Personal Touch

The National Association of Chiefs of Police is very much a family affair. And that’s just the way Barry Shepherd likes it. Mr. Shepherd, his mother, a brother, and his sister-in-law hold four of the top positions with the Florida charity. In addition, the organization says it employs people outside the Shepherd family who are themselves related: a husband and wife, and a father and daughter.

“We have found that no one will treat the business as well as family, or care for it as personally,” said Mr. Shepherd, executive director of the organization, in an e-mail message.

“As long as each family member has distinctively different roles and understands and agrees to perform as a professional, then family can do a much better job of caring for and running a successful charity,” he added.

Museum and Gun Range

One of the major programs of the National Association of Chiefs of Police is maintaining the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum, a tourist attraction in Titusville, Fla. The group — which reported total revenue of $2.2-million in 2007, with $1.3-million in program expenditures — says it provides a variety of educational programs and services, including publishing a magazine and operating a gun range for firearm training, and assisting officers who have been disabled in the line of duty and their families.

According to Form 990 tax returns that the charity filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the National Association of Chiefs of Police is affiliated with another charity at the same Titusville address, the American Federation of Police & Concerned Citizens, which says its primary purpose is to assist family members and children of law-enforcement officials killed in the line of duty. The federation reported revenue of $3.8-million in 2007 and said it spent nearly $2.4-million to carry out its programs.

Barry Shepherd and his three relatives also serve as top officials of the American Federation of Police & Concerned Citizens. The organization has said on its informational tax returns that it has no paid employees.

Mr. Shepherd’s mother, Donna M. Shepherd, has served as the unpaid chairman of another Titusville charity, the American Police Academy. The academy’s informational return says that the organization is the training arm of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.

And Barry Shepherd’s late uncle, Derrick B. Van Brode IV, was co-founder of both the National Association of Chiefs of Police and the American Federation of Police & Concerned Citizens.

Barry Shepherd said he and his brother, Brent Shepherd, worked together at a commercial real-estate company for 12 years before joining the police organization, giving up “lucrative positions” to “come work in the nonprofit world of NACOP. And we did it because we wanted to make a difference.”

Mr. Shepherd said in his e-mail message that “as of 2008, no one here makes a six-figure income; we all wish we did.”

The most recent Form 990 filed by the National Association of Chiefs of Police shows a total of $271,497 in compensation paid to Barry Shepherd and three family members for the fiscal year ending on September 30, 2007.

The Form 990 shows that Barry Shepherd in 2007 received $60,959 as marketing director; his mother, Donna M. Shepherd, received $77,839 as executive director; his brother, Brent Shepherd, received $60,959 as director of operations; and Brent Shepherd’s wife, Jamie, was paid $71,740 as the charity’s information-technology coordinator.

Since the informational tax return was filed late last year, Barry Shepherd says, his mother has been named chief executive of the organization, and he has replaced her as executive director.

On its Form 990 for the past two years, the organization has checked “no” to the question of whether any of its officers, directors, trustees, key employees, or highest-paid workers are related through family relationships.

When asked by The Chronicle why the organization’s answer had not been “yes,” Mr. Shepherd checked with the accountant who prepared the Form 990.

The accountant said a mistake had been made and that an amended return has now been filed that lists the relationships among the Shepherd family members.

‘Certain Precautions’

Mr. Shepherd said that family members can work together at a charity “as long as certain precautions” are followed.

“Here at NACOP, no one person does everything, and no one person has access to everything,” he said.

“While I am the executive director, I do not supervise my brother, Brent, who performs duties that I do not,” Barry Shepherd said. “I also do not supervise my sister-in-law, Jamie Shepherd, Brent’s wife,” who runs the charity’s program to provide police dogs to law-enforcement groups as well as manages its computer systems.

“We all have our own programs and duties, and this aids in our ability to work together as a professional unit and as a family,” he said.

Mr. Shepherd added: “We have bimonthly staff meetings, and not all staffers are related. Most of our company decisions are worked out and voted on during these staff meetings, and the Shepherd family usually doesn’t all vote along the same lines — but we all know, appreciate, and abide by the majority vote. We don’t have to like it, but we do have to live with it.”

Mr. Shepherd said the National Association of Chiefs of Police embraces the feeling of family.

“Our goal is to promote a family feeling in the office between all of the families and to also create a family feel to our constituents and to those we serve,” he said.