Paul Chignell Accepts POA Staff Position
When Steve Johnson decided to retire just weeks after Kevin Martin stepped away, I knew that losing these two great men would deal a devastating blow to our legal defense team. For years, Steve and Kevin had represented our officers through every phase of the disciplinary process. My initial thoughts were that both of these veteran rep’s would be nearly impossible to replace.
Nonetheless, I considered potential replacements among the active and retired POA rosters. Potential replacements needed to have the same dedication, commitment, and experience that both Kevin and Steve had exhibited. There are many, many members with dedication and commitment, but persons with extensive experience in officer representation are much less common.
In the end, I kept coming back to one name: Paul Chignell.
Most everyone knows recently retired Captain Paul Chignell. Many of our members have worked under his command at such assignments as Bayview, Taraval, and Ingleside Stations. Many others served under him when he was a Lieutenant in various investigative details in the Bureau. Retirees and the handful of senior actives still around know him from his decades of work as a POA executive officer and representative.
Several of us on the executive board decided to approach Paul and offer him the job. We were far from certain that Paul would even entertain the notion of returning to the POA pressure cooker. After all, he had just retired after a very distinguished police career, and he is a dedicated family man who we knew was looking forward to spending more time with his friends and loved ones. It is also well known that Paul and I have not always seen eye-to-eye on POA affairs. We have each held fast to differences of opinion on a host of issues, and there have been times over the past 20 years when little love had been lost between us.
But love and respect are two entirely different matters. There has never been a time in my career when I have not held my on-again-off-again political foe in the most utmost respect. After all, Paul had been very actively involved in POA affairs for nearly a decade before I even entered the police department. I knew then -- and certainly appreciate now -- that Paul is one of the most knowledgeable people in the state of California when it comes to the rights of police officers. Paul wrote the book, and he is one of the persons most responsible for the enacting of the 1970s landmark legislation entitled the California Peace Officer Bill of Rights. I have learned a lot from Paul over the years just by osmosis. I have learned as much – and perhaps more -- by being his political rival rather than his ally. He is passionate and he is dynamic, and he knows politics as well as anyone who has ever gaveled a POA meeting. Read any of the old articles written by Paul in the 70s and 80s and you will quickly see that no one has stood more steadfastly for POA members than has Paul Chignell.
Despite the aforementioned differences, there is one area of POA business on which we have never taken opposing sides. That area is the legal and administrative representation of our members. Both Paul and I agree that every member is entitled to the best possible representation. I believe it was that argument revisited on Paul by VP Halloran and me that finally convinced him to accept our offer to head the POA Legal Defense Team.
Paul knows well the extent of time and effort a commitment of this magnitude would entail. He did not immediately agree. I’m guessing in his mind it was Paul mumbling to himself. “Been there, done that…” But, as I said, Paul does not want to see a single member dangling without a safety net. Right now, he is the best possible person to provide that security.
The membership is very fortunate to have Paul back on-board. He is the only person I know who can adequately fill the void left by Steve Johnson. I have also asked him to mentor and groom younger officers to continue the fight for the police union movement, a role he readily agreed to assume. Like me, he sees great urgency in the need to train and prepare the next generation of POA leadership. His guidance will lend substantially to that effort.
Paul will take over as director of our legal defense team effective February 1st, and he will closely monitor all discipline issues that affect our membership. Welcome back, Paul!
