Coalition of DPS Retirees

The Coalition of DPS Retirees is composed of retired sworn and civilian members of the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

This group was originally brought together in 1994 by then DPS Director Rick Ayars to provide input and support for the Department and its retirees.

Tom Milldebrandt, followed by Ernie Johnson served as the first Coalition Chairmen, both assisted by Larry Thompson serving as Vice Chairman.

In the beginning, and continuing to the present, the Coalition has been considered as an employee group within the DPS family.

Today, CDPSR has grown into an an integral part of the Department’s Support and Recovery System. This is a program of volunteers that are available to retirees and surviving spouses.

In 2003, the “Java-Jaunt” program was kicked off. This started, in a “targeted” sort of way, in areas where breakfast meetings were held in locations where other retirees lived. The “Java-Jaunts” have now morphed into regular breakfast retiree get togethers in the east and west Valley as well as Showlow, Flagstaff, Kingman, Yuma and Tucson.

Beautiful monuments honoring DPS fallen officers have been placed around the state by the Department with the cooperation of the AHPA and CDPSR. Since then, the CDPSR has taken on the responsibility of maintaining these monuments. This entails coating them with a preservative once each year and repainting the design and lettering when necessary.

The CDPSR e-mail network was begun as a way of maintaining contact with the members. Many live in other states and through e-mails, they receive information or updates just as quickly as those living in Arizona. This system is managed by Colin Peabody. Anyone who has any news on life events of DPS Retirees is encouraged to contact Colin at email@cdpsr.com. While the CDPSR emails are only sent to Coalition members, we encourage members to share any information they receive with others.

Regular meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month from September through April. In May, an annual meeting and banquet is held in Payson. There are no meetings during the summer months of June, July and August.

Meetings are held in Phoenix at AZPOST, 2643 E. University, except for the October meeting which is held in Flagstaff, and the February meeting which is held in Tucson.