More pension funds close funding gap
By Gilbert Chan – Sacramento Bee Staff Writer

State pension funds nationwide continued to recover last year from the financial shock of a stock market downturn that left a majority with big gaps between assets and future liabilities, according to a new study.

The report, released Tuesday by Wilshire Associates Inc., found nine of 58 major U.S. public retirement plans in 2005 had enough assets to meet all future pension obligations, up from about 10 percent the previous year. Yet that's a far cry from 57 percent in 2000.

"There is a bit of a bounce back. The state retirement system has been through a volatile period," said Steven Foresti, a managing director at Wilshire, a Santa Monica-based investment consulting firm. At the height of the unprecedented bull market in the late 1990s, retirement systems posted hefty investment returns that left many plans with surpluses.

In 2000, the surplus for these 58 funds topped $25 billion, or 105 percent funded. But stock market losses, coupled with sweetened retirement benefits and pension contribution holidays for government agencies, quickly put retirement systems in the red.

Last year, the state pension plans saw assets climb 8.3 percent to $612.8 billion while liabilities grew 6.3 percent to $762.4 billion. That left retirement systems 80 percent funded, up from 79 percent in 2004.

The $149.6 billion shortfall is an improvement from $151.5 billion in 2004 and $178.2 billion in 2003.

"It's a difficult time to dig out of a hole. Most states are hard-pressed to meet all their current needs," said Stephen D'Arcy, a pension expert at the University of Illinois. "It's not an overnight solution. We're getting better."

Experts say retirement plans can't rely on investment income to close the gap. That will put states under increased pressure to boost contributions or pare benefits.

Wilshire forecasts a median long-term investment return of 7.7 percent for the 58 funds - a rate that falls short of the 8 percent target set by many plans.

"It will take (more) contributions to fund future benefits," Forseti said.

Wilshire officials and other experts point out that the aggregate numbers mask the financial picture of individual retirement systems, including those with steep shortfalls, such as West Virginia's.

Ten plans are under 70 percent funded while two are under 50 percent.
Wilshire no longer lists the top and worst performers because of criticism from some pension fund officials in recent years.

Locally, the California State Teachers' Retirement System, the nation's second largest public fund, was 86 percent funded in 2005, up from 83 percent the previous year, according to a new report by the plan's independent actuary. CalSTRS narrowed its long-term shortfall from $24.15 billion to $20.3 billion in 2005.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the No. 1 U.S. fund, was 87 percent funded for 2004, the latest year for which figures were available.

 

Former Phoenix Police Chief Harold Hurtt Sued
Officer sues HPD over 'gag order' on chase rule

A Houston police officer who was disciplined for criticizing the department's chase policy filed a lawsuit Friday, contending his free speech and civil rights are being violated.

After the Jan. 19 chase, which ended in a head-on collision, officer Thomas Nixon complained publicly that the Houston Police Department policy wasn't strict enough to allow officers to stop suspects before injuries to other motorists.

There were two women — one suffered minor injuries — and an infant in the other vehicle.

In the federal lawsuit, Nixon, who has been assigned to desk duty, is seeking an immediate return to his duties as a patrol officer, said his attorney Chad Hoffman.

Nixon, a patrol officer for 10 years, claims his right to free speech has been violated by "a gag order" by Police Chief Harold Hurtt, Hoffman said.

The lawsuit also asks U.S. District Judge David Hittner to issue a temporary restraining order to force the HPD to allow Nixon to exercise his constitutional right to free speech.

After criticizing the HPD chase policy, "Officer Nixon was hauled into the chief's office and told not to talk anymore," Hoffman said.

The next day, Nixon received a memo from an assistant chief of internal affairs, ordering him not to comment about pending investigations.

On Friday, Lt. Robert Manzo, an HPD spokesman, said no one in the department had seen a copy of the lawsuit.

Manzo said Hurtt issued an April 5 memorandum to all HPD officers that states officers "must refrain from criticizing the department" in a manner that "undermines the effectiveness of the department, interferes with discipline or recklessly disregards the truth."


By ANNE MARIE KILDAY
Houston Chronicle
 

Border Agents Becoming Targets of Violence Along Rio Grande

January 29, 2006 Border Patrol agents have increasingly become targets of unknown snipers along the banks of the meandering Rio Grande.

Twenty-five assaults on agents were reported in the last four months, a new high for this region, and all signs point to increasing violence along this stretch of the border.

“I think we’re just getting collisions because we’re getting more agents,” said Charles Bowden, an author who has written extensively on border violence and the drug trade.

“Increased vigilance by the Border Patrol is kind of frustrating the traffickers,” Bowden said.

Sneak attacks on agents patrolling coveted drug routes could be the result of that frustration.

On Dec. 30, two Border Patrol boats were shot at from the Mexican side of the river. The vessels were hit, but no agents were injured. Five days later, shots rang out again about a mile and a half from the place of the December attack. Again, no agents were injured, but the vehicle was damaged.

The FBI is investigating the shootings and believes they are connected because the patterns are similar.

Such attacks on federal agents are unusual here, though becoming more frequent, law enforcement officials said. In fiscal year 2004, there were 22 assaults on Border Patrol agents. In 2005, the number more than doubled to 48. Four months into the current fiscal year, 25 assaults have been reported by federal agents more than half of all of last year.

Brownsville, unlike other border cities, has been spared heavy violence and conflicts between armed agents and cross-border assailants. This border stretch is calm compared to reports of bloodshed in Nuevo Laredo and Ciudad Juárez.

Brownsville is removed from the Monterrey, Mexico-San Antonio thoroughfare, leaving the heaviest border traffic to the north. Violence may be trickling down from the Laredo area because of pressure there, FBI officials said. They warned that the calm may precede a violent storm.

More agents, more assaults:

In December 2005, the Department of Homeland Security announced that 1,700 Border Patrol agents would be deployed along the Southwest border. About one-fourth of these, 452 were set to arrive in Texas, including 62 in the Rio Grande Valley by September.

As of March 2005, there were about 1,500 agents working in the nine stations covering 18,584 square miles of the Border Patrol’s Valley sector.

The Border Patrol classifies assaults on agents into five different categories: rock throwing, physical assaults, vehicular assaults, shootings and an “other” category.

Assaulting a federal agent with a deadly weapon could result in 20 years federal time, regardless of whether the agent is injured or killed in the attack, said FBI spokesman in McAllen Jorge Cisneros.

The motivation for assaults on agents can be varied, said Salvador Zamora, national spokesman for the Border Patrol.

“In a lot of these cases, they are acts directly against our agents. In other cases, they are acts to distract us from our enforcement duties,” he said.

Zamora used as an example recent assaults against agents near San Diego, Calif., in which rocks were placed in socks doused with gasoline and set on fire. Some were thrown into the brush to start fires, while others were thrown at agents, causing injury.

He said the potential for an increase in assaults is a consequence of an increase in the number of agents, which is part of the Border Patrol’s pursuit of enforcement along the whole of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico.

“It’s not just a sector operation anymore,” Zamora said. “Really, it is a 2,000-mile border enforcement approach.”

As a result, drug traffickers and smugglers are more desperate than ever, leaving the door open for more violence, he said. The Border Patrol, he added, “will not retreat.”

Officials from Grupo Beta, Mexico’s version of the Border Patrol, suggested human smugglers are responsible for the two recent shootings on Border Patrol agents near Brownsville.

“It’s the polleros (smugglers),” said Raymundo Olivos Montes de Oca, the liaison for the general office of the PGR, or attorney general’s office, in Matamoros. “The people who are always on the edge of the river are the polleros.”

Pollero is the Spanish word for one who herds chickens. It is used to describe human smugglers on the border.

Human trafficking operations have become more violent, mirroring the atmosphere among drug traffickers, or narcos.

For narcos, “Business is easier if there’s no violence,” Bowden said. Violence only brings attention to the operation, he said, and what they want is to do their business clandestinely, without a spotlight.

Traffickers in the border’s most profitable criminal enterprises human and drug smuggling could be crossing paths and igniting a battle for precious cargo and routes into the United States.

“There’s always been a nexus between human smuggling and narcotic smuggling,” said Zamora of the Border Patrol.

Basically, if human smugglers want to move their cargo, they have to work with or get permission from the drug smugglers who control routes into this country. It’s an uneasy alliance working against a common enemy.

Agents are in danger, Bowden said, but perhaps not deadly danger; people in the drug world don’t miss.

“Nobody moving pollos (people) and moving drugs is looking for a Border Patrol to assault,” he said. “It is striking, the lack of casualties in the Border Patrol, because it is bad for business to kill one.”

T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union for agents representing 11,000 men and women nationwide, including 1,200 in the Valley, said the increase in assaults on agents was a troubling sign that Mexican drug cartels have taken over the human smuggling business.

Cartels used to smuggle people to “shield” their other dealings. The lucrative nature of smuggling people has changed that, Bonner said.

“That’s a lot of profit for those cartels, that’s what I believe is responsible for the increase in violence. They play by a different set of rules.”

Adding to the dangers of encountering human smugglers is the fact that enforcement pressure on both sides of the border has pushed criminal organizations to improvise, looking for new routes, outside of traditional corridors, such as Nuevo Laredo, said Ignacio Corona, a professor of Mexican and Latin American Cultures at Ohio State University.

Reports of Zeta, organized crime members, ex-Mexican military and narco training camps near Ciudad Victoria have been investigated by the FBI, said Cisneros. He said it was yet to be determined if the cartels were training in the area.

The signs of this shift in human smuggling are easy to see, Zamora said. The use of long arms rifles, shotguns and carbines, as opposed to hand guns by smugglers used to be an exclusive sign of drug smuggling, he said, but that is no longer the case.

“Now you have a situation when human smugglers are bearing long arms, so things have changed.”

Concern about the sudden increase in violence in the past few months here has prompted both Mexican and U.S. authorities to join forces to investigate, according to authorities on this side of the river.

“It’s an international issue because we believe the subjects here could be from Mexico,” said Cisneros with the FBI. The agency is coordinating with Mexican consuls, state and local officials in Matamoros, the Mexican military and the PGR legal attaché out of San Antonio.

Zamora said his agency has a “strong” Mexican liaison unit that coordinates with a slew of Mexican agencies, from the PGR to the Mexican CIA. There’s always room for improvement, he said.

While U.S. officials are touting international cooperation, PGR officials in Matamoros said they were unaware of the shootings until they read a local Mexican media report. “We don’t know the source of that report,” said Olivos of the PGR in Matamoros. He said that after learning of the Jan. 4 shooting, his office investigated a ranch en route to Playa Bagdad that was near the reported shooting site. No bullet casings or any other indication of a shooting were found, he said.

“It would be worth it to have contact with the authorities from the United States to continue the investigation,” Olivos said. “We have nothing else but the news report.”

Officials from Grupo Beta also denied reports of violence. No one is really sure what happened on Dec. 30 or Jan. 4, González said.

“As far as I see everything is fine,” said Martín González Rivera, the coordinator for Grupo Beta in Matamoros. “They didn’t even find the shells.”


SARA INÉS CALDERÓN
The Brownsville Herald
 

APA Keeps Watch on State Legislation

The APA is watching a large amount of legislation currently introduced at the Arizona legislature. Although the APA may not take an official position on much of this legislation, it is important that we watch and understand how the bills may effect law enforcement.

Legislation continues to be introduced, however, here is the current list of bills we are tracking. They have been marked for our attention because it is a traditional labor issues (L), a traditional law enforcement issue (LE) or because it is related to border and immigration issues (B).

To look at the progress and complete text of the bill, go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us.

Bill Number                Short Title
HCR2001                municipal debt; capacity L
HCR2004                workers' compensation; alcohol; controlled substances L
HCR2023                collective bargaining L
HCR2024                wage protection; voter approval L
HCR2032                Ronald Reagan Day. L
HCR2033                Cesar Chavez Day L
HCR2034                civilian patrol groups B
HJR2001                 state border guard units B
HM2001                 employee free choice act L
HB2003                  appropriation; border road B
HB2018                   prostitution; sentencing LE
HB2037                  dangerous crimes against children; release LE
HB2045                  sex offenders; probation; electronic monitoring LE
HB2053                  removal of vehicles; terrorist threat LE
HB2071                  peace officers; duty; immigration status LE
HB2072                  sovereign immunity; immigration enforcement LE
HB2073                  illegal aliens; prohibited possessors LE
HB2074                  concealed weapons; training requirement; renewal LE
HB2075                  concealed weapons; defense to prosecution LE
HB2076                  weapons; misconduct; storage; map pocket LE
HB2077                  concealed weapons permits; issuance; conditions LE
HB2114                  identity theft LE
HB2119                  minors; abuse; duty to report. LE
HB2120                  animal cruelty; law enforcement animals LE
HB2137                  prior convictions and admissions; sentencing LE
HB2174                  photo enforcement; signage LE
HB2208                  license plate design LE
HB2223                  identity theft; credit rating; notice LE
HB2229                  peace officers memorial board; composition LE
HB2232                  capital police; reserve officers LE
HB2233                  capitol police; overtime calculation L
HB2234                  overtime compensation; law enforcement LE
HB2235                  speed limits; primitive roads LE
HB2245                  photo enforcement traffic complaints LE
HB2251                  photo enforcement; highways; highway fund LE
HB2274                  appropriation; law officers training center LE
HB2289                  sex offender registration; child bigamists. LE
HB2296                  drug exposed infants LE
HB2298                  border area reserves B
HB2299                  crime victims; police reports. LE
HB2300                  cellular telephones; minors; driving use LE
HB2309                  criminal trials; change of judge LE
HB2329                  animal cruelty; classification; definitions LE
HB2334                  sex offenses; registration; notification LE
HB2336                  PSPRS; compensation; off-duty pay L
HB2337                  private prison contractors; public records L
HB2339                  DPS; director; industrial injury leave L
HB2345                  ommercial driver licenses; motor carriers LE
HB2351                  identity theft omnibus LE
HB2356                  aggravated DUI LE
HB2365                  automatic restoration of rights LE
HB2366                  erroneous convictions; civil action LE
HB2367                  unemployment benefits; disqualification L
HB2375                  self-defense; home protection. LE
HB2376                  indecent exposure; breast-feeding LE
HB2380                  sex offenders; harboring; monitoring LE
HB2392                  home protection; self-defense LE
HB2393                  DPS; Arizona rangers LE
HB2411                  photo enforcement; traffic offenses LE
HB2414                  rape victims; pregnancy prevention LE
HB2415                  state employees; exempt positions L
HB2417                  state salary adjustment; appropriation L
HB2418                  employer communications; religious; political beliefs L
HB2421                  political subdivisions; funds; unions L
HB2422                  family leave insurance L
HB2423                  right to work L
HB2424                  outsourcing; state service positions; prohibition L
HB2439                  arrest warrants; technical correction LE
HB2440                  clean up of victims' rights LE
HB2441                  cleanup; victims' rights LE
HB2469                  identity theft LE
HB2476                  state retirees; health insurance payments L
HB2490                  sex offenders; annual community notification LE
HB2493                  methamphetamine; pseudoephedrine sales LE
HB2526                  loaded firearms; storage L
HB2527                  prohibited possessors; gun storage L
HB2531                  Cesar Chavez day L
HB2541                  labor organizations; nonunion employees; representation L
HB2547                  homicide interrogations; electronic recording LE
HB2548                  death penalty; repeal; natural life LE
HB2550                  death penalty; juries LE
HB2577                  illegal aliens; employment; verification B
HB2578                  border radar; lease; appropriation B
HB2579                  appropriation; national guard; border security B
HB2580                  illegal aliens; serious felonies; bail B
HB2581                  class 6 felonies; reclassification LE
HB2582                  immigration enforcement mission; council; appropriations B
HB2584                  concealed weapons; firearms safety training LE
HB2586                  licenses; illegal aliens B
HB2588                  workers' compensation; illegal aliens B
HB2589                  illegally entering Arizona; trespass B
HB2615                  school crossings; traffic violation; assessment LE
HB2616                  fallen police officers; special plates LE
HB2629                  erroneous convictions; compensation LE
HB2649                  firearms; possession; storage LE
HB2656                  sentencing; third serious offense LE
HB2661                  state employees; pay increase. L
HB2667                  occupational safety; employee death; penalties L
HB2672                  sentencing; misdemeanors involving hate LE
HB2683                  appropriation; DHS biological response plan LE
HB2684                  appropriation; DPS; auto theft; gangs. LE
HB2699                  state employees; salary schedule LE
SCR1001                deadly force; use; home protection LE
SCR1003                collective bargaining. L
SCR1004                misdemeanors; jury trials LE
SCR1006                family advocacy office LE
SM1001                  employee free choice act L
SB1018                  search warrants; extraterritorial execution LE
SB1019                  vehicle theft; transponder keys; report LE
SB1027                  chop shops; vehicle theft LE
SB1028                  motor vehicles; two license plates LE
SB1038                  Arizona criminal justice commission; duties LE
SB1042                  repeat DUI offenders; lower BAC LE
SB1048                  serious drug offenses; definition. LE
SB1049                  bailable offenses; bond source hearings. LE
SB1050                  prior convictions and admissions; sentencing. LE
SB1051                  victims' rights; cleanup LE
SB1052                  victim compensation and assistance fund LE
SB1053                  probation; extension LE
SB1054                  sex offender registration; child bigamists LE
SB1057                  assisting a criminal street gang. LE
SB1090                  home protection; self-defense. LE
SB1096                  probation officers; overtime compensation L
SB1105                  personnel files; right to copies L
SB1109                  public employees; collective bargaining. L
SB1113                  workers' compensation; benefit amount. L
SB1121                  breast-feeding; indecent exposure LE
SB1123                  homicide; DUI; increased punishment LE
SB1126                  victim's right to refuse interview LE
SB1129                  unemployment benefits; disqualification. L
SB1130                  political subdivisions; funds; unions. L
SB1139                  DPS; officer organizations L
SB1145                  self-defense; home protection LE
SB1146                  photo radar; controlled access highways LE
SB1147                  telephone usage; interference during emergencies LE
SB1158                  appropriation; illegal immigration; enforcement B
SB1159                  appropriations; illegal immigrant prisons B
SB1164                  aggravated assault; suffocation and strangulation LE
SB1165                  law enforcement merit system; fees L
SB1166                  stopping vehicles on highways LE
SB1176                  victims' rights; failure to comply LE
SB1181                  automobile theft authority; membership; exception LE
SB1182                  use of vehicles; human smuggling B
SB1183                  human smuggling; material witnesses B
SB1201                  labor organizations; nonunion employees; representation.. L
SB1202                  state employees; pay increase L
SB1204                  family leave insurance. L
SB1212                  sexual assault shield. LE
SB1216                  employment; illegal aliens; employer sanctions B
SB1217                  uniform local sales tax base L
SB1229                  sex offender registration; homeless offenders. LE
SB1230                  sex offenders; address verification LE
SB1239                  school buses; signs LE
SB1258                  law enforcement agencies; retirement credentials L
SB1260                  prostitution; house abatement LE
SB1261                  lifetime probation; early termination prohibited LE
SB1274                  ignition interlock devices LE
SB1275                  ignition interlock installers; manufacturers; certification LE
SB1280                  minimum wage. L
SB1296                  national guard mobilization; border; appropriation. B
SB1297                  state revenue sharing; population L
SB1301                  community notification; warrants LE
SB1302                  probation; consecutive terms allowed LE
SB1328                  youthful sex offenders; study committee LE

 

Arizona Police Association Busy at Legislature

January 13, 2006

By Brian L. Livingston , Executive Director
Arizona Police Association

As we begin the Second Regular session of the Forty-seventh Arizona State Legislature, it is apparent that the safety and quality of life of peace officers is not at the forefront of many legislators minds. There are a series of bills that seek to expose officers to greater hazards while requiring them to expand their duties and work longer hours. This is a recipe for disaster.

HB2075 will make carrying a concealed weapon legal unless it can be demonstrated that the person had the “intent to commit a serious offense . . . or a violent crime.” By the time this can be proven, it may be too late for peace officers and other victims. HB2076 excludes weapons concealed in an automobile’s “map pocket” from the definition of concealed weapon exposing frontline officer to greater dangers during traffic stops, and HB2071 will require officers to make an inquiry into the immigration status of any person detained or contacted on “reasonable suspicion.” This will drain manpower as many officers will need to wait for an interpreter to pursue this line of questioning.

Meanwhile, another bill, HB2234 has hit the legislature looking to repeal Arizona’s forty-hour workweek for law enforcement officers. Agencies would like to balance their budgets on the backs of employees and further disturb officers’ home lives by allowing for a 28-day cycle for the calculation of overtime. For officers who have collective bargaining, this type of flexibility may work when adequate protections for the officers’ quality of life and safety are negotiated into a contract; however, few Arizona peace officers have the ability to collectively bargain with their employers.

These bills are of great concern to the members of the APA. We cannot stand-by while the safety of Arizona’s bravest citizens is compromised and the burdens of solving the country’s immigration problems and the budgets of agencies are foisted directly on their shoulders.

It remains to be seen if any of these bills will garner support from at the Legislature. Our experience is that most elected officials recognize officers’ sacrifices and will work to protect them. Keep watch on this site to get up to date information about our fight to protect peace officers’ rights!