Pension Money Questions

FoxNews did a piece on how a secretary for the Pension Board is going to law school on our dime. This would appear to be another expose launched at the behest of the newly elected Patrolman's Representative, Mike Shields and it's starting to get noticed:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LvuH0kdil4
  
  Last month, our new pension trustee Mike Shields tried to get rid of an investment manager that has lost nearly half of a $50m investment. He lost that battle. This month, he tried to stop the pension fund from paying for law school for the "Executive Director's" personal secretary. He lost, but at least he's making some waves and shining a light on the BS. There are four trustees that are/were the police. Why don't they all vote for the right thing? And, who exactly is the secretary's clout? Answers, anyone? It must be good.

There's plenty of corruption surrounding anything that has to do with this city. And all it takes is a few people willing to rock the boat.

NLEMOP Honors CPD Officer

For an off-duty shooting in Utah:

• In September 2008, Officer Jamison traveled to Utah to attend a law enforcement training conference. On Saturday, September 13, prior to leaving for the airport to return to Chicago, Officer Jamison stopped for breakfast. What began as a quiet travel day soon took a turn that no one could have predicted.

  As Officer Jamison exited the restaurant to wait for his partner, he observed a couple in the parking lot apparently saying goodbye to each other. Before they separated, a stranger approached the couple, walked up to the man, and simply stated, "I'm sorry." With lightening speed he drew a pair of scissors and proceeded to stab the victim in the face, neck, and arms. Officer Jamison witnessed the attack and rushed to help the victim and subdue the assailant.

Once again, an excellent job Officer. Congratulations and thank you.

This Could Get Interesting

Policies that engender a disrespect for the law just might open up the policy makers to problems:

• Margaret Rains and Haley Tepe were sitting down to enjoy ice cream at a Baskin-Robbins in Aurora, Colo., when a sport utility vehicle driven by an illegal immigrant sent two cars plowing into the shop, leaving three dead and the two women injured.

  Now the women are taking action against the city of Denver, arguing that its sanctuary-city policy contributed to the Sept. 4 crash. The driver, 23-year-old Francis Hernandez, had been arrested numerous times by Denver police, but was never reported to federal immigration authorities.

Since illegal immigration was and continues to be such a hot button issue, sanctuary policies ought to come under more fire in the courts and legislatures. And if lawmakers can't be held liable in civil court, they ought to beheld liable at the ballot box.

S&W Recall

Just in case you own one:

• Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson is recalling two of its popular pistol models due to a worst-case-scenario kind of defect: one that could cause the guns to go off without the trigger being pulled.

  According to a Smith & Wesson Safety Recall Notice, the company has identified a defect in certain Walther PPK and PPK/S pistols that could cause a chambered round to fire when the pistol's hammer is lowered, even without the trigger being pulled. Smith & Wesson is advising owners of affected Walther pistols to stop using the guns at once, and to return them to Smith & Wesson for installation of a new hammer block that will remedy the defect.

Olympic Mascot Proposal

The Reader's Ben Joravsky has an interesting article about the Olympics and a close look at some of the outlays the City is proposing to make these the best damn games ever! He points out that the City wants to spend $10.5 million on a mascot. The Tribune's Eric Zorn senses a quick easy blog entry and proposes a reader's contest to save the City $10.5 million.

We'd like to point out such a mascot already exists and he made his premier here on SCC months ago:The logo has proven highly adaptable. He's got his own website:

He sells t-shirts:
He sells hats:
He licenses his image:
What's not to love? Can we get the check made out to "bearer" for the $10.5 million?

Give a Little Whistle

From the "It Could Be Worse" file:

• If you're getting robbed in Oak Park, police want you to put your lips on a whistle and blow.
  Police Chief Rick Tanksley is dusting off the actress Lauren Bacall approach to community policing in response to last year's alarming 46 percent spike in robberies.
  He wants to outfit folks with brass police whistles they can use to attract attention when they spot shadowy characters up to no good.

Wow. Just wow. Call 9-1-1 then blow a whistle. Why didn't Shortshanks think of this? He could have saved millions for his Olympic dreams instead of installing cameras and letting police manpower numbers dip to dangerous levels. The simplicity of it is just amazing!

There's a Keesing Bandit joke somewhere in that opening line.

Corp Counsel Wins One

And to win it, they had to spend money:

• This week city attorneys defending a Chicago Police officer who was sued for the shooting death of a man used a new animation technique that came as close to CSI as it gets.

  A jury found in favor of the city and the officer Tuesday after a six-day trial.

  "The jury thinks we can do everything CSI does,'' city attorney Matt Hurd said. "When we can use this CSI stuff, it's something a jury can relate to.''

• Law department officials said they are not aware of another case where the animation was used. It's costly -- $15,000 in this case. The animation will be considered for use on a case-by-case basis.

Corp Counsel has to present not only the best case possible, but they have to present the flashiest case with all the bells and whistles to overcome the inherent stupidity always present in juries, especially Cook County juries. This "CSI-effect" has been the subject of numerous studies where jurors just assume that everything they see on TV is true and complicated cases can be solved in 60 minutes, including the commercial breaks. If only that were true, the jails would be full to overflowing and personal injury attorneys would be selling pencils on street corners.

We heard that after this "CSI-type" presentation, the plaintiff's attorney actually stood and applauded before his colleagues were able to drag him back into his seat. We may have made that up just now.

Arrest in Triple Killing

Nice job:

• Chicago police on Thursday charged a reputed gang member who they believe used an assault rifle to fatally shoot three teenagers in the South Chicago neighborhood last week.
  
  Martin Ybarra, 20, was charged with three counts of murder after help from the community led to his arrest Tuesday on the Southeast Side and he was identified by witnesses, police said.
  
  
• Police may be looking for more suspects, officials said Thursday. The rifle believed to be tied to the murders was recovered, police said.

Now let's see if the ASA's can make it stick.

Van Lier and Kerr Pass On

Odd as far as coincidences go, but two Bulls legends pass away on the same day:

• He was a high school and college basketball great, an NBA champion and an All-Star, a front-office executive and a respected broadcaster, but Johnny Kerr, who died tonight at 76 after a long battle with prostate cancer, always will be known as a Chicago Bull.
  
  Perhaps the best ambassador the Bulls will ever have, Kerr's nickname, "Red" -- for his hair color -- couldn't have been more appropriate. In many ways, Kerr was Mr. Bull: the first coach in franchise history, NBA Coach of the Year that 1966-67 season, later the club's business manager and finally its television and radio analyst for 33 years.
  
  
• Norm Van Lier, one of the most popular players in Bulls history, was found dead in his Chicago apartment today. He was 61.

  The cause of death was not released, pending a report by the Cook County medical examiner's office.

  Van Lier had been working as a Bulls analyst for ComcastSportsnet Chicago after 10-year playing career.

RIP gentlemen.

Another Ridiculous Lawsuit

And the Tribune reports it like it's real news?

• The truck driver who plowed into a Red Line station in Chinatown last April, killing two people and injuring 21 others, suffered a "medical condition" just before the crash, a federal lawsuit filed by the truck driver's family alleged.
  
  The lawsuit filed by Donald Wells' wife, Ann Darlene Wells of Metamora, Mich., alleges that Chicago police ignored pleas by family members for medical treatment for Wells, who was "talking incoherently . . . and otherwise behaving abnormally" during the 48 hours he was in police custody.
  
  
• Wells, 64, who was suffering "from a mental condition and...experiencing severe physical and psychiatric ailments" while in police custody, died of pneumonia and multiple organ failure in June, the lawsuit said. The suit alleged that police indifference to Wells' medical condition contributed to his death. The suit names the City of Chicago and numerous police officers as defendants.
  
  The Tribune reported at the time of the crash that Wells was taken to Stroger Hospital immediately, but he refused treatment in part because he had no health insurance.

He was in the wreck in April of 2008, made bail within 48 hours, died in June and the Chicago Police Department is responsible how exactly? And that last quoted paragraph...

• but he refused treatment in part because he had no health insurance

Ex-squeeze us? He had no health insurance? Would the family and scumbag attorney like us to take them on a tour of Cook County Hospital? We're going to bet 75 to 90% of the people who go through those doors have minimal, if any, health insurance. Lack of insurance isn't an impediment to receiving medical care in this country. Hospitals routinely eat hundreds of millions of dollars for the uninsured, the under-insured and the illegal.

How about a directed verdict on this one?

Finally, the Right Moves

We can only hope this is the beginning of the end:

• CPS has voted to go ahead and close a number of schools for under-enrollment or poor performance.
  
  The school system had slated 22 under-enrolled or struggling schools for closing or reorganization, but Chief Executive officer Ron Huberman took six schools off the list Monday after hearing from parents, teachers and others at public hearings
  
  In all, 16 schools will be closed or consolidated

Oh, you mean they are re-opening some of the schools? Crap - we thought they were going out of business and saving money for the Olympic dreams.

"Dat Jody, He's Doin' a Good Job"

This is so ridiculous, it's almost impossible to parody:

• Mayor Daley today stood behind his police superintendent for refusing a judge’s order to release names of officers with five or more citizen complaints filed against them since 2002.

So now J-Fed gets praised for doing exactly what Daley and Daley's lawyers told him to do? Wow. We don't recall this mayoral praise being heaped on former bosses for the exact same thing when the list was initially refused to the trolling lawyers.

Things must be really bad if the mayor is resorting to this sort of theater to gin up support.

Someone is Getting Fired

Why do people do stupid shit?

• Over the last 16 months, Mark Geinosky has received 24 parking tickets.
  
  All but one have been dismissed. You can bet that one will be thrown out, too, when he goes to administrative court next week.
  
  For reasons Geinosky can't explain, he believes Chicago police officers have targeted him with the barrage of citations—sometimes issuing four tickets at a time for such things as parking too close to a fire hydrant, obstructing the roadway or leaving his vehicle in a crosswalk.

We can list a number of occasions that we've issued a slew of tickets to one vehicle. Multiple violations aren't hard to locate if someone parks some piece of shit vehicle in a crowded neighborhood. This doesn't appear to be one of those times though:

• Of the 24 tickets he has received, 13 were written by the same officer. The Problem Solver is not naming the officer because he has not been charged with any wrongdoing. The 13 tickets were written at four different South Side locations in May, July, August and October of last year. All 13 of those tickets were written at exactly 10 p.m., no matter which day they were issued. And all 13 were sequential in number, meaning that from May to October that officer wrote no tickets to anyone other than Geinosky from the ticket book in question.

Thirteen sequential tickets issued at 10:00PM over 6 months time by one cop? Uhhhhh....Earth to moron. Hope you kept a good rapport with your old employers.

Why do idiots make it so hard for the regular boys and girls to show up, do their job and try to do it well and with pride with crap like this?

City Overreaches for Tax Money

This is goofy:

• How would you like to rent a car in Waukegan or St. Charles, only to be slapped with the 8 percent "transaction tax" that applies to Chicago car rentals?

  Brace yourself. With a burgeoning $50.5 million budget gap, Chicago is reaching into suburban pockets. And Enterprise Rent-a-Car has filed a lawsuit challenging the Daley administration's effort to collect the tax from drivers who rent cars in the suburbs.

  The suit was filed last week in Kane County after an administrative ruling by the city's Department of Revenue that City Hall will "presume" that all car rentals in the six-county area are subject to Chicago's 8 percent transaction tax.

"Presume?" Who the fuck are these idiots? In a six-county area, they are just going to assess an 8% tax on car rentals?

Hopefully, Enterprise Rent-a-Car wins this and wins big. Then we can find some entity with deep pockets to start attacking the fact that if we shop around for the best car deal in existence and manage to find it over the border in Indiana, the City still demands their cut of a tax on a transaction that takes place entirely outside of their borders.

Will someone please schedule the revolution shortly? We've got weekends coming up.

FOP Launches a Salvo

On the Current Updates section:

• Chicago Cop Watch is a website whose stated goal is to engage in monitoring of the police, videotaping police activity, and educating the public about police misconduct. The Chicago Cop Watch recently posted a video of purported police misconduct aboard a CTA bus.
  
  The Lodge has fielded many questions regarding the CTA Bus Video that was posted on Chicago Cop Watch.org. as well as questions regarding the operation of the Chicago Cop Watch website. Unfortunately, the Lodge does not have the answers to these questions.
  
  The registrar, administrator, or tech for Chicago Cop Watch should be able to answer our members questions.
  Whois.com lists the registration contact information for the chicagocopwatch.org registrar, administrator, and tech as:
  
  Spencer Thayer
  3139 N. Francisco Ave., Apt. 2N
  Chicago, IL 60618-7057
  
  312-576-0270
  
  spencer@uglatto.com
  
  Please contact Mr. Thayer with your questions regarding the video or operation of the website.

Looks like someone found a pair. Now how about someone at 35th finding a set? Or at least asking the mayor if they could borrow a set for a day or two?

Camera Misses Everything

From the Sun Times:

• Police have not been able to retrieve images from a city surveillance camera perched above the Southeast Side corner where three teens were slain Friday.

  The camera's blue light was blinking, but the camera may not have been recording. City technicians and vendors are inspecting it and trying to determine if any images can be downloaded.

Wow. An empty box with a flashing blue light. And this cost taxpayers how much?

• The lack of footage has not hampered the investigation into the shooting at 87th and Exchange, several sources said. Police have said they are looking for three people.

The lack of footage hasn't hampered anything because there are finally around a billion witnesses willing to come forward and point out who chased, shot and slaughtered three people in an alley in Chicago. That in itself is a first.

What's truly silly is how the lack of footage hasn't assisted in any investigations aside from verifying that a vehicle was in the Little Village neighborhood at the time of a shooting (the actual car was followed by a civilian witness and stopped a mile or more away from the shooting) and the recent Salvation Army Kettle Caper. Otherwise, we'd be hearing about the cameras assisting the police every single day from the Daley Publicity Machine.

Suburban Paper Scoops Locals

The Daily Herald evidently has someone who owns a calendar on staff. They're the only ones who covered this until late yesterday afternoon when Channel 7 picked it up:

• Police say an internal department investigation on how a 14-year-old boy allegedly was able to impersonate a Chicago officer is complete.

  But police spokeswoman Antoinette Ursitti said Monday the findings won't be made public until Supt. Jody Weis (WEES) can address them.

  Ursitti says an investigation into the Jan. 24 security breach includes surveillance video and witness interviews.

  The incident was embarrassing for Weis and the department

Which is probably why the Department would be happy if this all went away and no reporter anywhere ever asked about it again. Rumor has it some persons involved underwent retraining yesterday at the Academy.

Meanwhile, Department facilities across the city are pulling officers off the already manpower short streets to sit in front of doors that don't lock properly for the low low price of $60,000 per year. Instead of this ($1,000). Or this ($300 and up).

J-Fed Flees to Avoid Jail

(sarcasm, silliness and poetic license in interpreting these events)

Seeks to avoid a "Contempt of Court" charge:

• Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis has refused a federal judge’s order to release the names of officers who have at least five citizen complaints filed against them since 2000.

  U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez had given Weis until 4 p.m. Friday to do so.

  The list was being sought, along with a list of excessive-force complaints, by attorneys suing the city over an allegation that an officer falsely arrested and used excessive force against two children.

First off, all kidding aside, this is a good move. Anything that pisses off Flint Taylor, scumbag attorney extraordinaire, is a good move. Everyone knows this wasn't J-Fed's decision - it was Corp Counsel. The Cline regime refused to release the names also. Taylor, the plaintiff attorney, says the list would be under tight control for this case only and is only to be used for statistical purposes.

Bullshit. That list would be "accidentally" leaked within 10 days as part of some filing or brief or inter-office communication and blamed on some "intern" who didn't know any better and then, oh well, since the cat is out of the bag, we might as well make the whole thing public and some judge would "admonish" the law firm to put in place some safeguards so this never happens again.

Secondly, a large portion of this list is already the subject of an appeal in the Federal Courts, and obeying this Magistrate's order would be counter productive when an appeal is already ongoing for what is essentially the exact same list.

In any case, the claim that...

• ...to hand over the list because it would, "compromise officers’ performance, threaten safety, reduce morale and improperly impugn many officers’ otherwise well-deserved good reputations.”

...is disingenuous at best. Handing over a list of unproven and unsubstantiated allegations that in many cases have no basis in reality would be morally abhorrent and quite possibly a violation of an Officer's Civil Rights. If an accused person is cleared in court or cleared by investigation, there is no way in hell a judge allows a single mention of his previous history under any circumstances in the future. It would be overly prejudicial to the supposition of "innocent until proven guilty." But should this list be released, every single time an Officer is called to testify in a criminal or civil case, attorneys will be throwing this in their face. And it will continue for the entirety of the Officer's career (Officer, isn't it true that in the early 2000's, you were named on a list of officers...)

Don't think it won't happen.

SPAR Policy Change

Again, from the comments (we seem to learn everything from the comments lately):

• There was something posted in the comments section awhile back about BOP 009-062. This order from Dugan requires supervisors to make copies of SPARS and send them up the chain to the Deputy Chief for review. The W/C gives me one, I save it electronically, make copies (what happen to being paperless) send it up the chain. I recommend a reprimand and the W/C and DC sign off on it. It is kicked back from the Deputy Chief (more likely his PO secretary) with a note stating the officer should be given a day.
  
  I have two problems with this. First, SPARs are suppose to be district level discipline. The DC approves the thing and its kicked back from his boss. Second, if you don't agree with my recommendation that is fine. Don't send me a note. Either concur or not concur electronically. The pussies up above never have the balls to put their name on these things.
  
  Long story short, a PO know at the district level as being a hard worker gets fucked out of a day because a deputy chief, who does not know him, and is not even in the command channel review for SPARS, want to show off to pussy Dugan how tough he can be on uniform violators.
  
  Way to go Dugan. I know you and your Wies cronies got our backs. This really going to help morale on the watch.

This appears to be another one of those shifts in disciplinary policy that no one bothers to tell the FOP about. There are contractual procedures in place for the disciplinary track and grievances to be filed if it changes substantially without the FOP being involved in the process. Depending on when it occurred, this might appear to be a really crass move on the Department's part seeing as how the chairman of the Grievance Committee just died of a heart attack.

Anyone care to explain this in simple terms? We don't want to wade through the BS, just the facts.

UPDATE: Dugan Replies:

• There is no shift in SPAR policy. I would encourage every Department member to please read GO 93-03-07, (supervisors - specifically VI, A, 1, b, 4) dealing with Summary Punishment.
  
  It is sad one would try to exploit Tim Fallon’s untimely death with this issue, which is inexcusable. .
  
  I will be more than willing to discus this topic in detail in a Departmental forum.
  
  Daniel F. Dugan
  312/745-6210

We'll encourage everyone to read up on the cited order as soon as possible. We'd encourage a more official discussion in some sort of forum rather than the blog of course. We'll publicize it as we did the Superintendent's "town-hall" type meetings.

We'll also point out that no one is attempting to exploit Tim Fallon's death. The comment alleging a change in policy popped up yesterday. Tim died a week ago. Based on this Department's recent history and the history of the Daley Administration, we're sorry to say we wouldn't put a damn thing past them, which is truly sad.

Mayor on YouTube

What's up with this? SCC starts posting a few video submissions and suddenly Richie needs to have his own YouTube video channel to counter the blog?

• Mayor Richard Daley on Monday joined the queen of England and the pope as influential leaders who have their own YouTube channels.

  [...] “This site is an opportunity to talk to residents directly,” he said, noting YouTube’s wide reach.

• Asked whether the site would include videos that were critical of him, he responded, “We’ll see, I don’t know yet.”

We're going to go out on a limb here and say that the answer to that question is a big, fat "Hell, NO!" We'll also predict that there won't be any videos of him butchering the English language, his discovery of heretofore unknown versions of grammatical structure and him showing off his mad spelling skills (S-A-T-E, state)

A few readers have already pointed out that comments aren't allowed on the channel and video comments are posted only after screening. Which kind of makes sense seeing as what we have to go through on this end.

Area Gang Team Movement

Is this true?

• Despite all the promises and assurances that Officers would stay in their original Areas of assignment, the Area 3 Gang Team was moved all the way down to Area 2 after the triple header, shorting the tax paying citizens some 80 gang officers. But not to worry - fully a third of the new Area Gang Teams have put in their papers to return to their Districts of Assignment. Can you say "reverse seniority?"

Anyone care to chime in?

Current February Numbers

From the comment section:

• here is an interesting stat:
  
  01FEB08-14FEB08:
  041A: 20
  0110: 6
  
  01FEB09-14FEB09:
  041A: 41
  0110: 10

Double the number of Aggravated Batteries? That can't bode well for the warm weather. It also kind of blows a hole in the Mayor's thinking that more gun laws equal less gun crimes. But then, if he had actually looked at reputable studies, he'd have found out that one ten years ago.

Exactly Whom is Crazy?

More amusing video:



It certainly makes you wonder how he's kept a job all these years.

Police Director Resigns

No, not Chicago. But interesting parallels:

• Schaumburg Police Director Richard Casler has resigned his post, a village trustee said this morning.
  
  
• Casler ran the police department as a civilian, supervising two sworn chiefs -- a chief of operations and a chief of staff. He formerly was the chief of the department and took the director role five days after retiring from the department in October 2001.

• Ninety-six percent of union members in January 2003 voted no-confidence for Casler and "that vote speaks for itself," Atamian said.

  "That was our stand then and since then it's gone downhill," he said. "Schaumburg used to have a reputation as one of the premier police departments. ... Hopefully now we can get back to that status."

From the time of the "no-confidence vote" to the resignation - 6 years.

We guess J-Fed's three-year contract is a good thing?

By the Way...

It's been 13 days without a single expression of support from any member of the Command Staff who promised on video to "have our backs" whenever we acted "reasonably."

That's about 312 hours.

Which is about 305 more hours than it took to clear an Assistant Superintendent of any responsibility she might have had in knowing what was going on in a piece of property she owned.

Maybe someone could call in a little support from south of the border? You know, to alleviate the morale death spiral.

Another Messy Weekend

At least 4 people under 20 killed. And then this:

• A 28-year-old man was fatally shot early Sunday in a Chicago Housing Authority parking lot in the South Side's Pilsen neighborhood, police said.

  Police responded to the shooting at 1252 S. Loomis St. at 4:20 a.m., according to Monroe District police.

• ...a 35-year-old man and a 27-year-old man were both shot in the abdomen about 3:40 a.m. in the 600 block of South Pulaski Road and were in critical condition at Mt. Sinai Hospital, according to a police news release.

So either of those might die over the next few days. It was an overly bloody weekend for a February and the homicide count is just about equal to last year. Are we running in place? Have we reached a balance?

Crime of Opportunity?

It's probably the worst kept secret on the Department. We're shorthanded. Badly. If you look back at the personnel numbers from the 1990's, we're down not just a few hundred bodies, but a couple of thousand.

For some reason though, it's Chicago's best kept secret. Shortshanks gives the media bullshit numbers and they run with them. Today's numbers that are tossed around are between 9 and 10,000 officers and 13,000 total personnel. We seem to remember the numbers being 12,000 men and women in blue and total Department strength of 16,500. We might be off, but not by much.

In any case, the shooting in 004 took place at a most opportune time (opportune for the shooters that is):

• Paramedics were called to an alley near East 87th Street and South Escanaba Avenue about 3:15 p.m. for reports of a shooting...

School dismissal coinciding with shift change. You think these jagoffs don't know our schedules as well as we do? This wasn't just any random shooting. According to witnesses, it was building up with idiots throwing up signs for a bit before escalating. And once it all stepped off, the three "victims" were hunted down with ruthless efficiency in alleys and gangways.

All the family denials aside about junior just "turning his life around" after getting out of jail two days prior, this was gang banging, pure and simple. And as it's already March, there are no classes in the Academy, retirements are proceeding ahead of estimates and will increase markedly if a contract is approved, don't look for any reinforcements anytime soon.

It's looking like a long summer.

Gun Insurance?

Rue St. Michel covers part of the debate:

• Rep. Kenneth Dunkin has legislation in the rules committee requiring that FOID holders go and get $1,000,000 of liability insurance if they own a hand-gun or rifle.
• I'm sure this is just the first volley in the new war against gun ownership in this country. If they cannot do away with guns, they will make owning them prohibitively expensive. Isn't it fun living in a quasi-totalitarian country?
  

Here's something a sharp-eyed reader pointed out that isn't mentioned:

• Kenneth Duncan (5th District):
  
  Committee assignments: Appropriations-Higher Education; Financial Institutions; Insurance; International Trade & Commerce; Juvenile Justice Reform (Vice-Chairperson).

Gee, a Illinois Representative in charge of the Insurance Committee recommending a bill that would required thousands of people to purchase...insurance! Things that make you go "Hmm..."

We seem to recall some past US Supreme Court decision or Federal Statute that says you cannot make people pay for what is a Right enshrined in the Constitution. Rights are not things to be made unattainable by Legislatures imposing fees on them. Witness the Poll Taxes that used to be imposed by various Southern jurisdictions to deny certain people the opportunity to vote.

The Truth of "Gun-Free" Zones

Funny:



Criminals have already disregarded laws in most cases to obtain their weapons. What possible reason does the liberal establishment have to believe that more "rules" will be obeyed?

Triple Homicide in 004

Bloodbath:

• Three teenagers were killed in a shooting this afternoon on Chicago's Southeast Side, officials said. At least one assault rifle was used in the shooting, Police Supt. Jody Weis said.
• The Cook County medical examiner's office said the victims were 13, 15 and 17, but it would not release the victims' names.

But don't worry!

• Police said they likely have surveillance video of the shootings because two pod cameras are on the street at the scene. "They're in great positions," Calumet Area Cmdr. Eddie Welch said of the cameras.

Well thank goodness for that. It must be a real comfort to the families. Too bad Chicago couldn't afford an extra 1,200 or so street coppers whose actual physical presence might have deterred the shooting.

Anyone want to point out how we were down ten whole homicides in January now? Seven dead last weekend and this weekend starting out with a triple header. Some detective or boss can tell us the year-to-date totals but one commentator says we are up 43% for February over last year. J-Fed? J-Fed? Hellooooooooo???

Oh No! Snow!

In February! In Chicago!

• Bitter cold temperatures and wind chill values are expected to move out of the Chicago area Friday, but a snow storm that could blanket the city with up to eight inches of snow is expected to hit late Friday.

  The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, including Cook, DuPage, Lake and Will counties, that will begin at 11 p.m. Friday and remain in effect until 6 p.m. Saturday.

We hope everyone has put together stocks of jerky and broth and emptied store shelves of milk, water and dry goods. It's the end of the freaking world don't you know?

Thank god Chicagoans haven't become such weather candyasses as the newscasters have been this year. There will be some snow. The mayor won't move it, plow it or salt it because it's the weekend and he isn't paying any weather related overtime. No big deal.

Stuck with the Check

Nice:

• The cost of President Barack Obama's Election Day celebration in Grant Park totaled more than $1.7 million, and the city has yet to be paid.

  The Office of Budget and Management says the city is reaching out to the Democratic National Committee to get the money. A DNC spokesperson said the party is still looking at various costs and bills.

  In October, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said the cash-flush Obama campaign would reimburse the city for the total cost of the rally.

We think we've spotted the pattern!

• Daley says the Obama campaign will pay for the rally - they don't
• Daley says taxpayers won't be on the hook for $500 million in Olympic costs - they will

Whatever Shortshanks says, believe the opposite.

Breaking Down the Video

From the video vault:



Slowing down and counting the instances of asking, reasoning and ordering the offender from the bus is enlightening. So is watching the offender's hand movement and actions that can only be construed as aggressive in nature. Looking at this video again only reinforces the fact that the cop showed admirable restraint and "reasonableness" in confronting a lawbreaking individual.

So where is J-Fed's "having our backs"? Hasn't Shortshanks told him what to do yet? Daley's been back in town for a whole day. Maybe he's not taking J-Fed's calls?

Illinois Carry?

It passed out of a panel 11-1:

• A state House panel is recommending that the General Assembly give Illinois residents the right to carry concealed weapons.

  The two proposals are expected to garner opposition from Chicago-area lawmakers, who have expressed concern about increased gun violence.

  The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last summer overturning a handgun ban in Washington D.C., and an endorsement of concealed carry by the Illinois Sheriffs' Association has given a boost to supporters of a concealed weapon law.

  House Bill 245, sponsored by Marion Democratic Rep. John Bradley, would allow the Illinois State Police to issue the permits. It was endorsed Wednesday on an 11-1 vote, with Democratic state Rep. Julie Hamos of Evanston the lone opponent.

It's a shift no matter how you slice it. Hopefully, the down-staters lead the charge and force the issue this session.

Cameras Beat Police to Scene

But what happens next?

• Mayor Daley has argued that security and terrorism won’t be an issue if his Olympic dreams come true because, by 2016, there will be a surveillance camera on every street corner in Chicago.

  But even before that blanket coverage begins, the “Big Brother’’ network is being put to better use.

  Call takers and dispatchers now see real-time video if there is a surveillance cameras within 150 feet of a 911 call, thanks to a $6 million upgrade to the city’s “computer-aided dispatch” system.

We'll tell you what happens next:

• a rather high percentage of the cameras aren't working;
• cops running from paper job to paper job can't get there in a timely fashion;

cops in 200K mile pool cars can't get to the jobs;

• victims are going to get dragged into gangways, alleys, garages and are going to get a lot more damaged added to their plate since cops can't find them.

We will repeat what we've said before - a camera has never prevented a crime. And a camera has never climbed down off the pole and actually arrested anyone.

Crime may have moved around the corner, but criminals don't fear cameras. The amount of data generated by these machines is impossible to catalog and store and the criminals know that no one is going to be running through a few thousand hours of film to find a cigarette seller or three-bag dope pinch. Cameras provide an illusion of police presence, but only the sheep are impressed. The wolves haven't cared for a while.

The Game is Afoot

And Patti Mell-Blago is now in play:

• CHICAGO - Patti Blagojevich has been served with a federal subpoena seeking documents, notes or e-mails related to people or entities ranging from former gubernatorial fund raisers to her real estate dealings.
  
  Attorney Raymond Pijon told the Chicago Sun-Times the wife of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is cooperating with federal investigators. However, Pijon said that does not mean she will flip on her husband.

She's "cooperating"? As in telling the feds stories about Rod? As in outlining her role in putting Rezko in touch with a certain Oval Office occupant over real estate deals? Over how she learned how to wheel and deal at Daddy Mell's knee and how she helped Daddy push a pizza delivery guy into a US Congressman and Illinois governor?

Hopefully, they have her on tape doing some equally asinine BS like her husband and Dick Mell will have to step in and offer up something nice to keep Patti out of prison.

Violation of Eavesdropping Law?

Hey J-Fed, get your crack legal team working on this one. See if you can win back the hearts and minds of some of the people you purportedly have the backs of:

• (720 ILCS 5/14‑2) (from Ch. 38, par. 14‑2)
  Sec. 14‑2. Elements of the offense; affirmative defense.
  (a) A person commits eavesdropping when he:
  (1) Knowingly and intentionally uses an
  eavesdropping device for the purpose of hearing or recording all or any part of any conversation or intercepts, retains, or transcribes electronic communication unless he does so with the consent of all of the parties to such conversation or electronic communication

Now, we noticed someone in another comment section say, "On the public way. Fair game."

But it's not.

It's on CTA property. A bus is not the public way because to have access to it, you have to pay a fare. And the CTA already monitors it's property via closed circuit cameras. So it would appear that what we have here is evidence of an Officer doing his job by removing a non-compliant subject from a public conveyance AND a violation of Illinois Eavesdropping Law.

Anyone want to bet which way J-Fed, the Department legal team and the Cook County State's Attorney go?

Guess What?

The police sometimes put hands on people! It's the best known way of getting people to do what they are supposed to be doing!

• You get on a bus;
• You accost the driver and at least one passenger;
• You refuse to pay the fare;
• You are getting off the bus, one way or the other.

And that just may necessitate putting hands on a piss bum.

Fortunately, the vast majority of the comments over at the Slum-Times and Breaking News websites are supportive of the police. There are the typical liberal jackasses who think any time a cop puts hands on people, it's some sort of violation of their rights (it isn't). But by far, the comments are running in favor of the police.

Here's a bit of knowledge from an old downtown footman:

• After dark, every bum down here has a knife

Even letting this asshole get his hands near his pockets is a bad idea and the copper did nothing wrong restraining him, getting his attention, forcing him to behave in a manner that protected the officer and citizens alike.

What would the media and the second-guessers be saying if the officer went to a baton? A taser? They'd be howling. But how else are you going to get the jackass off the bus without putting hands on? You aren't. And this second guessing by a bunch of softballs isn't doing the citizens of Chicago any favors by making them live in fear of a bum who throws a tantrum when he won't live by the rules. Good job officer.

Political Correctness Again

Whatever happened to the word "gypsy?"

• Police continue to warn North Side residents of burglaries that have occurred recently at the hands of people pretending to be utility employees or new neighbors. Once inside victims' homes, they distract the resident while accomplices steal items.

• The offenders begin by ringing the bell or knocking on the door, then giving various false reasons for entry, including that they are new neighbors, utility employees, tree cutters or construction contractors.

  Once inside, they keep the victim distracted while accomplices search for property to take. On one occasion, the victim was physically accosted by the offenders.

  The offenders have been described as male, whites or Hispanics in their late 20s to 30s. The property taken has included cash and/or small items such as jewelry. The offenders have been seen driving various vehicles

We remember an entire course taught at the Academy that dealt solely with gypsies. There was an entire Special Bulletin that ran on to eight or ten pages with the known "Millers" and "Mitchells" and all manner of grifter, thieves, and burglars. There seems to be a violent streak appearing here and there among some of the younger generation attacking the elderly and defenseless. Keep an eye on the neighbors.

Another Investigation

This has "odd" written all over it:

• Chicago police are investigating the use of an off-duty police sergeant's gun in a woman's apparent suicide early Wednesday morning, hours after the sergeant and other officers responded to a disturbance at a restaurant where the woman was arguing with her male companion, sources said.

It's been all over the media and all over our comment sections. We're covering it just because to ignore it would invite all sorts of conspiracies to flourish. Yes, it's another embarrassment to live through, but it doesn't have to be sinister. Take it easy.

Ho' Gets Fo'

Fo' years that is:

• Despite a tearful plea for mercy, proclaiming she’s “no monster,” former Ald. Arenda Troutman was sentenced Tuesday to four years in federal prison on mail fraud and tax fraud charges that were part of a corruption investigation.
  
  An emotional Troutman hung her head and apologized to her ward, the city and for bringing “shame” to her family. “As God as my witness, I am no monster. I am not a criminal and I never helped criminals,” Troutman said.

Not a criminal? Never helped criminals?

• A prosecutor in the case said Tuesday the corruption case grew out of a probe into the Black Disciples street gang. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Alesia said agents doing surveillance on gang kingpin Marvel Thompson saw a meeting take place between the ex-alderman and Thompson.
• Troutman admitted she coerced kickbacks totaling $21,500 over the years from developers to support their projects in her South Side ward and, in one case, outside her ward. She was famously caught on wiretaps saying that all aldermen are “ho’s.”

Hmmmm. Well, good riddance for now. There's plenty more where she came from if the feds know where to fish.

Rifles?

Not that we regularly read the New York Times, but this article made sense and points to a glaring flaw in the recent CPD regarding rifles:

• The basic concept is that hitting several targets at once, even with just a few fighters at each site, can cause fits for elite counterterrorist forces that are often manpower-heavy, far away and organized to deal with only one crisis at a time. This approach certainly worked in Mumbai, India, last November, where five two-man teams of Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives held the city hostage for two days, killing 179 people. The Indian security forces, many of which had to be flown in from New Delhi, simply had little ability to strike back at more than one site at a time.

Al-Qaeda has been refining these types of attacks for several years according to the article - Kabul and Mumbai being the recent examples, but foreign compounds in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen have been the testing grounds.

While most police department SWAT teams are up to the task of a lone individual, lightly armed in an isolated setting with a hostage or two bent mostly on revenge or trapped following a botched action, we have our doubts that any police department in this country, big or small, is prepared to confront something like Mumbai where five two-man teams, heavily loaded with ammunition and a "mission," killed almost 200 people and wounded another 300 over the course of two days.

The obvious solution would be to train and equip a larger number of first responders with adequate firepower to suppress and eliminate such individuals. This alone would seem to negate the requirements being placed upon officers to pass physical test to shoot a rifle. Officers aren't carrying the rifle from a mile-and-a-half away - it's in their car. Officers aren't lifting fallen trees and breaking down doors to get the rifles into their hands - they're opening a trunk. We don't require this sort of nonsense to carry a pistol and that's an inherently more unstable platform than a long gun is.

Now we know we're going to be deleting a bunch of crap that's going to go along the lines of "You fatasses..." or "You want a rifle get in shape..." and "blah blah blah." Save it for the trolls and trollops at the bar - we'd rather have a shotgun anyway. The point we're trying to make is that the Department is deeming you expendable if you've been in two or three car wrecks, have some back problems from sitting in crappy squad car seats for 20 years, or have a bum knee from chasing or slipping or falling or just getting old.

We are all still expected to respond to the sound of gunfire, preserve life and defend citizens from whatever is out there or whatever comes to our city. Even if you've owned a shotgun or rifle for decades, served in the military, fill your deer tag every November and can clip a quail on the fly, if you can't pass an arbitrary test that has no discernible impact on your ability to evaluate situations and take proper police action, you are "unfit" to carry a rifle or shotgun that may save your life, your partner's life and the lives of countless citizens.

Robber Shot Dead

Of course, he was sticking up a dope dealer:

• Alonzo Walker, Al Brown and another suspect allegedly walked into the drug dealer's home Saturday night with an elaborate robbery plan.

  When it was over, 22-year-old Brown was dead, and Walker was charged with his murder.

  Brown was killed when he confronted and exchanged fire with the drug dealer in the basement of the dealer's home, in the 2400 block of West Adams Street, assistant Cook County state's attorney John Dillon said.

  During the attempted robbery, Walker, 27, shot at two others on the main level of the home, Dillon said.

So one robber dead, one wounded. What about the dope dealer they were sticking up? Is he pleading self defense? And thank goodness all of these registered firearms were used to defend a home from invaders bent on all sorts of mischief.

Only in Chicago

Convicted felon and arsonist Fire Lieutenant tries to get his pension:

• In what squeaky-clean city would a fire department lieutenant known as "Matches," convicted of multiple arsons—including one sparked at an elementary school—feel that he's still entitled to his taxpayer-funded pension of $50,000 per year?
  
  Oh, don't pretend you don't know the city.

Kass has some fun with this one. Read the whole thing.

Burris "Amends" Answers

Amazing.

There are "Lies" and then there are "Lies of Omission." Burris would seem guilty of the second at the very least. His blaming the lack of follow-up questioning to his obvious non-answer is disingenuous.

How about we have every officers who's ever been accused of a Rule 14 Violation turn up to file "amended" answers to the Complaint Review Panel that suspended, sustained or fired them and see if they don't get laughed out of the hearing?

FOP's Tim Fallon - RIP

Suddenly at age 54:

• It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that President Mark Donahue and the entire Board of Directors report that Financial Secretary, Timothy M. Fallon suddenly passed away today. Please keep the Fallon family in your prayers.
  
• Visitation and funeral arrangements are not yet determined at this time. They will be posted when they become available.

Tim was co-chair of the Grievance Committee and helped many a copper at hearings. He will be missed.

Again, condolences only in this thread.

Two Shootings Outside City

All the police are ok, but it seems to reinforce a growing suspicion among officers that attacks are up:

• A Maywood police officer shot a 14-year-old Maywood boy in the hand early Sunday morning after the youth tried to run down the officer with a car following a traffic stop, police said.
  The shooting occurred around 1:35 a.m. near 1st Avenue and the Eisenhower Expressway (Interstate Highway 290) after police stopped the car for not having a working headlight, according to Maywood Police Cmdr. Tim Curry.
  
  The vehicle suddenly accelerated at one of the officers, who had gotten out of his car. The officer fired a single shot at the driver to protect himself from being hit, Curry said. The bullet pierced a window and struck the youth in the right hand.

We're surprised this one hasn't popped up on Mope-rah's radar yet - 14 year old, out driving, after curfew - it has all the hallmarks of a Mope-rah special. But as stated before, she seems to be sane for the moment.

• GARY | Lake County police are investigating a fatal shooting involving Gary police officers and at least four suspects, Lake County Police Chief Marco Kuyachich said Monday.
  
  The shootout was the result of a drug-related incident gone bad, Kuyachich said. Police have three people in custody and one person is dead, but Kuyachich declined to release the suspects' identities.

Be careful out there. These headlines appear to be popping up more often lately. We don't know if that's the media reporting better (hahaha) or the incidents of batteries to police increasing.

Police Impersonators

Sometimes, events conspire to give everyone an opportunity to be humorous. We're assuming most people saw the Special Bulletin issued 06 February 09 regarding police impersonators.

On the back, they pictured 15 persons convicted for False Personation or similar charges. The way the bulletin was laid out, there was space for 16 pictures. Why on earth would Graphic Arts or whoever is in charge of the Daily Bulletin leave a blank space for photo #16? We can only assume they wanted this to happen:

This is one of FIVE difference versions that we received via e-mail this weekend. You people have way too much time on your hands.

Rumor Central

From the comments:

• from the rumor dept.: a) supposedly district bosses have to send a report to Dugan this week re: the reduction in tickets, and what they plan to do about it; b) according to sources, if the "numbers" (homicides, agg batt's) don't improve by April or May, another round of boss housecleaning will take place (all to impress the Olympic folks); c) speaking of Olympics, hearing that there will be a "de-emphasis" on the reporting of violent crime by the local media types (unless, of course, the "numbers" improve); big time pressure from the 5th floor....

Well we can see why they'd want to "de-emphasize" reporting violent crime (item c). Did anyone get a look at the past five days?

• Marcell Castle, a 19-year-old reputed gang member was killed Saturday night after being shot inside a van in the South Side's Park Manor neighborhood.
• A 16-year-old was killed in a shooting in the Pilsen neighborhood late Saturday.
• A 22-year-old man was found fatally shot on a West Side porch late Saturday.
  
• Antonio Cole, 28, of North Keystone Ave., and 34-year-old Lenneht Suggs, of North Laramie Ave., were each fatally shot at 5219 W. Lake St., the Cook County Medical Examiner said. Cole was pronounced dead on the scene at 9:55 p.m. and Suggs was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital at 9 p.m.
• Police are looking for the people responsible for wounding three people in three separate shootings in less than an hour Saturday afternoon on the West Side.
• A 16-year-old boy fatally shot Thursday afternoon near his Southwest Side home was the the first Chicago Public Schools student to be slain this year, and the 17th this school year.

If we were on record as claiming homicides were down almost 30% in January and it had everything to do with our brilliant decision making and not the coldest January in almost a decade, we'd want the media to stop reporting violent crime, too. People might think we were a moron. We might have to have an exempt member get caught with a dead hooker in the trunk of a car they owned and absolve them of any responsibility for knowing what was in the car just to distract everyone.

As to the ticket numbers being down (item a), since we're down 1,200 or more officers and we're running from call to call all shift generating paper, we don't really seem to have time to be writing tickets. We heard from half-a-dozen people that downtown is freaking out at how bad tickets numbers are. We're talking major hair pulling. Watch for some softball to start an "unwritten" quota system in the immediate future. Someone always comes up with this bad idea and it always bites them in the ass.

We can only hope for the regular shake-ups in the exempt ranks (item b).

Could This Unravel the Machine?

Keep your eyes on all the players (via HotAir.com):

• If the Blagojeviches thought that impeachment might slake the thirst of federal investigators, they were sorely mistaken. The Chicago Tribune reports that feds dropped subpoenas on Patti Blagojevich’s former employer, which unceremoniously dumped her as soon as her husband joined the ranks of the unemployed. Investigators appear interested in what Patti did for the Chicago Christian Industrial League, and it looks like … not much

The writer then references the Sneed column that outlines the recent federal subpoenas served on the Christian Industrial League regarding Patti Mell-Blagojevich's employment there. Patti hired on as a fund raising coordinator for $100,000 per year after the CIL got favorable treatment on a state loan from a Blago created Illinois Finance Authority - typical pay-to-play politics and eerily similar to the University of Chicago hiring Michelle Obama for the same thing. Now that loan is in trouble and so is the entire CIL organization.

So now the questions become, what did Patti know, when did she know it, and what is Dick Mell willing to give up to keep Patti out of jail for the sake of his grandkids? We're sure Dick has written off his son-in-law. But his own daughter? Time will tell if he's a caring fatherly type.

Wilding Downtown

Once again, the media is silent on this phenomenon:

• What happened on Ontario and Michigan? Any arrest? Hate crime charges sought? I was downtown last night and saw the police had streets blocked off near Ontario and Michigan Ave. A woman who was punched in the back of the head said informed me she was beat up by a group of African Americans who were running around and randomly beating up white folks. I contacted a buddy in 018 who confirmed the story and learned that several people were sent to area hospitals, some serious. Why did the news not report this?

Now we realize this is going to provoke a bunch of backlash in the comments and we're going to be spending excessive amounts of time weeding out the incivility. Anyone with a first hand account, or even second hand, we're all ears. Anyone want to explain why the media wouldn't cover this?

Class Act

A real "Boss:"

• At 2230hrs. on Zone 1 a true display of CLASS was heard for all to listen. “1600” …..”Good morning sir” …..“May I have the air for a moment” ….”Go ahead Tony” Commander Anthony Riccio went on to say “people are so quick to blame and judge us and accusing us of doing wrong thing but no one ever tell use when we do something right.” He went on to explain that “some officers where accused of a making some racist phone call to the F.B.I. The case is now closed and it was not one of us. I want to thank you officers for the great job you guys do out there everyday ..Thank you”.

Now how about the FOP goes after the Slum Times for this crap reporting and this half-assed follow-up. And maybe Larry Yellen's hit piece on Channel 32 and his next-to-useless follow-up the next day. If we believed in conspiracy theories, we'd imagine Shortshanks was directing the smear campaign himself.

We can almost believe the comments popping up that Aunt Bea offered her resignation, but J-Fed was told by the political masters not to accept it, because leaving her in place would further enrage the rank-and-file, contribute to the bad publicity demoralizing the Department, undermine both J-Fed and Bea and distract from the voices objecting to the Daley's Quest for Fire.

Philadelphia Loses Another

Seven officers since 2006.

DomeLights and Katey'sKafe, both links which are in our right hand column, have memorial pages up and we encourage everyone to head over and offer their prayers for the deceased and his pregnant wife.

We are also aware of the blog which celebrates the death of police officers, but we are not going to link to it. A number of blogs have advertising programs that pay based on the number of visits a particular blog gets. We aren't going to send a few hundred of our followers anywhere near that crap site lest someone actually profit from the death of an officer. Any mention of that site will be deleted out of hand.

Prayers and well wishes for the fallen only in this thread.

Good Job Roland

Even money in Vegas that this seat is turning Republican next election:

• [Tribune] U.S. Sen. Roland Burris has changed his story again about what happened before ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed him to the Senate, and state Republican leaders said Saturday they want an investigation into whether he perjured himself.
  
  Burris gradually has acknowledged deeper contacts with Blagojevich allies after initially portraying himself as a surprise pick for the controversial seat the former governor is accused of trying to sell.
• [Sun Times] State lawmakers are calling for a criminal investigation into whether U.S. Sen. Roland Burris committed perjury before a state impeachment panel, in the wake of a Sun-Times exclusive story published online today.

  The development comes after the Chicago Democrat failed to initially disclose under oath to a House panel that he was hit up for campaign cash by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother.

How much of this is on FBI wiretaps?

Police Unity Bike Ride

On 10 May 2009, a couple of CPD's own are participating in the Police Unity Tour that takes place during Police Week. Thousands of officers from across the country converge on RFK stadium and ride as one to the final destination - the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.

This year, in honor of Rick Francis, Nate Taylor and Joe Airhart, Officers Pedro Solis and Jamie Stephen will be participating in the tide and are asking for your support. Each Officer must raise $1,500 and all donations are tax deductible.

Info on the ride can be found at PoliceUnityTour.org. Officers Solis and Stephen are available at odrage@aol.com.

Happy Valentines Day

And just in time, an updated Jib-Jab cartoon:

• Click here for a chuckle

We were having some problems running it in our web browser. It appears to work best in Internet Explorer. We apologize for being unable to embed it like the commercial below, but we thank the person sending it along for their efforts.

2016 Bid

Well, it's out there:

• Chicago Olympic bid officials said today the cost of presenting a summer games here in 2016 would be $4.8 billion — including $1 billion in construction and a $450 million “safety net” against shortfalls — the bulk of it privately financed.

  That safety net would be used before the city would be on the hook for up to $500 million if revenues fall short.

$4.8 billion. That's quite a sum for a municipality to be throwing around. We still wonder about that "privately financed" thing though. There was a comment berating us about how he'd rather take the word of a self made billionaire over a bunch of cops. Maybe he'd like to take a look at these recent articles in the news:

• LONDON—As Chicagoans get their first peek Friday at the details of the city's 2016 Olympic proposal, they might keep in mind how much anticipation and excitement greeted the unveiling of London's "bid book" in 2004.
  
  Organizers here also envisioned a grand, affordable Games, putting the price tag at $4.9 billion. These Olympics, in similar fashion to some of the elements in Chicago's proposed Games, were to be paid for in part with corporate sponsorships and heavy private investment in an athletes village that could be sold afterward for a profit.
  
  [...] Five years later, the price tag for the 2012 Games has nearly tripled to $13.5 billion, the result of unexpected cost increases that have dogged nearly every Olympics. A growing recession, which some fear may be Britain's worst since the 1930s, has darkened London's financial picture, just as the U.S. downturn may threaten Chicago's.

Or this one:

• VANCOUVER -[...] The Vancouver Games have an operating budget of $1.63 billion -- a $104 million increase over the original budget that was developed about two years ago.

  Games security was originally estimated at $140 million to be split between the provincial and federal governments. The Canadian government has since acknowledged that cost could be as high as $800 million -- or 1 billion in Canadian funds.

  British Columbia's finance minister Colin Hansen acknowledged Monday that B.C.'s share of security costs will "likely" blow a hole in the province's total Games budget.

So do you still want to take the word of a "self made billionaire" who probably doesn't live in Chicago, doesn't pay Chicago taxes, has never risked a dime of his own money or his company's money on something like an Olympics...

...or maybe, just maybe, take a look around at the trove of public information that says we're on the right track of who is really going to see any sort of financial benefit from these Games. It isn't the person looking back at you in the mirror every morning. Trust us.

A Great Commercial

The sound is mixed kind of low for the telephone conversations, so you might need to up the volume a bit.



We don't know about you, but we're headed out to buy a few of those right now just based on that commercial. Thanks to RightWingNews for pointing this out.

Suburban Cop Cleared

It was DuPage after all:

• A federal jury today cleared a former Glen Ellyn police officer of wrongdoing, finding he didn't use excessive force when he fatally shot a naked College of DuPage student after responding to a domestic battery call in 2006.

  Jurors deliberated for less than an hour.

  [...] Bradley testified that he fired the fatal shot after Uwumargogie straddled him and repeatedly punched him in the face. Bradley, now a state trooper, said he feared he was about to lose consciousness.

Bradley was being beaten into unconsciousness and that would have left him at the mercy of a madman with his service weapon. It also would have left any other responding officers exposed to untold dangers of responding to a mental now armed with a pistol.

A jury that actually sees sense in Illinois is a nice change. And while we don't envy Trooper Bradley the stress he went through, we're glad he's still among the living.

Help IAD Do Something Useful

As you may have heard here and elsewhere, IAD is calling down the entire desk crew from the 014 District so they can find out who faxed a humorous "Certificate of Recognition" that lampoons the 14-year-old police impersonator, the 003 District and gently tweaks J-Fed.

We were wandering around our station the other day and we found this posted on a nearby bulletin board:Click the pic for a full screen shot. It loses a lot of clarity, but you'll get the idea.

The text reads as follows:

• In that, on 24-Jan-2009, you entered the 003rd District police station in an illegally obtained obtained police uniform and brilliantly by-passed the elaborate Homeland Security system to secure a radio (that you did not know how to operate) and a citation book (that you did not know how to fill out since your 8th grade class had not covered that yet), proceeded to assign yourself to a traffic car and in 5 hours came in with more activity tan any other officer in the 003rd District. We stand in awe that as a 14 year old juvenile, you accomplished all of this without a star, a gun, or a police I.D. Congratulations, and stand proud that you now have more experience on the street than our very own Superintendent.

We immediately thought of removing the item and faxing it directly to IAD (5-6931) because we'd hate to see any of our desk personnel get in trouble over such lighthearted and childish nonsense. But then we thought, if 014 got in trouble for sending this to 003, who knows what would happen if we sent this directly to IAD from our desk? Instead, we thought we'd do the right thing and make all our readers aware of the offending material, make sure they recognized it and made sure they knew exactly where to send it. Just include this handy little note in the cover sheet:

• To: IAD
  From: Anon E. Moose
  Subject: Fake Certificate
  
  R/O located this item hanging on the wall in the XXX District. R/O is faxing it to you so that you can continue to spend valuable time, money, and resources chasing down the perpetrators.

Remember, it's up to everyone to keep our workplaces free and clear of nonsense and IAD is leading the charge to eliminate humor from the hallways and keeping the jokes where they belong - running the Department.

J-Fed Changes the Law

Mope-rah must be back on her meds - she's making sense again. And reading the blog evidently:

• Cuello should have known what was going on in her condo, just like all the other landlords in Chicago are expected to know what's going on in their rental apartments.

  They don't get to plead "I didn't know" when fed-up neighbors finally contact the alderman or complain about the problem at a CAPS meeting.

  These residents expect property owners to carefully screen their tenants and move quickly to evict problem renters.

  So how could Chicago's top cop, the guy who was supposed to clean up the police department, defend his top brass for doing less?

  "I just don't see where there is any culpability," Weis said.

Read that last line again:

• "I just don't see where there is any culpability," Weis said.

Good job J-Fed! You just wiped out at least two entire chapters of municipal ordinances aimed at a landlord's responsibilities under the nuisance abatement laws AND gave any defense lawyer worth his retainer fee the grounds for releasing not only building property, but automobiles used by third parties to transport drugs, guns, fireworks, prostitutes, etc, from any fees, fines and attachments that might have been levied against them by Ordinance.

That budget hole Daley's been talking about? Do you think it's going to get a bit bigger if lawyers start using J-Fed's words in their defense arguments and appeals? We do, and it's all courtesy of J-Fed's embracing two different standards of accountability.

This is About the Money

Get ready for the screaming:

• Meter rates are going up in the Loop Friday and in other parts of the city later this month, as part of the city’s $1.15 billion agreement to privatize its meter system.

  [...] On Friday, meter costs in the Loop will increase to $3.50 an hour from $3 an hour.

Here's the thing that amazes us:

• The city is getting $1.15 billion to outsource meter management over the next 75 years to Chicago Parking Meters LLC.

What are the odds that there was a company named "Chicago Parking Meters LLC" out there just waiting for the opportunity to bid on the outsourcing of Chicago's parking meters? This wouldn't be another one of those companies that suddenly springs into being with assorted City Hall flunkies, politicos, relatives and former lobbyists in "sensitive" spots backed by an overseas banking consortium with $1.15 billion lying around, would it?

And what about the statements that feeding the meters is now a 24/7/365 requirement? Has anyone looked at just how much overnight parking has been wiped off the map in a number of high population density wards? We're talking miles worth of parking gone. What if the "Chicago Parking Meter LLC" people push through (or already have) a stipulation that they can field manpower to ticket on "their" meters in order to "maximize" their investment? As we pointed out in the previous post, CTA supervisors are ticketing Rush Hour parking on a holiday. Has anyone even addressed this issue?

We sense a disturbance brewing. And it's going to involve a blizzard of "Damage to Property" case reports involving "Chicago Parking Meter LLC" listed as "Victim."

It's Not About the Money

Of course it isn't:

• Motorists who are stopped by police while chatting or texting on handheld devices now face higher fines in Chicago.

  The City Council approved the measure yesterday.

  Drivers caught on handheld mobile phones in Chicago could face fines of $100. It was $75 before.

  If someone gets into an accident while on the phone, the maximum fine more than doubles, from $200 to $500.

  But, Mayor Richard M. Daley insists it’s not about the money. He says it's an issue of safety.

And on Thursday, we saw a wondrous sight. Not one, but two CTA supervisors out writing tickets in honor of Lincoln's Birthday. The CTA supervisors were not writing cars parked in bus stops, but rather Rush Hour Parking Restrictions (7am-9am or 4pm-6pm) along the route.

On a city holiday.

We're sure that was all about safety, too, and not hammering a few hundred citizens who might have taken the opportunity to sleep in with the kids off school and many businesses closed.