Page 5 - September Issue

tributing building blocks jointly working to move the Fraternal Order of Police into next 100 years. It was truly an honor for our Chicago Delegation to be part of this centennial celebration.
The conference itself was an extraordi- nary event and extremely well-run. The events went off without a hitch, and to those of us that were uninvolved in coor- dinating the convention, not one speed bump was noticed. Our collective hats go off to the women and men of the Pitts- burgh Police Department who were ever- vigilant at the site and throughout the area to ensure that any of the anti-police demonstrations did not disrupt the con- ference business or the delegates’ com- ings or goings. We would be remiss if we did not also thank the Pennsylvania State Lodge and Pittsburgh Lodge #1 for all of the hard work. The years of planning and hundreds of persons involved truly made this year’s conference one for the books.
Election-wise, only two offices were contested: 1st and 2nd Vice-President. Not without a bit of drama, the elections ended with newly elected individuals for both offices. The Lodge would like to congratulate newly-elected 1st Vice-Pres- ident Jay McDonald of Ohio and newly- elected 2nd Vice-President Les Neri of Pennsylvania on their wins. The women and men of Lodge 7 look forward to hav- ing a close working relationship with both of these gentlemen. The Lodge would also like to acknowledge the years of constant fraternalism demonstrated by past 1st Vice-President Ed Brannigan of New Jersey and past 2nd Vice-Presi- dent Frank Gale of Colorado. Both of these men served the membership with tireless dedication. Thank you both for your service to the Fraternal Order of Police. We are quite sure that you will continue to proudly represent the FOP in all of your future endeavors.
Handcuffing our police continues
Recent legislation and municipal and statewide changes concerning how offi- cers will document routine street stops continues with a national movement that does nothing more than further handcuff America’s police officers. The anti-police movement and vocal minori- ty in existence throughout the country has resulted in pointless legislation, and done nothing more than put law-abiding citizens and police officers at greater risk. The so-called reform measures that many politicians and left-wing groups believe to be necessary as some attempt to improve police-citizen relations, are
certainly not only unnecessary, but we believe them to be adversely effective.
Specifically, the city of Chicago recently decided to require police officers to engage in redundant data collecting at the behest of the desires of ACLU. By the start of 2016, officers throughout Illinois will document every street stop by com- pleting an additional form and then return a receipt of that form to the person they stopped. This will occur even if an encounter is recorded on a dash cam or a body cam or results in an arrest; the new form must be completed and a receipt must be given. As if the video (which is designed to capture everything) or arrest reports (which already docu- ments everything) in their entirety aren’t enough. Now, more paperwork and fur- ther data-collecting will be required. When will the police be allowed to police?
We strongly believe that one of the first adverse impacts the public will experi- ence after this practice is implemented will be the response times to calls for service. Interestingly, the ACLU has also asked for another study to begin. This study will somehow attempt to capture the overall response times by officers to calls for service. However, the study will collect data from areas consisting of African American and Hispanic popula- tions only. Rather than collecting response times from the entire city, the ACLU will focus on minority populations, which are areas of the city that have a history of a higher rate of calls for service. The Lodge wonders whether the ACLU has taken the necessary steps and therefore consciously constructed a built-in bias to this study. If not, maybe the ACLU should collect response times for the entire city, and not carve out understaffed and overworked areas that will more than likely give them the data they are looking for in order to point another accusatory finger at law enforce- ment. The Lodge suggests that the ACLU rethink this study or at least widen the target population.
Chicago Fire and Chicago PD casting call concerns
It has recently been brought to the Lodge’s attention that the Inspector Gen- eral’s Office had been looking into the timesheets for officers working on the film sets of the Chicago Fire and Chicago PD television shows. At the time of this writing, we are in a wait-and-see mode, but it appears that a warning shot has
been fired over the heads of the members working on these television sets. The Lodge is not aware of any officers being disciplined, nor have we been told that there is anything pending against any- one. However, some of the casting repre- sentatives have informed us that a California company is responsible for completing everyone’s time sheets. The procedures that occur seems to be where the conflicts occur.
The officers who are selected to be on set are generally guaranteed a minimum of eight hours of pay for their appearance. By this agreement, the offi- cers that take the time out of their off time to drive to the sets are paid the eight-hour minimum whether they are actually on the set for the entire eight hours or not. On days when officers hired as extras are released prior to the eight- hour minimum, they wind up still being paid for an entire eight-hour day. Herein lies the timekeeping issue.
Going forward, whenever officers are working on one of these shows (or for any other production company), they need to ask how the timesheets will reflect their workday. They should also be cognizant of the slight chance of having their part-time employment timesheets overlapping with their A & A’s. Even though there is no intent by the officers to do anything more than work a part- timer, it is the Inspector General’s office, and now Department’s, opinion that the unintentional result could very well become a subject of discipline.
Once again, this Administration’s con- tinued ability to enjoy open and frank discussions between the Lodge and the Department offers us to now give a “heads-up,” as it were, to the members and to offer them some insight as to how to avoid future and certain disciplinary risk associated with seeking to work a part-time gig for extra household income. Officers can now become proac- tive and take the necessary measures to ensure these types of issues do not wind up adversely impacting their extra earn- ings.
Be Safe and God Bless the Police!
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2015 5
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