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New police union President John Catanzara rode a wave of controversy to popularity with fellow officers

To those who want to judge him, Chicago police Officer John Catanzara says you should “probably shut your mouth” unless you’ve walked in his shoes.

He’s also a self-proclaimed “give no (expletives), say it like it is” kind of guy on Facebook, but the eyebrow-raising quotes aren’t where the controversy surrounding him ends.

He has sounded off at public meetings against his bosses. He has crusaded against what he’s perceived as unfair punishment of rank-and-file cops. He has publicly questioned the use of police resources at places such as the mansion of the cardinal, the leader of the city’s Catholic archdiocese, and the mayor’s home.

In a Facebook Live video, he once even staged a protest (appearing to be the lone attendee) outside Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s house, criticizing her leadership.

“Great expenditure of manpower,” Catanzara said in a sarcastic tone, an apparent knock on the mayor’s use of police officers as security. “Two squad cars in front, one in the alley.”

But none of that curbed his popularity in the department. In fact, quite the opposite.

Last week, the veteran patrolman managed to convincingly win an election to become the next president of the Chicago police’s largest union, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7.

The victory even prompted a congratulatory tweet Sunday morning from President Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of law enforcement whose administration, like the FOP and Catanzara himself, has pushed back against the types of police reforms in Chicago that are part of a court-ordered consent decree that materialized as part of the fallout from the Laquan McDonald shooting scandal.

Catanzara defeated Kevin Graham, the incumbent, in a runoff election by receiving close to 55% of the vote, garnering 4,709 votes to Graham’s 3,872, according to the FOP. Active and retired cops were eligible to cast their ballots.

Not ready for reform?

Police accountability advocates who already see the FOP as an impediment to reforming CPD view Catanzara’s win as an even greater obstacle in that effort. They’re discouraged, in part, by his disciplinary background that includes dozens of complaints and several suspensions in his 25 years as a Chicago cop.

“This is a … more vitriolic version and more reactionary version of the FOP than I’ve seen,” said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who studies police discipline.

Others agreed.

“He embodies the most stark problems in the (police) department — the red flags of an unaddressed, long disciplinary history and outspoken resistance to reform,” Karen Sheley, director of the police practices project for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said in a statement after Catanzara’s election.

The criticism leaves open the question of why he apparently has such appeal among average CPD officers. Some have described him as cutting against the city’s political establishment, perhaps helping to explain Trump’s interest in his win.

One officer who voted for Catanzara described him as a “rabble-rouser” who could challenge the status quo at the FOP, and who and won’t back down from a challenge against any union opponents.

The officer said the rank-and-file has nothing to lose by choosing someone like Catanzara, considering many were fed up with the FOP’s previous regime that failed during its nearly three years in charge to secure a new collective bargaining agreement with the city, a void that means, among other things, regular patrol officers are missing out on higher pay.

“He always fought the establishment,” said the Catanzara supporter, who declined to be identified because he’s an active Chicago officer who is not authorized by the department to speak to the media. “He is a guy that wants the brass to abide by the same rules that the patrolmen abide by … He’s not someone whose who’s just going to go away.”

Checkered past

From the time he started with the department in January 1995 through mid-2017, Catanzara amassed at least 35 complaints alleging misconduct, records obtained by the Tribune showed.

He has been suspended about a half-dozen times for such infractions as harassing a woman he once dated and working a security job at a restaurant when he was supposed to be on medical leave from the Police Department for a back injury, city records obtained by the nonprofit Invisible Institute show.

In 2012, then-Superintendent Garry McCarthy wanted Catanzara dismissed for working the side job and making false statements about it. But the nine-member Chicago Police Board instead voted 7 to 2 to suspend him for 20 days, records show. Ghian Foreman, who now heads the Police Board, was one of two board members who pushed unsuccessfully for his firing.

And that wasn’t Catanzara’s first near miss. In August 2008, then-Superintendent Jody Weis sought Catanzara’s firing on allegations that he did not follow orders to complete a psychological exam, according to Police Board records. But in February 2009, the board cleared Catanzara in a 5-3 decision.

Catanzara did not respond to messages requesting an interview for this story. But when the Tribune asked him in March what he might tell people who criticize him for his disciplinary history, Catanzara quipped, “Until you walk in someone (else’s) shoes, (you) probably should shut your mouth.”

Catanzara was elected FOP president despite being stripped of his police powers, restricting his ability to carry a badge and gun during the course of his duties. That’s because he’s under investigation by the Chicago police’s Bureau of Internal Affairs for allegations that he filed a false or misleading police report in 2018 against then-Superintendent Eddie Johnson, accusing him of breaking the law by allowing an anti-violence march to proceed that summer along the Dan Ryan Expressway.

Catanzara broached the topic during several public meetings before the Police Board. In a November 2018 board meeting at police headquarters, also attended by Johnson, Catanzara accused his then-district commander of deleting the report from a CPD database to protect Johnson.

“Why does he still got a job? How is that not obstruction of justice? You had police officers hanging out to dry for the (McDonald) shooting for obstructing and colluding,” Catanzara told Johnson, according to a transcript of the meeting. “He’s a Commander, a Commander who is in charge of people and did that. Anyone with a blue shirt (patrol officer) would have been stripped immediately … and fired from this Board within weeks.

“But yet, it is another example of how anybody with a white shirt (a police boss) and fancy pins on his shirt never gets held accountable. Explain that to me please?”

Johnson answered, “I really have no idea what you are talking about. I have no idea.”

Challenging authority

At a police board hearing in February, Catanzara stood at the microphone and brought then-interim police Superintendent Charlie Beck up to speed on the police report he filed against Johnson in 2018. Catanzara also openly advocated for cops under investigation by Internal Affairs and other disciplinary bodies, urging Beck to review cases of stripped officers on paid desk duty assigned to “call-back,” CPD slang for the Alternate Response Section, a dumping ground for cops facing discipline.

“… They brought charges against me that now has me stripped and wearing this goofy little temporary ID, where they say you are not harmed because you are collecting a paycheck,” Catanzara said. “I lost one side job because I can no longer carry a gun. Do you consider that fair?

“Obviously I know you just got here,” he continued to Beck. “I would hope that you would take some time to review everybody over at call-back that are stripped from their police powers before you got here and start looking at some of these cases, because there are some good people there who are absolutely being abused, harassed, retaliated against that should not be stripped.”

At City Hall early this year, Catanzara addressed Lightfoot at a public meeting and said he expected to win the FOP election and looked forward to “starting a dialogue” with her.

Catanzara also implored the City Council at that meeting to reject a $1.2 million settlement to the family of a man who died in police custody after it was alleged he tried to break into a garage. Aldermen eventually approved the settlement.

“Just know, if you’re an alderman with police and first responders in your ward, and you don’t vote to reject this $1 million payout, you will be on notice. We will pay attention,” Catanzara said at the January meeting.

Catanzara scored points with many officers in 2017 when he took to Facebook, posting a photo of himself in an apparent protest of NFL players who knelt during the national anthem at the start of games. The photo showed him in uniform holding an American flag as he stood in front of a marked Chicago police SUV. He also stood with a poster that expressed his support for Trump and gun rights.

“I STAND FOR THE ANTHEM. I LOVE THE AMERICAN FLAG. I SUPPORT MY PRESIDENT AND THE 2ND AMENDMENT,” I stand for the anthem. I love the American flag. I support my president and the 2nd Amendment,” the poster read.

Catanzara’s actions came after two uniformed black officers posed for a photo shared on social media of them kneeling and raising their fists in a police station with an activist in support of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who refused to stand during the anthem as a protest of police treatment of minorities.

Catanzara and the two other officers were all given reprimands — among the lightest punishments Chicago cops can face — for violating department rules that prohibit them from participating in any partisan political campaign or activity while on duty.

Futterman, the U. of C. professor, was especially concerned about this reprimand against Catanzara because of his apparent disdain for a cause that shined a light on controversial use of force incidents by police against African Americans across the country.

“That … tells you exactly where the FOP is with respect to regarding black Chicagoans’ civil rights, and that’s a really ugly picture and a really ugly sign,” Futterman said.