Received: via email

November 16, 2007

Letter to all TMPA affiliated locals:

Several months ago, myself and other Executive Board members of the McAllen Police Officers' Union begin looking into the possibility of becoming affiliated with a state organization. We had been independent of a State organization since 1993, being only affiliated with the International Union of Police Association, a National police organization.

We began looking at the two options of state affiliates and one stood out far above the other. One offered the best legal plan, the best representation, and had very similar philosophies as our association did. We chose to recommend to affiliate with the Texas Municipal Police Association. Our members attended presentations put on by representatives of TMPA which further impressed us.

When members were given a chance to vote on the affiliation, the vote (128-4) was overwhelmingly in favor (of TMPA). We kept our national affiliation, so now we belong to the best State and National police organizations. When we voted to affiliate, other neighboring police association which were part of our regional coalition also voted to affiliate. This brought approximately 600 members from the cities of Mission, McAllen, Pharr, Edinburg, Brownsville, Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department, and Hidalgo County Adult Probation into TMPA.

We all look forward to working with TMPA and are excited about what the future holds for us.

Respectfully,

Michael Zellers
President, McAllen Police Officers' Union