As I write this, the news of the tragic helicopter crash that took nine lives, including Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, has shocked the world. Yesterday, memorial services were held for Detective Amber Leist, who was tragically struck by a vehicle as she provided assistance to an elderly couple in a crosswalk. Tomorrow, I will be attending funeral services among many friends and co-workers of 41-year-old Felipe Leal, a husband, friend, custody assistant and PPOA delegate whom I have known for 15 years.

Tragedy — an Event Causing Great Suffering, Destruction and Distress

Are you prepared? Do you have a will or trust? Have you updated your beneficiaries?

Our world often becomes overwhelmed by details, day-to-day grind and information overload. Put your family first. Take the time to ensure your family is protected. No one goes out in the morning thinking this is the last day of their life. “It won’t happen to me.” Unfortunately, no one knows when the last day will come, so preparation is key.

Three years ago, my wife and I initiated the family trust process, recording our desires and protecting our family assets should the unthinkable happen. While initiating the process is a great step, this is a living document that must be updated regularly. Among your New Year’s resolutions should be an annual review of your finances and asset documentation.

PPOA is a part of your family’s protection. Representation, bargaining for salary and benefits, legislative advocacy, fighting employer injustices and enhanced voluntary benefits are available to you by being a member of the PPOA family.

Recent Collaborations

Approximately 20 PPOA family members recently experienced the benefits of membership. The January sergeant promotional process and accompanying transfer list reflected a significant injustice. The planned process limited the transfer of tenured sergeants from custody to patrol assignments, limiting the number available for release from their custody obligations to only five of 20.

PPOA, when notified of this blatant disregard for past practice and existing Department policy, immediately objected and began discussions with the Department. A meeting with Sheriff Villanueva and Department representatives was scheduled within a few days. PPOA was represented at the meeting by Executive Director Wayne Quint, attorneys from Hayes, Ortega & Sanchez, and myself. The Department presented its perspective, which upon examination, appeared to be based on a faulty paradigm and misinterpretation of previous court decisions. Soon thereafter, Sheriff Villanueva joined the conversation and was fully briefed of the developments. After further discussion, and over the objections of some Department executives, Sheriff Villanueva agreed that the previous restriction of only five sergeants being released from custody assignments was unfair and restrictive to the careers of other affected sergeants awaiting the opportunity to go to patrol.

Following this decision, Captain McBride and personnel staff worked feverishly with other division personnel across the Department to expedite the transfers. I am very grateful for the favorable outcome of this issue for those involved and hope that the reasonableness and fairness represented by Sheriff Villanueva in addressing our concerns continues to enhance PPOA’s relationship with his administration.

As always, I urge you to get involved. PPOA derives strength from unity and our benefits today are a result of our solidarity. Come participate. Become a union delegate. Our next delegate meeting is on February 25 at 5 p.m. at DeBell Golf Club in Burbank. See what we see — the value of an organization that does everything in its power to protect you, not as union members, but as family members. Thank you for your support and for being a PPOA member!

PPOA has seen significant changes in the last year. The PPOA Board has introduced new directors in Coroner Investigator Joyce Kato, Commander Carlos Marquez, Lieutenant Ryan Vienna and Lieutenant John Satterfield, as well as retired Sergeant Jim Schallert representing our retired members.

As described in previous articles, PPOA will continue to rebrand our organizational status in the political world of Los Angeles County and California. Our Legislative Committee is being restructured to increase participation of our directors and membership, and formal procedures are being created and improved upon to provide a fair and objective analysis to our strategies. You can help! PPOA needs your assistance in order to continue our efforts to protect our interests and defend our salaries, benefits and retirements. For this reason, PPOA is asking everyone to provide a suggested donation of at least $20 (or any amount you can afford) per month to our Political Action Committee (PAC).

Another change for 2020 includes our new lobbying partnership with Lang, Hansen, O’Malley and Miller (LHOM), which provides PPOA with a respected name in lobbying and electoral strategy that will deliver guidance and tactics in navigating today’s very tricky political atmosphere. Capitol Weekly ranked LHOM’s Joe Lang as one of its 2019 Top 100, writing, “If you want to get things done in Sacramento … to hire top lobbying talent, you’ll probably be getting in touch with Joe Lang … his firm — Lang, Hansen, O’Malley and Miller — is always a top biller among lobbying firms and his client list reflects it. Such companies as FedEx, Estée Lauder, the California Business Roundtable, the California Retailers Association, the Port of San Diego, WalMart, DraftKings, etc., etc. We’ve said this before, but it’s true: LHOM is filled with people who should be on this list — Bob Giroux, George Miller IV and Larisa Cespedes, to name a few — but there’s not enough room. Partner Bev Hansen has been on the list before.”

The new decade also represents additional changes under Sheriff Villanueva that will define the landscape of the administration and provide many new opportunities for collaboration. Congratulations to these PPOA members on their recent promotions to:

• Assistant Sheriff: Bruce Chase and Steve Gross
• Division Chief: Brendan Corbett and Kelly Porowski
• Commander: Ernie Chavez, Diana Gealta, Rob Lewis and Sergio Mancilla
• Acting Commander: Laura Lecrivain and Paula Tokar
• Captain: Joe Badali, Tonya Edwards, Yolanda Figueroa, Roel Garcia and Martin Rodriguez
• Acting Captain: Ann Devane
• Lieutenant: Onorato Agrusa, Mark Almonte, Eric Barron, Christine Coles, Richard Crowther, Gregory Evans, Fray Lupian, Ethan Marquez, La Shon O’Bannon, Michael Shaw Jr., John Thorne, John Trojanowski and Dan Vizcarra

As these changes occur, we hope to be united with Sheriff Villanueva on issues we find critical to improving the morale and operation of the Sheriff’s Department: creating a fair and objective promotional process, including a resolution to the Dual-Track process; exploring a career path for non-sworn and greater respect for their contributions to the Department; finalizing the long-promised concealed weapons permit (CCW) policy for our non-sworn members; and increasing staffing numbers of custody assistants within our station jails to better accommodate the exponentially increased workload. Recently, the Sheriff and I met one on one, the beginning of what we hope to be regularly scheduled meetings to clarify our positions and establish a dialogue, further exemplifying the professionalism of both organizations’ attempts to work together.

While PPOA strives to continue improving relationships within the County departments to the benefit of our members, unions and labor organizations are only as successful as member participation. I urge you to get involved. Labor organizations derive strength from unity, and most of our benefits today are a result of union strength and solidarity. Come, participate. Become a delegate. Volunteer for a committee; there are many to choose from: Communications, Delegates, Finance, Insurance, Legislative, Membership, Contract Negotiations, Foundation Fundraising, Scholarship, Elections, Training and Bylaws. Your participation is not only encouraged, it is desired. See what we see: the value of an organization that does everything in its power to protect you, not as union members, but as family members. Thank you for your support, and thank you for being a PPOA member!

We wish you and your family a healthy and prosperous 2020!

The topic for this month’s article comes from my father, retired LAPD detective Larry Rhodes.

My entire life I heard, “Money talks, bull$#*t walks.” As I get older and begin my tenure as PPOA president, this saying continues to resonate in my recent experiences.

PPOA has been feverishly working to establish collaborative relationships, be it with ALADS, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors or the state Legislature. While these relationships are the primary component for communicating our needs and perspective, it has become blatantly obvious to me that my father’s adage has come home to roost — “Money talks, bull$#*t walks.” For this reason, I am humbly asking each and every one of you to opt in to donating to the PPOA Political Action Committee (PAC).

The PPOA PAC interviews candidates for elected office, offering endorsements and campaign contributions. Additionally, donations to the PAC are used to encourage and defend statewide legislation as well as ballot initiatives. As you can imagine, our voice is only as large as our political checkbook. PPOA needs your help in order to continue our efforts to protect our interests and defend our salaries, benefits and retirements. As a comparison, other large law enforcement associations have PAC funds ranging from $1.5 to $4 million. During my tenure as your president, it is my goal to increase our PAC account to an annual standing balance of $2 million. For this reason, PPOA is asking everyone to provide a suggested (and hopeful) donation of at least $20 per month. While $20 per month to you personally may represent about five gallons of gas or six Starbucks macchiatos, $20 per month represents what could be up to approximately $180,000 a month to the PAC. That would not only give PPOA a voice, that would give us a shout!

I understand that donating to another cause is difficult, not particularly popular and may not be achievable for some of you. But I must take the opportunity now to explain that public safety in California is in trouble. Our cause of maintaining safe communities is being threatened by the well-meaning but often misled reformers who at this moment are running our government.

Public safety has been marginalized. Well-intended social reforms have created unintended consequences, impeding effectiveness, increasing danger to law enforcement professionals and compromising community safety.

Recent reform efforts continue the disparaging of crime victims while coddling offenders. Statistics prove that the efforts of social reforms are increasing the number of victims in these same neighborhoods the reformists claim to care about.

PPOA and other public safety organizations are supportive of viable reforms, especially those that will help California through this crisis with mental illness and homelessness. I have personally communicated this message to each and every elected official and governmental staff member in our meetings during the last few months.

All we ask is that our voice, experience and expertise be heard. The only way to enhance professionalism in public safety is for our subject-matter experts to be included in the discussions. The only way for our voice to be heard is to have money backing our perspective. Again, and for that reason, I reluctantly but fervently request you donate to the PPOA PAC. Please complete the form below or visit PPOA.com to complete the form online. Please help us assist you in improving each of our communities in California, our profession and our lives.

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Self-harm takes many forms and should not be taken lightly. For emotional problems, mental health professionals are available privately, through your agency and even online. Those suffering from addiction concerns have numerous support groups, including Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and peer groups.

So, what assistance is available for those who politically self-harm? Although PPOA was hopeful for a new era of collaboration and cooperation, Sheriff Villanueva has repeatedly proven to be difficult to work with — as seen through his hiring of former Deputy Mandoyan, suing the County, not collaborating with the unions, attacking contracts, etc. This isolationist “self-harm” has been brought to his attention by numerous entities, including the Board of Supervisors, County Counsel, the Democratic Party and his own advisors, but the Sheriff has refused to hear it.

PPOA wants the Sheriff to be successful. His successes would also bring success to Department members through positive attention, accolades and resources. Unfortunately, his continued self-harm is bringing negative attention to the Department, is providing fodder to the political challengers for the office of the Sheriff and, most importantly, is now harming PPOA members.

Currently, there are numerous PPOA members either relieved of duty or terminated, unable to return to work or settling discipline cases due to the fallout from the Mandoyan rehiring debacle. Dual-track sergeants looking for a career path in their chosen vocation are being told to go to patrol even though their career and family decisions were based on a set of rules in place for the last six years.

The current promotional process continues to be problematic and has been the source of great frustration for Department members. The process has yet to be clearly defined by the new administration and has been communicated in such a vague manner that no one knows how to proceed. Even current executives, when asked for advice or direction, cannot provide definitive answers.

A college degree has been preached as being needed, but several new promotions include individuals who are “currently attending” or “currently completing” their degrees. Acting station captains have not qualified for an interview with their own station’s selection review board. Applicants with degrees and the reported required experience are sent “thank you for applying” emails, but are never given an interview or any feedback about where their applications fell short with regard to the administration’s requirements.

Something is definitely wrong. Unfortunately, the process is repeatedly being described to us at PPOA as favoritism and cronyism — the exact concerns originally condemned by this administration.

I recently received a phone call from a deputy (not represented by PPOA) working a patrol assignment. Now, I’ll say that again: I received a call from a deputy with concerns about the promotional process of the Department. This deputy stated that, as a Band Two candidate for sergeant, they were very critical (my kind paraphrase of the actual statement) of the Department’s intention to conduct a new Patrol Track-only sergeant examination. The same deputy said they were very much in favor of any efforts PPOA could make to protect their future promotion. They believed any effort by the Department to circumvent the current promotional process would be detrimental to not only themselves, but also to over 30 other promotional candidates in Band Two, not even including those in Band Three.

If the announced sergeant examination — currently scheduled for October 5 — is conducted, it will be over the strenuous objections of PPOA. Since late May, PPOA has been dedicated to regularly meeting with the Department in order to collaborate with them and discuss Sheriff Villanueva’s ideas for the future promotional process. Sadly, information requests by PPOA went unfulfilled and communications with PPOA by the Department abruptly ceased. Suddenly, the Department announced a “Patrol Only” examination, abandoning the existing contract language regarding “Dual-Track” practices and adding the new “Rating of Record” standard. This new addition to the process, “Rating of Record,” has yet to be defined and there are no details available about how it will be used or implemented. It is just one more item not discussed with PPOA.

Those of us involved in this attempted conversation with the Department have repeatedly objected to this examination.

Our concerns regarding the violations of our contract were communicated to Department executives, culminating in a personal discussion with the Sheriff. Let’s just say we left that discussion disagreeing. As a result, in order to protect our contract and our members and to prevent the potential harm to all Department members, PPOA will continue our efforts to postpone any sergeant examination that has not been properly negotiated and vetted. Our hope is that an objective test will be established with no underlying possibilities of discrimination to the current pool of candidates.

Now, transitions are tricky (as I am only in month three of my presidency). Hopefully you, the members, have seen positive strides forward in the direction of PPOA. While we all must be patient with any new administration, PPOA (and many others evidently) believes the transition period of the new administration is over and that Sheriff Villanueva and his hand-picked executives should now be held accountable for the direction of the Department. For this reason, PPOA respectfully must ask those who can advise the Sheriff of his current issues to please do so. Our members are being harmed.

Again, we want the Department and Sheriff Villanueva to be successful. Only by helping the Sheriff overcome this political self-harm can our issues get positively addressed and our members move forward with their careers and lives.

Sheriff Villanueva: We implore you to please consider your future actions and comments carefully. We wish to have a healthy partnership for the benefit of all. We want to help.

After watching many of my friends and co-workers leave over the years as part of the annual March exodus, and as I reached the 30-year mark in my own career, it was only natural to start asking the following questions:

• When should I retire?
• When do I marry? (My wife and I have now been married for just over a year.)
• Where do I live? Would I consider moving out of state, or out of the country?
• What about taxes? How much money will we have?
• What about medical insurance? What about our Horizons account?
• What do we want to do: travel, volunteer or work?

Thankfully, all of the above questions have available answers, but do require some organization, discussion, reflection and, most importantly, planning. The best advice I have found comes from three sources: LACERA, retired PPOA members who have already gone into the final frontier ahead of us and, of course, family.

LACERA is the optimal source of retirement information for resources like calculating your income, legal issues (such as beneficiary support) and medical insurance availability and limitations — which is especially important to those leaving California. No matter where you are in your career, take the time to either attend a group seminar or schedule a one-on-one appointment soon. Retirement takes planning, which you can only achieve by collecting the information you need to get started. Time is fleeting, but definitely works in your favor the earlier you begin the process.

PPOA retirees provide a great resource as to what you can expect from the actual lifestyle after your career ends. These individuals offer tremendous insight on how to transition, advice for overcoming various obstacles you may encounter and their own personal experiences from which to pull. Every L.A. County retiree I have spoken with says retirement is the “best job ever,” and they are living out their retirements everywhere. In fact, more than 500 retired PPOA members live out of state, including in the top five most popular destinations: Arizona (120), Nevada (85), Idaho (47), Oregon (42) and Washington (40). And some, believe it or not, stay in California. Regardless of where members retire, they travel, start businesses, raise grandchildren (and sometimes their own children) and a very valued few even continue their involvement with the PPOA, for which we are extremely grateful.

The most important component of planning your retirement is considering your family’s needs: What obligations accompany you in retirement? Are your millennials still living at home? Where are your parents and will they need your assistance? Is your spouse ready to retire, and if not, how much longer do they plan on working? How much income will you need to live comfortably? Will your plans or hobbies require any preparation?

Thankfully, those of us at PPOA are here to help. With a very experienced staff, numerous resources for life planning and a large population of retiree members, we are here to offer any information, advice or insight we can to assist you in your retirement planning.

Whew! This place is busy! Who knew? Oh yeah, I was warned! Offers of congratulations were often tempered with condolences. Haha!

So the first month is behind me, and I have learned so much, knowing well in advance that there is more education to come. First and foremost on the learning curve is the art of relationships and collaboration. The first major challenge to the new PPOA administration was the potential loss of health care options to 775 PPOA members. While I had in my mind to be open and receptive to renewing former relationships and creating new ones, the looming July 31, 2019, deadline related to this potential disaster forced me to expedite my plans. As a result, introductions and meetings with County executives and other union leadership, as well as settling prior differences with ALADS, were all put on an accelerated timeline. Thankfully, as a result of tremendous efforts and collaboration on the part of all parties, PPOA was able to rejoin the Coalition of County Unions (CCU) and avert any harm coming to our members. Additionally, a big thank you to the leadership of ALADS for their help and guidance in our research and readmittance into the CCU. This represents a new collaborative relationship.

Communication and relationships are also being offered to the Sheriff’s Department management team. In my first six weeks, we have met with Employee Relations at least five times, had meetings with three assistant sheriffs and the Undersheriff and, most recently, had a sit-down with ALADS and Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Alex took the time to meet with us for just under an hour, during which he outlined his vision and discussed current issues and concerns. While both have minor and significant differences of perspective, PPOA will continue to move forward in a cautiously optimistic manner as we hold the Department accountable for its decision-making processes and continue our mission of protecting PPOA members and their rights.

One of the more significant issues of urgency is the pending Sergeant’s Examination, which the Sheriff’s Department would like to expedite. This particular concern is of tremendous importance to PPOA and Department members, as it represents the foundation upon which the entire promotional process for future ranks will be built. PPOA has been meeting with Department representatives weekly to discuss our concerns as they relate to new minimum qualifications for eligibility of candidates to participate in the examination process. We continue to voice our objections to minimum qualifications, which in our opinion are restrictive of the current employee candidate pool, either through experience or protected class. As the Department wishes to implement change, PPOA continues to argue that change must occur through not only a proper process, but also a timely one, suggesting effective dates in the future for these changes that would allow for employees to attain the minimum requirements proposed.

Additionally, even though PPOA continues to provide resources to Sheriff’s Department executives while maintaining a collaborative demeanor, there are many issues that have yet to be resolved or even addressed. While issues and concerns will always be fluid in priority, the lack of participation from the Department at this point is disheartening. When will custody lieutenants be able to get out from under the “five-year” sentence currently imposed? How can we get more station jailers out to the field to assist with the numerous responsibilities placed on them while still addressing officer safety? Will CCWs for appropriate professional staff ever be issued as promised during the campaign? These are only some of the many issues PPOA has yet to be able to obtain information on from the Department.

Getting Out There

While I am doing my best to return phone calls and emails in a timely manner, it has again been brought to my attention that time is fleeting. If I owe you a call or an email, my apologies, I am working on it. Hopefully, you may have bumped into myself and/or PPOA Board members and staff at a recent event, as we have been actively “out of the office.” If you follow our Week in Review (sent every Saturday morning if PPOA has your personal email), you will know that in the past month, PPOA Board members and I are as active as ever, participating in new employee orientations, graduations, group meetings/briefings at units of assignments and benefit fairs across the county. Our goal in “being out there” is to provide members with the opportunity to actively exchange their thoughts, concerns, ideas or suggestions with PPOA. If you have not seen us yet, keep an eye out, as it is our intention to make ourselves available to you, our membership.

As always, thank you for the opportunity to serve and represent you in this capacity as PPOA president.

My name is Tab Rhodes, and the PPOA Board of Directors elected me president on June 13. All I can say is thank you.

• Thank you to PPOA for being the organization that protects its members within the confines of legislation and bureaucracy to the best of its abilities.
• Thank you to the Department for the honor of being a member of the most prestigious law enforcement agency in the world, and the benefits it has brought me and my family.
• Thank you to the PPOA Board of Directors for believing in me enough to bestow upon me the honor of being president, following in the footsteps of some fantastic past presidents and great human beings such as Art Reddy, Jim Vogts and, of course, Brian Moriguchi.
• And finally, thank you to God, my wife and my family for supporting my efforts and giving me the opportunities to grow professionally, and in turn, the ability to support the members of the Department and PPOA.

Recently, the Board of Directors also took the opportunity to round out the conference table by appointing two new members to fill vacant positions. Please welcome Commander Carlos Marquez (vacancy created by the promotion of Patrick Jordan to chief) and Lieutenant Ryan Vienna (vacancy created by the recent retirement of Sergeant Jim Schallert) to the PPOA Board of Directors.

These are interesting times in law enforcement, society and, of course, the Department. Sheriff Villanueva and I worked together just six years ago as lieutenants at CRDF, and now we are both in positions to enhance the professionalism of the Department and improve working conditions for its members. Alex has his vision of improving the Department through extended field experience and formal education. PPOA also supports dedication to a higher level of professionalism for Department members and cultivating support to and from the community we serve. Additionally, however, PPOA has a primary responsibility to protect our members from arbitrary practices of management, no matter how well intended. Only through communication, mutual respect for each other’s positions and adherence to fairness can true improvement be achieved.

My goals as president are simple: protect the rights of PPOA members while working with Sheriff Villanueva during these tumultuous times of transition; provide a positive relationship between PPOA and the Department, balancing the human factor with the needs of the Department; expand communications with other labor groups that in turn will strengthen our position to protect our members; and continue to stem the flood of legislative knee-jerk reactions regarding pension reform.

Internally, as an organization, the Board of Directors would like to focus on a few priorities, including participation and enhanced member services. While it is always great to “hear” from the members, the new Board would like to welcome you to participate. Monitor our communications through our mobile app, Facebook and our website (PPOA.com). Calendar and attend PPOA events. Become a delegate. Volunteer at a Star & Shield Foundation charity event. Talk to a Board member. You may be very surprised at how supportive PPOA is once you have firsthand knowledge.

During the next few years, the PPOA Board has agreed that the expansion of member services is a high priority. Our insurance agency, while successful, has experienced a rocky start due to some unscrupulous partner brokers who were more interested in personal financial gain than providing quality products to our members. To this end, PPOA will be dedicating efforts to cleaning up our own insurance agency practices, identifying new product options and obtaining internal resources to keep our business in-house. Additionally, PPOA hopes to expand the Uniform Store catalog, offer firearm and ammunition sales, enhance financial advisement opportunities, and provide retail member discounts and even possibly car sales.

My first article as president would not be complete without a nod to past President Brian Moriguchi. After 10 years of dedicated service to the members of the Professional Peace Officers Association, Brian resigned as president, citing health concerns. Thank you to Brian for his many years of service to PPOA and the Department, providing this organization with expanding ideas and programs, stability and leadership and giving the new Board of Directors a foundation upon which to build. Brian stated he planned on staying longer but felt this was the right time to leave. “It has been a great pleasure and honor serving the PPOA membership over the years,” he said.

“I have complete confidence in the new leadership and the Board of Directors.” As the longest-sitting president of PPOA, Brian is known nationwide for his efforts and contributions to PPOA, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the law enforcement community. Thank you so much, Brian.