Below is the letter sent to the media on January 13th...

"PB&PA Unit6 believes the integrity of our officers and the department is of the utmost priority. It is for this reason, everything PB&PA Unit 6 has presented in the media is factual.

Prior to our vote of no confidence, we reported morale at the Rockford Police Department was at an all time low. Chief Epperson stated that there were no morale problems at the police department. Then came our vote of no confidence 276-6--276 officers having no confidence in Chief Epperson. This vote validated our concern; there was and continues to be a huge problem within the Rockford Police Department.

Then PB&PA Unit 6 raised concerns about the staffing levels being too low to adequately patrol the streets of Rockford. Chief Epperson and Mayor Morrissey publicly stated the staffing levels were at an all time high. Then we provided the city council with the manpower allocation study commissioned by Chief Epperson himself, which revealed the Rockford Police Department needed an additional 35 to 84 more officers to adequately patrol the City of Rockford. The Rockford Police Department currently employees 300 sworn police officers. The PB&PA firmly believes the citizens of Rockford could be greater served with more officers. The safety of our citizens and of our officers is of utmost concern. If need be, perhaps the city should consider hiring officers from the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department or the Illinois State Police to supplement the staffing levels.

Then Chief Epperson stated he cut the overtime budget by $1,000,000.00 dollars. Through information obtained via the freedom of information act, it was proven this statement was false.

City Attorney Patrick Hayes went on record and reported our officers are paid $75.00 dollars an hour when working traffic control at the Coronado. Again we proved this was another false statement released by the city.

On Monday, January 7, 2008, Mayor Morrissey and Chief Epperson held a press conference claiming crime is down by 17% and reported the FBI crime statistics verified the city's statistics. However, upon checking the FBI crime statistics, we learned the statistics reported by the FBI range from the time period of January 2007 to June 2007. In this FBI report, there is a disclaimer for Rockford that indicates "because of changes in the state/local agency's reporting practice, figures are not comparable to the previous years' data". This disclaimer applies to the Rockford Police Department because of the change in the reporting system from the UCR code of reporting to the NIBR’s system of reporting. The Rockford Police Department is the only agency to change its crime reporting system out of the seven major cities listed by the FBI for the State of Illinois. Please see the attached and PBPA Unit 6 urges all to visit the following listed internet address for the FBI statistics;

(http://fbi.gov/ucr/prelim2007/table4il_mo.htm)

A possible explanation for their claims of a decrease in crime is result of the Public Safety Tax implemented in Winnebago County. The PB&PA lobbied with the Winnebago County Sheriffs Department and the Winnebago County States Attorneys office to get the Public Safety Tax increase passed. Since the Public Safety Tax has passed, Winnebago County has built the Winnebago County Justice Center. With the new Winnebago County Jail located in this building, how many offenders are being remanded to custody longer, rather than being released due to over staffing levels? Additionally, how many repeat offenders are successfully completing or participating in the alternative social programs.

On January 12th, 2008, Chief Epperson met with city officials for a city budget meeting. During this meeting, Chief Epperson attempted to explain his false statements concerning the police overtime budget. Chief Epperson claimed the overtime budget is largely unsupervised. This statement is another lie by Chief Epperson. With the exceptions of Lieutenants, Deputy Chiefs and the Chief, overtime is allowed for any Rockford police officers that work above their regularly allocated work assignment. Each time an officer submits a request for overtime, the request must be approved by a supervisor.

The largest amount of overtime in the Rockford Police Department is paid to the Patrol officers, as the Patrol shifts are greatly understaffed. In 1993, the patrol shifts were reorganized in an effort to place the most officers on the street during the peak “call load” time which ranges between 9:00pm and 2:00am. Through studies commissioned at that time, it was determined the ten hours shifts would place more officers on the street when they would be needed most. The City has chosen not to hire more officers in the recent years and instead, has chosen to pay officers overtime, rather than hire more officers and have to pay their salaries and benefits.

During previous contract negotiations, the Union has suggested the city charge organizations that request street closures or police protection a “special event” charge for the event. This is being done in many cities represented by the State PBPA Labor Committee. The Union has even suggested a flat fee for events and a $1 per button tax on Waterfront buttons to offset the costs to the city. This idea has never made it past the word "NO".

Additionally, in an effort to off-set court related overtime, the PB&PA has suggested hiring a retired police officer to work with the Winnebago County States Attorneys office to coordinate cancelled court appearance. Jim Bowman, a previous PB&PA vice president first suggested the idea after attending a conference in Oklahoma many years ago. The PB&PA has suggested this to the city administration several times over the years.

On January 12th, 2007, Chief Epperson presented the city officials with a chart from an unnamed city with a population of 300,000. As stated above, the Chief is not credible when releasing data, especially if the so called city is not named. The PB&PA has to ask Chief Epperson why he did not release the results of the manpower study commissioned from 1993, which indicated the ten hours shifts would be the most beneficial for Rockford. The Chief also has two crime analysts that could also provide him with data concerning Rockford instead of an unnamed city twice the size of Rockford.

In the 80’s and early 90’s, prior to going to the 10 hours shifts, there were 49 officers assigned to each of the patrol shifts. Currently we have 21 Officers assigned to the patrol shifts. Prior to switching to the 10 hours shifts, seven officers per shift could be allowed to take vacation. Currently, a maximum of four officers can take vacation with only two officers being allowed to take vacation during the “prime times”. When the Rockford Police Department switched to ten hour shifts, the members gave up their Time Coming (TC) banks. Thus the ability for a bargaining member to use FLSA standards to request time off was bargained away.

We all want the crime rate to fall. However, with the in-accurate statements reported by the city, PB&PA Unit 6 questions the integrity of any reports released by the city concerning statistics. PB&PA Unit 6 would like this administration to be honest with the citizens of Rockford and Rockford Officers. We wish to reassure the public, although we have internal issues with Chief Epperson, the men and women of the Rockford Police Department will always strive to serve and protect the community to the best of our ability.

In closing, I must add there are new openings created by the recent resignation of some of our officers. This trend will most likely continue and will cause further shortages on the patrol shifts, causing an officer safety issue in the proper staffing of our patrol shifts. In the past the Union and administration have worked hand-in-hand to resolve matters and implement new programs. Unfortunately the current administration continues to exclude the Union from participating. Major corporations started to include employees and union leadership with decision making several years ago and because it has been productive it continues today. The Union believes that "IF IT IS GOOD FOR THE CITY IT SHOULD BE GOOD FOR THE UNION. AND - IF ITS GOOD FOR THE UNION IT SHOULD BE GOOD FOR THE CITY." Hopefully, if the City shares this thought we should be able to accomplish future tasks.

Respectfully,
Aurelio DeLaRosa-President
PB&PA Unit #6 "