Page 4 - January 2016

CHICAGO LODGE # 7
FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE CHICAGO LODGE #7
EXECUTIVE BOARD
DEAN C. ANGELO, SR.
President
RAY CASIANO, JR.
First Vice President
Frank DiMaria Second Vice President Daniel D. Gorman Third Vice President Greg Bella Recording Secretary Kevin Kilmer Financial Secretary John Capparelli Treasurer
Bill Nolan Immediate Past President John Dineen Parliamentarian
Sergeants-at-Arms
Bill Burns
Al Francis, Jr. James E. Moriarty, Jr.
Trustees
Robert Rutherford, Chairman Dean Angelo, Jr.
Mark Donahue
Pat Duckhorn
Sergio Escobedo Kathleen Gahagan Michael Garza Joseph Gentile
Ken Hauser
Tom Lonergan
Kevin McNulty Landry Reeves
Inez Riley
Jay Ryan
Steve Schorsch
Ron Shogren
Daniel Trevino
Field Reps
Keith Carter Marlon Harvey Tomas McDonagh
Magazine Committee Members
Greg Bella, Chair Joseph Gentile Bill Burns Thomas McKenna Michael Carroll Reggie Smith
President’s Report
Official Magazine
Department of Justice
4 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JANUARY 2016
We have previously shared information relating to the Depart- ment of Justice (DOJ) and its exam- ination of the CPD on the Lodge website. We also discussed it at the Dec. 15 General Membership meeting. What follows is our attempt to bring the entire mem- bership as up to date as possible.
As many may know by now, on Dec. 15, the day following Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s
call for the DOJ’s examination of the CPD, we were in conversation with National FOP President Chuck Canterbury to arrange a meeting with the DOJ. Prior to U.S. Attorney General Lynch’s Dec. 7 announcement, we were 100-percent con- vinced that it was only a matter of time before the DOJ arrived in Chicago. Before the official announcement came out of Washington, and in order to be in the best position possible to protect our membership, we decided to be proactive and make every attempt to learn as much as possible about the DOJ’s process. President Canterbury and National FOP Executive Director James Pasco suc- cessfully arranged a meeting on Dec. 9 with the DOJ. We discussed several issues during the nearly hour-long meeting. We asked about the specifics of the DOJ's process as it relates to “pattern and prac- tice” investigations. We also addressed concerns that several of our rank-and-file members have voiced. We inquired if the Lodge could somehow play an active role as the investigation progresses. We began our discussion with the overall climate, low morale and the everyday needs of our rank-and-file. We then expressed our frustrations with the recent finger pointing that had occurred in Chicago since
the delayed release of the dash camera video.
We spoke about the political posturing that is reg- ularly targeting the police officers who continue to perform with an amazing professionalism. We addressed the release of a felon the morning after striking a uniformed officer, the thousands of weapons recoveries that occur every year and a level of murders and gun violence not seen in any other city in America. We spoke about the vast amount of dash cameras that do not function as designed. We also shared that not only are there not enough Taser- certified officers (only one in five), but that there are
also not enough Tasers to go around.
The DOJ could not (and would not) give a time
frame for how long the investigation might take. Outside of Puerto Rico, Chicago is the largest depart-
ment that the DOJ will examine. Initially, the DOJ will begin by collecting the General Orders concerning Use of Force, Disciplinary Investigations, IPRA’s responsibilities, and, yes, the Contract. The DOJ will then begin interviewing civilians, CPD members and, at some point down the road, they will be involved in ride-a-longs with district personnel.
As the process of interviewing our members moves forward, the Lodge has offered to assist with the facilitation and has extended use of the Lodge building as a location to conduct some interviews. We realize that the comfort an officer would feel on Washington Boulevard is quite different compared to 35th and Michigan and/or the Federal Building. At the time of this writing, the DOJ was in favor of using Lodge 7 as a site for conducting interviews. As things continue to develop, we will continue to keep everyone informed.
To say that we owe our appreciation to President Canterbury and Director Pasco is a huge understate- ment. It is comforting for us to know that Lodge 7’s relationship with the national office can provide our organization with this type of response and service.
Exhausted Accusatory Rhetoric
As our municipal, county and state politicians contemplate how to best go about designing a plan pertaining to the recent police-related incidents, they do so in a manner that further damages any remaining relationships with the Lodge 7 member- ship. They continue to distance themselves from us every time they get near a microphone or stage their next self-serving press conference.
Many were quick to “Blame the Police, Demean the Police and Accuse the Police.” As if it wasn’t enough to blast the entire CPD, they then moved to “Blame the FOP, Demean the FOP and Accuse the FOP.” Even now, it is apparent that it is easier for many of them to deflect their collective lack of famil- iarity with the contents of our Contract than to admit to their constituents that they voted on approving (our Contract received unanimous coun- cil approval) without ever reading. To accuse the Lodge of having membership protections that are undeserving, unnecessary and even illegal, further demonstrates that some have no knowledge of what is contained in our Agreement. It is typical for com- ments such as these to come from the uninformed.
It has become apparent that Lodge 7 is viewed as speaking on behalf of the collective body of Chicago Police Officers, no matter the rank. The Lodge must regularly address what is becoming a politically motivated attack on our membership. Recent
DEAN C. ANGELO, SR.