President's Letter
In my 35 years of
working in this field, I have been involved in so many incidents
where police officers go through career-ending situations
without any legal representation.
It’s funny--many
fraternal police organizations claim to be as good as the PBA,
so I will make my case with facts and experience. Just here in
Wake County I have seen PBA attorneys on scene with in the hour
of a police shooting (Wake Forest). I have seen the PBA take a
case all the way to the North Carolina Supreme Court (Raleigh).
I have spoken to some of the attorneys who are paid by my dues,
and they are some of the best in the country (Mike McGuinness).
I have a direct relationship based on cases that happened here
in Wake County, and I know that the PBA will represent its
officers in a fair and professional manner. The last shooting
which I was directly involved in, the PBA attorney was there on
scene within 30 minutes of our call (Morrisville).
Look within your own
department. You can always find those officers who think they
will never be in that situation because they are too damn smart.
After 35 years in this job, I just laugh at what Thomas
Jefferson so correctly observed in fools who represent
themselves as clients.
Some of your fellow Wake
County law enforcement officers have recently gotten together to
re-organize the Wake County members of the former Raleigh-Wake
Chapter of the NCPBA. As most of you know, the Raleigh P.D.
members have formed their own chapter and are doing some great
things under the leadership for their new chapter board and
chapter president Narley Cashwell. It's time for us to do the
same for the rest of our Wake County members.
We have formed a
steering committee and will have our first chapter meeting in
January 2009. If you would like to be a steering committee
member or to learn more, please plan to attend. We will notify
you of the meeting date soon, and we hope to be ready for
chapter board elections by as soon as February or March.
So now ask yourself,why?
This new chapter can be a brotherhood of cops who I know will be
there when I call. The PBA is more than legal representation; it
is friends and counterparts of an officer who know this system
and understand what we all need when we need help.
Jon MacBride
A PBA member
Co-chair, chapter steering committee