News and Announcements :: May 21, 2010
"Investing in your community" — it sounds like such a simple concept, but we are surviving together through a tough economy. From my perspective we are fortunate because our community has gone above and beyond to step up and help others in a wide variety of areas, including our police department. I see more and more “Thank A Cop” stickers as I drive around town, and I know that this contributes to the improved morale of officers who again this fiscal year are going to be asked to stay at home for five days without pay. This means that officers, detectives and other members of the department, will “take the day off,” when the criminals who roam our streets will be active. Just recently we had five teenage gang members commit a home invasion where they raped a young girl, beat a man into unconsciousness and fired shots in the home. To the credit of the officers of the Tucson Police Department they were able to quickly track down the suspects and make arrests. This month, May 2010, 16 Tucson police officers will be retiring and there are no academy training classes going on to replace them. So the current officers will be asked to step up and fill those gaps, taking on more work, and also taking a few days off without pay. The city is in a financial bind and they are working on solutions, but in the meantime, we ask our officers to do more with less. Through the Tucson Police Foundation you can be a “Force Multiplier” and help our officers fill the gap. Let's take a look at just a couple of examples.
Late last year Assistant Chief Kathy Robinson and Lt. Bob Wilson came to the Foundation with a request for assistance for important technological equipment to help the Internet Crimes Against Children’s Unit. The Foundation got busy and was able to secure the help of Walmart, Motorola, Jim Click, Journal Broadcasting, KVOI and the Rotary of Tucson in helping the Foundation to obtain the proceeds to provide the necessary equipment. The result? One full-time detective and one detective working part-time to help him, were able to arrest 27 offenders in a span of just nine months and saved countless children from being victimized. Last year we had one of the hottest summers on record. With the help of Target, Buffalo Wild Wings, Costco and other contributors we were able to supply our patrol officers and motorcycle officers with water that kept them hydrated and response ready. Through our members and donors we have been able to fund training for our detectives and our emergency communications workers, TASERS for our patrol officers, vests and equipment for our SWAT Team, and bite suits for our K-9 officers. The result? Officers have been able to perform their jobs better and at a higher quality of service. Our members and donors have helped the morale of the officers and police employees. The needs of our officers are real and the funds to help them go quickly causing the Foundation to continue to strive to raise funds to help.
How can you help? Currently we have several requests from the department that we are working on.
Our officers need this equipment to better protect our community. This is not nice to have stuff, but necessary. For example the technology for the Home Invasion Unit will help to interdict these crimes before they happen, the vests to protect our police dogs, and the bikes to help provide community policing service to our neighborhoods. When you join the Foundation or make a donation you can specify these programs above or any other area where you would like to help the department. But one thing is certain. Without your help, the officers may have to wait years before they are able to obtain this important equipment and we in Tucson will suffer the consequences. Who knows, maybe this most recent home invasion could have been prevented..... The success of the Internet Crimes Against Children's Unit is just one example of how we can help our officers make Tucson a better and safer community. One full-time and one part-time detective put the equipment you helped to give them to work, and the results were outstanding! I am asking you to help us at the Foundation give our officers the tools to do the job, I promise you they will give us the results we are looking for.
If you are currently a member, I thank you but also ask you to spread the word, and get others to join. If you are the head of an organization, business or group, we would love to come and talk about what we do at the Foundation and how you can help. We would love to start a membership drive at your business and include you and your organization as we track our progress. We would like to have one thousand members by the end of the next fiscal year, and we are just over one-third of the way there. Tucson is our hometown, it will be what we invest in it, including how safe it will be in the future. Join me please in helping our officers get the tools they need to do the job the way we all want it done. I'll keep you posted each quarter on our progress.
Rich Harper
Chairman
Tucson Police Foundation
Retired Captain
Tucson Police Department