Friday, August 27, 2010

Chicago police lieutenant disciplined for blogging about his superiors

Sounds like it's past time for the President of the Illinois NAACP to head to Chicago and give them a pass to save their City...

Police Lieutenant Blasts Department Superiors

A Chicago police Lieutenant is under fire for an Internet post that blasts the department’s leadership and the mayor.

“We are tired of a leaderless department. We are angry at an unsupportive mayor,” Lt. John Andrews wrote in a fiery critique of the department.

The post is titled, A City at War with Itself: Chicago - Fast Tracking to Anarchy.

Andrews argues that staff shortages, corruption and a leader he says the rank and file doesn't respect have all made the job of policing the streets of Chicago almost impossible.

"This is the very worst that I’ve seen this department.” Andrews said Tuesday in an interview with NBC Chicago. “We don’t have the capability of maintaining the social order in some of the Chicago neighborhoods. It’s taken its toll. Our people are tired, beat up, they’re undermanned, outgunned. It’s dangerous.”

Department brass didn't take too kindly to the post and hit Andrews with disciplinary action, claiming he "brought discredit to the Chicago police department."

"I don’t think leaders should sit and throw rocks at their respective agencies or at those who are actually trying to address those challenges," said Supt. Jody Weis

The president of the Chicago Police Lieutenants Association, however, is standing by Andrews.

"This is a constitutional issue infringing on his freedom of speech," said Bob Weisskopf in a written statement. "Just about every lieutenant believes in the spirit of what he wrote.”

Andrews began writing about a month ago, when Officer Michael Bailey became the third officer to be killed this summer. He claims morale in the almost 13,000-member force has hit an all-time low.

An internal affairs hearing scheduled for Friday will determine whether Andrews, a 26-year member of the force, will be able to keep his job. Source


Read Lt. John Andrews' entire post here.