CCUPCA Starts a Letter Writing Campaign to Approve Bill
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The following is a release from the California College and University Police Chiefs Association (CCUPCA). The organization is implementing a letter writing campaign to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in regards to AB 1769. The bill suggests that community college and school district resource officers be exempt from jury duty. Gov. Schwarzenegger has indicated that he will veto the bill. The CCUPCA is asking for campus safety officials to send letters to the governor to approve the bill.
Below is a letter from Cheryl Sprague, our legislative consultant you can use as a starting point.
Feel free to “make it your own” – personal anecdotes always help. E-mail is okay, but for some reason doesn’t carry the same weight as actual letter. Where possible, these should be on your department letterhead & mailed.
The Honorable Arnold Schwarzenegger
Office of the Governor
California State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,
Our office is writing in regards to your pending veto of AB 1769 (Galgiani), a bill to add community college and school district peace officers to the list of those exempt from jury service. This bill has been on the legislature’s consent calendar with good reason. The argument that this legislation will add to the problem of California’s prison overcrowding crisis is unfounded and at best an over-reaction.
The real crisis is within California’s police department budgets. Sending our officers to sit in a room all day for a jury in which they’ll never be selected to serve only adds to this problem. In the early 1990s, the Legislature expanded exemptions from jury service by adding specified officers to the list as these officers perform critical law enforcement functions and their prolonged absences could compromise public safety. Under existing law, certain officers including city police, deputy sheriffs, highway patrolmen, and even BART police departments are exempted from jury service in criminal matters; however, community college and school districts police departments are not.
Community college and school district police perform critical public safety functions and losing these officers to jury service impacts campus safety levels and greatly increases overtime costs. This impact is unwarranted since, in practice, these officers are almost never chosen for jury service, thereby greatly wasting state resources. In this time of a law enforcement budget crisis it seems illogical that community college and school district police officers are not treated with the same respect as their brothers and sisters in other areas.
We urge you to take these items under advisement and sign AB 1769 into law. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
YOUR NAME & TITLE HERE
YOUR CAMPUS NAME HERE
CCUPCA Aug. 10 release
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