Many law enforcement agencies in Louisiana had informed their employees that the Municipal Police Officers Supplemental Pay Board of Review had decided to begin sending a lump sum each month to the various law enforcement agencies around Louisiana whose employees receive Police and Marshal Supplemental Pay starting January 1, 2024. Those municipalities would then be responsible for disbursing the funds owed to each employee entitled to receive Police and Marshal Supplemental Pay.
In short, implementation of the new distribution plan will be delayed to the start of Louisiana’s next fiscal year. The letter states that will be July 31, 2024. As a result, all law enforcement employees who receive Louisiana Police and Marshal Supplemental Pay will continue to receive those payments as usual until July 31, 2024.
For those who are interested, this was made possible by Louisiana Act No. 637, which started out as HB 918, Supplemental Pay for Certain Law Enforcement Officers introduced by State Representative William “Bill” Wheat, Jr., a Republican representing Tangipahoa Parish. Louisiana Act. No. 637 changed La. R.S. 33:2218.4, which required the Secretary of Public Safety and Corrections to write and sign a check for supplemental pay to each recipient to La. R.S. 40:1667.3(B) only states that “the Department of Public Safety and Corrections shall issue payments in accordance with the privisions of this Part.” The statute governing payment of State Supplemental Pay no longer states how it is to be distributed. Therefore, it can be sent to the municipality instead of directly to the officer entitled to the payment.
There will be times when the FOP will send you an email or text message asking you to send an email to your elected representatives regarding legislation that the FOP has decided it is in favor of or opposed to. Normally, it only takes a couple of clicks to send an email to your elected representatives because we use a service called Voter Voice. Voter Voice prepares an email for you. You can edit the email if you want. Voter Voice will then send the email to the proper recipients. So, even if you are not sure who your elected officials are, you can contact them using Voter Voice. Be on the lookout for emails regarding legislation and the use of Voter Voice. The number of people Legislators receive phone calls and emails from on certain issues can be the determining factor in how the elected representative votes on that issue.
The Louisiana FOP also hired a lobbyist several years ago to represent our interest in Baton Rouge. Joe Mapes of Mapes and Mapes is the lobbyist for the Louisiana FOP and does an excellent job for us. Hopefully, Joe will be around to help us for quite a while.
You can also check on the Louisiana FOP’s legislative priorities on its website at www.louisianafop.com. In New Orleans, Crescent City Lodge #2 often discuss important legislative issues in its newsletters. If you are an FOP member who is interested in being part of the Legislative Committee for your Lodge or for the State Lodge, talk to your Lodge Officers and they should be able to fill you in.
This article contains profane language. If you are offended by profane language, you may want to skip this one. I do not want to offend anyone.
If you have never heard of Will Aitchison, he is an attorney who specializes in police (public safety) legal issues whose company, Labor Relations Information System (LRIS), is in the northwestern part of the United States. Will also puts on seminars for public safety employees, professionals, attorneys, etc. on important issues. For example, LRIS just put on a seminar titled the Advanced Course in Police Discipline and Public Safety Union Leadership in Las Vegas this past November (2023) and will put on a seminar titled Public Safety Union Leadership at the beginning of 2024 in Las Vegas. January and February are good months to be in Las Vegas. Will has also published a number of books, including Interest Arbitration, the Rights of Law Enforcement Officers, the FLSA, a User’s Manual, and other handy books. Finally, Will publishes a podcast once a month that can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Podcasts can also be found on the LRIS website.
I appreciate “Fuck: The Police.” I also appreciate Will for letting those of us who were unaware of the study know about it. There are many law enforcement agencies with policies seeking to forbid profanity altogether. The current policies represent a sea change from the previous notion of including profanity in what was known as “Verbal Judo” — a hands-off way of controlling a situation through words. “Verbal Judo” has fallen out of favor, and more agencies are opting to forbid profanity, which is often recorded on all the cameras law enforcement officers carry while working.
I have handled plenty of cases in different agencies for officers accused of using profanity in the course of an officer’s duties. In the New Orleans Police Department, if an officer uses profanity, it is a violation of Rule 2, Moral Conduct, Paragraph 2, Courtesy, which reads “Employees shall be courteous, civil and respectful in their conduct toward all persons. The use of profane, vulgar, or discourteous gestures or language to or in the presence of any citizen is prohibited. The use of profane, vulgar or discourteous gestures or language either verbal or written by one employee to another employee is prohibited.” Sometimes, they use Rule 3, Professional Conduct, Paragraph 1, Professionalism, which reads “Employees shall conduct themselves in a professional manner with the utmost concern for the dignity of the individual with whom they are interacting. Employees shall not unnecessarily inconvenience or demean any individual or otherwise act in a manner which brings discredit to the employee or the New Orleans Police Department.” Sometimes, an officer could end up charged with both violations, which seems like piling on to me. I represented an officer at a different agency who was charged with Conduct Unbecoming an Officer for using profanity in the car by himself. I have had several cases in New Orleans where officers were charged with one or both of the above violations for using profanity in a police car alone because it was recorded by the in-car camera and someone might see it, or it might have to be presented to a jury. It all seems pretty crazy.
Personally, I think an officer’s use of profanity can be appropriate. At the same time, I do not think officers should ever try to denigrate another person while acting on behalf of his or her agency. Officers should also refrain from attempting to (or successfully) belittle someone while he or she is off duty and there is a nexus between the officer’s action(s) and the officer’s employing agency — officers can be disciplined for that even if he or she is not working at the time.
Anyway, officers are adult men and women who live in our community. I believe they can tell the difference between when it is appropriate to use profane language. For example, it is appropriate to use profane language when the starting quarterback for the Saints is injured during a game. I also firmly believe that our adult police officers who live in our community know when they are too tired to do their jobs and need a nap. Telling officers they are not allowed to work more than 16 hours and 35 minutes in any 24-hour period is ridiculous. They know when they are too tired. I know that when I was a police officer, there were days when I had to work for 16 hours and then go home and pick up kids from school, go shopping, cook dinner, or do other work at home. All the policy really does is tell officers they can only be paid for 16 hours and 35 minutes per day.
To make matters worse, there is an adult who may or may not be a member of our community who is constantly requesting payroll records for our adult police officers and subsequently making complaints on our adult police officers for working too much. In the United States of America, we encourage hard workers. The vast majority of these complaints have been based on mistakes made by the officer, the officer’s supervisor, the Office of Police Secondary Employment, and other human beings. If there is one thing I am certain of, human beings regularly make mistakes and will continue to do so. I am also sure that the complaints being made on police officers every day about working off-duty paid details are about nothing but harassment and the investigations waste hours and hours of time of the officers required to investigate these unfounded, harassing complaints as well as the accused officer and any witness officers required to participate. Please stop wasting everyone’s time. Nobody is double-dipping or stealing from secondary employment employers. You are not an investigative reporter or any kind of watchdog.
I know I ranted a little and definitely drifted off-topic above. I am going to assume that you, the reader, will grant me the rant and off-topic content. It took me at least an hour longer than I wanted to spend writing this because of it. For that, I apologize to my wife. Sorry – I love you.
I was cutting my grass, listening to the First Thursday podcast. The First Thursday podcast is hosted by Will Aitchison. Once a month, Will talks about legal issues from around the country that impact law enforcement. Will runs the Labor Relations Information System which tracks issues related to collective bargaining and discipline for law enforcement and fire personnel. Will is widely respected and I like to listen to his podcast every month. Will also wrote The Rights of Law Enforcement Officers, which is a fantastic book on many of the issues we attorneys deal with regularly here in New Orleans. I have had the opportunity to meet Will and hear him speak. I am comfortable saying that Will knows what he is talking about.
At about 45:00 into the July First Thursday podcast, Will started talking about a case involving Sgt. Willie Jenkins. I knew that case at once. It was one that Ted and Claude won. The win got Willie 5 days of pay back. We really win more than we should, statistically speaking.
Will Aitchison is an attorney in Portland, Oregon. Will has been involved in representing police officers, police organizations, as well as cities and police departments. Recently, Will published a podcast titled “Ten Rules for Police Officer Social Media Posts.” You can listen to the podcast by clicking here. Will’s 10 rules are worth sharing. Here they are:
Your 1st Amendment rights are limited. You are not going to win by relying on your 1st Amendment rights.
Just because something is an internet meme does not mean you should repost it. If you repost it, then you own it. It is the same as if it came straight from your mouth.
Nothing you post is private. While you should check your privacy settings, anything can be forwarded or screen-shotted.
Before you post, ask yourself “How will my employer react to this post?” If the answer is that they will be annoyed or it will lead to an investigation or discipline, then you should ask yourself if it is worth it. I think if you have to ask if it is worth it, just don’t do it.
Confine posts to purely positive posts — posts that don’t have anything to do with the current law enforcement environment.
Will says if you are in doubt about a post, wait 24 hours – sleep on it. Or you can ask a respected senior officer what they think. Again, I say if you are in doubt, don’t post it.
Think – Who are your online “friends?” Are they a tight-knit group? Or do you have “friends” who live on the other side of the country that you do not know? This relates to #3. Nothing is private.
Can someone figure out that you are a police officer from your profile or some other source? If so, you will be treated as if you posted as a police officer.
Brady says any evidence of discriminatory conduct or bias must be turned over to the defense. Is your post evidence of discriminatory conduct or bias?
Before you post or comment, think about your safety and the safety of your job, family, etc. People will find you.
There have been a couple of disciplinary cases here in New Orleans. These are cases that can be prevented. Think before you click post.
In general, BJA will find that the evidence shows a public safety officer with COVID-19 contracted it in the line of duty, when (1) the officer had engaged in line of duty action or activity under circumstances that indicate that it was medically possible that the officer was exposed to the virus, SARS-CoV-2, while so engaged; and (2) the officer did contract the disease, COVID-19, within a time-frame where it was medically possible to contract the disease from that exposure. In addition, in the absence of evidence showing a different cause of death, BJA generally will find that the evidence shows a public safety officer who died while suffering from COVID-19 died as a direct and proximate result of COVID-19.
Of course, we would prefer that everyone is able to make it home from work at the end of every shift safely. Unfortunately, with deaths piling up across the United States, we know that is not reasonable. Some law enforcement officers have already been killed by COVID-19.
The guidance from the Department of Justice as it relates to PSOB benefits essentially makes the families of law enforcement officers who die from COVID-19 presumptively eligible for PSOB benefits as long as it is not medically impossible that the officer contracted COVID-19 in the line of duty.
Merely coming into contact with members of the public or co-workers makes it medically possible an officer is exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Hopefully, at some point soon, we will have a vaccine for this virus. Until then, every additional close interaction with another human being carries with it an increased risk of being exposed to the virus. The DOJ recognizes this in the 1st part of its guidance.
Additionally, it looks like symptoms of COVID-19 can begin as far out as 14-21 days from exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Furthermore, once someone develops symptoms, those symptoms could last for 14-21 days (or longer). The DOJ recognizes this in the 2nd part of its guidance.
Finally, the DOJ recognizes that if an officer was suffering from COVID-19 at the time of the officer’s death, it is most likely the death was caused by COVID-19 unless there is evidence of a different cause of death.
In short, the DOJ’s guidance to BJA is that as long as it is not medically impossible for an officer to have been infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and to have contracted COVID-19 as a result of “line of duty action or activity,” then BJA is going to assume that officer’s death to be eligible for PSOB benefits.
While this does not make reporting to work any safer, maybe it can provide law enforcement officers will a little sense of security that their families will receive the PSOB should they make the greatest sacrifice while protecting the public during this coronavirus pandemic. Many thanks to our hometown President, Pat Yoes. Furthermore, thanks to Attorney General Barr and President Trump for their support of law enforcement during this unique time in our history.
The Fraternal Order of Police is the world’s largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers, with more than 330,000 members in more than 2,200 lodges. We are the voice of those who dedicate their lives to protecting and serving our communities. We are committed to improving the working conditions of law enforcement officers and the safety of those we serve through education, legislation, information, community involvement, and employee representation. No one knows the dangers and the difficulties faced by today’s police officers better than another officer, and no one knows police officers better than the FOP.
NFOP President Pat Yoes is a Captain for the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The Louisiana Fraternal Order of Police, led by President Darrell Basco, has over 6,000 members statewide. The Crescent City Lodge, with President Walter Powers, Jr., has about 2,000 of those members in Louisiana. About 1,100 of those 2,000 members are active members of the New Orleans Police Department. The remainder of Crescent City Lodge members is mostly retired members of the New Orleans Police Department. The Crescent City Lodge represents about 90% of active NOPD officers from Recruits to the Superintendent of Police.
Note: While it is ultimately up to the deceased officer’s agency to submit the PSOB application, the Fraternal Order of Police has assisted agencies with applications for PSOB benefits on numerous occasions.
Below is a new video from the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training at L.S.U. The video provides some tips for people who work on the frontlines of the pandemic on how to make home a little safer for their families.
This time of year, it is inevitable that an officer or two get in trouble for off-duty conduct. Sometimes the off-duty conduct leads to significant disciplinary action. The FOP will be there for you, as always, but, generally speaking, it is easy to avoid the off-duty behavior that comes to the attention of the Public Integrity Bureau, or Internal Affairs as the case may be.
The vast majority of discipline related to off-duty conduct is related to sex or the use of alcohol.
As police officers, you see it every single day. People who have been drinking make poor decisions. I’m just going to go ahead and say the obvious – Police Officers who have been drinking make poor decisions too. You may be able to get some professional courtesy on a regular traffic stop (and you might not – some officers are real nervous with a BWC and an ICC recording their every word and move), but if you are involved in an accident, the officer may not have any choice but to take action. A close relative of mine was stopped by an officer who used to be one of my subordinates. We did not have a contentious relationship and I helped him out quite a bit. I was surprised to learn that particular officer had arrested someone he knew to be a close relative of mine when he could have just as easily given him a ride home. My relative had not been involved in an accident or anything like that, it was a simple traffic stop. The point is that today’s political atmosphere makes it less likely that officers exercise any type of discretion.
It’s not just driving either. Alcohol can make it seem like a good idea to start an argument with the guy sitting on the barstool next to his. Alcohol can make it seem like a good idea to start a fight with an ex-husband. Did you know it is legal for an officer to carry a concealed firearm in an alcoholic beverage outlet? La. R.S. 14:95.5 allows it, as does the federal laws known as LEOSA. If, however, you think it is a good idea to carry a concealed weapon in a barroom, I would have to ask you if you are drinking while reading this. Just don’t do it. Just FYI, you are not covered by LEOSA if you are intoxicated. Also, for the New Orleans Police Department, Rule 3, Professional Conduct, Paragraph 9, Use of Alcohol/Drugs Off Duty, says that commissioned personnel are forbidden from carrying firearms in an ABO, while consuming alcohol, or while intoxicated. Part of that rule may still violate LEOSA, but La. R.S. 14:95.5 allows the Superintendent to make it a violation of Department rules to carry a firearm in an ABO.
Sex is the next source of off-duty disciplinary action. It is not a good idea to hook up with people you meet on calls for service. It does not matter if they are the complainant or the subject of the complaint.
If you come across someone who looks like they could use a ride home, make sure it is to their home and not yours. Make sure the dispatcher knows about it and that all of the transport mileages are recorded. Finally, make sure all of the recording devices you carry around these days are activated.
There are also police officers involved in abusive relationships. Now, I understand this is not as simple as just saying “don’t do it.” I would, however, like to encourage any officer involved in an abusive relationship to seek help. At the New Orleans Police Department, Cecile Tebo is available at no cost through the Office Assistance Program to help however she can. No matter where you are or what department you work for, there is help available somewhere. Take advantage of that help before you lose your job over it.
The standard, as is always the case, is that the alleged infraction must bear a real and substantial relationship to the efficient operation of the public service. The Courts in Louisiana have applied that rule fairly liberally. That means that if your Department believes there is a real and substantial relationship between the alleged dereliction and the efficient operation of the public service, the Courts are likely to go along with that.
As we are recently reminded by the Louisiana Supreme Court, neither the Commission nor a reviewing court should “second-guess” an appointing authority’s decisions. See Lange v. Orleans Levee District,10–0140, p. 17 (La.11/30/10), 56 So.3d 925, 936. The Commission and a reviewing court may intervene only when the appointing authority’s decisions are arbitrary and capricious or characterized by an abuse of discretion. Id. Moreover, neither the Commission nor the reviewing court may serve as a de facto pardon board. Id. “[S]ympathy is not a legal standard.” Id.
Recently, Mayor Cantrell declared a state of emergency due to Hurricane Barry in the Gulf of Mexico. The Fraternal Order of Police (We) received numerous phone calls from officers concerned that the city would pay them correctly. I spoke with the police administration several times and Asst. Superintendent Noel assured me that Superintendent Ferguson was committed to making sure NOPD paid everyone correctly. An email to NOPDAll indicating that there could be a delay in when NOPD would be making payments for the declared state of emergency got officers worried again.
Signal 108 