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Let’s make CPD great again
I keep pinching myself, wondering if I am still dreaming. With my beloved Cubs winning the World Series and Donald Trump becom- ing the 45th President of these United States, things sure are changing. What the H-E-dou- ble-hockey-sticks is going on? With all the talk about “making America great again,” I thought I would stick to the theme and point out a few things that could help make the Chicago Police
Department great again.
Let’s revisit the ISR arrangement and initiate a sys-
were on display when they attempted to change the nar- rative of the incident on 111th Street. In this incident, an enraged offender from Indiana pointed a gun at Police Officers and good citizens going about their normal lives on a Saturday afternoon. Any group attempting to justify the reasoning behind someone pointing a gun at two Po- lice Officers should not be given the courtesy of being met with. These actions gut the morale of every Chicago Police Officer.
THOMAS
THOMAS
McDONAGH
MCDONAGH
tem that allows Chicago Police Officers to do their
job and be the difference between good and evil in
this city. From all indications, evil has pulled ahead
in this war, and changes are needed. The ISR was a calamity from the start. It was rolled out a few hours before New Year’s Day with zero training or input
from the rank and file. Flying by the seat of your pants took on a whole new meaning for all involved. Some mem- bers’ only training of the ISR was the General Order handed to them at roll call until they were “officially” trained weeks and sometimes months later. In fact, there was an Admin Message in June that encouraged lieutenants to take the ISR training, because apparently it was not a requirement then. Yet, these non-ISR-trained supervisors were the first to criticize members about the numbers. And the genius that believed this was a good idea is who? This was an agreement entered into with the ACLU by the previous administration of the Department, and is a demonstrated failure. It’s time to reexamine the entire arrangement be- fore it’s too late.
Let’s get rid of the year-to-date comparison numbers nonsense. As I have written about previously, the year- to-date comparison is irresponsible. The criminal ten- dency concerns I have for my family, my friends and my colleagues is what happened recently or showed patterns. 2015 is in the past and should be left there.
Let’s have supervisors who are concerned with the well-being of their subordinates—not stepping over them in an attempt to elevate themselves. There are more shameless self-promoters on this job than I have ever seen in my 22 years. It needs to stop.
Let’s be proactive and have a strategy in place before a major event occurs so that the lives of our members are not completely disrupted. The Lodge fielded dozens of calls re- garding standby issues and concern about the lack of co- hesiveness during the World Series games. Major League Baseball will have the 2017 playoff dates available soon. My hope is that someone in the know at 35th Street can put these dates in the calendar and maybe have a plan in place for 2017 (consider this wishful thinking, as I’m hoping my Cubs are gonna roll again next year).
Let’s stop glorifying all these anti-everything movements and their so-called leaders by meeting with them and el- evating them to some sort of legitimacy. Their true colors
14 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ DECEMBER 2016
Let’s have the Chicago Police Department’s News Af- fairs counter every negative story regarding the Police Officers. There have been a lot of damaging stories in the last year, which could be countered with documented facts regarding the backgrounds of the offenders we encounter on a daily basis. I am emotionless at reading the constant one-sided nar- rative about how the piece of garbage armed with a gun was about to turn his life around. A couple of clicks on “clear” and a statement given by News Affairs can show that the altar boy was actually a habitual criminal. Guess what, folks; he was never, ever, ever going to turn his life around. I hope the worthy citizens are catching on to this,
but I will not hold my breath.
Let’s request that IPRA, or the alter-ego COPA, conduct
timely investigations. Since IPRA began illegally investigat- ing Police Officer–involved incidents, they have not ruled on one incident. The first incident IPRA illegally investi- gated was at the childhood home of Derrick Rose back in January of this year. In the subsequent 10 months since this incident, IPRA has been unable to make a determination. Detectives get put on house arrest if their paperwork is not completed within 30 days. In the interim, those Police Offi- cers involved in these traumatic incidents have to wait and see about the outcome of their fate. This is not right.
We are in for an uncertain ride in the year ahead. We will have a new State’s Attorney who talked a big game during the campaign about her qualifications, which have since turned out to be embellished. This is the chosen candidate that has pledged to drive the change in the criminal justice system in Cook County because it’s “broken.” I cannot wait to hear the spin when all parties get settled. I hope some- how that the Chicago Police Department can be “made great again,” but I think the cards will be stacked against us even more. These are trying and troubling times ahead, and we need to keep an eye on one other—especially the newer kids on this job. We are a resilient crew and we will prevail regardless of the obstacles put in our path.
Sell or carry over
The end of the year is here and members will soon think about selling or carrying over personal days and baby fur- lough days. The amount of time you have on the job deter- mines how many baby furlough days (BFDs) and personal days (P-Days) you will receive. Here is the breakdown:
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