Councilman
breaks council silence to defend police
 |
| John Prigge |
By Ted Schnell • BocaJump | Oct. 28, 2011
Councilman John Prigge said Thursday he
simply had had enough when he decided Wednesday night to break the Elgin City
Council’s silence over “unfounded accusations and innuendo” about racism in the
Elgin Police Department.
Stressing that he had been speaking on his
own behalf Wednesday night and not on behalf of the council, Prigge said
Thursday he had been biting his tongue each time the issue was raised publicly
during recent City Council meetings.
The allegations erupted over the summer when
Elgin police Lt. Sean Rafferty was suspended for five days without pay. The
suspension order censured Rafferty over a 14-year-old photograph and over an
incident in 2009 or 2010 when a “race-based joke” was sent as a text message to
a black fellow officer. Rafferty is white.
Prigge defended the suspension, the police
department, Chief Jeff Swoboda and Rafferty’s record as an Elgin cop when news
of the suspension first broke. That made him the target of criticism on Sept.
14, when a resident speaking before the City Council demanded that Prigge
resign over his insensitivity and that the city fire Rafferty and a second
police officer who was pictured in the photo.
Two weeks after that incident, Prigge said he
was not upset at being targeted — that comes with the territory of being an
elected official who voices an opinion. But it did upset him that a resident
could come before the City Council and make inflammatory remarks about a “great
police chief and department” without a response from the city.
What he cannot stomach, Prigge explained
Thursday, is the “accusations without evidence” and the innuendoes about racism
focused on Chief Swoboda and the Elgin Police Department. He said Swoboda’s
promotion to police chief was an exceptional choice, and that the department
has been doing exceptional work for a long time.
“The department and the chief are being
beaten like a piñata over this issue,” Prigge said during Wednesday’s council
meeting. “Citizens should never tolerate racism by police … but we should not
tolerate unfounded allegations and innuendos.”
As he spoke Wednesday night, Prigge explained
that there are plenty of effective venues to lodge complaints about racism —
venues that lead to a resolution. He said the first is the head of the agency,
such as the chief in the police department. But if residents do not feel
comfortable doing that or feel the response was inadequate, then they can go to
City Hall and speak with someone in the administration. They also have the
choice of contacting a council member.
For someone to come to a public meeting and
throw around unsubstantiated accusations, Prigge said, as happened during two
recent City Council meetings, should not be tolerated any more than racism.
“If they are divisive, inflammatory and
unsubstantiated, it’s wrong,” he said.
Prigge specifically referred to the
allegations that Rafferty and the other officer in the photo were linked to a
“domestic terrorist group”— the Ku Klux Klan; that the second officer in the
photo had done something wrong; and that police had participated in some kind
of cover up.
In fact, Prigge said, there was never an
allegation of officer involvement with the KKK; and no allegation had been made
against the second officer – and city officials had indicated in July that the
second officer had been investigated anyway and cleared of wrongdoing.
Finally, Prigge said, the issue in relation
to Rafferty had been addressed and punishment meted out — meaning there was no
cover up.
Failure to speak out against such allegations,
he continued, would allow them to spread like a poison throughout the city.
Council’s
silence a mistake
When he spoke during Wednesday’s meeting,
Prigge said he feared the council’s silence on the issue had been a mistake. By
its silence, he continued, the council may have been signaling unintentionally
that there is merit to the accusations and innuendo.
“Never have I read anywhere about managing
others where it says there is something positive about not giving positive
reinforcement,” Prigge said Thursday. “Would you ever tell you children ‘as
long as I am not saying something critical, you can assume I love you?’ If
someone is doing a good job, you have to tell them.
“We had done that for public works after the
blizzard and the storm cleanup, we’ve done that for the fire department,” he
continued. Prigge went on to say the police department has been doing a good
job, noting the arrest of a suspect in the murder of a child one week after the
shooting, as well as the department’s arrest before that murder of a suspect
who had a sawed-off shotgun up his sleeve.
Prigge said the City Council had an
opportunity to deal with the issue “internally” in September, but that
opportunity was canceled. He declined to discuss details, except that he was
led to believe then that the issue would settle down.
Then, on Oct. 12, a representative of the
Elgin Drug and Gang Task Force raised the issue publicly before the council a
second time. While thanking the City Council for its support, the task force
representative mentioned concern about the allegations related to the police
department and the KKK.
Prigge again held his tongue, but it was the
final straw.
Speaking
out
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, during the
announcements portion toward the end of the Elgin City Council Committee of the
Whole meeting, Prigge said he could contain himself no longer.
Saying he was speaking on his own behalf and
not on behalf of the City Council, Prigge spoke of his support for and
confidence in Chief Swoboda and the Elgin Police Department.
He also pointed out that during the Oct. 12
City Council meeting, when the issue was raised a publicly before the council a
second time, the other officer in the photo was across the street from City
Hall at police headquarters, where he was working extra hours on the
investigation into the murder of 5-year-old Eric Galarza Jr. That officer,
Prigge said, was among those who helped close the investigation two days later
with the arrest of a suspect in Galarza’s murder just a week earlier.
He also reminded the council Wednesday night
that there have been past instances in which the City Council did not remain
silent in the face of misinformation or groundless accusations. He pointed out
specifically one meeting earlier this year in which a resident affiliated with
Elgin OCTAVE vilified the city over its high tax rate in relation to those of
other communities. Councilman Bob Gilliam halted the speaker over the use of
incorrect information and gave him a sheet of paper with accurate data. Gilliam
also told the speaker he should get his facts right before he makes another
such criticism.
That was not the first time and it will not
be the last, Prigge told the council.
“I felt someone on the council had to speak
out,” he explained on Thursday.
Photo,
text message sparked controversy
The photo at the center of the controversy
was taken 14 years ago in Indianapolis. It shows Rafferty and another Elgin
police officer, both in street clothes and off duty, smiling while having their
photo taken while standing in front of a monument honoring the Indianapolis
Times for its efforts to expose the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. In the
photo, Rafferty is seen holding each of his hands in the shape of the letter K.
The text message, which officials described
as a “race-based joke,” was sent in 2009 or 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment