To: Kevin Graham, President, Chicago Fraternal Order of Police
Chicago Fraternal Order Of Police: Stop the hypocritical attacks on Kim Foxx
The attacks on Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx are just a convenient front for an assault on police accountability and reform. I demand that you stop your bullying, bad-faith attacks on Foxx and get your own house in order by:
1. Supporting a reopened federal grand jury investigation into false statements made by police officers at the scene of Laquan McDonald’s killing, and
2. Supporting the Coalition for Police Contracts Accountability recommendations for reforming the Chicago Police Department’s labor contract with the city.
1. Supporting a reopened federal grand jury investigation into false statements made by police officers at the scene of Laquan McDonald’s killing, and
2. Supporting the Coalition for Police Contracts Accountability recommendations for reforming the Chicago Police Department’s labor contract with the city.
Why is this important?
This is the height of hypocrisy, bad faith, and bullying. In Chicago, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) has launched a vicious attack on Kim Foxx -- the first black woman to ever serve as State’s Attorney for Cook County -- and her criminal justice reform agenda.
The FOP says their attack is about Kim Foxx’s decision not to bring Jussie Smollett’s case to trial. But the FOP has consistently attacked Kim Foxx ever since she was elected on a platform of holding police accountable when they abuse their power.
Here’s the ugly truth: Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police is cynically trying to politically kneecap the one official in Chicago with the power and the will to stand up to them.
The fact is that the FOP has never cared much about the rule of law. Let’s look at their track record for the receipts. When Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke shot 17 year old Laquan McDonald in the back -- and then Van Dyke and other officers covered it up by lying on a police report and suppressing evidence -- the Fraternal Order of Police defended the dirty cops to the bitter end. Then, after the city fired Van Dyke for killing McDonald, the FOP gave the killer cop a job!
For decades the FOP defended a disgraced Chicago cop, Jon Burge, who was fired for torturing people until they confessed to murders they didn’t commit, putting them on death row. When Burge was fired, the FOP tried to honor him with a float in a parade. They paid for his legal defense when he was finally brought up on charges years later.
When Burge died last year, the FOP didn’t disavow his heinous actions. Instead, they declared, “The Fraternal Order of Police does not believe the full story about the Burge cases has ever been told.” Former FOP president Dean Angelo took it a step further, saying, “I don't know that Jon Burge got a fair shake based on the years and years of service that he gave the city.”
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Time after time, the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police has stood by crooked police officers who committed heinous acts that violate the rule of law, the public’s trust, and the oath they took to defend us all.
We need to put their dishonest attacks on Kim Foxx in this context and recognize them for what they are: a nakedly political attempt to destroy the first black woman to serve as state’s attorney and hamper her reformist agenda.
It could be that Kim Foxx erred in her handling Jussie Smollett’s case. But she certainly doesn’t deserve to lose her job or the public’s trust over one mistake. The fact is that the Chicago police union doesn’t care about Jussie Smollett. They don’t care about justice. They care about maintaining a culture of impunity and lawlessness for cops, an agenda that Kim Foxx opposes.
Whatever we think of Jussie Smollett, now is the time for people of good will -- folks who believe that police should be held accountable when they violate the public’s trust -- to call out the Fraternal Order of Police for their bullying, bad-faith attacks on Kim Foxx.
The FOP says their attack is about Kim Foxx’s decision not to bring Jussie Smollett’s case to trial. But the FOP has consistently attacked Kim Foxx ever since she was elected on a platform of holding police accountable when they abuse their power.
Here’s the ugly truth: Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police is cynically trying to politically kneecap the one official in Chicago with the power and the will to stand up to them.
The fact is that the FOP has never cared much about the rule of law. Let’s look at their track record for the receipts. When Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke shot 17 year old Laquan McDonald in the back -- and then Van Dyke and other officers covered it up by lying on a police report and suppressing evidence -- the Fraternal Order of Police defended the dirty cops to the bitter end. Then, after the city fired Van Dyke for killing McDonald, the FOP gave the killer cop a job!
For decades the FOP defended a disgraced Chicago cop, Jon Burge, who was fired for torturing people until they confessed to murders they didn’t commit, putting them on death row. When Burge was fired, the FOP tried to honor him with a float in a parade. They paid for his legal defense when he was finally brought up on charges years later.
When Burge died last year, the FOP didn’t disavow his heinous actions. Instead, they declared, “The Fraternal Order of Police does not believe the full story about the Burge cases has ever been told.” Former FOP president Dean Angelo took it a step further, saying, “I don't know that Jon Burge got a fair shake based on the years and years of service that he gave the city.”
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Time after time, the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police has stood by crooked police officers who committed heinous acts that violate the rule of law, the public’s trust, and the oath they took to defend us all.
We need to put their dishonest attacks on Kim Foxx in this context and recognize them for what they are: a nakedly political attempt to destroy the first black woman to serve as state’s attorney and hamper her reformist agenda.
It could be that Kim Foxx erred in her handling Jussie Smollett’s case. But she certainly doesn’t deserve to lose her job or the public’s trust over one mistake. The fact is that the Chicago police union doesn’t care about Jussie Smollett. They don’t care about justice. They care about maintaining a culture of impunity and lawlessness for cops, an agenda that Kim Foxx opposes.
Whatever we think of Jussie Smollett, now is the time for people of good will -- folks who believe that police should be held accountable when they violate the public’s trust -- to call out the Fraternal Order of Police for their bullying, bad-faith attacks on Kim Foxx.