Chicago Police Sergeants' PB&PA

Police Officer Ella French #15013

End Of Watch 07 August 2021
Let us never forget the name of Officer Ella French. Let us never forget her dedication and service or the professionalism she displaced. Ella’s name will be etched into the Memorial Wall just as it should be etched into each one of us. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. Please take comfort in each other as we mourn the loss of one of our own. Thank you Officer Ella French for everything you have given in your far too short time in this world.
If you would like to donate to the Family of Officer Ella French please click on the link:
Help Support Officer Ella French’s Family | Help a Hero

Message from the PBPA State Lodge

Superintendent David Brown and all Chicago Police Department Employees,

I am reaching out to you today to offer my Condolences on the loss of Officer Ella French.
Words cannot describe the pain and sorrow felt when we lose a brother or a sister in our law enforcement family. It is never easy and we must never forget the sacrifices that are made by heroes like Officer French.

Officers throughout the State of Illinois are going out every day to protect their communities and are facing more and more violent attacks against them. These unnecessary attacks on our law enforcement officers must stop! I know that you and your officers are facing tough and difficult situations multiple times each shift. I pray that the violence and attacks on our men and women in uniform will come to an end very soon.

It is also my understanding that you have another officer in the hospital fighting for his life as a result of this same incident. May god bless him and look over him for a full recovery.

On behalf of myself and the entire executive board of the Police Benevolent and Protective Association of Illinois, please accept our prayers and our condolences. I will continue to pray for the families of those affected and for the entire Chicago Police Department family.

Sincerely,

Todd Keil

President,

Police Benevolent and Protective Association of Illinois

Please support the two upcoming events for the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation. The Ride to Remember on July 25th and the Run to Remember on August 22nd. See below links for more information about the events.

https://cpdmemorial.org/events/ride-to-remember/

https://give.cpdmemorial.org/event/2021-run-to-remember/e305564

2021 Run to Remember Please support me while I Run to Remember the Fallen Chicago Police Officers!

March 2021 General Meeting

2021 Retiree Corned Beef Dinner

Unfortunately due to the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic this year's event has been postponed. We have not decided on a future date. The new date will be largely determined by the availability of the vaccine to the general public. We cannot in good conscience have the dinner if it puts the health of attendees at risk. Please keep an eye on our website and Facebook for any updates on the event.

Summary of Criminal Justice Reform Bill-HB 3653 and Statement from The Coalition for Frontline Police Officers

Several months ago we recognized that the legislative session which ended today would present an onslaught of attacks on police officer rights. Accordingly, the PBPA formed a coalition with the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, and the APPO. As we approached the final days of the session we were joined by the Illinois Conference of Police and the Illinois Police Association in our efforts to represent the rank & file officers of Illinois law enforcement. And as the attack intensified in the “lame duck” session we were gratified to have the support of the Illinois AFL-CIO, AFSCME and our brothers & sisters in the fire service at the AFFI.

The Coalition for Frontline Police Officers

Brothers and Sisters in Law Enforcement:

Collectively, we write to you with great disappointment regarding the passage of HB 3653. For months, our organizations have worked with a common goal: preserve a voice of frontline worker police officers, while striving to ensure all Illinoisans feel safe. It is fundamental, all of us should be treated with dignity and respect. All of us, are entitled to procedural justice.

HB 3653 turns these principles on their head. Regardless of the officer’s race, religion, political affiliation, or sexual orientation, HB 3653 unacceptably dehumanizes police officers. Moreover, this Bill still does not address root causes, namely, shortcomings of politicos and their hand selected political appointees. Labor does not hire, fire, promote, discipline, or train frontline workers. Instead, this awesome responsibility is solely controlled by management. Nevertheless, it is hollow consolation for us to explain how much worse this legislation was prior to our dedicated resistance.

Without our organizations’ (and their members’) advocacy, today, our members would have been stripped of all collective bargaining rights, disciplinary protections, due process rights, qualified immunity, tort immunity, and been responsible for paying to attend training on their own time. Not kidding, all of those provisions were in the legislation up until 3:04 a.m. on January 13, 2021. At that time, yielding to pressure from our members and our allies in the house of labor, the General Assembly took out the most offensive portions of the bill. Nonetheless, we cannot call this a “win”. However, we have lived to fight another day and preserved essential rights afforded to us since 1984.

This memorandum will give you a high level overview of HB 3653. Each of your respective labor unions will follow up with more detailed guidance and strategies. Thank you for your calls, emails, letters, and more than 20,000 witness slips. These efforts are the only reason you still have the rights you enjoy. This will not be the last time you are called upon to stand up for yourself and your fellow law enforcement officers. Thank you for continuing to answer the call to service and our call to action.

Summary of HB 3653 (Senate Amendment 2)

The Good News

-Police officers retain full collective bargaining rights.
-Police officers can still challenge discipline through arbitration.
-Police officers retain qualified immunity and state law tort immunity.
-Police officers are still indemnified and defended by employer.
Employer must provide training.
-Whistleblower protection for officers reporting wrongdoing.
-Use of force incidents will be reported to the FBI for statistical purposes.

The Other News

-Police officers are now subject to enhanced certification and decertification.
-We have some concerns over the fairness of this process.
-Decertification is determined by an 11-person panel (8 appointed by Attorney General and 3 by Governor), reviewed by the ILETS Board.
-ILETSB will have their own investigators. However, the employer will generally be tasked with conducting the investigation.
-If the officer is decertified, and fails to prevail on administrative review, they are automatically terminated.
-Police chiefs appear to be subject to decertification.
-We are still studying this nuanced process and each Union will update members separately.
-In the future, body cameras will be mandatory.
Each union will issue its own guidance on body cameras.
Body cameras will be phased in over years based upon the size of your employer.
-Over 500,000 – 1/1/2022
-100,000 – 500,000 – 1/1/2023
-50,000 – 100,000 – 1/1/2024
-Under 50,000 (and ISP) – 1/1/2025

The Sad News

-Cash free bail will be the norm in 2 years – even for violent offenders.
-Use of force and duty to intervene definitions are complicated and conflicting.
-Once taken into custody, within three hours, a suspect must be given 3 phone calls PRIOR TO BEING QUESTIONED.
-No funding for training for frontline officers.

Please know this is a summary. Each union and its attorneys continue to examine this expansive, challenging, complex, and hastily passed legislation. We will be in touch. We cannot thank each and every member enough for their advocacy and trust. Please know we are still fighting for you and acting with you and your families at the forefront of our thoughts and deeds. We are honored to represent you.

Please reach out to your union representative for further information. Stay safe and well!
https://pbpa.org/News/GeneralNews/tabid/87/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/162/Summary-of-Criminal-Justice-Reform-Bill-HB-3653.aspx

It looks like the Illinois Senate is preparing to vote on House Bill 841!!! This legislation could be voted on at any moment!!!

The bill provides for the DECERTIFICATION of police officers.

PBPA, MAP, ICOPS, APPO (Aurora’s Patrol officers’ Union), and the Illinois Police Association have all voiced serious concerns about this bill as currently proposed.

We have communicated the following concerns regarding the bill:

1. Funding for ILETSB needs to be tied to the bill. Any underfunding will lead to delays. Delays cannot be on our members’ backs.

2. The definition of conflict of interest could arguably exclude labor union members from serving on panels or the Board.

3. Definition of conflict of interest should include people who have demonstrated bias by making anti-police or judgmental comments regarding a matter that has or may come before the body.

4. The ability to remove people from the Board/Panel by majority vote of the Board rather than requiring a super-majority opens the process up to jury rigging against officers and delegitimizes the entire process.

5. The definitional standard “Found guilty of” includes diversion and other non-conviction pleas. Use of this standard, which is not found anywhere else in state law, forces members to go to trial when diversion programs would assist in obtaining needed treatment and intervention. This produces an outcome contrary to the intent of officer wellness initiatives.

6. New Crimes Proposed in the bill: solicitation of pr******te; public indecency; domestic battery; interfering with report of domestic battery; transmission of obscene messages; telephone harassment; harrassment through electronic means; and Part E - Title III.

Any newly added crimes must be prospective. If the officer was convicted yesterday, it is not a bar to continued/future employment.

7. Procedure for discretionary decertification - to be deemed appropriate for decertification, the law should be clarified to require violations must be “knowing and intentional”. It should not be by negligence, inadvertance, ignorance, or error.

8. The law should clearly define “moral terpitude” and “duty to intervene.”

9. Require all chiefs to be certified with minimus education and training requirements.

10. The law should provide whistleblower protection for officers who are retaliated against for reporting any corruption, illegal acts, improper, or unethical acts by a governmental employee, official, appointee, or agency. This protection should include a private right of action with attorneys’ fees. Additinally the labor act should be amended to make it an Unfair Labor Practice.

11. There should be a 2/3rds vote required to decertify.

12. The process should include a re-certification process. Decertification cannot be a death penalty.

13. The answer to the complaint should not be required to be under oath. This may impair 5th amendment rights of the officer. Allowing the officer to answer like a lawsuit (by counsel) is fair.

14. The decertification process, if requested by the officer, may be stayed if they are charged criminally. They shall be deemed “inactive” during this time.

15. There must be a clear obligation of the Board/Panel/agents thereof to provide accused officers with all evidence in its possession within 7 days of being requested by the officer.

16. Judicial review - currently only can be filed in Sangamon or Cook Counties. It should be Sangamon, Cook, or county in which the employee agency sits.

17. p. 104 - Currently, there is not a property interest in the certification. This is unfair and wrong. A license, which this largely is, comes with a property interest. Attorneys, barbers, doctors, all have property interest. Cops should at least be treated the same.

18. p.113 - If someone resigns while being investigated, without more, should not be a basis to bar them from certification. It could be a basis to hold a hearing and determine whether the charges/allegations are well-founded. But the proposed system in HB 841 permits denial of entry to the profession based on allegations alone. That's not right.

19. The bill should include a provision allowing for an officer to petition for reinstatement if an agency refuses to petition for reinstatement.

20. p. 121 - Burden of proof in decertification hearings is on the officer! This is patently unfair. The burden should not be on the officer to show why his/her certification should not be suspended. The movant and burden must be on the Board/panel.

21. p. 115 Employing agencies must bear the burden of providing documentation and training. The employer must make required training available to all employee officers “while on duty and at the employing agencies expense.”

22. Section 8.4 - Requires individual officers to attest under oath to there training record. The employing agency is in the best position to meet the obligation to accurately track and report training. Also, it would be less expensive to have the agencies perform this administrative task. The Board would only have to deal with one agency rather than its numerous employees. Also, trying to contact numerous individual employees creates additional security and practical problems.

We have also submitted these Considerations for Improving Policing which have yet to be addressed -

· Expand the length/duration of basic recruit training (police academy);
· Enact penalties for employers who fail to meet police training requirements;
· Establish statewide hiring practices based upon objective testing, education, experience, background, character, and personality of police officer candidates;
· Mandate mental health (Crisis Intervention Training) for all police officers;
· A statewide promotional act for police officers removing patronage and seeking the promotion of the most skilled and qualified candidates;
· Enhance officer wellness programs and protections for officers seeking care for mental health and substance abuse problems; and
· Institute mandatory licensing for police chiefs and sheriffs


PLEASE Let your Reps and Senators that police officers, like everyone else should be treated fairly and with dignity!

ASK THEM TO OPPOSE THIS LEGISLATION AS WRITTEN!!!

PLEASE ACT NOW!!

Last night a criminal justice reform bill (HB163) was amended onto HB163. The bill is more than 600 pages long, is effective immediately upon the Governor's signature and includes, among other things, language that does the following -

•Eliminates Qualified Immunity for police officers, making them personally liable in civil suits.

•Eliminates Officer’s rights to Collectively Bargain, creating a “special class” of public employee rights in Illinois that can only negotiate over wages and benefits!

• No contractual language regarding discipline and discharge procedures for police officers.

• Allows officers to be disciplined based on anonymous and unsubstantiated or unverifiable complaints.

•Mandates that unverified complaints be kept with no time limit no removal and no limits on .

•Substantially increases both initial and ongoing training requirements but does not provide any funding for increased costs and no assurances that the courses will even be offered.

•Mandates the use of body cameras by all departments for every officer but does not include money to pay for cameras.

•Withholds money from any city that does not comply with the requirements of the legislation.

•Eliminates funding for law enforcement agencies•Eliminates Cash Bail while enacting multiple benefits for people convicted of committing crimes.

•Limits use of force, redefines excessive use of force and subjects officers to criminal liability for using of force or for failing to intervene in another officer's use of force.

•Removes prohibitions against obstructing police officers

•Subjects officers to possible criminal charges of Official Misconduct, a class 3 felony, for trivial and incidental issues.

This is not police "reform" or "modernization." This is an attack on unions, collective bargaining, and on public safety.

Should this bill become law - a non-union groundskeeper would have more legal rights and protections than a police officer!

Please take this information very seriously. House speaker Madigan has already committed publicly to supporting the sponsors' legislative agenda. Contact your Senator and Representative and ask your family and friends to do the same and ask Included are some simple instructions to help you, your friends, your coworkers and your family members in helping to save Illinois from this destructive agenda. This is how -

1. Find your local elected officials by going to the Illinois State Board of Elections. You can get there with this link: https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/DistrictLocator/AddressFinder.aspx?T=637455339908532712

If you live somewhere other than you work, please consider contacting the elected officials for both locations. You can use your work address on the State Board of Election’s website just like a home address. You can always say “I work in Springfield...” or “I live in Decatur...”

2. Go to www.ILGA.gov to find the contact information for your legislators. Click the “Members” text under the House or the Senate columns to pull up the list and then just click on your legislator’s name. It will list the various contact details for your legislator and you can pick how you want to contact them. You can email them, or call their district office or their Springfield office. If you decide to call, you may have to leave a message on a machine or with staff. Do not worry, and it is not important that the legislator call you back. Just be sure to leave in your message that you need them to vote no on HB 163 or any similar legislation that diminishes your rights and the public's safety.

3. Some advice on being the most effective advocate you can be includes:

a. Be respectful of their time, long calls and long messages are not necessary. Remember, these individuals work for you, so the most important thing is to let them know how they can do the best job for you.

b. Be professional. Do not assume they are against you or supportive of the bill. Let them know what you think and what you want, but do not blame them or accuse them.

c. If they disagree with you there is probably nothing you can do to change their mind. That is ok, but please remember how they handled your concerns when the next election comes around.

d. If they do not respond to you, do not feel ignored. They are getting hundreds of calls and emails. They will read every email and listen to every message.

e. Feel free to include personal or local information. We all care about our community the most, and that is true of legislators. Feel free to share how this would hurt you, your family and your community. Be a neighbor first, a law enforcement officer second and a willing partner third.

Thoughts and prayers.

Chicago cop among 4 dead in Mercy Hospital shooting Witnesses describe a woman being shot in the parking lot, then a gunman shot at police cars as they drove in to hospital.

https://abc7chicago.com/cpd-sergeant-honored-for-off-duty-arrest-in-attack-on-91-year-old-man/4681105/?fbclid=IwAR1RiQVI57vTPVnaV2Y2BnuQsKv6DcckgGMI3M2f9_NUMz8SLRVkfUKgOnA

CPD sergeant honored for off-duty arrest in attack on 91-year-old man A Chicago police sergeant was honored Tuesday for stopping a man he saw punch a 91-year-old man in the face in Chinatown.