Page 13 - 01B_CL7_FEB22.indd

Financial Secretary’s Report
If you see something, say something
Hello, officers active and retired. I was recently made aware of the new pilot program titled “The City of Chicago Community-Police Mediation Pilot Pro- gram” by Third District First Watch Rep Kristil Hayes. Officer Hayes sent me an email, and the subject was “suspicious flyer.”
These copies were circulating around the district. Officer Hayes was alerted by a coworker, and she im- mediately acted on behalf of her coworkers and did her job as a watch rep, informing the union. I in turn reached out to the Labor Relations Division, email- ing a photo of the “suspicious flyer.”
The Labor Relations Division was unaware of this pilot program and started their investigation. A day or two later, the Labor Rela- tions Division Commander informed the FOP that she would set up a zoom conference with the department, FOP, supervisors’ unions and those who created this mediation process, which is outlined in the consent decree.
Apparently, those associated with this mediation pilot program had already infiltrated other watches and districts, making their sales pitch to our membership without first consulting with their union representatives or the Department for that matter.
Thank you, officers and unit and watch reps, for being our eyes and ears.
JIM JAKSTAVICH
Recently, district tactical officers have been placed on all three watches. The department can utilize these fourth-watch, non-bid, tactical officers to fill in where they need manpower.
I have personally heard many rumors and reasons why this prac- tice is happening — the most obvious being the understaffing of district manpower, specifically beat and rapid cars.
This has led to backlogs for calls for service and officer safety is- sues. The recent spike in officers on the medical (more than 2,000 at once) contributed to this as well. The rumors of creating a depart- ment- or area-based tact team have come up as well.
The rumors circulating around this involve the Community Safety Team (CST) being disbanded, and those officers assigned to CST being sent back to district law enforcement and the tact teams working out of the areas.
Again, these are just rumors, but being fourth watch and no bid
carries its risks. Tactical officers who are involuntarily removed, better known as “dumped” from their tact team, please remem- ber section 31.3 of the contract. The third paragraph states, “In the event that a tactical officer is involuntarily removed from the tact team, said officer will be given the opportunity to submit a bid for a steady watch assignment. The officer’s bid will be honored, and the officer will be granted a bid position and be added to the watch the officer would have been eligible to bid for if he or she would have bid during the annual selection process.”
I wish there was more I could do for the tactical officers who constantly produce numbers but constantly get screwed over. With that being said, I’d like to remind the department about a saying I heard early in my career: “You can make an officer into a dog, but you can’t make a dog into an officer.”
Please remember to back each other up and stay safe.
Tact teams reassigned to watches
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2022 13