California Police Chief- Fall 2013 CPCA_2018_Spring Magazine_Final | Page 11

With all of this said we need you to use your influence,
your expertise and your leadership to speak to the
assemblymembers and senators and guide them on these
controversial issues. In order to do that, we need you to
develop a relationship with your representatives that
allows you to speak with them in a frank and respectable
way. These relationships carry weight and can prove
to be beneficial. But the relationship does not stop with
the member. The members staff, capitol and district, are
another part of the equation that people often overlook.
Members heavily rely on their staff for almost everything,
so if you can talk to them and get them on board with
us then we have a better chance of getting the vote that
best serves our interest. Just how you trust and respect
your command staff, the senators and members also trust
and respect their capitol and district staff. We urge you
to meet with the chief of staff, public safety staffer and
district director and begin to foster a relationship that can
hopefully help us in the long run.
Together, this is part of our strategy. We lobby the
members and senators every day but sometimes your
phone call or your visit can make all the difference.
We have stopped several unnecessary bills in the past
as a result of your participation. For example, SB 712
(Anderson) which would have allowed individuals to
cover their license plate numbers when parked in public
areas – stopped on the Senate floor. Or AB 186 (Eggman)
which would have allowed localities to establish centers
where drug addicts could use their drugs without
consequence – stopped on the Senate floor. Like we have
mentioned many times already – your voice matter. It
carries influence even if you believe it does not. You
are a chief of police, we are the California Police Chiefs
Association. These next couple of months are going to be
critical and we need your help. We can stop AB 931, SB
1421, SB 1186 and SB 1279 if we come together and lobby
as a strong and unified organization. Advocating for policy
may not have been the reason why you decided to become
a peace officer, but protecting your community was, and
in your role as a police chief, advocacy is part of how to
accomplish that goal. ■
SPRING 2018 | California Police Chief
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