Rumors of a Ticket Slowdown

Not here of course.

• Aurora police officers have been issuing fewer tickets in recent weeks to protest the suburb's Human Relations Commission and its proposed subpoena powers, sources said.

  After an Aurora police union meeting March 13, many patrol officers decided to give tickets only when absolutely necessary as a way to object to the commission's proposed ability to subpoena police officers, sources say.

  The commission would hear complaints from residents who feel they were wronged by an individual or group, including the cops.

Go read the entire article. It's only four paragraphs long and we've given you three of them here.

It is common knowledge that General Orders prohibit any sort of work action or advocating a work action. It is grounds for immediate suspension and dismissal from the force. We can only figure that it's because it might actually impact municipal operations in some way, shape or form if the ticket revenue stream suddenly suffered an interruption and goodness knows we can't let police officers have that power in the City that Works. But we can't find anything that says we can't discuss what other police departments are doing and say to ourselves, "Hmmm."

CFD Provides Respite

In a welcome break from the media's on going CPD bashing, a CFD official is accused of stepping on his johnson (Channel 7 also covers) :

• A high-ranking Chicago Fire Department official vehemently denied allegations Thursday that he disgraced the department by inquiring about the race of a paramedic who asked to leave work to visit his child in a hospital.

  "I'm a highly decorated chief. This whole allegation is nothing but lies. It's deplorable," said Donald W. Walsh, an assistant deputy chief paramedic and a winner of an International Association of Fire Chiefs award. "I have always treated department members, citizens and the public with respect and dignity."

It will be interesting to see this full story come out. We don't doubt there could be some stretching of the truth as certain elements of the CFD have been known to sit on incriminating video for years and years until such time as a political firestorm might benefit someone else somewhere. And unfortunately, this respite is only temporary as we will shortly be making headlines when the last of the SOS indictments are unsealed.

Cline Losing It?

The mayor's on the way back into town after yet another convenient vacation curiously timed to a number of high profile indictments and embarrassing episodes. And the Supe comes up with this?

• Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline, still fuming over Police Officer Anthony Abbate's alleged attack on a petite female bartender, said he would have liked to take a swipe at the disgraced officer himself.

  "We stripped him of his police powers. He's been charged criminally, and we're moving to fire him, and if I could hit him with a baseball bat, I would. But I can't, so I mean we've done everything we can to take the right action against him," Cline said Thursday on the Roe Conn Show on WLS 890-AM.

And then the backpedalling begins:

• When asked about the "baseball bat" comment, Cline's spokeswoman said it was a figure of speech.

  Pressed about the appropriateness of the comment, considering the department has been dogged by allegations of police brutality, police spokeswoman Monique Bond went on to say: "His comments were used figuratively. It's a colloquialism used by many and shouldn't be interpreted any other way. The Roe Conn Show is a very relaxed show."

Nice. Real nice.

Fighting Back Part II

We get fan mail every so often from civilians. What follows is a typical such letter:

• Thank you for providing the missing other side of the story! Something hasn't smelled right about all this finger pointing at the Grand District captain, and unlike Mr. Abbate's behavior truly being inexcusable, my feeling as an average citizen has been that not all the facts are being reported. There are no cops in my family, but one of my most meaningful experiences as part of a civic leadership program was spending an entire shift with a cop on patrol; seems to me that sitting in a squad car when pulling over a van with tinted windows ought to be a prerequisite for any reporter who covers the police.

We'll leave out his name, home address, business address, work numbers, his HOME telephone number and CELL phone number that he was open and honest enough to provide. We do have some fans out there boys and girls - just because the media chooses to spotlight everyone with an axe to grind doesn't mean we don't have our supporters. Few and far between they may be, but they are supporters none the less.

And It Never Ends

Yesterday's Sneed "Scoop" (which has been hinted at here for at least a month) ....

• Sneed hears the next chapter of a police scandal involving corruption in the Chicago Police Department's Special Operations Section is being written in bold print.

  • Translation: Word is when the ongoing probe is complete, it could add up to the Chicago Police Department's biggest corruption case ever . . . because the probe is moving up the ladder beyond the patrolmen involved.

.... becomes tonight's Channel 7 lead story:

• The Chicago Police Department is bracing for new corruption charges in an ongoing investigation involving several supervisors in the department's Special Operations Unit.
• The big question now is when will the charges come down? And how many people will be indicted?
• According to law enforcement sources, at least one Chicago police sergeant and one lieutenant are in the hot seat and could be indicted down the road for their alleged involvement in a corruption scandal that has already resulted in charges against seven officers in the elite special operations section.

We're just numb. Our nerve endings are completely shot. We never figured on completely ignoring the seedier side of the job when we started blogging, but we never imagined a year like this either where it completely dominates everything we post. Whatever.

Closed Market - Rest in Peace

Remember the fanfare? Remember the publicity? Remember the headlines?

• Desk Cops Back to the Beat! (paraphrasing here)
• Driving a Desk no More! (paraphrase)
  
• Cops - Out from under the Desks! (we're REALLY paraphrasing here)

Somewhere on or around 01 April, Operation Closed Market will be formally disbanded, but as of this week, all the equipment was mothballed and no one at Headquarters has to go on the street anymore - except for those 80 "not quite heavy enough" people sent back to Districts to replace the new TRU platoon that became operational 29 March.

We're waiting for that other "official" blog to mention that open air narcotics markets have been eliminated as a source of illegal drugs, illicit case and homicidal tendencies across the west and south sides.

Why such a successful program was allowed to die off without a word of it's phenomenal accomplishments makes us wonder - was it all smoke? Or just mirrors?

It Costs How Much?

A high school. A simple high school. A couple of floors, a roof, divided into class rooms. Maybe a lab or two, wired for computers. A gym. Pretty much a large functional square building. Opening bid? $63 million.

Today?

• The cost of building a new Westinghouse High School has skyrocketed, to nearly $103 million, far beyond the $63 million for Little Village High, according to plans approved Wednesday by Chicago School Board members.
• In 2004, the board agreed to pay $63 million for site preparation, environmental work, construction and various fees for the new Westinghouse. Later, Daley said he wanted to put a 600-student college prep school and a 600-student vocational education school in the building, forcing design changes.
• The original estimate left out some demolition, land acquisition and remediation costs, said CPS spokesman Michael Vaughn. Also, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, construction costs have spiked, adding about $20 million to the cost, he said.

Funny how the price just kept climbing after the contract was already awarded. And just how much are the Olympics slated to cost? We can only hope the recent scandals have shifted the games to LA, otherwise this entire city will be bankrupt (more than usual we mean).

Start Fighting Back

Alright, enough with the negativity.

Here's Carol Marin's latest rip job on the police. Carol is pretty much typical of the police hating, in-Daley's-pocket media. No sense of history or what really goes on in police work.

Here's a response you'll only ever see here and maybe a few other websites:

• Ms. Marin,
  
  I just finished reading your article in today's Sun-times. Once again, you're leading the charge against the law enforcement profession. I ask myself, what has made you a police-hater and when did you become an expert on police matters?
  
  I find it appalling that you, and most of the other media outlets in this city, continue with your one-sided reporting. Of the 13,000+ Chicago police officers it seems that you choose to report on the .5% that are dirty. What about the rest of these men and women who risk their lives daily to serve and protect complete strangers? Oh right, the stories of those men and women do not sell newspapers or bring in ad revenues. It's as if nobody in your profession cares to get the whole story anymore. Like everything else, it's about the almighty dollar. Is that what they're teaching in Journalism 101 these days?
  
  I had the pleasure of attending a book signing last week at FOP, Chicago Lodge 7 headquarters. The authors of 'End of Watch, Chicago Police Officers Killed in the Line of Duty' were on hand to talk about the book which commemorates the lives of the 500+ Chicago police officers killed in the line of duty. What I noticed most, Ms. Marin, was that you were not on hand to cover this story. Neither were most of the other media outlets in the city of Chicago. ABC 7 was the ONLY channel in attendance. 500+ men and women! Yet those in the media continue to give the most attention to a very small percentage of officers.
  
  I preside over a public charity that each year honors two deserving police officers for going above and beyond the call of duty. Officers from the same mold as my brother Mike who was killed on duty in August 2004. Each of the last two years we have sent a press release to all media outlets. Besides a couple of local papers covering the story, I have received ZERO media coverage of the TRUE BLUE Awards. I do not have Carol Marin on hand to interview the winners. These are the men and women who should be paraded in front of the camera and written about day after day. Not the scum that have made an already difficult profession even more dangerous.
  
  Ms. Marin, my brother lived and breathed police work. He was the first person in the locker room each shift and rarely took a break while on duty. He and his partner accumulated 44 felony arrests in the eight week period before he died. Mike was truly in the zone. Yet nobody covered that story. Of course, they covered his funeral. Who doesn't want to see a grieving widow or crying child? Who doesn't want to see shattered parents and siblings? I'm sorry, Ms. Marin. My brother's life, not his death, was the story. Just like the other men and women of the CPD.
  
  Thank you for contributing to the demise in stature of our police officers. This year's TRUE BLUE Awards will be held on Sunday, November 11. I know you'll be first on hand to cover the 'story.'
  
  Respectfully,
  
  John E. Gordon
  Brother of Michael P. Gordon, CPO (EOW 08/AUG/2004)

Thanks John - your support means everything
Godspeed Michael - we remember

Ready Made Scandals

We are suffering from scandal fatigue.

Really. We're just kind of sick of it. Some are legit scandals, like the SOS one and the Abbate incident. Some are yet to be fully revealed like the Jefferson Tap incident. Some are absolute BS, like the 025th District court hearing.

Since the media is allegedly using this blog to dig up scandals, why not let them have it all? But instead of sticking it to the unconnected blue shirts on the front lines, why don't we start with the nepotism and politically incompetent who seem to rise through the ranks unimpeded by failure, shame or inability?

But don't do the media's job for them. No names. Just positions held at the time of the incident or positions promoted to. We'll leave out the sexual hi-jinks at the moment - just pure incompetence to start with or tremendously boneheaded moves.

Shit flows downhill. Start at the top.

FOP Speaks

But we aren't sure what they're saying. On one hand, it is reported that they are condemning the rush to judgement (Channel 2 and Channel 7):

• “Because there's such a rush to judgment and because the overplay of something like this actually goes along with the impetus that police officers are guilty until proven innocent,” said Mark Donahue, president of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police.
• Donahue says the constant airing of the tape is hurting police morale.
  

Then on the Tribune website:

• While some rank-and-file officers have objected to Cline's reaction, Donahue sided with the superintendent.
• "The action caught on tape and the action taken by a captain at Area 5 [the Grand Central Area] are indefensible," he said.
  

Doesn't that seem like a rush to judgement on the Captain? Almost every single instance we've seen typed here says that the media was (A) parking illegally, which we've just received how many hours of roll call remonstrations about and (B) violating the security of the station, which is the Captain's responsibility.

Now we're also hearing that it was the judge who ordered the indicted softball to be shifted out a rear door? Since when has CPD ever run security for the courts? Never in our memory - County is very territorial, as they should be since they bear the ultimate responsibility should someone escape custody from the courts. And why shouldn't CPD control access to it's own parking lots?

More facts please. It seems this decision is going to bite a lot of brass in the ass.

Lots of Eyeballs

Movie Quote:

• If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
  

Well, since we've been banned on Department computers for almost 60 days now, let's see what those visitor numbers look like:

Wow. You'd think that with no one checking the computers at work, we would have taken a major league hit in readership. But there seems to be a definite UPWARD trend in these numbers - especially today.

Is it temporary? Sure. We're driven by scandals and this has been a rather unfortunate set of weeks we're going through at the moment. But still, the "steel driving man" and "the Orange one" aren't drawing daily numbers like these on their propaganda site - they're not even drawing monthly numbers like these. Not that you can tell with no site meter, but we know people who know the numbers.

Welcome Tribune Readers!

Well, we seem to have been linked from Eric Zorn's blog. We're getting hundreds of visitors from the Tribune website, specifically a number of links from Zorn's comment sections.

Of course, the person or persons who link here are ripping on a number of the less than educated comments without regard to the realities of the situation - typical leftist and media tricks. We'd just like to clarify a few things for our new visitors:

• We (that is to say the persons running this blog) are off duty Chicago Police officers. We run this on our own time, away from Department computers and to voice our own opinions. Yes, as American citizens, we are allowed to have opinions and even a website to publish them on.
• We address city issues, as well as national, international, silly things, sad things, all sorts of things that interest US. The fact that we have open comments and a robust dialogue is merely a side benefit to an entertaining hobby of ours.
• We have readers on SIX continents - the final frontier being Antarctica - and about 40% of our readership comes from outside city limits. We have been averaging about 3,000 visitors a day lately, mainly due to the fact that this is a scandal driven blog. Such is life.
• We cannot prove, nor do we intend to prove, that every single poster on this site is a Chicago Police Officer. We demand no proof of employment to read, post and opine here. A list of users could be used for political purposes - and if you don't believe that, we've got some nice swampland to sell you.

So welcome readers - look around the ENTIRE site before forming an opinion. Please note that everything that we post carries our moniker and SCC flag. We are the only persons here freely admitting that we are Chicago Police. Everyone else, take it with a large grain of salt. Sure, we've got some trolls here, some might even be cops. But there are assholes everywhere - even amongst the media and their readers.

Addition to the Banned List

The initials "JM" are now banned when they relate to anyone or anything occurring south of 31st Street.

That is all.

Is This Job All That?

We recently received a letter in the comments section asking us not to post the actual content of the thread, but to ask us a number of questions concerning the job.

It seems this person is about to join the force, is slated to enter the Academy shortly, comes from a police family (not CPD) and asks:

• Is making a career that hard at the CPD?

So we're putting it to you, the readers. Put aside the political BS for a moment and the attacks and the scandals currently rearing their heads. Is it difficult to have a career in the CPD?

We'll say that it's a lot easier to have fun and make it worth your while if you come in without blinders on. Or stars in your eyes. Or expecting anything above a typical civil service job. Some of your best friends and worst enemies can be sitting roll call with you each and every day. You'll meet some of the finest people in the world and few of the worst. Mostly, it's guys and gals trying to make a living and chisel out a little niche for themselves and their families.

What say the readers?

Shut Down the Blog?

Once again, someone has their panties in a bunch claiming that this blog is the cause of all the problems suddenly cropping up in the media. That the media reads this site daily and sits on nuggets of potential scandal until the time that they can bring them up to do maximum damage and embarrass the Department.

First of all, this blog didn't cause a bad drunk to lose his marbles and beat a woman half his size. And this blog had nothing to do with the video being released to the media. That is on a civilian and her lawyer attempting to get some sort of payout. And the gun team thing was bound to hit once the first video became available. And we also didn't have anything to do with the State's Attorney and IAD investigating, stripping and arresting almost 20 coppers at SOS.

We've tried to give coppers, especially unconnected ones, a place to bitch and moan about the rampant political cronyism, the nepotism, the incompetence, and the funny shit that makes for great stories. Has it gotten out of control at times? Welcome to moderated comments. Has it gotten bigger than we ever imagined? Yeah, and we've tried to adapt to it as it grows. We take reader input very seriously into consideration.

Here's a survey:

• Does this blog creates problems?
• Does this blog shines a light on important issues?
• Who thinks we ought to moderate certain things a little more tightly?

Serious suggestions only. Off topic will be deleted. Obscene ranting gets flushed. Constructive criticism people. Constructive.

Addendum to Below Posting

Building on the previous posting, we have this to say:

• If, in fact, the Captain did anything to displease Cline, Daley or any other of a couple of dozen people with enough pull to actually get someone demoted, then there's really nothing to bitch about. All exempts serve at the pleasure of the Superintendent (or whomever is pulling the strings). We can't sit here and make fun of national democrats for making mountains out of molehills when Bush decides certain Attorney Generals need to be fired (even though Clinton did the same thing on a MASSIVE scale) and then claim outrage when the Superintendent (or string pullers) exercise that same right.
• This would appear to be more than just the handicap parking tickets issued to the media. If tickets were issued to the media for parking in handicap spots around 025 and Branch 50, fuck them. Is the media breaking the law or not? Courtesy is a two way street and scoring cheap points to provide a crooked administration with political cover negates the courtesy in our book. You park your media van illegally where we work, you're getting hammered. And we won't be getting demoted, that's for sure.

The news footage of squad cars allegedly being used to block a driveway and street access - can someone explain fully what those cars were there for? Couldn't it have been done on the sly a little more subtly? Park in the rear lot? Park in the garage? Let's face it - this goof is going to be on TV - more so now that he's internationally famous for giving the entire Department a black eye. No one says we have to make it easy for the cameras though - rope off a media area in front of the court. Then send the indicted guy out the back and make the cameras run for their footage - you could even start an office pool and pick the fleetest of foot.

Do we really have to point out all the indicted politicians who frequently exit through loading docks and other limited access areas down at the Federal courts? Or convicted brass who were spirited away with nary a camera in sight?

From the Comments

Someone please PLEASE tell us this isn't true (from the comments section):

• BREAKING NEWS!!!
  
  This just in. . .
  
  Several news trucks covering the Abbate hearing in branch 50 were parked illegaly in the handicapped spots located in the front lot of 025. An 025th District car appropriately wrote them each a parking ticket. The news media in-turn called the Superintendent's Office and complained. Shortly thereafter, the Area 5 Deputy Chief, 025th District Commander, and 025th District 2nd Watch Commander were called down in person to Cline's office for a meeting. They were all given a severe ass chewin' by Cline, and the Captain, who is a great boss, was immediately dumped to an unknown district as punishment for his officer's actions.
  
  I can't believe Cline would take the media's side in this matter when they are so clearly wrong!

Didn't the Sun Times just do a huge expose piece on some canine guy who had handicap signs for his ex-wife and he had parked the K9 van there while he waited for the City to remove the signs? And now the freaking media is ticketed for parking in handicap spots and they bitch about it?

Let this be someone yanking our chain. Otherwise, we're going to have to load up the big guns and really start hunting some big game.

UPDATE: Channel 9 just led with the story that the 025th District Captain will be demoted for his conduct during this incident. No links yet. Can someone give us the blow by blow?

UPDATE: Tribune link

Another Reason to Fight Residency

We signed on to this job knowing that we would be required to live within the bounds of the city. We knew the schools sucked and we might end up working side jobs to pay for private education. We knew there were all sorts of hidden fees and such (stickers, permits for improving our property, etc). Obscene taxes on all sorts of things that we could buy for cheaper elsewhere. We grew up with it.

That didn't make it the right rule, but the benefits outweighed the downsides at that point in time and we hired on.

Now, if you want to live in a semi-desirable neighborhood, you're looking at insane amounts of money just to get a shoddily built condo. Truly nice neighborhood homes are almost completely out of the range of all but the most affluent. And it's about to get worse:

• On the heels of last year's reassessment, property tax bills in the City of Chicago are set to soar by an average 44%. CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, community groups and others are hoping the General Assembly will intervene.
• the General Assembly's been deadlocked since last year on the issue. As a result, the previous 7% cap on assessment increases has expired.
• A new study finds that if legislators now do nothing, Chicago homeowners would see tax bills go up 44% on average.

44%? On average? And people wonder that Cook County lost some 88,000 residents in the past 6 years, many from Chicago itself? And with Blago looking to raise taxes on business (which will just pass the increases on to consumers) we are looking at a disaster of major proportions in the making over the next decade or so.

As long as you get to work on time, who cares where you live?

Man, We Hate Lawyers

This is some amazingly potent BS:

• A man whose wife died a week after she got a piece of meat stuck in her throat while eating dinner at the Chicago Yacht Club says the Yacht Club bears responsibility for her death, since its employees tried, unsuccessfully, to perform the Heimlich maneuver on her.
• In a lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, Nick Rice claims the Yacht Club, by making the attempt to save his wife's life, "assumed the duty to perform the Heimlich maneuver with due care."
• The city of Chicago is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, but court papers do not explain why the city is being sued.

We don't think that the Chicago Yacht Club has anything to do with the City of Chicago aside from paying some form of rent to the Park District, which we believe is in charge of the actual lakefront and harbors. We could be mistaken and if we are, someone will correct us.

But how does a lawyer make the leap from the actions of the employees of a privately run entity trying to save a woman into naming the City in a lawsuit? Any lawyers out there want to explain why this piece of crap shouldn't be strung up by his ankles, beaten raw, tarred, feathered, hanged, drawn, quartered and the pieces of his maimed corpse fed to wild pigs?

We're just wondering.

More Aldrecreatures to be Dumped?

Runoff elections are the 17th of April and we for one are hoping for a bunch upset victories from challengers. The papers are picking up on the closeness of certain races and spotlighting them more and more:

• Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd) has made national headlines as a champion for slave reparations and sponsor of a disclosure ordinance that requires city contractors to come clean about past ties to the slave trade.
• "Dorothy is a lot of talk and little action. She announces projects, but they never come to fruition, or take years to happen. The Harold Washington Cultural Center is an example. It took 10 years to build, with lots of public money. It should be a catalyst for the economic renaissance of 47th Street. But once you go east and west of that corner [47th and King], it looks like a Third World country."
• Tillman, whose daughter runs the Harold Washington Cultural Center, categorically denied that she has ignored meat-and-potatoes issues. She pointed with pride to the three hotels on the drawing board or under construction in her ward.

Well, golly. Imagine that. A huge public works project in Dorothy's ward run by (of all people) her daughter. How does that happen? And the rest of the ward feels slighted? If Dorothy loses along with Haithcock, we are seriously celebrating that night.

And Bernie Stone is having trouble, too:

• The closing of the only big supermarket in the 50th ward, Dominick's on North Damen, is now an issue in the aldermanic runoff race. Aldermanic candidate Naisy Dolar blames her opponent, city council veteran Bernie Stone, for not keeping a single major grocer in the ward.

  "When somebody has experience, they should be effective. Bernie stone has experience yet is ineffective," said Naisy Dolar, 50th Ward Candidate

All of these races are going to depend on turnout. If the challengers can muster enough outraged people, we could suddenly have an amusing little band of "independents" that will have almost zero political power.

So...?

Has anyone resigned yet?

Seriously.

Actually, we've got nothing but a house full of sick people here, so easy posting today. Open post for now.

We've noticed the numbers climbing all weekend. Unfortunately, we are scandal driven in terms of numbers and the readership numbers reflect that. We're going to step back for today and hope no one else steps in shit before our PM posting session begins.

One Million Visitors

Sometime in the next 4 to 6 hours, we shall host visitor number One Million.

Of course, it's likely to be the same 1,200 people over and over and over again, but still - One Million is a pretty amazing number. Once again, thanks to everyone for your support. We couldn't do it without you all ... well, actually, we probably could, but it'd be awfully boring with no one to read the posts.

We kid! We kid! Please come back!

We hereby designate "Schicklegroover" as visitor #1,000,000, even though he's probably in bed sleeping by this time of night.

CFD Arrangements

Published on NBC's website:

• The visitation will be held at Blake-Lamb Funeral Home from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday. The funeral home is located at 4727 W. 103rd St. in Oak Lawn.
• Mass will be held at Christ the King Church on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. followed by the burial at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery at 6000 W. 111th St. in Alsip. Christ the King Church is located at 9255 S. Hamilton Ave.

Also, a fund has been set up for his 3 children:

• Prospect Federal Savings
  6858 S. Pulaski, Chicago, IL
  4646 W. 103rd St., Oak Lawn, IL
  11139 S. Harlem, Worth, IL

Time for Change

Not a single soul in the political administration is going to say it without word from above. Out of 50 aldercreatures, we have yet to hear a dissenting voice raised in protest. Even the supposedly "independent" media hasn't the balls to say anything.

We are visited by maybe 1,200 people a day (most visit twice). We average about 2,500 hits a day - in a city of 2.5 million, we are read by under 1/100th of 1% of the population. And actually, even less than that as almost 40% of our visitors are from out of state and out of the country. And we are stuck saying this:

• Phil Cline - RESIGN NOW PLEASE

Not only Phil Cline, but Dana Starks, too. And Maria Maher. And Debra Kirby. And Charles Williams. And who knows how many more creatures who never were, can't and won't ever be the police.

The scandals of recent years, from missing dope, guns and property at E&RPS, Broken Star, Flagg and company, SOS, the Abbate beating, the Gun Team bar incident, the list seems endless, can all be traced to a quid pro quo promotion system geared toward political loyalty or for services rendered. The Department leadership fails and continues to fail taxpayers and the decent men and women they are supposed to lead.

• The hampton sign issue? ZERO leadership. No one spoke up for the dead aside from a meaningless gesture that had no chance of approval.
• The rev. meeks traffic stop non issue? ZERO leadership. No one defended the sergeant's actions and instead, hung him out to dry for weeks while trips were made to the church run by a race baiter. We're still amazed the right decision was eventually made.
• Manpower allocation? ZERO leadership. Too many two-year secretaries with guns hidden in 35th Street cubicles, CAPS back offices and gold star harems. Districts operate down 50 coppers on average due to detailed out personnel so various bosses can run their little teams and fiefs.
• Promotions? ZERO leadership. No set standards for "merit" promotions and goals to shoot for. Far too often people promoted above their capabilities or ability and only due to who they know or worse. Retired personnel mandatoried off the job, then hired back as civilian exempts at or above their previously inflated salaries, all while drawing from our 50% funded pension plan.
• Actual solving crime and clearance rates? ZERO leadership. Commit murder in Chicago and there's a better than 50% chance you'll get away with it. And it isn't looking any better this year. The answer? More seat belt missions? No more "grabbing the keys and driving around." You might find actual crime that way!
  

The leadership has failed. The rank and file does not support you in any meaningful way. You have lost their confidence. You preach accountability, yet if our e-mail is to be believed, a certain exempt has given the same speech to every single "ethics" class of supervisors stating if he could have transferred certain offending sergeants and officers any farther than he did (way up north to districts way down south) he would have - which means he knew about this bar brawl months ago. Yet it breaks into the news Saturday?

Where is the accountability of the bosses? Of the politically connected? Of the failure of the hiring and screening processes that are supposed to provide us with new blood to do the job?

You don't like our opinion? Fine. Rip us. We'll even publish it if you can make a reasonable amount of sense in explaining why we're assholes for calling for bosses to be accountable for their people, their promotions, their stretching the rules to cover a bunch of people while hanging others out to dry.

Frankly, we're just disgusted with a whole bunch of people right about now.

Here We Go Again

It just never ends. Channel 2 opens the coverage:

• An attorney is claiming four men were brutally beaten a few months ago by off-duty Chicago Police officers in a bar, less than a week after an officer was charged in a similar incident.
  
  Their attorney says the attack was caught on tape, although the video has not been released.

Oh, but it will be released. Very shortly. You can take that to the bank. The Tribune also covers this one:

• Prosecutors are investigating allegations that six off-duty Chicago cops were caught on a downtown bar's video camera beating four businessmen, the second such incident in recent months, law enforcement sources said.
  
  In the Dec. 15 beating at the Jefferson Tap and Grille, one alleged victim required reconstructive surgery on his face and another suffered four broken ribs, said Sally Saltzberg, a lawyer for the men.

We alluded to a couple of scandals breaking. We expected both of these. There's still a couple more out there that we know of and god knows how many we don't. We'll have a follow up post on this shortly - probably after midnight with our regularly scheduled updates.

Police v Fire - Hockey Game

As Bill Kugelman (former or current head of the CFD Local - we can't remember which - sorry Bill) reminded us in a comments section, the Police/Fire Charity Hockey Game is Saturday around noon.

Come out and support your team and the Gold Star Families. We went a few years back and it was a very friendly, family oriented event. If we can find the time and energy, we'll be there again.

UPDATE: The game is at noon, United Center (or whatever they're calling it nowadays). Cost is $5, kids under 12 free.

Collateral Damage

The crap and speculation is flying thick and furious.

At the Sun Times:

• A grand jury is investigating whether a Chicago Police officer was involved in trying to cover up off-duty officer Anthony G. Abbate's alleged beating of a female bartender, sources said Thursday.

At Channel 2:

• Investigators are trying to find out if someone intimidated a woman to keep quiet after being beaten, allegedly by an off-duty Chicago Police officer, in an attack that was caught on tape.

At Channel 7(mostly paraphrasing the Sun Times):

• A grand jury is investigating whether a Chicago police officer was involved in trying to cover up another officer's alleged beating of a female bartender. The violent attack was caught by a security camera.

This particular bloodletting isn't going away any time soon. This scandal might have some legs. And as a DUI will usually catch you 30 days minimum and we can name half a dozen people who were denied this job because of DUI incidents, was there some sort of... how would you say it?... influence? clout? involved in his hiring? We're just speculating.

Half Assed Reporting

Anyone heard anything about this?

• Two people have filed a federal lawsuit alleging three Chicago Police officers duct taped and beat them earlier in the month.
  
  The plaintiffs also accuse the plainclothes officers of threatening both of them at gunpoint, and beating one plaintiff with a baseball bat and burning his body with a lighter.
  
  According to the five-count suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court, one plaintiff, Tamira Smyth, was pulling into her garage on March 9 when two officers cut her car off, withdrew their guns and then handcuffed her. After leading her up to her apartment, they allegedly duct taped her hands and legs to a chair. The suit says the officers were constantly pointing their guns at her head.
• The suit accused the unidentified officers of unlawful seizure, unlawful search, excessive force, battery and infliction of emotional distress.

We aren't sure if the officers are unidentified for certain legal reasons or they're unidentified because they are completely unknown - as in non-existent. This sounds like complete and utter BS and someone looking for a quick payout. Tying the victim to a chair? Beating with a baseball bat? Burned with cigarette lighters? Come on, this is a bad Hollywood script.

At least we know it can't be any unit with GPS in the cars.

French UFO's

News of the Weird (apologies to The Reader):

• France's national space agency has opened its UFO files to the public by launching a website which documents reported sightings over five decades.

  So many people have already tried to look at the files that it has become impossible to access the site.

We've conducted our own investigation of the 1,600 or so reports of Unidentified Flying Objects spotted around France and concluded a great majority was unfired rifles, military uniforms, collaboration papers, various cheeses, unused deodorant, brand new women's disposable razors, national pride and whatever their unassimilated immigrant population can throw at the national police.

Shots Fired - 025

Another shooting - fatal?

• Chicago police fired shots on the West Side Friday evening. According to police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli, officers fired shots at West Division Street and North Harding Avenue about 5:45 p.m. Mirabelli did not have any information on whether anyone was shot.

  The shots were fired in an alley, Mirabelli said.

  An ambulance responded to the scene, but it was not needed because there were no transports, according to Fire Media Affairs spokesman Rich Rosado.

  News Affairs Deputy Director Pat Camden was at the scene, Mirabelli said.

No transports? Camden on scene? Hmmm.

UPDATE: Sun Times confirms fatality.

Fire Fighter Killed

Our deepest sympathies to CFD on the loss of one of their own. No one is ever surprised when a cop dies in a shoot out or a firefighter gets killed when a building collapses on them. We work dangerous professions.

But for the past couple of years if we aren't mistaken, traffic accidents have taken more lives of police than felonious assault. And we're beginning to wonder if the same isn't true for fire fighters.

There's a reason the fire trucks and ambulances have those great big freaking sirens on them - that's a damn heavy piece of equipment flying down the street. And after the push for "Pull to the Right for Sirens and Lights" we've noticed citizens failing to do so once again recently.

Sun Times, Tribune, Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7 coverage.

Sorry About That

Thought we had hit the "Publish" button before we headed off to work/play/bed or where ever we ended up last night. Must have missed something.

In any case, here's an open post for Friday. We'll post more when we awaken/recover/chose to do so.

County Insanity

Chronic mismanagement and outright incompetence.

• More than $130 million in unpaid Cook County hospital bills have been found stuffed into boxes -- and officials said 40 or 50 more boxes could be stashed somewhere else.

  While finances and bookkeeping were long known to be a problem in the hospital system, County Board members learned Tuesday just how big the problem had become during the tenure of ex-Board President John Stroger.

  The 77 boxes recently discovered were each stuffed with about 2,500 billing forms.

  And hospital chief Dr. Robert Simon said there could be another 40 or 50 similar boxes hidden elsewhere.

And Urkel wants to raise taxes and fees to cover his (and his daddy's) budget shortfalls? It's about time to disband county government. They've outlived their usefulness.

Haithcock Slander

Among the aldercreatures facing runoffs, Madeline "hatecops" Haithcock is facing probably the most formidable of challenges. She came in a distant second place to challenger Bob Fioretti and this was after Fiorette had to fend off last minute accusations of being a stalker:

• At issue is a 2003 order of protection sought by a woman against Fioretti. A judge vacated the order a week after it was issued upon learning Fioretti and his girlfriend had filed criminal complaints against the woman the year before for allegedly making unsolicited advances toward Fioretti.

  The woman was a court reporter who saw Fioretti in courtrooms where he appeared as an attorney. They had no relationship -- sexual or otherwise, Fioretti said.

The National Organization for Women withdrew their endorsement just prior to the election until questions were answered and now that they've been satisfied, have re-endorsed Fioretti in the runoff.

But when has the truth ever mattered to Haithcock or her ilk?

• Haithcock would not back down from the charge in an increasingly ugly 2nd Ward campaign a day after NOW reinstated an endorsement of Fioretti. When the allegations surfaced on the weekend before the Feb. 27 election, the group withdrew its backing. Following a review, NOW reinstated support in advance of the April 17 runoff election.
• Haithcock has put out a campaign mailer calling Fioretti "a stalker of women." On Tuesday, she reiterated the charge, defended the mailer as "factual -- not sleazy" and said she would continue to hammer away at the issue.

Fioretti has hinted that he will be seeing Haithcock in court regarding these allegations. Hopefully, she loses this election badly and then loses her house in a slander judgement.

Terror Attacks on Schools

We wrote earlier this week about how the next big terror attack will probably occur in a school. Someone attempted to post a massive article in our comments section and, unfortunately, due to the size and copyright restrictions, we were obliged to delete it.

Via SecondCitySarge, we are able to post the link to the entire article so people can peruse it at their leisure. Chuck Remsberg outlines the hows, whys and methods that groups employ to sow terror. He quotes Lt. Col Dave Grossman at length in how to be prepared and possibly defend or deter an attack.

An excellent read.

Undiscovered Scandal?

Pointed out to us by an alert reader, this might bear some scrutiny:

• The head of the state's child welfare agency told lawmakers Tuesday he was "horrified" by allegations that a Chicago company with a no-bid contract billed the state more than $2 million for drug tests it never conducted.
  
  Acting director Erwin McEwen told a Senate appropriations committee he could not explain why there hadn't been more scrutiny of the contract that K.K. Bio-Science Inc. had since the mid-1990s with the Department of Children and Family Services.

Here's the payoff paragraph:

• In 1995, the firm lost a contract to screen Chicago police and fire employees following allegations it was not licensed by federal authorities to conduct urinalyses. In 1992, federal authorities accused the company of cheating on test results to pass federal licensing examinations.

"...lost a contract..." That would seem to imply they actually HAD a contract, wouldn't it? And if they were conducting unlicensed testing, there would seem to be a certain lack of standards, right? And if these people were testing CPD and CFD employees (or potential employees), how can anyone who tested positive or wasn't hired because of alleged positive tests be sure they were given full due process or persons who should have been caught by the myriad of systems in place weren't, in fact, caught at all? The mind boggles.

Political Hiring? Political Revenge?

Where? In Chicago? Come on - you can't seriously believe that, can you?

• Mayor Richard Daley's administration agreed Wednesday to a court settlement aimed at replacing the decades-old federal consent decree that bans political influence in almost all city hiring and firing decisions.
• The city will create a $12 million fund for people who claim that they have been discriminated against on the basis of politics. Michael Shakman, the lawyer who sued the city over patronage, said he expects thousands of people will apply for individual awards of as much as $100,000.

And if you try to buck the system, they will come after you.

• A federal judge has blocked the city from suspending two police supervisors who won a discrimination lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department.
• "By attempting to follow through with suspensions against the plaintiffs despite the jury's verdict, the city has conclusively made the case against itself that its retaliatory conduct is likely to persist in the future," Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole wrote in a stinging opinion signed last Thursday.

What a screwed up system we live under.

Police Shooting

Up north in Rogers Park

Cops ok. Bad guy dead. Exactly as it should be.

Coverage at Channel 2. More to follow as it becomes available.

UPDATE: Channel 5, Channel 7, Tribune.

What the F#$%?

This dumbfuck is going to jail.

• Chicago -- This wasn't any barfight caught on tape. An angry man pummels a much smaller female bartender. As it turns out, he's a Chicago police officer and late Tuesday night he was taken into custody.

Sorry, but we have zero sympathy for jagoffs like this. This sets back the public perception of every single person who has worn, is wearing, or will wear the uniform, star and shield of the Chicago Police Department. Is every copper like this? No, of course not. But it plays into the hands of every stereotype out there and gives opponents in the press, political circles and pulpits ammunition with which to advance an agenda that completely undercuts the police.

Certain people never should have been the police. Ever. And this is a prime example. Who on this board has ever thought, drunk or sober, that it's ok to beat a 115 pound woman who wasn't attacking you with a knife, bottle or gun? Over a fucking beer?

Blago BS Getting Deep

Everyone always gives George Bush a bad rap for wearing his faith on his sleeve. Hey, whatever floats your boat - we're mostly non practicing persons of indeterminate religions. Big whoop.

But Blago is really getting goofy, saying his budget that provides for the largest tax hikes in Illinois history puts him on the side of the Lord? From Channel 2:

• The governor says he has heavenly help as he pushes for the largest increase in taxes and spending in the history of Illinois.
  
  As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he is "on the side of the Lord."
  
  The governor called his campaign a "crusade," declaring that, as he sees it, he is on the side of God in offering Illinoisans more access to medical insurance and better schools.

How about instead of free handouts, Blago remembers that the good Lord helps those who help themselves? Taking our money and giving it out to failed social programs and failed social experiments doesn't put you anywhere near god(s), deities, or spiritual presences. It just pisses off the taxpayers.

And Channel 7 has more:

• "We salute this budget proposal that is hitting deep pockets and we are saying to Corporate America, if you don't support the plan, we will take to the streets and we know how," said Rev. Janette Wilson, Ministers Alliance.

  Dozens of Chicago-area ministers are threatening boycotts and demonstrations if that's what it takes to convince corporations and lawmakers to support Governor Blagojevich's plan for a new tax on business revenues to raise $6 billion a year for schools and health care.

Let's see a few of these businesses move their operations out of state. Maybe even a few union shops fold up their tents and watch the governor and his cronies try to explain how they're driving high paying jobs right out of Illinois. We're bleeding jobs and money in this state and Blago is applying leeches to the wounds, sucking more blood out of the body. We are so doomed.

Protest Stories

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Channel 7, Channel 5, and the Tribune cover it.

Anyone out there have stories? The news said zero arrests. Must have been boring beyond belief.

Open post for now.

Duh!

Must we do all of the Toddler's thinking for him?

• Not even a month after the Cook County Board made massive cuts to pass a $3 billion budget, next year's deficit is already in the millions.
• The county had lowered its expectations for cigarette sales, from $223 million expected last year to $175 million this year, but it's falling short of that mark already.
• County Finance Chairman John Daley wasn't alarmed by the numbers, though he said the recorder's shortfall "is unusual and we're going to have to address it." Though Recorder Gene Moore did not return calls, Fratto said that drop is likely based on slow home sales.

If you tax it, people will flee the jurisdiction and buy their products elsewhere. We see it everyday, coppers and other residents doing all their shopping in the surrounding suburbs, or crossing the border into Indiana for gas and smokes. We ourselves run quite a thriving business transporting cheap cigarettes ... ah, never mind that last part. It never happened.

Slaughter of Innocents

Lost in the hubbub of St. Patty's Day was this little item from the Associated Press (linked via YahooNews):

• Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counter terror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said, "Parents and children have nothing to fear."

  Asked about the alert notice, the FBI's Rich Kolko said, "There are no threats, no plots and no history leading us to believe there is any reason for concern," although law enforcement agencies around the country were asked to watch out for kids' safety.

No history? Do us a favor - go Google the word "Beslan." Never mind, we'll do it for you. Then if you have the stomach for seeing dead children, click on a few of the links or the Google images. Hey FBI Spokesman? There's your fucking history. Jagoff. Go read this entire article and wonder how the hell the FBI ever gets anything done right.

You want to know what the next terror attack is going to be? It's going to be in one of America's grade schools. Or on a bus full of children. Not a high school. And you want to know how it will probably go down?

• Gunmen storm a school, killing on site security (if any) and any number of adults on scene.
• Any males who might be perceived as a problem will be summarily executed as a warning to anyone else who might cause problems, especially anyone perceived as a security threat.
• Children will be rounded up from the classrooms from where they have been locked down to "protect" them from rampaging gunmen. The locks will prove no obstacle to the hostage takers and they'll grab 30 to 40 children at a time who have been so conveniently boxed up for them
  
• Any other males will be forced at gunpoint or by a few more summary executions to fortify/secure defensible positions, such as an interior library, office or gymnasium. Upon completion of the fortifications, these males will also be executed.
• Should the situation run any length of time, adult females and some adolescents will be separated from their students for two purposes: to increase the uncertainty and fear among the children and to provide "entertainment" for their captors.
• Once an unrealistic set of demands are issued, children will die. Plain and simple. Lots of children will die. Teachers, too. And probably more than a few policemen.

This is almost EXACTLY how the Beslan school event occurred. Or how about this scenario?

• A bus route, manned by one or more of these "extremists" who the FBI claims there is nothing to fear from, fails to deliver one or more busloads of children to school on time. The GPS that is supposed to be in the bus has mysteriously been deactivated.
• While police are called and the bus company contacted to determine who the driver is, what the bus number may be, what was the route taken, who was the last child picked up, etc., somewhere behind a warehouse or on some deserted railroad tracks or in some abandoned building, "extremists" are making snuff films for internet distribution to completely shock and frighten America.

For pete's sake, the Army is recovering floor plans for American schools in Iraq and no one covers it.

Beslan. On American soil. We don't often hope to be wrong or completely mistaken, but this is one of those times. Because we as a city and we as a Department are no where near ready for something like this.

Gun Rights - Expanding?

It seems unbelievable, but the Tribune had not one, but two separate recent editorials that outline how gun rights might finally make there way back to Illinois in general, and Chicago specifically.

First up, Steve Chapman (we'll link his post at RealClearPolitics):

• For nearly 70 years, the Second Amendment has been the Jimmy Hoffa of constitutional provisions -- missing, its whereabouts unknown, and presumed dead. [...] But recently, a federal appeals court did something no federal court had ever done before: It struck down a gun control law as a violation of the Second Amendment.
• Even some liberal constitutional experts now agree that gun ownership enjoys constitutional protection. The most notable is Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, who once subscribed to the collective rights theory. The amendment, he writes, recognizes "a right (admittedly of uncertain scope) on the part of individuals to possess and use firearms in defense of themselves and their homes." The appeals court agreed, striking down D.C.'s prohibition of handguns in the home, as well as regulations on other guns.
• It would be a stunning turnabout if the Supreme Court adopts that view. It would remove some of the most extreme laws from the books -- such as the virtually total ban on handguns in Chicago and some suburban communities. Gun rights advocates would feel sweet vindication.

Next up is Dennis Byrne:

• Our good and well-meaning friends in Chicago, Wilmette and other towns that have outlawed the possession of handguns, even in the sanctity and privacy of the home, might want to notice that the nation's second-highest court has tossed out a similar weapons ban.
• This doesn't mean that the D.C. decision applies here, but the conflicting rulings invite the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court, where three sitting justices--Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia and David H. Souter--said in a 1998 dissent that "bearing arms" goes beyond a collective right in the context of a well-ordered militia. Combined with the votes of recent conservative appointees, the high court could sweep away draconian laws that don't even allow the possession of a handgun to protect yourself and your family in your home.
• I'd add this to what the court said: Arguing that you have only a "collective" right to bear arms as part of a militia is as ludicrous as saying that the Bill of Rights protects your free speech rights only as a part of a larger group, such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

Ginsburg and Souter, two of the courts more liberal leaning members already have written that "bearing arms" goes beyond a collective right. Combined with the more strict constructionists/originalists currently leading the Court, we might be living in some very interesting times shortly. No wonder the mayor is pushing so hard downstate for the gun registration and bans - he wants to frighten as many people as possible before the Supreme Court strikes down any number of gun laws.

(Thanks to SecondCitySarge for the initial link to Chapman's article - we ran across the Byrne article on our own)

Dude, Where's My Car?

Love these stories:

• A Chicago man, whose car was stolen at gunpoint, was himself arrested after making up a story to police.
• The man told officers that his two children were inside the car when two armed men stole it early Monday morning near the intersection of 66th Street and Indiana Avenue.
• It turned out that his children were actually safe at home.
• The man said he made up the story because he had expensive rims on his car and he wanted police to find it quickly.

And the truly sad thing is, nothing of consequence will be done to discourage this type of behavior. No jail time, no civil suit to recover costs, nothing at all. We'd love to be proven wrong, but we aren't holding our breath.

Police Memorial Week Planning

It's never to early to get your reservations and arrangements set up for Police Week 2007. From an e-mailer of ours:

• Washington DC Police Memorial Trip - Informational Get Together
• When: Wednesday 28 Mar 07 1830 hours
• Where: Dugan's on Halsted 128 S. Halsted
  
• Everyone planning on attending this year's Police Memorial Service in Washington is invited to join us for a casual gathering at Dugan's. We'll have information available regarding things to do in DC, Maps, informative web sites, etc. Hopefully any questions you have about the trip will be answered. It's also a great chance to meet other memebers who will join us in honoring our brothers and sisters who made the ultimate sacrifice.
• BYOB (Buy your own Beer)

Further information can be found by e-mailing PoliceWeek2007@aol.com

See you at Dugan's. Or Washington. Or both.

Another Mentally Disturbed Slasher

In Edgewater:

• Chicago Police issued a community alert Saturday for a man suspected in four knife attacks in the Edgewater neighborhood.

  Three men and one woman were attacked. All four were walking alone. The most seriously injured victim was hospitalized overnight. The rest suffered minor cuts.

  Police said the attacks were at 1200 N. Victoria, 5800 N. Hermitage, 1300 W. Catalpa and 1500 W. Edgewater within the last few days. The latest was at 8 a.m. Saturday.

  The assailant is described as a Hispanic man, 23 to 25 years old, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches, weighing 140 to 150 pounds. He has dark brown eyes and a light complexion and was last seen wearing a black hooded sweat shirt and black jeans.

Channel 7 also covers.

In the old days, Lt. (now Captain) JF would be out walking around the neighborhood all night, perhaps with Sgt. (now retired) DS walking somewhere else and a couple of other teams nearby to pick up the pieces afterwards. Hopefully, that's happening now, too.

UPDATE: Suspect in custody

That Time of Year Again

War Protests!

• Hundreds of protesters calling for the end of funding for the Iraq war or the immediate return of U.S. troops marched Sunday and converged on a park near the United Nations headquarters.
  
  Union members, representatives of Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow-PUSH Coalition, war veterans and others joined the demonstration, one of several staged during the weekend across the country to mark the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Allegedly, all tact, gang, SOS and assorted teams will be on standby for "incidents." These protests keep getting smaller all the time.

Suburban Police Chase - Car Flips

Anyone else think that most of the Department brass woke up, saw this story, and immediately decided that there will never be another police chase whenever they're near a radio?

Yeah, us too.

NYPD Indictments

Hop over to the Rant - located here and in our right hand links area. They have half a dozen threads going on covering the recent indictment of NYPD officers for shooting at a car that was trying to run them down (here's the Sun Times link).

They also have a few threads on the recent killings of their "auxiliary" police officers. We really have to question the wisdom of an entire "auxiliary" police force who's only purpose is to save money on training fully equipped and armed police officers.

Human beings aren't cheap - and police protection shouldn't be either. If you've seen the video, the one unarmed officer was executed in the most brutal fashion imaginable with not even a sliver of a chance to defend himself, aside from not even going to the job - which kind of defeats the purpose of even having a police department.

Pray for their families.

Fava Beans and Chianti?

Ok. This is just a wee bit twisted.

• Chicago Police were investigating a gruesome fatal stabbing of a 19-year-old man found by his roommate Thursday afternoon in their Uptown apartment.

  Johnathan Fields suffered dozens of stab wounds and his stomach was sliced open, a law enforcement source said.

No word on any major parts missing. The serial killer speculation seems a bit premature until someone figures out a link. The other two victims someone in the media is trying to tie together were gay. This guy had a girlfriend/fiance and from initial reports was a dope dealer. In any case, still kind of gross.

More Predictions

We hate to be pessimists about this job, but it's headed downhill in a hurry with no bottom in sight. Morale is at an all time low, manpower in the Districts is ridiculously understaffed, and no one wants to even take this job. A few observations and predictions:

• You think it's bad now? Wait until the latest scandal breaks and the SOS disaster heads to trial. You ain't seen nothing yet.
• Specialized units, tact/gangs, mission and saturation teams are going to find it even harder to recruit bodies as unrealistic expectations and more mission goofiness (wolfpacks?) are stacked on them - and the summer silly season is just beginning.
• Numerous aldercreatures were complaining about the lack of traffic enforcement? If the cameras actually do make it to 280 more beat cars, the only traffic activity you're going to see is the seat belt missions.
• Contract negotiations are coming - anyone want to bet not only will very little be happening for the next year and a half, we'll get screwed something fierce when we finally get a contract sometime in 2009.
• The new Superintendent will be more of the same political shenanigans.
  

Might we be mistaken on any of the above? We doubt it. Unless something overly dramatic happens, this is going to be a very bad couple of years.

The Press is the Enemy

This is beyond reprehensible (via GunLawNews):

• The Roanoke Times published an editorial about Virginia's Right-to-Carry laws, actually naming several local politicians and high-profile residents, and stating whether or not they had a Right-to-Carry license.
  
  That was bad enough, but the paper went on to publish an online database of every Right-to-Carry holder in the state of Virginia, complete with home addresses! And they did it all while proclaiming the freedom of the press.
• As you can imagine, gun owners let the paper hear their fury, and a day later the database was taken down. But the damage had been done. Who knows how many criminals started making a shopping list of homes where they could expect to find firearms and ammunition? Who knows how many would-be rapists and stalkers learned that their prey weren't on the list of Right-to-Carry holders? Who knows how many lives are in danger because of the arrogance of the Roanoke Times?
  

So what's to stop a media operation with a "holier-than-thou" attitude from publishing some other sensitive information? Like, oh, let's just say, police officer's addresses? Evidently, nothing at all if they so choose. And they do it under the guise of freedom of the press. Disgusting tactics by less than human slime.

Evaluation of GPS

Rumors abound. We talk to people who talk to people who make up shit all day long. Such is the rumor mill. The latest rumors concerning the GPS over at SOS:

• The electronic leash is tight. Supposedly, anyone caught more than 2 or 3 blocks outside of the DOC mission area has to drop paper. And the Deputy Chief himself is enforcing this one.
• Canine Units have to be in motion on their way to roll call by their assigned start times or else they get a call from the Deputy Chief's office asking why they aren't on the way.
• Paper records are being compared against computer records, including addresses where cars stopped, arrests submitted by the officers and any TSSS/contact card info generated.

Supposedly, a lot of old hands are bailing out, and the transfer orders seem to bear that out. But the inbound numbers also seem to be inching upwards. A result of changes? New lieutenants? A sense the worst is over? Anyone know?

280 Cameras

Amazing. Will they actually find the money for 280 additional cameras but not for fitting and retro fitting cars with PDT mounts for the new and more modern computers?

• Another 280 Chicago Police squad cars will be equipped with video cameras — at a cost of $2.2 million — expanding an experiment that began with allegations that a sergeant mistreated state Sen. James Meeks.

  The 280 cameras will bring to 310 the number of cameras installed in squad cars to record traffic stops. That’s enough to equip the beat car in every one of the city’s 280 police beats.

We refer our readers back to "the memo" where the Chief of Patr.... oops, we mean Deputy Superintendent of the Bureau of Patrol states that we will all soon be getting the new and more modern PDTs.

Place your bets boys and girls - which are we going to see first? Cameras to provide political cover or PDTs to make our jobs just a little bit easier?

Too Funny - Part II

Again, from an anonymous e-mailer of ours:

Got to love the pictures hanging on the wall. Click to enlarge.

UPDATE: The cigar and healthy red glow have been added as per suggestions:

Political Correctness Run Amok

Again.

• How would you feel if a cashier made you swipe your own groceries because of his/her religious beliefs?

  I'm a reporter who covers Target for the Star Tribune and the other day, I got a call from someone who said that an employee at the Target store downtown refused to run his bacon through a scanning machine. He was mighty upset, arguing that the cashier had "no right to work as a cashier at Target" if she wasn't prepared to swipe his groceries.

  But he was a little vague on the details, so I decided to check it out myself. At the Target store on E. Lake Street, a cashier wearing a hijab looked uncomfortable when I showed up at the cash register with a frozen pepperoni pizza. She immediately called for help, and another employee rang up the pizza and placed it in the basket.

  I asked her if it was because she was Muslim, and she nodded her head. "I can't even touch it," she said.

Even though it's shrink wrapped and (if it's "gourmet" style) it's additionally boxed.

Minnesota seems to be harboring more than the usual amount of liberal insanity lately, and we don't just mean Al Franken. This is also where the six "imams" were tossed off a plane for suspicious behavior (including replicating the exact seating pattern of the 9-11 hijackers), taxi drivers who refuse to transport fares who may be carrying liquor in their baggage and lord knows what other goofiness.

If you take a job in the service sector, you damn well better be able to fulfill the requirements of the job. And if that includes selling us a 20 pound Easter ham, 10 pounds of bacon and a couple of fifths of Jack Daniels to wash it all down, you better be swiping our groceries and smiling while you do it.

Pot, Kettle - Kettle, Pot

As if this guy can talk:

• Don't get Mayor Daley started on Chicago having the nation's worst mail delivery.
• "I'll write a book on the federal government. It's basically become a dysfunctional [organization]. Everybody knows that. Go to [the federal response to Hurricane] Katrina. Go to the Iraq situation. Everything we do with the federal government -- it's so far afield from having real customers," Daley said.

  "Washington, D.C., is like a ... foreign land for us. It's so far afield that it has no relationship to us -- the average person. It just represents [the fact] that the government is just too, too, too big."

How about we change the word "federal" to "Chicago"? It sure must be nice to run a government entity so clean and clear of corruption that you can criticise to Post Office. Talk about your "fish-in-a-barrel" scenario.

Too Funny Not to Share

We were merciless where the Midway Airport sergeant-in-training was concerned. Never let it be said that we weren't equal opportunity nut busters (sent to us anonymously):

Priceless

Daley Lies - And Gets Re-Elected

See what happens when you get to pick the people who run against you? And you have a former convicted governor who helped you destroy the entire Illinois Republican party?

• Mayor Daley said Tuesday he knew "at the beginning" that city tax dollars would have to guarantee Chicago's Olympic operating budget, but he didn't fess up about it because "we're not putting any actual money up."
• In a stuttering response to a reporter's question, Daley said he knew "at the beginning" of the bidding process that city money would have to be put on the table. Daley said he kept it quiet -- not because he wanted to get past the mayoral election -- but because "we're not putting any direct money into it."
• Despite overruns that nearly tripled the cost of $475 million Millennium Park and $400 million in overruns at O'Hare Airport, Daley said he is confident Chicago taxpayers will not be left holding the bag.

Uh huh. And we've got some swamp land in Florida some people might be interested in. Any contract awarded in Chicago is almost 100% guaranteed to come in late, over budget and under some form of federal scrutiny lately. Now if only Fran and company (Hi Frank!) would bring some of their high powered investigative reporting to the fact that city and state taxpayers are either (A) going to be screwed over the next few years with a massive pension crisis or (B) pensioners are going be screwed by Springfield changing the pension laws so the city can default on contractual obligations.

Another Pretend Scandal

Once again, the current Administration finds itself behind the eight ball regarding the firing of eight US Attorneys. We can't ever remember a bunch of politicians who were so unable to get ahead of a story and stomp it into a non issue. Now we have potential Congressional hearings into why 8 people who serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States lost their jobs. And that's hardly the silliest part of it all:

• Congressional Democrats are in full cry over the news this week that the Administration's decision to fire eight U.S. Attorneys originated from--gasp--the White House. Senator Hillary Clinton joined the fun yesterday, blaming President Bush for "the politicization of our prosecutorial system." Oh, my.

  As it happens, Mrs. Clinton is just the Senator to walk point on this issue of dismissing U.S. attorneys because she has direct personal experience. In any Congressional probe of the matter, we'd suggest she call herself as the first witness--and bring along Webster Hubbell as her chief counsel.

  As everyone once knew but has tried to forget, Mr. Hubbell was a former partner of Mrs. Clinton at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock who later went to jail for mail fraud and tax evasion. He was also Bill and Hillary Clinton's choice as Associate Attorney General in the Justice Department when Janet Reno, his nominal superior, simultaneously fired all 93 U.S. Attorneys in March 1993. Ms. Reno--or Mr. Hubbell--gave them 10 days to move out of their offices.

That's right. Clinton fired ALL 93 US Attorneys and nary a complaint was heard, even though one of those he fired was actively investigating Dan "stamps" Rostenkowski and another was knee deep in Whitewater paperwork that tied Bill and Hillary to a number of shady dealings.

The democrats have always been famous for feigned outrage when it suits their purposes. This is more of the same.

Another Lawsuit Settled

Will they EVER fight a lawsuit to the end?

• Nine years after Chicago Police fired dozens of bullets into a car full of 11 people in the pandemonium after the Bulls won a world championship, the last of the victims settled a lawsuit against the city for $1.75 million.

  Anton Brown, who was sitting in the car's open trunk on June 14, 1998, was shot four times and still has a bullet next to his heart and another next to his spine, attorney David Cerda said. Tiffany Crawford, Michael Johnson and Joe Rice, who were on the hood, were all shot twice, he said. Damien Moore, who was sitting in the back seat, was grazed by a bullet.

David Cerda is an ambulance chasing lawyer who specializes in suing the police. If we aren't mistaken, he's also married to Channel 2's Roseanne Tellez. Hmmm. Media, lawyer, government settlements. Any investigative reporters want to expound upon any of this?

UPDATE: Post corrected for Tellez's current assignment at Channel 2