mediating body. Whether providing aid to fellow officers or addressing policy concerns, the Police Association works with the good of the Force in mind.

"Our job is to represent the interests of Police officers from the rank of Chief Inspector and below, which involves about 90 percent of the service,'' explained the Association's chairman, Michael Jackman. "There are only six officers that fall outside that rank so we represent the majority of the force. Our basic function is to bring to the attention of the Commissioner and the Governor, matters of concern to our members. We are governed by regulations passed in 1968 and these regulations are explicit in what we can do.'' Sgt. Jackman is aided by an executive committee with which he meets once a month. "Our most important function is to provide assistance to our members in a number of areas,'' he explained. "It tends to be our biggest expense. We aid them civilly or criminally as long as it is job-related. Our only income is membership dues.'' The group meets with the Deputy Governor, the Commissioner and other officers every two to three years, said Sgt. Jackman, to discuss various issues and negotiate on behalf of its members. "We're not a union but we do some of the same functions. The idea is to promote dialogue between us and the Commissioner and have open forums. In the last couple of years, we've progressed to a level where we're seen as more professional body by our members and the people we deal with on a regular basis. "Most of the stuff we do is done internally. We have been able to settle matters at the Internal Joint Consultative Committee (IJCC) level. Previously, we always had to meet at the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) level because we never got matters solved internally so we would meet to thrash out any concerns we have which we felt were inadequately dealt with at internal meetings. Since Commissioner Coxall has been here, we have not had to meet at the JCC level very often because we have been able to settle matters at the IJCC level. We deal with things much more professionally than in the past.'' PHOTO Sgt.

Michael Jackman MINI SUPPLEMENT SUP