Page 5 - TPA Journal March - April 2018

From the President

Sam Garrison

Dear Fellow Members and Friends of TPA,

write today to update you on the activities of your Texas Police Association. Last year, then President Joe
Hamilton and the Executive Committee appointed a group that included the President, to assess the state of the
ITexas Police Association. We all know that TPA was formed in 1895 and is still an active organization today,
123 years later. The groups assessment led them to build a Plan for the Future to insure an even longer life of
dedication to improving the police profession. You have been part of the most important police association in the
History of Texas... today it is your turn to add value to the future of Texas Police professionalism.

Over the past 10 months this group has met, discussed, listened, and built Strategic and Tactical Plans with the intent
of focusing and growing our organization by making it more inclusive, more relevant, and more active within the
law enforcement community and the community we serve.

Our first focus was to answer the question, why do we exist? What is our purpose? We have concluded that our
historical purpose, Police Professionalism does not need to change, but that the concept may be better characterized
by:

“TPA EXISTS TO MAKE TEXAS COMMUNITIES SAFER AND

MORE ECONOMICALLY VIABLE.”

This group has identified four areas to focus on to bring this Purpose to reality:
Organizational/ Operational structure- including membership qualification;
Association deliverables to law enforcement and community;
Marketing to existing and potential membership;
and Resource acquisition and management.

Chief Mac Tristan is heading a committee to review our organizational and operational structure with a view to
ascertain what may be holding us back (from an organizational perspective) and suggest what, if any changes or
adjustments we could make to help us.

March/April 2018 www.texaspoliceassociation.com • 866-997-8282 1