CLEAT: Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas
What CLEAT does
As a law enforcement professional your job is difficult, dangerous and often violent. You need someone in your corner standing up for you and fighting to protect you, your job and your family’s income. CLEAT is the best, largest, and most respected organization fighting for Texas’ finest.
Our mission is to ensure that you, as a CLEAT member, receive the professional respect, employment rights, and legal protections you deserve.
After all, your role in enforcing the laws and protecting the lives and property of citizens is the most important, fundamental job in Texas.
CLEAT has a rich history of relentlessly fighting to ensure that all Texas law enforcement professionals get the best possible pay, benefits and working conditions. In addition, CLEAT works to make sure our members:
1. Realize the full extent of their legal, political and employment rights
2. Make sure the working conditions permit the job to be done safely and effectively
3. Earn fair compensation for the critically important work law enforcement officers perform and the sacrifices made daily by the families of our members.
CLEAT provides legal representation, lobbying and legislative representation, local political action, collective bargaining and negations support and a range of related field services.
With more than 18,500 members across the state, CLEAT is the largest police officers’ union in Texas, the largest legal services provider in Texas specializing in representing law enforcement officers, and the largest alliance of local police officers’ associations in Texas. More important, we possess the world-class experience, resources and the will to bring STRENGTH, JUSTICE and UNITY to everything from local contract negotiations to critical incidents.
CLEAT is the state’s largest legal services provider specializing in representing law enforcement officers, and we have the largest, most experienced and effective team of collective bargaining experts.
Services include:
Legal representation
Political action
Collective bargaining and negotiations support
$11,500 line of duty death benefit
Message from the President:
Todd Harrison, CLEAT President
CLEAT: Focused and engaged. So buckle up Texas. It’s on.
The CLEAT engine is new, faster, and more efficient. Since the CLEAT Board of Directors brought in a new executive director, the organization has been undergoing a complete restructure – all with the goal of better serving our members. Without any fanfare, working quickly behind the scenes, CLEAT has made large and small changes to make sure the services we provide continue to be the best they can be.
We created new positions to make sure services for our members are spread evenly across our huge geographic expanse. And it is downright exciting to see the new professionals move into place and the new CLEAT team taking form right in front of our eyes as we move forward to reinvest in and improve the delivery of services to our 18,500 members.
We are particularly proud of our new ability to offer a rapid legal response to the members during critical incidents. Our field services program has been strengthened considerably and we have many more boots on the ground.
We have also increased our legal staff. Today there are more attorneys who work exclusively for our members. These attorneys are highly skilled. They are former officers, prosecutors and attorneys with real world experience protecting law enforcement personnel. You won’t find them defending criminals one day and working for CLEAT members the next.
Our new iPhone and Android apps, called the CLEAT Tactical Bag, are patent and trademark protected. This innovative technology can put our lawyers right down in the street next to any officer who needs help.
Our overhaul of the entire CLEAT database utilizes the Cloud to protect every byte of our members information and gives each member direct access to change their own personal information or pay a bill straight from their smart phone. CLEAT is the only law enforcement organization to have this technology in place.
The new CLEAT is just getting started with fast paced troop deployment, and technical innovation, all with one focus – building a better world for our members.
Our new Executive Director, Charley Wilkison and I, have worked together since my first days on the Austin Police Association Board of Directors all the way through my years on the CLEAT Board, then as Vice President and finally as your President. I can promise that our new Executive Director and our CLEAT Executive Board is focused and we are engaged. Buckle up Texas. It’s on.
Todd Harrison, President
Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT)
Charley Wilkison, CLEAT Executive Director
Message from Charley Wilkison, Executive Director of CLEAT
Our mission at the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT) is all about protecting our members and working hard to secure the best possible pay, benefits and working conditions for our people who do one of the most difficult and important jobs in our society.
All the dedicated staff at CLEAT works hard to ensure that our members’ rights and interests are protected to ensure that our members’ rights and interests are protected by providing exceptional legal representation, legislative and political power, assistance in labor negotiations, and leadership and association development programs.
Charley Wilkison, Executive Director
Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT)
A closer look at CLEAT
COMMUNITY OUTREACH. CLEAT President Todd Harrison(left) and CLEAT Regional Director Greg Shipley (right) pictured with Joseph Clarence and his BBQ Cook Off team from Mama and Papa Joe’s BBQ in Converse, Texas. The team was the grand champion winner at the Peace Officers Memorial Foundation’s BBQ Cook Off in San Antonio.
The CLEAT Executive Board voted in favor of a resolution condemning President Obama’s nomination of Debo Adegbile to lead the civil rights division of the US Justice Department because of his defense of one of the nation’s most notorious cop killers.
LEADING THE WAY
CLEAT has been a trailblazer in the law enforcement union movement. Here’s some background on the organization.
The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas – CLEAT – was born during the mid-1970’s by a group of concerned, committed, innovative police officers seeking to enhance the law enforcement profession and better protect the people doing this difficult, important work.
CLEAT’s rich history began with a growing dissatisfaction among rank and file officers that they were not being properly represented. Many of the founders were returning veterans of the Vietnam War era and were unhappy with the way their statewide police association. Despite many requests the association was reluctant to hire attorneys or represent members when they were disciplined, demoted or terminated.
After attempting to resolve their grievances from within but being unable to impact change, the decision was made to break away and form a new organization that would change the pro-management culture of the organization they had been a part of.
CLEAT was born and the founders went to work and quickly began to aggressively represent street cops throughout Texas and work hard to get them more respect, better working conditions, and an increase in pay and benefits.
And they were remarkably successful. CLEAT was the first union in Texas to offer formal for their members. CLEAT was the first police association to hire on-staff attorneys that worked only for the members. CLEAT attorneys were the first to be onsite at critical incidents and the first union lawyers to appear before the Supreme Court and appeal cases up and down the Appellate System.
CLEAT was the first to hire field service representatives to negotiate collective bargaining contracts and the first in Texas to hire professional lobbyists and political consultants who work exclusively for the members.
CLEAT was the first union to lobby the legislature, pass legislation benefiting officers and their families and the first to run elections in the field helping to persuade local voters to pass local measures like civil service, collective bargaining and pay referendums.
We are proud to say we are funded solely by our members. We answer only to the law enforcement officers who are our members. It’s a matter of real pride for us that we have never engaged in unscrupulous telemarketing, hustled government grants or participated in other questionable financial schemes.
Now, over 35 years later, CLEAT is larger and stronger than ever. With more than 18,500 members across the State of Texas, more than 100 local affiliates, and 40 world-class professional staff located in every area of Texas, CLEAT continues to do everything in our power to protect our members as they routinely risk their physical and mental health to protect our citizens. We are proud, that here at CLEAT, we live out the words of our motto: Strength, Justice and Unity.
Connect with us
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