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areas that needed attention from the elected officials and community representatives. Since our presentation, more and more politicians and community voices are repeating what we identified as contributors to violence: drug use, weapon possession and even homicide. It is comforting that we have been heard and that some have decided to continue to share our narrative. Now, we just need to wait and see what, if anything, happens to address the multi- faceted issues that we’ve known all along to be directly related to the surge in violence.
Finally, Some New Hires
FOIA request were made. Since two grievances pertaining to CR file destruction – one filed in 2010 and the other in 2011 – were never advanced through the grievance and arbitration processes by previous administrations, every CR that was on the list at the time of this particular FOIA request became "FOIA-able."
Additionally, our constant calls for the hiring of more Chicago Police Officers seem to have finally been heard. When we first took office in 2014, the downtown brass reg- ularly argued that the Department had more than enough officers, and, instead, the Department’s fix was to do a bet- ter job in the deployment of the troops we already had. Even though the city spent a reported $100 million on overtime, Downtown stood firm on its position that we had enough police. Even though our officers repeatedly had their requests for time off denied and, oftentimes, their regular days off cancelled, we were told we have enough police. Even though we have been claiming that the Department hiring practices would be unable to keep up with the projected and unprecedented attrition rates, we were told that the schedule of new hires would far out- pace retirements. All along, we were getting the message that things were just fine, manpower-wise. We knew bet- ter.
At this point, the Lodge has exhausted all of our legal options on the injunction that we filed in October of 2014. Even though the city spared no time releasing the lists to the FOIA requesters, another aspect of the Lodge's lawsuit remains pending before Judge Flynn which deals with the assurance that an officer’s private information is not released, particularly as it relates to any allegation of off- duty conduct. Furthermore, the Lodge will continue our efforts in Circuit Court to enforce Arbitrator Roumell's decision, which ordered the destruction of CR files to begin once the DOJ investigation is completed.
So what changed to influence Downtown to make the recent announcement that the Chicago Police Department will start an increased hiring initiative? Was the motivating factor the Lodge’s non-stop push for the need to hire more officers? We would love to be able to take the credit on this one, but common sense tells us we tend to think other factors came into play. If there is something specific that eventually pushed the politicos into admitting that more officers are needed, we believe that credit should probably go to the pressures from several different factions: community groups, clergy, business leaders, con- vention advocates and national editorials, just to name a few. Like the officers who are out there combating the criminal element each and every day, these groups have voiced that they are sick and tired of the non-stop shootings and ever-increasing body count. No matter who gets the credit (and even though the hiring program will take longer than we would like), it is nice to see that some type of manpower relief is underway.
On Sept. 29, along with attorneys Pat Fioretto and Jim Neuman of Baum Sigman Auerbach & Neuman, Ltd. and Jack Byrnes of Source 1 Benefits, we had the opportunity to meet with the board members of the Policemen's Annu- ity and Benefit Fund. The purpose of our meeting was to share the final results for our retiree healthcare offering, and to ensure that the fund will be able to participate with an annuitant deduction. The annuitant deduction would work similar to what we have all become familiar with as a direct deposit. But in this situation, the fund would pay the annuitant’s healthcare costs directly to the insurance car- rier from the individual retiree’s monthly annuity. By fol- lowing this process, retirees still will be able to avail themselves of the $3,000 Federal HELPS write-off. Please be aware that any other type of payment for healthcare coverage that otherwise would come directly from the annuitant to the insurance carrier will forfeit the retiree’s qualification for the Federal HELPS benefit.
As we have since our October 2014 filing, this adminis- tration promises to continue to pursue all remedies to enforce the Collective Bargaining Agreement and to ensure that the city fully complies with its obligations under state law before releasing any further records. As always, we will continue to keep the membership apprised.
Current Retiree Health Care Rollout
CR Release Update
Contained within this notice will be dates, coverage information and other steps that will outline future corre- spondence – all of which will address retiree healthcare options and the expected process needed to secure one’s healthcare coverage. As we expect, the entire transition may not be the first time most retirees have ever had to identify the best type of coverage for them and/or their spouses since coming on the job. It will also be stressful
As most are well aware by now, on Sept. 28, the Illinois Supreme Court denied the Lodge's appeal of the Appellate Court's decision concerning the release of a list of CRs dat- ing back to 1967; yes 1967! Prior to this decision, the city could not release anyone's CR information that was more than four years old. The underlying FOIA requests sought the release of any and all CR lists that existed at the time the
6 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ OCTOBER 2016
So, now what can retirees expect to happen? Due to the fact that not all retirees are Lodge 7 members, an envelope with the FOP logo will go out to all retired members of the Chicago Police Department, including surviving widows, via the fund’s mailing list. PLEASE DO NOT THROW THIS LETTER OUT!