Page 29 - February 2016

Unbr ken
COVER STORY
The voice of Lodge 7 members resonates with the reasons why Chicago Police Officers won’t be beaten.
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
The media requests to interrogate Lodge 7 President Dean Angelo, Sr. about the brouhaha currently plaguing Chicago Police Officers come by the bushel. Eight inquiries before noon on any given day is not uncommon during the past two months.
A reporter from a local political publication has been waiting for President Angelo to get back on this day, and he finally has some peace of mind to do so at 6 p.m. during a drive down I-57 to an FOP event on the South Side. The reporter wants to ask about Chicago FOP endorsements for 2016’s elections, and Mr. President responds in the elo- quent, clever, touching style that has become one of the Lodge’s best mechanisms to address current events.
“I think anybody we endorse is a kiss of death for the can- didate,” he remarks. “Would you want our endorsement if you were running for office?”
As the reporter replies, “I guess I see your point,” the real- ity for Lodge 7 members about the best way to handle this
morass becomes apparent.
“The members want me out there 24
hours a day, seven days a week on every TV
“I’m so impressed with the members of this Department and how they just continue to do what most people wouldn’t.”
Dean Angelo, Sr.
station, every radio program, in every newspaper,” Angelo, Sr. confides. “I’ve tried to call every person back because it’s important for our members to make sure we are getting the message out, that somebody is speaking out on their behalf. What’s difficult is to be less than vicious. Some of the members want me to get viscous, but that’s not the way to get your voice out and be heard.”
Getting a peek behind the scenes at how Angelo, Sr. and the Lodge leadership is responding to the media and public decry of Chicago Police Officers personifies the broken- but-not-beaten tough-mindedness that will get members through their most dismal juncture of the past 35-40 years. The articles leading up to these pages of the February’s Chicago Lodge 7 Magazine devastatingly explain the pain from the beating that has come from all points the past two months. But 24 hours a day, seven days a week – on every TV station, every radio program, in every newspaper, in every District, on every beat – Lodge members are rising above the broken-but-not-beaten juxtaposition.
On the night of Jan. 20, Angelo, Sr. sat on a panel at the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, a forum on how can City Hall and the CPD work together to increase disclosure and transparency. A crowd full of “haters” gathered as Mr. President stood up for the police and stood up alone. “The Department was invited and declined. The Independent Police Review Authority was invited and declined. But we were there.”
On another night – many nights, actually – Angelo, Sr. and other Lodge officers have attended roll calls, and, after talking to officers, observed, “I ask them how’s it going, and I’m amazed at their strength and resilience,” he notes proudly. “I’m so impressed with the members of this department and how they just continue to do what most people wouldn’t.”
Breaking points
A cop by nature is thick-skinned, and it would be hard to find officers anywhere with more epidural insulation than those in Chicago. Also, hearing that the problems in the
CHICAGO LODGE 7 n FEBRUARY 2016 29