NJ Cops March19 | Page 34

STATE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33 members to attend your Local meetings and find out the truth. There is so much information out there. If you don’t find the an- swers to the questions you are asking, call us and we will find somebody who has the answer. Pat: What excites me is having to call for an extra 100 chairs on the first day of the Mini Convention to accommodate every- body who attended. And then on the second day, it was stand- ing-room only. There wasn’t an inch of room to put in another chair, and they ran out of chairs anyway. We had to move the convention to Bally’s for more space, and now we have to find an even bigger venue. That’s incredibly exciting. 34 NEW JERSEY COPS ■ MARCH 2019 The old assumption from the chiefs is that we are down there for a week of partying. And it’s becoming harder and harder for our members to get time off to attend union meetings. I hope this sends a message. We had more than 1,350 members sitting in their seats all day listening to the programs on topics ranging from mental healthcare to legal updates. We need our members to continue this type of participation. If you are sitting in a patrol car reading this and realize you hav- en’t had a meeting or delegate’s report recently, somebody needs to ask why. There’s a tremendous amount of information avail- able at every meeting and, like I said, it takes more than just pay- ing dues to be a PBA member.