Max Chantha | November 26, 2015
ILLINOIS – Corruption, sexual harassment, theft, even conspiracy to assassinate; these are the crimes committed by Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz while he operated within the Fox Lake police department.
Thankfully, none of his wrongdoings can continue to harm the public after his cowardly suicide.
His legacy, however, may have already poisoned the minds of those he trained in the Law Enforcement Explorer program, allowing his corrosive influence to live on beyond his own spineless suicide.
In a disclosure that might be surprising had Gliniewicz’s laundry list of crimes not already been uncovered, the crooked lieutenant seemed to be preparing the Explorer youths under his charge to create a new police state. Gliniewicz – tellingly nicknamed “G.I. Joe” – was in charge of the Fox Lake department’s procurement of military grade equipment, and fervently pursued such acquisition.
Gliniewicz acquired all the trappings that militarized officers dream of: weapons, vehicles, and equipment that should only belong in the hands of soldiers defending American lives, instead of attempting to control them. His procurement was well-known to the department, and regularly signed off on by then-Chief Michael Behan.
But Gliniewicz was not satisfied undermining American freedom and supplying military-grade equipment to his brothers in blue. Documents have revealed that Gliniewicz would take sizable portions of the equipment he received form the Law Enforcement Supply Office and funnel it to the Explorer’s program. The equipment he provided for the youths included holsters, fatigues, boots, helmets, gas masks, and bulletproof vests, among others.
It is clear from the items he provided to the Explorers that Gliniewicz meant to train those youths under his leadership to wage war on Americans. Current acting chief of Fox Lake, Michael Keller, went so far as to say that, “the kids were being trained to kill on command.”
These admissions from Gliniewicz’s own department show that the cowardly lieutenant truly acted against the integrity and security of America. Following the principles of the Hitler Youth organization of Nazi Germany, he sought impressionable young people who wanted to protect their communities, and twisted their purpose to that of his own. Instead of instilling a desire for justice and protection, he outfitted and trained kids to become domestic soldiers indoctrinated into the ideology of the police state.
Gliniewicz misdeeds highlight two of the most concerning issues in law enforcement.
The rampant desire among police to militarize has caused tension across the nation, and Gliniewicz’s case shows how the lack of any real oversight and departmental mismanagement of readily available military equipment legitimizes the fears of freedom-loving Americans everywhere.
Secondly, Gliniewicz’s fascist training program, under the auspices of providing a positive community outreach program, shows the insidiousness of some officer’s in propagating their designs of authoritarian control over America, and their willingness to corrupt the innocence of children.
The next generation of Americans have the chance to see a rebirth of liberty in America, if they can escape the dangerous influence of Gliniewicz and those like him, who would disguise their evil under the color of law.
Max Chantha is a writer and investigative journalist interested in covering incidences of government injustice, at home and abroad. He is a current university student studying Global Studies and Professional Writing. Check out Max Chantha: An Independent Blog for more of his work.