Gee, Really?

Another gratuitous swipe at the Department by Mayor Obvious:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday it is “unacceptable” for Chicago police officers assigned to the city’s public high schools to sit in their offices and come out only after an incident occurs.

  Emanuel said he is not certain whether every high school even needs two uniformed officers stationed inside at a cost of $25 million — or whether there is another, more cost-effective way to provide the same level of security.

  But one thing he will not tolerate is having officers play a passive role when they’re supposed to be patrolling school hallways and passageways — especially during arrival and departure times — as if the school were their beat.

Um, duh? We aren't going to go and declare there aren't instances of cops sitting around in offices, or being less than proactive in the schools. We aren't that naive.

But we also know that there are many hundreds of officers who already do this and more in their schools. The Sun Times quoted one single anonymous principal bitching about cops. We'd be willing to bet this principal wants the officers to do stuff that lands outside the scope of their duties and isn't happy being told "No" by the officers, the supervisors and the command staff.

In any event, we couldn't be persuaded to work a school for double the money. We're just glad there are people who will volunteer for it.