Lodge History
Lodge 32: Grand Canyon State Lodge
January 26th, 1968, the Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control petitioned the Fraternal Order of Police for a Charter to form a Subordinate Lodge in the State of Arizona. Signature of Applicants: Edward E Rekas, William O Greenler, John T Evans, Gary D Dull, Cecil D Waddell, Paul Frey Jr, William B Hughes, Ernest L Flores, Sylvan Kinney, James E Belland, R O Ramsy, John T Curnutte, Kenneth D Taylor, James R Smith, Winston Texas, and Jeanin Barnes.
April 3rd, 1968, Articles of Incorporation of the Fraternal Order of Police Grand Canyon State Lodge No. 32, Inc. were filed with the office of the Arizona Corporation Commission. Signature of Lawful Agents: James R Smith, John T Evans, Ed F McCravy, Herschel Taylor, Cecil D Waddell, Ronald Shackelford, Sylvan Kinney, James Profitt, Sam Dee, and Kenneth Taylor. The first Lodge 32 President was James R Smith.
July 1st, 1969, the Arizona Department of Public Safety was formed when the Arizona Highway Patrol was merged with the enforcement division of the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control and the Narcotics Division of the Arizona Department of Law. Upon becoming DPS agents, the officers employed with the Department of Liquor License and Control brought FOP Lodge 32 with them.
Lodge meetings were held in members' homes until Smith Pipe and Steel gift-deeded 20 acres of land at Camelback and Sarival Roads to the Lodge. A small building existed on the property, and Lodge members supplied time and labor to tear it down (leaving the existing basement and original slab) and build a new clubhouse.
The Department of Public Safety rapidly grew, and Lodge membership rapidly increased. Lodge 32, as a state lodge, was open to members statewide. A number of police officers in the smaller agencies in the west valley (Avondale, Surprise, Goodyear, and Tolleson) joined the Lodge, as well as officers from Game and Fish, the Department of Corrections, Brand Inspectors, and the Attorney General’s Office.
The Lodge functioned mainly as a fraternal organization and gradually began to gain recognition representing employees of DPS in employment matters. The Lodge funded little league teams and musical shows for underprivileged children and sponsored the Pig Bowl football games.
Lodge 32 has gone through periods where there was a very active Auxiliary membership whose members hosted numerous family functions at the clubhouse, i.e., softball, volleyball, barbeques, dinners, and dances. Currently, there is an active Associates Lodge membership, consisting mainly of DPS civilian employees and local citizens, who provide assistance to civilian employees at DPS. Lodge 32 members are very active in the community assisting food banks, homes for elderly victims, fallen officer ceremonies, etc.
As the Lodge became active in legislative matters, so did the State Lodge, and currently, the focus of the FOP in Arizona is strongly labor oriented yet continues to maintain the fraternalism it began with.
In the 48th year of Lodge 32, membership exceeds 1250 members, more than tripling in size over the past 25 years, and it has become the largest and most effective employee representation group for Arizona DPS.
Lodge 4: Arizona Highway Patrol
At DPS, we currently belong to FOP Lodge No. 32. We didn’t start out as lodge 32. We actually were called the Arizona Highway Patrol FOP Lodge No. 4. It was established by Highway Patrol officers in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
January 25th, 1934, Tucson Police Officer Frank Eyman was one of several officers who captured John Dillinger in downtown Tucson. Eyman, later the Sheriff of Pima County and Warden of the Arizona State Prison in Florence (1955 to 1972), transported Dillinger to Chicago. While there, he had the opportunity to visit a Fraternal Order of Police Lodge and returned to Tucson with paperwork to establish the first FOP Lodge, Arizona Lodge 1, for the Tucson Police Department.
Lodge 1 was followed by the formation of Lodge 2 for the Phoenix Police Department, Lodge 3 (designation unknown), and Lodge 4, formed by and for the Arizona Highway Patrol.
Later, when the Arizona Highway Patrol Association (AHPA/ASTA) was formed, Superintendent Hathaway, who had a close association with that organization, called in the FOP Lodge 4 officers and told them their lodge was to cease existence or they would lose their jobs, so Lodge 4 ceased to exist. If anyone wished to belong to a police organization, they had only one choice.
In 1969, FOP Lodge 32 came to DPS, providing employees with the opportunity to once again be members of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Visit the Arizona State FOP Website
Visit the National FOP Website