Select Patrol Update

First news is that we have added a new EPSA page to selectpatrol.com. The EPSA page features an interactive membership application which allows Echo Park residents to join without delays and the hassles of paperwork. We accept Paypal and membership is immediate upon completion of the application. Point, click and the patrolman brings a yard sign to your door. Select Patrol is on the move. In late March, we located our offices from Atwater Village to the City of Pasadena. In 20 years' time we have come full-circle. We had originally moved to Los Angeles from the corner of Colorado Bl and Euclid in 1992. Now, we are a few blocks from our former location at Colorado and El Molino across from Vroman's. The decision for our move was based primarily on economics. For the past five years we paid for an office and a separate parking facility for our vehicles. The new location consolidates the office and parking onto a single site. In addition, there were also the tax considerations which favored relocation outside of Los Angeles. The revenue-based formula in Los Angeles worked out to be a huge chunk of money that we have had to part with the first of every year. Now we can get some relief and do something that truly benefits the patrolmen of Select Patrol. Something that had concerned me for a long time was the fact very few of my staff can afford to buy new body armor. Not difficult to understand, however since new protective panels and carriers run in the range of $350.00 to $1000.00 and higher. As an alternative, most patrolmen either receive hand-me-downs from law enforcement friends or buy used vests at gun shows.These pieces are well beyond their warrantied life and do not provide the optimal level of protection they offered when new. This is a circumstance that I have found unacceptable. Especially in the face of statistics which show that out of 112 US private officer fatalities in 2012, 65 were caused by armed assailants. In many of these cases the officers were unarmed. By the end of this year, I am resolved to provide each of my patrolmen with new body armor free of cost. I cannot think of a better cause. DW