And at the end of the fiscal year, he had earned $212,000 altogether. The average salary for a Septa Police Officer is $47,809 per year in United States, which is 21% lower than the average Septa salary of $60,798 per year for this job. Together we can reach 100% of WHYYs fiscal year goal. Together we can reach 100% of WHYYs fiscal year goal. (Photo by Cory Clark/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images). Spokesperson Andrew Busch chalked both police and maintenance spending up to the nature of public transit, where crime or infrastructure problems could strike at any time and staff needed to be ready to work long shifts. For now, SEPTA police inspector Charles Lawson is stepping in as acting chief. Pay for Transit Police candidates in the police academy will jump 21% from $46,536 to $56,507, just under what Philadelphia Police Department recruits get. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Currently there are about 212 on the force, SEPTA spokesperson Busch said. It comes as lawmakers have already ended elements of the emergencies that kept millions of Americans insured during the pandemic. Date: October 25, 2020. in: Breaking News, Civil Rights, Sacramento Region. SEPTA Police Get Largest Salary Boost In Two Decades As Agency Fights To Improve Safety June 15, 2022 / 5:00 AM / CBS Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's the largest salary increase for. CBS3's Jan Carabeo contributed to this report. The starting salary for rookies entering the academy will be raised from $46,536 to $56,507, and post-graduation pay will go from $49,536 to $62,387. The highest-paying job at Septa is a Project Manager with a salary of $111,809 per year. Overall Benefits Rating.css-11cfy92{color:#0caa41 !important;}.css-11cfy92{color:#0caa41 !important;}4. "The problem is not that people dont want to be police officers. "We know that policing is not the solution to everything," Bervine said. FAQ - New Privacy Policy. It comes down to checking on him and checking on the work to see that the quality is where it needs to be.. How is it possible? According to Busch, that amounts to working 12-hour shifts, six days a week, every week, for the entire fiscal year. As the transit police struggled with understaffing, union officials pointed to pay as a major sticking point in recruiting, with salaries for SEPTA transit police officers falling $10-15k. Amid a public outcry about increased crime and antisocial behavior on the region's public transit system and difficulty recruiting and hiring candidates for SEPTA's police force, the transit agency has agreed to raise starting pay for officers a stunning 25%. SEPTAs top cop retired abruptly last week, following a period of low ridership and increasing safety issues on the Philadelphia transit system, which has the fifth-largest police force in Pennsylvania. It's a move SEPTA hopes will attract new employees. 2023 Flower Show Weekend Extra Regional Rail Train Service, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Serving Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. Hes an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon and he said he was literally dumbfounded over the amount of overtime that SEPTA was spending, alluding to the fact that he probably thought they were claiming that fraudulently. Thanks for your tweet and service to the city. The authority's budget has room for up to 260 officers, but SEPTA has fallen behind competing law enforcement agencies to hire for transit jobs that some police officers deem less appealing than other opportunities. Matthew Sinkiewicz (DOB: 12/13/1983) of. Please give today. No arrests have been made in either incident. We know people will see the numbers, and some will look big in relation to what someones base salary is, Busch said. Rookies who have graduated from the police academy will earn $62,387 before overtime, up from $49,387, under an agreement between SEPTA management and the Fraternal Order of Transit Police Lodge 109. Nestel and SEPTA, in court filings, have argued theyre not liable for the supervisors behavior. The former Regional Rail employee, who retired from SEPTA this year, said top agency officials had long known about bloated overtime payouts and more widespread mismanagement. Earlier this year, a SEPTA officer was shot by a suspect near the Franklin Arrott Transportation Center in Philadelphia, sustaining injuries that landed him in the hospital in critical but stable condition. And some employees earn nearly twice what their peers make for doing the same job. MICHAELA: The union claimed that SEPTA was, in fact, partially responsible for [the death of SEPTA mechanic Ted Nixon], since he likely contracted the virus at work. I talked to Robert Strauss about this. The department is already stretched thin, the transit police union says. The previous top rate was $66,480 after 48 months of service. Podcast: Is Sixers' prime time game vs. Thats a payout that New Yorks MTA provided over the summer to all the families of employees who had died working for that transit agency. Step one of the journey to become a Transit Police Officer. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority pays those in the bottom 10 percent $24,000 a year, and the top 10 percent over $72,000. SEPTA Transit Police officer wears a face mask in Center City Philadelphia, PA on May 8, 2020. The SEPTA Transit Police Department extends beyond the regular beat with units of specially trained officers. Busch said overtime spending was already down in the current fiscal year as SEPTA heads into a critical financial crisis tied to COVID-19. WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. One SEPTA police officer doubled his salary and made almost as much as the mayor of Philadelphia. All tips can be kept confidential. Mid-level managers pull in more money than executives. Reporters Ryan Briggs with WHYYs PlanPhilly and Michaela Winberg with WHYYs Billy Penn uncovered this troubling pattern, which stands in stark relief next to SEPTAs recent statement it. A SEPTA spokesperson says this increase shows SEPTA is committed to doing everything it can to make the system safe. The SEPTA Transit Watch app, available for Mac IOS and Android, lets you report incidents in seconds. Transit police officers also often collaborate with other law enforcement departments, like joining the PPD on SWAT teams. A small number of SEPTA managers and police officers, through overtime, earned annual pay comparable to Mayor Jim Kenney and other public executives. That includes stepped-up investments in social-service workers and security guards. Before the pandemic, during a typical year, SEPTA officials said the number of officers has been closer to 220 or 230. Michael Tanenbaum *Must possess a high school diploma or GED, *Must pass the Pennsylvania State (MPOETC) physical fitness requirements. That leaves 150 to 160 patrol personnel, he said, and many of them are assigned to specialized units rather than to walk beats. The highest earner was SEPTA Transit Police Lt. Michael Wright, who racked up $116,636 in overtime, pushing his total salary to $211,895. SEPTA provides outstanding benefit and retirement programs: Medical Benefits Current HMO annual premium contribution = 1.5% of 40-hour hourly rate. Trivia quiz: How much do you know about Philadelphia? Overview Overview 285 Reviews 51 Jobs 286 Salaries 44 Interviews 50 Benefits 5 Photos. Due to construction s/b buses detour on 11th St SE at 295 s/b ramp, resuming regular route on Howard Rd SE at Anacostia Station. "SEPTA must spend a significant portion of its vast financial resources on making its transit police officer salaries more competitive and improving working conditions so that we can attract the quality candidates that we so desperately need, to aid in our efforts to keep SEPTAs passengers and employees safe as they traverse our transit system," Bervine said. In the mid-1960s and late 1970s, the transit authority saw spikes in safety problems and complaints on the subway, according to SEPTAs own historical account. The increase is within SEPTA's budget so riders should not expect fairs to go up. But some rank-and-file maintenance staff also saw claims that raised questions at the very least, about worker safety. Local news should be free and accessible, which is why we ask readers like you to support our work rather than charging a fee to see it. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors, including education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years you have spent in your profession. In the past five. The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) is the nation's fourth largest police department, with over 2023 WWB Holdings, LLC. Their perception was not helped by a violent attack on a SEPTA customer by an Allied Universal Security Services employee last summer, resulting in criminal charges. Transit Police did. Museum for Art in Wood introduces Philly to the Islamic mashrabiya screen, Philly street sweeping starts again in April, Foal cam offers miraculous look at next generation of Pennsylvania-born race horses. How much does Septa pay? Several high-profile incidents rocked the system last year, including a rape on a train that was caught on camera, a brutal attack by teens on a student of Asian descent, and shootings near or inside several busy transit hubs. And at the end of the fiscal year, he had earned $212,000 altogether. RYAN: A bit less than 400 employees earned more than 50% of their base salaries and overtime. Maintains surveillance of individuals or establishments, records information about suspicious objects. Between January and mid-October, reports from SEPTA transit police of unarmed robberies and theft of mislaid property increased in comparison to the same period last year, from 63 to 141 and from 413 to 471, respectively. Officers with four or more years of service on the force will see a pay boost of around 11% under the new labor agreement, and those in the department under four years will reach a new "top rate". The FOP Lodge 109, the union for transit police, announced a vote of no confidence in Nestel in March of last year. Then, in October 1978, following a string of attacks on SEPTA personnel, the authority started renting police academy rookies from the city several dozen individuals known as the SEPTA Strike Force. But former SEPTA employees, like Chris Coyne, werent so sure. Under the agreement, SEPTA also will shorten the time it takes to reach the top pay rate for patrol officers, about $71,000, to 24 months from the current nine years. The pandemic has thrown SEPTA into a budget crisis. But the overtime money was not distributed equally, with fully half of all OT payments going to just 800 employees, or less than 10% of SEPTAs 9,200-strong workforce. My hope is that they take a real good look at the top of the SEPTA pyramid, their policies, Coyne said. January 13, 2021 / 10:06 AM / CBS Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Seven members of the SEPTA Police are under investigation after they attended last week's pro-Trump rally in Washington,. On the. It is almost half the previous pay scale's rate of Ksh 36,000. Busch acknowledged that overtime payouts, which do not contribute to an employees pension, were sometimes a factor in internal promotions. Over the last year, SEPTA has hired unarmed guards and social outreach workersto monitor its facilities and work with vulnerable populations on trains. But that didnt stop them from spending what experts say is an unusually large amount of money on overtime. Assuming recruits meet these qualifications, they will receive academy training at a program certified by the Municipal Police Officer's Education and Training Commission alongside their municipal counterparts. The union chief also said improvements to working conditions are needed for existing transit police officers. It'll go into effect later this week and officers will work 10-hour shifts through December, SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch told Axios. These plans have no employee annual premium contribution: SEPTA is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. According to the data, here are the city's top five highest paid employees: Sam Gulino - Medical Examiner - $260,730 Richard Ross - Police Commissioner - $240,000 Albert Chu - Deputy Medical. So the unions specifically asked for a $500,000 death benefit for [Teds family] and all of the families who lost a SEPTA employee. After graduation from the academy it's $19.20, then after three years of service it's $26 per hour. large amount of money on overtime. Eltor Sumpter, also earned about as much or more than the top transit law enforcement official. 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But that didnt stop them from spending what experts say is an. City Council is scheduled to hold a May 3 hearing on SEPTA's budget. SEPTA highlights signs of human trafficking in new campaign. Financial records obtained by PlanPhilly and Billy Penn showed spending patterns that experts say raise serious questions about oversight, echoing a similar payroll scandal that rocked New Yorks Metropolitan Transportation Authority with federal investigations, internal audits and ongoing political battles. (Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images / Getty Images). Shouldnt this have concerned you? The move also comes as SEPTA continues to struggle to recover ridership, which dropped during the height of the pandemic, and perceptions of danger dont help bring people back. Prepares investigation or incident reports. An investigation was handled jointly by PPD's Special Victims Unit and SEPTA Transit Police, who reviewed surveillance footage to help identify Adams. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY). Bervine did not respond to Billy Penns request for comment for this story. Homicides and rapes were rare, and thefts fell 18% during that period. "Our transit officers are frequently forced to deal with unacceptable working conditions, such as an entire district headquarters not having hot water for over a month, or having to eat lunch in break rooms that are missing ceiling tiles and leak whenever it rains," Bervine said. Nearly 220+ officers serve and protect within the 2,200 square-mile SEPTA service area. SEPTA Police Chief Thomas J. Nestel III's best estimate was there were about 10 passengers in the close vicinity of Ngoy and the woman during the rape, which started about 9:52 p.m. and ended. The estimated total pay for a Septa Police Officer at Septa is $60,798 per year. Expect a more slimmed down Santa Express train from SEPTA this year. Our view on the issue, we come from a framework where we dont believe that more police and investing more money and funding into police is going to solve the issue of safety aboard SEPTA, said Yasha Zarrinkelk, manager of the advocacy coalition Transit Forward Philadelphia. provides outstanding benefit and retirement programs: Voluntary Governmental 457B Deferred Comp Plan, SEPTA employment also qualifies for the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, SEPTA Transportation Pass FREE travel on all SEPTA modes of transportation, Transit Police Officer Physical Requirements. Aggravated assaults and robberies in SEPTA stations, transit hubs, and vehicles rose more than 80% between 2019 and 2021, the agency said.