Page 37 - February 2017

Investigating the
Investigative Report
An analysis of the long-awaited report on the DOJ investigation of the Chicago Police Department reveals there is justice for Lodge 7 members– and the pressure to improve policing is on the City and the Department.
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
Chaos threatened to swallow Chicago Lodge 7, the De- partment and even the City on Jan. 13. The long-await- ed, much-debated, conceivably inflated U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of Illinois Investigation of the Chicago Police Department report had finally been released, threat- ening a drop in temperature profound enough for you know what to freeze over.
Paradoxically, a cool, collected calm followed in the wake of the DOJ Findings Report making public record. The DOJ report confirmed a lack of training for Chicago Police Offi- cers. The report corroborated a lack of equipment provided to Chicago Police Officers to safely do their jobs and pro- vide optimum safety for the communities they patrol. The report cited a need for better supervisory fortitude in the Department.
Basically, the report validated much of what Lodge 7 leadership has been advocating and asking for since the investigation began approximately a year ago. Before that, really, as Lodge 7 President Dean Angelo, Sr. was scheduled to travel to Washington to meet with DOJ representatives before they announced their intentions. Consequently, that noise emanating from the FOP Hall not long after Jan. 13 sounded like an exhale, if not a sigh of relief, or the release of pressure from Chicago Lodge 7, which found several el- ements of the report were not the come-hell-or-high-water moment that had been anticipated.
“Like ripping off the band-aid,” is how Lodge 7 Attorney Pat Fioretto described the findings after a forensic analysis of the 164-page account.
“The DOJ report positively focusses on training, lack of supervision, lack of equipment, fair promotions, things we have been saying for years,” Fioretto continued. “So there are some positives that came out of this report. There were also several examples recommending the Department and the City need to work with union representatives, which I would interpret to be not only the Lodge, but the rank-and- file officers, so that’s another positive finding.”
The report was not without its pressure points, specifi- cally the posture on the pattern and practice of use of force.
But the downside seems to include more double-edged swords than daggers.
For example, the DOJ’s statement about the investigators interviewing a representation of officers working the street simmered the Lodge’s fears about not getting the perspec- tive from those who have the most experience on the job. But the findings bubble up with worries about not talking to enough such officers. And how quickly the DOJ issued the report.
Similarly, the report documents interviewing a number of community members, but Fioretto wonders if they were really a vocal minority rather than law-abiding citizens. And where Page 2 details that the 11 subject-matter experts who assisted with the investigation included law enforce- ment officials from police departments across the country, there is no reason to doubt that statement. But who exactly are “officials” and are they officers working on the street? Or the streets of the City?
Still, there’s no need to read between the lines to see where the report spells out some relief.
“At the end of the day, once you take out what reads like some of the special-interest-group layers, we have the same goals in mind to protect the women and men who go to work each day,” Fioretto interpreted. “We haven’t heard anybody say they don’t want this. How you go about it is the big challenge. But when we put away the labels and talk about the goals and issues, we find out that we have a great deal in common.”
In other words, the 164 pages are filled with pros, cons and pressure points. And with the help of Fioretto’s exper- tise, here are some of those worth noting:
The Pros
As Lodge 7 has done since the investigation began, bringing a hopeful, glass-half-full view of the review leads to some findings worth applauding and some worth tem- pering.
The hope, Fioretto shared, encouraged that the DOJ re- port would not rely on the same “systemic racism” that per- vaded the Police Accountability Task Force report released a year ago. When the DOJ report was released, National FOP President Chuck Canterbury, Lodge 7 President Angelo and
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