In August, we posted on the bad news ahead for public safety in Illinois beginning on 1 January 2023. The posting provided a review of key changes to the criminal justice system that are coming with the full implementation of the Illinois SAFE-T Act. In fact, all but two of the 102 elected state’s attorneys in Illinois have expressed concerns about the changes that await the state. The already enacted changes include: (1) severe restrictions on when the courts can order even violent offenders to be held in custody prior to trial; (2) procedural obstacles in the ability of judges to issue warrants for offenders who fail to appear in court; and (3) the prohibition of police officers from making any physical arrests for public order crimes like trespassing. Here in this post, we provide two additional interviews as recommended resources. [Click the link to read more | 12 Oct 2022]
Today, September 17th, is among the lesser known of the official days on our national calendar, and such is quite the shame. Happy Constitution Day to all in America. The U.S. Constitution is essential to ensuring simultaneously both the protection of individual liberties and the advancement of public safety. Here we provide two recommended resources. Of course, a link to the full text of the Constitution maintained by the United States Congress. Secondly, a link to the Constitution Day website. Additionally, we provide our thoughts on the importance of remembering the founding principles of our nation. [Click the link to read more | 17 Sep 2022]
On a fundamental level, changing problematic behavior is a personal struggle. While others can help, the involved individual either makes the needed change or not. Simple logic and critical thinking tell us, if we seek another to do less of something, we should discourage such behavior. So to we know, a key method by which to encourage a behavior is to incentivize it. When a financial benefit is linked to a behavior, we tend to see more of it. However, such is true even if that behavior is damaging. In the Summer 2022 issue of City Journal, public policy analyst Judge Glock provides a devastating look at how government policies have incentivized drug addiction and criminality. Taxpayer funds purportedly seeking to address homelessness are instead fostering misery and death. The article and an interview this past week with the author are recommended resources. [Click the link to read more | 10 Sep 2022]
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 to read more | 27 Aug 2022.]
The 28th Annual Breaching the Barricade Law Enforcement Conference will be held on 30 September 2022, at the Lerner Theater, in Elkhart, Indiana. The conference and its companion Officer Appreciation Day are premiere industry events made possible by the vision, work, and mentoring of Jim Bontrager. The appreciation day event will be held in Sturgis, Michigan on Saturday, 1 October 2022. A U.S. Marine veteran, Jim is a long serving lead police chaplain for the Elkhart Police Department. At Bontrager’s invitation, Thomas Lemmer will be presenting again at the conference. [Click the link to read more | 22 Aug 2022]
In Illinois, state’s attorneys are the elected county prosecutors. They represent the people of their respective counties in court. When 100 out of 102 elected state’s attorneys have a warning, then the people are wise to listen. The coming full implementation of the SAFE-T Act in January 2023 will make Illinois far less safe. On 5 August 2022, AM560’s Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson, from Chicago’s Morning Answer, interviewed two county prosecutors from the Chicago area. One Republican, Robert Berlin, from DuPage, County. One Democrat, James Glasgow, from Will County. They are agreed. Public safety will be jeopardized. Law-abiding citizens will be confronted by emboldened criminals, and the police and prosecutors will be far less able to do much about it. The full interview is a highly-recommended resource. [Click the link to read more | 10 Aug 2022]
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 to read more | 9 Aug 2022]
The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (ILACP) is presenting the 2022 Midwest Security & Police Conference/Expo (MSPCE) on 18 and 19 August 2022, at the Tinley Park Convention Center, in Tinley Park, Illinois. This annual expo showcases the latest products and services for law enforcement and security professionals. The event also hosts a comprehensive training conference accredited by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. Thomas Lemmer, the Founder of Secure 1776, LLC will be presenting two executive training sessions during the conference on 19 August 2022. Registration is free for law enforcement and security personnel. [Click the link to read more | 11 Jul 2022]
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 to read more | 17 Jun 2022]
I suppose the timing of Memorial Day, on the cusp between spring and summer, explains part of the confusion, but there is more at hand here. Memorial Day is not a holiday celebrating the start of summer. Far from it. In reality, Memorial Day is less a day of celebration, and more a day intended to be one of honoring and remembrance. Who are we honoring and remembering? Military veterans? Well yes, but not quite. There is a day on which we are to honor all those who have worn the uniform of the United States of America. That day was established in November 1919, and is now known as Veterans Day. Memorial Day is more specific in its focus. Memorial Day is intended to honor this nation’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who did not return home alive – or return at all – from service in defense of our nation. Have we earned this? Can we earn this? No. Such selfless devotion is always a gift beyond what is owed to any of us. But, as a nation, we can strive to be more grateful and more worthy. [Click the link to read more | 30 May 2022]
Last week we posted on the continued lawlessness and outright evil observed in three American cities on a single day – 14 May 2022. The most horrific of the incidents occurred in a Buffalo supermarket. But, evening lawlessness in the entertainment and downtown areas of Milwaukee and Chicago also stood out. Less than a week later, Chicago’s downtown was the scene of yet another mass causality shooting incident. The latest mass shooting left two people dead and seven others wounded outside a major subway stop and a popular McDonald’s restaurant on Chicago Avenue. That shooting incident happened on Thursday night, 19 May 2022. Today, Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) gathered the signatures of 29 other council members to call a Special Meeting of the Chicago City Council. The focus – Chicago violence and the city administration’s plan to address lawlessness. [Click the link to read more | 23 May 2022]
Since May of 2020, the nation has witnessed growing lawlessness. Compared to 2019, violence in cities like Chicago drove the year-over-year national murder rate higher by nearly 30 percent in 2020. That single-year murder-rate increase is the largest ever recorded. While the final 2021 national murders statistics will not be released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) until later this year, we already know that last year lawlessness and violence remained at elevated levels. Saturday, in Chicago and Milwaukee the nation witnessed more lawlessness in the centers of those two cities. In Buffalo, a grocery store was the scene of horror. [Click the link to read more | 16 May 2022]
It has long been said, “knowledge is power.” It is important to note that the pronouncement is not “information is power.” In the “Bizzaro World” of the news media, so much of what passes as the “news” is little more than information. The rise of 24-hour cable news has provided more time to pass more information. But, often the platform simply passes the same information in a mind-numbing extended loop whose output does not foster actual knowledge. Pseudo-knowledge is advanced through the frequent use of split-screen commentators and political operatives advancing their own narratives. These often competing narratives generally distort true factual analysis, and they often end in an incomprehensible mash of over-talking and shouting. This phenomenon crosses the spectrum of political, social, and daily-life topics, particularly when there is an overlap into politics. Lawlessness is one of these topics. Even the local – allegedly straight news – news programming runs a steady flow of lawless incident-of-the-day segments, particularly when the incidents are violent with shock-seeking video. These segments are generally little more than sensationalized information, and rarely is their presentation one that advances knowledge. Secure 1776 offers this “cops ask questions” question in Latin: “Cui bono?” Translation: “Who benefits?” [Click the link to read more | 22 Apr 2022]
