During the past year and a half, The National Fraternal Order of Police has seen many successes.

The major areas of improvement have occurred in Legislation, Labor, and member services.

Legislation:

In this area we have seen the passage of HR 218 the police concealed carry bill, the preservation of overtime for law enforcement officers with the exemption granted in the new Fair Labor Standards Act, the passage of Hometown Heroes Legislation, which allows for Public Safety Officer benefits to be paid in the event of a heart attack caused by emergency police action and movement towards resolving the Windfall Elimination Provision.

The National Lodge has also worked to improve our Political Action Committee which was started by Past President Steve Young, and we have held several contests to encourage participation in the PAC.

Labor:

We have increased our staff in the Labor Services Section and we have expanded our Labor training and seminars to include matters such as Lodge leadership and collective bargaining training.

The National Lodge has begun an outreach program to instruct state lodges in the art of negotiation and bargaining and we have offered on site training opportunities to assist states that are in the early stages of labor work.

The National Lodge has also assisted in many recruitment efforts and we have successful assisted in defeating every attempt by rival groups to raid our membership. There have been attempts in four FOP cities and in conjunction with local and state lodges we have not failed.

Member Services:

This area has been improved in significant ways. The National Lodge has increased communication by expanding the number of Journals from 4 to 6 per year and we have expanded our electronic communications which includes a monthly electronic newsletter from the President.

We have started a Scholarship Program for FOP members to attend training seminars offered by the Grand Lodge and we plan to expand this effort in the future.

The National Lodge has at my direction signed contracts for a prescription drug plan that will reduce costs for medications and we have also signed a contract to provide a Retirement Health Savings Program that will allow members to save for health care on a tax free basis.

The National Lodge has also signed a contract with Nationwide Mortgage Company that affords our members an easy method for applying for low cost mortgages and the approval rating has been far above industry standards.

During the next two years we will continue to strive to improve in all of these areas and I thank you for your support.