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Where the misleading information comes from
I would like to start off my report by address- ing information, or the lack of information, be- ing disseminated by the news media to the gen- eral public. During the past several months, the media, whether on TV, print or online, has been, for the most part, misleading. Information on investigations of police-involved shootings, or anything involving the police, has been sensa- tionalized to make the whole Department
look inept.
When the news media does not have the whole
story, and it rarely does, some editor decides to add
false or incomplete information to sell the story to
the public. When I hear the term “Rogue Cops” be-
ing used to describe us, it makes me cringe. This isn’t some made up Hollywood movie like Training Day. These are real-life situations which require real-life decisions and actions to keep the citizens and visitors to the city of Chicago safe. We are not the problem; we are the solution that allows the summer festivals, concerts and many, many normal activities to take place in Chicago.
No one should throw bricks while in a glass house, meaning that unless you’ve walked in the shoes of a Chica- go police officer, you do not, and cannot, understand what it takes to go out and patrol the streets of Chicago. The Thin Blue Line is there 24-hours a day because most people can- not handle emergencies by themselves. That’s why 9-1-1 is available to call when they need help.
Never once did I think or say, “I’m going to shoot some- body today,” but I know that every day I might have to make that decision. That is what a police officer truly gets paid for; not writing tickets or placing an offender into cus- tody, but to make a less-than-split-second decision to take someone’s life because we might have to make the ultimate sacrifice and could lose our own in the process.
The stress of day-to-day policing is no joke and the stress of a police-involved shooting is times a thousand. In my more-than-29 years as a police officer, I’ve seen what this
MCDONAGH CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14
paign financing rules. I cannot believe that her handlers did not catch that. It’s a sad state of affairs when an elect- ed candidate running for arguably the most important job in Cook County claims her life experience makes her “uniquely” qualified to hold the position. I could care less about life experience, but I do want a prosecutor that’s tough on crime and follows the letter of the law. This election has nothing to do about who was going to be the toughest on the out-of-control crime problem that has crippled this city since the beginning of the year. Nope, this election was centered on the control of the criminal justice system and preaching to all that the big bad po- liceman is the problem. Should be interesting.
stress can do to a person. The public forgets that we are hu- man, too. We bleed. We have compassion. We have feelings and we have families that we want to go home to at the end of our tours.
I hope that with the newly-elected state and county offi- cials, we don’t return to the dark ages in an attempt to bring transparency to the Department, a transparency in which
KEITH CARTER
Field Representative
REPORT
police officers are made out to be the bad guys and are led to the guillotine with an off-with-their-heads mentality. I hope that these officials don’t try cas- es in the court of public opinion to save their jobs. I hope that they have an understanding of Illinois State law. I was amazed, but not surprised, when State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, while conducting her news conference on several police-involved shootings, made the comment that the armed offenders in each vid- eo was a fleeing felon and, as such, could be fired upon by responding police officers. What was the response of the uninformed news anchors when they cut back to the stu- dio? They all had the look of the RCA dog and stated, “Oh, I
didn’t know that was Illinois state law.”
That’s why the public, most of the time, is misinformed
about procedures and factual events that have taken place during an investigation. When the FOP was inclined to give the media immediate information it requested, we gave it. And now we have become the Fraternal Order of Propagan- da. The FOP has been thrown under the bus for ensuring that our members get their due process, just like any oth- er citizen who has rights under the constitution, and for whatever the reason the masses just don’t get it.
We must weather this storm as the Lodge has weathered many other dark storms in the past. The key is to not let ignorance or the apathy of a few diminish who we are and what we do every day to make the city of Chicago safe for all. We, the Thin Blue Line will still uphold the motto, “to serve and protect.”
Be safe and return home to your loved ones. d
Superintendent
Channel 7 had the agitator from the UIC protests who only cares about his First Amendment rights to free speech chime in on who he thinks should be superinten- dent. This goof is apparently going to be the new Channel 7 “guy” because they interviewed him about who the next superintendent should be. Without fail, he simply stated that the next Superintendent should be African-Ameri- can. Not mentioned was anything about qualifications or background, but instead inferred that the color of your skin is all that makes you qualified. This world is not something...it’s something else. d
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