Tucson Chamber names TPOA Member of the Month
The following article was reprinted from the Tucson Chamber of Commerce website.
The TPOA is honored to have been selected as the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce’s “Member of the Month” for February 2009! Allow us to tell our fellow TMCC members who we are, where we’ve come from and what we do in our community.
Tucson Police Officers Association was established in 1993 with just three officers who were frustrated with how the City and the department were violating the due process rights of officers during investigations, along with poor wages and benefits. As the “Founding Fathers” promoted their cause and educated the rank and file of their predicament, the membership grew from three to just under 200 in 1996. In April of 1996 the TPOA decertified the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #1 as the bargaining labor unit. Since then the TPOA has grown to more than 900 active members of police officers, detectives, sergeants and marshals.
The No. 1 priority of the TPOA is to provide the best legal plan along with the best representation for our membership. We believe that police officers have the same Constitutional rights and due process as other citizens of the United States and will fight scrupulously to protect those rights.
The Association believes that the TPOA are professionals and will strive to upgrade standards, wages, benefits and working conditions to reflect this professional status. We will promote the interests of the Association in the U.S. Congress, Arizona State Legislature, Tucson City Council, Tucson Police Department, Arizona Police Officer Standards and Training (AZPOST), and the Tucson Civil Service Commission.
Along with being involved in the business of politics, we are also very active in our community, especially with kids. Over the years in our “Kids and Cops” program we have photographed and fingerprinted thousands of children, at no cost to the parents, to provide pertinent information for law enforcement in case the child comes up missing. In the summer time we do our “Back to School” event where 100 selected children from our local elementary schools get to spend $100 on clothing and school supplies. Our largest event is our “Kids and Cops Christmas." Here the TPOA works with DES, Urban League, Head Start and local schools to select 300 less-fortunate children to shop with a TPD officer and spend $150 on just about anything their hearts desire. With the help of private donations to the TPOA Charitable Fund we have spent more than $300,000 and have helped make Christmas bright for thousands of children in Tucson.
This past Christmas, the TPOA branched out and worked with the Family Services Unit at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to assist families separated by military deployment through their Junior Hero’s program. We were proud to help the men, women and children of our Armed Forces during a very difficult Christmas season. Our community activities were recognized in October by the Arizona Conference of Police and Sheriffs (9,000-member law-enforcement labor union) when we received the “Community Service Award” for outstanding commitment and service.
The Tucson Police Officers Association will continue to do our part in our community. We are thrilled, yet humbled, at being recognized by TMCC and we thank you for your selection.