Page 5 - May 2017 Newsletter

CHICAGO LODGE 7
Official Magazine
President’s Report
FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE CHICAGO LODGE #7
EXECUTIVE BOARD
KEVIN GRAHAM
President
PATRICK J. MURRAY
First Vice President
Martin Preib
Second Vice President
Jay R. Ryan
Third Vice President
Greg Bella
Recording Secretary
Michael Garza
Financial Secretary
John Capparelli
Treasurer
Dean C. Angelo, Sr.
Immediate Past President
William Nolan
Past President
Sergeants-at-Arms
William Burns James Jakstavich Michael Mette
Trustees
Harold Brown Andrew Cantore Mark Donahue William Dougherty Pat Duckhorn Sergio Escobedo Fernando Flores Joseph Gentile Danny Gorman Ken Hauser Rick King Frank Quinn Carlos Salazar Ron Shogren Mark Tamlo Daniel Trevino Michael Underwood
Field Rep
Robert Bartlett
Getting right to work
Who would have thought that working on a committee to change the work schedule some 10 years ago would have such a profound influ- ence on my life?
Well, it did.
The experience of be- ing Lodge 7 Work Schedule Com- mittee Chair in the Mark Donahue administration was pivotal for me. The reward of getting the change in that schedule was great, and the challenge of working with the mem- bers and negotiating with the City
became an invaluable experience.
I found it so rewarding that I stuck with working on Lodge issues un- til, well, until I was elected Lodge 7
President in April.
It’s been a long journey.
I am exceedingly grateful and hon-
ored to have this trust placed upon me through the election process. As you all know, it was a difficult cam- paign with a fairly long layoff until the runoff election.
Now, there’s no rest for the wea- ry. We moved into the FOP offices just days after the votes in the run- off were counted. But things have
looked good from the outset. De- spite an intense campaign, Dean Angelo, Sr., and his staff have been true professionals, coming in every day and teaching the new board members working at the FOP the ins and outs of the job.
They have remained available to answer all of our questions. What a relief to have this support. A big thanks to Dean and all his staff.
I’ve been working for the Chicago Police Department for more than 20 years. I worked in the 23rd District, now 19, the whole time. Before that, I worked for the Cook County Forest Preserve Police for 10 years.
I remember one of my first expe- riences of trying to speak at an FOP meeting many years ago. I was told to sit down and shut up.
Well, I didn’t.
Throughout the campaign, I told members about two of the biggest problems facing officers today: Lack of support and backing up of police officers dealing with controversial incidents. It’s hard to be a Chica- go Police Officer to begin with, but
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
KEVIN GRAHAM
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MAY 2017 5