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Fallen Officers Fund
By James McClure, ASSIST Chairman-Fallen Officers,
Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of Statewide Patrol, Inc.
Greetings Fellow ASSIST Members. My name is James C. McClure, Vice President of Statewide Patrol, Inc. and a member of ASSIST. I have recently been appointed as the chairman of a new ASSIST committee on fallen officers in the security industry. The committee will have a chairman and five chair members (one from each regional chapter of ASSIST).
The State Executive Board of ASSIST created the Security Officer�s Memorial Fund so that in the future, monies will be more readily available for the families of security officers who have fallen in the line-of-duty. The �Fallen Officer Fund�, created just a few months ago, has currently received donations to date totaling
$2,485.00 [9/24/04] with a long-term goal to reach $20,000. The fund was created to assist family members of fallen officers with much needed monies to pay for burial expenses, rent, food and other family expenses that are incurred when a tragedy occurs.
The Committee has been fully formed and the chair members representing your chapter are: Pete LaBonte representing the South Texas Alamo Chapter, Lorenzo Sosa representing the El Paso Chapter, Phil W. Frank representing the Houston Chapter, Professor Frank Torres representing the Rio Grande Valley Chapter, and Co-Chairman Mike McGregor representing the Dallas Chapter.
I have offered my assistance in the formation and running of this committee because we all work in a profession, which does suffer tragic loss from time to time. ASSIST wants to be at the forefront of offering immediate assistance to the families of these fallen heroes.
I presented Phase I of the ASSIST Fallen Officer program and agenda at the March 2004 meeting in Austin and Phase II in June 2004. The program, although in its infancy, is off and running. The ASSIST website is currently tracking the fund with a money meter and donations are being accepted payable to:
ASSIST Fallen Officers Fund
3300 Bee Caves Rd. Suite 650-119
Austin, TX 78746
The Program has two goals: First, tracking statistical information about the losses to our ranks. Second, tracking the actual fund, its donors and recipients. First, in regards to tracking the statistical losses to our ranks the ASSIST website can be used to offer recognition and chronicle all fallen officers in the State of Texas. This can only be accomplished if all the chapter presidents and ASSIST members offer their knowledge of the history or incidents that document fallen officers. Please email me the details and I will begin to track a spreadsheet on the losses to our ranks over the years. For years, the law enforcement community has tracked their fallen law enforcement officers. Our profession should do the same. For example, just in the past few years the law enforcement ranks have lost one-hundred and forty-six officers in 2003, one hundred-fifty eight in 2002 and two-hundred and thirty-seven in 2001. ASSIST believes it proper to remember the fallen heroes in our profession ��lest they never be forgot�.
Second, in regards to the Fallen Officer Fund, ASSIST would like to thank the following listed persons and companies for their donations. The ASSIST website has this list of donors posted at the following link:
www.assisttexas.org/fund.shtml
Additionally, the State Executive Board of ASSIST is currently considering a percentage of the State Convention Funds be donated annually to this fund so that these monies are readily available when needed most.
If you have any suggestions or would like to discuss the formation of this fund further, contact me at:
James C. McClure
ASSIST Chairman-Fallen Officers
Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Statewide Patrol, Inc.
[email protected]
(512) 326-9411 office
(512) 848-4740 cell
(512) 209-5000 pager
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