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The 005th District is not above the law
As we start the new year, it should come as no surprise that 2021 saw the level of crime in Chi- cago at an all-time high. We can debate the myr- iad reasons thrown out by the pundits for the unprecedented increase. A state’s attorney run amok. The pandemic. Too many illegal (and legal) guns on the streets. Gangs. A mayor
who seems to care more about seeking revenge on the Lodge and its leadership rather than performing her job. Poverty.
A police superintendent who is in over his head. Ra-
cial injustice. Unsupervised teenagers wreaking havoc
near the downtown shopping districts. Understaffed and overworked police officers. All opinions. Pick your side of the discourse and ponder the underlying causes for the uptick in crimes with a friend.
The facts, however, offer a chilling reality. By December of last year, Cook County recorded more than 1,000 homi- cides — with 783 deaths in Chicago alone as of Dec. 19, 2021, which represents a 35 percent increase over the prior year. By December 2021, 4,100 people had been shot in Chicago, 69 percent more than in 2019. Not surprisingly, most homicide victims in Chicago die as the result of gunshot wounds. Axios reports that gun violence has exploded, with some Chicago neighborhoods seeing more than a 100 percent increase in fa- tal shootings over the last two years.
Nonetheless, crime is not the topic of this article. Rather, it is the Department’s ongoing misconduct toward the rank- and-file police officer. On Oct. 8, 2021, the 5th District com- mander issued a To/From, captioned “005th District Fall Vi-
olence Reduction Plan 2021.” Who wouldn’t be in favor of a violence reduction plan, right? But the devil is always in the details. Everyone in the city wants to see crime de- crease, but not at the expense of police officers’ rights guaranteed under both the law and the collective bar-
gaining agreement.
On its face, the Violence Reduction Plan makes no
bones about officers assigned to the 5th District having their “activity” for 2021 audited. Audited? Since when? By whom? For what purpose? What is acceptable activity? What is insufficient? Who knows. More troubling is that the Violence Reduction Plan ends with the following threat: “Under-per- forming tactical officers will be informed of their insufficient activity and will be urged to increase this activity or be as- signed back to watch operations.” Retaliation for not meeting
the Department’s unilaterally imposed quotas? Wow.
When the Lodge first learned of the To/From, Lodge Sec- ond Vice President Dan Gorman immediately sent the com- mander of the labor relations division a letter objecting to the recently discovered unlawful conduct and demanded that the Department promptly cease and desist the practice. In part,
the letter stated:
PAT FIORETTO
18 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JANUARY 2022