CLEAT
If You Mess With One of Us, You Get Us All
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By John Burpo, CLEAT Executive Director
The highlight of the CLEAT Convention in Fort Worth this past October was the 9 minute film about CLEAT developed by our talented Director of Public Affairs Charley Wilkison. Told from the viewpoint of past and present leaders and staff, the film expresses the heart of CLEAT’s philosophy: “If you mess with one of us, you get us all.”
This theme ties into the CLEAT motto: “Strength, Justice, Unity.” We are strong because we fight together. We seek justice by taking on our opponents together. And we win our battles by staying unified. When you think about CLEAT, think about 18,000 members (that’s right, we are now over 18,000!) marching together for the benefit of each individual member.
Here are 3 instances in 2010 that clearly showcase the point “If you mess with one of us, you get us all:”
Grayson County CLEAT members called CLEAT for help in taking on County Judge Drue Bynum and like-minded Commissioner’s who were forcing an ill-advised attempt to privatize the jail. The members formed the Grayson County Law Enforcement Association to represent all employees of the Sheriff’s Department and President Karen Bruton led the members in the fight against privatization. CLEAT marshaled staff resources to force the County Judge to back down and insure that Karen and the 90 other detention officers didn’t lose their jobs. By the way, Karen was the recipient this year of the prestigious Ludwig Bruno award at the convention for her great work in this campaign.
Del Rio City Manager Frances Rodriguez, along with some former city commission members, made the incredibly stupid decision to revoke the meet and confer rights between City leaders and the Del Rio POA. So the POA called in the full forces of CLEAT to assist in taking an initiative to the citizens of Del Rio that allowed for the community to decide on collective bargaining rights for Del Rio police officers. The POA won bargaining rights overwhelmingly and now rather than the optional meet and confer process, our Del Rio members and the citizens can enjoy the full benefit of collective bargaining.
Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman learned this year about CLEAT’s ferocity in defending our members. He terminated a group of officers for allegedly tampering with governmental records when working a housing authority extra job and at the same time showing work at the police department on their time sheets. To add insult to injury, the City had 10 officers arrested for a criminal offense, all of whom were ultimately no-billed by the Grand Jury. The officers all vehemently argued that they were guilty of poor record keeping but not of administrative or criminal misconduct. CLEAT represented 4 officers in arbitration and 8 officers in the criminal proceedings. In one of the arbitration proceedings under cross-examination by top CLEAT attorney Jannice Joseph, Chief Stroman began producing crocodile tears when testifying about maintaining the integrity and public trust of the police department. The arbitrator saw through this masquerade however, finding that there had been a systematic practice from the top to bottom of the police department allowing officers to reflect time worked at the department while performing outside work or engaging in personal matters; and that this practice extended far beyond the officers who had been fired and criminally charged. The final result of the 4 arbitrations: 1 officer reinstated with no discipline, another reinstated with minimal discipline, and the other 2 settled prior to hearing with minimum discipline.
CLEAT has come to the aid of so many members and locals in 2010 that space simply does not permit citing every example. But a special thank you goes out to Grayson County Commissioner Drue Bynum, former Del Rio City Manager Frances Rodriguez, and Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman for making the job of illustrating the “don’t mess with us” point so simple.
Here is the bottom line: every police chief, sheriff, city manager, council member and county commissioner should be on notice that if you mess with one us, you get us all. And the consequence is that when you mess with any of us, your professional life will become an ongoing nightmare.
