Michelle Obama's cop cousin demoted

POLICE DEPT. | 1 of 4 supervisors bumped down for 'talent and loyalty'

A cousin of Michelle Obama was one of four police supervisors recently kicked off Supt. Jody Weis’ command staff.

The demotions signal that a position in the command ranks is not guaranteed under Weis’ administration, a department source said.

“Talent and loyalty were keys to their decline,” the source said.

Michelle Obama’s cousin is Michael Shields. Barack Obama referred to the Shields family in an ABC-TV interview the day before Thanksgiving:

“Michelle’s from Chicago, so she’s got cousins everywhere. You walk down the street, you’ll bump into a Robinson. Or a Shields.”

Shields, the former deputy superintendent of strategic deployment, was bucked down to a lieutenant at the Belmont Area headquarters at a far lower pay scale.

Moves criticized

John Franklin, commander of special functions, was demoted to lieutenant and is working in the Evidence and Recovered Property section.

Ronald Sodini, assistant deputy superintendent of special functions, also was demoted to lieutenant and is working in the Belmont District.

Terrence Williams, commander of the Targeted Response Unit, is now a captain in the Chicago Lawn District.

A person close to the four men criticized the demotions, saying “your efforts and professionalism do not seem to be respected or appreciated here,” adding that Sodini has a law degree, and “they could have used him somewhere else.”