Page 11 - May 2018 FOP Magazine

As most of you already know, proactive policing came to a screeching halt on Dec. 30, 2015. This was the day that it was announced that all mem- bers of the Chicago Police Department were to be taught de-escalation and force mitigation tech- niques.
This must have meant that every citizen en- counter prior to this announcement resulted in ei- ther an arrest or a trip to the hospital. We know the
last statement is absurd, but the reality is that the people who know how to do your job better than you (people who were nev- er the police) believed that to be fact. The number of calls for service that an officer handles in a year, compared to the num- ber of times that that same officer has to resort to using force to gain compliance, is miniscule — but some people would rather believe just the opposite.
In 2015, there were 480 homicides in Chicago. In 2016 (enter the ISR & ACLU), there were 762 homicides. Coincidence? With the introduction of the ISR, we were told that all stops must be documented with reasonable articulate suspicion for the stop. If not, your report would not be approved by your supervisor — the same supervisor that had previously approved every contact card and report you have submitted for the last ump-teen years.
Who demanded all the contact cards? When the demand was made, was anyone verifying that there was documented reason- able suspicion? If there was a problem with the way the contact cards were being completed prior to the introduction of the ISR, shouldn’t the officers have been mentored by their supervisor, or even referred to some sort of supplemental training? But that wasn’t the case — just push the numbers so we can maintain the “index.”
Who took the heat for this? The patrol officers. Somehow, the ones that demanded the activity and approved our work for years got off scot-free or were even promoted, some several times over. Whichever way you wish to describe the effect on our department — the “Ferguson effect,” ISRs and the ACLU, IPRA/COPA, “questionable leadership” or fill in the blank — there is no doubt that policing in Chicago has changed.
Remember, all you are required to do is:
1. Respond to your jobs.
2. Code them out or drop paper in a timely manner.
3. Back each other up.
4. Go home to your families.
Anything beyond the above-mentioned items is strictly up to your discretion. Stay safe and FIDO!
Retirement information
If you need to change your retirement date, you can only go forward, not backward. To change the date, complete a To-From to the Director of Human Resources. If you check for any bad CR#s that might affect you retiring “in good standing,” contact the IAD Advocate Section.
reasonably priced. Prudential (800-778-3827) is also portable but at a much higher rate.
One to three months out from your retirement date, contact Nationwide (Deferred Compensation, 877-677-3678) in order to move anticipated funds from unused furlough, BFD, VD, comp time and widow’s pension.
45 days out, complete an End of Employment (Exit Inter- view) with your CO, as well as the “Ethics Forms” and approved CLEAR form. All of these documents need to be taken to Human Resources 30 days out.
30 days out, make an appointment with the Pension Board (312-744-3891). When calling, inquire as to what paperwork you may need to bring, such as birth, death, marriage or divorce documents.
You can sell up to 200 hours of furlough time, six BFDs (at eight hours each), four personal days and any carryover days from the prior year. This is the only time you can sell carryover days, for a total of 344 hours.
Special thanks to Detective Mike O’Donnell (630) for putting to- gether the above “cheat sheet.” d
ThirdVice President’s Report
Proactive Policing (1855-2015)...R.I.P.
JAY RYAN
Insurance. The MetLife policy (800-638-5000) is portable and
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