Convention POAM Annual Convention: Seminar Highlights

Legislative Updates

May 24, 2017

Governor’s Task Force Update

Ken Grabowski

The Governor’s Task Force has met about 15 times. It’s the product of a lot of talk, a lot of paper flying back and forth, and not a lot of accomplishments. However, I’ve seen the most recent draft and in a week or two a final draft will come out.

The majority of people on the force are not in favor of mandates. Here’s what we are hoping: that they’ll leave the local communities alone, let them fix their problems and just give them some ideas or suggestions on how to change healthcare/hybrid healthcare system. But, all these things should stay on the bargaining table.

Anything that is going to change should be done in the collective bargaining process. I believe that’s how this is going to come out. And I do believe that legislation will be introduced and we will have this task force as a document and that’ll be used.

Q: Is the Governor on board to follow the recommendations of the task force?
A: The Governor is honestly probably the most reasonable guy to deal with on this. All we are doing is being a recommendation to the Governor to help communities to get out of debt.

Q: What about retirees that no longer go to the bargaining table?
A: Well, they don’t have the right to negotiate. Whatever occurs, none of this is going to happen quickly or easily – this will be a court battle.

Q: We’re safe for now and it’s going to get kicked down the road…do you think this will go away?
A: This will never go away. There’s nothing to backstop this. Even if the Democrats were in charge it wouldn’t go away.

Michigan Legislative Consultants

Big Picture Items in Legislation

1. 

   Legislation’s Focus: Right now the legislature is trying to get the budget done and then solve the teacher pension system before they leave this session. They are much more interested in the teacher issue than most other things and that’s because teacher’s pensions effect the budget every year. They’re addressing the fire that’s closest to them.

2. Healthcare & Pension Reform: Ken has been on the Governor’s Task Force trying to resolve this issue. Last Fall they tried to run something in lame duck and POAM was there; I’m sure many of you remember that. We were able to prevent that from going forward. Before it was ever dropped in, we knew what was coming before it was public, and Ken was able to come up, get out front and really start raising a lot of questions. They pulled the plug and it’s something that we’ve long expected to come back – that won’t happen until the Fall.
3. OPEB: In the Fall there’s still a lot of unanswered issues. At the end of the day, we were able to carve out 312, so if something were to happen with OPEB in September we’re ready to protect you all.
4. MPSERS: The Governor does not care to solve this MPSERS issue at the moment.
5. Income Tax Issue: We’re now moving on from that. The House has moved on.

Bill Updates

There are close to 50 bills that we follow on a day to basis here at Michigan Legislative Consultants that will effect POAM. Here are a few updates:

1. Senate Bill 266 & House Bill 296: Social Security exemption of $15k for retirees who were retired when the changes went in to effect. Hopefully that’ll get to the governor’s desk this session.
2. House Bill 4299: Requires recertification of union members every two years. Another stick in the eye and something we’ll continue to fight. There’s no immediate threat at the moment.
3. House Bill 4429: This has become an issue more recently. It’s literally a one-word change that will have really substantial consequences to how the current garrity is used. They’ve inserted the word “TRUTHFUL.” So, then we have to get in to what is “truthful.” It can really put an officer in a difficult situation, depending on what has been transpiring at the time.

Secondary Issues

• Senate Bill 77: Thin Blue Line license plate – will go for and assist families of injured or fallen officers.
• House bill 4427: POAM was the only law enforcement organization for a while to oppose this bill. It allows your supervisor to arbitrarily look over body camera footage any time and use it against an officer. Currently we are trying to get it amended to say “unless there’s a certain incident that triggers review, don’t take footage simply to get officers in trouble. You could pull footage from anywhere at any time and just look to find something to get someone in trouble for.”
• House Bill 4595 & 4596: Last week two bills were introduced with serious ramifications. 4595 is another stick in the eye for public sector unions & 4596 prohibits exclusivity clauses in labor agreements, which is obviously a huge problem.
• Senate Bill 679: Last session we had Senate Bill 679 introduced by Ken Horn. He’s still supportive of that and unfortunately at this time we have Senate leadership that isn’t willing to move that bill. Every session is different and this time we have a lot of threats on the horizon. We have a lot of anti-union legislation coming, and coupling that with the body camera issue, that’s where we’re putting most of our efforts. With legislation, you can really only push so many things at one time and dip your hands back in before you run out of bandwidth.
• The 312 issue and OPEB issues really come down to local involvement with your legislator. Reach out and say “this is what’s important and why it’s important” so as these issues come up, figure out who your legislator is. Send him an email and ask him to get a cup of coffee. They really just want to hear what’s going on and how they can help you.

Q: On 4131, why are we not on that?
A: This is an issue that comes down to a little bit of a philosophical approach. In this case, it’s about taking away something that would be bargained for and we simply have to oppose that.

Q: What about the bill that’s taking away union time?
A: That bill isn’t introduced in this session, we expect it to be reintroduced. At a minimum there should at least be an exemption for 312 in to that. It’s not ideal but right now it’s palatable and the Senator is in support of that.

Critical Incidents, Use of Force, Implicit Bias, De-Escalation & Decision Making

Daniel Rosa – Training Specialist – MCOLES

“I challenge you to keep an open mind. Challenge yourself. Not even the person next to you is going to know how you think deep down, whether he’s a 2 year rookie or a 20 year veteran. This stuff is going to resonate you because it’s HUMAN research. We’re going to learn about how officers actually make decisions.”

TRAIN THE BRAIN

• Use of Force
• Implicit Bias
• De-Escalation

10 Question Challenge – WHERE DO I STAND?

As you read through these 10 questions, think about where you stand on each of them. How do you really feel? Be truthful.

1. Warrior or Guardian?
   1. Which one are you?
2. OIS (Officer Involved Shootings) – Shoot to Win or Shoot to Not Lose?
   1. Is it more important to win or is it more important to not lose a shoot-out? Why do you believe that?
3. Shoot to Kill or Stop?
   1. Do you really believe that one way or another is better in every situation? Be honest with yourself. What were you thinking about in that moment you were in a shootout?
4. Authority – Always or Sometimes?
   1. When you’re driving around in your patrol car, do you drive thinking that you’re always the authority or just sometimes?
5. Firearms – Officers vs. Suspects?
   1. Why are bad guys so much better at shootings than we are? They have action and reaction. They have no code they have to follow, no policy, they can go off whenever. But that doesn’t explain everything.
6. Rookies – Why do they Miss the Toss?
   1. They miss the first initial suspicious thing bad guys do with their hands? WHY?
7. Do you have a Survival Mindset or Winning Mindset?
   1. I’ve been brought up with a survival mindset, personally. Where do you stand and why?
8. Unconscious Competence / Judgment?
9. Conscious or Unconscious Mind?
   1. Which one do you think rules your day? Which one has more power?
10. Does Training Change Behavior?

System 1 vs System 2: What Controls Us?

System 1:

• Fast
• Automatic
• Frequent
• Emotional
• Stereotypic
• Subconscious
  95% of decisions you make are made by System 1. This includes who you’re going to marry, what house you’re going to buy, etc. Even in slower decisions, it’s still System 1. This is your unconscious brain. It takes in a million pieces of information per second. Think of all the things your brain is doing right at this moment. You’re judging me, you’re judging my slides, you’re thinking about how cold or hot it is in this room, if you’re too cold or hot your brain is constricting or contracting.

System 2:

• Slow
• Effortful
• Infrequent
• Logical
• Calculating
• Conscious
  That’s the slow, analytical and methodical decision making process. This is your conscious brain.

“IN-TU-I-TION is the ability to understand something immediately without the need for conscious reasoning.” -Daniel Rosa

The Problem With Vehicle & Body Cameras

• Don’t track with officer’s eyes
• Don’t capture tactile cues
• Don’t reveal prior history known
• Don’t record at the speed of life
• Don’t capture images in 3-D
• Don’t represent distances accurately
• Don’t reproduce what the human eye sees
• Don’t reproduce the fear officer feels

POAM Legal Team & Daniel Rosa Dissection of Critical Incidents & Union Representation

POAM Legal Team

Weingarten Additional Points
• Officer has the right to select a representative.
• If that rep is unavailable, the officer does not lose the right to a representative.
• Officers cannot demand a representative from a distant worksite if another is more readily available.
• No right to an attorney.
• Union rep can be requested at any time during an interview.

ALWAYS Ask For a Union Representative

At the Scene – Critical Incidents
• Remain calm
• Follow your protocols
• Secure the scene
• Contact your union rep
• Only provide basic information
• If the event is over then give minimal details
• If the event is still in progress then additional information may be necessary
• No formal statement should be provided

Critical Incident: Anything that could lead to serious discipline or criminal investigation

Examples of critical incidents:
• Discharge of weapon
• Injury to suspect
• Death in custody
• Use of force
• Pursuit with industry or property damage

As the Rep
• Keep it simple
• Get only the basics
• No privilege, so do not ask questions you do not need to know
• No legal right

INTERNAL INTERVIEW
• Officer has been asked to speak with a command officer regarding an incident
• On arrival the officer is reviewing a video with the command officer

VIDEO & Body Cameras

• Does the video show that the use of force was necessary and justified?
• In years past the lack of video meant that investigators had to rely heavily on the officers account.
• Now there are videos and we have to be mindful of them.

We don’t want you guys to go out there and be hesitant in situations where you do need to use force. But, always remember that your mindset can save someone’s life.