- Click Here - for more information.
The members of the Monrovia Police Officers Association would like to welcome you to our official web site. We hope you will find the information contained within this website to be current and useful. We are constantly trying new approaches to keep our members and members of the general public up to date on what is occurring within the police department and our association.
We would like to assure you that every officer of the Monrovia Police Department as well as all members of the Monrovia Police Officers Association proudly serve the Monrovia community. We have chosen to work for the City of Monrovia for some of the same reasons you have chosen to live and or work here. We serve this community with pride, dignity and respect. Each and every member of the Monrovia Police Officer's Association truly enjoys working with the Monrovia Community and we thank you deeply for your valued support.
If you have suggestions or ideas to make this website more useful or any comments you would like heard, please feel free to visit the Help Out tab to the left and leave your welcomed suggestions. Together we can make this site both useful and informational for all.
Other city councils seem to understand the elementary concepts behind the problems facing Monrovia's public safety issues. Why doesn't ours? In the City of West Covina, City Councilman Mike Touhey said their pay hike would attract and keep better officers who wouldn't get the city sued for rookie mistakes. "I'd rather put money on the front side and keep and retain and get quality officers," he said, "than pay well below the minimum and get officers who wouldn't ever cut it here." Check out the "Other Cities Get It" tab to the left for the full SGV Tribune article.
In addition to the better pay, benefits, recognition and appreciation offered by all other competing agencies, our dedicated police officers are constantly barraged with lateral incentive programs like West Covina's, offering bonuses of $12,500 to trained officers transferring in from other police agencies. Neighboring Arcadia offers a $10,000 bonus and allows lateral officers to transfer sick and vacation time with them. Even the LAPD currently offers a $10,000 bonus to lateral officers. And the list goes on... Click here to see a sampling of the cities competing for Monrovia's finest.
City Manager Scott Ochoa publicly states that the number one priority for the City of Monrovia is "fiscal responsibility", followed by public safety. Does this mean that common budget items should be given priority over public safety? Are library programs going to help solve our gang problems? Will after school activities impact drive by shootings, robberies and murders? Does that make sense to you?
In 2007, the City of Los Angeles boasted their safest year since 1956, which the city directly attributed to more cops on the street.
"Cops count," said Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton. "It's not demographics. It's not the economy. It's not the weather."
"Cops were up and crime was down," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.
Source: The Los Angeles Daily News (December 2007)
The short video clip below is taken from the Monrovia City Council Meeting on March 4, 2008. The voice is City Manager Scott Ochoa, speaking to Mayor Rob Hammond.
| Launch in external player |
Such a flawed approach to prioritizing by a city official is not only shocking, but fails to adequately address our most basic and fundamental concerns, like keeping our community and our children safe. One would certainly think that an issue as fundamentally important as public safety should be the top priority, as it is with neighboring cities, and that "fiscal responsibility" considerations for common budget items should follow. The safety of the public and community that they serve should always be the top priority for our elected officials. Recent events in our community underscore the need to make public safety our top priority.
Our police officers are our most valuable resource and our only line of defense against criminal activity and violence. The value we place upon public safety is directly reflected by the value we place upon our police department. Our efforts to recruit and retain qualified law enforcement professionals, like neighboring cities have done, have a direct impact upon public safety and the quality of life in our community.
HELP US MAKE PUBLIC SAFETY THE TOP PRIORITY FOR MONROVIA!
If these, or other issues concern you, call City Manager Scott Ochoa at (626) 932-5501.
Or you can e-mail your Monrovia City Council by clicking here.
City Council Meeting Agendas and future meeting dates can be found here.