For better or for worse, the Police Benevolent Association has unionized the Pinecrest Police Department. I'll reserve an opinion until the union is fully engaged in our Village system and has had a chance to exert an influence on the day-to-day operation of the police force.

However, the contract negotiations between the Village and the PBA have gone to mediation because the two sides could not agree on such matters as simple as who should pay for the cleaning of a policeman's uniform and how much, and policy items as complex as the firing of a police officer, overtime, leave time and vacation time. Also, there are such outstanding questions as whether Village officers should be permitted to take police cars to their homes when off duty and how much the Village should contribute to the police pension plan.

The Village and the PBA seem far apart on most of these issues. Not surprisingly, most of the PBA proposals reportedly are higher than what the Village already is paying or require more money than the Village is prepared pay.

According to our figures, if the Village agrees to all of the PBA proposals regarding base pay, pension and insurance contributions, holiday leave and projected overtime payments, added police department costs will soar by about $4 million over the three-year term of the agreement. Not chump change by any means and that could mean a tax increase.

One contentious PBA demand is that police officers be paid for a minimum of four hours on the job at the overtime rate when they are required to work a period not connected to their regular shift. Is this standard procedure in police union contracts? This primarily is a court-appearance related issue. Pinecrest pays officers for actual time worked or a minimum of two hours, whichever is greater, and pays at straight time or overtime. Reportedly, the PBA plan would raise costs by about $130,000 in the first year alone and escalate every year thereafter.

The PBA also wants all Village police officers to be allowed to drive police vehicles to their homes at the end of the shift. The union claims that this would extend the life of a vehicle since it would not be used 24 hours a day. Such a program would necessitate the purchase of 28 more police cruisers and cost out to about $400,000 more than Pinecrest is spending on the current pool car program.The question here is do we need to provide police officers with their own personal vehicle. The county allows its officers to take their cars home and so do certain other municipalities such as Coral Gables. South Miami, on the other hand, does not. The three newest Miami-Dade cities have differing policies.

Aventura police are represented by the PBA, but the city does not allow its officers to take cruisers home; Sunny Isles has no union, but will allow officers to drive vehicles home in the fall, and Key Biscayne has no union and does not allow its officers to take cars home. It is an issue that deserves close scrutiny.

The question of who pays for the cleaning of an officer's uniform is one more item on the table for discussion. Should the Village pick up the cost? In my business, I pay the uniform laundry bill for my press room employees. Is it unreasonable for police officers to get a stipend over and above their salary to cover uniform cleaning costs? And, how much should that stipend be? The Village has no uniform maintenance allowance policy currently in place and the PBA would like to see one established.

There are many other items the PBA has put on the table. These include education cost reimbursement, the addition of three more paid holidays, 100 percent payment of the police health plan, salary hikes over and above what the Village is paying now, longevity step increases -- and they are equally important to the immediate and long range performance of our police department.

However, does a union improve the quality and dedication of the officers we attract or is it simply a protective shield for officers who may otherwise be fired for misfeasance, malfeasance or simply not performing their duties. We also should recognize that these men and women are the people who keep our streets safe and may one day be responsible for saving our lives and those of our loved ones.

This is our community; we established it and we govern it. If you have opinions about these issues, call your council member and make your feelings known. Whether you agree or disagree with the police union proposals, it's time for Pinecrest citizens to step up to the plate.