Page 33 - Demo

As Lodge 7 puts 2016 behind and focuses on 2017, the state of the union appears to be looking up
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Sometimes, Chicago Lodge 7 members might wonder if a magic mirror hangs somewhere on the third floor of 1412 W. Washington Boulevard. After all, didn’t the Lodge see the violence, the spike in the crime rate, the 90-percent drop in stops, the ambiguity in administer- ing Department policy, the hit on morale, the horrific rise in post-traumatic stress, the people who have no experience with police work telling police how to do their work, the denial of the real cause of the problems in the neighborhoods and even the attacks on police of- ficers coming?
Back in 2015, FOP Lodge 7 President Dean Angelo, Sr. told the state legislature that the effect of SB 1304 with its “Police & Community Relations Improvement Act” would be a limitation best characterized as, “when you impede someone’s ability to produce, production is go- ing to go down.” Back in June, Mr. President addressed the City Club of Chicago and educated a roomful of astonished citizens with the data about why violence would escalate to record numbers.
“It’s like I had a crystal ball, but I didn’t,” President An- gelo quipped. “It’s not rocket science. We all have been around it long enough to see it coming.”
Experience, attention to data and pride in the exper- tise of its members have probably contributed to 20-20 foresight for the Lodge. The rearview mirror may not be a looking glass with a wonderland waiting on the other
side, but if there is a resolution to consider, putting 2016 and its anti-everything police behind must be the state of mind. Members know they are stronger for what they have been through and what they achieved in 2016, and so the current state of their union proffers many rea- sons to focus on 2017.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” President Angelo begins, injecting a dose of reality into his state-of-the- union address for 2017.
“It’s a good year to put in the rearview mirror,” he continues. “For Chicagoans, I’m hoping for a better year violence-wise, risk-wise, safety-wise and policing-wise. The problem is, no one wants to encourage policing. It can’t be just us. People who throw up their hands and say, ‘What can we do?’ have to come to the working po- lice officer. Don’t sit in your office or in the city coun- cil and put policing down, unless you ask the real foot soldiers, ‘How is this going to affect your job?’ But they mandate changes and try to blame somebody. The only person they should blame is in the mirror.”
You can’t blame any Lodge member or Lodge leader – or anybody who has the back of Chicago Police Officers – for wanting to vent because looking ahead must start with putting perhaps the most challenging year ever for Chicago Police in the rearview mirror. Still, further re- view shows the achievements to believe that the union is in a pro-active current state and the objectives ahead for 2017 could lead to a formidable future state.
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