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CHICAGO LODGE # 7 lÑÑáÅá~ä j~Ö~òáåÉ
FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE CHICAGO LODGE #7
EXECUTIVE BOARD
DEAN C. ANGELO, SR.
President
RAY CASIANO, JR.
First Vice-President
Frank DiMaria Second Vice-President Daniel D. Gorman Third Vice-President Greg Bella Recording Secretary Kevin Kilmer Financial Secretary John Capparelli Treasurer
Bill Nolan Immediate Past President John Dineen Parliamentarian
Sergeants-at-Arms
Bill Burns Al Francis, Jr. Jim Jakstavich
Trustees
Robert Rutherford, Chair Dean Angelo, Jr. Mark Donahue
Pat Duckhorn Sergio Escobedo Kathleen Gahagan Michael Garza Joseph Gentile
Ken Hauser
Tom Lonergan Kevin McNulty Landry Reeves
Inez Riley
Jay Ryan
Steve Schorsch
Ron Shogren Daniel Trevino
Field Reps
Keith Carter Marlon Harvey Thomas McDonagh
Magazine Committee Members
Greg Bella, Chair Joseph Gentile Bill Burns Thomas McKenna Michael Carroll
President’s Report
2016 In the Rearview Mirror
Every month, as we move through the initial stages of prep work for the upcoming issue of our Chicago Lodge 7 Magazine, one of the first items we look to address is the cover. Personally, being the one responsible for identi- fying the theme, choosing the artwork and writing the
only garnered worldwide attention; the surge in violence just about guaranteed that Chicago would once again be known for something other than our lakefront, the “Bean” or even Navy Pier for that matter. Although one act of violence occurred every two hours last year, as a city, we have once again slid right back into being known for killings. It was recently reported that Chica- go’s increase in violence has actually caused an uptick in the national averages in crime and violence in America. Just when some thought that 2016 would be best remem- bered for the recent run that brought a World Series championship to the North- side, the year-end crime data numbers get reported and instantly all bets are off.
DEAN C. ANGELO, SR.
appropriate text, continues to be an enjoy- able and rewarding experience; an experi- ence that also allows a few moments away from the endless responsibilities that come hand-in-hand with the obligations as your President. The process of ensuring that we design a cover which allows the Lodge an opportunity to utilize Chicago Lodge 7 Mag- azine to our advantage, as both a visual and an informational vehicle, is consistent with the present-day police environment in the city of Chicago.
There are several reports available chron- icling Chicago’s violence and, depending on which reporting mechanism a person uses, the city experienced anywhere from 742 murders on the low end to 792 murders on the high end before the final stroke of mid- night on Dec. 31, 2016. However, even with the discrepancies in reporting the Chicago murder count, since 1957 there were just 16 years when homicide rates were higher than those reported in 2016. No matter where the numbers come from, 2016 was a year where things went awry, violence-wise. Just as they seem to do year-in and year-out, the women and men of the CPD take more guns off the streets than New York and Los Angeles com- bined. In 2016, we have once again outpaced New York and Los Angeles com- bined, but this time in another category. New York and Los Angeles combined for a mere 626 total murders in 2016.
Some may argue that the saying originat- ed from the Japanese, while others argue it came from a Chinese proverb, but the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” is considered an English idiom. An idiom is nothing more than a statement that offers a different or separate meaning than expressed by the wording itself. The cover for the January 2017 issue is obviously no exception to the present-day Chicago envi- ronment, and is exactly what our member- ship continues to deal with day-in and day-out. Unless one has been living on Mars the past 12 months, the message this month’s cover is intended to convey is one that quite honestly needs no narrative. The innocent and blameless young girl walking within a chalk outline of what we can assume to be a recently processed homicide scene should not only shock us; it should revolt us as well.
If the murder rate wasn’t enough to put 2016 in the rearview mirror, Chicago also tal- lied 4,365 shootings in 2016. Some people must be looking to put more than 2016 in the rearview mirror.
The violence and death that swept through the city of Chicago during 2016 not
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CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JANUARY 2017
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