Page 8 - August 2018

The narrative being spun by our elected officials and the media pins all the problems in society on the police. The issues within many communities throughout the City have in many ways been the result of a failure to address these specific problems by the elected members of those communities. This has caused many of the problems to fester and increase over time.
Homicide clearance
The homicide clearance rate in many districts has declined mainly for two reasons:
1. Many murders are caused by internal conflicts between warring gangs, which are the results of drug sale stats in these areas. Gang members do not cooperate in these in- vestigations.
2. Citizens who reside in these areas are afraid to identify murder suspects for fear of themselves becoming targets.
The tale being spun is that there is an inability of police offi-
cers to interact with the public in these districts.
Consent decree
I voted to intervene on the consent decree to basically block out the attorney general and mayor of Chicago from proposing a federally enforced reform for the Chicago Police Department. There are far too many questions about why these two officials would work together to implement these changes.
Attorney General Sessions wrote that he has “grave concerns that some provisions of this decree will reduce the lawful powers of the police department and result in a less safe city.” I totally agree with Attorney General Sessions. One of my biggest con- cerns is this decree causing officers within our department to become less safe. A police officer may hesitate to respond in a situation he encounters, causing him or his partner to become injured or worse.
Consent decree study
A study of 23 departments under consent decrees, including New Orleans, found lawsuits dropped dramatically — from 36 to 23 percent each year in each city. Could this be the result of police officers doing less proactive policing for fear of being dis- ciplined by being forced to comply with portions of the consent decree?
Is this decree, rushed through by the previous president’s administration, an attempt to destroy the collective bargain- ing agreement that protects our members? Obviously, this is an attempt politically to ensnare our department to comply with these directives prior to the upcoming elections.
All members should be registered to vote in the elections against the officials implementing these changes. It’s time to stand together, because politicians understand one thing com- pletely and that is votes. d
First Vice President’s Report
It’s not our fault
PAT MURRAY
8 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ AUGUST 2018