daily nebraskan
friday, October 6, 1978 lincoln, nebraska vol. 102 no. 4
IK d
Police officials claim soured morale now improving
By Val Swinton
A little over a year ago, University
Police was in bad shape. Officers mis
trusted police administrators and some
times each other. Police were driving
secondhand cars that had been used by
another university departments. Police
officers would sometimes find themselves
in need of a backup, then would discover
their police radios did not work. Morale
was low.
This dismal portrait of the police was
painted by Paul Jacobsen, an investigator
with the department and president of
Local 567 of the International Brother
hood of Police Officers, the union that
would like to become the official represen
tative of campus officers. However,
Jacobsen, along with Gale Gade, director
of the police department, insists that things
have improved in the department.
"I would say morale is higher than it
was 10 months ago," Jacobsen said.
"Working conditions have become better
and equipment is much better. Officers feel
more professional. We've created the image
we are professional. We're not security
guards and door shakers anymore."
Attitude change
Jacobsen said another morale booster is
the administration's change in attitude.
"We never had any problems with the
word going down the pipe," Jacobsen said.
"It was more of a problem of the word
going back up the chain of command."
Jacobsen said the administration is now
more willing to listen to suggestions from
the officers. He said officers now belong to
several differnet task forces looking into
problems and procedures on the police
force. The administration accepted the
recommendation of one of those task
forces, by having police dispatchers on
duty 24 hours a day in the police office.
"I think there was an attitude change on
the part of the brass," he said. "We're not
being treated like little kids. They've been
much more receptive to officers in the past
few months."
Jacobsen also said Gade has changed his
attitude.
"He (Gade) realizes he's got some good,
sharp people working for him that want to
be police officers," Jacobsen said.
"They've got some good ideas and he's
listening."
Gade agreed, saying, "I think it's neces
sary for anyone in my position to take a
look at things, and if there are ways to
improve things, it should be done."
"Not that they're going to turn us
around, you understand," Gade said. "We
can't let them run us, but at the same time,
we can take the attitude, let them get
involved."
Gade said that the officers have also
reacted well to attempts to improve the
department.
"I think the response has to be equally
shared," he said. "I think they've (the
officers) responded to that."
Past tensions
There was not always the mutual admir
ation between officers and administration.
Last November, three members of the
department filed complaints with the State
Court of Industrial Relations.
Officers Mary Fleming and Barbara
McGill charged they were being reclassified
as civilian clerks to keep them from voting
in union elections. The third officer, Joy
Citta, the union's president at the time,
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claimed she was harrassed by Gade, and a
petition filed with the board asked if the
union had the right to become the bargain
ing agent for the police.
The court ruled in favor of all three
officers. The university has appealed the
decision to the State Supreme Court, con
tending the Industrial Relations Court had
no jurisdiction in such matters, and also
challenges the right of the union to hold an
election in the police department.
Gade was quoted at the time as saying
he was opposed to the union, but now
insists he was quoted out of context.
"I was not opposed ot it," Gade said. "I
felt I could do as much for the officers as
the union could."
Until the issue of union representation
is decided by the Supreme Court, Local
567 has an unofficial status within the
police department. Jacobsen claims the
mere presence of the union helps.
"The union serves as kind of a funnel,"
Jacobsen said.
He said officers now have an outlet to
make complaints.
Study made
As a result of the hearings, Ray Coffey,
UNL's business manager and Miles
Tommeraasen, vice chancellor for business
and finance, ordered that a study be made
of the problems within the police depart
ment. Coffey claims that the study, which
cost about $1,000, is now largely outdated,
because steps have been taken to correct
the problems. He does however, refuse to
release the study.
Both Jacobsen and Gade say the prob
lems that remain within the department
are minor. A questionnaire circulated
among the officers last summer : ked them
to rate morale one a one-to-ten scale. Gade
said the ratings averaged about four. Now
both men say morale would be closer to six
or seven on a scale of 10.
"We've got the ball rolling now and we
want to keep it going," Gade said.
He said other department improvements
include new patrol cars and more training
programs, along with a cadet training pro
gram, which allows commissioned officers
to pursue the more important tasks for
which they were hired.
The two men could not say whether the
increased efficiency in the department has
caused the campus crime rate to drop.
Gade said from now on he intends to
stay on top of problems within the depart
ment, even the minor ones.
"A lot of minor complaints can com
pound each other," he said, adding that
when the administration feels it can sit
back and relax because all the problems
have been solved, "that's when we fall off
the deep end."
Accident-prone meat packers complain of unsafe plants
By Kris Hansen
Time pressures and lack of space are the
main problems behind the accident prone
meat packing industry, according to a local
member of a meat cutters union.
Meat packers have the highest accident
rate of any industry. Roughly 35 out of
100 workers are hurt on the job each year,
according to a copyright story by the
Chicago Sun-Times.
Accidents range from slicing and stabb
ing to machine-caused amputations, and
deaths from ammonia fumes, pneumonia
and crushing. Many minor mishaps, includ
ing sprains, are caused by slips on bloody
floors. Older workers are plagued by arth
ritis and back problems.
No room
"There's just not enough room. When
everybody is working side by side, people
get hurt -they cut each other with the
knives," said a representative of the
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butchers
Workman Union, who wished to remain
anonymous.
The majority of accidents are from the
conditions," he added. "With the speed
you have to work, the slippery floors, it's
hard to control. And the only thing the
supervisors worry about is getting the meat
out."
However, George David of American
Stores Packing Company in Lincoln, said
his firm is worried about the problem.
"We have redoubled the emphasis on
safety in the plant," David said. "We check
out new operations carefully, enforce our
safety rules and try to protect people
against themselves."
Ignore safety rules
More accidents occur when workers
ignore safety precautions, he said.
He referred to the incident involving
Vickie Bitikofer, who used a cutting knife
to pull meat off the conveyor belt and
stabbed her left eye. Bitikofer worked for
Iowa Beef Processors Inc. in Dakota City.
"She was doing an unsafe action,"
David said. You never use a knife to stab
meat. That's a standing rule. Hooks are
provided for that purpose, to avoid such
accidents."
David called Bitikofer's accident an
example of the shortcuts people use to save
time, which often cause accidents.
However, the representative from
Amalgamated Meat Cutters stressed that
time is a problem. He said the work comes
so fast on the conveyor belt that any lag
soon turns into a major pile-up, with
accompanying reprimands from the super
visors. Quick process
He estimated that 140 chunks of meat
are processed by a worker in an hour, or
more than two pieces per minute. In 45
minutes a carcass goes from slaughter to
the cooler.
"The main thing is we have to slow the
lines down to stop the accidents," he said.
"Safety must come ahead of some of this
production."
David said production was slightly down
for American Stores, however.
"I defy anyone to say we're working
too fast," David said.
But hp said that workers might be work
ing too close together.
American Stores has a safety committee
which reviews the accidents every month
and discusses possible remedies. A repre
sentative is sent to the national meat pack
ing convention on safety each year to learn
other procedures.
Pressure needed
"It's hard to say if meat packers nation
wide are becoming more concerned about
this," David said. "But I can't believe that
any conscientious company wouldn't want
a safe place to work."
The Amalgamated Meat Cutters spokes
man expressed doubt about reforms.
"As a whole, we're not going to get help
unless we can get more pressure on them "
he said. "There's nothing governing how
close we can work, or under how much
speed.
"If it's a little thing, they'll fix it," he
added. "But if it's a big thing, they're just
too reluctant to spend the money."
inside friday
Eye can see clearly now: A Lincoln
doctor tells why contact lenses
have increased in popularity
page 2
"Curtain up, light the lights . .
Pinter's The Caretaker is at the
Studio Theatre page 8
The knees have it: Knee injuries are
no laughing matter for the UNL
football team page 10