So the supervisors got some sort of Contract today via the arbitration process and they took some hosing from Groot:
- Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Friday that the city had reached a deal that included several police reforms through arbitration in contract negotiations with the unions representing Chicago Police Department leadership.
Those reforms include "allowing anonymous complaints to be investigated, ending the requirement of destroying disciplinary records, preventing the names of complainants from being disclosed to officers until they are interviewed" and others, Lightfoot's office said in a statement.
Arbitrator George Roumell Jr.’s 106-page award sets terms for the city's next contract with three Policemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (PBPA) units that represent more than 1,500 sergeants, lieutenants and captains in the Chicago Police Department, Lightfoot said.
A couple of sergeant readers say that a bunch of this is spin by Groot:
- The PBPA is going to sue the City after the Contract is ratified because the anonymous complaint portion runs contrary to the Sworn Affidavit portion of State Law. The City cannot make or enforce an agreement that is against the law.
- The requirement of destroying disciplinary records was awarded to Groot last week in a court decision that we referenced in a post.
- The preventing names of complainants confuses us...
Anyone ever read a Court Complaint? Where it says something like "...duly sworn under oath...." Court proceedings do not go forward without a signed complaint. The complaint itself is an attested document by means of the Officer's witnessing it - we are all Deputy Clerks of the Court for a reason, and this is it. How is any supervisor (or officer) supposed to address the Complaint without the full picture, reports, documents, etc? They can't, which is why court cases are nolled all the time, and we predict a lot of the same with "investigations."
By the way, the canard about how having a name attached to a complaint is somehow "chilling," we will remind all readers that as far as our research shows, at no time since the Sworn Affidavit was put into place, has any Officer been accused of intimidating or harassing a complainant. The criminal penalties are more than enough to deter this sort of behavior.
The retiree health care went up to 3.5% and there were other housekeeping items attended to. Here's a basic overview (click to enlarge):
Groot is desperately trying to make this into a bigger deal than it is and faces an uphill battle to make the one "win" stick if the Courts follow the actual law as passed by the Legislature. This was a decision handed down - no sergeants, lieutenants or captains ever got a vote on these items.
Hopefully, the FOP learns a few lessons from this.
Labels: FOP, general