Chicago's police union is taking exception to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's description of Chicago officers as being "fetal" and not proactively policing because they're afraid of getting in trouble when citizens post YouTube videos of their interactions with the public, reports the Chicago Sun-Times .

Emanuel's comments came as he urged support for police during a private meeting Wednesday with big-city police chiefs, the U.S. attorney general, the head of the FBI and other law-enforcement and elected officials, according to a Washington Post reporter who was there.

"We have allowed our police department to get fetal and it is having a direct consequence," Emanuel told U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. "They have pulled back from the ability to interdict . . . they don't want to be a news story themselves, they don't want their career ended early, and it's having an impact."

Dean Angelo, president of Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police, took issue with Emanuel's choice of words.

"I don't believe the description 'fetal' properly describes anyone working in law enforcement. That being said, I do believe that officers are well aware of being recorded. Members regularly relate to us that nearly every traffic and street stop are being recorded," Angelo said.

"I would ask those who might believe the women and men of the CPD are no longer proactively policing, who is responsible for removing [thousands of] guns from our streets?"