Page 5 - November2018

CHICAGO LODGE 7
Official Magazine
President’s Report
FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE CHICAGO LODGE #7
EXECUTIVE BOARD
KEVIN GRAHAM
President
PATRICK J. MURRAY
First Vice President
Martin Preib
Second Vice President
Jay R. Ryan
Third Vice President
Greg Bella
Recording Secretary
Michael P. Garza
Financial Secretary
John Capparelli
Treasurer
Dean C. Angelo, Sr.
Immediate Past President
Sergeants-at-Arms
William Burns James Jakstavich Michael Mette
Trustees
Harold Brown Andrew Cantore Mark Donahue William Dougherty Pat Duckhorn Sergio Escobedo Fernando Flores Joseph Gentile Danny Gorman Ken Hauser Rick King Frank Quinn Carlos Salazar Ron Shogren Mark Tamlo Daniel Trevino Michael Underwood
Field Representatives
Robert Bartlett Rich Aguilar
Our day in court to fight the consent decree
On Nov. 2, Chicago Lodge 7 was in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit at the Dirksen Federal Building presenting our case to oppose the impos- ing of a consent decree on the Chicago Police Department.
Our attorney, Joel D’Alba, did an outstanding job of putting our case in the correct context. He stated that while we tried to work with the parties involved, those parties did not keep their word about leaving our contract alone. And as soon as we found that out, we filed a motion to intervene.
The three-member court of judges asked good questions and had the repre- sentatives from the Illinois Attorney General’s office tripping over themselves, not knowing what to say. The judges seemed aghast at how the Illinois Attorney General de-
cided to file a lawsuit against the City of Chicago.
Attorneys for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office stated that the consent decree was estab-
lished in response to a report by the Department of Justice under the Obama administration. One of the judges then asked what the current Department of Justice says about the consent decree. Thankfully, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney General stated that the consent decree is not a good idea and should not be imposed.
Although we do not have a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals as of this writing, our day in court went very well and we are hoping for the best. It is clear to me that we are the only ones fighting to help protect the citizens of Chicago and Chicago Police Officers.
Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board
In a big win for the Chicago FOP, an opinion letter by a state board agrees with Lodge 7 that COPA is not a law enforcement agency and cannot work as lead investigators on cases of fatal police shootings.
The letter (see page 13) dated Oct. 25 from the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Stan- dards Board (ILETSB) is one we have been waiting on for some time. FOP Field Rep and Legal Defense Committee Co-Chair Bob Bartlett and I had sent letters to the board about COPA. We then attended the ILETSB meeting in Chicago and asked for the opinion letter, which stated that COPA was not a law enforcement agency and that it does not have the ability to allow its lead homicide investigators to investigate police shootings in Chicago.
Here is the question we presented: Do you have police-involved shootings investigated professionally and fairly so that our officers can have confidence in investigations when they are involved in a shooting, or do you have politically motivated investigations, with officers not getting a fair investigation based on the evidence?
Although we do not know how this will end up, it is a great start. During the next few months, we will be working with our attorneys and executive board to use the opinion as leverage against COPA and what we believe is an abuse of its authority.
KEVIN GRAHAM
Stay tuned on this one.
CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ NOVEMBER 2018 5