THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070329
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Sheriff Frank Drew has resigned from the city's Fraternal Order of Police in protest over a campaign for higher police pay and has announced his department's intention to start its own FOP lodge.
Drew, who has about 300 deputies, was unanimously supported by the FOP in his uncontested re-election bid in November 1993. He informed the FOP leader of his withdrawal in a letter dated Dec. 5 and obtained Wednesday by The Virginian-Pilot.
The sheriff's resignation follows that of Police Chief Charles R. Wall, who last week said he was quitting the FOP.
Drew, who operates the city's jail, and Wall have expressed distaste for the campaign tactics of a police lobbying coalition, named Code Blue, which has aggressively lobbied city leaders for higher pay and benefits for police officers. The coalition is made up of the FOP, the Police Supervisors' Association and the Police Benevolent Association.
Ten police captains also expressed their ``vehement objections'' to Code Blue's lobbying tactics in a letter to FOP president-elect Al Byrum. They asked Byrum to remove the FOP from the coalition. The letter, dated Monday, was obtained by The Virginian-Pilot Wednesday.
The captains' letter said they support the causes Code Blue is pursuing, but not the way the message is being delivered.
Code Blue has paid for several newspaper ads and hired a plane to fly a banner over Mount Trashmore July 4 while Mayor Meyera Oberndorf was attending a celebration there. Recently, Code Blue sent a man dressed as Santa to a private fund-raiser for the mayor and distributed prank presents, including Code Blue T-shirts, to city leaders.
Code Blue leaders have said attention-grabbing tactics are merely politics aimed at politicians.
A city-sponsored study touted by Code Blue showed police pay often lags thousands of dollars a year below salaries paid by national and regional cities of Virginia Beach's size. The starting salary, however, is about $24,000, the second highest in South Hampton Roads after Norfolk.
``Individually and collectively, we disapprove of these antagonistic tactics that have served to damage the previously outstanding communitywide reputations of the lodge, its members and the department. . . ,'' the captains' letter said.
Aside from supporting police issues, the FOP is one of the most active charitable organizations in Hampton Roads. A recent FOP-sponsored run raised money to help rebuild arson-damaged Princess Anne High School.
The letter was signed by Capts. M.E. Beane, E.F. Buzzy, W.L. Deanes, T.V. Irving, E.E. Rorrer, J.W. Brazier, H.R. Campbell, W.D. Haden, A.M. Jacocks Jr. and A.E. Smith. Copies were sent to Oberndorf, Wall and City Manager James K. Spore.
While most FOP members are police officers, several are sheriff's deputies.
Drew said they expressed the desire, through a survey, to withdraw from the lodge. Of the more than 100 survey responses he received from deputies, Drew said, only two wanted to remain members of the existing FOP lodge.
``It is our intention, after the new year, to start our own FOP lodge,'' Drew said in his letter's closing line.
Byrum, the FOP's president-elect, said FOP bylaws wouldn't allow a second lodge in the city. But, Byrum said, the deputies could form a separate organization. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Sheriff Frank Drew has expressed distaste for the tactics of a
police lobbying coalition named Code Blue.
by CNB