FOP President: Weis Not One of Us, Doesn't Listen

FOP President Mark Donahue says that, contrary to Police Supt. Jodi Weis' claims, the FOP has been involved in force improvement programs - but the superintendent doesn't listen.

"We've been involved in negotiations over the formation of a new personal evaluation system, the FTO programs, we've been involved in all these programs," Donahue said. "He chooses not to take the recommendations we do offer, and he'd rather go with the recommendations offered to him through the academics."

Weis' contract is up in March and, with Daley retiring, the superintendent may be replaced by another candidate. Despite that short time frame, Donahue said it was important to protest now.

"I think the urgency should be very apparent," Donahue said. "The violence committed on police officers since his administration came in, in the past few years, has risen 20 percent. So to hide behind some of the statistics that the department has been hiding behind doesn't really give the big picture."

Asked whether the FOP's anger at Weis was due to Weis' background in federal law enforcement -- not Chicago police -- Donahue agreed that was a problem.

"I wouldn't say it's a lot about it," he said, "but it's certainly a factor in the way the men and women in the police department feel about it."

Contact Us