LETTERS: Cop union says State’s Attorney Foxx ‘vilifies’ officers

The Fraternal Order of Police is sorely disappointed in the Thursday editorial attacking police officers for invoking their Fifth Amendment right not to testify in the murder case against Jose Maysonet.

“An accused killer is walking free because five former cops — who were paid to investigate and testify — won’t talk in court,” the Sun Times thundered.

As with so many cases involving allegations of police misconduct, the Sun Times editorial is wholly biased and misinformed. The truth is that detectives in these cases generally want to testify, but they can no longer trust the Cook County state’s attorney to rule on these cases based upon the evidence.

With the election of Kimberly Foxx and the appointment of her top personnel, particularly Eric Sussman, the state’s attorney’s office has been transformed from an entity that prosecuted crimes to one that panders to the powerful anti-police movement in the city.

Foxx, for example, has reversed her predecessor, Anita Alvarez, on key cases in which Alvarez supported a conviction, in cases involving retired Detective Ray Guevera. Within days of taking office, Foxx reversed these decisions and turned the onus of guilt upon the detective.

In doing so, Foxx has demonstrated a clear movement away from prosecuting criminals into vilifying police officers. To do so, her administration has decided, much as the Chicago media has, to ignore the powerful evidence of corruption in the industry of accusing the police of misconduct as a means of garnering large settlements.

There have been numerous other examples of the prosecutor’s office charging police officers with crimes, not based on probable cause but political and media pressure. The prosecution is directly responsible for the current level of mistrust among police officers.

In this current climate in Chicago, no attorney worth his salt would ever advise a police officer or detective to testify in these cases under such conditions. Is the Sun Times arguing that police officers should ignore the counsel of their experienced and capable attorneys and testify anyway? Police officers are now expected to risk indictment from a renegade prosecutor’s office for every arrest they make?

Sadly, that is the current situation in Chicago.

Let’s keep the record straight: The police did their job. They found Maysonet and gathered the evidence that convicted him in a trial. Maysonet is walking free because CCSA Eric Sussman, who had plenty of evidence to retry Maysonet without the detectives’ testimony, failed to do his job and retry him.

Sussman’s decision not to retry Maysonet and then blaming the police for his decision is despicable, another powerful sign of his antipathy to law enforcement.

The Sun Times editorial blaming the detectives and letting Sussman off the hook was no better.

Kevin Graham

President

Chicago Fraternal Order of Police

Yes, Chicago homes are affordable

We are writing to echo columnist Natalie Moore’s view that “Chicago housing affordable if you know where to look.” At the Chicago Bungalow Association, we see examples everyday of couples and families building rich lives in bungalows, Georgians, colonials, and ranches in city neighborhoods as we work with them to maintain, adapt and preserve these homes. Take Ms. Moore’s advice and look at “non-name brand neighborhoods”!

Mary Ellen Guest, Chicago,

Rahm would know about give-aways

In Friday’s Sun-Times, Rahm Emanuel was quoted as saying, “Republicans plan to give tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy at the expense of many hardworking American families, students and seniors.” Based on the way the mayor deals with Amazon and the other companies he is trying to lure to Chicago, while closing schools and cutting programs, I half expected the mayor to follow that statement with “that’s my job.”

Don Anderson, Oak Park