PAX Centurion - May / June 2015

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • June/July 2015 • Page 29 of a lack of support from the community and the civic and the politi- cal leaders. Baltimore has seen the disastrous effects of this policy. The riots began to subside onApril 30 when six police officers were arrested in the death of Mr. Gray, but the violence has continued. The month of May that just passed was Baltimore’s deadliest month in over 40 years. There were 43 homicides in the month of May alone. Shoot- ings have more than doubled compared to May of the previous year. These murders have nothing to do with anger over the death of Fred- die Gray; they have everything to do with public policy that dispar- ages police and turns a blind eye on criminal activity.You see, in Baltimore in the month of May, arrests were nearly 70 percent lower than the same month last year. Some attempt to portray this whole crisis in racial terms, but tragically all too often the victims of this surge in violent crime are innocent AfricanAmericans who live in cities in which the police are no longer permitted to do their jobs. Consider the case of an 8-year-old boy police found shot in the head on Thursday, May 28 at 8:20 a.m. He was lying dead beside his mother, who had also been fatally shot in the head. Take the case of 23-year-old Charles Dobbins, who was killed on Monday, May 25. Charles’ cousin reports that Charles was killed in a robbery. Charles worked at BWI. He worked transporting handi- capped people to and from the terminals. He loved kids. When he graduated from high school, he worked for Baltimore city schools as a bus aid assisting disabled children. Consider the case of 4-year-old Jacele Johnson. She was in a car with her teenage cousin when someone opened fire on the car, seri- ously wounding them both. These are not just statistics; these are real people who are now lost to us. Their lives matter. That 8-year-old boy and his mother, 23-year- old Charles Dobbins, a little 4-year-old girl, Jacele Johnson, and her cousin—their lives matter. The Ferguson effect, unfortunately, is not the only phenomenon that is at work here. Unfortunately, our President seems to have bought into the notion that the police are the problem and the solution is to deny them valuable tools. This last month, the President announced extensive restrictions on when local police may access lifesaving Federal surplus equipment. The gear we are talking about is almost all purely defensive. It is riot helmets, riot shields, armored personnel transport vehicles. This is surplus gear. The Federal Government has already paid for it but has decided it has no use for it. It has long been the practice that this surplus protective gear has been made available to local police forces. Why is this administration making it harder to send this purely defensive gear—gear that would otherwise go unused—to insuf- ficiently protected police officers across the country?Why would the administration do that?Well, they released a report telling us why. Here is what they said in their own report. According to this report by the administration, the Federal equipment “could significantly under- mine community trust” and that this concern outweighs the interest in “addressing law enforcement needs (that could not otherwise be fulfilled).” President Obama likewise opined that Federal equipment “can sometimes give people a feeling like there’s an occupying force” and “can send the wrong message.” So this is the concern that justified keeping lifesaving gear from police officers. So, according to the administration, the need to save police officers’ lives in the line of duty is something that should be weighed against and, in fact, sacrificed to the desire to prevent distrust or discomfort on the part of others. How many police officers’ lives are we going to sacrifice? One? Twenty? One-hundred? This is outra- geous. Each day across America, there are 780,000 law enforcement officers who put on a badge and uniform, and they answer the call of those in need no matter the danger. When others run away, they run to the problem. The rest of us inAmerica rely on these law enforce- ment officers doing their job. The people who live in high-crime areas, often ethnic minorities living in high-poverty areas of our inner cities—these are the folks who most depend on those officers. When those officers are held back, we all pay a steep price, but the residents of those communities pay the steepest price. I just hope we in the Federal Government will stop putting ob- stacles in the way of law enforcement and start supporting them. I hope we as a nation will stop scapegoating law enforcement and start thanking them. If we fail to reverse the Ferguson effect, what we will see is more violent crime and more suffering of our people. was known as the 16-hour rule. We believe that their initial proposals would have severely limited your ability to earn a decent supplemen- tal income and left you at the department’s mercy insofar as getting time off with your family. Through dogged determination and many a session right up to the Mayor’s office and I might add with his input, we finally worked out a settlement agreement that gave the City some of what they wanted and the best possible deal that we could muster for the working men and women of this department. Some may see the new 18-hour rule as a problem, but believe me when I tell you, if their original plan was allowed you would have no time off, ordered with no recourse and only be allowed to voluntarily work 16 hours in a 24 hour period as the original rule intended. We are not thrilled with the new rule but is certainly better than what would have happened had we ended up in a bargaining session over it. In addition we were able to keep to our word about a ‘quid This is likely the most difficult time in history to be a cop… From President on page 3 pro quo’ for change.You, the members, are the beneficiary of a 40% increase in your supplemental pay, the largest increase in history! Furthermore, we promised that we would secure a new property for a new Union Hall within a year of taking office. I am thrilled to report to you that we bid on a property at 295 Freeport Street in Dorchester. That property is everything we were looking for to offer you the Union Hall and facility that you deserve. That bid has been accepted by the current owners of the property: Local 103. We will now start the legal process to actually purchase this property and develop it to suit your needs. We will finally have a real Union Hall that you can use and call your own! We promised and we delivered and it only took six months! As always please be safe out there, back each other up. Remem- ber, your number one priority is to get home to your family safe and sound every day! God Bless.