Chicago (WLS) — In order for police to do their job well on the street, officers must log many hours in a classroom. But state’s budget crisis is putting some of that vital training at risk.
Continue reading Illinois’ Largest Police Training Facility Could Shut Down Due To Budget Crisis
After showing up for 27 parole hearings over more than three decades, retired Chicago Police Officer Daniel Abate had started to worry.
In recent years, the votes had been growing in favor of releasing the man who fatally shot his partner in the head in a South Side gangway more than 40 years ago. On Thursday, at the 28th hearing, it finally happened.
As Abate and 50 other officers crowded into a room in Springfield, the board voted 8-6 to free Joseph Bigsby, who was 16 when he turned around during a police chase and shot Officer Edward Barron in 1973.
“When the results were given, you could see their (officers’) shoulders slumping and their faces go ashen,” Abate said. “How do you think they feel going back on the street knowing their job means that little? You could hear some of the sighs.
Read more in Chicago Tribune.
Source: www.chicagotribune.com
The Chicago Police Department has quietly made changes to its uniform policy, requiring that on-duty officers cover up any tattoos and banning them from wearing baseball caps.
The department’s largest union, which represents rank-and-file officers, quickly voiced its opposition, saying the department should have first negotiated the changes before making any announcement. A number of officers also spoke out against the move, saying their tattoos are part of their identities. The department was sympathetic to officers with tattoos commemorating their military service but ultimately decided it was too “difficult to draw a line.”
“Too many uniform variations became available, making Chicago police officers less immediately identifiable to the public,” said police spokeswoman Jennifer Rottner.
But the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 said Tuesday it plans to file an unfair labor practice complaint with the Illinois Labor Relations Board over the new directive.
“It remains the lodge’s position that the dress code policy is a mandatory subject of bargaining, especially when it impacts current officers who have visible body tattoos and/or body brandings,” FOP President Dean Angelo wrote to union members in a letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Tribune.
Read more in the Chicago Tribune.
Source: www.chicagotribune.com
A detective who started his Peoria County law enforcement career as a correctional officer in 2004 was named Deputy of the Year on Tuesday
Source: www.pjstar.com
Other cops use words like “solid” and “stand-up” to describe Dave Buchanan, whose law enforcement career has followed a quarter-century arc through small towns to city streets.
Invariably, another word to characterize the patrolman named Peoria’s officer of the year last May arises: honest.
Ask him what he thinks, and Buchanan won’t hesitate to tell, no matter the subject’s delicacy or possible reflection on his own recognized shortcomings. The self-deprecating comments have a humorous veneer, sometimes dripping in sarcasm, a vernacular common to veteran officers still sorting out complex humanity every night on the street.
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Source: www.pjstar.com
