Page 12 - May 2017 Newsletter

SecondVice President’s Report
Bringing you the write stuff
Never say never.
When I became a Chicago Police Officer 15 years ago, I had just left working in the ser- vice industry as a doorman at various hotels. I worked as a doorman at night and pursued my dreams of being a writer in the mornings.
During the years that I was a doorman, I also got involved in union politics, particu- larly running in elections for various board
positions at the Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) that represented most of the hotel workers in the city.
I discovered that I truly liked helping workers with their problems and fighting for their wages and representation. Those were contentious elections. After three failed at- tempts – and coming within a few hundred votes of win-
ning – I gave up on union politics forever. Or so I figured. During these election campaigns, I had applied for a position at the police department after getting to know several patrol officers on my beat at the hotel; old-timer
police officers who encouraged me to apply.
As I moved closer to getting hired by the Department, I swore off union politics. Never, never, would I run in an- other union election. Rather, I would concentrate on my
first love: writing.
So, never say never, right?
Here I am after another contentious election, but this
time I won and was elected Chicago Lodge 7 Second Vice President.
And what got me elected? My charisma? My charm? My impeccable good looks?
Hardly.
It was my writing. A few years into the job, I got assigned to the wagon in the 24th District, where I hauled a lot of bodies to the morgue. I made this dark task the center- piece of several essays. My book was published and did exceedingly well.
I then stumbled into the wrongful conviction move- ment and became convinced that many of the claims about convicted offenders being innocent were false. As I began to dig deeper into these cases, I found some others who shared my conviction.
So I wrote a book about one case, the exoneration of Anthony Porter in 1999 through the efforts of investiga- tors at Northwestern University. I argued, along with my colleague, retired journalist Bill Crawford, that the man the investigators got to confess to the murders so that An- thony Porter could be exonerated had been railroaded.
After years of writing, researching, making phone calls, arguing with journalists, pitching stories and working on
12 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MAY 2017
two documentaries, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez finally reviewed the case. After a year-long inves- tigation, Alvarez let Alstory Simon out of prison.
I can tell you, it was a feeling of great accomplishment to have played a role in getting Simon out of prison. I think he is obviously innocent of the murders.
After he was released, Simon’s attorneys filed a $40 mil- lion lawsuit over his wrongful conviction. In it, they al- leged a pattern of misconduct in the wrongful conviction movement, giving light to my conviction that allegations of police misconduct are a cottage industry whereby law firms and complainants make big money in lawsuits.
These stories about corruption in the movement to free criminals compelled me to create my own blog, called Crooked City. In it, I shared the stories about these cases as I researched them. In a short time, my stories caught on with police, prosecutors and the public. Some of the blog posts were picked up by other bloggers.
As the election approached, many members encour- aged me to run for president. President? No way. I knew that job required someone with a much greater knowl- edge base than I possessed. So people asked me to run for another position.
It was about this time I met Kevin Graham, who wanted to be president. After we got to know each other’s ideas and strategies, I decided I would run with him.
But I told him I wanted to continue working for the FOP as a writer, confronting the media members when I thought they were wrong, and changing the narrative from the anti-police hysteria sweeping the country to something far more balanced. Kevin agreed.
And so my promise never to run in a union election fell apart. Our slate campaigned hard, and won several key spots, including the runoff election for president.
Now I am hoping to continue putting my writing and researching skills to work for the FOP. I’ve created a new blog, worked with the media to get stories out, written press releases and statements and worked on strategies with President Graham and other members at the FOP hall.
I know we have a daunting task ahead of us, but we have already taken the first few steps. I think we can make great strides, help members who are being falsely accused and strengthen the integrity of our criminal justice system.
That sounds like a worthwhile endeavor to me. Just remember, though.
Never say never. d
MARTIN PREIB