Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 4024 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MARCH 2016 YOUR Letters Continued from page 16 steal retirement security from law enforcement officers in California crumbled under the weight of its own stupid- ity. These two clowns, one of whom pushed through a pension scheme here in San Jose that resulted in the doubling of our emergency response times for priority two calls and the exit of 450 of our brethren who left San Jose and the other one, who pushed an illegal measure in San Diego, could not pull together the funds to run a statewide campaign. They could not run from the failure their attempt at pension “reform” caused in San Jose and San Diego. Good riddance. Reed and DeMaio had their 15 minutes of fame and it’s time for them to go climb back under the rock from which they came. The San Jose POA will remain vigilant protecting the retirement security of our officers. We will monitor these two and any other individual that wants to steal our pensions. For now, we can exhale, but we will remain prepared. – Paul Kelly, President San Jose POA A new group, a new voice A new organization has opened its doors to provide a voice for Oregon law enforce- ment officers. The Oregon Coalition of Police and Sheriffs (OR- COPS) is comprised of the members of the Clackamas County Peace Officers Asso- ciation, Multnomah County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, Portland Police Association, Troutdale Police Officers’ As- sociation, and the Washing- ton County Police Officers’ Association. ORCOPS will work on public policy issues that im- pact law enforcement officers in Oregon and will also edu- cate Oregonians about the role law enforcement plays in keeping our communities safe. The formation of OR- COPS comes at a time when law enforcement is under deeper scrutiny in the wake of national events. Our goal is to provide a voice for Oregon law enforce- ment and develop a greater bond between the commu- nity and the officers who put their lives on the line every day. To learn more check out the Oregon Coalition of Police and Sheriffs Facebook page at www.facebook.com/orcops. – Daryl Turner, President Portland Police Association & Oregon Coalition of Police and Sheriffs We worry about the victims, not the criminals I recently received a call from California Governor Jerry Brown asking me to sup- port his proposed initiative to eliminate prosecutors’ ability to direct file against juveniles and to allow “nonviolent” prisoners to be released ear- lier in their sentences. The Board of the Associa- tion of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs has decided to op- pose the Governor’s initia- tive. The Governor proposes to allow “nonviolent” inmates to be released earlier in their sentences by allowing the inmates to avoid serving time on any “sentence en- hancement” imposed at their sentencing. These sentence enhance- ments add time to the base sentence for a crime. Make no mistake about it, the proposal to offer some state inmates a chance at early release is flawed. Sentence enhancements add additional punishment for a range of conduct, wheth- er it be the dollar loss they cause, the repeat nature of the underlying crime, or the motivation for the crime. For example, people con- victed of grand theft receive a sentence in a “determinate” sentencing range – but if the dollar loss of the theft ex- ceeds $65,000, there can be a “sentence enhancement” of one year, and up to four years if the loss exceeds $3.2 million. A person who commits a hate crime, and has a prior hate crime conviction, can receive an enhancement of one year. A gang member who com- mits a “nonviolent” crime for the benefit of his gang, motivated by his desire to gain status in the gang or to increase the status of his gang, would face a sentence enhancement for 2-4 years for that crime. Most importantly, sentence enhancements provide a measure of justice to victims when that punishment meted out is proportionate to the damage they caused victims. We greatly appreciate the Governor being open to hear- ing our perspective on his initiative. However, we have decided to oppose Governor Brown’s initiative because we believe it unintentionally dis- cards and disregards victims of crime. – George Hofstetter, President Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. ALADS is the collective bar- gaining agent and represents more than 8,200 deputy sheriffs and district attorney investiga- tors working in Los Angeles County. George can be reached at ghofstetter@alads.org. Reflections on Chris Christie His campaign for presi- dent may be over but Chris Christie still has two years to wreak havoc back home here in New Jersey. The New Jersey State Police just got a terrible contract arbitration award and we have to try and explain to our troopers how bad it is, and will be for years to come, thanks to the Governor and a compliant legislature from both parties. I am disgusted and sad- dened, especially for my junior members who all have had salary frozen for an in- definite time going forward. Chris Christie has inflicted great harm on us and the public sector under the guise of reigning in property tax increases. He has succeeded in his mission to cripple the public sector in the state of New Jersey, a goal that has become very clear now. – Chris Burgos, President State Troopers’ Fraternal Association of New Jersey Mr. Roger Goodell Commissioner National Football League 345 Park Avenue New York, NY 10154 Dear Mr. Goodell: I am the president of the NYC Detective Investigator’s Association (DIA) in New York City. The DIA repre- sents over 600 active and re- tired detectives who work for the five District Attorneys and Special Narcotics Prosecutor. My purpose for writing to you is to make known to the NFL the level of disgust my mem- bers have for your decision to allow a performer, paid by the NFL, to use the Super Bowl as a forum to deliver a Shame on Roger Goodell and the NFL The half-time show at this year’s Superbowl prompted me to write this letter to Roger Goodell at the National Foot- ball League. blatantly anti-police message to the entire world. I assume the NFL stands by the message of that “perform- er” that it is OK to agitate and if necessary harm the police if a certain group in our society feel it justified. I allude spe- cifically to the praising of the Black Panther movement, a group who has without shame assassinated dozens of police officers in this country. A group, even today, who calls for members of our society to rise up against the police and kill them in cold blood. Just this past year on his ra- dio show, Malik Zulu Shaba- zz, the leader of the black pan- thers, called for his followers to “build up the army to battle the police.” He continued, “There will be events that are gonna seem tragic to white America, and even shock our own conscience.” Is this what the NFL is giving a world platform to? I guess I can’t expect much from a billion-dollar company which charges our own mili- tary to run ads. But it cannot be denied that the black pan- thers have assassinated officers who were only doing their job and keeping everyone in our society, regardless of color or creed, safe. I call on the NFL to separate itself from that message. This is not a 1st Amendment issue. The NFL coordinated, ap- proved, paid, and made avail- able this message for a world stage. In doing so you dishon- ored the tens of thousands of men and women who carry a badge and sacrifice their lives every day so millionaires like you and your players can bear the fruits of peace. – John M. Fleming, President NYC Detective Investigator’s Association • Removes weight of duty belt off hips and lower back • Enables you to perform at maximum standards • Helps keep shirt tucked in during physical activity • No need to adjust duty belt when exiting vehicle • No need to hold duty belt when engaging in foot pursuits No more back pain The Back Defender is the only concealed belt suspension system approved for police duty WWW"ACK$EFENSE3YSTEMSCOM   (or)