Page 24 - FOP September 2016

National FOP moving toward presidential endorsement
The most recent standing resolution of the Grand Lodge provides that the National president and vice-president will appoint a U.S. Presidential Screening Committee. This has been done. Both campaigns were provided with a presiden- tial screening questionnaire developed with the cooperation of the National Legislative Office. The responses to the ques- tionnaire are provided to the members via the FOP Journal, as well as electronically through our website and other plat- forms.
know about their State Lodge’s process for instructing their National trustee, so that all FOP members can meaningfully participate in this process.
Following each State Lodge’s evaluation of the candidates for president, the National trustees will consider the report of the Screening Committee at the fall meeting of the Na- tional Board of Trustees, and a formal vote on the endorse- ment will be taken. Each trustee must cast a vote for a can-
didate or for “no endorsement.” A candidate who receives a
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The Trump for President campaign returned a com- pleted questionnaire, but the Clinton campaign de- clined to do so and has not provided a reason or explanation as to why it is not seeking the FOP en- dorsement.
Prior to the fall meeting of the National Board of Trustees, the members of the Screening Committee
traditionally meet with the candidates who complet-
ed the presidential questionnaire. That having been
said, in a previous election cycle in which one candi-
date declined to complete our questionnaire, the Screening Committee opted not to meet with either campaign, and let the completed and uncompleted questionnaires speak for themselves.
This, however, is only part of the process. Each State Lodge has (or should have) a process by which the members of the local lodges within it convey their preference for a candi- date to their National trustee. It is important that members
tw
wo-thirds majority of the votes by the National Board of Trustees receives the endorsement of the National
Fraternal Order of Police.
FOP still the nation’s No. 1 voice of law enforcement
A recent comprehensive review of U.S. media cov- erage of law enforcement during the past 12 months
tained its premiere status as the most cited law en- forcement organization in the country.
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24 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2016
The FOP was cited in more than 45,000 news stories since August 2015, and its National President Chuck Canter- bury was quoted in 1,262 articles in that same time frame. The FOP’s Executive Director Jim Pasco appeared in 3,832 stories.
“These results continue to show that when the media looks for insight into the law enforcement profession, they tum to the FOP,” Canterbury said. “This is especially true when you see how we compare to other law enforcement la- bor organizations.”
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) was cited in 15,443 news stories, the Major Cities Chiefs As- sociation in 3,849 articles and the International Brotherhood of Police Officers (IBPO) in only 30. A secondary review was conducted using Lexis-Nexis TM, and captured news media mentions during the past 24 months by other law enforce- ment organizations. In this review, the National Sheriffs As- sociation was mentioned in 1,969 news stories, the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) in 1,294 and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) in 994.
Active Shooter Bill becomes law
After the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 2840, the “Protecting Our Lives by Initiating COPS Expansion (PO- LICE) Act,” by voice vote under suspension of the rules, the bill was signed into law by President Obama on July 25. The bill passed the Senate 99 to 0 following National Police Week in May.
The legislation, introduced by Senators John Cornyn III (R-TX) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), expands the COPS Office to allow grant recipients the ability to purchase active shoot- er training.
“We have seen too many innocent civilians and law en- forcement officers wounded and killed in recent active shooter situations like the recent tragic ambush of law en- forcement officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge and the terror- ist attacks in Orlando and San Bernardino,” Canterbury said. “This training will not only save the lives of law enforcement officers, but it will save the lives of countless innocent civil- ians who find themselves in those deadly and terrible situa- tions.”d