I know you come to work every day knowing the risks; I also know how committed and dedicated you are to serving the Oakland community.  Just a reminder:  As violence escalates in our community, there is help available for all Oakland police officers as we struggle to deal with the ongoing work load.  We have a great peer support team that includes our police chaplain and psychologist.  Please use these resources if there is a need to decompress.

I am working daily with our OPOA Board Members to manage the many complex political issues, as well as looking out for the well-being of all our officers and your families.  I would not be out-of-line to say that we have our work cut out for us.  Our challenges are many.

In addition to our 663 officers doing the work of 1,200, we are grappling with many other important issues to OPOA members, including:  Meeting with Mayor Quan and her administration, as well as Chief Batts.  We have discussed:  City budget issues, staffing, radio communication, police vehicle, computer, equipment and facility challenges, officer safety and contract issues.  To date, Mayor Quan has not presented a plan.

With regards to the OPOA Board, Todd Bergeron, William Pappas and Tony Banks did not run for the Board this year.  They will be sorely missed.  Congratulations to new Board Members Jim “Joey” Gordon, Dan Tirapelli and Freddie Mestas.  Together they bring 75 years of law enforcement experience and we look forward to their contributions on the Board.

In addition, two Executive Board positions have changed.  Brian Hubbard and Wendy Rae voluntarily stepped down from the Secretary and Treasurer Positions.  Devin Underwood and Jake Bassett have taken over their positions.  Both Brian and Wendy put in long hours and gave astounding efforts to this membership.  They leave big shoes to fill.  Devon and Jake are both mid level career guys within OPD and bring multiple skills, years of experience, and a great enthusiasm to serve.

In the community, OPOA is sponsoring a North Oakland Little League baseball team.  We are hoping for a championship this year!  The OPD family raised $3,500 dollars for the Perez family.  Lieutenant D. Lozares started the fund raising effort.  The money will not bring back their daughter, but OPD showed this family that they remain in our hearts and prayers.  The family harbored tears of gratitude when receiving the check and it was with heartfelt affection that we contributed to help the Perez family on behalf of all our officers.

I will be writing more as we have more news.  Until then, if there are questions feel free to email me at arotzarena@opoa.org.  Please stay safe.

This past Friday at the OPOA Christmas Party, I was surprised to see Mayor Elect Jean Quan attend.  I greeted Mrs. Quan and asked her why she made the statement that 85% of Oakland Police Officers do not like Oakland.  She denied ever making that statement.

Today, Monday 20 December 2010, I was contacted by Sue Piper, a staffer member for Quan, who clarified Mayor – Elect Quan’s comments in the paper last week.

She told me the following

Mayor-Elect Quan asked both Bay City News Service, the author of the article, and the Oakland Tribune to correct their article that ran on Friday, December 17 about the meeting of the NAACP with OPD Chief Batts and herself.  She reminded Jeff Shuttleworth, the reporter that what she actually said was that Chief Batts’ did a survey of residents as part of his strategic plan and found that 40% of Oakland residents distrust the police, and that 85% of the police force does not live in Oakland.

I explained to the Mayor-elect Quan that officers even if they do not live in the city they choose to work in this city and enjoy the opportunity to serve.  Our officers have sacrificed more than most for this city, regardless of where they live.

I believe Mayor-elect Quan knows little about our profession as police officers.  I will try my best to explain what cops face here on a nightly basis and some of the critical issues facing Oakland Police Officers.

I am hoping that Mayor Elect Quan and the OPOA can work together to make this city better.

Dom Arotzarena

President, OPOA

Among the measures on the ballot in Oakland is Measure X, the $360 dollar parcel tax that includes our pension concession. In polling it came back with a 40% no among likely voters. Given that it needs 66.66% to pass, the poll results indicate that it will fail. Measure BB, the measure Y fix, and Measure W the telephone tax are polling well but still have an uphill battle. This election season the OPOA set up a Political Issues Committee (PIC) to raise money for the measures. Besides the OPOA contribution, this committee raised more than $40k with contributions from our friends. Let’s hope BB passes, if not we will face a huge wave of layoffs in January 2011.

As we have all seen the assault on the Oakland Police Department continues.

I have been here for 20 years and not one time since I’ve been here have I seen it this bad. Morale within the police department is the lowest I have ever seen. People are in a state of shock around this department and no one really knows what to do to make it better. What I cannot figure out is how people, not in our profession, continue to try and dictate how we should do our jobs. These days we are treated like second class citizens with no rights and one little mistake is a cause for termination. We cannot and are not allowed to make a single mistake. If we do, we will be held accountable, yet day in and day out Oakland Police Officer get the job done, with the resources we are given.

Not sure why I need to remind people of the facts but here they are. Four Oakland Police Officers killed in in the line of duty in 2009. A total of eight OPD officers died in 2009. Also in 2009, a concession contract to save jobs. 2010 brought us, 80 police officers laid off, and the prospect of even more layoffs in 2011. City of Oakland your police officers are walking around worried about keeping their jobs. Officers are worried about their own safety on the streets. On a daily basis we are running short of officers in every area of the city. That means open beats. Most recently I heard Mayoral Candidate Quan say that we need to get more desk officers out onto the street. Wake up Mrs. Quan there are no desk officer positions!!! Maybe she wants to pull from some of the few detectives that OPD has left. They are only investigating Homicides, Robberies, Rapes and Domestic Violence, not really important things!!!!

Unless you have been under a rock, compliance to the Negotiated Settlement Agreement is in full gear. The rank and file is and has been committed to complying with this consent decree and at the same time trying to make things safer for the citizens of Oakland. When it comes to the NSA it is important that we do things right, if that means taking our TIME, then that’s what we will do. One mistake will cost you your job. So take your TIME and make sure all compliance issues are met.

Every two years the OPOA must go to Caltrans and bid on our OPOA parking lot. In the past, we paid $6400 dollars a month. This year a group bid against OPOA for the lot. Their plan was to outbid OPOA and then rent parking spaces back to our members in the same lot for $150 a month. We were able to once again secure the lease for the lot, but at the cost of $11,000 per month. However, because of this higher cost the $10 rate we now pay cannot cover the new lease. To address this problem, the OPOA board voted unanimously to raise our monthly rates to $20 dollars a month. You will see this increase in late November.

I apologize for not writing a BLOG sooner. I have been very busy with this election and raising money. I will be writing a BLOG update next week after the election.

Until then stay safe and contact me any time Arotzarena@opoa.org

Dom Arotzarena
President, OPOA

We then released the following statement to the media, and met with reporters in our offices.

The Oakland Police Officers Association (OPOA) understands more than most the consequences of the budget problems that confront our city.

We have seen the number of our officers on the street go from 803 two years ago to less than seven hundred. Just in the past month, eighty of our community’s police officers were laid off and the streets in which we work became increasingly dangerous and the crimes to which we respond have now been limited. It is a dangerous situation for all of us.

We have done our best to be part of the solution in Oakland. Last year we made $34 million worth of concessions. Over the past couple of weeks we have continued to work with our City Council to put together long-term solutions. In that effort our members voted and we have agreed to the following:

1. We have agreed to pay an additional 7 percent contribution to now pay the full 9 percent cost of our pensions.

2. We have agreed to a two-tier pension system for new employees. New hires will now retire at 3 percent at 55.

We have also agreed to work with the City Council to help educate the voters on the benefits of the new parcel tax initiative being proposed by the City Council.

Oakland police officers remain committed to our community. We want enough police officers to keep our streets safe and the officers patrolling them not to be in constant danger.

We believe Oakland can still be a great City. It is important for all of us to stand together and say we want to make Oakland a place we are proud to call home and not a war zone that families and businesses want to avoid.

We will continue to work to keep you, our community, informed. Thank you.

However, city government did not plan. In fact they did very little between last summer and today. The proof is very clear; they cut 200 plus open positions and only had 68 layoffs during this entire fiscal crisis. Yes, I said only 68 layoffs so far!! At the police department we saw the cuts; we gave more than any other bargaining unit. The city continued to spend without planning. The City appeared to have no sense of urgency. Now they want to pull out their political gun and place it at our heads and the head of every law abiding Oakland citizen!!!

Today at the Rules committee meeting (3 Jun 2010), Ignacio De La Fuenta made a motion for city council to vote to layoff Police Officers!!!! This is two days after we had our first “official” meeting with Council members De La Fuenta, Quan, Kernighan and Brunner. You tell me, is that bargaining in good faith bargaining? Unbelievable!! We first learned of the city’s woes, where else but in the media, on 18 May. Then we met on June 1, for the official talk, and then BAM…. June 3, a motion is made for LAYOFF notices to be sent out. Yes, this is before any talks with the OPOA. These are the facts. This is NOT how you run a city.

Today, Council Member Brunner did a really good job shutting down the talk of Police layoffs, for now. There will not be a vote to send layoff notices at the 15 June, council meeting; instead they will discuss layoffs at the 24 June meeting.

It doesn’t appear that the city is serious about negotiating in good faith with the OPOA. They want the OPOA to give up, give up, give up, and receive NOTHING in return. They cannot even give me a guarantee that there will be no further layoffs should further concessions be made.
As far as getting out OUR message, we are trying each and every way to get out the OPOA position out to the public. We are updating the website OPOA.org, we have a Facebook Oakland Police Officers’ Association page that is getting updated daily, and we are getting our posts on the city Yahoo groups. I have given countless TV interviews. Both Barry and I talk to print journalists almost daily. However, with a few exceptions, the media has only printed and broadcasted what they want and edit out the rest. The media has NEVER been favorable to the OPOA.

940A!! This is a serious situation! I need your help getting the facts out. The OPOA cannot be the only ones trying to get out the point across, it will take ALL of us. This magnitude of this situation has never been faced by this organization. Every member of this police department will be affected if we layoff. I need every member to push people to our website and Facebook page. We will be entering into talks with the city. The executive board of the OPOA will be in discussions with the city. It is very important for all members not to negotiate this contract with media, friends, and city politicians. This will only give them ammo to attack us and may even sabotage our talks.
Here are some great points to tell the community we serve:

1. The OPOA members took a concession last year saving hundreds of jobs and saving the city $34.2 million. If we negotiate what guarantees are there? What if they come to us again next year?
2. Cutting 200 officers will severely impact out response violent crimes and dangerous situations.
3. The city approached the OPOA for the first time with layoffs in May, just a month before the budget is due.
4. The city has done little or nothing to solve its budget shortfalls after our concession agreement last year.
5. Our pension is paid by the city because it was negotiated that way, which means the City Council voted for it! The city felt it was cheaper. (See Barry’s blog for more on this subject)
6. We are in line with most other agencies in the Bay Area with regard to pay and benefits. However, we have far higher workloads, more calls for service and work in the 4th most dangerous city in the nation.
7. Why is the city not cutting anyone else??
8. Push everyone to the Facebook Page and OPOA.org websites

At this point, we will be talking with the city. We are yet to hear their plan, because they don’t have one yet. The OPOA in good faith, like last year, will listen to the city and see if we can pull them out of their mess. However, believe me when I tell you this, the OPOA will NOT be bullied by the city. We know firsthand how much the OPOA has given. We will help our laid off members, but who is going to help law the law abiding citizens of Oakland when 200 plus Police Officers are laid off?

Let me start by saying this: I have proudly served this city for 20 years; I (amongst others) have made many personal sacrifices to make you (citizen of Oakland) safe. I have watched many of my co-workers lose their lives striving for the same goal. To make OAKLAND SAFE. I have proudly dedicating my life to making this town better and I will do so for the rest of my career. I bravely accept the risks, and if I could do it all over again I would.

I know I share the sentiments of all men and women that serve this community. I know the challenges that face this town. After several years of watching the highs and lows, I recently found that we have a young invigorated group of young police officers and a motivated Police Chief. I see things going in the right direction. Crime is steadily going down, more officers are on the street, and response times are better than they use to be.

The leadership of this city, however, is talking about making a bold move of laying off 200 police officers to balance the budget. The city politicians will try to shift the blame, but “the GIG is up.” It will be THEIR decision to lay off police officers. Their decision will make it unsafe for all citizens who live and visit this town. Without question, this decision will result in higher crime and increase in murders. Yes, more people will die!!!!

Let me just cut right into where we are. As this economy is falling, so are the projected revenues for Oakland 2010-2011. Last year we agreed to a concession contract, providing in excess of $34 million in savings to the city. The reason we did this was to help the city through this unprecedented fiscal crisis. We believed we were doing the right thing for Oakland, our members, and our community. Read Brother Barry’s Blog this month; he touches more on this and he is right on the money!!!!

Did you know that throughout this whole financial crisis the City of Oakland has only had 68 layoffs? Just 68! In this financial climate you would think that they would have cut all the “nice to have programs” in favor of the city’s core mission, protecting its citizens. Not in Oakland. A restructure of Measure Y was urged by the OPOA last year along with recommended cuts of the NSCs and CPRB never happened. It’s safe to say, no one was paying attention to this, or the powers in town did not care. The public’s safety doesn’t seem to be important.

So now the city has a $30-40 million dollar deficit. This city government had elected to bridge this gap by laying off cops and risking public safety and the lives of its citizens.

Why us? The city reports that police and fire are 85% of the budget. So in order to save money from the police department they must go under our minimum staffing of 739. That means laying-off ALL measure Y officers, then another 24 officers to make up another $4 millon in lost revenue from Measure Y that must be back-filled from the general fund. Then the city hopes to save another $30 million from the police department. That means 150 real police officers. So the grand total for lay-offs could be as high as 180-200 police officers.

At this point the OPOA board has agreed to allow the executive board to listen and talk with the city. However, the OPOA will not be bullied by the city; we have already given up millions of dollars. I am in no position to take any more steps back.

Stay tuned to this site for upcoming important information.

Dom Arotzarena
OPOA President
Arotzarena@opoa.org

A big welcome back to Sgt. Randy Wingate. Randy is Veteran here at the police department and war hero. He has been completely reinstated. It was a long hard fought battle, however in the end justice prevailed and one helluva cop is back on the street. As Randy I’m sure would tell you LDF put a huge amount of effort into his case. The importance of LDF to us all cannot be under estimated. We do a tough job in a tough town and we need the back up.

Staying on the subject of LDF, our rates have gone up. This I’m sure to most of your is no surprise. But the increase was nowhere near as much as we had feared. The rates have gone up from $38 dollars a month to $53 dollars a month. Although it is a steep raise, it is far less than we had anticipated. I feel our lobbying on your behalf was successful in this case. At the board meeting in April (4-19-2010), we will be discussing how to deal with the LDF increase.

Today’s newest scapegoat is our pensions. Politicians everywhere are blaming their budget mess on our pensions. This phenomenon is not limited to us in California. Nationwide our brother and sisters are taking concession contracts, experiencing layoffs and in almost each and every case politicians are pointing to public safety pensions as being the cause of their budget woes. Every day I am glad that we stepped up last year to save our members and protect the retirement and health care benefits for all. Settling a contract his year would have been a disaster.

I have heard good things and some bad things about our new shifts Remember this is a new shift, is better than the old shift, but there is always room to make things better and more efficient. I have been told the third watch hours are a problem. I hope to “Meet and confer” with the department to solve these issues.

Our board meetings will be changing due to four board members being in the same unit. Keep track of our meetings on OPOA.org.

Until next time be safe and take a bad guy to jail.

Sunday 3-21-2010, will be the one year anniversary of the worst incident in OPD history. On Sunday, the OPOA will have a BBQ. There will be nothing formal just a place to go, have some BBQ and reflect and pay tribute to our fallen comrades. Sam Armerding will be the BBQer, I’ll one of many assistants at the grill. OPOA members and our Law Enforcement friends are welcome.

When we settled our concession contract last year, most of us members understood how important it was to lock in what we have and push off any raise. Each day that passes this appears to have been a fantastic idea. Our country’s economy is poor to say the least. I have not heard of one police agency that has not had some type of concession. I am very glad we did, what we did when we did it.

With that said, let’s look at Vallejo. What a disaster!! I am trying to be nice here. They have demoted and have had layoffs of several police officers. Now the city politicians are going after their Binding Arbitration. I can tell you this, if they are successful in getting rid of their Binding Arbitration, they will come after ours. This is a serious fight, and we will be joining PORAC and several police departments in their fight.

I was contacted by LDF Trustee DeDe Torres with good news. She advised that the OPOA lobbing efforts were successful. However, she could not tell me an exact dollar figure, but it sounds like much less than the proposed 100% increase. I do not have the final numbers. But I will get them out as soon as I get them.

Benefits day on March h 8th and 10th was a huge success. If you did not get the opportunity to attend the very successful Benefits Day, you can still make changes at the OPOA. After what we saw last year, it is imperative that you set up your estate and take care of your family, your current family!!! Need I elaborate?

I am hoping to get the website up and running for online purchases. I hope to have this done before summertime. This will be a great service to our current and past members. Also remember our website has our MOU and all kinds of benefit information that we use and need. We will be advertising on the front page, don’t be afraid to click on their links, this helps pay for our website.

The ethics commission has cleared the OPOA of any wrong doing on November 5th, 2009 when we endorsed Don Perata for Mayor. Even though we were cleared of any wrong doing, they want $709 dollars for use of city services. We will not be paying this fine as we did not do anything wrong.

On March 22, 2010, there will be a freeway dedication for Dan Sakai in Castro Valley, later there will be a reception for the OPD officers running in the Baker to Vegas, at the Toyota Dealership in Dist 6.

Till next time, stay safe out there!

We all knew this day would come, our LDF rates may increase substantially. There is no nice way to put it. First off, for the new people, look at LDF as an insurance policy. No one would own a home or a car without an insurance policy, well ….most people. Currently we pay $38 dollars a month per member, quick math that’s $456 bucks a year. In today’s world I don’t know what’s more important, wearing our bullet proof vests or LDF coverage. To me, an Oakland cop, must have LDF coverage.

In January, Barry Donelan, Renee Hassna and I met with LDF Executive Director Ed Fishman (Matt Hornung’s attorney) and LDF trustee Dede Torres. He explained that since 1999, we have used more LDF resources than we paid in. In fact, we are the biggest user in the entire 29 states that LDF covers. Yep #1. This leads to the next conversation, “Rates”. He told us that our $38 dollar monthly rate is looking to jump significantly, and Ed stated that would just “stop the bleeding”. Meaning paying for what we use; not building a fund for future battles. Like any good Oakland Cop, I used every trick in the book to talk him down, however he advised that I would have to address the LDF Board.

On Friday February 5, Barry and I made a presentation to the board. In our presentation we spoke about adjusting the culture of LDF usage and our current IA system, OPOA ownership of LDF and Structure change in our usage. I explained that throwing money at a problem will not solve the problem. I explained to the board that ALL police officers face the same dangers in the job, but in Oakland, we face the danger and more.

I am not talking about changing any NSA guidelines, so the folks trying to read into my words pound salt and keep reading your liberal mags, I’m talking about the LDF within the IA process. One reason members frequently use LDF is because of our past experiences with the IA system. I am not trying to offend anyone here, but we are law enforcement, we are not going to make everyone happy and we may make mistakes. Seems like to me, minor stuff is always blown out of proportion, sometimes people are lazy or over worked, yet they are called liars. Give me a break. The men and women of this police department are the finest in our society. Our members have to pass a rigorous background and 100s of test to get into the Job, they are great people. But like any human beings we sometimes make mistakes, discipline should be about improving ourselves and learning.

The OPOA needs to take ownership and a more active approach in dealing with LDF usage. If you need a lawyer, you will get a lawyer, but sometimes the experience of our board may suffice and may even be better. The OPOA needs to analyze who, what and when we are using LDF and look for trends. By the end of February the entire OPOA board will have received training to help our members out with any questions or problems in this area they may have.
The structure of the LDF process must be looked into. Using labor reps are cheaper and could be more effective. Labor reps are not attorneys, however are dispatched out of a law firm and this maintains attorney client privileges. Labor reps are normally retired police officers. The command staff and members of this department need to be trained on whatever comprehensive plan we implement. I asked Ed Fishman to sit with the leadership of the OPOA and provide us a road map that will lower our overall usage, without putting members at risk.

As of today 2-21-2010, I have not heard any decision on a rate increase. I was told our presentation was excellent and compelling. We will be awaiting the results and will let you know.

The Holiday Pay Grievance is still looming, however we have given the city until 3-16-2010, then we will move this matter to arbitration.

It is political season, may candidates will be vying for various council seats and the mayor spot. Please forward all who are seeking endorsements to me. This is a touchy subject, do not get yourself sucked into a candidate placing you in a bad situation there is a fine line between what you say and do on duty. Trust me, I know.

By now all members should have received all of your vacation for the year. What is important is that you sign the vacation form that came with it. This form says that you acknowledge you must pay back some of the balances if you separate from service midyear. This must be signed to retain this benefit.

Don’t forget member benefits day. March 8th and 10th at the OPOA. I strongly urge all members to go.

There will be a memorial BBQ at the OPOA on 3-21-2010. Please mark your calendars.

If you need anything or have any comments you can email me at arotzarena@opoa.org or call me at the association 510-834-9670.
I’m still working on the kegorator!!!

Dom Arotzarena
OPOA President

Patrol will need to have 320 officers in order for it to work. I know that several members are being forced back to patrol. These decisions have not been easy for commanders and they have been working diligently to come up with the best possible scenarios. It’s very difficult with our attrition rate (4-5 members a month). Decisions are tough and none of them will be perfect. But they must be done. Bottom line is PATROL is our core function. Chief A. Batts has made a commitment to assure that we stay fully staffed on the street.

The Patrol Draw should be on March 20th. Here it is in a nut shell:

• Day watch will be a 4/10 shift with lineup start times at 0600-1600 and 0700-1700 hrs
• Third watch will be a 3/12-4/12 shift with a lineup time of 1500-0300 hrs.
• Late-Tac will be a 3-12 shift on FSS 1800-0600, with an 8 hour makeup day every other Monday. That shift will start at 1800 hrs. Each area will have one Late-Tac unit, except Area-3, which will have 2.
• Dog Watch will be a 4/10 shift with lineup start times at 2100-0700 and 2200-0800
• Each Area will be assigned an administrative sergeant, and one admin position will be available in SOD.
• Area 1 will offer 4 desk officer positions, working a 12 hour shift, which will start at 0530 and 1700 hrs.
• Area 3 will offer 2 desk positions, working a 12 hours shift, which both start at 0800 hrs.
• Watch commanders will be working 12 hour shifts to cover both A/B squads.
• RDO’s for 10 hours shifts will be:
• District One (1) will have FSS/TWT
• District Two (2) will have TFS/MTW
• District Three (3) will have SMT/WTF
• District Four (4) will have SSM/WTF
• District Five (5) will have FSS/MTW
• District Six (6) will have SSM/TWT

This is a new patrol plan. This seems to be the happy median between members and the department. Here is the bottom line. The city has the right to implement whatever shift deployment plan they want. This was won in 2007 in arbitration. We have no choice. We MUST get behind this plan and make it work. I believe it is the best possible plan we can get.

Today you should see the full amount of vacation on your check. Each member will be required to sign a form allowing the city to recover vacation upon a mid-year separation. This is a requirement to receive the vacation up front. Please sign this form ASAP. It will be with your W-2.

The department is looking into a very fancy piece of equipment that will be able to track calls for service and deployment. Personally I think a kegerator would be a better investment. But in the meantime I need everyone hit on/off scene when responding to calls. This will track important information for manpower and workload. This program will assist the OPOA with negotiations in 2013. It will be nice to show the city that industry standard (in calls for service) does not apply in Oakland.

TLO retro pay should be coming soon. The sick time policy is still outstanding. The city has been dragging its feet. We will be meeting February 2. Hopefully we can get it resolved.

On a side note, the COP for Port of Seattle responded to my letter of appreciation I sent for picking up several of our members who were stranded at SEATAC for the Washington Officers funeral. She stated they were very pleased to assist our officers.

It’s nice to know that no matter what part of the country police are, we are all brothers and sisters.

Till next time.

Dom
(arotzarena@opoa.org)

The Oakland Police Officers’ Association has not been provided a copy of the Departmental report critiquing the tragic events of March 21, 2009.  The OPOA was never consulted by the authors of the report and did not participate in any formal Departmental review of the events which led to the tragic deaths of four of our brothers.

Dom Arotzarena, the president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, offered the following comments in response to the media accounts to the March 21 report:

Contact: Dom Arotzarena, President
Oakland Police Officers’ Association
555 Fifth Street
Oakland, CA 94607
Phone: (510) 834-9670
Fax: (510) 834-0462

On this website, I, and our Vice President, Barry Donelan have a BLOG. When one has a BLOG they are inducted into the “Building Rat” hall of fame. I just want to make that clear.

In early January 2010, the Chief listened to presentations from the OPOA shift committee and Captain Ed Poulson who was tasked to come up with an alternative patrol shift plan. Both plans needed to save the department money, while maintaining efficiency. The goal of the OPOA was giving members shift options that improve morale and did not compromise officer safety. Chief Batts accepted our plan. He felt the OPOA plan was best for the membership. The chief read all of the surveys that over 800 people filled out. I have to say, my hat is off to Chief Anthony Batts for caring about the members and employees of this police department!! He took the surveys seriously.

First off, this plan may not make everyone happy and no plan ever will; but the shift committee believed it has plenty of options for people to better manage their personal lives. There will be 4-10 and 3/12-4/12. It is the best of both worlds. The shift committee worked diligently on this plan, knowing all along that the department retained the right to implement whatever shift they wanted to. The shift committee comprised of Bryan Hubbard, Barry Donelan, Sean Hall, Devin Underwood, Dwayne Sue, Jake Bassett, Dave Carman and I met weekly to come up with this schedule. There are still some tweaking needed to make patrol as efficient as possible. The final details should come out soon. As an overview, Day watch and Dog watch will be on the old 4-10. Third watch will remain on a 3-12/4-12 shift. I believe this is the best possible shift we could get based on city budget and manpower.

In the end, Chief Batts was the person that allowed the OPOA to provide input to a patrol schedule. Let me make something clear, HE DID NOT HAVE TO. The city won the right to implement any patrol shift in arbitration. The Chief has done a great job coming into a tough town with a lot of issues. The Chief has allowed me to attend his executive staff meeting on Mondays. This has never happened before. Chief Batts has given the OPOA a voice.

As of today 571 out of the 574 consenters have signed the FLSA agreement. At this time, I am unsure when the consenters will be receiving their settlements.

You should be receiving your 120 plus hours of vacation on your next check. The OPOA has filed a grievance with the city over holiday pay on vacation. For example, if you are on vacation and Christmas falls on a vacation day, the city has been giving HTA. This means no extra money, just time. This was never negotiated away; not sure why they are doing this. But a grievance has been filed.

With 2009 behind us, my rookie President year, my goal for 2010 is to be more active in lineups and discussions. Because of all that went on last year, I believe that I have lost touch with the solders out there. There are several lineups and I will try to make them as frequently as possible. If you need me to come to a lineup to speak on any outstanding issues, feel free to email me at arotzarena@opoa.org.

The best way for me to serve this membership is by hearing from you. I hear about issues daily and deal with them accordingly. You can contact me 24-7. Please leave a message or call me at the OPOA.

Dom Arotzarena