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Police Accountability Task Force
Lori Lightfoot and Joe Ferguson took the Po- lice Accountability Task Force (PATF) show on the road and appeared in front of the camer- as to try and justify their side of this rubbish. There were several issues Lightfoot mentioned throughout the interviews, but I wanted to share some of the most pertinent with you.
To begin, Lightfoot asserts that the lack of trust in the CPD is justified. She then goes on to say that communities across the city feel that the De-
partment does not respect their humanity. What?
Members of this Department are all in favor of respecting the humanity of those who act like hu- mans. That said, when you murder, rob and pil- lage, you lose the privilege to be treated humanely.
Lightfoot continues by mentioning that residents across the city think the Department is fundamentally racist, and that these feelings were articulated to the PATF during neighborhood forums and in protests on the street. Why didn’t the PATF hold these neighborhood forums in every neighborhood? It seems biased to me that these fo- rums were not held in every neighborhood so every com- munity could be represented. Just recently, residents of the 13th, 14th and 23rd Wards held a pro-police rally. Did the PATF try and reach out to these residents and ask them about their attitudes toward the Department?
Another topic with which I took issue was the PATF’s as- sertion that the Department recruits young women and men from segregated neighborhoods who may not have had any experience interacting with anyone different from them – whether black, brown or Asian. Is the PATF stating that only young white men and women are being recruited? In 21 years on this job, I have met plenty of di- verse officers who grew up in predominantly black, brown and Asian neighborhoods. And guess what; they lock up criminals regardless of their skin tone.
The PATF calls the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) broken, and says it should be replaced. I find this assertion puzzling. Most of us remember that Lightfoot was the Chief Administrator of the Office of Professional Standards (OPS) from 2002 to 2004. Apparently she was so effective during her tenure at OPS, they disbanded it and created IPRA. Thanks for a job well done!
According to their website, the primary mission of the PATF is to “lay the foundation for the rejuvenation of trust between the police and the communities that they serve by facing hard truths and creating a roadmap for real and lasting transparency, respectful engagement, account- ability and change.” It is obvious that the narrative was stamped and the PATF had marching orders.
The PATF consists of six lawyers, one not-for profit pres- ident, one social worker and one community psychologist. Why doesn’t the PATF panel include anyone with law en- forcement experience? The goal of the PATF is to discover comprehensive findings with specific recommendations for change in the short-term, interim and long-term with- in the CPD.
As a citizen of this city, I am outraged by this omission. We are being called upon to make major changes within the law enforcement community, and yet, there is not a single voice from any law enforcement official. What a joke.
Promotional List
The Department just released a promotion list for ser- geants and lieutenants, and I would like to congratulate all FOP members promoted. Year after year I look at these lists, and it seems like the more time I accumulate on this
job, the less names I recognize. One thing that stood out about the names on this list, or I should say lack
of names, were those of deserving officers.
Where were the names of the officers who were involved in two shootings in the Seventh District where gun battles were waged? The officers in- volved in these two incidents dragged their fellow officers to safety and saved citizens’ lives. How are
those officers not deserving of a promotion?
Where is the transparency that I keep hearing about? Who gets deemed worthy of the good line? Do you get a smiley face sticker in that line? Hey Department of Justice, where ya at? How about you, PATF member Maurice Clas- sen? You spoke of a survey that showed 98 percent of po- lice officers feel the career track on the CPD is broken. Well I am not a math guy, but I know for a fact that 30 percent believe it’s not broken, and, more often than not, it’s the
same 30 percent every time. d
THOMAS
THOMAS
MCDONAGH
MCDONAGH
Field Representative
REPORT
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MAY 2016 15