Fraternal Order of Police
The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is a professional association of American police officers . With more than 325,000 members in 2,100 local groups, it is the largest U.S. professional association in the field. It conducts public relations, works as a lobby organization for the US Congress and regularly publishes information for its members such as legal notices and negotiating tips. It finances memorial sites for police officers who died on duty and provides support payments for their relatives. In recent years, however, the FOP has increasingly appeared as a collective bargaining union .
history
On May 14, 1915, the two policemen Martin Toole and Delbert Nagle from Pittsburgh founded the association. The association was originally founded as a common interest group and social fund. In its early days, the FOP primarily served as a meeting place for police officers outside of working hours and in many areas it functioned no differently than small private clubs such as the Lions Club . The Grand Lodge , the national governing body, is based in Nashville , Tennessee .
After police officers in more and more areas were given the right to negotiate collective agreements , the structure changed. In some places the local police officers chose the FOP as their authorized negotiating partner, so that there it actually took on the role of a trade union.
To what extent the FOP is a suitable organization for this is controversial. Unlike most unions, he is open to all ranks, including the very management with which he has to negotiate. In addition, the social structure of the order changes too much and has little to do with the original goals.
In many areas of the United States , there is still an informal segregation in the Order , so that there are almost only whites as members and no blacks in management positions.
In 2016, the FOP spoke out in favor of Donald Trump's election as US President.
In July 2018, the association made international headlines when a district group called for the association to remove two books critical of the police from the recommended reading list of a high school in South Carolina.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Here's What the Biggest Police Union Wants From Trump , Mother Jones (journal) December 13, 2016; Accessed October 21, 2018
- ^ The Fraternal Order of Police Must Go , The Nation, October 11, 2017; Accessed October 21, 2018
- ↑ http://www.fop.net/CmsPage.aspx?id=22#Admin
- ↑ Does the Fraternal Order of Police Have A Black People Problem? , Atlanta Blackstar, September 7, 2017
- ^ A b Why the Fraternal Order of Police Must Go , themarshallproject.org , November 10, 2017
- ↑ US Police Association tries to censor reading list - "We have to put a stop to this" , boersenblatt.net, published and accessed on July 20, 2018