PPOA Week in Review - Feb. 1, 2025

California Coalition of Law Enforcement Associations Meeting and Legislative Reception

January 27: PPOA President Steve Johnson and Executive Director Wayne Quint Jr. joined fellow representatives of the California Coalition of Law Enforcement Associations (CCLEA) for a board meeting in Sacramento to discuss issues impacting public safety employees around the state.

Following the meeting, CCLEA members also hosted their annual legislative reception, which provided labor leaders an opportunity to meet with senators and assemblymembers who author and vote on crucial legislation related to law enforcement.

Photo: President Johnson, Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez (Republican representing the 36th District), and Executive Director Quint.

CCLEA is the state’s largest law enforcement organization, representing more than 40 law enforcement associations and 150,000 peace officers. For more information, visit CCLEA.ORG

Leadership Resources for Unit 612 Members

January 29: The PPOA board and staff are thankful to members of this Association who joined us Wednesday to help package leadership books for shipment to Unit 612 members. These publications and an upcoming series of specifically-tailored webinars are provided by the Unit 612 training fund, a byproduct of contract negotiations between PPOA and the County. The resources are produced by Echelon Front, a widely-respected leadership development organization that has recently partnered with the Unit 612 Training Committee to support PPOA members in that bargaining unit.

PPOA Delegate/Former Union Board Member Retires

January 30: Longtime PPOA delegate and former board member Manny Muñoz was joined by family, friends and colleagues at his retirement reception on Thursday. The widely-respected LASD Senior Criminalist contributed more than 37 years of dedicated county service. Manny has also generously volunteered to coordinate annual fishing trips for PPOA members for many years.

President Steve Johnson, Executive Board Member Chris Lee, and Executive Director Wayne Quint Jr. attended the reception on behalf of PPOA.

Details Finalized for Upcoming PPOA Retirement Planning Workshop

January 31: PPOA staff ironed out final details for our first Retirement Planning Workshop of 2025. These free events are designed exclusively for PPOA members who plan to retire in the next few years.

PPOA Retirement Planning Workshop

Saturday, March 8, 2025

8:30AM - 12:30PM

PPOA Conference Center

188 E. Arrow Highway

San Dimas, CA 91773

Get valuable retirement advice and insight from LACERA, Empower/Horizons, Workers' Compensation attorneys, Fraternal Order of Police and more. If you are an active, full-dues paying PPOA member and would like to reserve a seat, please email your full name and employee number to sschreck@ppoa.com.

Support for Members Impacted by Wildfires

PPOA remains committed to supporting members who have been affected by the devastating fires in Los Angeles County. A number of PPOA members have lost their homes and President Steve Johnson has made it a point to contact and/or visit them to provide support from this Association.

Please click here to help us support PPOA members who have endured tragic loss.

Donations to the Star & Shield Foundation are tax deductible to the extent allowable by law (Tax ID: 95-4752410). Every donation helps provide much needed relief to our impacted PPOA members and their families during this difficult time. Include a note on the donation form: “For personnel impacted by LA County wildfires.”

PPOA Board Runoff Election Ballots Mailed to Custody Assistants

Runoff election ballots were mailed to eligible custody assistants on January 17, 2025 and are due back by February 18, 2025. This new runoff election was prompted by the unfortunate news that the post office used by Unilect (the election firm overseeing the Unit 621 runoff election) to receive ballots in the original runoff election, was located in Pacific Palisades. Tragically, that section of Palisades Village was largely destroyed in the wildfire.

In order to ensure consistency with PPOA's standard election process and in fairness to the custody assistants running for this Unit 621 seat, the board voted to commence with a new runoff election. Further details were provided in an email sent to custody assistants.

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.