Page 8 - Sept 2017

First Vice President’s Report
Boston for the win
I gotta be honest — it was the Boston accent that made me suspicious.
I was at the old OPS headquarters dealing with an investigator who wasn’t listening or giving me the time of day, and I was getting fed up. My voice was rising. “What’s wrong with this guy,” I wondered. “Why isn’t he listening to me?”
Times sure seemed to have changed. The pressure from OPS investigators was getting too aggressive, too unfair, as if they assumed I was guilty before
they even dug into the facts.
That’s when my attorney walked up and stepped right into
the argument, a guy I had never met before. But there was a problem: He had a Boston accent. Why was a lawyer with a Boston accent representing me, a Chicago beat cop? He probably liked the Boston Red Sox, and that would be com- pletely unacceptable.
A Bridgeport Irishman working with a Bostonian Red Sox fan? That dog don’t hunt, it seemed.
Well my suspicion soon faded, replaced by respect. The reason is that the attorney, Tim Grace, took up my case and
turned the investigator’s questions around. Soon the investi- gator was stammering, unable to put his thoughts together as Grace rejected his questions and the theory behind them, with quick, succinct statements.
The outcome? Case dismissed.
From that early experience, I watched Grace move through his career, getting to know him better along the way. Eventual- ly he teamed up with another excellent attorney, Jim Thomp- son. Both men worked with Joe Roddy at his law firm, one that specialized in defending cops. They also both worked as prosecutors — Grace with the Cook County prosecutor and Thompson in the Quad cities and the attorney general’s of- fice — both men learning the ins and outs of criminal law and the culture of judges, media and prosecutors that comprise the criminal justice system.
Now both men are criminal defense lawyers, working in both the federal and state courts. Grace and Thompson are not simply theoreticians when it comes to the law. They’ve put in their time in the courtroom, and they’ve won big cas- es. Now they are two highly-respected attorneys who have formed their own law firm.
So it was natural for me to seek them out with some fellow field reps as the FOP is confronting what will likely be one of the biggest challenges of our administration: COPA, the new organization that will replace IPRA.
COPA, which takes over this month, will have more money, more investigators, more attorneys than IPRA and will have the support of Chicago’s virulent anti-police movement. Couple this with new anti-police prosecutor Kimberly Foxx, the Lisa Madigan lawsuit, and the usual antics of the anti- police law firms in the city, and it is more than likely that we will be facing more accused officers than ever.
There is only one course of action available to the FOP: We need to go on the offensive. That means lawyers who not only will defend accused police officers but also will help us de- velop strategies to fight back, to go on the offensive against COPA and hold them accountable.
I think Grace and Thompson are uniquely suited to do so and am happy to report that at our last meeting, the FOP Board voted to hire them to represent us. As part of their hir- ing with us, they will be holding regular office hours at the FOP to meet with officers individually about their cases.
And they will be working hand-in-hand with all the field reps, President Graham and the staff at the FOP to devel- op the long-term strategies we will need to confront COPA, which we must do.
I’m about excited about working with Grace and Thomp- son and am confident that both the board and the members will quickly be happy with the decision to bring them aboard — Boston or not. d
PAT MURRAY
8 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ SEPTEMBER 2017