Chicago officers choose department critic to lead union

CHICAGO (AP) - Rank-and-file Chicago police officers have chosen a veteran cop who's a longtime critic of the department's top brass as the new leader of their police union.

Officer John Catanzara, a 25-year Chicago Police Department veteran, won Friday's runoff election to become the next president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7. He defeated incumbent union president Kevin Graham with about 55% of the vote.

The union said that Catanzara collected 4,709 votes to Graham's 3,872.

Catanzara and Graham were the top two finishers in the lodge's March general election for president, but that contest resulted in a runoff because neither man collected more than 50% of the vote.

Catanzara will head the union during its negotiations for a new police contract that could determine whether Chicago's 10,000 rank-and-file police officers are entitled to raises in the future.

Catanzara has been a longtime outspoken critic of the police department's leadership and city government. He's often chided top police brass on various issues during monthly Chicago Police Board meetings.

Catanzara is currently relieved of his police powers and under investigation by the department on allegations related to a 2018 police report he filed against then-police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.

Catanzara accused Johnson of breaking the law by allowing marchers onto the Dan Ryan Expressway during the summer of 2018 to protest city violence.