PPOA Week in Review - Feb. 22, 2025

Memorial Service for Sergeant Nelson Collado

February 15: Family, friends and colleagues of Sergeant Nelson Collado gathered for his memorial service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Covina last Saturday. President Steve Johnson, Board Member Roel Garcia, and Executive Director Wayne Quint Jr. attended the service on behalf of PPOA.

Sergeant Collado was a dedicated 24-year LASD veteran assigned to the Food Services Unit at the time of his passing. He is survived by his wife and two children.

PPOA Hosts First Delegates Meeting of 2025

February 18: PPOA delegates met with union board members and staff on Tuesday evening in Monterey Park. Topics of discussion at the quarterly meeting included salary contracts, legal updates, labor representation, and more.

If you are an active PPOA member and would like to get more involved with matters impacting your career, we encourage you to join more than 120 union delegates throughout the County. Interested members should email full name and employee number to info@ppoa.com.

Unit 621 Board Election Ballot Count

February 19: An official board election ballot count was conducted Wednesday morning in the PPOA conference center. The election results confirmed that Custody Assistant Melissa Rodriguez has been elected to serve as a director on the PPOA board.

The following ballot count numbers have been verified:

221 ballots were cast by PPOA members (Custody Assistants)
112 votes (50.68%) for Custody Assistant Melissa Rodriguez
109 votes (49.32%) for Custody Assistant Rodolfo "Martin" Cabrera

Custody Assistant Rodriguez will be sworn in as a director at the upcoming PPOA board meeting on March 12, 2025.

The ballot count was conducted by UniLect, an independent election firm. PPOA is grateful to all members who took the time to cast a ballot and to the following members who volunteered to serve on today’s election committee and monitor/verify the ballot count:

Forensic Identification Specialist II Susannah Baker
Lieutenant Yvette Hartwell
Sergeant Jose Rios
Law Enforcement Technician Kelly Walper

Fringe Benefits Negotiations

February 19: PPOA Executive Director Wayne Quint Jr. and Labor Representative Mark Sanchez joined fellow Coalition of County Unions (CCU) representatives and County executives as all parties officially began the process of negotiating a new fringe benefits contract for 30,000 union members.

The CCU represents 15 labor organizations, including PPOA, as the unified voice negotiating with County management to determine:

The County’s financial contribution to the Choices Plan (medical, dental, etc.)
The County’s match to our Horizons Plan (deferred compensation plan)
Paid time off (County holidays, vacation days, sick days, injury leave, and bereavement leave)
Bilingual pay (all departments)
Civic Center parking allowance
And other provisions

Click here for more information about the CCU.

Star & Shield Foundation Board of Directors Meeting

February 19: The monthly Board of Directors meeting for the Star & Shield Foundation was hosted on Thursday. The Foundation was established by PPOA members in 2001 and has proudly raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for worthy organizations and charitable causes — including its most important mission to provide ongoing support for families of fallen officers.

Meeting participants included Foundation Directors Steve Johnson, Joyce Kato and Members-at-Large Thomas Aragon and Kevin Thompson. Guests included Gold Lee (from the firm of Lewis, Marenstein, Wicke, Sherwin & Lee) and Maricela Villegas.

PPOA Unit 612 Training Webinar

February 20: PPOA was proud to welcome Unit 612 members to the first of twelve training webinars tailored specifically for LASD and LADABOI lieutenants and sergeants, as part of our partnership with Echelon Front, a widely-respected leadership development organization. This free series of webinars and corresponding training books are a byproduct of contract negotiations between PPOA and the County.

This first webinar introduced Unit 612 members to leadership core beliefs and a high level overview of the four laws of combat as outlined in the book, Extreme Ownership. A video recording of the webinar is available at PPOA.COM.

Black History Month Celebration

February 20: Department executives and personnel from LASD and local agencies gathered at Biscailuz Center to recognize and celebrate the contributions of African-American personnel in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spanning from the late 1800s to present.

President Steve Johnson attended the ceremony on behalf of PPOA.

Fraternal Order of Police News Update

PPOA members have long benefitted from our affiliation with the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the world's largest organization of law enforcement officers, with more than 374,000 members in more than 2,100 lodges nationwide. All active PPOA members are part of California FOP Lodge 1.

Important update re: FOP membership for retired PPOA members

When a sworn PPOA member retires and wishes to reactivate his/her FOP member benefits, the following step must be taken: To reactivate your membership as a retired peace officer, you will need to pay FOP annual dues of $44 for 2025. To do so, please send an email to the FOP Lodge 1 Secretary at wmwestermann@sbcglobal.net

Please make it a point to check out Washington Watch — a weekly news update provided by the National FOP. We encourage PPOA members to stay up to date on the legislative news and activity impacting public safety personnel nationwide.

Click here to read this week's Washington Watch.