National Fraternal Order of Police PAC
Contribution Form

SB 232 Retirement System; changes early and normal retirement ages for those employed after July 1, 2010.  

Summary as introduced:
Virginia Retirement System; early and normal retirement age.  Changes the early and normal retirement ages for a person who first commences employment on or after July 1, 2010, to coincide with the person's early and normal retirement ages as provided under the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 416 et seq.

Art Lipscomb

Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, spent all of last week in Washington, D.C. working in tandem with the staff in the National Legislative Office in an effort to get the language of S. 1611, “Public Employee-Employer Cooperation Act,” incorporated into several likely pieces of legislation that Congress will be considering before ending the session.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” Canterbury said.  “Congress has several bills that it must complete before concluding its business for the year.  The fact is, we have a lot of bipartisan support for the bill and we’ve approached it in a very honest and open way.  We do have a chance of getting this done.”

The legislation, which was introduced by Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) and the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), would recognize the fundamental right of public safety employees to form and join unions and bargain collectively with their employers over wages, hours, and working conditions without undermining existing State collective bargaining laws.   The legislation does not require binding arbitration, protects existing right-to-work laws, and specifically prohibits strikes and lockouts.  The bill has attracted a lot of support in the House and Senate from both sides of the aisle.

“The FOP and our friends at the International Association of Fire Fighters have been working to pass this legislation for more than a decade,” Canterbury said.  “Just as we were very close last May, winning a key procedural vote, I do think we have the support we need.  It’s the timing.”
 

Posted 12/15/09
 

The Fraternal Order of Police has examined one component of H.R. 1799, the “Safe and Efficient Transportation Act,” which would permit States to allow six-axled vehicles up to 97,000 pounds to operate on Interstate Systems routes within that State.  Current limits allow five-axled vehicles to travel these routes carrying up to 80,000 pounds.

For the FOP and all law enforcement officers, this is an issue of officer and highway safety and it is in that vein that the FOP examined the issue.  Large, heavy trucks operating at speed can pose a danger when incidents occur on our nation’s highways and there is scientific data available that suggests increasing the allowable weight of these vehicles will increase the hazard these vehicles pose.  In addition, the increased weight will cause further stress on out nation’s infrastructure, meaning that the Interstate highways and bridges will deteriorate at a greater pace.

Law enforcement officers, agencies and organizations which support the increased weight limits and the addition of another axle correctly argue that current restrictions on weight forces these large trucks off the Interstates and onto local and State roads, where they pose a much greater hazard to local traffic and local law enforcement officers.  Data supports the conclusion that trucks operating on Interstates have significantly less accidents than trucks operating on secondary roads.  Additionally, trucks which are forced onto secondary roads have a much greater impact on infrastructure, the repair and maintenance of which comes from local and State budgets.  Finally, scientific studies suggest that the additional breaking power of the sixth axle offsets the hazard presented by the additional weight.

Proponents of increasing the weight limit argue that this will reduce the number of truck miles traveled, but opponents of the heavier trucks counter that, over time, as more trucks are produced or retrofitted with the sixth axle, these vehicles will return to the highways in equal numbers.

The issue for the FOP is one of safety.  However, this issue is clouded by special interests which all claim to have highway safety as their paramount concern.  These special interests are spending significant amounts of money in this debate and their efforts have completely clouded reliable scientific data as to how any change in the weight limits would affect officer and highway safety.

While individual law enforcement leaders and local/State organizations may have taken different positions on this issue, responsible, national organizations like the National Troopers Coalition and the Fraternal Order of Police will not.  No segment of our nation’s law enforcement officers will be more affected by this provision than State and Highway patrolmen and without greater consensus on this issue on the part of these officers, the FOP will continue to monitor and research, but will take no position at this time.

For more information on this issue, contact the National Legislative Office.
 

Posted 8/17/09

Gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell

McDonnell Announces Anti-Gang Policy

Questions for Governor’s Candidates

McDonnell Public Safety highlights

Letters for Packet

Gubernatorial candidate McDonnell pitches his views to police

FOP COVER LETTER FINALE

Public Safety Policy RollOut

Posted 8/17/09

Flyer for Steve Shannon

Posted 8/17/09

The Gates Case:  After Action Report
by Jim Pasco, Executive Director
                                   
On the morning of 23 July 2009, at the direction of National President Chuck Canterbury, I contacted the White House to advise them of the FOP’s concerns regarding the President’s remarks at the previous night’s press conference which were directed at Sergeant James Crowley and the Cambridge Police Department.  I also advised them that National President Canterbury would issue a formal statement later in the day.

I was subsequently contacted by a second member of the White House staff, who told me that all other police groups had committed to remain silent on the issue.  I told this staff member that we were unlikely to remain silent.    I suggested that he call National President Canterbury, who was in a travel status, and gave him National President Canterbury’s cell phone number.  I immediately called National President Canterbury and briefed him on both my conversations with White House staff. 

About ten minutes later, National President Canterbury, having by then spoken with the White House himself, coordinated with Arnie Larson, President of the Massachusetts State Lodge, and instructed the Washington, D.C. office to issue a strong statement in support of Sgt. Crowley and the Cambridge Police Department.  We did so at approximately 3 pm that afternoon.  By early that evening,  as a result of FOP leadership on the issue, all other national police groups--except the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO)–rethought their positions and also made statements in support of the men and women of the Cambridge Police Department.

We were inundated with media calls but only responded to print media to ensure a clear and moderate message.  National President Canterbury declined all invitations to appear on talk shows and television news programs.

On the following day, we were happy to comply with a White House request to help facilitate a call from President Obama to Sgt. Crowley, the content of which has been extensively reported. 

There is no doubt that the FOP’s prompt, thoughtful, and aggressive action ultimately mininmized potential adverse fallout from this matter, and brought focus to the simple fact that Sergeant James Crowley is a good police officer in a good department, and that he and his colleagues were merely doing their jobs that day–and doing them well.

Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, expressed his satisfaction, and a certain measure of relief, with the news that funding for the Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne-JAG) program and the Office for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring program remained part of the economic stimulus package following the work of the conference committee.

“Our staff worked through last weekend and all this week, pushing hard to make sure that this vital law enforcement funding would be part of whatever stimulus package Congress came up with,” Canterbury said.  “State and local law enforcement efforts have been hurting with the severe cuts imposed last year.  Restoring this funding is absolutely necessary if we are to keep our streets and neighborhoods safe.”

Canterbury traveled to Washington, D.C. earlier this week and, on Monday, met with key Congressional leaders to lobby for their support to retain the Byrne-JAG and COPS funding provisions in the bill. 

The economic stimulus bill, H.R. 1, the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” passed the House in late January on a straight party-line vote.  Over the weekend, the Senate amended the bill significantly and passed it on a 61-37 vote.  This week, a House-Senate conference committee reconciled the two different versions into a single bill for consideration.  The FOP was afforded the opportunity to review documents which indicate that the final numbers for State and local law enforcement assistance will be very close to the House-passed mark, which provided $3 billion for the Byrne-JAG program and $1 billion for the COPS hiring program.

 “We may have a few more battles to fight along the way, but the outcome, for our funding at least, looks very positive,” Canterbury said.


 

Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, welcome this weekend’s news that a deal had been worked out to pass the economic stimulus package, which includes more than $1 billion for the Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne-JAG) program and $1 billion for the hiring program administered by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).

“We had quite a fight on our hands long into Friday night and throughout the weekend,” Canterbury explained.  “Senators were looking to reduce the overall cost of the House bill and many were looking to cut critical funding for State and local law enforcement.  Fortunately, most of the targeted funds survived and should be part of the final bill.”

The House bill, H.R. 1, the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” passed in late January on a straight party-line vote.  The Senate has spent the last two weeks debating its own bill and trying to craft an amendment that would get them the sixty votes needed to pass the bill.  Senators E. Benjamin Nelson (D-NE) and Susan M. Collins (R-ME) offered a language that should attract sixty votes.

“These are critical funds, and it is entirely appropriate for them to be included in this package,”  Canterbury explained.  “The COPS hiring program will be able to add 13,000 more officers to the streets over the next three years, and the Byrne-JAG program will support a diverse range of law enforcement, prosecutorial, and other criminal justice initiatives in communities across the country, including multijurisdictional drug and gang task forces, cold case units, identity theft investigations, school violence prevention programs, services for threatened jurors, witness protection programs, and victims’ rights and hate crime programs.”

The other programs funded in proposed amendment are as follows:

 

•                $1.05 billion for the Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Programs;

•                 $1 billion for the hiring program administered by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services;

•                 $440 million for competitive grants to support prevention and intervention programs, as well as certain prosecutorial activities

•                 $300 million for assistance to tribal law enforcement;

•                 $300 million for programs established by the Violence Against Women Act;

•                 $150 million for assistance to law enforcement in rural areas, to prevent and combat crime, especially drug-related crime

•                 $100 million to combat criminal activity stemming from the southwest border;

•                 $100 million for victims’ assistance programs; and

•                 $50 million for internet crimes against children initiatives.

        
The Senate expects to vote to end debate on the measure on Monday and to pass the final bill sometime early next week.  The differences between the House-passed bill (H.R. 1) and the expected Senate bill (S. 1) will be reconciled by a conference committee.

“Key members of both houses have already reached out to secure our support and help in making sure these funds remain in the final bill,” Canterbury said.  “We’ve come out on top after a tough fight, but there’s still some battles to be fought ahead.”