February, 2008

             "A New Year Brings New Challenges"

As we say good-bye to 2007 and get ready to embrace a new year, it appears that 2008 will be very challenging for all of us in public safety. We started the New Year with our Mid-Winter Training Conference and Exposition which was held in St. Augustine. This conference has been held at the World Golf Resort for a number of years now, and I would be remiss if I didn't recognize Chief Richard Hedges of St. Augustine Beach Police Department and Chief Loran Lueders of St. Augustine Police Department for all of their assistance in making this another successful conference. As always the FPCA staff has worked very hard to ensure that we have a great training conference, and from all of the feedback that I personally received we did just that.

The training committee is chaired by Captain Argatha Gilmore, Tallahassee Police Department who worked very hard in providing outstanding training for this conference. The training committee's goal is to provide speakers that we have not been able to get in the past and to try and meet the requests of our membership. As our budgets get tighter, it is imperative that we make sure that the training we provide is relevant and that we continue to provide top quality training programs. I would like to commend the training committee for a great training program which was evident by all of their hard work. The training committee is committed to providing the best training programs so I am sure that the training that they are planning for the summer conference will be extraordinary.

There were a number of issues that were addressed at the conference which I would like to briefly touch upon. The Awards Committee made recommendations that were approved on the "Lee McGehee" Officer of the Year Award. Changes include who can submit officers for consideration and how many nominee(s) each department can submit. They also recommended that the Rocky Pomerance Award be restructured to recognize just one winner, with a first place and second place runner-up instead of three different categories. Finally, an awards program was established to recognize sitting chiefs for their tenure. We are still finalizing this program, and you should be hearing more about this in the next several months. The Alarm Committee has been changed to the Private Security Partnership in order to enhance the relationship between the law enforcement community and private security. I would encourage all of our members to take some time to visit our website to review all of these changes.

At the winter conference we passed a resolution opposing Amendment One, the tax reform legislation that was placed on the January 29th ballot. The membership felt that it was important to take a stand and make the public aware of our position. After the resolution was passed by the membership, the decision was made by the Executive Board that we go public with our position. On Wednesday, January 23, 2008 we held a press conference in the rotunda of the Capitol Building in Tallahassee. I would like to personally and publicly thank those chiefs and command staff members that were able to attend and participate in the press conference. Even though Amendment One was passed by the citizens of Florida, I truly believed in my heart that we had an obligation to inform our citizens and make our position known. I don't believe that any of us know what the true ramification of this legislation will have on public safety. However, be assured that public safety as we now know it will be impacted.

When the first tax cutting legislation was passed last year, we saw the results in at least two police departments that were forced to consolidate into a sheriff's office. By now most of us have determined the initial financial impact on our municipalities; however, we cannot accurately determine the long range impact. It is important that we as the Florida Police Chiefs Association be made aware how this latest legislation is impacting public safety in your communities. With that in mind we would like all agencies to contact our office with how this has impacted your agency, so when the time comes we can accurately make the public and the legislators aware of the true impact to public safety.

As I have stated before, this organization is for the membership by the membership, and we need your involvement now more than ever. If we want to have a positive impact on Florida law enforcement we need everyone's commitment. You have my commitment as your president, and I would like your commitment as a member to get involved.

This is going to be a very challenging year and I know with your support and assistance we will continue to make Florida Law Enforcement one of best. Thank you for allowing me to serve as your president as we move forward.

Chief H.C. "Skip" Clark, II