Info Needed On Legal Assistance Requests From Members
Bill Owensby (left), former Lodge 86 president, with Rick Snyder, the newly elected president of the Indianapolis FOP.
My name is Jerry Piland, and I am the Sgt. at Arms with our FOP Lodge 86 in Indianapolis, Indiana. We are getting ready to do a line-by-line audit of our bylaws and update them to reflect current times. One of the issues we struggle with is legal assistance requests and whether they technically meet the bylaws. I will quote the legal assistance bylaws for you later. This is how our process works:
A member will come to the lodge and request assistance in person and in writing, where they must choose any or all of the following choices: criminal, administrative, or civil. The member must provide a detailed description of the events surrounding the assistance request, which could include a police report, IA statement, etc.
Our executive board meets monthly and all new cases are brought forward as new legal requests. The member has an opportunity to go before the board and ask or answer any questions. The board then votes. This vote is seen as a recommendation to the body of the lodge from the board. This request must then go before the body of the lodge at the next monthly meeting, where the recommendation of the board is put on record and then there is a vote by the members present at the meeting.
A member can also call the president in an emergency situation and be placed under “emergency assistance” for issues that come up where a recommendation and vote cannot wait. This situation will be then be heard at the next regular board and business meeting.
As you will read below in Section 1a, one of the minimum requirements for receiving legal assistance is “Provided that incident occurred while the member was acting in the scope of his or her authority as a police officer.” This seems pretty clear-cut as you read it. However, what happens when a controversial or borderline “meets the by-laws” case comes before the body of the lodge is that this sentence gets confused with on-duty or off-duty or the person petitioning for assistance packs the house with supporters, so a yea vote is gained for assistance.
I believe you get the idea of what we face here in Indy, from time to time, at our lodge. We are looking for some more concrete language or another way of writing this section, in order to prevent issues we have had in the past from coming up again. I am respectfully requesting the following from you:
1. What does your lodge or POA require from a member in order to get legal assistance?
2. What criteria has to be met before legal assistance is granted?
3. What do your by-laws say regarding legal assistance?
4. Does your lodge or POA have some of the same issues?
Thank you very much for your time in reading this email and taking time to reply to me with thoughts and suggestions. I can be reached at 317-430-1914 or jelp73@sbcglobal.net
Fraternally,
Jerry Piland
Below is the By-Law pertaining to legal assistance:
ARTICLE VII
Benefits and Legal Aid Fund
SEC. 1a. Active/Retired members of the lodge, in good standing, may petition for legal assistance for any incident that could result in departmental discipline, civil or criminal action provided that incident occurred while the member was acting in the scope of his or her authority as a police officer.
SEC. 1b. A member requesting legal assistance shall be provided a request for legal assistance form that has been approved by the Executive Board. All information required by the Board must be submitted by the member requesting assistance. The member shall deliver the completed request, in person or by certified mail, to the President or his designee.
SEC. 1c. The President may grant emergency legal assistance to any eligible member, with approval of a majority of the Executive Board, or if in his opinion approval of a majority of the Executive Board is not practical. However, the member must submit the request in writing, as required, prior to the next regular business meeting.
SEC. 1d. The President, or his designee, shall review all requests for legal assistance to insure all necessary information is provided and review requestor’s membership status.
SEC. 1e. The President, or his designee, prior to the next regular executive board meeting, shall obtain any other information deemed necessary regarding a request for legal assistance and shall submit the request to the Executive Board for their consideration. The Executive Board may summon any member who has requested legal assistance to appear before the Board to provide any additional information regarding the request. The Board, after reviewing the matter, shall make its recommendation at the next regular business meeting.
SEC. 1f. A member requesting legal assistance who fails to appear before the Executive Board, after being duly summoned to do so, except for reasons beyond his or her control, shall not be eligible to receive assistance. The President shall report, at the next regular business meeting, any such occurrence.
SEC. 1g. If a member is granted legal assistance by the lodge and a decision, deemed negative, is rendered by a court or disciplinary authority, the member may be entitled to appeal that decision to a higher authority, however, a new request for legal assistance must be presented in the same manner prescribed above and the request must be approved by the lodge. The President shall direct the attorney to provide the Board with his opinion as to whether or not the appeal has merit.
SEC. 1h. The President of the lodge shall be solely empowered to refer such legal matters of the lodge or of a qualified member to the law firm or attorney considered best qualified by the majority of the Executive Board.
SEC. 1i. Any member granted legal assistance who fails to follow through with the lawsuit or matter, upon which the assistance was granted, without the consent of the lodge, will be responsible for all legal fees and costs connected therewith.
SEC. 1j. The lodge shall not consider or grant legal assistance to any person who is not an active member in good standing at the time the incident occurred.
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We had a similar issue 4 years ago. We had expanded in the course of your duties to mean whenever the department brought you up on charges. That went on for a while and we had to change the by laws to match the application and practice. We also wanted to prevent the idea members had to beg for legal aid when they felt it should be more automatic. We also wanted to keep board members or others from being compelled to testify to what an officer said at an admin hearing. We had the attorney’s function as gate keepers but we lost oversight of what was ongoing. To meet all of these challenges we created a claim form to track incidents. The member then submits bills monthly so they know what has been done in their case. The committee reviews and reports what has been spent. We require off duty criminal to be covered out of pocket to the member but we cover the admin. I will send you our By Laws.