Guests – Kristofer Knapp, Betsy Smith, Stephen Mundt
Oro Valley Police Officers Association Seeks Community Support Amid Contract Negotiations
Detective Kristopher Knapp, President of the Oro Valley Police Officers Association, joined Smith and Winn to discuss ongoing contract negotiations with the town leadership. The association, representing 97 sergeants and officers, has reached an impasse with the Oro Valley administration despite the department's stellar safety record.
"It has not gone good since the beginning," Knapp said regarding negotiations with the city manager. This comes at a time when neighboring Tucson has recently struggled with police recruitment and retention due to similar compensation issues.
The current stalemate stems from promises made three years ago during their last contract negotiation. According to Knapp, "When we addressed this three years ago, we negotiated the current contract. That was a concern then because we were so far behind." The town insisted on a three-year contract despite officers requesting two years, assuring they understood future implications.
Oro Valley police had raised concerns about compensation falling behind other departments a year and a half ago, but town leadership continued to delay addressing the funding source. Now at the breaking point, town management claims the officers' requests would "make them go bankrupt," despite apparent contradictions in budget reporting.
The department has already lost eight officers to other agencies over pay in the last three years. Knapp noted that Oro Valley currently pays less than Sahuarita, Tucson Police Department, and the Department of Public Safety, making retention challenging despite the department's reputation for excellence.
"Oro Valley police department is well known in Arizona law enforcement for being a well-trained premier agency, and the town is known to be a very safe community," said Smith. "There's really no reason that officers should not be fully supported by their town manager."
The association is calling for community support at an upcoming council meeting on Wednesday at 5 PM at the Oro Valley Municipal Complex, encouraging residents to wear blue and speak in support of the police. Contact information for comments was provided as mstandish@orovalleyaz.gov.
Knapp emphasized that Oro Valley's reputation for safety is a major draw for both residents and businesses. "The Oro Valley Chamber of Commerce recently did a survey of their members and the number one reason businesses were moving to Oro Valley was because of the safety," he said. The town was recently ranked as the number one safest and wealthiest retirement community in the United States, and the number one safest city in Arizona.
If staffing issues occur, Knapp warned that specialty units like school resource officers, community resource units, and plainclothes units focused on local problems would be affected first, potentially reducing the department to primarily a 911 response service.
Military Leadership and Force Structure: A Conversation with Retired General Steven Mundt
Retired General Steven Mundt joined the program to discuss recent Department of Defense initiatives, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeseth's proposal to cut one-fifth of its four-star general officers.
Addressing recent developments in the Middle East, Mundt first shared breaking news: "Israel just hit Yemen's capital, Sana'a, with their airport and completely disabled it. And that's in response to strikes by the Houthis just a couple of days ago that tried to take out Israel's airport."
On the proposed general officer reductions, Mundt generally supported the initiative but with important caveats. "I have a tendency to agree with HR McMasters on this. We today continue to grow and increase the number of senior executives like it has to be done that way," he explained.
The problem stems from bureaucratic growth following the Goldwater-Nichols Act, which established civilian control of the military. As Mundt described it, this created a system where "you have the chairman and joint staff, the White House, and the SecDef all wanting things, so everybody's building this structure down below." The resulting bureaucracy has led to a situation where "what used to be the building for all the armed services, the Pentagon minus the Coast Guard, now we're all in outer buildings."
Mundt explained how this affects military careers: "It used to be that when you got promoted, if you didn't get promoted to the next grade, you kind of retired. Now what we have is you'll see general officers moving from one position to another position to another position. So in fact, what it's doing is it's preventing some very high-quality people from moving up because nobody's moving out."
However, Mundt cautioned against politically motivated cuts, saying, "If in fact you're doing it for political reasons, then it's not unlawful, but it's awful." Instead, he advocated for merit-based decisions on staffing levels.
Military Recruitment and Force Quality
The conversation shifted to military recruitment challenges and the quality of America's armed forces. Mundt identified several factors complicating recruitment efforts today.
"Quality is getting harder and harder. Many of our young folks are not in good physical condition," Mundt explained. "Many of them may be graduating from high school, but they're not earning themselves any honors." Additional challenges include social media documenting youthful mistakes that previously wouldn't have followed potential recruits.
Mundt noted that courts once offered troubled youth a choice between jail or military service, with many becoming excellent service members. "That second chance meant something, and you had to be taken out of your environment. All the services basically take you down to the point where you know that as yourself, you cannot do these things you're being asked to do, and you have to become part of a team."
According to Mundt, only about 17-19 percent of high school graduates currently meet qualifications to join the military. This has led the Army to create preparatory programs to improve candidates' physical fitness and educational qualifications before enlistment.
Army Aviation and Defense Investment
As a former Army aviation officer, Mundt discussed the upcoming Quad-A (Army Aviation Association of America) convention in Nashville and the challenges facing military aviation today.
Mundt emphasized the importance of balancing manned and unmanned platforms in aviation. "When I'm in that helicopter and I'm over your shoulder fighting with you, I'm committed to that fight. I've invested in that fight," he said, contrasting this with remote UAV operations. He argued that human operators provide "situational awareness and idle curiosity" that unmanned systems currently lack.
He criticized current defense leadership, saying, "you have leadership at the DOD, SecDef level that are saying we don't need manned aviation." This approach, he warned, fails to account for the unintended consequences of being unprepared for future conflicts.
Mundt highlighted concerns about underinvestment in critical aircraft systems. The Black Hawk is using "10-15 year old technology," the Chinook upgrade is similarly dated, and the Apache needs investment. "You've got to make the investment in the equipment if you're going to send sons and daughters of Americans into combat. They deserve it," Mundt insisted, drawing a parallel to the earlier discussion about police funding.
"If you're not going to invest, not just in paying them, but in equipping and training them, then we're doing them a disservice," Mundt concluded, tying together the show's themes of properly supporting both military and law enforcement personnel who serve and protect the community.