Friday, April 30, 2010

No Equipment for Strike Force

If this is true, this is hilarious and sad, all at the same time:
  • it's all smoke and mirrors. 50 2 year wonders detailed to MSF today..yet no new cars or radios...be riding 4 deep...the public will see the same amount of cars out there...how stupid
And how would this be proven to be true?
  • This is off the topic, but I was not sure how to bring it to anyone's attention. According to fleet in order to supply enough cars for the new Summer Initiatives, cars that were scheduled to be junked are being call ed back into service. Mars lights are being reinstalled at area 1 as I write this. This does not effect me directly, but shouldn't this be a safety issue? Two weeks ago a department already short on cars was ready to junk them, but now they are [acceptable]?
Safety grievance anyone?

We thought we had someone intimately familiar with Fleet operations working in HQ now? Someone foisted on the Police Department following a "Love Boat" type tour through other city agencies and following a 30-day-suspension for those transgressions?

We're sure all these cars have been refurbished to exacting standards for the long hot summer ahead.

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Weekend Preview?

Four out of four top stories at Chicago Breaking News tonight were all about....shootings (including the Hegewisch kids):
We're trying to figure out if the second and third headlines are the same shooting - they appear to be in the same general area of 122nd Street and within a few minutes of one another. Maybe it's the same shooters in different locations?

But a warm weekend is on tap.

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Turn in What?

  • Holding up an assault weapon surrendered for cash, Mayor Daley urged Chicagoans today to turn in their weapons on May 8 to stop the violence that prompted two state lawmakers to suggest bringing in the National Guard.

  • Last summer, the prolonged recession forced a drop in corporate donations and a cut in the bounty —from a $75 pre-paid MasterCard for every gun surrendered to $50. The take dropped along with the prize. Roughly 1,900 guns were turned in, 44 percent below the average for the previous five events.

    This year, the bounty is back up to $75 per gun and remains at $100 for every assault weapon and $10 for each BB gun, air gun or gun replica.

    However, former Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard, who is chairing the fundraising drive, acknowledged that only $50,000 has been raised so far to bank-roll gun turn-in bounties.

    Unless there’s a last-minute surge in contributions over the final week, that would only be enough to cover 666 prepaid MasterCard at $75-a-pop.

So they can only cover the cost of the first 666 guns turned in? Leaving aside the obvious biblical references of "666 guns," why would anyone even thing about turning in the one thing that's going to keep you safe in the current economic downturn and manpower crisis?

Guns are about to become legal across the board. Why surrender anything unless it isn't functional, and then you can use the $75 toward a more reliable weapon. Silly mayor.

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Wait a Minute....

Isn't this what everyone who hasn't read the Arizona law is bitching about?
  • Transnational street gang members were the target of a series of arrests this week in the Chicago area, federal officials announced today.

    Of the 28 gang members arrested, 27 were in the U.S. without documentation and face deportation, either directly or after facing charges in the United States, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

    Of those arrested, 25 were from Mexico, one from Honduras and one from El Salvador, with one U.S. citizen arrested on an outstanding warrant.

So these gang bangers were targeted because they were illegals? 27 out of 28 is a heck of a percentage of coincidences if they weren't specifically profiled....which is exactly what the Arizona law doesn't do, but you'll never hear the ACLU or Luis talking about that.

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Fundraiser News

Once again, for those left behind:
  • Benefit for the Children of Michael Vins

    Chicago police Officer Michael Vins passed away unexpectedly on August 30 2009 leaving behind a wife and two daughters. Unfortunately, his youngest daughter suffers from Penylketetonuria (PKU) that affects growth and development and requires a strict diet which is not covered by insurance. Michael worked hard to provide for his family. Michael was a 13 year veteran for the CPD working in various districts his last assignment being in Gang Investigations Unit. Michael also has 2 older brothers and a nephew on the CPD

    The family and fellow officers are hosting a benefit for Michael's Children
    Sunday June 6th 2010
    115 Bourbon Street
    3359 W 115th st
    1400-2000 hours

    Please join us; refreshments, food, entertainment, raffles and a silent auction; this benefit will help raise funds for Michael two daughters medical and education expenses.
Additional information:
  • Donations can be sent to:The Mike Vins Family Benefit Fund
    C/O Park Federal Saving Bank
    5400 S. Pulaski,Chicago, Illinois 60632
    Phone #773-582-8200

    For more info on benefit contact
    Sgt Jim Sanchez @ 312-446-8644
    PO Mary Karen Fick @ 312-746-7901
    PO Nancy Guswiler @ 773-450-4652
    Sgt. Tom Cronin @ 312-4468757

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

How Drunk Were the Dead?

Even John Kass gets into the act, never once asking what the media have glossed over for more than two years now:
  • What was the BAC of the two deceased traffic offenders? Where is the video of them pounding beers or shots or fizzy mixed drinks?
We've never been ones with the blinders on here. We've never declared Ardelean to have been sober. We've lambasted plenty of other drunks for the damage they cause and the embarrassment they bring to this city, this Department and the legions of men and women who do their jobs and go home to their families.

Drunks killing drunks is a tragedy to one side or the other all the time.

But we don't just charge the survivors. And we don't just throw probable cause, decades of established court procedure and historical precedent to the trash heap of history because one party happens to be a police officer, despite the recent history of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.

And we'll also point out that this story was never ever about justice for the dead. This entire incident was about revenge, using the court system as the hammer. Judge Gainer made a decision that no one was going to be happy with, but the decision to err on the side of caution is one of the unfortunate byproducts of our system of government. Did the system fail? We cold name dozens of crooked politicians who got off on technicalities, rapists who walked free, killers released who went on to kill again - there's an entire trail of carnage that can be laid at the feet of the justice system. But it's what we live with.

We've said it here many times - we aren't above the law, but we certainly aren't below it either.

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Kids Shot; J-Fled Watch Begins

Rumbles coming and going, including this one recently:
  • There is a rumor from City Hall that Shortshanks is going to buy out the contract of J-Fled because of all the shootings and all the flack from the rank and file. The details of the buyout are being worked out.
  • Two children were shot tonight in a playlot in the Southeast Side's Hegewisch neighborhood.

    One of the victims, a boy, was shot in the side of his body and taken in critical condition to the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.

    The other victim, a girl, was shot in the leg and taken in serious condition to St. Margaret Mercy Hospital in Hammond, Ind., Langford said.

As the reliably democratic voting ethnic enclaves start to see the results of no police in their neighborhoods, the pressure on Shortshanks to make a substantive move will increase, and J-Fled will serve his ultimate purpose in Daley's chess game - Pawn of Blame.

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What Have We Been Saying?

Something along the lines of "enforce the laws already on the books," if we remember correctly.

And our readers have been repeating, "stop giving out probation for gun crimes."

Now this comes out of Springfield and guess who's taking credit?
  • Mayor Daley’s gun control proposals are frequently shot down by the General Assembly, but he won a rare victory today.

    The Illinois Senate unanimously agreed to make unlawful use of a weapon a non-probationable offense — punishable by one to three years in prison — whenever the offender carries a loaded weapon and has no valid Firearms Owners Identification (FOID) card.

    The House also approved the bill unanimously. It now awaits Gov. Quinn’s signature.

Gee, imagine that. It only took an act of Illinois Congress to actually put people in jail for violating the law!

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Gun Sense

From Mr. Remington in the comment section:
  • Everybody wants the M4's but complain about the POWER test requirements. I have taken the test, failed it due to injury and being sick with a cold. Finally I was able to pass and the M4 is back with me in my squad. The rule is stupid, leaving me unable to carry the carbine till I was able to test again. I am 250 lbs and can hold onto my rifle. Is J-Weiss telling me Officers 1/2 my weight who can run 4 laps around the academy are better qualified and have better weapon retention strength?

    Why isn't the shotgun made more available? It is lighter and is better suited for most urban situations. The 00 Buck round is very effective and wont travel as far if you let a stray one go. The shotgun ammo is CHEAPER as well as the shotgun itself. As of now, there is no POWER test for that, but once qualified, an Officer cannot sign one out for basic patrol. Lets push for the authorization to carry the 12 Gauges and to be able to purchase/carry our own personal shotguns. Even the training is less time consuming. One day at the range, compared to the week for the M4. The whole program is more economical for the Department if you care about that. Officers can be trained in 1/5th the time and for a fraction of the cost. PUT THE RIGHT WEAPONS IN OUR HANDS!!!!

    People want the National Guard? Arm the Police and the few Officers out on the street will be able to better match up with the thugs that are trying to take over and run this City (although not on my Watch)!
Again, an argument we've been making since the Carbine Program started, but worth repeating before summer hits.

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Cop Running for Office

One of our own is running for office. And Mike Carroll is running against one of our least favorite aldercreatures, someone who really ought to have been unemployed years ago as an out-of-touch Machine politico:
  • Quite often, I hear from friends and neighbors of their unhappiness with the way the 46th Ward and the City of Chicago are run. They complain of corruption in the City, overspending, and mismanagement of City agencies. They object to higher taxes and increased fees with little or no improvement of City services. They are dissatisfied with the numerous pet projects created at the cost of properly funding our schools, police, and other City agencies. These friends and neighbors often tell me that they feel helpless – like there is no hope to prospect to change the way things are run here in Chicago. They tell me that it’s “the Chicago way.” More often than not, such an all encompassing statement is followed directly by, “yeah, but what are we going to do?” My answer to that question? Vote them out.

    For too long the 46th Ward has been run by one person, for one person. The homeless are still homeless – the poor are still poor – police are not supported in their efforts to suppress crime – the citizens and taxpayers still have no real say in how their Ward is run. Enough is enough. The people of the 46th Ward deserve better. The poor and homeless of our Ward deserve dignified jobs in our neighborhood and to be given the opportunity to earn an honest living. Residents of the Ward deserve clean, well paved streets without fear of street violence breaking out on their street corner. There must be complete transparency in all spending from the Aldermanic office, from menu money to the Alderman's Ward budget. It is time for open and honest government in the 46th Ward and throughout the City of Chicago.
Hopefully, the one of the first of many to make a run at upsetting the political order by grass roots activism and running as reformers. The 46th Ward is ripe for change and Shiller is set for toppling. Even if you don't live in the 46th Ward, you can still donate to help make a change.

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Newspapers Decline Again

At what point do they actually go under? Because we've been seeing these declines for a few years now:
  • Circulation continues to drop at U.S. newspapers. Figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show average weekday circulation fell 8.7 percent in the six months that ended March 31, compared with the same period a year earlier, while Sunday circulation fell 6.5 percent.

    The Chicago Sun-Times' Monday through Friday circulation over the period was 268,803, a decline of 13.9 percent from a year ago -- in line with company expectations after a significant price increase. The Sun-Times raised its newsstand price to 75 cents from 50 cents on March 30, 2009, affecting single-copy sales. However, home delivery increased 4.5 percent. The newspaper's Sunday circulation was 247,416, down 2.7 percent.

    Other papers also showed large weekday losses, with the San Diego Union-Tribune falling 22.7 percent, the Washington Post declining 13.1 percent, and USA Today losing 13.6 percent. The Chicago Tribune was down 9.8 percent to 452,145 weekdays and down 7.5 percent to 858,256 Sundays. The Wall Street Journal was the only one of the top 25 papers to gain in circulation -- 0.5 percent.

We've been waiting for the Tribune/Times merger announcement any decade now. There's a bunch of "reporters" we'd like to see collecting unemployment.

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Summer Detail Problems?

What's this? More chicanery behind the scenes?
  • It would be much wiser for the supt's stooges to simply order 10 percent of all units manpower must return to patrol. Make it an order to use reverse seniority. Make it even steven across the board. No excuses granted to anyone. The youth need to get back out on the street and patrol. Crawl before you walk.

    This temporary summer thing is ridiculous and lots of officers are getting fked due to the fix being in. Headquarters is picking and choosing which units to take from and which units to leave alone. Already some units got out of giving up any officers, and some other units now have to give up more to accomodate the prima donna units. Some units aren't following the order that says use reverse seniority and using smoke screen excuses.
Are they amending the order again? We did notice that all the supervisors being recruited for this are coming from units, which seems to imply that either Patrol is too short to contribute or Patrol didn't volunteer a single body.

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Two in Custody

But why does News Affairs or someone keep giving away our best tool?
  • A man and a woman have been charged in a baseball-bat attack that put two women in the hospital last week, police sources said.

  • The baseball bat believed to have been used in the attack has been recovered. Police used records from the women’s stolen cell phones and credit cards to track down their attackers, sources said. The two suspects were taken into custody Monday night.
The cell phone thing keeps appearing in the media. It's a great tool, but it won't be for long. Shhhhh!

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It's Tuesday, Right?

It was a cold Tuesday, too:
  • No one was in custody after separate shootings -- including two confirmed drive-by attacks -- left four men wounded today, police said.

    The few details released were preliminary, and police said the investigations were ongoing.

Three in broad daylight, no one in custody for any of them.

Since homicides are up, are the aggravated battery numbers spiking?

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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Ardelean Case Thrown Out

  • A Cook County judge today ruled that a Chicago police officer accused of drunk driving in a fatal crash on Thanksgiving 2007 was arrested and detained without probable cause.

    Judge Thomas V. Gainer Jr. also called the police lieutenant who ordered Officer John Ardelean's arrest not a credible witness.

    "Probable cause to arrest in this case comes down to the credibility of Lt. (John) Magruder and this court does not believe Lt. Magruder's testimony," Gainer wrote in his opinion.

    Gainer also wrote he had found "no conspiracy to protect this defendant by rogue officers acting without regard to their oath ..."

We sure hope Lt. McGruder has a nice house, because Ardelean is going to own it.

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Daley Solution

  • Mayor Richard Daley reacted coolly Monday to a suggestion the National Guard be called in to help slow the violence on Chicago's streets, suggesting the idea offered up a day earlier by two state representatives was too simplistic.

    "You have to look at long-term solutions," Daley said, adding he understood the "frustration" expressed by the legislators.

  • The mayor also sounded his familiar theme of needing more gun control laws and suggested Fritchey and Ford back him in those efforts.

    "This is all about guns, and that's why the crusade is on," Daley said. "We hope to get their cooperation in Springfield."

This isn't about guns 'Shanks - this is about a segment of society with little to no impulse control and a willingness to use firearms as a first resort for conflict resolution. Responsible gun owners are involved in a statistically insignificant number of incidents nationwide.

And you're about to be on the losing side of history Dick. Stop wasting taxpayer money - you're already broke, or so you claim.

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Bill's Birthday

Have you written Bill lately? His birthday is coming up Friday.

Even if the card doesn't make it in time, it will provide Bill with weeks worth of reading material and he answers every letter.

Every day, we're hoping for good news on the appeals front. Drop him a line - the address is in the right hand column, exactly as posted.

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New Link - Densey Cole

They're still looking for volunteers for the fundraiser later this year. We've updated the link in the side bar to redirect you to DenseyCole.com. Donations, raffles, contributions of all sorts are appreciated.

Check them out.

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Biting the Hand That Feeds Him

More drama from 35th Street:
  • Fact- It seems that Mr. Mike Masters is in a little hot water. He was recently in a some trouble with Da Mayor and got yelled at. We are sensing a little trouble in paradise. Here is the best part. He was later overheard talking shit about his boss (Da Mayor). It seems that Masters now thinks he is better than the guy that put him there and we quote "can't wait for him to leave." There are eyes and ears everywhere. Let's see who lasts longer Masters or the Mayor. Any bets?
What makes Masters think he has any sort of future in this Department once J-Fled has outlived his usefulness? He's done nothing but make enemies since he got here. As another commentator pointed out, it must be galling to a Harvard educated lawyer to be taking orders from someone who couldn't pass the bar exam.

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J-Fled Lies on Radio

We already knew he sold his dignity, self respect and was required to surrender his testicles upon hiring. But who knew he was a liar? Besides everybody.

Exhibit #1: Townhall.com has a podcast up from the "Big John and Amy" show. Big John is a confrontational dweeb who lobs softballs on behalf of Shortshanks and recently made a fool of himself attacking Sgt. Northen while being completely ignorant of police procedure and duties. In this tape, they interview J-Fled, and Big John attempts to repair, refurbish and restore the tarnished image of J-Fled by asking him to explain the "gotta run" incident.

J-Fled comes up with this whopper at 24:31 in the tape:
  • "I never heard the shots."
Exhibit #2: Let's roll tape via CBS (you may have to sit through a 30 second ad to start) - watch what happens at the 28 second mark:



That sure looks like someone heard something. It looks like a whole bunch of people heard something. And it demonstrates beyond the shadow of a doubt that (A) J-Fled is a liar and (B) Big John is a Big Pansy for letting him get away with it in the face of the video evidence.

J-Fled also continues his fantasy tour where he believes his mere presence at a shooting incident somehow hinders the mundane task of securing, preserving and taping a crime scene. What a joke.

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Want $1,000?

Shaved has this up on behalf of Sgt. Northen. We'll summarize it here, but the full text and particulars are over at Shaved's site:
  • Many unnamed persons have forwarded an eMail to me in which the first line reads: "The Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the City of Chicago is accused of cowardice by a man once regarded as the department's chief LUNATIC." (CAPS mine)

    Trust me. It's NOT a bruised ego. In recent days, I have contacted editors of newspapers as well as the producers of local electronic media to expose this COWARD for what he truly is. While I believe that essentially local media is in the hip pocket of Mayor Richard M. Daley, media has declined covering the story any further using the unspoken pretext that I am INSANE. In effect, those who have circulated this trash may well have "cut their own throats" if they believe that Weis should resign or be fired.

    I herein offer a reward of $10,000.00 to the first person who contacts me with information that would result in a conclusion that I am clinically insane. I'm not. Far from it. As some have said, Northen is "as crazy as a fox." I will never know if libelous rumors influenced local media to not pursue the story of a COWARD who is also "top cop".

    Consider me highly litigious and unamused by the author of "lunatic" as well as those who have circulated this false statement. Indeed, I herein offer a $1,000.00 reward for conclusive evidence of the identity of the author and original publisher of the "lunatic" statement.

  • If you have any questions or claims to my posted rewards, contact me via eMail at this address. eau5@yahoo.com

    (Sgt.) John Northen (Ret.)
    Chicago Police Department
    AKA: "NorthSide"
We have a feeling someone is more than a little uncomfortable about now.

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Again With the Guard

Why not just hire more police instead of trying to do things on the cheap?
  • Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis today spoke out against a request for the Illinois National Guard to be to deployed on Chicago’s streets to help tackle gun violence.

    Stopping just short of outright rejecting the request from state lawmakers Rep. John Fritchey and Rep. LaShawn Ford, Weis said “I don't think the National Guard is the solution.”

  • Noting that the military does not operate under the same constitutional constraints as the police, he questioned how Chicago residents would react to soldiers raiding homes without warrants, and said that in his 25 years of law enforcement experience, he had never seen an example of military personnel working under local civilian command.

    “The National Guard is very useful if we had a big earthquake or huge flood or a catastrophe like that, where we simply had to control folks,” he said, “But the problems we’re facing are illegal weapons, narcotics and gangs. And while I will always look out for as much help as we can, I don't think the National Guard is the solution.”

Of course, the puppet-master must be acknowledged:
  • While Weis came out against the suggestion Sunday, he did add that he had yet to discuss it with the mayor and that is something he was willing to “explore.”

    “I’d have to see what the mayor’s position on this is,” he said. “If he’s open to it, you know, of course, I’d be open to it. I have certain concerns, based on my time in law enforcement and the United States military.”

So J-Fled admits he's pretty much a tool of Shortshanks. Nice to see some truths are still out there.

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Happy Retirement!

Supposedly, the new big thing in cakes:

They can't keep them in stock.

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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Police Shooting

  • A 19-year-old man was shot and seriously wounded in an incident Saturday night that preliminary information indicated might have involved an exchange of gunfire with police.

    Chicago Fire Department paramedics were sent to the scene of a shooting in the 6100 block of South Prairie Avenue at about 10:25 p.m., said fire spokesman [...]

    The 19-year-old man was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition with two apparent bullet wounds, he said. It was not clear how the man was shot, but initial information said there had been an exchange of gunfire involving the Police Department...
Nothing further at the moment.

UPDATE: Once again, a scumbag out on bail for a previous weapon charge who manages to get his hands on another weapon. A big thanks to Anita and the Cook County State's Attorneys! You suck!

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End of Sanctuaries

  • The new law, which will take effect in late July or early August, was cheered by many, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose tough crackdowns have made him a hero in the anti-illegal immigration community. He said it gives him new authority to detain undocumented migrants who aren't accused of committing any other crimes.

    "Now if we show they're illegal, we can actually arrest them and put them in our jails," Arpaio said.

    Current law in Arizona and most states doesn't require police to ask about the immigration status of those they come across, and many departments prohibit officers from inquiring out of fear immigrants won't report crime or cooperate in other investigations.

    Now, police departments seen as weak on illegal immigration could face lawsuits. The new measure also toughens restrictions on hiring illegal immigrants for day labor and knowingly transporting them.
You'll never guess where the most outrage is being expressed:
  • Chicago Democrat Luis Gutierrez, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has been especially vocal as the measure -- which will require local police officers to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are illegal immigrants-- wound its way through the Arizona Legislature.

    The law makes it "open season on the Latino community in Arizona," Gutierrez said, describing it as "an insult to American justice and one of the harshest assaults on basic civil rights in recent American history."

  • Gutierrez plans to attend a rally in Phoenix on Sunday to "let the people of Arizona know that they are not alone in fighting against bigotry and hatred."
Um, Luis? Doesn't part of your District fall into that "9%" J-Fled was talking about? Aren't there more pressing local issues for you to be dealing with, rather than Arizona's?

And it isn't "open season" on anyone Luis - these people are illegal, and it certainly isn't just Latinos as you allege. They broke the law. They should be jailed and then deported. Constitutional protections apply to citizens. Illegals can still be treated humanely and properly within the bounds of United States law, but calling it an "assault on basic civil rights" completely stands on it's head what civil rights actually are.

If you're looking to assist your local ICE agents, you can contact them at 101 West Congress Parkway, Suite 4000, Chicago, Illinois 60605, (312) 347-2400.

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Violent Crime Rising?

Only the bean counters can tell for sure, but we're seeing a lot more reports like these popping up:
  • As the exchange student and her 24-year-old friend were returning to the friend's Bucktown neighborhood home early Friday after a night out celebrating, they were attacked from behind and struck on the back of their heads by a robber wielding a baseball bat, police said.

    The attacker escaped with their purses, but one woman was able to give police a description of him before she fell unconscious, police [...] said. There could have been a second attacker, police said.

    The student was listed in critical condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center on Friday, while her friend, a financial adviser, was listed in serious condition at the same hospital, a spokeswoman said.

  • A man jogging on the Chicago Riverwalk this morning was critically stabbed just east of the Michigan Avenue bridge, officials said.

    About 5:52 a.m., a person called 911 and said a man was stabbed on the riverfront jogging path about 50 feet east of the bridge, said Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.

    The man, a 63-year-old, was taken in critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with multiple stab wounds, according to police and fire officials.
Remember, Daley doesn't care what the actual crime total are. He could give a rat's ass about 50 shot in a warm weekend with seven dead. All he does is look at the addresses and writes it off as "business as usual."

What truly matters is the perception of crime - the appearance that certain areas of the city are safe, inviolate, protected.

And when you think of it, this is running hand-in-hand with J-Fled's recent implementation of the perception of more police on the streets than their actually are.

AND (we're on a roll here), with Shortshanks' fascination with blue-light cameras that assist in the perception that everything is being watched all the time by the police.

The trouble with perception though, is when it runs into cold hard reality - that there aren't enough police to watch formerly safe neighborhoods, that seeing squad car lights doesn't mean there are cops only a short ride away, that no one is watching the cameras and probably 33% of them don't even work properly. Expect more headlines.

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ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

  • Chicago police have launched an investigation after a man came forward with video and pictures that appear to show two police officers sleeping in their squad cars Friday morning.

    ABC7 Chicago obtained that video and the pictures and talked to the man, who did not want to be identified.

    The pictures show one officer sitting in the passenger seat of a marked squad car, eyes closed, head back. One parking spot over, a photo shows another officer in the passenger seat of a squad roll; same situation.

Their partners were in getting coffee, and frankly, it shows good sense that if they were tired enough to drop off in a parking lot, it's a good thing they weren't the ones driving that night. Is it a smart thing to do? No. But is it something that happens working midnights? Yes.

The human body is reluctant to function properly in the absence of sunlight. Cops are no different than any other overnight worker. They have ups and downs and lapses in judgment. Consider this a tiny lapse.

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Run Scott Run!

  • Scott Lee Cohen, the pawnbroker who flamed out of Illinois politics just days after voters nominated him as the Democratic lieutenant governor candidate, is making plans to run for governor.

    Cohen last weekend told House Speaker Michael Madigan, who doubles as state Democratic Party chairman, that he intends to mount an independent run for governor, Madigan's spokesman said. In addition, a Cohen adviser confirmed Friday that Cohen plans to announce his candidacy this week and is trying to find a suitable running mate.

    "He came in, in the morning (April 17), and told Madigan he was running for governor as an independent," said Madigan spokesman Steve Brown. Madigan replied he would be supporting the Democratic ticket, Brown said.
Since they wouldn't let him run for the #2 spot, he might as well try for the whole kit and caboodle. Anything that sucks votes away from Quinn is a good thing.

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Saturday, April 24, 2010

Dumb Statement

Can anyone find this quote? It's just too stupid to be believed:
  • J fled was just on morning news stating "we were at one time able to go to the gang leader and say hey knock it off" referring to shooting each other- are you fricken kidding me- he sounded like an idiot! - hey knock it off youse guys
As someone else pointed out, it's taken almost directly out of an old Hill Street Blues episode and it wouldn't surprise us in the least that this is where J-Fled gets his police "ideas." We've been around for a few years. We've known some old time cops. Some of us were raised in police families here, and not one of us can recall any war stories where a Chicago Police Officer would go to a gang leaders and tell them to "knock it off."

We can recall more than a few stories about Officers going to gang leaders and slapping the shit out of them for being jagoffs. But as a rule, it's unsound policy to have the Department meeting with gang leaders in an official capacity. It's lends the gangs credibility and legitimacy.

Has it happened? Maybe in one-on-one situations over certain crimes that crossed gang boundaries and information was sought or offered. But to make a statement even implying the Department sent emissaries in an official capacity to negotiate with people who bring so much pain, misery, crime and disorder to Chicago? It boggles the mind.

Someone find us this quote. If J-Fled was implying the feebs do something like this, that would be completely believable. The feebs would trade their mothers and sell their sisters into the most vile situation imaginable for a career arrest opportunity. That's the way they were raised.

Not so much on the CPD end though.

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Friday Bad News

  • Broadway Bank, the family-owned lender that helped launch U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias' political career, was seized by government regulators Friday night, one of seven Illinois institutions taken over and sold to healthier companies.

    The failure of Chicago-based Broadway, which was unable to raise the $85 million it needed to remain independent, was anticipated, and its worsening health has weighed on Giannoulias' Democratic bid for President Barack Obama's old Senate seat. The bank had been struggling in recent years with real estate loans gone bad, losing $75 million last year.

    Giannoulias worked for his father at Broadway before entering politics, and during his successful run for state treasurer in 2006 he used his banking experience as one of his chief qualifications. But in the Senate race, he has tried to distance himself from the bank's troubles.

  • The bank's failure will cost the FDIC $394.3 million.
But we're betting that the Giannoulias family isn't returning the $70 million in "dividends" they took out over the past few years.

Thanks Alexi. Now where is the Outfit going to get it's loans?

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Let's Do It....Again

  • Utah is set to execute a convicted killer by firing squad after a judge agreed Friday to the inmate's request, renewing a debate over what critics see as an antiquated, Old West-style of justice.

    Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, was given the choice of being killed by lethal injection or shot by a five-man team of executioners firing from a set of matched rifles — a rarely used method of execution that harkens back to Utah's territorial history.

    "I would like the firing squad, please," Gardner told state court Judge Robin Reese after hearing his avenues for appeal appear to be exhausted.
The anti-death penalty crowd will scream about "cruel and unusual" punishment, but we've always thought that for the death penalty to be most effective, it shouldn't be conducted in a clinical setting where prisoners are "put to sleep." Hanging, firing squad, electric chair, gas chamber - executions need to be scary to be a deterrent.

For the bleeding heart crowd who whine about prisoners' rights, what do you think was going through the victims' minds as they breathed their last? And for those who might try to use the tired line of, "How would you like it if...", the fact is we (and you) wouldn't ever be in a position of actually having to face the hangman, the warden or any other executioner for offenses deemed eligible for the death penalty. And we shouldn't grant the peaceful death that we reserve for beloved pets on some of these sub-humans who inflict untold damage and pain on the rest of law abiding peoples.

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Friday, April 23, 2010

Kids in the Crossfire

  • Jerome Hendricks dug his hands into his pockets, slumped his shoulders and wept. His daughter's blood -- from when he had cradled her tiny body the night before -- stained the oversized black jacket that draped his shaking body.

    Upstairs, inside Comer Children's Hospital, his 20-month-old daughter Cynia was dying Thursday morning. And he believed that the bullet lodged in her head -- killing her less than an hour later -- was meant for him.

What isn't tragic is that this child and the others are being transported around at 1 and 2 in the morning when they should be in bed, away from the nonsense that comes out at night.

We've also noticed a disturbing phenomenon lately. On a number of occasions, we have seen male subjects carrying infants around. The males are dressed in the uniform of the day, baggy jeans and white t-shirts, while the infants are dressed contrasting colors and being carried out front rather obviously. It was striking enough to catch our notice more than once.

After this shooting, we're afraid we may have discovered the reason for heretofore inattentive fathers suddenly taking an interest in the child:
  • Human Shields
The nighttime travels that put children in danger can almost be explained by ignorance. The carrying of infants in differing colors seems more sinister. Especially when we know the carriers to have rap sheets more than a few pages long.

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Triple Killing

  • Brothers Stephen and Tyrece Bailey — two ex-convicts barred from driving — often had Crawford Davis drive them around, Davis' grandmother says.

    About 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, hours after Davis left home to hang out with the brothers, Chicago police discovered the bodies of all three men bound with their hands behind their backs inside a stolen Pontiac Grand Prix parked in the McKinley Park neighborhood.

    Davis and Tyrece Bailey, both 23, were discovered in the trunk, while Stephen Bailey, 25, was found in the car's back seat, authorities said; all three men, of the 1900 block of West Garfield Boulevard, had been beaten to death, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Last we checked, we're up almost 20 from last year and the warm weather hasn't even started. The fact is that murders of this type aren't going to be prevented by Strike Forces or "cops on the dots" or anything like that. Gang bangers aren't beating people to death on a street corner - they're just disposing of the bodies there.

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Shortage Hits Home

EH#1010814300

EH#1010814551

If you're near a PCAD computer, you can run these events and enjoy the full humorous content. For those not near a PCAD we'll explain the situation.

There was a call of a "Domestic Disturbance - Female screaming for help" in the 001 District at 2003 hours. At 2018 hours, a citizen calls 911 and the following entry is made:
  • per caller, looking for ETA of the police for a DD. He said, "Don't make me knock on J-Fed's door - he lives in the building."
First of all, it's hilarious that even civilians are calling J-Fled by his nickname. It seems so un-insignificant.

Second, it's kind of sad that 001 is either so shorthanded or so backlogged that they can't even get a car to the superintendent's building for a priority 1A job.

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Everyone in Uniform

The "Smoke and Mirror" Tour begins in earnest 29 April as the order came down for all Tact and Gang personnel to be in uniform until further notice.

We've heard the 100 person Summer Strike Force or whatever it's called is only taking one officer per district? The remainder of the personnel will be stripped from MSF and TRU, the detail lasts 90 days, and you get zero weekends off the entire summer?

This sounds like a well thought out plan that was carefully considered and crafted after numerous meetings, planning sessions and maybe even a study or two, rather than reeking of desperation and a sense of hopelessness as it finally comes to the attention of everyone involved that we have no manpower to speak of and aren't about to have any anytime soon.

Strap in boys and girls, it's going to be a crazy summer.

UPDATE: Here's the manpower draw:
  • District/Unit #Required
    1 and 18 2 each
    12 4
    All other districts 1 each so 22 total
    050-airport North 8
    051 airport South 4
    115 caps? 1
    116 CPIC/DOC 2
    121 IAD 2
    123 Personnel 2
    124 Academy 5
    132 Prev Programs 2
    151 Traf Enforc 1
    166 Field Services 2
    171 Central Deten 1
    188 OCD Admin 1
    189 Narc/Gangs 8
    191 Gang Intel 4
    192 Vice 2
    196 Crim Enterprise 2
    384 Jisc 2
    393 Gang Enforc 2
    601 Det Div Admin 1
    606 Det Div Misc 3
    608 Major Accident 1
    701 Mass Transit 10
Why does 012 get tagged with 4 bodies?

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Funniest Readers in the World

Looking back at the shambles of the Department's past and seeing the looming disaster ahead, it's amazing our readers can still come up with humor like this regarding J-Fled's summer initiative:
  • This might work IF...

    #1. These teams were split up into two man cars and assigned to focus on particular beats in districts.

    #2. They were to answer all calls for service in that particular beat so that they would become familiar with the people and the long term problems of that small area.

    #3. They would be responsible for case reporting and all enforcement activities during their tour of duty.

    #4. They would be responsible to a chain of command through the district in which they were assigned.

    Hey, Wait a Minute....

    That describes a DISTRICT BEAT CAR!

    What a Brilliant Idea!

    Why didn't anyone think of this before?!?!?
Sarcastic, hilarious, and directly on point. All this BS being spewed out of downtown, trying to re-invent the wheel, gutting the "backbone" of the Department, and they still can't kill the keen observations of real coppers.

And our readers even offer alternative strategies to J-Fled's policy group crap that might work wonders:
  • I still think a ragtag bunch of guys from callback dressed as clowns running through the ghetto beating gangbangers with 2 foot rubber dongs would reduce crime. They could call it the Insane Dong-Wielding Clown Force.
Morale might be in the toilet, but the spirit of the working cop lives on.

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Summer Crime Strategy

  • A new Chicago police rapid-response initiative will put block-by-block computer analysis into the hands of officers to prevent sporadic summer violence like the kind that left seven people dead and 18 wounded last week, Superintendent Jody Weis said.

    The plan, expected to kick off next week, will rely on computer data to pinpoint city blocks where violence is brewing, Weis said. That information would then be quickly relayed to strategic response units that would saturate the hot spots to stop violence, Weis said at a news conference Tuesday.

Wow. It sounds like a cross between Summer Mobile and Special Operations. So we have three citywide task forces right now (TRU, MSF, GEU) and now they're going to strip Patrol once again to field a fourth mobile force?

This is going to go exactly like the camera experiment. Crime will be driven around the corners, out of sight and into areas it hasn't appeared before just to avoid the hassles, but when someone is determined to kill someone else or shoot up a disputed dope spot, they're going to do it regardless of the police actions.

This looks more like a tacit admission that we can't stop the shootings, we can only react after the fact.

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"Perception" Experiments

Shamelessly stolen from an unmentioned website:
  • Off Topic: Regarding the Exempts Friday nights on the street.

    I have seen many exempts "on the street" on Friday and Saturday nights. They usually will attend roll call and head out somewhere else. As a suggestion, why not have the exempts not only attend roll call, but actually fill in as the Watch Commander for the tour from preparation prior to roll call through the end of tour. This would serve many purposes, including:

    - Give them 1st hand knowledge and feedback of the effects of their policies and procedures and the implementation thereof
    - Allow them to prepare a watch for roll call and observe the condition of their troops, equipment, and vehicles
    - Make them more accessible to the troops and possibly build a better rapport (not just some figurehead they see once in a blue moon or the proverbial "man behind the curtain")
    - Afford them the opportunity to remain current with all legal decisions and procedures relating to the processing of persons under department control
    - Assist in letting Watch Commanders either take time off or give them the chance to perform critical field duties
    - Keep them current on various crime or personnel issues within the district
    - Great experience both in their perceived and real expectations and performance of the job
    - This follows the theory of 360 degree evaluations you spoke highly of previously and is similar to the D2A familiarity training (without the training wheels)

    FOR SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES FACED:
    - They will be able to see and become familiar with the myriad places where training must be approved (and see if they can find a schedule)
    - They will see how many different times/places a Watch Commander must log in per tour (wasted time)

    AND IF YOU REALLY WANT TO HAVE FUN:
    - Let them report for work and then be told they must report to another district 10 miles away
Any of these or all of these would make most exempts weepy wrecks by the end of the tour. It might also make them less likely to come up with extra BS to saddle the districts with or less likely to implement sweeping change without appreciating what it is to work under these conditions.

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Maurer Rips Airport Security

In normal circumstances, everyone would just shut up and get along while the mayor "diverted" millions to connected contractors and cronies. But lately, a lot of people aren't doing that:
  • The 2 Investigators have uncovered disturbing new details about security gaps at O'Hare International Airport.

    Thousands of people have had access to the back entrance of the airport and to security badges that allow them through that back gate while bypassing airport security. CBS 2's Dave Savini has been investigating this threat for years and spoke with former Chicago Department of Aviation Police Chief Jim Maurer, who says he was fired for trying to close the security gaps.

    "It's a disaster waiting to happen," Maurer said.
Years of mismanagement, much of it before Maurer took over, are being revealed as never before. And whatever motivations might be there for the former Chief, it's still on Daley's watch and still on Daley's shoulders.

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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

FOP Meeting Today - Noon

We imagine there are going to be fireworks.

We think a number of people may be declared "out of order."

We certainly don't think it's a stretch to call this the FOP's only chance to explain what went wrong (and what went right) in the Contract negotiations and Arbitrator's decision. Tempers will be running high.

We expect a bunch of reports from the scene of the noon meeting.

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Joravsky Does it Again

Once again, a guy working for a free paper, exposes how Chicago politics really work:
  • A couple weeks ago I wrote about how top administrators with the Chicago Public Schools, from CEO Ron Huberman on down, had budgeted themselves raises even as they threatened to lay off teachers, asked coaches to work for free, and cut sophomore sports to chip away at a deficit approaching nearly $1 billion.

    I also reported that the district's chief spokeswoman, Monique Bond, said Huberman hadn't received a raise but wouldn't provide any documentation to back it up.

    It's safe to say the CPS brass has read the story. Two days after it hit the streets, Bond called me. My story was wrong, she said—the district's top people didn't get raises.

    OK, I said—if the salaries of the top brass went up, what's that called if not a raise?

    She said she would be happy to explain—if I'd come to the central office at 125 S. Clark to talk about it in the presence of CPS budget officials.

What follows is one of the best pieces of play-by-play journalism we've read in years. It shows the spin efforts by insiders, the lies, the sleight-of-hand and legal mumbo-jumbo used by Shortshanks and his people to justify so called "cuts in spending" by asking teachers, coaches and low level administrators to sacrifice while middle managers and insiders reap six-figure salaries while the schools go bankrupt.

Joravsky is at the top of his game, and along with Warmbir and Novak, seems to be one of the few willing to actually rattle the Machine and it's corrupt practices.

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Daley Being Nudged?

  • He has been equivocal on the subject in the past, but on Monday night White House chief of staff and native Chicagoan Rahm Emanuel made no bones about it: He wants to be the mayor of Chicago.

    "I hope Mayor [Richard] Daley seeks re-election. I will work and support him if he seeks re-election," Emanuel told Charlie Rose on the host's PBS talk show, in an interview broadcast Monday night. "But if Mayor Daley doesn't, one day I would like to run for mayor of the city of Chicago. That's always been an aspiration of mine, even when I was in the House of Representatives."

    In January, after The Washington Post reported that Emanuel, a one-time Daley aide and longtime supporter of the mayor, was mulling a mayoral run, Emanuel did not deny the report. He instead said in statement that he was "100 percent focused on the job at hand: serving President Obama as his chief of staff."

Perhaps Obama is having his chief put out "feelers" in an effort to throw some heat in the direction of Shortshanks?

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Send in the Guard!

  • Over the weekend, the violence in Chicago dropped dramatically. But that's not good enough for a South Side minister who wants the National Guard to help patrol Chicago's streets.

    Marble Rock Baptist Church Minister Gregory Daniels and his supporters marched outside Chicago police headquarters on Monday. "I have seen Chicago police go to a scene and get shot at," Rev. Daniels said. "They need some policing here other than Chicago police."

    Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis disagrees. He points out that the number of people shot and killed dropped over the weekend after a bloody 24 hours spanning Thursday and Friday. And he noted that he had 36 officers at one recent shooting scene, and someone decided to start shooting again anyways.

And once again, the temperature needs to get some of the credit, if not all. The last few nights, the readings fell into the 30s with frost warnings. Crime dropped proportionally. It isn't rocket science, it's an demonstrable phenomenon. And a weekend doesn't prove a trend, though J-Fled tries to play this every single time there is a fluctuation in the rate of shootings.

But back to the National Guard idea. In the absence of actually having rioting on a scale not seen since 1968, we don't see the Guard being allowed to operate in the city. The Guard is useful for two things - moving sandbags in the event of a natural disaster and operating in a military theater killing enemy combatants. Using combat troops as a police force is fraught with all sorts of complications.

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Much Ado

We've seen a bunch of articles about the son of Senate President John Cullerton being arrested for DUI in a state leased vehicle.

Why no articles about the Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Homeless Services who was busted for the very same thing in a city rented vehicle?

One of them works directly for Daley, right?

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Monday, April 19, 2010

New Nickname

We hereby bestow a free lifetime subscription to SecondCityCop to the poster at 7:45 AM in the "Lies Lies Lies" post who came up with this one:
  • Jody is the Superintendent of Police.

    Have some respect.

    His name is J-Fledgar Hoover.
Congratulations Mr. or Ms. Anonymous!

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Conspiracy Time

Sometimes, something catches your eye, rings a bell, nudges your memory or just makes you go, "Hmmmm." This is one of those times.

We were doing a bit of light reading with the Arbitrator's decision and we ran across this paragraph at the bottom of page 8. It's a quote by Arbitrator Benn regarding a previous decision he handed down in 2009, specifically in the case of County of Boone and Boone County Sheriff and Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council. It states the following:
  • ... With an economy in free-fall, unemployment marching steadily upward, credit markets frozen, businesses laying off or closing, revenue streams diminishing, government intervention programs of massive proportions seeking to prevent further harm and not knowing whether, when or to what degree those programs will succeed in stopping the
    blood-letting, how am I as an interest arbitrator rationally supposed to set the economic terms of a multi-year collective bargaining agreement which the parties unsuccessfully attempted to reach before the economy crashed ...?
That would appear to convey the arbitrator's reluctance to lock in future economic terms (read "pay raises") when he cannot see where the economy is headed and what the effect will be of certain actions taken. The date on this decision is listed as 23 March 2009.

23 March 2009. Hmmmm. This means something. Ding-a-ling.

Time for a Google Search. Let's type in "Daley pulls raise offer" and see what happens.

Top search result yields this:
  • March 21, 2009

    With tax revenues plummeting, the Daley administration has pulled off the table an offer to raise the salaries of Chicago Police officers by 16.1 percent over five years, according to City Hall sources.

    The decision to withdraw a contract offer the Fraternal Order of Police deemed inadequate to begin with could further depress police morale, which is already so low the union took a no-confidence vote on Police Supt. Jody Weis.

    It also could prompt the FOP to pull the trigger on arbitration, a potentially risky move for both sides.

Ah yes, we remember that day well...wait a minute. What's that date?

21 March 2009.

So Shortshanks pulls the raise offer off the table two days before the future arbitrator writes in his decision that...
  • ...how am I as an interest arbitrator rationally supposed to set the economic terms of a multi-year collective bargaining agreement which the parties unsuccessfully attempted to reach before the economy crashed ...?
Wow. Talk about your odd coincidences. It's almost as if Shortshanks knew that if he played his cards right, his negotiating team could get an arbitrator who didn't like to predict the future and could therefore be assumed to err on the low end of economic terms. Not just any old arbitrator, but the exact same arbitrator that had granted the FOP a pretty fair win in the last contract. Why wouldn't the City have struck him in the first round of arbitrator choices knowing his history?

Maybe Shortshanks has a time machine.

Or a source that had access to a decision that came out two days later and the City decided it would be worth the risk to pull the 16.1% offer before it had a chance to be countered? Or worse, accepted?

Discuss among yourselves. It certainly makes us wonder, but then again, who are we?

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Lies Lies Lies

The New York Times has an article about the difficulties of being J-Fled. It is claptrap of the highest order. Get a load of some of this crap:
  • The next few months of warmer weather will be crucial for Jody Weis, whose job running the police department is as close as it gets to “Mission Impossible” in Chicago.

    Ever since he took over the department in early 2008, Superintendent Weis’s assignment has been to calm police officers who are angry at many things, including working without a contract since 2007 and a federal misconduct prosecution that put a Chicago policeman in prison with a 40-month term.
A prosecution undertaken at the behest of J-fled, which is conveniently left out of the entire article. After that whopper of an omission, anything else can be dismissed out of hand as a white-wash, a cover-up or dishonest reporting. But then, what do you expect from the New York Times?
  • In an interview in early April, Mr. Weis acknowledged that he had a rocky start as the second outsider ever to run the Chicago force. But he said that his relations with officers suspicious of his background as a former F.B.I. agent had reached a “turning point” and that he had presided over a reduction in crime.

    “Overall crime went down across the board in every category,” Mr. Weis said of statistics for 2009. “We’ve kept that pace up. We’re in the 15th consecutive month where crime has actually dropped compared to earlier years.”

Every category? We recall at least one category that was up - arson or CSA. But a reduction that took place during one of the cooler spells in a decade or more. Mother Nature deserves as much, if not more credit than J-Fled. And oddly, this article appeared the day after statistics show that we're 16 or more murders ahead of last year.
  • In the hourlong interview in his offices at police headquarters, Mr. Weis defended his leadership. “I try not to dwell on particular failures,” he said, “but I think that we could have done a better job of communicating my vision to folks. There will be a certain percentage who will never embrace me because of where I came from,” he said, adding that in recent months morale has improved because of policies he initiated.
Well, let's see. Where is that morale survey from last year? Any chance that it will ever see the light of day? The lieutenant in charge of it allegedly lost her spot at Headquarters when she insisted the results had to be released, even if it put J-Fled in a bind because he had promised to resign if he was the cause of low morale. Obviously, J-Fled stepped in it by promising to leave a $330,000-per-year spot over a survey that shouldn't have meant beans, but it proved him a liar and a coward even before the Englewood incident.
  • One problem he inherited was an unpopular work schedule that had many officers working six days without a break. He pushed to change the schedule so that they now work four days followed by two days off.

    “We went to it officially in January, and the officers have been coming up to me and thanking me because, you know, four days go by pretty quick,” Mr. Weis said. “You’re sharper. We’ve seen a decline in the number of complaints against our officers. They are not mentally drained; they are not run down. And it gives them greater safety on the street.”

The FOP had been trying to get rid of the 6-days-in-a-row for decades. J-Fled taking credit is a case of coincidence, not anything he did. And the decline in complaints is almost certainly a due to a decline in proactive police work tied into the morale survey that is probably moldering in the deepest basement in HQ as we speak.
  • The Cozzi episode remains “one thing he will never be able to overcome,” Mr. Donahue said.

    Police officers like Mr. Donahue believe that Mr. Weis referred the case to his old federal allies. But the police chief said the F.B.I. was already looking into the incident when he took office.

Once again, an outright lie. J-Fled admitted in our presence and the presence of dozens of other officers at the Lane Tech meeting that he referred the case to the US Attorney for investigation. Period. End of story. Any obfuscation or recasting of what was said at the Lane Tech meeting is a lie.
  • When Mr. Weis, who has been given the nickname J-Fed by some officers, went to Englewood to hold a news conference on April 2, a shooting occurred a few blocks away as he was speaking to reporters. When Mr. Weis decided to return to headquarters instead of going to the scene of the shooting, John Northern, a retired Chicago police sergeant, publicly accused him of cowardice, and a police blogger started referring to him as “J-Fled.”

    “The scene had been secured,” Mr. Weis said. “The victims had already been taken to the hospital; the officers are there talking to witnesses and trying to develop some possible leads. I think if I show up there, I take them away from their work.”

On the original Channel 2 video, you can see everyone, including J-Fled reacting to the shots. When shots are fired, the place for any police officer to be is either at the shots fired or going to the shots fired. Nowhere else. We don't care if you're a PPO, a seasoned officer, a sergeant, lieutenant, captain, commander or deputy. You go to (A) render aid and (B) apprehend the shooter. Anything else is cowardice, plain and simple.

The OEMC timestamps show that the first 007 District cars didn't arrive for over 5 minutes. So J-Fled's statement that "The scene had been secured" is a lie. His hearing the shots shows it. The victim was still lying there bleeding out. And the assumption that "I think if I show up there, I take them away from their work" is about the most arrogant thing we have read in a long time. Are we supposed to snap to attention and salute when J-Fled shows up on the scene? Maybe form up into ranks for a quick inspection?

We've been on the scenes of dozens of shootings, and the smartest thing we've ever seen certain supervisors do is stay the hell out of the way. Your basic street cop knows how to tape a scene, they know to grab up a witness or two for the detectives, some even write down every license plate in the vicinity and most even get a quick flash out for units in the area. Any of that would have helped tremendously at the scene. And exactly none of that was done by the closest available units.

And that should tell you everything you need to know about J-Fled.

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Defamation Suit for Telling Truth

Mike Shields is making waves again and upsetting the established order:
  • Mayor Richard M. Daley grudgingly bears the news media’s tendency to “scrooten” him constantly. Stephanie D. Neely, the first-term city treasurer, is taking a different approach to dealing with scrutiny from at least one pen-wielding critic. She retained a lawyer and is threatening a defamation suit against a Chicago police officer who repeatedly criticized her in the F.O.P. News, a union newsletter published by the local Fraternal Order of Police.
And what has Shields done to raise the ire of the treasurer?
  • In the articles, Michael K. Shields wrote that Ms. Neely, acting as a member of the police pension board, cast votes that favored pension fund managers who contributed to her campaign. Her assertion that the articles entitle her to “substantial damages” from Mr. Shields and the union has not deterred Mr. Shields. State records confirm the donations from fund managers to Ms. Neely’s campaign.
So Shields points out that people who make political contributions seem to land city business. State records confirm this fact. This is libelous how?
  • In an interview this week, Ms. Neely said she was justified in threatening to sue and strongly denied that campaign cash influenced her actions on the boards of the police pension fund and other public employee funds.

    “My reputation is all I have,” she said. “I have acted in the best interests of the funds.”

And the fund has lost how much money? It favored how many of the mayor's relatives? It would seem like that "reputation" Ms. Neely is so worried about is pretty much trashed by association already.

Don't worry about Shields though. He's on solid legal ground:
  • Sandy Davidson, a professor of communications law at the University of Missouri, said Mr. Shields had not defamed Ms. Neely. His “shakedown” comment, Ms. Davidson said, is a classic example of free speech known in legal circles as rhetorical hyperbole.

    “The Supreme Court has made it clear that it is so important we have this wide-open, robust debate, especially in political disputes,” Ms. Davidson said after reviewing Mr. Shields’s articles. “Public officials voluntarily assume the risk that they will face scrutiny.”

We've got to wonder though - is Ms. Neely's accusation of libel, being patently false by all definitions of the word, libelous in and of itself against Mike Shields?

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More "Perception"

If J-Fled and the rest of the tiny brained thinkers downtown really want to create the perception of more police, how about this simple solution?
  • All exempts drive marked police vehicles.
Seriously. Maybe even something from the same vehicle pool that we have to use. And they'd have to keep their blue lights illuminated at all times since they're technically on-call all the time, even with 30 unpaid furlough days. What's the worst that could happen?

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Sunday, April 18, 2010

Bug Lights

More brilliance from the mind of J-Fled:
  • New rule from J-FLED. Starting today, vehicle emergency lights must be on during every call and stop. He wants to create the illusion we are everywhere, even though we are shorthanded. This idiot is without a lick of street sense. He is creating targets, not solving problems.
We see three reasons for this:
  • The illusion we're everywhere: the notice posted in the CO Book even says "perception." This is ridiculous. It's becoming rapidly apparent that the "perception" has no basis in reality and our ability to affect crime and disorder is an illusion.

  • The cameras: evidently, beat cars aren't generating enough digital recordings of events. The camera goes on when the lights go on. When you arrive and shut off the lights, the event is bookmarked and when uploaded, clears out the cache of anything afterward. By leaving the lights on, the camera keeps running.

  • J-Fled is supposedly working the streets again: by having the lights on, he can see where the nearest squad car is in case he needs to run away and hide from someone shooting.
In any event, there are dozens of reasons this is a dumb idea, first being that the blue lights act like bug lights - they attract every pest within walking distance of knowing exactly where the police are. We were trained long ago that the lights go off unless needed for traffic safety, otherwise too many idiots wander up to see what's going on and officer safety comes into play.

It's a poorly worded directive, but typical of downtown, house-mouse thinking.

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Targeted Shootings?

Gang initiations? Something more sinister?
  • O.T. Was buried in the news. Shots fired at the police on the 15th at 85th and colfax. The shooter called in a man with a gun, waited for the P.O.s to show up and when they did a street stop, came out of a gangway and shot at the police and the crowd. The civilian standing next to the cop was shot in the neck.
The perception of outrageous behavior by the gangs isn't just a perception. It's becoming obvious, even to the most jaded among us, that the gangs are testing the limits and responses of police on a near daily basis and suffice it to say, the responses we hear, see and experience don't engender a lot of confidence in the Department's ability to respond appropriately.

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Working 99 Agreement

From someone who was there (this is his opinion on the FOP, but it follows the history we've been told from old timers and family):
  • CPD History: the CPD Wives Association marched on city hall several times in 1969 for 2-man cars in all Districts. The wives and kids carried signs such as "Mayor Daley, protect my Daddy while he protects you." This was in response to the Black Panthers’ “kill a pig a month” police murders in Chicago.

    After a PO was assassinated, in uniform, in his one man car, while writing a report on the south side, the mayor, Rich J, caved in. The city wrote a letter to the Wives Association saying all units would be 2 man from dusk till dawn. The primary police club at the time was COP, Confederation of Police. FOP was an Area Four Det’s social (drinking) club at the time. FOP won the vote in 1979 and we got our first contract in the summer of 1980 from Mayor Jane B. FOP has never had a letter addressing 1or 2 man cars.

    As an added note, of the police clubs wanting to represent us (COP, Combined Counties, Teamsters, Local 1975), the FOP was considered the most docile, most easily controlled by the city and least wanted by police officers. The vote came after the Firefighters strike. It was widely speculated that the city rigged the election because no one outside Area Four had ever heard of FOP and no District Officer citywide admitted to voting for FOP. Yes, Mayor Jane B did like the police, but she was smart enough to ensure the new police union would be weak.

    Retired LT & former Cadet.
Be safe out there, because working one-man on first and third watch is becoming more and more common.

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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Head Count

  • Grade D-1 Number of Officers
    Step 1 255
    Step 2 157
    Step 3 604
    Step 4 595
    Step 5 449
    Step 6 2,782
    Step 7 2,472
    Step 8 1,352
    Step 9 775
    Step 10 323
9,764 Officers as of 01 January 2010.

How many retired yesterday? 120? And how many left in the previous three-and-a-half months? Another 50? 80?

Leaving aside the arguments of "you have to count detectives, D-2 spots, white shirts, brass, etc.," and assuming the numbers on the medical roll or light duty are close to true, we're easily under 8,000 blue shirts, a far cry from the 11,500 assumed for full staffing.

The thin blue line is fraying. Rapidly. Our comments are alive with tales of the entire 003 District running one-man units on midnights and 011 downing six of fifteen beat cars each night. We are at the crisis point and the bosses at these CAR meetings saying they don't want to hear about "shortages" is like petulant first graders sticking their fingers in their ears and yelling, "La la la I can't hear you!"

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Unacceptable Violence

  • Responding to an unusually bloody night of shootings that left seven dead and 13 others wounded in just 12 hours, Chicago police Supt. Jody Weis said today that he’ll put his department’s summer crime-fighting plan in place early.

    “Last night was not a good night,” Weis said at a news conference this afternoon at police headquarters.

    Details of the summer crime-fighting strategy could be announced as early as Monday.

Looks like the policy group will be brainstorming this whole weekend to come up with something to stem the tide of violence:
  • No arrests have been made in the shootings, which pushed the murder toll in Chicago so far this year to 97. At this point last year, 81 people had been killed.
Up 16. Warm weather approaching. Good thing we have rock-steady leadership and a wonderful contract to inspire us to new heights of crime fighting! It sure is interesting how J-Fled pops up just in time to deflect a tidal wave of vitriol directed at Shortshanks. It's almost like the world is a stage and Daley is pulling all the strings.

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Smoke, Mirror, BS

  • Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis said he will personally join officers on patrol in a crime-ridden neighborhood Friday night in the wake of a rash of shootings that left seven people dead and at least 15 others wounded.

    Four of the fatal shootings happened within a period of about an hour and a half overnight.

    "That is unacceptable in an American city and it's totally unacceptable in a city as great as Chicago. We are not Chi-raq, we are Chicago," Weis said at a news conference at Police Headquarters on Friday.
"Chi-raq"? Who wrote that one for J-Fled?

In any case, the manpower shortages continue to affect the Department's ability to respond to conditions in the 'hood. Chronic mismanagement by gold star talking heads and an unofficial reduction in force via a hiring freeze have rendered us almost incapable of even performing a holding action. J-Fled's dog, pony and chicken show isn't going to do shit.

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Friday, April 16, 2010

Arbitration Decision Today (UPDATE)

And an interesting admission from the people who keep track of this stuff:
  • After going nearly three years without a contract, Chicago police officers expect to learn Friday how much of a raise they’ll get when an arbitrator releases his decision.

    Officials with both Mayor Richard Daley’s administration and the Fraternal Order of Police said they expect to receive the decision by 8 a.m. Friday. Both sides said they plan to brief reporters later in the day.

    Police have been working without a contract since the end of June 2007. The matter went to an independent arbitrator last year after negotiations broke down.

    Although the arbitration technically only applies to rank-and-file officers, lieutenants and captains will get the same raise because of clauses in their recently-approved contracts.

    Police also are expected to get back pay as part of the decision. City Hall has set aside $70 million to cover the costs of the decision and a similar one expected for the city’s firefighters, said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a government budget watchdog.
$70 million set aside for costs. Seems like some of the 'Lympic money was set aside after all. Anyone know what the interest is on a $70 million Certificate of Deposit?

We're going to try to keep the readership informed as the day goes on. Obviously, the percentages are going to be the biggest news. Here's a couple of links that might help out:
After it's all said and done, the only question remaining is when does the City Council approve it? Or whether or not they try to delay implementation.

We imagine they'll forgo consideration at the May meeting claiming Beale has to put his committee together and read the decision and get his marching orders from Shortshanks. That means June at the earliest for approval. Raises won't hit until 01 July, meaning the 16 July check. Retro by August? September? Last time the Arbitrator set a date by which check had to be issued or the City would have to start paying interest on monies held. We expect that might be in the decision and the City will take every one of those days to issue checks.

UPDATE: OFFICERS SCREWED. Again. And again.
  • Rank-and-file Chicago police officers will get a raise that is significantly less than the one Mayor Richard Daley pulled off the negotiating table last year under an arbitrator’s decision released this morning, a source familiar with the decision said.
  • The raises average 2 percent a year for five years. That's less than the 3.2 percent a year for five years that Mayor Richard Daley pulled off the negotiating table in March 2009. That offer had been on the table for a year, but the Fraternal Order of Police was trying to get more. FOP President Mark Donahue declined to comment, saying he would speak at a 3 p.m. news conference.
More later.

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Shortages? What Shortages?

The media begins to catch up - which puts them two steps behind the aldercreatures:
  • The Chicago Police Department is alarmingly understaffed, according to 20 aldermen who are demanding that the city act now to ramp up recruits and put more cops on the beat.

    The department is fully staffed at 13,500 officers, but retirements have left more than 700 spots to be filled. When others factors are added, like disability leave, furlough days and sick leave, there are days when fewer than 11,500 police are actually on on duty.

    The short staffing is spread throughout the city's 23 police districts, according to Fraternal Order of Police head Mark Donahue. He said the number of cops on the street drops an additional 10 to 19 percent of when officers are pulled out of a district and assigned to special details like narcotics.

23 Districts? Did they finally re-district?

And once again, the media does a poor job explaining that the 11, 500 number (which is badly overstated) is spread over three shifts, so at any given time there are only a few thousand cops on duty. Less if you figure a sizable percentage are working inside.

Someone needs to point out (again) that we haven't had a class in the Academy recently. The 86 or so there at the moment are the first hires in over 2 years. Retirements didn't stop and Daley was holding that salary money for his No-lympic dream. Now this class, along with another scheduled one around 01 May will begin covering the retirement shortfall - from 2008!

Our readers tell us numerous districts are operating at 50% of assigned strength during the midnight shift. This isn't a question of "if something bad happens" anymore - it's a question of "when?"

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Carnage Continues (UPDATES)

  • A person was killed by gunfire in the East Chatham neighborhood tonight, [a] Gresham District Lt. [...] said.

    The male victim gunned down at 79th Street and Maryland Avenue was one of at least five people shot on the South or Southeast Side tonight, police said.

    The victim was taken from 79th and Maryland to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:03 p.m., according to a representative of the Cook County medical examiner's office.

And the Super-nintendo hasn't been seen in public for days now. We know he had a bunch of packing to do for his upcoming overseas trip with Masters Masters Masters, Brust and Ray-Ray. It's amazing that in trying economic times, so many of our "leaders" can make a trip like this. Is the policy group going along to carry the suitcases?

UPDATE: Five more dead in a night of violence:
  • It was a night of exceptionally heavy violence on a warm night in Chicago.

    Five people died and at least 11 others were wounded in shootings across the South, Southwest and Southeast sides Thursday night, police said, an area stretching from 900 West 53rd Street to 2500 East 93rd Street.

Shots fired at the police down south also. There may have been shots returned, but no confirmation at the moment. no one hurt on our side, so that's good.

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