Gregoire touts trooper raises, emergency gear

State troopers should get a raise and law enforcement agencies around Washington should get better communications equipment to deal with emergencies, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Christine Gregoire said Wednesday.

Speaking at a convention of law enforcement officers in Spokane, Gregoire said the state needs to pay its troopers better to keep them longer. “They get the best training, but many of them stay two or three years, then get pulled away by other agencies,” she said.

Gregoire wouldn’t offer an amount that she believes troopers deserve. Instead, she said, they should be able to engage in collective bargaining with the state to negotiate better salaries.

Former state Sen. Dino Rossi, her Republican opponent, voted against collective bargaining, Gregoire added.

A spokeswoman for Rossi said, however, the former legislator opposed collective bargaining for troopers when other state employees were barred from that system.

He opposed the 2002 change in state law that allows some state employees to engage in collective bargaining.

Now that other state employees have that right, Rossi believes troopers who are not covered by the new law should be, said spokeswoman Janelle Guthrie.

The state should provide local police and fire agencies with the latest communication equipment that would allow them to talk to one another in times of emergencies, Gregoire said. At major disasters around the nation, from the World Trade Center collapse to the Columbine High School shootings, one of the biggest problems has been the inability of different agencies to talk to one another, she said.

She didn’t offer a figure on how much that would cost, saying only “it’s going to be a priority.”

Standing in front of dozens of police officers and sheriff’s deputies sporting “Cops for Chris” T-shirts, Gregoire also tried to deflect criticism in a current Rossi commercial that describes him as a private businessman and her as a career government employee.

The real problem, she said, was the Legislature, which she said needs to work harder.

“We’ve got to change the culture in Olympia,” she said.

“My opponent has been there for almost a decade.”