Killing a Promotion Rumor
Promotions seem to be among the more hotly debated issues on the job today. People can argue about profiling, training, experience, but in our opinion, nothing comes close to the depth of feeling exhibited during a promotional process. And the most outspoken people of all are the one’s who aren’t even being promoted! Even the feds want to be involved in our promotional processes. Let’s address a rumor to start. We don’t think the city will be discontinuing promotional exams for detective, sergeant or lieutenant in the near future, the reasons are as follows:
- Contract issue. The city has negotiated with the respective unions to a 70/30% or an 80/20% rank score/merit process and it’s either written into the contracts or there are “Letters of Understanding” that dictate it as such. The city can’t just walk away from these agreements.
- Precedent. The city has done it this way for so long, it has become the norm. The union and the city can tweak the agreements as they stand, but a wholesale abandonment of the advancement process isn’t in the cards.
- FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, the city would have to reveal the criteria necessary for officers to achieve a promotion. What would these be? They already dictate how much time and how much education you need. Now what? You must write (x) number of parkers/movers. You must process (x) number of DUI’s, have (x) number of felony pinches, have (x) number of court hours ... does anyone see where this is headed? QUOTAS. Merit based on an open and transparent set of numerical goals. It ain’t going to happen boys and girls.
- Bad things happen with political choices. Remember the county building fire? Merit fire lieutenant couldn’t make it up the stairs and turned back leaving 6 people to die in the smoke. As surely as god made little green apples, “merit” contributed to those peoples deaths.
- The political winds. Remember this thread? Barack Obama stated words to the effect that the people of Chicago deserved the most qualified employees the city could hire. Patrick Fitzgerald stated "Every resident of Chicago has the right to compete fairly for a better job if he or she is qualified, without regard to political affiliation or whether they do campaign work. [...] And the residents of Chicago are entitled to the best qualified laborers, plumbers, foremen and inspectors." (Emphasis added). Citizens aren't going to stand for it.
posted by SCC at 6:35 PM
31 Comments:
OBAMA WOULD BE REALLY FAIR, HE IS ALL ABOUT FAIRNESS. YEAH RIGHT
The point isn't about fairness. The point is that the city won't/can't get rid of the promotion process on a whim.
The city will do as the King commands, at least until it is sued in a court of law, loses, and we taxpayers will pay for it's mistakes again and again as we always do!
Just ask the Corporation Council, the cheap two-bit lawyers who could not make it in private practice or Major Lawfirms and had to make that phone call, ring those door bells, sell those tickets, to be a city attorney. They make terrible deals that cost us millions.
Actually those high dollar cases get farmed out to Daley associates. The corp counsel is small beans in the biggest organized crime family in America. Don't rip them for the multi-million dollar paydays that get handed out to clout firms. In other words, enjoy your 5 minutes on the job before you start bitching salty. Unless you'd like to enlighten us with your vast array of lawsuits.
The way that promotions should be handled is by a points system that is as objective as possible.
Throw in points for EVERYTHING, up to a thousand, and make it so inclusive that the average PO in the city could barely get one hundred.
1 point per year of military service. 2 points per year of police service. 1 extra point per year of police service in a field capacity in the patrol division. 8 points for each language spoken beyond English. Differing points for degrees in different fields. And so on and so on.
Test of relevant law... 100 points.
Test of general orders... 100 points.
Test of leadership decisionmaking (objective, in writing, and with time limits) 100 points.
For example, you are a district supervisor and one of your units calls a 10-1 and a plan 4 for a crowd fight with 500 people. Give 4 options for the first thing you should do. 3 of the options should be things you should do at some point. 1 should be a throwaway.
OK, maybe not a thousand points, but you get the idea.
1 point for military service and 8 points for each language spoken beyond English. You LAPA guys have no shame. Your day is over. Fitzgerald is going to shut down the HDO. Then Aginagua, Morado, Acosta, Para and the rest of them can run their own tiers at Big Muddy.
How about you just give a test on the orders and have to have, say, 6 years on the job. And if you are not a good test taker, how about, say, tough shit.
I'm not a LAPA fan but fuck all the other clout clicks too. The emerald society, the Bridgeport bitch crew, southside irish gang, and northside irish mob. Don't be a jealous cry baby bitch when everybody else figures out how play the game.
Oh, I almost forgot, the all-encompassing: Chicago Hillbilly Connection! (AKA: CHC)
What you are ignoring is that the precedent is ALREADY IN PLACE! There is no Captain exam. It is simply an application similar to a resume formset. HOW MANY ARRESTS YOU MADE WILL HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. It is already in the works. If the city has demonstrated anything when it comes to promotions it is that they can, and will, do whatever they want! You may see a "part I" multiple choice, but "partII" will be where the wheat separates from the chafe.
Yeah, because being able to speak with the gigantic immigrant population who wouldn't come in handy? I'm entirely of Irish and eastern european descent, and barely speak Spanish... to the point where I wouldn't qualify myself. But the language thing would be a small award for one of many awardable skills.
I should also note, points should be deducted from the credited scores for stuff. If you get credit for working the streets (patrol division, honorable mentions or whatever), you should lose points for any court misconduct, sustained CRs, particularly for any sustained brutality beefs. Some things should get you disqualified entirely, like ever taking 30 days pending within the last 5 years.
So for every person who speaks another language because they grew up in an immigrant household, somebody else could get credit for going to college and learning the language. Plus bonus duplicative points just for getting a degree.
Oh, and some particularly valuable backgrounds should be awarded variable points depending on their value, up to a maximum subscore within a range.
Degree in physical fitness? 5 points. Law degree + bar? 50 points. Background as a law enforcement investigator in any other agency for 3 or more years? 80 points.
Give the points within subscores for whatever you want. I'm just using examples. But it should be a massive and complex scoring system, and it most certainly should award the greatest points (and incentive) for actually being a working police officer.
Lots of stuff you can do, but making the scoring system public, and removing any scoring or recommendations by the old boys network would go a long way.
Question: give an example of how you would weight different experiences within the CPD for promotion to sergeant? I think a range of honest answers would be interesting.
Screw that shit, give your alderperson some green, and sew on the stripes baby!
Down with LAPA, try and get one of you liberals to translate on a job is like pulling teeth. They're all out there for the Latino women. The biggest dogs being the 10th Dist then the 9th District LAPA Brotherhood. That’s right you know who you are! Most are found dogging it at Tulsa Power!!
"lose points for any court misconduct, sustained CRs, particularly for any sustained brutality beefs."
Ain't done much work have you? I'm sure you'll never be in the barrel, but we already have enough 35th Street sgts.
So you get rewarded for not doing work...good system, we already have it.
Everyone forgot to mention the FOP, who does nothing for anybody but themselves.
Mark Donahue (aka $'s Donahue)(Over 150K this yr in salary)he got a meritorious promotion to Detective. Bella is the only Det. up there on a test score or worth a shit!
Hopefully the Fed Investigation of the HDO will root out all Sgt's, Lt's and above who have risen thru the ranks thanks to politics.
For the guy who suggested negative points for sustained Cr#'s, brutality beefs,taking 30 days, and so on.... here is an honest answer!! You're a MORON!!!!!!!!!! You say this will help promote working coppers??? We'll obviously you're not one. Go back to your desk job and study up for your masters... This had to be posted by some female!!!!!
Wow, I gotta wonder what percentage have sustained brutality beefs. We want a system on the up and up, yet past misconduct should be forgiven and overlooked? You. Sound. Like. Democrats.
Yup, you guys are right. The sustained beefs should be bonus points! Double rewards for a conviction!!!
Unreal.
You put your employee number on a scantron and take a multiple choice test on the G.O.s and the scantron is put thru a machine and graded as you leave the site. Everyone knows his or her score and then they are posted on website. No qustions about race or gender. If filling in a circle is not fair then you should go ride the short bus.
I agree with above. But we all know how the results would turn out.
The GOs are just one metric. Do they all even make sense to you. I've gotten out of several beefs by pointing out inconsistencies in the orders, where one would say don't and one would say do.
I was convinced within 6 of joining this department that numerous of the orders are completely ignored by everyone... except the brass when they need to hang you.
Hopefully the one thing that we can all agree on is that the personal word or recommendation of any individual should not play any factor in the promotion of another. If you go by anything other than scantron, do it by objective standards (published weighted criteria), so people know exactly where they score and what the deparment even purports to value.
Right now, half the promotions or more are entirely on phone calls and winks-and-nods, and the proof is the sons of supervisors who would have been fired on beefs if they weren't sons of supervisors. A few come to mind, and its amazing that the bosses had the balls not only to not firem them, but to promote them.
Maybe and Just maybeth Federal Inveatigation will uncover how BURKE VYDROLEAK DALEY have been SELLING SGT AND LT PROMOTIONS FOR twenty Years are reading this PETER FITZGERALD?
IT'S PATRICK, PETER, - P-A-T-R-I-C-K-! GARRRRRRRYYYYYYYYY!!!
YEAH WHATTA JOKE! OUR WHOLE TIME IN SCHOOL YOU'D AT LEAST GET YOUR TEST BACK TO SEE WHERE YA FUGGED UP BY CHECKING YOUR ANSWERS TOGETHER - "OH THE HALF-LIFE OF A FECAL GREAZEBALL IS ONLY 6 MONTHS??" AT LEAST THERE WAS LEGIT LEARNING TAKING PLACE... NOT ON C.P.D. BABY- MIGHT AS WELL GO TO THE WHITE SMOKE/BLACK SMOKE OF THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS POPE-A-THON... OR THE MONTY PYTHON TRIAL BY BRIDGE KEEPER... (SAY NOTIFY THE WATCH COMMANDER- OR USE A WRITING INSTRUMENT- THOSE ALWAYS WORK!)
ATTENTION: There IS going to be a new LTS test early next year.. WHY?? CLINE's kid (and all his buddies from narcotics who made it meritorious ) just have enough time as a sergeant to take the test..
to: 3:34.........
You noticed, like many others......the CPD is approaching the corporate business model, i.e., dog-eat-dog, step over anybody and everybody else on the way up the promotional ladder, who are you related to?, can you get a call from someone to someone else, are you sleeping with someone (particularly someone who counts, I mean, why kiss butt or get in bed if it's not the right butt or the right bed?). There are many reasons why the CPD assignment and promotion processes are disintegrating, but it seems that no one, or no group(s) are fighting it....to the younger officers, one could say, it's too bad, it's a shame, it shouldn't be,.....but look who's in power and in control, and who is going to change things and how is change going to come about? In a city like Chicago, it's as good as hopeless...
To 4:16:19 post, Well said, well said!
Do any of you guys think this is something new? I took my first sgt's test in 83 or 84. Viet Nam Vet, BS degree, I had 5yrs in 015, too many felony arrests to remember, etc etc. I walked out of the written thinking I maxxed it. The oral was sitting in front of 3 old ,fat, half dead exempts and a city personnel person. I think I was about 2,000 out.
To: 08:26:46 PM ... Half Dead Exempts?.. Thats GREAT! So True!
To: 08:26:46 PM ... Half Dead Exempts?.. Thats GREAT! So True!
If you were in 15, you should have known about the envelope system($$).
In traffic Court, it was the hearty handshake!
Quit whining! If you want to play, you have to pay (PER Ald. Burt N.)! Wise up.
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