LVMPD Dispatcher Tiffany Grammas Retires After 15 Years of Dedicated Service
Typically, the members of the Executive Board write their articles for publication. This article will be different. After 15-plus years of service to the community and LVMPD, my amazing wife, Tiffany Grammas, retired from her position as your dispatcher. I wanted to give her a forum to write an article addressed to those who have meant so much to her, those being her officers on the other end of the radio. Read More »
New Direction for LVMPD
I hope the holiday season was extremely enjoyable for all of you and your families. For the last eight years, every turn of the calendar found us still under the leadership of Sheriff Lombardo. This will be a first for all of us since 2015 that we have a new leader for our organization. My time as president of the LVPPA has solely been working with Sheriff Lombardo, and with that came a level of comfort in knowing exactly how to work with and navigate our boss. Read More »
Lessons From One of Hollywood’s Good Guys
This magazine will be our last edition for 2022. I am sure all our readers will agree that it seems like 2022 has flown by. As we enter the holiday season, a time for family, friends, thankfulness and appreciation for all the gifts in our lives, I wanted to post an acceptance speech from Chris Pratt after winning an award for his role in a movie. The speech was from 2018 at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. Read More »
Breaking the Stigma Around Mental Health Issues
September marks National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month. Law enforcement officers and other first responders are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. According to law enforcement mental advocacy organization Blue H.E.L.P., 105 officers have died by suicide so far this year. In 2021, we lost 179 brothers and sisters who took their own lives, and 186 the year before that. Read More »
39 Years in the Making
In early February, Dan Coyne and I were having lengthy discussions about how to raise money for our LEAF charity. We wanted to come up with some new ideas on how to increase the revenue for the charity so that we could continue to offer the support to the families of our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives in the line of duty, as well as expand on our scholarships provided to our members’ children. Read More »
Police Versus Fire Charity Football Game
On May 7 at 7 p.m., members of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department will play a charity tackle football game against fellow first responders from the Professional Firefighters of Nevada. This game used to be played back in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Read More »
You Have My Back. Right, Sarge?
I want to take this month’s article to talk about the level of support from a first-line supervisor, and how I have witnessed a downward trend of outward support from sergeants when it matters the most. I am going to make up a fictional scenario, but potentially one that many of you may have experienced. Officer A goes on a call for service. Upon arrival, the officer is confronted with a scenario that requires the officer to use some form of force. Maybe it is just hand-to-hand striking or, in the most extreme of cases, the use of deadly force. Read More »
The Realities of Recruitment and Retention
With last year in our rearview mirror, 2022 is a chance to reset and start fresh after 2021 had many of us limping to the finish line. It’s no secret that the past year was a whirlwind for law enforcement around the country. COVID-19 — and the vaccines, variants and deaths that have come with it — continues to take a toll on our personal and professional lives. Read More »
End to Another Year
I hope this last article of 2021 finds all our members healthy and happy. This has been a tough year for law enforcement, especially for the LVMPD. We lost three of our officers and one sergeant to COVID. I never thought in my 23 years here at LVMPD that we would be losing officers to a deadly disease. As officers, we prepare for dangerous and violent encounters all year long. Read More »
The Free College Basics
I wanted to focus this article on the application process for the free college benefit program that the LVPPA has secured through a partnership with Washington National. Many of our officers have taken advantage of the program, and hopefully many more will do the same. To start, our officers need to go to the LVPPA website at LVPPA.com (via a desktop computer, not a phone) and select Members > Free College Benefit. Read More »