* I told subscribers about this press release earlier today. Despite a retraction sent yesterday, Moylan said only one word needed to be changed because it misidentified somebody…

State Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, has stated that he is convening a press conference with other state legislators and police chiefs to discuss proposed legislation regarding the increasing crime rate around Chicago and surging violence against police officers.

“The situation is getting out of control. FBI data this year shows that violent, fatal attacks against police officers are up 31%. Just this month, Officer Stephen Kotlewski of Bensenville was shot and hospitalized during a domestic violence call. It’s reaching into every community,” said Moylan.

Moylan is sponsoring two pieces of legislation to combat the alarming rise in fatal attacks. House Bill 4159, the Police Protection Act filed by Moylan, increases penalties for offenses when the act is taken against a police officer. House Bill 4125, proposed by State Representative Fran Hurley, creates the Police “Hate Crime” Act, which would label any offense where an individual attacks, harms or stalks a police officer as “hate crime” and increases penalties for those offenses.

Moylan is also asking for up to $100,000,000 to increase protections for officers on duty.

The conference will reportedly be attended by colleagues from both houses of the General Assembly including State Representatives Jaime Andrade, Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar, Eva Dina Delgado, and State Senators Laura Murphy and John Connor. Additionally, Des Plaines Police Chief David Anderson and Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski have announced their attendance, along with Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow and DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin.

“The brave men and women who put their lives on the line each day to protect our communities deserve to know they, too, are protected.” Senator Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) said. “Law enforcement officers are facing an increase in dangerous and stressful situations. Together, we must build mutual trust between our officers and the community to reduce violence on our streets.”

“We must address this issue immediately. We are not at war with our police departments. Too many lives are being lost and too many people are being made victims,” said Moylan.

The press conference will be held at Des Plaines City Hall on Thursday, November 18th, at 10:15 AM.

…Adding… USA Today…

An Illinois police union on Wednesday ousted from its membership an officer facing criminal charges for exposing a squad car video that showed his fellow officers slapping and cursing a man dying of a drug overdose.

The case of Sgt. Javier Esqueda, a 27-year veteran of the Joliet Police Department, was featured in September as the first installment of the USA TODAY series “Behind the Blue Wall,” an investigation involving more than 300 cases of police officers over the past decade who have spoken out against alleged misconduct in their departments. […]

Esqueda told USA TODAY that he’s become a pariah among his coworkers since July 2020, when he shared with a television reporter footage from January of that year showing how officers treated a handcuffed Black man in medical distress. Officers slapped Eric Lurry, restricted his airway and shoved a baton in his mouth hours before his death. Esqueda faces up to 20 years in prison after department officials opened a criminal investigation into his actions and prosecutors charged him with four counts of official misconduct.

Members of the Joliet Police Officer’s Association on Wednesday voted 35-1 to expel Esqueda, a move first reported by The Herald-Ledger newspaper in Joliet. In a letter informing him of the impending vote last month, union leaders described his conduct as “reprehensible.” The letter did not offer specifics on what actions from Esqueda prompted the vote.

Emphasis added.

* Tribune…

The controversial head of Chicago’s largest police union said Monday he will retire from the Chicago Police Department — an announcement that came just after he took the stand in a disciplinary hearing that could have ended with his firing.

John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, also declared that he will run for mayor in 2023, alluding multiple times to his combative relationship with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and said he felt the outcome of the proceedings against him was predetermined.

“It was pretty evident very early on that this cake was already baked,” Catanzara said, “I am going to be at human resources first thing in the morning, and I am going to be retiring. I will no longer be a Chicago police officer. … No one will be able to touch me.”

“This has all been a farce from the get-go,” he added, later saying to reporters: “There was never a possibility under God’s green earth that I was ever going to give this mayor the ability to utter the words, ‘I fired him.’ ”