Rahm's Hatchet Man

At least we know exactly what they're after in negotiations next year:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel could wring $300 million from the combined $1.8 billion budgets of Chicago’s Police and Fire Departments, in part by dramatically altering union contracts that expire June 30, an influential alderman said Thursday.

  “There’s no more sacred cows when the taxpayers are hurting like they are,” said Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), former chairman of the City Council’s Police and Fire Committee.

  Beale has already infuriated the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) by targeting the $1,800-a-year uniform allowance officers receive as well as duty-availability pay, a $2,800-a-year lump sum that essentially compensates officers for being on call at any time.

  Now, he’s going even further.

Is anyone going to point out that we've already done more than our share for the city? We settled for lower contract raises for years, taking "uniform allowances and duty availability pay" instead of the far more expensive raises, which would have been pensionable (meaning the city's pension contributions would have risen dramatically.) We saved them millions during lean times, now we're being tasked with saving even more even though we lived up to our part of the negotiated agreement.

Beale also wants to change to a commissary system:

• Instead of doling out annual uniform checks, Beale wants to switch to a voucher system to save as much as $50 million a year. Officers who need shirts, pants and jackets would get reimbursed. Those who don’t would get nothing.

Is this covering everything? What about new hires? What about the connected uniform stores? Are they going to stand for being put out of business? We own a bunch of uniforms so we have a fresh one most days - are we going to have the same number available to us?

And then we get down to the brass tacks - screwing the people who actually pay taxes:

• Instead of having the same number of police officers assigned to every watch and district, Beale is talking about putting officers when and where the crime is. That would allow Emanuel to eliminate 1,400 police vacancies and shrink the police force through attrition.

  “I know it’s an unpopular thing to say. ... But if you put the officers where they’re needed vs. where they’re wanted, you could see a reduction,” he said.

  “It has to be a conscious effort to make the unpopular decision to say, ‘We’re gonna move officers around to where they’re most needed — not where they’re most wanted.’ If we’re gonna make the entire city safe, we can do it with less officers.”

And guess where the crime will migrate to? The places with no police? Bingo! Then what will these brainiacs do?

Arm yourselves citizens. You are about to become the most unusual social experiment in history.