The Chicago Police Department (CPD) will take the lead in paying respects to slain Police Officer Areanah M. Preston. Sadly, the department has considerable experience in how to render honors to a fallen member. Police Officer Preston was the second CPD officer murdered this year. The pain of the loss of Police Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso is still raw. Areanah is due our respect for how she lived, and for her willingness to be a peacemaker. She and her family are owed our unending thanks and prayers for the cost she paid for being a police officer. We encourage all who can attend the wake or funeral to do so, and if you cannot to at least pause, reflect, and sincerely pray for her and her family. But what else? [Click the link below to read more.]
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Officials have confirmed the murder of yet another Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer. The incident occurred about 1:45 a.m. today, 6 May 2023. The identity of the murdered female police officer was not initially released, but has since been confirmed as Areanah Preston. We join all those mourning her loss, most particularly her family. That is the most important part of this story. Lawlessness in Chicago remains a serious issue, and the city has lost another officer to violence. But, there is also another undercurrent worth noting. Even before linking to their reporting on the March murder of Police Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso, Chicago’s ABC affiliate linked its readers to their article on the release of body camera footage in a completely unrelated police shooting. Media bias? [Click the link below to read more.]
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Late yesterday afternoon, Chicago Police Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso was murdered as he honored his sacred oath. He and other police officers were responding to a domestic-related call of a man with a gun. As Officer Vasquez Lasso was coming to the defense of a victim, and a community, he was wounded by the offender. Despite the efforts of his fellow officers and medical personnel, Officer Vasquez Lasso did not survive the attack. His murder is a tragedy for his family, and a tragedy for a city that struggles against lawlessness. [Click the link below to read more.]
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Without question, in this world there is suffering. There are many challenges and troubles. Christians understand this worldly reality and the need for salvation. They know as well that there is reason for hope. In all of world history one birth stands above all others. The birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The very calendar of Western Civilization is marked by the time before His birth and the time after. More than two thousand years later, there remains reason for celebration of His birth. As we seek Peace on Earth, faith provides all of us a path for salvation. We have a hope and prayer for a Merry Christmas. [Click the link below to read more.]
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The Associated Press (AP) continues to publish stories suggesting a causation link between THE pandemic and crime. No, not investigative journalism seeking to examine whether a virus was created through banned gain of function research. Not journalism suggesting the use of a biological weapon as a war crime. Simply, crime and violence on our streets. AP continues to cite THE pandemic as a key explanation for the continuing lawlessness that exploded in 2020 across America. As we all know, the spark of that explosion occurred in May 2020 in Minneapolis. Yet, let us not forget, that just days before that spark, the news media was citing THE pandemic as the reason why crime in America was declining. It is beyond time to stop using THE pandemic as a bogeyman to gloss over the lawlessness issue that persists in far too much of our nation. [Click the link below to read more.]
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Our time on Earth is limited. The length of a life is important, yet far less so than how that life is lived. The impact a person has on and for others is the truest measure. Such is the life lesson Chicago Police Officer Malgorzata Lichwala has shown us all. Maggie, as she is affectionately known by her family, friends, and fellow officers, has long been a force for good. She has done the challenging work of being a police officer in Chicago. As a member of the 25th District Community Policing Office, she has lived what it means to serve others. On this past Tuesday, the police and community gathered outside her Chicago home to honor her. To celebrate her. To say thank you to a woman who has served her community well. Even as Maggie continues to battle terminal cancer, she lives a life of courage and inspiration. [Click the link below to read more.]
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On Sunday morning, 7 August 2022, Chicago Police Department (CPD) Star 15013 was formally retired in an emotional ceremony. It was the star worn by Police Officer Ella Grace French. I never had the privilege to properly meet Officer French. But one year ago, in the very early morning hours of 8 August 2021, I was privileged to stand among the couple of hundred CPD members, who met her, as she arrived at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. We were there because on the evening of 7 August 2021, Ella’s tour of duty came to a tragic end. We were there to honor her. To mourn her passing. It was there, for the first time, that I also came to be in the presence of Ella’s mother, Elizabeth French. There were heartbreaking images and sounds that will remain always. But there were also powerful and enduring images of love, courage, and strength. [Click the link below to read more.]
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Addressing complaints of police misconduct are a challenging core responsibility for police leaders. Such is also true for those agencies with police oversight responsibilities. It is essential for the complaint and discipline processes to maintain professional standards, identify false accusations, foster police legitimacy, enhance officer performance, and when allegations are sustained, differentiate between errors and true misconduct. While the Chicago Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is not an agency above criticism itself, they made a key and valid point with their report released yesterday. In a press statement, the OIG sharply criticized the agencies in Chicago tasked with investigating and addressing discipline in sustained police misconduct cases. At Secure 1776, we have previously noted the failings of the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA). Here we remind those city officials of what they must ensure when handling complaints of police misconduct. [Click the link below to read more.]
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Well it has started. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has begun to terminate department members over Covid-19 vaccinations. As reported by the Los Angeles Daily News, two LAPD officers were fired following recent “Board of Rights” administrative hearings. The terminations were reported by the LAPD at the Los Angeles Police Commission meeting held on Tuesday, 8 March 2022. These two officers join another LAPD officer, who was previously terminated on 8 February 2022. The firings are based upon the failure of the accused officers to comply with the Covid-19 vaccine mandate for Los Angeles city employees. Such controversial vaccine mandates have faced increased questioning over efficacy, safety, autonomy concerning personal healthcare choices, as well as individual and religious liberty. Seven additional LAPD officers, and four civilian department members, face termination hearings in the coming weeks. For months, governmental actions, including vaccine, masking and social distancing mandates, as well as lockdowns and forced business and school closures have come under challenge at the federal, state and local levels. More recently, these actions have been substantially rolled back. Here is a “cops ask questions” question: Is Los Angeles safer after these terminations? [Click the link below to read more.]
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We are to remember the fallen. We are supposed to show respect to their memory and honor their sacrifice. The memory of slain Chicago Police Officer Ella French is supposed to be protected. The Gold Star Families of the fallen are to be respected and protected. Such is true for many, but in a political environment that facilitated the demonization of the police, far too many have not done so. Officer French was murdered, and her partner Carlos Yanez, Jr. suffered life-altering injuries, on 7 August 2021. In the days after her murder, a small memorial for Officer French, which had been setup in the lobby of the Thompson State of Illinois Building in Chicago, was vandalized. Then in November, Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) issued a flawed investigative finding from a 2019 incident recommending a three-day suspension for slain Officer French. Outraged, twenty Chicago City Council members (six short of a council majority) sent a letter to Mayor Lori Lightfoot objecting to Andrea Kersten continuing to serve as the head of COPA. On the topic of honoring the work, sacrifice, legacy, and memory of Officer French, yesterday, 9 February, was a good-news, bad-news day. [Click the link below to read more.]
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Most often, the Chicago City Council is an unremarkable legislative body that does as it is instructed to do by the reigning mayor. On Friday, the council’s Public Safety Committee was expected to rubber stamp the mayor’s selection of Andrea Kersten, as the permanent head of the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA). However, in a rare Chicago moment, the council is poised to say “no” to the mayor on a key city appointment. Ms. Kersten is currently the interim head of COPA, a low-regarded oversight agency, and she was previously its chief investigator. She is most notorious for her November 2021 release of an investigation that included a recommendation to suspend slain Chicago Police Officer Ella French. [Click the link below to read more.]
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In our New Year’s Day editorial, we made clear that 2021 was not a “happy new year” relative to public safety. Our founder also made clear that for 2022 to be a “happy new year,” resolve would be required. On 29 December 2021, Bradley Police Sergeant Rittmanic’s last known words were to her attacker, as her own gun was pointed at her head. “Just leave, you don’t have to do this. Please just go. Please don’t. Please don’t.” Yet, her attacker was determined to kill her anyway and did. Yesterday, Illinois buried Sergeant Marlene Rittmanic. Today, we ask whether our community is fully resolved to say: “Enough!” In 2022, will we demand our elected officials and the media stop demonizing the police? Will our courts be the place where consequences occur, or will the streets continue to be the place where the truth about consequences are most visible? [Click the link below to read more.]
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