Page 11 - February 2016

Officers feeling repercussions of defunding mental health
We have been going out to roll calls to explain the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation, talk about the Investigatory Stop Order, current events and legislation impacting your job. We have been getting great feedback. If you want us to come to you on a particular watch and day, just call the office and someone will be out.
CTU
For some reason the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has decided to inject itself into the protests against police. It’s not like they don’t have their own problems to tackle. A strike and layoffs are looming, Teachers are being arrested for sexual encounters with children, test scores are falling and attendance keeps going down. Their pension is in financial
trouble because they only pay 2 percent of salary into their fund. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is on the verge of insolvency and the CTU refuses to take any action that would help solve this pending disaster. The CTU’s January newsletter cover was completely disgust- ing, as was the article encouraging teach- ers to teach children how to protest against police. With all the problems fac- ing the CTU, I guess it’s easier to criticize the police than solve your own problems.
Silly politicians
The media doesn’t remember that a few years ago the Mayor and Aldermen voted to stop funding and close City mental health clinics because they don’t have money for their operation. Their action put thousands of mentally ill patients on the street without basic treatment or medication and right into the lap of the police. These mentally ill people are rampaging on the streets because they cannot get their medicines and police are called to deal with them. The police respond and when the public, media and politi- cians don’t like the outcome, there is outrage. Why isn’t there out- rage at politicians who closed the mental health clinics? Why isn’t there outrage against the media who failed to report on the con- sequences of closing the mental health clinics?
Not wanting a crisis to go to waste, the politicians come to the rescue with an answer to the problem –they will make sure every officerreceivesCrisisInterventionTeam(CIT)trainingandevery officer is equipped with a camera and taser. CIT training is a 40- hour block that teaches us how to deal with mentally ill people. Really? Most professionals in the mental health field have master’s degrees.
Alderman Jason Ervin introduced an ordinance to buy every officer a taser at a cost of $700 to $1,000 per taser. This will cost the City somewhere between $8 million and $12 million. Training officers how to use tasers will raise the cost even more. According to Ervin, finding the money is just as easy as ending overtime ini- tiatives, which he claims have no results. Ervin says “a predomi- nant number of individuals who end up shot and killed by the
police are African American. We have a responsibility to help save young black lives.” It is not the responsibility of the parents, the family or the community? Ervin’s next proposal is to raise the retirement age from 65 to 671⁄2 to ease the pension crisis.
Just when you think it can’t get any sillier, Alderman Sawyer is encouraging the use of other non-lethal weapons. Sawyer wants us to use the rubber bullet shotgun, which would be half the cost of tasers. Sawyer is extremely brilliant when he says, “People have died with tasers, but with bean bags you just get a bruise. It will knock you down. It is painful, but it won’t kill you.”
A quick recap – the politicians created a problem when they closed the City mental health clinics because they don’t have money to fund them. Then the same politicians find a solution which requires them to spend more money for training, purchas- ing a taser for every officer and purchase bean bag shotguns.
Instead of blaming your problems on the police, address the real problem – the breakdown of the family unit.
ACLU
The ACLU and the liberals have finally achieved their goal – the de-policing of America. The current trend to stop our officers from doing their jobs is not unique to Chicago. All you have to do is watch the national news and you see it happening across the entire nation. The Mayor and Garry McCarthy entered into a set- tlement agreement with the ACLU that produced the Investigatory Stop Report. The ream of paperwork an officer has to do, whether you stop a person on the street or you arrest a per- son, is absolutely counterproductive. No one can explain what will happen when the ACLU goes through the reports. What will they do with the information?
Legislators in Springfield passed the Police Reform Act that directly affects the way we police. This will lead to a decline in street stops which will result in an increase in crime. Thanks to the ACLU, more people will become victims of crime and the murder rate will soar. To all our Brothers and Sisters, keep the faith because when the silent majority gets sick of being victimized, they will throw these silly politicians out and replace them with people who will reverse this trend. Until then, do not put yourself at risk and remember no one has your back except for your fellow officers on the street. All that is important is to stay safe, protect each other and go home to your loved ones after each tour.
Retiree health care
Clint Krislov went to court Jan. 13 and filed an amended com- plaint, asserting your entitlement to permanent coverage under the City of Chicago Annuitant Health Benefits Plan, under the best terms, prices and coverage that have existed at any time dur- ing your participation – that is, from your date of hire to present. There are 26 exhibits. You can view them at krislovlaw.com. The next court date is Feb. 24 at the Daley Center in Judge Cohen’s courtroom. This date is a status date and when we get a new date for a hearing, we will post it on the Web and send out an email blast. d
GREG BELLA
RECORDING SECRETARY REPORT
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2016 11