PPOA Board Member
Security Officer, LASD
jaclounc@lasd.org
During the most recent PPOA Board election cycle, I met a lot of SSAs and SSOs and, like all of us, they each had different issues to discuss. What is important to some is not always a priority for others. With one exception: uniforms. Just about everyone I spoke with said they had serious issues with our impossible-to-keep-clean white shirts. Considering how frequently we have to replace them, I still find it hard to believe that the uniform allowance for security officers was only $300 as recently as five years ago.
As I promised many of you, the first step before approaching the Department uniform committee is to solicit input from PPOA members regarding color preference. In the near future, PPOA will email a survey to members who are SSOs and SSAs in order to determine which color will be presented to the uniform committee.
If you are a PPOA member but do not receive weekly emails from your union, please send your name, employee number and personal (non-LASD) email address to info@ppoa.com. Confirm that PPOA has your email address as soon as possible so you will be able to weigh in on the shirt color preference.
If you are not a PPOA member (fewer than 5% of SSOs/SSAs are not PPOA members), you are essentially letting your partners do the heavy lifting for you. Nonmembers have no say in who will represent our classification on the union board. Nonmembers have no say in whether a proposed salary contract should be approved or not. Nonmembers have no say when it comes to input on the upcoming uniform shirt survey. Again, there aren’t many, but if you know an SSO or SSA who is not a PPOA member, please remind them that they can fill out a membership application today (see PPOA.com) and help the union move forward. From day one at the Academy, we learned the importance of teamwork and the same concept applies to our union. We are more powerful and more efficient when we work together.
