PAX Centurion - April / June 2016

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • April-May-June 2016 • Page 5 Vice President’s Message: Michael F. Leary, BPPA Vice President Notes and thoughts from all over… Summer workload, golf tournament, and current events passed within the last year. The Boston Police Relief Association hosts the event and ensures that our memorials; both at Mt. Hope and at Headquarters are properly maintained and beautified. Even though the rain made for an uncomfortable day, dozens of Officers, of all ranks and grades, gave up their Sunday morning to show up in uniform and pay proper respect to those that have gone before us. The BPD Honor Guard and the Boston Police Gaelic Column led the march of both active and retired Officers to the Memorial. Dozens of family members were also in attendance and participated in the mass and the ‘Reading of the Roll’ by Chief WilliamGross. We were once again honored by the attendance of CommissionerWilliam Evans and Mayor MartinWalsh. Please put the first Sunday in June on your calendar for next year, see some old friends, make some new ones and most of all, pay the Honor & Respect due our predecessors! As you are all well aware, we have lost some good friends and colleagues these past few months. Both active duty and retired, some through so called natural causes ( when you work this job for 20 or 30 years and deal with what we deal with daily, along with the multiple adrenaline dumps on a daily basis, it blows my mind that we can associate any of our deaths as “Natural,” sorry I digress ), and sadly some by their own hand. Suicide has become rampant within the Law Enforcement community. Suicide is the end result of a disease not treated or not taken seriously. The ‘disease’ is depression, the ‘disease’ is stress, the ‘disease’ is a feeling there is no way out, the ‘disease’ is being so overwhelmed that one can’t see solutions to problems, the ‘disease’ is not asking for help, the ‘disease’ is psychological, the ‘disease’ is physical. I am begging each and every one of you to look for the symptoms of this ‘disease.’Ask someone if they’re ok if you suspect something. There is no shame in asking for help, there are so many resources available today that no one need succumb to this ‘disease.’The Peer Support Group is one of the best in the nation and only a phone call away. If you are not comfortable with a BPD resource, I promise you that we have BPPA resources available that NO ONE will ever know about. If you’re down and feel like you can’t get out of it, call us, we will be there. Please, let the last suicide be the last suicide. There are resources, there is help, just ask for it. As always, I ask that you all look out for each other. Please back each other up on calls. Check on each other during those long, arduous shifts. This is a very dangerous job, do not be cavalier, do not become complacent, we just witnessed, once again, how fast an idyllic evening can turn into an absolute nightmare.Your number one priority has to be to get home safe and sound to your family and loved ones. God Bless, stay safe. From President on page 3 AMessage fromthePresident… L ast year at this time I wrote of how the summer is upon us, how the season brings with it our department’s busiest time, and how the number of officers being ordered will rise right along with temperature. Unfortunately, we expect that this summer will be no different than the ones in the recent past. Officers citywide will be getting forced to work in order to cover the many events being held in Boston, the vacation periods, and other days off. We are still understaffed. We have voiced our concerns, there is certainly sympathy, but there has been no solution. While we will be welcoming new recruits to our ranks on June 29 th , we all know they will not make much of a difference to our numbers. I know officers will be “working to get out of work” all summer long. I know that they have been doing throughout the year, not just now. I stopped by District A-1 recently and stood in awe at the amount of overtime sheets posted. Luckily for us and our fellow union members at Verizon, the strike has come to an end. Hopefully that brought some relief to those affected. Thank you to all who were made to perform those strike details and represented our union professionally. We have been, and will be, discussing the ordering process for prolonged events like labor actions here at the hall. Also, as far as the ordering process goes, we are constantly fielding phone calls regarding the way it is done. Tempers have flared and in a couple of cases, it has gotten ugly. It is important to continue to bring any questions to your shift representative or to the leadership, so if something was done incorrectly, it can be remedied. TheAnnual B.P.P.A. Golf Tournament was held on June 6 th and I think it is safe to say the day was a huge success. For the first time the tournament was held at two courses, GeorgeWright and Franklin Park. 260 players came to play and the weather was perfect. Thank you to Florian Hall, the City of Boston Credit Union, BCA Benefits Group, and all the other Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Hole Sponsors. Thank you to Tommy Noto for his help with planning and the raffles, and thank you to all that helped out before the big day and at the course namely, Annie Morley, Annmarie Daly, Dan MacIsaac, Jimmy LaCroix, Mike Joyce, MeghanWalsh, Sherry Dellascio, Heather MacKenzie and Bobby Colburn. Without any of you, it would not have been possible. Congratulations to Jeff Tobin for winning the trip to Ireland in the drawing held to raise money for our scholarship program. Have a great time! Also deserving of thanks are the members who have been bringing the canteen truck out to events in and out of the City. The truck was at Officer Tarantino’s funeral and officers from all over were grateful for some relief on such a sad day. It went to some Verizon Strike Locations, District C-11 for the Dot Day Parade, and the Father and Family Fun Day. It is a lot of work, but because of the positive feedback we get and the little bit of difference it makes, I think the members want to be involved and keep it going – thank you for that. Last month, in May, the “Top Cops” Ceremony was held in Washington, D.C. at the J.W. Marriott Hotel and quite of a few of our own were honored and awarded for their heroism. Congratulations to Gregg Bowden, James Conley, Brian Johnson, Janet Lewis, Dennis Medina, John Moynihan and Brian Ball. You made every one of us proud that awful night and we are all grateful you are here See Vice President on page 11