NAPO encourages Attorney General to include
police unions in task force strategizing
On Jan. 28, NAPO Executive Director
Bill
met= with Attorney
=
= =
= Johnson
=
=
=
= General
Loretta Lynch and representatives of other
=
=
=
= = law enforcement
=
= =
=
organizations
to discuss
=
=
=
=
=of the recommendations
=
= =
implementation
=
=
= of the= Task Force= on=21st-century
=
=Policing.
The Attorney General wants everyone to support the six pillars of
the recommendations from the task force and wants the
Department of Justice (DOJ) “to direct the change that is coming” to
policing in America.
Lynch is partnering with the National Organization of Black Law
Enforcement Executives on this effort, believing racial minorities in
law enforcement need to be seen as leading the change.
NAPO questions why she has not sat down with police unions to
understand how the task force’s recommendations affect officers.
NAPO will push the DOJ to include police unions in discussions
around the implementation of the recommendations.
Johnson raised NAPO’s concerns about overcoming
constitutional hurdles to federal prosecution of crimes against law
enforcement officers. NAPO previously discussed two options with
Assistant Attorney General Gupta:
1. Any officer within a jurisdiction that has received federal
funding for law enforcement purposes is covered with sufficient
federal interest to justify federal criminal charges if that officer
is a victim of assault or homicide.
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NEW JERSEY COPS
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FEBRUARY 2016
= who
= = by virtue of=his= or her
= status as
= an
= officer
= would
Any officer
be= a potential
in= a federal
case
also= has
=
= defendant
=
=
= civil
= rights
=
=
sufficient federal status to justify federal prosecutions of violent
= =
=
=
= = =
=
=
crimes against that officer.
= only one
= to comment
= = on Johnson’s
= = suggestions,
= =
=
Lynch was= the
giving= a non-committal
that==the DOJ does what it can
=
=
= statement
= that
=
within the law as it already exists.
IRS proposed rules on normal retirement age
On Jan. 27, the IRS published proposed rules on normal retirement age for governmental plans adding three new safe harbors to
the normal retirement age requirement specifically for qualified
public safety employees. They are:
1. A normal retirement age of 50 or later is deemed to satisfy the
reasonably representative requirement;
2. A normal retirement age that is the participant’s age when the
sum of the participant’s age plus the number of years of service
credited to the participant under the plan equals 70 or more;
3. Any age with at least 20 years of service.
Employers can treat public safety employees differently than general or municipal employees. Governmental plans could use one or
more of the safe harbors for qualified public safety employees even
if a different normal retirement age is used for other categories of
employees within the plan. Municipalities would not have to create
a new plan to allow public safety employees to benefit from these
new regulations.
2.