Page 6 - JULY 2016 Newsletter

CITY CLUB CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5
their work, even though none of these individuals has ever been involved in police work themselves, nor have they ever strapped a weapon on their hip (or patrolled our streets). This is a very dangerous direction for people who are in a position to make changes to consider this a good idea. Rather than attempt to mandate changes to some- thing about policing, of which they don’t know the first thing about, it would be best to ask those who are actually working police officers about how new ideas might adversely impact the beat officer on the street. We should be asking those directly affected.
When an officer gets hit, approval of felony charges come slow, if at all. When an officer strikes back, it becomes a headline. It seems that they will immediately get stripped of their police powers or they will get assigned to 30 days of desk duty, or more. Either way, the percep- tion of our police officers is that no one has their backs. And we all know how perceptions work. Officers also believe that the least type of confrontational or physical incident they get involved in will place themonthereceivingendofanew“anti-policecorrectness.”
There are occasions when the FOP actually receives encouragement from the upper echelon asking us to continue to speak out on behalf of our officers. Sometimes, we are told that these same individuals would like to do so themselves, but they admit they can’t. Once again, it seems as if the FOP is the only voice that“regularly”defends and sup- ports the women and men of the CPD. Which is fine with us. After all, that is our job. That is my job. It happens to be just one of my many responsibilities. It is one responsibility I truly embrace, even with the negative fallout that seems to follow.
We try not to turn down any interview requests from the media. We try to be as available to the media as much as we can. We do so in order to get our message out. We need to get out our message of support for the Chicago Police officers, especially when no one else is doing so.
However, there needs to come a time, and it needs to come sooner than later, for others; those in the media, those elected to office and the silent majority of Chicagoans...to recognize and support the com- mitment and dedication of the women and men of the Chicago Police Department. We all need to speak up and reinforce of our officers’ commitment, and we need to do it on a much more regular basis.
For too long now, there has been a deafening silence out there when it comes to supporting the dedicated people who make up the Chicago Police Department, and that needs to change.
FOP Overview
Speaking of change, allow us to change the mood of this presenta- tion just a bit. We would like to give a brief overview of the FOP. FOP was started in 1915 by Pittsburgh Police Officers Martin Toole, Delbert Nagle and 21 others who got together to establish the first FOP Lodge, Fort Pitt Lodge #1. They did so to address poor working conditions and long hours.
Last summer, several thousand delegates representing most of the 2,200-plus Lodges met in Pittsburgh to celebrate our 100th anniversary. We must say, the city of Pittsburgh, and the entire state of Pennsylvania for that matter, did a great job. It was quite an event.
Locally, Chicago Lodge 7 was chartered in 1963 and quickly became the largest single Lodge in the U.S. We still are. Lodge 7 represents more than 17,500 Members; some 10,000-plus are active members below the rank of sergeant, and the remaining are our retirees. We can’t tell you how proud and humbled we are to be leading the largest
Fraternal Order of Police Lodge in the country, and to be doing so at one of the most difficult times in our history. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.
In 1981, shortly after then-President John Dineen secured collective bargaining rights, he and Mayor Jane Byrne signed our first contract. That 50-page document is now in its ninth version and contains 160 pages of continued safeguards of employee rights, wage assignments, safety protections, insurance programs and many other work-related benefits that offer the women and men of Lodge 7 the protections they so very much deserve. We could do an entire luncheon on our contract, but we should move on.
Chicago’s West Side, Unemployment and Crime
Let’s talk about something you might not have expected to hear today.
These photographs (of several abandoned buildings and empty lots) show the West Side of our city. After Dr. Martin Luther King’s assas- sination, several cities across our country broke out in riots and Chicago was no exception. Several fires were set and many neighbor- hoods were destroyed. A lot of the damage that occurred then is still visible and no more visible than on our West Side.
There are too many vacant lots or abandoned buildings to count, and they have been vacant since the 1960s. Businesses have left, shop- ping is extremely limited or over-priced and merchandise is costly and of very poor quality. Fresh groceries are nearly impossible to find, unless you have available transportation to drive to another commu- nity. Very few businesses are owned by local residents. The West Side is one of the poorest areas of Chicago.
Our concern – and it should be everyone’s concern – is that there have been four generations of West Side Chicagoans who have walked past these same abandoned buildings and through those same empty lots. Four generations of witnessing no change, no improvement, nothing positive happening in their neighborhood. Four generations of despair.
It is 2016, people. It has been 50 years. How can it be that these buildings still exist and that those lots are still empty? Something needs to change.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes 2011 Executive Report:
“High levels of crime are both a major cause and a result of poverty, insecurity and underdevelopment. Crime drives away business, erodes human capital and destabilizes society. Targeted actions are needed...
...crime prevention policies should be combined with economic and social development and democratic governance based on the rule of law.”
Someone needs to ask why. Someone needs to do something. You can’t look to the police to fix these problems, but you look to the police to deal with the fallout. Let’s stay here for a moment...
The police cannot find people jobs. We cannot improve education. We cannot fix your marriage or raise your children. We cannot cure your addiction or diagnose your psychosis. Although we deal with the fallout every day, we cannot fix these issues. Our job is to protect those who cannot protect themselves and to enforce the laws passed by others.
Something needs to be done to address the generations of aban- doned buildings and empty lots. There is too much at stake.
Poverty, Narcotics, Guns and Homicides
Why are we discussing poverty? There are so many studies that
6 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JULY 2016