The WPPA Extended Legal Protection Plan
Effective January 1, 2018
You face a wide variety of extraordinary threats and attacks in your service to keep your community safe. Unfortunately, those dangers are not limited to the streets that you patrol. Increasingly around the country, officers are finding themselves being targeted by ambitious prosecutors hoping to score political points and opportunistic civil attorneys eager to score a quick settlement—all because officers were doing their jobs. In the process, officers can find their reputations destroyed and personal finances ruined. This is totally unacceptable.
For example, a deputy was charged criminally for a fatal squad accident that occurred while responding to a fellow officer’s calls for help. Though the deputy was ultimately acquitted, her legal defense costs reached nearly $200,000.
The WPPA has established a long and proud history of working to protect you at the bargaining table, in the legislature, and within the communities you serve. Our in-house attorneys currently represent members in a wide variety of areas that are connected to your employment and the collective bargaining agreements that govern that vital service. WPPA attorneys also represent members in critical incidents, which are not addressed by your contracts, such as when officers are involved in shootings, squad accidents, or in-custody deaths. In short, we have been widely recognized as having the most legal experience of anyone in the state when it comes to the dedicated men and women that police our state.
For the first time ever, the WPPA can now protect you on a broader scale through a comprehensive new plan—one that you can’t afford not to have.
Effective immediately, we are accepting enrollment into our pre-paid legal protection plan to fully cover all of your costs in legal matters that—while related to your employment—fall outside of your contract and the services that the WPPA currently provides.
Extended Legal Protection Plan Highlights:
1. Under this optional plan, the WPPA will cover all of the costs in connection to the following types of legal matters that are not currently covered by your WPPA membership:
- Criminal defense in actions stemming from conduct performed in the capacity of a law enforcement officer;
- Civil defense (e.g., civil rights claims) in actions stemming from conduct performed in the capacity of a law enforcement officer for which an officer’s employer does not provide representation;
- Worker’s compensation cases; and
- Duty disability
2. This plan is only available to members in good standing.
3. Each member must enroll in the extended plan on an individual basis by completing the plan contract available in our online store and by submitting the annual plan fee. Local associations may pay for their members out of their treasuries, but the WPPA must receive a signed extended plan contract and the annual plan fee for each individual member in order for them to be enrolled.
4. The annual fee for this extended legal plan is $72.
5. The plan even covers outside (non-WPPA) attorneys that have been vetted and approved by the WPPA.
Assaults on officers in the line of duty and the violent crimes that often drive them, are on the rise in Wisconsin. So is the uninformed scrutiny and exploitative litigation that often follows your profession as you work to combat this incredibly challenging environment. The WPPA Extended Legal Protection Plan was established to provide you and your families with a safety net of additional legal coverage to give you the peace of mind you need as you work to keep the peace in our communities.
As Wisconsin’s largest law enforcement group, the WPPA recognizes the sacrifices that you and your families make and we have been proud to serve our state’s law enforcement community in so many areas. We know that you deserve nothing less than the best and we are excited to expand our ability to protect you and those who rely upon you.
Full Contract Details and Enrollment Form
Complete the last page and mail with your $72 annual payment to WPPA; 660 John Nolen Dr, Ste 300; Madison WI 53713.
Or, you may also enroll and pay online.
