Help An Injured USPP Officer & His Family

Recently USPP Officer Brancato was featured on WTOP regarding his furlough during the government shutdown.  Now many in the public believe that the Congress has passed a bill  to pay all the furloughed employees, but that will not go into effect until after the government shutdown is reversed.  Until then, furloughed employees go without pay, bills pile up, and benefits are not paid out.   At more risk are injured officers.  Injured in the line of duty,  officers are many times cut adrift in the bureaucratic system of worker’s compensation.   There are many accounts from officers about the government neglecting medical bills, resulting in debt collectors hounding the officers for bills that were never the officers’ responsibility.  These officers are trying to heal from injuries sustained in the line of duty but  are emotionally and financially injured again from apathy.

From WTOP:  FURLOUGH ADDS INSULT TO INJURY FOR PARK POLICE OFFICER

“My light duty status is more than understandable, I can’t risk the physical nature of being a police officer on the street right now, but I do serve a very important function for the Park Police as support with investigations and administrative things. I think that, had I been treated like the other officers and just left on the job, once I’d recovered out of the hospital I would have been able to go back to work and be a productive member of the force.”

Officer Brancato’s family and friends have set up a fundraiser site to not only help the family but families of fallen police officers.

From Officer Brancato’s Fundraiser Site:

A decorated U.S. Park Police Officer named William “Billy” Brancato was seriously and almost fatally injured in the line of duty in January 2012. While attempting to arrest a suspect, the suspect kicked him twice in the stomach and not only severely damaged his pancreas but also changed his life forever. Billy just finished his fourth hospitalization bringing the total time he has been in the hospital to just over 8 weeks in the past 20 months. He loves his job as a U.S. Park Police Officer and wants more than anything to be healthy in order to return to work.

During this last hospitalization his supervisors came to hospital. While Billy was in his hospital bed they served him furlough paperwork. He was heartbroken. He has given years of dedication to the U.S. Park Police and was severely and permanently injured protecting the public.  He is not thanked but instead for this profound hardship is furloughed. He has endured a nasogastric feeding tube for months, surgery, long hospitalizations, unimaginable pain, and a life forever changed with a markedly shorter life expectancy.

His family has fallen on hard times. His wife Megan, his 4 year old son, and 1 year old daughter depend on him as the rock of their household and even though he is now home from the hospital he is unable to provide for his family.

Billy and his family need your help. Megan is a public school teacher whose salary will not cover the family bills, especially with the increasing number of medical bills for Billy. They are donating half of all the money raised to Concerns of Police Survivors: COPS, an organization dedicated to assisting the families of fallen police officers.

Please help the Brancato family as they attempt to get Billy healthy and survive this difficult time. The love and help family, friends, and coworkers have provided is wonderful. They need your help now, please. Any amount can help them and help COPS. They are doing this in the hopes that no other officer has to experience these hardships in the future. Thank you very much.

If you have the ability and the heart, please visit Officer Brancato’s site and think about donating to support this deserving officer and his young family.

 

Officer Brancato and son

 

‘Forensic Accounting’

 

An interesting article titled “U.S. Park Police sheds furloughs after some ‘forensic accounting’ ” has been written by Lisa Rein in the Washington Post regarding the “miraculous” find of money in order for the furlough to be lifted.

So when everyone from the mounted unit to the chief was told to stay home for at least 12 days this spring and summer, the furloughs got little attention — even though the police were the only uniformed federal law enforcement officers to face the indignity of being told they are not essential.

The highlight of the piece is the Labor Committee’s Treasurer, Ofc McSherry, making an astute observation:

“How they did this will be a mystery forever, trust me.”

 

Read the full article.

Furlough Ends

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Today, at 1 pm (EDT) the National Park Service (NPS) announced that furloughs for United States Park Police (USPP) employees will end on June 1. Citing overstated cost projections and cost cutting measures previously taken by the agency, combined with the 3 furlough days taken to date, the NPS found that the agency’s financial situation was such that furloughs would not be necessary beyond June 1.

While this is encouraging news to the members of the USPP FOP, it is important to point out that the agency is still understaffed, poorly funded and lacks financial control of its own operations. We look forward to continuing to bring public and congressional attention to the needs of our membership in protecting the public, as well as our historical and natural resources.

Fraternally,

Ian Glick
Chairman
U.S. Park Police
FOP

USPP FOP Press Release on the End of Furloughs
Press release – USPP furloughs

Jarvis Answers Moran’s Questions

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?clipid=4430287

Moran- “…AS A RESULT OF THOSE CUTS, THERE’S GOING TO BE A FURLOUGH FURLOUGHING OF PARK POLICE OFFICERS OVER THE NEXT SIX MONTHS. THIS IS GOING TO BE A TOUGH TIME TO BE FURLOUGHING PARK POLICE. SO I’D LIKE TO KNOW HOW YOU’RE DEALING WITH IT AND STILL ENSURE THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF OUR PARK VISITORS.”

Continue reading “Jarvis Answers Moran’s Questions”