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Do we even wave at each other anymore? Or is it an old-school thing? These questions come from an officer who visited the Lodge during the past month. For the purpose of this article, we’ll call him an old-school officer. While catching up on current affairs and ultimately discussing “the wave,” we talked about what the wave meant among fellow officers during the tours of duty.
For those who don’t know what the wave is: As squad cars pass each other during their travels, at least one of- ficer in one police car will wave to the officer(s) in passing. To some, this may sound like it’s no big deal, but a wave among police officers is a universal sign that holds lots of meaning and significance (especially when those are the only friendly en- counters one might have during an entire tour).
Society, the mayor, the Department, etc., have made the profession so miserable for officers that their morale is beaten down. The thousand-yard stare is in full effect, my friend said. Some officers are so exhausted from the excessive hours filled with abusive treatment from the people they serve that a friend- ly acknowledgment from a colleague can go a long way.
During the visit, the old-school officer said, “It’s just a simple wave; you open the hand, extend the fingers, face the palm to- ward the person you want to greet.” Sometimes you can even move the hand laterally in one sweeping motion. Or one can
get creative with waving by lifting the fingers up and down in sequential order.
I’m sure exchanging hand waves with each other in the field still happens to some degree (at least I hope it does). But I can imagine that there is a huge percentage of officers who don’t participate. I would estimate that only 1 percent of those would partake in waving. It is sad to think that the wave is a dying prac- tice, along with police work, but a wave is not something that can be taken away from us. Try it; a little bit goes a long way.
Getting suspended? Filing a grievance? Read this:
Officers who did not comply with the vaccine portal are now getting served with suspensions. We’ve seen nothing lower than 90-day suspension recommendations. Obviously, these mem- bers will be filing grievances, unless the affected member wish- es to accept their penalty, take 90 days off without pay and lose health insurance.
Some members are masters at completing grievances. But for some members, it will be their first time. Step by step:
• First off, if the grievant knows who their unit rep or watch rep is, they should consult with them. The unit reps and watch reps are familiar with the grievance forms. Usual- ly, each unit’s bulletin board has the names of the reps posted.
• Locate the unit grievance logbook in the district/unit and take the next number in the sequence. The griev- ance number has three parts to it, each separated with a hyphen: the three-digit unit number, two-digit year, three-digit sequence. Example: xxx-22-xxx.
• Write the grievance number at the top right corner of the grievance (in the box that says “Grievance No.”).
• Insert the “Date of Contract Violation” or, for suspen- sions, it would be the date that the member receives the recommended penalty.
• Insert the date of “Step 1.” This is the date you turn the grievance over to a supervisor to resolve the issue. (Sus- pension grievances have to be submitted within 10 work- ing days of being served with the recommended penalty.)
• Insert a narrative of how the contract was violated and what resolution you, the grievant, are seeking. (Note: For suspension grievances, please insert the narrative found on page 143 of the 2022 FOP handbook.)
• Sign the grievance.
• Insert the “Contract Sections Violated.” (For suspensions,
these sections are 8.1 and 9.6.)
• Give the grievance to a supervisor and if they are not
able to resolve the issue, they write, “Unable to resolve at this level.” The supervisor then signs and dates in their respective spaces. The grievant (you) then receives the gold copy. Retain this gold copy for your records in the event the Department “loses” your grievance.
• Once you (the grievant) receive the gold copy, you are done. For further information on the grievance proce- dure, see Department Employee Order E01-06, titled “Grievance Procedures.”
SecondVice President’s Report
The wave
DAN GORMAN
10 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2022