In recent months there have been several stories in Texas concerning the rising costs of the state’s municipal pension fund and costs to provide attorneys to officers sued in the performance of their duties, and I think we will see more articles on the need to reduce health insurance as the budgets are prepared this fall. Not mentioned will be the reason police officers must have health insurance, pensions and need to be protected from frivolous lawsuits. The recession aggravates the media hype but the bottom line in my opinion is “benefit envy.”

“I’ve got to look at what’s good for the entire organization and at the same time, solve the problems in the police department,” Richard Morton said. “And, upon looking at the numbers, our salaries compared to other cities, it was apparent we were short on starting officer pay.” These remarkable words were spoken by the Odessa, Texas city manager as he announced a pay raise of close to 14 percent for the city’s cops.