| President’s
Message March 13, 2006
Six months ago, our city and surrounding area was devastated by
one of the worst disasters any community or Police department ever
faced. Through it all, the vast majority of our dedicated police
officers stood their post, protected this city and saved thousands
of lives. Those officers were truly heroes. However, the national
media depiction of the men and women of NOPD painted a different
and biased opinion . They took a very few instances, showed them
over and over, to give the false impression that those few acts
were the norm rater than the exception. PANO constantly spoke on
behalf of the majority of valiant and professional officers locally,
nationally and internationally. We went on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS,
and even the BBC to take issue with them and to defend the good
cops.
As we begin to re-build our community and our Police Department,
PANO will continue to fight for the rights and benefits of all our
members. Along with our continuing support and representation for
our members, we have identified several major objectives. Those
objectives are as follows:
1. Re-establishing PANO’s District and Unit Board of Representatives.
2. Forcing compliance of the “60 day rule” as mandated
by the Rights of Law Enforcement Officers while under investigation
(RS 40:2531).
3. Purging of PID records on Unfounded, Exonerated and Non-Sustained
cases for our members.
There is no reason why Police Officers should have less rights than
the common criminal. We encourage our members to become active and
support our efforts.
David Benelli, President, PANO
PANO/NAPO Hurricane Relief Update
We are very proud that through our affiliation with the National
Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) we were able to assist
those members who had substantial damage and loss of property. We
have given out nearly $400,000.00 to those officers in need. We
were also able to financially assist those officers who sustained
severe injury during and after the storm.
It is also important to remember the immediate aid and supplies
brought to New Orleans by high ranking officers of NAPO.
A little over a week after the storm, the Executive Director of
NAPO, Bill Johnson from the home office in Washington, D.C. rented
a van. He drove 24 hours straight from Washington to New Orleans.
He stopped at every WalMart on the way and bought out the store’s
supply of mens and women underwear and T-shirts. He bought out all
their feminine products (Which is difficult for a male to do). He
filled the van with needed products and personally drove the to
New Orleans. Those products were brought to several locations and
to the Quartermaster and distributed to many police officers.
The next week, NAPO President Thomas Nee of the Boston Police
Department, along with eleven Boston Police Officers, secured a
large truck and went to the Blaurer Uniform Company and got nearly
3000 pairs of BDU pants and shirts. They also brought nearly 5000
blue t-shirts with NOPD stenciled on it. Tom and the Boston officers
drove straight for over 30 hours. After they delivered the supplies,
they had to get back to Boston. They could not stay for any fanfare
or thanks.
The PANO/NAPO relief effort still continues. If any member has
sustained substantial loss of property, they are still eligible
for relief assistance. For information, call Rhonda at the PANO
office (942-2454). Or, you may stop by the PANO office, Monday thru
Friday between the hours of 8:30 AM and 4:00 PM.
Contact your PANO office
today...
504 942-2454...and join the TEAM...
YOU deserve it...
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