Expenditures), approved December 18, 1967, which in the process of assuring reductions of at least $9,000,000,000 in obligations budgeted for fiscal 1968, established statutory dollar obligational ceilings on each executive department and agency. These ceilings did not, of course, allow room for any subsequent supplemental requirements.

90TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

2d Session

{ No. 1101

REPORT

SALARY INCREASES FOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA POLICEMEN AND FIREMEN

FEBRUARY 21, 1968.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. MCMILLAN, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H.R. 15131]

The Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 15131) to amend the District of Columbia Police and Firemen's Salary Act of 1958 to increase salaries, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendments are as follows:

Page 3, strike out lines 8 through 20 and insert in lieu thereof the following:

(2) The officer of the Metropolitan Police force who on the effective date of this section held the rank of Deputy Chief and was assigned as the Police Executive Officer shall receive until his retirement from the force $500 per annum in addition to the basic compensation to which he is entitled under the salary schedule. Such additional amount is to be included in any basic computation for retirement purposes under the Policemen and Firemen's Retirement and Disability Act (D.C. Code, title 4, chapter 5) and for the purpose of determining the amount of insurance for which such officer is eligible under chapter 87 of title 5, United States Code.

Page 3, line 24, strike out "A private" and insert in lieu thereof "An officer or member".

Page 4, line 1, strike out "13" and insert in lieu thereof "11". Page 4, line 8, strike out "A private" and insert in lieu thereof "An officer or member".

Page 4, line 10, strike out "16" and insert in lieu thereof "15".

Page 4, line 16, strike out "A private" and insert in lieu thereof "An officer or member".

Page 4, line 16, strike out "8" and insert in lieu thereof "7 or 8". Page 4, line 24, strike out "312" and insert in lieu thereof "208". Page 5, line 9, strike out "312" and insert in lieu thereof "208". Page 6, line 1, strike out "312" and insert in lieu thereof "208". Page 6, line 14, strike out "private, officer," and insert in lieu thereof "officer".

Page 6, line 16, strike out "In" and all that follows down through line 19 and insert in lieu thereof the following:

In computing the service of an officer or member for purposes of this subsection, only periods of satisfactory service as an officer or member and periods of satisfactory service in the Armed Forces of the United States shall be included. Page 7, line 20, strike out "classes" and insert in lieu thereof "salary classes".

Page 10, line 1, insert "as of the effective date of this Act" immediately after "promotion".

Page 10, line 16, strike out "8" and insert in lieu thereof "VIII".

PURPOSES OF THE BILL

The principal purposes of H.R. 15131, as amended and reported, are as follows:

1. Provide substantial and realistic salary increases for the officers and members of the Metropolitan Police force and the Fire Department of the District of Columbia, effective as of October 1, 1967.

2. Reduce the periods of service required for officers and members to attain the highest longevity step of their respective salary classes. 3. Assure police officers now in the ranks of Detective and Detective Sergeant continuity in their present positions, job descriptions, and duties; and also provide that members presently in the rank of Detective shall have reasonable opportunities to advance to the rank of Detective Sergeant.

NEED FOR LEGISLATION

On October 1, 1967, all Federal Government workers, and all District of Columbia government employees with the exception of policemen, firemen, and teachers were granted salary increases. Furthermore, two additional prospective salary increases for all such government employees were authorized, to become effective in 1968 and 1969, respectively. These three stages will accomplish total increases of some 11 percent in the salaries of these other government employees. Simple equity alone demands a substantial increase in salaries at this time for the gallant, dedicated officers and members of these vital forces who daily risk their lives in the protection of the property and lives of the residents of and visitors to the Nation's Capital. Further, it is the earnest conviction of your Committee that inasmuch as the police and firemen received no salary increase last year, the increase provided them in this session of the Congress should be retroactive to the date of last year's pay raise to the other government employees. In addition to the matter of equitable treatment, however, there is a critical need for this proposed legislation because of the growing

difficulty of recruiting qualified young men for careers in the police and fire services in the District of Columbia, and also of retention of the younger men in these forces.

Your Committee is informed that the Metropolitan Police force has not been at full authorized strength since February of 1964. As of January 18, 1968, the Metropolitan Police force had 308 vacancies in its authorized strength of 3,100 men, as compared to 307 vacancies on January 1, 1967.

Further, during the first 9 months of 1967, 133 members resigned from the police department, many of them to accept positions on other police forces, and 129 retired. During approximately the same period of time, 143 new men were recruited. Thus, the net loss of manpower to this vitally important force was 119 men. Moreover, statistics show that major crime in the District of Columbia increased by 34.3 percent during that period of 1967 as compared to the same period during 1966, while the nation-wide increase during that time was only 16 percent. While the problem of vacancies in the D.C. Fire Department is not as acute in the Metropolitan Police force, it is nonetheless a very serious one. Your Committee is advised that the Fire Department has averaged 33 vacancies since January 1, 1967, out of an authorized strength of 1,437 men, and that 39 vacancies existed on January 18, 1968. Moreover, the number of fire alarms in the District during 1967 increased by some 19 percent over the number in the previous year.

Your Committee is advised that in recent years, in order to maintain an adequate fire-fighting force, it has been necessary for the Fire Department to accept applicants whose scores on the Civil Service written examination are barely passing, and that the same situation prevails in the Police force. Actually, the "passing" grade of 70 on this relatively simple test is assigned for only 40 correct answers out of 80 questions. In these times, urban fire-fighting has become a highly technical occupation, requiring an in-training program with a heavy emphasis upon educational accomplishment. Thus, the necessity for accepting recruits of marginal mental qualifications will lead inevitably to a deterioration in the quality of the force, and of its morale and esprit-de-corps. The District of Columbia cannot afford to permit this deterioration of its Fire Department, which for many years has been regarded as one of the finest in the United States.

COMPARISON WITH OTHER MAJOR CITIES AND NEARBY COMMUNITIES

There is a nation-wide shortage of qualified young men interested in careers in police and fire protection services. At the same time, the need for such men is increasing in all urban communities. For these reasons, it is essential that rates of pay for District of Columbia police and firemen be maintained in a favorable competitive position with those in the other major U.S. cities and especially with those in the cities in the eastern half of the United States which constitute the primary labor market for recruitment of D.C. police and firemen. This is particularly true by reason of the unique national and international prominence of the District, which places special emphasis on the various community services required in this city. Also, it is most essential that salary scales for District of Columbia police and firemen be kept very favorable in relation to the rates of pay elsewhere in the Washington metropolitan area. This is necessary so that the D.C.