CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- As the city and the Chicago Police Department mourn the loss of one of their own and continue to be concerned about her partner, who was critically wounded over the weekend, a prayer rally is planned in support of police.
The Support the Police prayer rally is scheduled for Wednesday night at 6 p.m. outside the 22nd District police station in the Morgan Park neighborhood.
“They are really hurting,” said 19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea, of Chicago police following Saturday night’s murder of Officer Ella French and the critical wounding of her partner. They were shot during a traffic stop on 63rd and Bell.
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He said the shooting has further devastated the morale of the Chicago Police Department after a difficult couple of years for law enforcement locally and around the country.
“They’re in a tremendous amount of pain. It’s a very difficult time to be a police officer in the City of Chicago. What has been a problem for certainly the last year and a half, they really feel that people do not have their back," Ald. O'Shea said.
19th Ward Ald. Matt O’Shea said that at a time when police feel they’re under siege, society should be talking more about officers like Ella French who gave her life in the service of her city.
“Ella French wanted to make a difference. She wanted to be able to reach out and work in the high crime areas to try to talk to kids to try to steer them away from a life of crime.”
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Ald. O’Shea said everyone is invited to the prayer rally Wednesday night to show police people do care.
“If you just want to stop out, say a prayer to remember a hero, Chicago police officer Ella French, say a prayer for her partner who continues to fight, say a prayer for the 12,000 men and women of the Chicago Police Department who really need our support right now," Ald. O'Shea said.
“My hope is that not only officers, but their families come out and can see and can hear that a majority of us care about them and want to help them through this difficult period.”
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Ald. O’Shea said now more than ever, the CPD needs Supt. David Brown’s strong leadership.
The alderman said speaking and praying at the rally will be Chicago Police Department Chaplain Kimberly Davis; Fr. Tom McCarthy, OSA, of St. Rita High School and Phil Cline; the executive director of the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation; and a former Chicago police superintendent.
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