Articles

It’s no secret that more and more politicians have targeted law enforcement with anti-police legislation. Thankfully, the Arizona Police Association (APA), a state labor group made up of more than 12,000 officers and over 50 police agencies, was hard at work fighting for the rights and interests of Arizona law enforcement, corrections, detention and probation officers in the legislative process on the local, state and national levels.

Thanks to the immense effort of the APA, several important bills were recently approved during the Arizona State Legislature’s 56th session that will benefit public safety.

Approved Bills That APA Supported

HB 2319: Law enforcement activity; recording prohibition: This bill makes it illegal to record an officer without permission within 15 feet of law enforcement activity.

HB 2159: Law enforcement officers; polygraph; examinations: This is our 38-1100 Officer Bill of Rights legislation, and it has four main components:

1. 38-1104 and 38-1108: Eliminates the use of polygraphs in administrative investigations. Although most agencies rarely use them now due to their unreliability, this bill will eliminate their use statewide.
2. 38-1106: Affirmatively allows the hearing officer in an administrative appeal to consider as a mitigating factor any violation of 38-1100 in the determination of discipline. 
3. 38-1110: In the event of multiple officers involved in the same investigation, if it is determined that any individual officer has not committed any wrongdoing, that officer must be provided a notice of findings and exited out of the investigation as it proceeds. The officer would still be under advisement not to speak about the investigation. 
4. 38-1112: Adds psychological examinations to fitness-for-duty exams. The current law is silent on psychological exams. This provision provides the same protections and procedures for psychological exams as it does for physical exams. It also now requires the agency to provide the officer with a copy of the medical report within five days of the department receiving it.

SB 1268: PSPRS; deferred retirement option plan: This bill extends the current DROP plan from five to seven years. It would likely have a different rate of return from the original DROP plan. This is to encourage and incentivize officers to stay longer to help address the current staffing crisis. The bill will also create a task force to address possible plan improvements to tiers 2 and 3 to assist in recruitment and retention of officers. 

HB 2862: Appropriations; DPS and corrections pay increases: This bill requires the arresting officer to advise an arrest juvenile their rights and to notify the parents as practicable upon juvenile arrest. This bill was extensively amended to have less the impact on officers and investigations.

HB 2721: Law enforcement officers; AZPOST: This bill requires any entities (with some exceptions) that investigate or discipline law enforcement officers to have as their members at least two-thirds of law enforcement officers from the same department on those entities. This bill reinstated the provision of the original bill that was struct due to the “single-subject” lawsuit by the city of Phoenix.

HB 2349: Peace officer standards board; membership: This bill changes the requirement so that one of the two officer representatives will no longer have to be a deputy (a deputy can still serve as one of the officers). Both officers must still be non-supervisors.

HB 2343: Interfering with a crime scene investigation; classification: This bill classifies disobeying a peace officer’s verbal order to remain off the premises of a possible crime scene as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Approved Bills That APA Opposed

While there were many APA-backed bills that were approved, there were, unfortunately, some that were opposed that still went through. Still, the APA will continue fighting for PLEA members to ensure their rights and safety are a top priority against these harmful public safety bills.  

HB 2309: Detained juveniles; advisements; notifications: This bill requires the arresting officer to immediately advise an arrest juvenile of their rights and to notify the parents of the juvenile arrest within 90 minutes. 

HB 2518: Peace officers; liability; unlawful acts: This bill eliminates qualified immunity.

HB 2358: Sexual assault; survivor’s rights: This bill has some issues of concern as to implementation and operational impact, as well as investigative and prosecution compromise, such as providing an unredacted copy of the investigation at any time the victim asks for it. 

HB 2222: Independent corrections oversight committee: This bill creates a very heavyweight inmate advocacy oversight board.

HB 2688: Prisoner searches; requirements: This bill places safety and operational challenges on DOC officers’ ability to conduct inmate searches.

SB 1166: Public employers: public monies: contracts: union activities: standing: state preemption: definitions: This bill eliminates public employer union contracts and union activities, including being able to lobby or advocate for a political candidate.

Other Approved Legislation

HB 2347: Law enforcement; misconduct investigations; extension: An employer shall make a good faith effort to complete any investigation of employee misconduct within 180 calendar days after the employer receives notice of the allegation by a person authorized by the employer to initiate an investigation of the misconduct. The investigation is considered complete on the date the employee is served with the notice of discipline or the notice of findings.

HB 2340: Disciplinary appeals; final disposition reporting:  In any appeal of a disciplinary action by a law enforcement officer, the parties shall cooperate with each other, act in good faith and exchange copies of all relevant documents and a list of all witnesses pursuant to the following time periods and requirements.

Recently, at the direction of the human resources director and city manager, the Budget and Research Department conducted a class and comp study of the Police Department to determine where our officers ranked in regard to hourly pay with our peers in the Valley. The outcome of that study determined that our overall compensation was not completely out of line; however, our hourly rate was significantly lower than most of all the other Valley agencies. A significant amount of our compensation was in the form of Career Enhancement Pay and Performance Enhancement Pay (longevity).

The HR director, David Mathews, had discussed with PLEA about the possibility of rolling CEP into the base wage in addition to the City increasing the pay steps for all officers so that our hourly rate would be more competitive. I told Mathews that it would be considered so long as all officers currently participating in CEP would be given credit for the step that they had worked so hard to obtain. Several months later, he presented us with the first iteration of the revised pay plan.

This new pay scale makes us not only competitive in a time when officers are most needed, but now the market leader in the state.

Mathews explained that not only would each Unit 4 member be given credit for their current CEP step, but they would also be given credit for their current longevity. He told us that Budget and Research had established an all-new pay scale with Steps 1 through 9 and laid out how each officer would be placed within it. We expressed concern over the fact that officers were not being transferred to the new pay scale at the same step that they were at currently. We were told that no one was going to be making less than what they were currently making. In addition, Mathews told us that the goal of the City was to compensate our police officers at a rate at approximately 10% higher than all other police officers in the state. Their initial scale had not considered the most current and pending contracts from other cities in the Valley. Being a part of the Arizona Police Association, PLEA already had access to the leadership of those organizations, and thus those pending contracts were able to be obtained and provided to Mathews. After taking that new information into consideration, and continued discussions about the implementation date of the new pay scale, it was presented to PLEA leadership and the membership via Zoom informational meetings.

The City Council approved the restructuring as presented at the council meeting held on June 15. It will go into effect on August 8.

Understand that this change in the pay ordinance was not something PLEA negotiated. The only thing the City needed PLEA to agree to was to roll CEP into the base wage, which has been encouraged by the membership for years. However, because of the positive working relationship we have with Mathews, we were able to have some influence over several things regarding the compensation at the actual steps and the timing of the implementation. Regardless, the City was moving forward with this new pay step reorganization. If we chose not to roll CEP into the base wage, each step would have been reduced by $7,613.

This new pay scale makes us not only competitive in a time when police officers are most needed, but now the market leader in the state. Our Department has never experienced the extreme staffing crisis that we currently find ourselves in. We have been routinely losing experienced officers to surrounding jurisdictions as well as an untold number of applicants to other cities due to the pay scale.

In addition, the most senior officers within the Department are guaranteed at least two and a half years of wage increases as the country experiences a huge financial crisis.

Is this new plan perfect and how we would have preferred it implemented? Not exactly, however, we are encouraged that Mathews recognized that the hourly rate we were at currently was not competitive and made a point to come up with a plan to fix it.

Moving forward, as we gear up for negotiations that begin in January 2023, we can now focus our efforts on ancillary compensation. For example, larger payouts of sick leave upon retirement, increasing the standby pay along with night and weekend differentials, potential health benefits after retirement and a host of other things. Items that have not been considered in decades, as any increase to our overall package was routinely applied to our hourly rate. We now have the ability to address these other items of compensation.

Overall, I believe that PLEA has never been in such an advantageous position. Don’t believe for a second that I feel the only reason we were having trouble with retaining officers and detectives was all about compensation. While it is an important piece of the overall puzzle, the lack of support most feel from City government and the Department is a huge contributing factor. While the compensation piece has been addressed, it is now time to start changing the narrative. It is time for City and Department leadership to stand up and express their support publicly for the brave men and women of the Phoenix Police Department. It is time for the larger community of supporters, who we know are out there, to become more boisterous to drown out the small group of critics. Contrary to the negative rhetoric that seems to get all the coverage by the media, the officers and detectives of the Phoenix Police Department are second to none. I have proudly served with some of the finest, most kindhearted people on the planet.

If you have any questions or concerns, I can be reached at the PLEA Office or by email at dkriplean@azplea.com.

Phoenix Officers Recognized at 2022 Top Cops Awards

On May 12, the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) honored dozens of officers from across the country for their bravery and heroism at its 29th annual Top Cops Awards dinner in Washington, D.C., during National Police Week.

Among the winners were four of Phoenix’s finest — Officers Alex Cowan, Logan Egnor, Cameron Prior and Antonio Rodriguez Jr. — who were honored for the quick and decisive actions they took on January 9, 2021, when they saved a 1-year-old baby boy who was being held hostage by his own father.

On that day, a frightened Priscilla Chavez dialed 9-1-1 and screamed, “My husband just took my baby. He’s trying to kill him. He’s shooting. He fired. He’s trying to kill people. He got my son. He stole my son.”

Officers Prior and Rodriguez were just 10 blocks away when they received the call from dispatchers. As they pulled up to the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Van Buren Street, they saw 37-year-old Paul Bolden in the middle of the street holding his baby son in his left arm and a loaded pistol in his right hand. He was standing beside a stopped car with a driver still inside.

Bolden immediately opened fire on the officers, who quickly took cover behind their vehicle and assessed the situation before attempting to make contact with Bolden, who now alternated between pointing his gun at them, the driver of the stopped car and his child’s head.

Amid this tense situation, Rodriguez radioed for support and advised officers to block all traffic from the intersection where Bolden remained with the baby. Officers Cowan and Egnor were just a few blocks away and responded to the scene. As they raced to the intersection, Cowan, riding shotgun, prepared his rifle. When they arrived at the scene, they saw Bolden pointing his gun at his son.

Egnor angled his vehicle approximately 30 yards from Bolden, and he and Cowan exited their vehicle. Bolden tuned his attention toward them, and as he did, he raised his baby son up to his face, using him as a human shield. After assessing the scene, Cowan calmly slowed his breathing and stood by with his rifle trained on Bolden, waiting for the right moment to take his shot.

Bolden lowered his son slightly, just below his chin, and turned his head toward the driver of the stopped car. At that instant, Cowan saw an opportunity to save the baby, the driver and all officers present. He carefully aimed and squeezed the trigger. Bolden fell to the pavement as his son slid out of his arm and landed in a sitting position beside Bolden’s pistol, which had fallen from his hand. Egnor leapt into action — not knowing whether Bolden was dead or alive — and scooped up the baby in his arms, checking him for injuries before removing him from the scene. A short time later, it was determined that Bolden had succumbed to his injuries.

Officers Alex Cowan, Logan Egnor, Cameron Prior and Antonio Rodriguez Jr. remained calm under pressure, relying on their training to save the lives of a baby boy and innocent bystanders. PLEA commends these officers for their professionalism and is proud of them for representing our Department on a national stage. Congratulations, and thank you for going above and beyond to protect and serve our community!

I was notified by one of our retirees that there was a scoreboard at Chandler Gilbert Community College (CGCC) that was dedicated to honor the memory of Sergeant Thomas Craig, who passed away due to medical reasons on September 3, 2021. I then reached out to the school because I thought this sounded like a happy story to tell, and it turned out to be a great story! I had the pleasure to speak with Bryanne Norris, head softball coach for CGCC. Norris told me that she took over the softball program at CGCC in 2016. Shortly after taking over, she was given the ability to recruit new players to rebuild the team. She remembers going to watch a game to scout for new prospects, and this was the first time she met Craig.

Craig’s twin daughters were playing the positions of catcher and outfield that day. During the game, Norris was able to speak with Craig, who showed a lot of passion and love for the game, which influenced his daughters. Norris was able sit down with the family and discuss the girls coming to CGCC to play in its program because of their talent. One daughter committed to playing just a couple of days after the meeting; the other daughter was much different. “She made me wait before I received a commitment,” Norris recalled.

From the beginning, Craig was involved with the softball program, and not just because his daughters were playing on the team. He took time from his day to sit down with Norris to talk about ways to improve the program. This is when she began to understand Craig’s personality and passion for the game. “He always made you feel important,” she said, adding that as the new head coach she felt overwhelmed at times. But Craig was always there for support. “He believed in me.”

Alongside the support Norris received from her family, Craig was there from the start. They would discuss the team and the improvements that were needed to the dugouts and scoreboard. Craig did not hesitate and started to make telephone calls to the college administration requesting that they improve the field. He knew how important this was for the team. Those calls made a difference because the field received updated dugouts and a scoreboard. Another item of concern to him was the team’s uniforms. Craig and his family donated the money to purchase new uniforms for the whole team. Today they have six different uniform styles, and it’s all because of him.

Craig’s daughters graduated CGCC in 2019, but he continued to be an advocate for the softball program. He still attended practices and games, and was involved in the annual cornhole tournament, which has been held for the last six years. He would build cornhole boards out of wood for use and was described as a “jack of all trades.”

This story has led us to today. Even though Thomas Craig has left us, his legacy and impact on CGCC lives on. The school dedicated the scoreboard in his name. The team has pregame shirts that display a “thin blue line” flag and his badge number on the right sleeve and his initials, “TC,” on the left sleeve. The current uniform jersey top has an insignia patch on the left sleeve displaying “TC” to honor him during the game. Norris became emotional because Craig made such a substantial impact on her as a coach and on her life: “Tom, you will never be forgotten.”

#ForeverYote.

Fun for Members and Their Families

On May 22, 575 PLEA members and their families made their way to the Main Event in Avondale for Family Day. Attendees spent the morning and afternoon participating in activities such as laser tag, bowling, billiards, state-of-the-art virtual reality games and more, and catching up with fellow members and the PLEA Board and staff.

This year, in addition to a buffet lunch, all attendees enjoyed two free scoops of gelato ice cream. Members were also able to enter in a raffle for gift baskets, which included an array of items and two tickets to the 2022 Police Officers’ Ball. The raffle winners were Angel Chaparro and his wife, Stephanie, and David Salas and his wife, Dianna.

PLEA proudly partners with family entertainment company Main Event to host Family Day. The business closes its doors to the public from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to give PLEA members exclusive access to most of the facility. Main Event Sales Manager Jennifer Decker ensured that the gathering ran smoothly, providing PLEA with multiple tables, organizing the buffet lunch and even displaying a custom slideshow on the television screens throughout the venue. “We are always so pleased to be working with Main Event of Avondale. Jennifer has a soft spot for law enforcement and believes that we need more recognition,” PLEA Secretary John Maxwell says, adding that she also previously organized a fundraiser for injured Phoenix Officer Tyler Moldovan. 

“Family Day was created by PLEA as a way to bring the membership and their families together annually in a safe, relaxing environment,” Maxwell says. “It has become a tradition that many members look forward to each year. We thank the members who helped make the event a success and look forward to seeing you again next year!”

At the April 19 PLEA Board meeting, Britt London resigned as PLEA president. He began his well-deserved retirement on the last day of April. At that same Board meeting, the PLEA Board of Trustees entrusted me to complete the rest of Britt’s term. I would like to take a moment and thank Britt for his many years of dedication to PLEA and its members. Britt has moved PLEA in a direction that was much needed. I would also like to thank the PLEA Board for their support and confidence in me to continue leading the Association.

I want to take some time to introduce myself to those who don’t already know me. I have been a Phoenix police officer for almost 28 years. When I graduated from the academy in July 1994, I was assigned to the Maryvale Precinct. I would spend the next 22 years serving the community of Maryvale on various squads and shifts.

In 2012, I decided to become a PLEA representative. I felt led to be an active part of the PLEA mission of “promoting the positive role of the police profession and protecting and securing members’ rights and benefits through effective representation and professional relationship.”

As your president, I am committed to continuing to be a positive representative of you and PLEA.

I have represented many of our brothers and sisters in a multitude of facets to ensure their fair treatment.

In 2016, I was appointed to the position of treasurer of our Association. Becoming treasurer was quite a career change. I was quite content being a street cop; however, I embraced the challenge. In addition to constructing the PLEA annual budget, I was tasked with being a member of several advisory boards throughout the city to ensure PLEA membership representation. As a member of these boards, I was able to foster many positive relationships within city government.  

Since 2016, I have attended several training classes and seminars on topics including LRIS Rights of Police Officers, LRIS Collective Bargaining for Public Safety, LRIS Public Safety Union Leadership, FMCS Negotiations, NAPO Pension and Benefits, Force Science Body Cameras in Law Enforcement and a National Employment Law Institute seminar.

In 2017 and again in 2020, I was elected treasurer.

In 2018, I was honored to be elected to the Phoenix Police Local PSPRS Retirement Board for a four-year term. I have assisted countless members of this Department in securing lifetime benefits after sustaining career-ending injuries during their selfless service to the citizens of Phoenix.

In 2019, I served as the chief negotiator for the first time. That contract was the first in 10 years that included an increase in many areas of compensation after years of furloughs and pay cuts. The contract, which began in July 2021 and extends through July 2023, was the second contract I was tasked with negotiating. It, too, resulted in an increase in compensation and maintained officer rights, which were undeniably being attacked.

Oftentimes, I hear the phrase, “What’s PLEA going to do about …” My response is, “Tell me what you think.” Each and every one of us is PLEA. It’s not just the officers who work in the office. It’s not just the officers who volunteer to be PLEA reps. We all have a vested interest in a positive outcome to whatever challenge is being presented. Let’s get back to the tradition that PLEA began with — the collaboration of like-minded individuals working together to achieve a common goal that will benefit the entire membership.

As your president, I am committed to continuing to be a positive representative of you and PLEA. I will tirelessly advocate for increasing the pay and benefits and increasing rights for arguably the finest police officers and detectives in the nation. I will continue to foster partnerships with the community to further promote the positive role of our police officers and detectives within the community. I will ensure that you are represented by competent and dedicated representatives who will tirelessly protect your rights.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, I can be contacted here at the PLEA office or by email at dkriplean@azplea.com.