Who set up these sweet deals for police officers?

Wow.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is highlighting some incredible numbers coming out of Milwaukee Police Department.

The overspending is running rampant in MPD.

Check out some of these numbers. This is enough to give any taxpayer a heart attack-

• Between overtime pay and compensatory time, the Police Department could have hired 380 sworn officers - filling every one of its 227 vacancies and adding 153 more officers, plus benefits.
• At least 41 other Milwaukee police employees earned six figures in annual pay and overtime last year. Only five - the police chief, assistant chief and three deputy chiefs - earned that much without overtime.
• if an officer spends even one minute in court outside his regular shift, he is paid for 2 1/2 hours of overtime.
• Street officers and sergeants also get 12 minutes of overtime for showing up at roll call at the beginning of each shift. While 12 minutes might not seem like much, roll call overtime pay for the entire department accounted for more than $2 million in 2006.

These are some staggering numbers.

Honestly, if a police officer shows up to work 5 days a week and goes to the mandatory roll call meeting, they are paid almost an hour's worth of overtime a week.

This is ridiculous.

Who set up these sweet deals?

I am all for paying police officers a very good wage. They deserve it. They have very difficult and dangerous jobs, especially in Milwaukee.

This goes above and beyond paying police officers a very good wage. This is bordering on pension scandal numbers.

To all of those folks out there who say think this really does not affect you or your taxes, think again.

Millions upon millions of our tax dollars are being sent to Milwaukee every single year to prop up failing systems. We all send the money out of our own communities to the state and they pour more and more money into failing education and work programs.

Stunningly, even though we, as taxpayers, continue to send more and more money to Milwaukee, many of us try to avoid going to Milwaukee because it is not safe.

What is taking place in Milwaukee affects every single Wisconsinite.

Milwaukee should be the crown jewel of our state. Instead it is a little scary to visit.

It is long past time for Milwaukee County leaders, state legislators, the governor, and the police unions to sit down and have a long heart to heart talk about the future of Milwaukee.

No more blaming taxpayers and talk show hosts for the failures in Milwaukee.(yes, I said "talk show hosts"- click on the link)

We all have a vested interest in ending the frivolous spending and the failed programs and help Milwaukee move in a new positive direction.

We should start by stepping outside of Milwaukee to her surrounding communities and hire the necessary 227 police officers and put these officers on the streets in Milwaukee. The rule that states that you must live in Milwaukee in order to work for the police needs to end immediately.

I cannot imagine how exhausted these police officers must feel with working the amount of overtime they are working. We need these officers well rested and ready to fight the war taking place in Milwaukee's streets.