Page 11 - August 2016 Newsletter

Accountability: a vanishing act
I accompanied President Dean Angelo as he testified before the joint Public Safety, Budget Committee. I was angry at myself for being amazed at the stupidity of our elected alder- men.
Dean’s testimony was that the state law doesn’t allow IPRA investigators the authority to investigate police shootings and in-custo- dy deaths. IPRA’s mission statement says its
function is to investigate police misconduct. IPRA
is not and cannot be certified by the Illinois Police Training and Standards Board as homicide inves- tigators. Dean proposes a Cook County Task Force
made up of agencies in Cook County that would ensure if there were a shooting or death in a juris- diction, then that jurisdiction would stand down and
let the others investigate the incident. IPRA investigators can be present and observe the investigation, ask ques- tions, request evidence be requested if pertinent to the in- vestigation. The investigator can then write a report and question the officers in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Dean talked about the negative media reporting and protests against our officers and the effect it is having on our membership. He explained how people who don’t comply with lawful police orders are the root of the prob- lem. If people complied with lawful orders most of this would not have happened. Dean also told the aldermen that if you took the map of unemployment in the city of Chicago and laid it over the map of shootings and mur- ders in Chicago, you’d have an absolute match. The most vocal anti-police aldermen have the highest rate of crime in their wards and no one holds them accountable.
Next came the questioning of Dean by the body. Alder- man David Moore from the 17th Ward kept asking Dean if he represented the Chicago Police Department; obviously he doesn’t know the difference between the Department and the Union. His constituents should be asking what else he doesn’t know the difference between. The Budget Chair Carrie Austin doesn’t believe there is a problem with IPRA investigators, and thinks a name change is all that is needed. We listened to Alderman Jason Ervin talk about how Maywood was left out of the North Suburban Crimes Task Force. Then he wondered how Dean could propose in-custody police deaths and police shootings be inves- tigated if IPRA is not qualified; how can law enforcement be trusted?
Alderman Ameya Pewar asked how we get past the atti- tude that you either support the police or you are against them, and wondered how there can be a productive di- alogue if that attitude isn’t changed. He also announced that the Blue Lives Matter ordinance is dead. I won’t even get into Alderman Milly Santiago, not because I am giving her a pass, but because I could not understand what she
was saying or what she was asking.
These were a few of the lowlights. Alderman Raymond
Lopez and Alderman Christopher Taliaferro were the only two aldermen who spoke in support of our police. Tali- aferro tried to explain that he spent $140,000 to become an attorney. He spent 17 years as an investigator at the CPD and when he has a legal case he hires investigators to conduct the investigation. He has more experience than an IPRA investigator and he doesn’t do the investigation
himself. It was sad his testimony fell on deaf ears. After the meeting we walked into the back room to speak to the aldermen individually. We told them of IPRA investigations from 2002 that still are not complete and how investigations from 2004 are still waiting to be assigned an investiga- tor. Why does it take six, seven, eight years for an in- vestigation to be completed? IPRA will take six years to complete an investigation and then discipline an officer. We take the case to arbitration and the discipline is over-
turned because it took too long to discipline the officer. IPRA is just now calling in officers from a shooting that occurred in 2014? OPS had a scandal because of shoddy investigations and the length of time it took to conduct an investigation. As a detective, when I was assigned a case I had to have a progress report in within 30 days. If I didn’t I was under house arrest (not allowed to leave the area) until the report was turned in. It is ironic; when IPRA was instituted the City Council passed an ordinance requiring IPRA to complete all investigations in six months. If it fails to complete the investigation it must appear before the City Council to request another six months to complete the investigation. When I brought this to the attention of some aldermen, they had no idea why the ordinance was enacted. They did not know that IPRA is supposed to ac-
tually appear and explain why it needs an extension. What actually happens is IPRA sends a report every month asking for an extension; an example is a request for a six-month extension for 96 cases. The aldermen, as a matter of course, regularly grant the extensions without questioning IPRA on why there is a delay with the investi- gation. The aldermen bear responsibility for the failure of the system because they do not do their job. Remember when they had the same scandal at OPS? The City Coun- cil and Mayor Daley changed the name to IPRA. No in- vestigators were removed or disciplined. Now the same problem exists at IPRA and the City Council and the Task Force’s solution is to change the name of the agency with-
out changing the investigators.
Not one alderman talked about which investigators are
responsible for these shoddy investigations. The alder- man cannot tell you if any investigator has been disci- plined for taking years to complete an investigation. Not
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GREG BELLA
RECORDING
Secretary
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ AUGUST 2016 11