“Get dirty and fight to win”

In 2008 DeLord told officers in American Police Beat to “get dirty and fight to win,” by getting personal with reformist council members and “bloody their noses.” When asked about it later he said he had learned to be more collaborative, but about the “get dirty” message he noted, “I wrote it. I believe it.”
Some police associations use more aggressive tactics to protect the job and benefits.
A drive by some American cities to cut costly police retirement benefits has led to an extraordinary face-off between local politicians and the law enforcement officers who work for them.
In Costa Mesa, California, lawmaker Jim Righeimer says he was a target of intimidation because he sought to curb police pensions. In a lawsuit in November, Righeimer accused the Costa Mesa police union and a law firm that once represented them, of forcing him to undergo a sobriety test (he passed) after driving home from a bar in August 2012.
Disputes such as these have intensified as Detroit and two California cities, Stockton and San Bernardino, have gone bankrupt in the past two years. Police pension costs were a major factor in the financial troubles facing all three. Now large cities, including San Jose and San Diego, say they have no choice but to alter pension agreements lest they end up in bankruptcy too.
Ron DeLord, the former president of CLEAT, said the view of many rank-and-file officers is that they are up against forces who do not wish to negotiate.
In 2008 DeLord told officers in American Police Beat to “get dirty and fight to win,” by getting personal with reformist council members and to “bloody their noses.”
But DeLord also said he had learned to be more collaborative since 2008, but said of the “get dirty” message: “I wrote it. I believe it.”