Members of the Simi Police Officers Association took to the streets again this past weekend with signs in hand, but this time their target location wasn’t the Civic Center—it was a City Council member’s house.

Councilmember Glen Becerra told the Simi Valley Acorn he awoke Saturday morning to find about 50 police officers and their families rallying in his cul-de-sac over the POA’s ongoing contract dispute with the city.

“It’s a pressure tactic to make me and my family uncomfortable,” said an upset Becerra of the 8 a.m. demonstration.

It was the union’s second protest since deciding to launch a public relations campaign regarding negotiations that have been under way since the POA’s contract expired June 30.

The union represents all 110 of Simi’s sworn officers below the rank of lieutenant.

For several months, the city and the union have discussed the officers’ next contract behind closed doors. It’s been reported the POA is resisting the 2 percent cutback taken by all other city employees in June as part of the budget process.

According to Detective Bill Daniels, union president, the decision to rally outside Becerra’s home was prompted by a conversation overheard at the city’s 40th birthday celebration.

Daniels said someone attending the event heard a council member make a comment that “negotiations are going to get a lot uglier before they get a lot better.”

Under the Brown Act, the City Council is limited in its communication—verbal or written— with the POA and should not talk about the negotiations.

Because Daniels believes the periodic updates the council receives from city staff regarding negotiations are “filtered,” and since he can’t speak with the council directly, he decided the next best way to voice the union’s opinion was a front yard rally.

“That was the reason that we did what we did on Saturday,” he said. “To let them know our displeasure with the way this whole negotiation process is going because we have no other means of being able to talk to them at this point.”

Daniels would not confirm that Becerra was the one who made the comment at the birthday event.

Although Becerra said he understands the union’s desire to protect their pay and benefits, he said that it’s difficult to be sympathetic when people in the community are losing their jobs and their homes.

Moreover, Becerra said the city already allocates a “huge amount” of resources to support the police department.

“You can’t argue that we’re not very, very supportive and we don’t prioritize public safety,” he said. “We do, and our actions prove that.”

Both sides have said the other isn’t negotiating in “good faith.”

Becerra said the union is unnecessarily making it personal by attacking his family.

“Why would we do this unless this was for the long-term health of the community? I’m not doing this because I want to be miserable for the next year,” Becerra said.

Daniels said the city made it personal by trying to lessen the union’s working conditions and using the economy as an excuse. He said the union’s goal is to come to a satisfactory resolution for both sides and that he’s frustrated by letters to the Acorn that call for the police union to just take its cut already.

“We are willing to do that,” said the 21-year veteran of the force. “It’s the plethora of other items, working conditions that they want to rip away from us.”

Daniels said he considers the rally a success because it drew a reaction, though he was unsure whether the union would decide to picket a city official’s house again.

“If we were able to get in and negotiate rather than just have things basically thrown down our throats . . . we wouldn’t have to waste our time doing these things,” he said. “But we believe these concepts that we’re fighting for are worth fighting for.”

As for Becerra, he’s saddened to see negotiations come to this— and for his daughter to see her former DARE officer now picketing her house.

“These are people we consider friends. We’ve attended barbecues with Bill Daniels before. We’ve never had an issue like this where it seems like they’re trying to make it personal,” he said. “And to see them basically attacking my family like that is sad.”

If things keep going in this direction, Becerra predicted that it is “ultimately going to be a very ugly year for everyone involved.”

“If they put as much effort into negotiating as they do into picketing and going after our families, we might have a more constructive, productive situation here,” he said.