Chicago’s largest police union issued a vote of no-confidence against Democrat mayor Lori Lightfoot and David Brown, Lightfoot’s pick as head of the police force.
The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police said the vote was unanimous among the officers who showed up, which was somewhere between 15-200 officers, the Chicago Tribune reports.
There is disagreement between the FOP and Lightfoot regarding the union’s next collective bargaining agreement. According to reports, the GOP has gone without a collective bargaining agreement for the last three years.
There is no official ramification of the vote of no-confidence, but it is a public rebuke of Lightfoot’s orders curtailing officers’ days off and increasing their shifts from 8.5 hours to 12 hours.
The Tribune reported Lightfoot also canceled the police department’s annual St. Jude Memorial March for fallen officers over COVID.
“It was a slap in the face to every member, especially the Gold Star Families who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, and deserve that respect annually, period, no excuses,” FOP President John Catanzara said, according to CBS Chicago.
All of this takes place in the midst of an increase in crime in the city.
Lightfoot continued her defiance of the FOP, saying a vote of no-confidence against her from FOP president John Catanzara is a “badge of honor accepted.”
