Steve Zona won’t be sworn in as president of the Fraternal Order of Police Jacksonville Lodge 5-30 until Jan. 19.
But he’s already walking the beat in regard to what the 26-year police veteran says will be his most important issue in 2016 — negotiating a contract for the city’s police officers.
“Our members haven’t received a raise since 2008,” he said, but they endured, along with other city employees, a 3 percent pay cut in 2008.
Officers also have agreed to increase the contribution from their paychecks for the Police and Fire Pension Fund.
The combination has resulted in a significant loss of income that officers and their families use for basic needs like housing, food and clothing, Zona said.
Taking into account the pay cut and increased pension fund contributions, officers have essentially had a 6 percent reduction in pay since 2008, he said.
Zona said working out a new contract may not only allow officers to regain some or all of the salary they lost, it will help JSO retain experienced officers rather than watch them take jobs in other cities with higher pay and better benefits.
He said the lodge doesn’t have statistics on how many officers have left Jacksonville over compensation and benefits issues, but it’s been an issue.
Based on data from other municipalities, Zona said, “We’ve fallen from pretty high up the scale to below the median compared to other agencies in the state.”
The department wants to be competitive with other agencies, Zona said.
“We tell the young officers to hang in there and wait until the contract negotiations are over before they make a decision,” he said.
Like many police officers, law enforcement is the career Zona decided he wanted at a young age and it’s the only job he’s had.
After graduating from Fletcher High School, he became a reserve officer and in 1988 joined the Jacksonville Beach Police Department.
Two years later, he transferred to JSO and was a member of the field force until 1996, when he became a detective in the sex crimes unit.
Zona has since worked in robbery, internal affairs, auto theft, homicide and the K-9 unit.
He plans to use the skills he developed on the street when it comes time to sit down with city officials to hammer out a new contract.
“We don’t want an adversarial relationship with the mayor or the City Council,” Zona said. “It’s important for us to have a voice in the process.”
He also plans to sustain, and even increase, the FOP’s role in the community with the help of the organization’s 3,300 members, including police officers, corrections officers, judicial officers and School Board officers.
“We’re more than just a union, we’re a fraternal organization,” Zona said, referring to the holiday parties sponsored by the lodge and other charitable activities.
He said he’s ready for the challenge of being president of the largest police organization in Florida and the seventh-largest in the U.S.
He defeated current FOP President Steve Amos and Lt. Jimmy Ricks in an election this month.
Zona is expecting some long shifts during his two-year term in office, but that won’t be anything new to him.
“I know this is more than an eight-hours-a-day job,” he said. “I haven’t had an eight-hour job since I worked at Publix in 1984.”
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