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Financial Secretary’s Report
Crime statistics:
Don’t believe everything you read
Welcome to March, everyone. A mild winter certainly has helped to soften the advent of a new year.
I had a call-out in February and have to com- pliment all the midnight 19th District officers on an excellent job in assisting the officer involved in the weapons discharge. I fielded plenty of calls from different officers and sergeants about the incident, even hours after it occurred. I am of the opinion that better a hundred calls than none.
I see the newspapers complaining about the upswing in crime in January. For those who only notice occurrences when they are thrown in their faces, this may seem like a horrible trend.
First, let me say that any and all crime is bad. Like the theme song for the TV show “Baretta” stated: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time...don’t do it!” If there were a way to eliminate all crime, that would be great. Unfortunately, for now, there will always be someone crossing the criminal line. That being said, the clear fact is that weather affects crime.
Last year, when we had 18 inches of snow, it was difficult for
the average bum to run from the scene of a crime. But with only 7 inches falling this year and one of the five mildest Januarys on record, it was easier to pull skullduggery. I feel that once we recognize simple facts like the weather, it will keep some of the “talking but not doing anything” heads from using crime statis- tics for blame and political ambition.
On to grievances: A Grievance Committee meeting was held on Feb. 20, with the following results: There were seven griev- ances recommended to be withdrawn, including some for which we need additional information from the officer.
Rich Aguilar came to the meeting to run down all the sus- pension grievances on the agenda, so we were able to clear up many of them.
The committee decided to go forward with 14 grievances, including three class action grievances from Rich, Bob Bart- lett and myself — mine being the out of grade for the evidence technicians.
As of this writing, we do not have an agreement with the City on an arbitrator; as soon as we do, we will get the information out to you. Stay safe.
MICHAEL GARZA
10 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MARCH 2020