The ACO President's Message - January 2008

ACO’s first year has finally come to a close and it has been far better than even the most optimistic of us could have hoped for. We’ve been directly involved in rallies in Washington D.C., New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, unfair labor practice hearings in DC, disciplinary hearings in Alaska, arbitrations in Rhode Island and New York, privatization fights in Oklahoma, conferences in Wyoming, and union meetings around the nation. We’ve contributed to or helped establish nine Benevolent Funds in Alaska, DC, Delaware, Oregon, Wyoming, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and two in New York. Never before has an organization such as ours given money BACK to members to provide direct support and aid to Officers and their families in those jurisdictions that support us. We’ve donated thousands of dollars to these funds in our first year, thanks to your support.

Our membership has grown almost faster than we can keep pace with and the future holds incredible
promise. At our annual fall conference recently held in Jackson, Wyoming over 70 Officers from 16 states  and Washington DC, representing 25 different unions and locals attended. We had Juvenile Officers, State Officers, County Officers and Federal Officers all in attendance. Our “Cover Inmate Communications” training seminar was so positively received that we have had several requests to utilize our presentation
in Training Academies around the country. And it’s all about corrections, not decerts or power plays. The  unions represented at our conference were PBA’s, FOP’s, independents, and AFL-CIO affiliates, no one was left out and no one will be.

ACO and ACOIN are about you – the corrections professional. The men and women who everyday walk the toughest beat in law enforcement. Every ACO/ ACOIN official is a Correctional Officer. All of our administrators are current, former or retired Correctional Officers. We don’t have attorneys and civilians calling the shots or answering your phone calls. When you call us you speak directly with one of your own, a CO who knows the job as only a CO can. We don’t contract with former inmates to fight our fights and we
don’t work to decertify other unions as other organizations do. Every organization that joins ACO has a seat
at our table as a voting member of the Board of Directors. This is a membership driven organization and no one person, incorporator or union calls the shots. We believe that these ideals and your support are whahave led to our stunning success in our first year.
 
We have two websites to address your needs and a place on MySpace with nearly a thousand Officers involved on that one site alone. We’ve answered dozens of information requests and provided thousands of pages of documents to our fellow Officers around the nation to assist them in their needs. We even have a Member Benefits Administrator who will look at your unions benefit package and help them obtain the best benefits for you and your family the market has - at no fee to you or your union!
 
It has been an incredible year and with all the negatives we deal with daily behind the walls its great to be having such a positive impact on our profession. I’m proud to have been elected to serve as your President and will continue to work with all of you to make corrections a better, safer place for us all. Happy Holidays,
 
Sincerely,
Vito Dagnello
President  
American Correctional Officer