2010 National Police Week President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation in 1962 designating May 9 to 15as National Police Week and May 15 as Peace Officers Memorial Day. Since then, the nation has formally honored those who lost their lives to protect us all.This year, there’s something more that we can do for these courageous women and men: Encourage members of Congress to give public safety officers a federally protected right to bargain collectively.
AFSCME – which represents nearly 125,000 public safety officers nationwide (including nearly 30,000 police officers) – is urging Congress to pass the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009 (H.R. 413/S. 3194). The legislation establishes minimum state collective bargaining standards for corrections officers, police, emergency medical technicians and firefighters.
Also high on AFSCME’s legislative agenda for public safety officers is increasing federal funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program, which provides grants to hire police officers, improve law enforcement communications technology, and other initiatives.
Additional funding for COPS will help local law enforcement agencies across the country whose budgets are being cut or threatened with shortfalls, compromising public safety.
Too many law enforcement officers have lost their lives on the job. Let’s support the living while we honor the dead.
Learn more about AFSCME-represented law enforcement officers here. Also, check out the latest AFSCME research on law enforcement here.
Source: AFSCME Greenline Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment
This blog is created to not only keep you informed, but to receive feedback from you as well. Please feel free to comment on any posts. We reserve the right to remove any post we deem inappropriate in language and/or content.