Page 5 - August 2016 Newsletter

CHICAGO LODGE # 7 lÑÑáÅá~ä j~Ö~òáåÉ
FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE CHICAGO LODGE #7
EXECUTIVE BOARD
DEAN C. ANGELO, SR.
President
RAY CASIANO, JR.
First Vice-President
Frank DiMaria Second Vice-President Daniel D. Gorman Third Vice-President Greg Bella Recording Secretary Kevin Kilmer Financial Secretary John Capparelli Treasurer
Bill Nolan Immediate Past President John Dineen Parliamentarian
Sergeants-at-Arms
Bill Burns Al Francis, Jr. Jim Jakstavich
Trustees
Robert Rutherford, Chair Dean Angelo, Jr. Mark Donahue
Pat Duckhorn Sergio Escobedo Kathleen Gahagan Michael Garza Joseph Gentile
Ken Hauser
Tom Lonergan Kevin McNulty Landry Reeves
Inez Riley
Jay Ryan
Steve Schorsch
Ron Shogren Daniel Trevino
Field Reps
Keith Carter Marlon Harvey Thomas McDonagh
Magazine Committee Members
Greg Bella, Chair Joseph Gentile Bill Burns Thomas McKenna Michael Carroll Reggie Smith
President’s Report
Too Many Funerals
and arresting the worst our society has to offer, too many politicians, local clergy and others continue to support those who have no regard whatsoever for the commitment and sacrifice made by the women and men of the Chicago Police Department.
Of the 63 police deaths that have occurred so far this year, 31 were caused by firearms, which demonstrates a 72- percent increase from last year. Recently, we have all been forced to endure the cowardly ambush attacks on our brothers in Texas, Michi- gan and Louisiana. These
Blue Lives Matter Ordinance
DEAN C. ANGELO, SR.
senseless and cold-blooded killings continue to shock
Recently members of the City Council informed us that Alderman Burke’s ordi- nance dubbed “Blue Lives Matter” would never come out of committee, let alone get
everyone who wears a uni-
form, their families and
friends and the law-abiding
citizenship of our country.
Elsewhere, and for the most
part, with much less national
notoriety, officers in Missouri,
Kansas, Ohio, Massachusetts,
Virginia, Indiana, South Car-
olina, Maryland, Colorado,
Utah, Mississippi, North
Dakota, Georgia and Oregon
have been taken from their loved ones way too soon, and all by the way of gunfire.
passed. As written, this ordi- nance would include crimes against police officers, fire- fighters, paramedics or emer- gency medical personnel to be classified as a hate crime. Rather than send a message to the public that the elected representatives of Chicago stand behind us and that fighting with the police would result in additional felony charges, they are more
As our American Law Enforcement Offi- cers continue to be put to rest with full hon- ors – a truly fitting farewell for the death of our heroes – the rest of the police commu- nity continues to wait for the outpouring of support to come from the very people we have sworn an oath to protect. It seems that the people who officers put their lives on the line for each and every day appear to have made the conscious decision to not speak up for us. Why have they decided to remain so silent?
concerned about the negative fallout that comes part and parcel to supporting police officers in 2016.
Officers across the country continue to show up for work and continue to risk their lives for people they don’t know, and Chica- go Police Officers are no exception. Already more guns have been taken off the streets in Chicago than New York and Los Angeles combined, which is something our officers accomplish year-in-and-year-out. While the police are out there collecting guns, responding to non-stop calls for service
The anti-police frame of mind could not have been more obvious than at a recent press conference attended by some mem- bers of the city council who stood with rep- resentatives from the ACLU, activist groups and clergy to voice their disappointment. During their address to the media, it quickly became apparent that they were all out- raged that others would think it was a good idea to make it a hate crime to attack a police officer. At a time when they scream for transparency and accountability, their true agenda becomes more and more obvi- ous. The continuation of their unrestrained rhetoric does nothing but further prove to us that accountability is a one-way street to them and that any inkling of support toward police officers will never measure up to their standards of concern. No sur- prises there, right?
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