Aurora police union picket

After Aurora police officer Michael Perez was passed over for a promotion for the eighth time, he'd had enough.

Last month, he quit.

"If I stay, there's nothing left for me here," he said.

Perez was among the more than 100 police officers and their supporters to picket outside city hall Tuesday, protesting what they call mistreatment and unfair practices by city officials.

They waved signs reading, "Weisner unfair to police" and "Police deserve a contract."

The Association of Professional Police Officers' last three-year contract expired March 6. The two sides have been negotiating a new one since early 2007, with both accusing the other of holding up talks.

Police officers can't strike, but union officials say they want people to know their frustrations, which include understaffing, changing in promotion protocols and a policy allowing third parties to file officer complaints.

Both sides declined to provide specifics on the new contract's salary and benefit requests.

"We're going to be reasonable," APPO President Wayne Biles said. "We're not asking for anything outrageous."

Aurora officers are among the best paid around with "extraordinary benefits," city spokesman Carie Anne Ergo said. After five years of service, an officer's base pay is about $75,000, she said. Officers now receive 4 percent yearly raises.

One of the union's biggest concerns is understaffing. A city of Aurora's size should have about 400 officers, Biles said. It's authorized to have about 300, he said, leading to forced overtime and burnout.

"This is a safety issue," he said.

City officials agree more officers are needed and have committed to adding more each year, Ergo said.

But even if more people were hired now, there's no place to put them, with police headquarters squeezed for space, she said.

"The mayor was among the first to make a commitment to build a new (police) facility," she said.

Union officials also take issue with how officers are promoted.

The process is secretive, union attorney Tim O'Neil said. Despite officers like Perez, who reluctantly retired after 30 years of service, having experience and top ratings, others were promoted, he said.

"It depends on who you know," he said. "It's almost nepotism."

Ergo said the chief and his staff have a choice of several people to promote from the department's civil service list.

City officials say they respect the union's right to express its opinion. They'll continue to operate in "good faith," with an ultimate goal of approving a contract that rewards officers and protects taxpayers, Ergo said.

Biles said the two sides last met about a month ago, calling the mediation "a joke." Union leaders will meet again with the city "anytime, anywhere," he said.

"We have not dragged our feet," he said. "If Weisner tells you the union's been dragging their feet, he's a liar."

Ergo called such statements "completely untrue." The city brought in a mediator to move forward, she said. "If anything, (the union) has been slow to respond to our efforts," she said.