Was the Ball Dropped on DNA Test?
Well, it depends on whose article you read. First you have the Channel 7 story:
- Could a woman's life have been saved if Chicago police and the state police crime lab worked more quickly to match DNA from a murder scene to a suspect? That's one of the questions being asked after we learned it took more than six weeks for a cable repairman's DNA to be analyzed. Late Tuesday afternoon, the chief of detectives said her team believed the best chance for solid evidence would come from a fingerprint left on a shower curtain, not DNA from the victim's body. They thought most of it would have washed away in the soapy bathwater. Detectives ordered a rush on the fingerprint -- not on DNA found on the victim
- Chicago Police detectives asked the State Police crime lab to put a "rush" on DNA testing in connection with a Hyde Park rape and murder that occurred Oct. 21.
- But the lab didn't alert investigators until Dec. 12 that usable DNA from the presumed killer was recovered on the victim, 39-year-old Janice Ordidge, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
So Channel 7 blames the Lab and CPD. The Sun Times says CPD tried to order up a "rush" on testing. The Sun Times also says that detectives on the case started working other angles as they waited for the State Crime Lab to come up with some sort of results. We'd tend to go with the Sun Times version as they hate the police a little bit less than Channel 7. That's not a ringing endorsement by any means, but it would seem someone dropped the ball on this and we'd (selfishly) prefer it to be the State Crime Lab - we've got a bit too much scandal fatigue going on here.
posted by SCC at 12:05 AM
52 Comments:
A sgt I work with was a dick in Area 1. He said the lead guy on the first murder in Hyde Park was AS. The same guy who was caught stealing from a victim's house and suspended for six months about ten years ago. They tried to fire him. He was also the same guy who was the lead dick on the Ryan Harris case. So its for sure the ball was dropped.
Whoever dropped the ball all I know is the dead polish lady's family is gonna get PAID!
And this will be the one payout in recent memory that will be justified.
ROCKFORD PD WON THE GRIEVANCE ON THE RESIDENCY REQUIREMENT..THIS WAS SEVERAL YEARS AGO.THEY WERE REPRESENTED BY THE PB&PA.
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Time to look into another union boys? At least one who will fight the fights that need fighting. Even if we lose, we can rest knowing we tried. Godforbid we recognize the power we have as a collective bargaining unit.
I don't know about you but I think that is the thing I want the most from the city.
Shit, NY and LA city workers got the city to drop residency as well as other major American cities.
Looks like the FOP will continue to be lapdogs for Daley instead of representing OUR intrests.
The Estate of Urzala Sakowska
v.
Maria Soto Maher, et al.
Get your story straight asswipe...the state crime lab dropped the ball not the dics.....keep dreamin you fuckin wannabe detective....
The problem is.... we want to go to the media and toot our horn when we do something good. But on the flip side we have to be aware of the "shots" that the media take at us every chance they get.
My opinion, we don't have to answer the media's questions, we should make a statement then "no comment" the rest of the way. Sure it might seem we are hiding something but who gives a damn what anyone thinks.
On this case, after the offender was arrested, we should have announced charges against the offender then "shut the fuck up" and let the reporters get their information from court.
Why do we let the media dictate our every decision? why? why? why?. They believe they have the right to know and they do...the right to know nothing until WE decide to tell them.
Right now there are two agencies scrambling to straighten things out, the Chicago Police Department and the Illinois State Police. Both agencies are trying to minimize the amount of blame that they are faced with while the media are enjoying the confusion they caused by stirring up the pot by asking pointed questions that is designed to make your own organization or another organization look bad.
Plus the Cook County states attorneys office putting their 2 cents in by stating "they want to find out where the delay was" does that make a difference in the first case....no.
I'm not saying a mistake was made because I don't know but we should LEARN to keep things in house. I know we have our "snitches" who are being kicked down a few bucks for information but that information (sometimes) have to be confirmed but who says we have to confirm anything.
No comment at this time is the best answer that could/should be given
The Cook County States Attorneys office was the one who opened this can of worms so screw them all.
here we go again. the solution is obvious. hire more fucking police. 3,500 to be exact. and while we're at it, hire more people at the illinois state crime lab. all i hear from them time and time again is that they are short man power. just like us. fucking broken record. crime, savages, drug sales, murder, etc - all out of control. be part of the solution hire more cops and lab techs.
Dont Blame us in Area 1. Unless its a high profile case your not going to get the DNA worked up. In Area 1,2, and 4 unless its a Lee Miglin caper, we wait from six weeks to nine moths for the State Crime Lab.
The blame lies with Daley, we should have never surrendered are crime lab, to the traffic wardens.
We don't have LEAD Dicks in Chicago. Youv'e been watching too much telly from Calif.
I heard when Queen Maher requested the dicks to put a rush on the DNA, the dicks thought she said a rush on the order from D and A's. That's why the deli sandwiches from D and A's Grill showed up so quick!
On this job nowadays you're dammed if you do and dammed if you dont.
Nice job by the Area 1 Midnight Gang Team, SORT, Canine, and the 007th district on catching the escapee tonight .
Since when do dicks treat every homocide as if it were a serial killing?
And is beaurocratic red tape the fault of some hard working Area 1 dick?
The media said that in the first case, the DNA on the I-Pod wasn't sent in initially. Is this true?
And how come it takes so long for the DNA to be processed?
All I want to know is when 009 is going to have a benefit for Sgt F.L? We all know DUI's cost a fortune in atty fees and he is quite a nice guy! Maybe one day someone, preferably an exempt rank, will take care of R.A's cop arresting ass? Just a thought...
-oldtimer
I agree a lazy fuck, We got a young women dead for nothing. makes me sick
Off Topic:
Im a police officer in the burbs. As with most departments, we border Chicago. I must say, when we are working, our communication and working relationships with on duty Chicago officers has been great. I have been on traffic stops by myself when Chicago officers pull over to assist. I have also returned the favor. That’s how it should always be.
But from reading your blog, in my opinion, the problem is respect. I see you Chicago officers slamming each other for working south and north, phone call cops and regular working cops. Just about anything sets you people off against each other.
That respect gets worse when your off duty. I lost count how many officers I have pulled over speeding through my town. 75 in a 45, Just last week, 3 officers in an hour speeding, one went through a red light. All have been drinking, all coming from Christmas\retirement parties. One guy hangs his badge out the window and keeps driving, one wants to tell me im a rent a cop. The other one spills his beer looking for his wallet.
The first two I let go on the spot with a merry Christmas. The 3rd one I convinced him to allow me to drive him home. Even though he came back to get his car within an hour.
I have always had respect for police when I get pulled over and have never had any problems when being pulled over from any department including Chicago. But I must say, I get more respect from the gang bangers than I do from off duty Chicago police. perhaps if you guys lighten up with the officers when being stopped. Your creating your own monster.
I have a relative working for HH police department and he told me things are heating up. A word to the wise, you don’t want to make things worse than it already is. Stop talking about the silly word “WAR”. You will loose. When your speeding down Harlem, or cutting down Foster, 50 in a 25 zone to save some time, YOU ARE WRONG. You are also off duty. Many times you are DUI and you will loose. They are ready to respond but are also ready for resolve. Show respect. It goes a long way.
Scc did you see the Fox news story with the fired cop talking about alll the things illegal he did as a Chicago police officer. he is plugging his new book, Fox said there are so many crimes that can't even say some on the air. This fricking asswhipe! What a time for this negative bullshit. He also said he was trained as all cops are to steal money and beat people. The funniest thing is the toilet brush only had 7 years on!!! How many stories could the brush have for a book??? Sound like bullshit!
Way to go Merit Dicks!!!I wonder if I made the SGTs list...NOT!!
Yeah, we all know that David Caruso or William Peterson would have had this entire case wrapped up and the killer charged with murder with only an hour's worth of work... including commercials!!!
From a high ranking Officer in the State police, the evidence was NOT submitted to the crime lab. The incompetent M. Maher is attempting to blame the State when in fact the CPD dropped the ball. Maher knows for a fact that she failed miserably!! I hope victim #2's family sues the shit out of the CPD.
working on a violent crime case can sometimes be overwhelming. You are required to submit paper the same day, alot of paper, before you can hit the streets to do some old fashion investigating. Everything runs smoother if the lead dick takes recommendations and uses them, no one is perfect. Sometimes a sgt or Lt with balls is needed to help with dealing with outside agencies, i.e. the IL State Lab. The technology is there but they don't have enough people to work on the evidence. Bottom line is that the ball was dropped by SOMEONE.
AN OBSERVATION FROM TRAFFIC COURT...There seems to be too many decent, hard working people in traffic court, or atleast in my room today. Shouldn't traffic court mirror the criminal courts. These bustouts, thugs and gangbangers are using vehicles, which most likely they don't have the privilege or legal right to use, to commit these crimes or get them to a location to commit these crimes. You must be tough to pull over a mother with 3 kids and write her. How about stopping that car of 4 BPSN bangers or SGD's and hitting them with every IVC violation on the books. For the record, my guy was a BPSN, 6-303 and 3-707 and needed his car impounded to help change his attitude. Stay safe and buckle up!
I know that forensics is short people to do the job at hand. Illinois and Chicago shouldn't cut corners when it comes to public safety and fighting crime. They need to hire more people to do the job
Off the subject:
Mary Mitchell and Pam "Troll" Zeckman are your enemies, BEWARE
the State Police Crime Lab is slow as hell. Being a former Detective I know from first hand experience. When we had our own crime lab we didn't have this problem. it figures that the media tries to hang the CPD as usual, like the ISP can do no wrong. Yech!
Between Merit and Diversity, we'll all see "Suspended" on more and more cases....
WOW! it's amazing that he was even given the assignment!
Cars on Zone 4 and Citywide, we have a blog master slupped over the wheel of his website! Please respond and wake him up!
Just don't D.U.I. him due to his over consumption of spiced eggnog!
Off Topic:
Just wanted to thank 12th District patrol officers L. Gutierrez and two others who came to the academy and wrote parking tickets in the Skinner Lot across from the academy....the tickets were for illegally parking in a private lot....these lots were designated for those of us in Pre service dic school.....are you three retarded? You successfully wrote several tickets to Chicago and suburban police officers with no cause...what goes around comes around
Yo Dickhead,
Leave the rumors and small talk at the the stool in the bar or in the car with your partner. Your putting something out there you know nothing about first-hand.
Remember the saying "believe half of what you see and nothing of what you hear.
Regards, retired 640
AS,The so called "lead" detective in this case is a thief and a clown. Whoever assigned this goofball this case should get slammed too. He couldn't solve shit, just like his former partner RP
As a dick, I have personally waited on cases for several months for DNA to be worked up. And yes, these were murders and rapes! The crime lab is obviously short but they won't say so because they will get screwed with and fired. They have no Union. Just for info, the DNA from the last few years has been farmed out to private companies to be worked up because we are so behind. It is not their fault. It is Governor "Let's give health care to everyone" Blago's fault. Put the blame squarely where it belongs.
Lawsuit against videogames = $500K
Money for State Crime Lab personnel = ZERO!
Considering what 12/20/06 10:51:11am has said: I was always told that there's no "statute of limitations" on 2 crimes: murder and OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT!! Why cant this asshole Juarez be prosecuted; he's already confessed. Before Guiliani became Mayor he was a Fed prosecutor. One of the idiot Mob family bosses wrote a book after he retired and Guiliani used that book to charge the heads of all 5 families.
I was in 014 when that queer Juarez was there. He had the greatest FTO(RIP) in the city; he surly wasnt taught to lie , steal, etc by that guy!!
Any prosecutors reading this???????
To 12/20/2006 10:41:27 AM,
Copper in the suburbs? I hold most suburban coppers in high regard. You write like an affirmative action hire in Chicago you softball. Loosen up on the preaching and lose your illiterate grammer habits you second rate traffic aide troll! If I find out who you are I might be required to kick your ass!
7:36 AM:
Your mispellings are really embarrassing: homIcide; bureaucratic.
A few posters have otherwise attempted to make cogent contributions to the blog which are totally negated by the abysmal misspellings of a second grader.
One recent misspelling of the French "au contraire" {oh contrar(sic)} was hysterical. If you have enough problems with spelling in English, just write "to the contrary" without butchering foreign phrases.
Another pet peeve: the morons that can't tell the difference between the words "to", "too" and "two".
This reminds me of earlier sexual assault case reports where the PO would write "inserted his penis into her VIRGINIA"
If necessary and when in doubt, please get a dictionary.
If CPD negligence is responsible for the delay in processing the DNA from the Hyde Park homicide, Maher should step down.
She has no business being a supervisor in the Detective Division, let alone the CHIEF.
Get the hook and put her in a civilian job in Strets & San. She knows damn well that virtually all detectives hold her in utter contempt as an incompetent, unqualified political suckhole and a laughingstock (behind her back because of her vindictiveness).
Anonymous said...
Dont Blame us in Area 1. Unless its a high profile case your not going to get the DNA worked up. In Area 1,2, and 4 unless its a Lee Miglin caper, we wait from six weeks to nine moths for the State Crime Lab.
You are right don't blame area 1. Just because the best detectives in the city used to work there.
Now all they do is play poker or golf on the internet. Dear Fat Ass with an ego I hope you are reading this your detectives in Area 1 with the female black commander only handle the heaters and blow off all the other jobs, you do not care though do you, as long as you ride the working police backs.
Sign me, as I wish I could tell the truth, but I know the truth will hurt everyone, even me! I can not preach it like I feel it.
11:18 pm
There is no "e" in the word "GRAMMAR".
....the tickets were for illegally parking in a private lot...
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If that was the charge on the ticket, someone from the Board of Ed had make a call for the tickets to be written and then sign a complaint. 012th District P.O.'s (or any other CPD P.O.'s) can't write parking tickets on private property without that complaint being signed. Obviously, you're not in sergeant's school.
Most detectives have only a basic understanding of the system. The bosses even less. This is a very complicated system with great potential for problems. I don't know the solution and I am in the field. This whole thing with a plethora of data bases and screens is overwhelming. Half don't work, some get only half the information and some give wrong information. We are losing control of our resources and everyone knows it.
1118
Loosen up on the preaching and lose your illiterate grammer habits you second rate traffic aide troll! If I find out who you are I might be required to kick your ass!
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LMAO!!!
we are going to lose the "war"
ohh nooo mister bill !
To: 12/19/2006 11:28:06 PM
>>A sgt I work with was a dick in Area 1. He said the lead guy on the first murder in Hyde Park was AS. The same guy who was caught stealing from a victim's house and suspended for six months about ten years ago. They tried to fire him. He was also the same guy who was the lead dick on the Ryan Harris case. So its for sure the ball was dropped.<<
Could you provide more information about the AS theft incident.
Anonymous said...
....the tickets were for illegally parking in a private lot...
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If that was the charge on the ticket, someone from the Board of Ed had make a call for the tickets to be written and then sign a complaint. 012th District P.O.'s (or any other CPD P.O.'s) can't write parking tickets on private property without that complaint being signed. Obviously, you're not in sergeant's school.
12/21/2006 01:32:40 AM
This must be a merit appointment. Never wrote a parker just carried that paper around 35th St.
Casper lost. . .
R49648 - CASPER, JASON
Parent Institution: Taylorville Correctional Center
Inmate Status: IN CUSTODY
Location: TAYLORVILLE
Be safe. No one can help you when you kill someone driving fucked up.
it is what it is. thats the problem with this job we hide and coverup why not say we fucked up. when this dept does it to us we don't like it. I got a though let us all become legit no more lies then maybe the po's wont be treated like crap.
Sue Sue Sue
(OT) how about a item like connect the dots what boss has what clout? whos your Daddy? Uncle, Who paid what politician for a promotion?
This must be a merit appointment. Never wrote a parker just carried that paper around 35th St.
12/21/2006 09:55:53 AM
Kid, I wrote more parkers and DUI's than you'll ever think of writing in your police career. Ask any supervisor that knows anything and they'll verify exactly what I said regarding writing parking tickets on private property. And I was never promoted because of anything but my own work and knowledge.
Area One did agreat job on the "Comcast Killer"..... anyone who says otherwise, doesn't have a clue of how much work went into the case! Hope you critics aren't one of the police officers that the killer gave free cable to..... He kept a very detailed list and couldn't stop talking about the coppers who he hooked up with free "boxes"..... you might have a little explaining to do!
I don't blame the detectives in Area 1 for droping the ball on the "Comcast killer". I am sure they did the best job possible under the circunstances. I do place the blame with the mayor and previous Superintendent (Hilliard)who disbanded our crime lab and gave it to the State, who sees our work as no more of a priority than evidence submitted by the smallest suburb. Also blame Blagojevich who has money for a variety of social programs, but not enough money to adequately fund and staff the State Crime lab.
Anonymous said...
Area One did agreat job on the "Comcast Killer"..... anyone who says otherwise, doesn't have a clue of how much work went into the case! Hope you critics aren't one of the police officers that the killer gave free cable to..... He kept a very detailed list and couldn't stop talking about the coppers who he hooked up with free "boxes"..... you might have a little explaining to do!
That is how you do it, fuck something up someone gets killed then threaten the rest of us with exposing some sort of free cable hook up, to take the heat out of a monumental gaffe. Come on stop playing poker on the internet and solve a crime.
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