PA Chiefs_Bulletin Winter_2016

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PA CHIEFS OF POLICE ASSOCIATION | BULLETIN | WINTER 2016 | 5
While Mark’s tenure as President lasted
just over four months, his presence will
be felt for the remainder of his term
and beyond. As we look back at one of
Mark’s most critical decisions, it was his
initiative to have the conference in Erie
this year and despite the misgivings of
some, this venue and conference was a
total success. He has had input in many
ways during his rise through the steps
to President and was also active on the
Municipal Police Officers Education
Commission and with the Western
Chiefs. We wish Mark the best in his
journey as he leaves our leadership in the
hands of Acting President David Spotts
who currently serves as the Public Safety
Director at Lower Paxton Township
Police Department in Dauphin County.
As we learned of the need to transition
to a new leader, our By-Laws served us
well and provided a clear path to the
continuation of leadership. Acting
President Spotts has provided his thoughts
elsewhere in this issue and was certainly
able to hit the ground running on several
matters. We hope to profile him more
thoroughly in a future issue as he steps up
to an extended term as President.
Of course the other big changes on the
horizon have come about from the
November elections. In Pennsylvania,
we have elected a new Attorney
General. Josh Shapiro has worked with
DEAR MEMBERS,
our organization in many capacities
and we look forward to having this
important role in the leadership of law
enforcement in Pennsylvania come
under his direction in January. We will
also see a new Pennsylvania legislative
session begin in January with some new
faces in the Senate and the House. We
were disappointed in November that
Radar and Body Camera legislation was
not acted on in the Pennsylvania House
of Representatives. The Senate passed a
Radar bill and a Body Camera bill and
both of these would have allowed us to
use the tools necessary to perform our
work. This simple concept was apparent
in the passage of good legislation by the
Senate. We will now renew our efforts
in January with a new session in hopes
of educating our elected officials that we
need to have the laws enacted that will
allow the police officers who are serving
our communities the best equipment that
is available.
The election also resulted in a new
President Elect of the United States. In
January, Donald Trump will become
the 45th President and much remains
to be seen as to the changes that will
come. Our organization was receiving
questions on the day after the election
as to how this new presidency will
effect law enforcement. While that may
be too early to tell, we all know that
positions such as United States Attorney
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
This final issue of the Bulletin for 2016 is published during a time of many
changes that we are expecting in the year to come. As most of you know,
our Association President Mark Hall submitted his resignation to the Board
in November. Due to illness, Mark was no longer able to continue in his
position as Chief of Police in Clarion, Pa. and he promptly notified us that
he was regrettably stepping down as President.