Page 32 - September 2019 FOP Newsletter

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Nothing seemed to perk up the populace, though, like the comments from Barr. A longtime friend of the FOP in his sec- ond stint as AG, Barr understands the lot in life for police offi- cers as much as anybody in Washington, D.C. He made quite an impression when characterizing the fight police officers fight every day.
“While there are battles won and lost by law enforcement of- ficers each day, there is never a final resolution,” General Barr explained. “It takes a very special kind of courage to wage this kind of fight – a special kind of commitment and a special kind of self-sacrifice.”
Barr further evoked his philosophies that facilitated reduc- ing crime during his first stint as AG in the George H.W. Bush administration, including zero tolerance for resisting police. He revealed that the current administration will be proposing leg- islation that will allow in cases of mass murder or murder of a law enforcement officer the imposition of any death sentence without undue delay.
“Punishment must be swift and certain,” Barr emphasized. “We take this responsibility seriously, and, working closely with our state and local partners, we will succeed in driving crime rates back down.”
Messages heard
In addition to news and tributes, the National FOP Bienni- al Conference is steeped in tradition. One of those is passing on wisdom from the elders. No elder statesman in the FOP has more wisdom than Dineen, who was one of three past national presidents to address the conference.
He didn’t mince a lot of words, other than to relate how far the
FOP has come since he led Lodge 7 into its first collective bar- gaining agreement 38 years ago. But he didn’t have to. Dineen’s impact is renowned, and for those who didn’t know it, current Lodge 7 President Kevin Graham stepped up to one of the mi- crophones on the floor set up for delegates to confirm it.
“I just wanted to let everybody know that John is one of the most dedicated people I have ever met for the FOP,” Graham recognized. “I am extremely proud that he is around to give me advice and history we need to move forward with our organi- zation.”
So, what did all the news, words of encouragement and over- all fraternalism that packed the biennial conference mean to Lodge 7 delegates, and what did they think it would mean to Chicago FOP members? From where Lodge 7 Sergeant-at-arms Jim Jakstavich sat for the three days of reports and presenta- tions, he heard a very reinforcing message.
“That the work we do is not unrecognized and sacrifices made are not taken for granted by the people out there,” he elaborated. “A lot of us share the same message. Together, we can hopefully sway politicians, use our voting power and our lobbying power to get bills passed to protect our members and their rights.”
It would be understandable for even the remotely skeptical Chicago Police Officer to dismiss the conference communica- tions as fumes from the biennial euphoria. A couple of longtime Lodge 7 reps put such a filter on the comments, however, and came out with well-schooled perspectives.
Kathleen Gahagan, a retired officer and former Lodge 7 trust- ee, has been to 10 national conferences since first attending in 1997. She left this year with one particular reinforcement.
“There seems to be more emphasis coming down from Wash-
32 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2019