Page 11 - February 2020 FOP Magazine

they’d want to do is let a man incapable of operating a vehicle drive away: they were already on record as dispatched and on video talking to Johnson — if he crashed his vehicle, they’d be doomed.
No, if they had wanted to cover up for this man, they would’ve driven him home. But just imagine they had done what the pundits wanted and ordered him out to take some tests.
First, they aren’t in a special situation — they are in a unique situation. Absent an obvious scent of alcohol or some other characteristics of a drunk driver, they lack reasonable suspi- cion. Any veteran of the police department like Johnson knows that, too. Also, this particular veteran outranks them by eight title codes. And he is in a police car. And not just any police car, but the most powerful police car in the city. By standing general order, he can get on his radio and order any of the 13,000-plus officers under his command to take any action he sees fit.
And if the rumors of Johnson’s power over promotional ex- ams, dodging liability for declaring the McDonald shooting jus- tified and having an office full of part-time workers at full-time pay are true, we can forgive beat cops for thinking that Johnson might be able to affect their long-term careers if they violated any one of his rights — or, possibly, even if they didn’t.
Assuming officers told him to get out of his police car and instructed him to stand on the side of the road, hold his leg up in the air and count to 30, or maybe had him walk heel to toe 10 steps and then turn and do it again, there’s going to be some serious questions for the officers to answer. And that’s assuming he agreed.
Did they know the superintendent had well-publicized health problems, including briefly passing out at a press conference
in 2017? Did they know that a superintendent is on duty 24/7? Did they realize he was in a police car? Didn’t they know the long, stressful hours he worked and how tiring that must have been? And most importantly, could they clearly identify reason- able suspicion for their actions? He’d better be unquestionably intoxicated or these officers would be in serious jeopardy. And what if they tell him to get out of the car and he just says, “No?” Especially if they can’t prove that he’s legally intoxicated, these officers would be in a world of trouble. It almost seems like Johnson placed them in a no-win situation...because he did.
Video of Johnson may very well emerge showing a long night of drinking. Does this mean the district officers violated the rules in allowing him to drive off, albeit ensuring that he made it into his residence, as has been suggested? If the signs were there — bloodshot eyes, a strong odor of alcohol on the breath, slurred speech and confused or belligerent conversation — the officers should have done the tests. But if reasonable suspicion wasn’t there and tests were done, or if Johnson simply had re- fused to cooperate, we might have a new headline: “Chicago officers pull own superintendent out of car, without legal justi- fication, blocks from his house.”
With Johnson already collecting a pension far larger than the salary of any of the numerous officers he fired during his tenure, the accountability ship has sailed. For the sake of those hard- working officers across the city working the watch who have never had a cushy spot, take-home car or even a shot at a merit promotion, police officers had hoped Ferguson would finally put together a legitimate investigation.
But it looks like he’s sticking to his usual playbook.
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ FEBRUARY 2020 11