Thursday's Supreme Court hearing comes nearly four years after commissioned officers in the Department of Public Safety's (DPS) State Police Division voted unanimously to join our Union. At great expense to Connecticut taxpayers, the Administration of Governor M. Jodi Rell has ignored or appealed two rulings by the State Board of Labor Relations, the opinion of the State's Attorney General, and a Superior Court judge upholding their rights to a voice on the job.

The situation that remains in the State Police is one of great concern; 22 command positions remain unfilled after retirements that were effective last July. Two out of three Major Crime Squads, as well as the Sex Crimes Unit, Organized Crime, Auto Theft, Statewide Narcotics, the Gang Unit, and State Fire Marshals Office are all without command officers.

The press has begun to document the consequences of some of these vacancies. Late last month, the Hartford Courant reported on the backlog of work that has gone undone or delayed at the DPS' forensic laboratory.

These were among the concerns Ed and Union staff brought to the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) at a meeting held at DPS headquarters in December. As we reported in a Brief in the January edition of the CSEA News, the meeting was an opportunity to bring attention to the Rell Administration's legal maneuvering to the nation's preeminent law enforcement accreditation organization.

Thursday's Supreme Court hearing will bring the governor's politically motivated and protracted four-year legal battle one step closer to resolution. But it's also an opportunity to remind the candidates who seek to replace her in November that wasting taxpayer money on a losing legal argument is an example of the kind of approach that will only deepen our state's lagging economic crisis.

More importantly, it can serve as a lesson about the real risks of putting ideology ahead of policy for our next governor. As we argued after the last court ruling denying the Administration's position, empowering the DPS to encourage its rank-and-file public safety officers to seek promotions is vital for an adequately staffed command structure.

That's not just good policy for the agency. That's good for public safety for all of Connecticut's residents.

Contact me here at the union hall at (800) 894-9479, ext. 129, to sign-up to join us Thursday for the Supreme Court hearing and show support for our CSPCOA Council members.