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Cops Hurt in Wreck

Hopefully, not serious:

• Two Chicago police cars collided with each other Saturday morning on the West Side, authorities said.The crash happened about 12:30 a.m. when two cars were responding to a call to help another, Chicago Police News Affairs Officer [...] said.

Get well soon Officers.

Shakeup? Hahahahahahaha

A "shake-up" would mean someone actually got demoted for not doing their job. We have yet to see a demotion. In fact, wasn't the phrase "kicked upstairs" used by this administration to describe the "punishment" recently meted out to the former commander of 007 who couldn't answer simple questions at CompStat, even with two weeks notice of the material to be covered? We see a couple "kicked upstairs" moves on this list, too:

• With Chicago suffering a 35 percent spike in murders this year, police Supt. Garry McCarthy announced a reshuffling of his command staff Friday, replacing commanders in five of the city’s 23 districts.

  McCarthy also promoted three supervisors to deputy chief positions. He said the changes were made to “strengthen the department’s ongoing efforts to reduce violence” and create a “more efficient departmental structure.”

  McCarthy promoted James Gibson as commander in the Morgan Park district; Lynette Helm in Grand-Crossing; James O’Donnell in Jefferson Park; Maria Pena in Marquette, and Barbara West in Austin.

  A police spokeswoman said no district commanders were demoted to make way for the changes in those five districts. They replaced commanders who were promoted to other positions or retired, she said.

Right there, that kind of negates the claim of a "shake-up." And officially promoting someone who conducted at least one witch hunt in violation of Department Orders is some amazingly bad judgement.

And what's that? Murders up 35%? Sounds there ought to be quite a few demotions attached to that number: Now how about the Deputy Chief positions that were filled:

• Kathleen Boehmer, former commander in the Town Hall district, was promoted to deputy chief of detectives.

  Keith Calloway, former commander of detectives in the Calumet Area, was named deputy chief of the organized crime bureau.

  Boemer and Calloway’s previous positions were eliminated in a department consolidation last month. McCarthy merged the Town Hall and Belmont districts and reduced the number of detective areas from five to three.

  McCarthy also announced that Eddie Johnson, former commander of the Gresham district, has been promoted to deputy chief of patrol for the newly created Central Area.

And they still manage to claim "crime is down" in the article:

• As of Thursday, there have been 114 murders this year in Chicago — up 35 percent compared with the same period last year.

  But department records also show that, through March 18, overall crime has dropped 10 percent throughout the city compared with the same period in 2011.

That'll give everyone involved the opportunity to attempt to pretend that March didn't happen.

Instead of Walter's Column...

...how about this editorial from the Sun Times (apologies for reprinting the whole thing, but it's a lot better than any "perspective" Jacobson might come up with):

• Here he comes, Police Officer Del Pearson, rolling out of the hospital in a wheelchair on Tuesday, into a sunny day. He wears his badge on a sling that cradles his arm.

  Twenty cops or more stand at attention. How they waited for this. How they prayed for this.

  How they told his wife, “Del’s gonna be OK,” though they did not know.

  How they told his two children, “Your dad’s a good cop,” which they did know.

  Now here he comes, released from the hospital just eight days after a bullet ripped through a major artery, leaving him close to death. On the night he was shot, more than 100 police officers stood vigil in the dark outside the hospital, nobody going home until their brother in blue was out of surgery.

  As a nurse rolls him out the door, a line of police officers salute him.

  “Way to go, Del!” one calls out.

  “You’re the man,” another cries.

  Officer Pearson says nothing, but his face says much. He is choked up. He is moved.

  This is how — and this is why — cops stick together.

  Because they do a dangerous job and nobody knows that better than another cop.

  And because sticking together is how they stay alive.

  Man in an alley with a gun? Call for backup.

  Shots fired at a three-flat? Call for backup.

  An officer shot in the chest, as Pearson was, as he chases a suspect across a yard? Sweep him into your squad car and get him to the hospital. He is bleeding profusely. There is no time to wait for an ambulance.

  He would do the same for you.

  “I wasn’t going to let my friend and my co-worker lie there and possibly bleed to death while we stood around and waited,” said Sgt. Christopher Kapa, who along with Officer Kirsten Lund rushed Pearson to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. “I saw the massive amounts of blood and said, ‘Let’s go.’ ”

  We — the public and the media and the politicians — get tough on cops a lot, especially when we think they’re sticking together just a little too much. We don’t like it when they fail to call out, or even dare to defend, the cop who pummels a barmaid or tortures a suspect or trumps up a charge.

  But the good cops — and that, of course, would be most of them — despise the rogues, too.

  We have to remember that.

  And when a police officer is on the job, sticking together is the first law of survival.

  One Chicago police officer, Clifton Lewis, was killed last year. Six more officers have been shot in the last nine months.

  When a cop is shot, we should all be standing vigil outside the hospital in the night.

Perspective

Walter Jacobson has far too much baggage and far too many bridges to rebuild between himself and rank-and-file police officers for us to actually believe any of the crap he spouts.

Here's a link to his Perspective "supporting" the men and women he pretty much pissed all over to make his career over the years. Sixty seconds of support isn't erasing a lifetime of dislike.

2, 4, 23, 38 and 46. Megaball = 23

If no other updates appear above this one, you know exactly why. Later suckas!

Open post while we check the numbers.

$7.3 Billion? Seriously?

This guy just finds money everywhere. How much of that is going toward hiring police, firefighters, teachers and shoring up the underfunded pensions? Exactly zero:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday urged major airlines squeezed by skyrocketing fuel prices to come to the table a year early and negotiate a fourth new runway at O’Hare Airport as part of a $7.3 billion plan to rebuild Chicago’s infrastructure and create 30,000 jobs.

  “I’m announcing this when we have everything secure on the very day Washington is doing a 60-day extension on the highway bill. The last highway bill was 2005. I can’t let the city be held hostage to that dysfunction,” the mayor told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Sun Times points out a lot of these projects have been previously announced and this is just Rahm repackaging stuff that never got off the ground.

And some people are about to take baths on their property speculations:

• Now, Emanuel is pushing that fourth runway and moving up the timetable for negotiations to reduce delays by 80 percent, boost capacity by 300,000-passenger-a-year by 2015 and eliminate the need for a third airport.

  “If I owned property in Peotone, I’d be looking to put it on the market right now,” joked Ald. Pat O’Connor (40th), the mayor’s City Council floor leader.

How much are Jesse and Jesse going to lose here? We'll just say, "Hahahahahaha."

A Double-Triple

Only one of the six shot ends up dead, but not for lack of trying:

• Detectives were reviewing police surveillance video this evening to see if they could spot the gunmen who shot six people, one fatally, in a convenience store on the South Side.
  
  The attack happened at 6 p.m. on the 1400 block of West 79th Street in the Gresham neighborhood, said Chicago Police News Affairs...

Coming on the heels of Thursday's CompStat meeting, this must have been embarrassing to McClueless.

Guess who showed up finally?

• Rev. Michael Pfleger stood with the crowd gathered at the police line in the parking lot of a White Castle restaurant on Loomis. Pfleger pointed out that the police surveillance camera mounted across the street from the store, and said when the shooting happened, the streets would have been crowded with people.
  
  "Somebody must have seen something. They need to come forward," he said.

You notice he pointed right to the camera - the camera that did absolutely nothing to stop the shooting? Amazing.

And trust the Tribune to throw this shot out there:

• Citing preliminary information, police said two gunmen with hooded sweatshirts entered the store and almost immediately opened fire.

"hooded sweatshirts." Golly, those sure are appearing in the news a lot lately.

No Parade Change

Surprise! What did you expect from a city "administrative judge?"

• A city of Chicago administrative hearing judge has upheld the denial of a march permit for NATO protesters.
  
  Administrative Law Judge Raymond J. Prosser delivered his ruling late this afternoon, backing the city's claim that a parade through the heart of the Loop on the first day of the NATO summit would create an unnecessary public safety risk.
  
  The city has proposed moving the parade start to Columbus Drive in Grant Park and skirting the Loop on its path south to McCormick Place, where members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be meeting May 20-21.

  The protesters, led by organzer Andy Thayer, had been given a permit for an identical march in the city for May 19, which was to be the first day of the G-8 summit. But after President Barack Obama moved G-8 to Camp David, Thayer's group sought to move its march to May 20 for the first day of the NATO talks.

Of course, this isn't the last word. Expect lawsuits at the federal level, who look upon local authorities' attempts to quash First Amendment issues with a jaundiced eye.

$19 Million More to Burn

Anyone seen those new face shields yet?

• Chicago has a received a $19 million grant to cover the local security costs of the NATO summit this May, the city's summit planners said as they announced they have raised more than $36 million in private donations for other costs.
  
  "The Host Committee is thrilled by the support we have received from the business community," said Lori Healey, executive director of the Chicago NATO Host Committee. “Thanks to their generosity, and the support of the federal government, the city will be able to host a tremendous summit that will highlight the best of Chicago."
  
  The figures were released in a statement from the host committee Thursday afternoon, along with a list of donors that includes dozens of the most prominent players in Chicago's corporate community. Amounts of the donations were not provided.

How about some more safety equipment? Like fire extinguishers.

No GPS in New Stars

A helpful friend at the airport ran the new star through an x-ray machine:


As you can see, no micro-circuitry, no mechanical devices, the x-ray shoots right through to the pin assembly on the other side.

Welcome Constable Marron

It's good to have a few world class medical institutions here in town:

• It happened in the Australian wilderness. A young police officer was bitten by a mosquito and became immobilized, a quadriplegic who also cannot speak.

  Now he has traveled from down under to Chicago. Here, police officer Ryan Marron hopes he can regain what was lost. [...].

  The Chicago Police Department’s Pipe and Drum Corps and members of the department’s Sergeants’ Association marched through O’Hare International Airport with a new arrival in America on Wednesday — disabled Perth, Australia, police officer Ryan Marron.

  He and his loved ones hope that his paralysis can somehow be cured at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

RIC has done some amazing work. A number of Officers have gone through their doors hoping to regain some semblance of normalcy following shootings and accidents. Sometimes the miracles happen. Hopefully Constable Marron can get something back that will grant him some relief from his debilitating condition.

Lawsuit Reinstated

Again, dumb moves will cost people their jobs:

• Mark Geinosky's federal lawsuit against the city of Chicago and eight of its police officers is back on, after the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed lower court's decision to throw out the case.
  
  Calling Geinosky's allegations of harassment through two-dozen bogus parking tickets "troubling," the three-member panel remanded the case back to the district court, saying Geinosky and his lawyers sufficiently argued he was singled out by officers who wrote the tickets.
  
  The ruling, written by Judge David F. Hamilton, said that at first blush, the case might seem like a good candidate for dismissal by the district court.
  
  "A closer look at the alleged facts, however, reveals a disturbing pattern," Hamilton wrote. "Absent a reasonable explanation, and none has even been suggested yet, the pattern adds up to deliberate and unjustified official harassment that is actionable under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment."

And the fallout?

• Late last year, Superintendent Garry McCarthy moved to have four officers fired for their alleged involvement in the case. Two of those officers are scheduled for a hearing before the Chicago Police Board on April 30.

With the lawsuit back, guess what the outcome will be at the Board.

Bi-Polar Electorate

Wasn't everyone screaming about how this was such a good idea a few months ago?

• Angry parents Wednesday accused Chicago Public Schools of playing favorites on the longer school day issue and paying staff to hold spaces in a very long ling to ensure pro-longer day speakers would be able to address board members.

• Hundreds packed board chambers and an overflow room Wednesday, many of them supporting a day of 6.5 hours instead of the proposed 7.5 hour day proposed by CPS officials.

So a longer day was a good idea, then it was a bad idea, now there's a compromise 6.5 hour day on the table.

We're seeing the same thing with the red light cameras:

• It's for the children;
• Hey, wait a minute, what hours are the cameras running?
• That seems excessive;

And finally the aldercreatures delay hearings because the voters haven't any idea what they really want. And the cops are wondering where all the gravely injured kids are that the cameras are supposed to protect - there don't seem to be any.

Oh, and that school budget shortfall? Getting bigger:

• District officials were expected to update board members later Wednesday on their contentions that next year’s deficit could once again be as large as $700 million.

All those cuts and it's still $700 million?

Ten Days?

Blago gets 14 years and John Harris gets 10 days?

• John Harris, who was chief of staff for Rod Blagojevich when both were arrested in December 2008, was sentenced today to just 10 days in prison for assisting the then-governor’s efforts to sell a vacant U.S. Senate seat.
  
  Harris apologized and acknowledged he failed to live up to his own standards. “I lost my way,” he told the judge.

  U.S. District Judge James Zagel said Harris was too close to power to avoid prison entirely. “The offense is so serious and so crucial that I cannot impose upon you a sentence that does not involve custody,” he said.

We understand the first person to talk gets the best seat on the bus and Harris, a former CPD exempt who made the leap from obscurity to golden boy in short order, cooperated fully during both Blago trials. But this makes it appear Harris didn't even buy a ticket on the bus.

On the flip side, if this is a trend, we'd expect to see Daley and Burke both in prison uniforms before the decade is over.

54 Years

A sentence we can get behind:

• A reputed gang member was sentenced to 54 years in prison today for ramming a carload of teens on Chicago’s West Side and killing an 18-year-old college student because he mistakenly thought they were gang rivals.
  
  Shalimar Santiago, 30, showed no reaction as Judge Joseph Claps handed down the punishment for first-degree murder and seven counts of aggravated battery in the August 2009 crash that killed aspiring doctor Stephanie Herrera.
  
  Moments before, Santiago stood at the defense table in a tan jail jumpsuit and apologized to the victims, but he said it was all a tragic accident and he was not the monster portrayed by prosecutors.

Correct us if we're wrong, but an accident involves an unforeseen set of circumstances. This was completely preventable and unnecessary. "Monster" is by far the mildest description we can imagine.

It should have been around a one-hundred-fifty year sentence.

FOP Responds

The FOP responded to the Sun Times story:

• No matter what you read in the Sun Times quoting “off the record” sources, there is no dispute between the FOP and the City regarding upcoming contract negotiations. Our agreement was timely re-opened on March 20, 2012, well within the time limits that apply for modifications that would improve your labor agreement, address the critical issue of manpower, the safety of the public and of police officers, increase your wages and improve officers’ welfare. Under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, 5 ILCS 315/7, a party to a collective bargaining agreement must terminate or modify the agreement by giving the other side notice of the intent to terminate or modify the agreement 60 days before the expiration date. Our contract expires June 30. Therefore, any notice before May 1 would have been timely notice. The IPLRA does not require us to give the City notice by March 1.

  However, the labor agreement, Section 28.1, is anything but clear and unambiguous. The agreement provides that “notice of termination” must be given by March 1, 2012. FOP never intended to send a notice of termination. Our labor agreement needs modifications, not termination.

On one hand, they seem to be seeking to alleviate fears. On the other, they seem to admit it's "anything but clear and unambiguous." And we all know how Rahm is going to have his lawyers interpret that.

There's a Triple

Three more dead - fortunately, they were all "innies" under the J-Fled system of counting:

• Three men were discovered fatally shot late Tuesday in an apartment in the West Woodlawn neighborhood on the city's South Side, police said.
  
  The men were discovered at about 11:15 p.m. in the 6300 block of South Evans Avenue, said police and fire officials.

  None of the victims' identities have been immediately released.

Oh wait, we're under the CompStat rules now. Did they happen in the "violence zone?" If not, we don't really care.

Um, What's This?

Looks like Fran is trolling our comment section again:

• Chicago Police officers may have to wait until next year to negotiate a new contract with the city — and forgo a retroactive pay increase in 2012 — thanks to an embarrassing oversight by the new leadership of the Fraternal Order of Police, City Hall sources said Tuesday.

  Police and fire contracts are due to expire on June 30, but a little-known clause requires unions to notify the city between Feb. 1 and March 1 that they intend to terminate their contracts and commence negotiations on a new agreement. If they don’t serve notice during that time, the contract automatically rolls over for another year.

  City firefighters and unions representing police sergeants, lieutenants and captains notified the city within the required time frame.

  But City Hall contends FOP President Mike Shields missed the March 1 deadline, giving Mayor Rahm Emanuel an opening to either put off negotiations until June 30, 2013, or negotiate only those items that would cut taxpayer costs.

  A mayoral confidant emphasized that the city has not yet decided whether to “stick it in the ear” of rank-and-file police officers.

  “But we’re reserving the right to be selective in what we talk about because they blew it,” the source said.

"stick it in the ear?" How about a bit lower?

And if the deadline was missed, and since the FOP does all of the heavy lifting for the sergeants, lieutenants and captains, not to mention the firefighters, this can be characterized as a pretty big Grade-A fuck up.

One has wonder what the FOP is going to have to give up in order to make things right.

Wounded PO Heads Home

A peaceful recovery Del:

• In the hours after a bullet pierced Chicago police Officer Del Pearson's chest, tore into an artery and lodged near his spine, there were moments when his colleagues thought he would die.
  
  By the time the father of two had arrived at the hospital March 19, he had lost a large amount of blood as his tactical team partners rushed him by car from the South Side neighborhood where he had been shot. He spent much of the night in surgery.
  
  But Tuesday, little more than a week after the shooting, Pearson, 47, left Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in a wheelchair pushed by his wife, Christine, and brother-in-law Mark Reno. Clad in a black baseball cap and blue jacket with his left arm in a sling, Pearson was joined by officers who had gathered at the hospital to celebrate his release.

Good luck. See you after NATO.

Life in Prison

Rot in hell:

• Eighteen years before he gunned down Ofc. Nathaniel Taylor Jr. on Sept. 28, 2008, Lamar Cooper fired shots at another on-duty Chicago police officer.

  Ofc. Ronald Simmons described Tuesday how Cooper turned and shot at him three times in July 1990, and how he never had time to fire back at Cooper in the alley on Chicago’s South Side.

  And then Cook County Judge Nicholas Ford sentenced Cooper, 40, to life in prison for killing Taylor, saying, “I hope you live a long, long life behind bars so you can remember what you did for the rest of your life.”

Always remember Nathaniel Taylor and keep his family in your prayers.

Parade Lawsuit

Mass hilarity ensues:

• A middle-of-the-Loop protest rally and march on the opening day of the NATO summit would clog traffic and “drain” Chicago police resources as officers turn their attention to world leaders descending on the city and the Cubs and Sox squaring off at Wrigley Field — not to mention the regular duties throughout the city.

  That’s the case Chicago officials made Tuesday before an administrative law judge hearing an appeal of the city’s decision to deny protesters a permit to march from Daley Plaza — which can hold a maximum 5,000 — south along State Street and Michigan Avenue to McCormick Place on May 20, opening day of the NATO summit.

An "administrative law judge?" We imagine that means he's appointed by the city which means this decision is preordained - the protestors are going to be stuck with 19 May as their date. That isn't to say they won't appeal - they will. And they might very well win.

What's truly amusing is what the city and brass are saying:

• Debra Kirby, the police department’s chief of international relations, said the route protesters want would place a “significant drain” on resources.

  She and others have argued that NATO would draw a larger number of dignitaries than the G-8.

That sounds so.....so.....so very familiar.

Homeowner Shoots Burglar

...and manages to get charged himself:

• An 80-year-old tavern owner in Englewood believes it's "unjust" that he is facing charges after shooting a burglar, but believes he will prevail in court.
  
  "It's wrong," Homer "Tank" Wright said as he walked into his bar after being released from jail this afternoon. "Unjust that I can't protect me."
  
  Awakened by his 75-year-old wife, Wright confronted a 19-year-old burglar who had broken through some plywood over a bathroom window in hopes of stealing liquor, according to police. Wright grabbed his 38.caliber pistol, loaded with four rounds, and shot the intruder in the leg.
  
  The suspect was arrested -- but so was Wright. Because of prior weapons convictions, Wright was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, sparking calls by his family and neighbors for prosecutors to back down.

The judge released him on his own recognizance, and that was probably the right call. But arresting him was also the right call. He has a felony record. The law doesn't give us much wiggle room where gun felonies are concerned. Sorry, but that's the way it is. Yeah, it's Englewood so allowances might be in order, but that's the purview of the legislature.

Fundraiser

Fundraiser for PO Colucci:

• On Friday, March 30th from 4pm to 8pm McDonald's at 18th & Blue Island will be hosting an event where 20% of the proceeds will be donated to support the benefit of Chicago Police Officer Lorenzo Colucci while he battles against Advanced Hodgkin’s Lymphoma! He is currently undergoing chemotherapy at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Treatment for this form of cancer has caused his medical expenses to mount at an accelerated pace. This event hosted by McDonald’s will help offset some of those costs.
  
  ******Donations can be made at Chicago Patrolman's Federal Credit Union located at 6124 W 63rd Street (Chicago) under Account #51039.******

Informational post only - comments closed here.

Rahm Blames Citizens

(From the Sun Times) Damn you citizens!!!!

• The Chicago Police Department has busted two West Side drug markets — and arrested 45 members of the Traveling Vice Lords and Four Corner Hustlers street gangs — but it won’t mean a thing unless area residents reclaim that turf, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Monday.

  The Harrison District market allegedly operated by the Four Corner Hustlers was busted as part of a city-federal investigation that resulted in the seizure of $1 million in cash, $1.5 million worth of narcotics and eight firearms.

  An international narcotics cartel has been identified as the source of the drugs, according to Police Supt. Garry McCarthy. Thirty-six “gang targets” have been charged. Twenty-eight of them are already in custody.

A good long term investigation by the officers. If it's airtight, some people will be headed to prison for some extensive time.

On the flip side, nature abhors a vacuum - and so does the drug trade. Dealers are going to be jockeying for the spots vacated by the arrested and the cycle will begin again. Rahm saying it's up to the community to reclaim that turf means that (A) in contradiction to what Rahm said a few days ago, the gangs do run the streets and (B) if the effort fails (which it will - it's been the same for 60 years now), then it's the citizens' fault and Rahm can't be held responsible as he runs for the White House.

And the Tribune has this report:

• One week after dozens of people were shot in a deadly outburst of street violence, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy held a news conference today to highlight efforts to crack down on gangs.
  
  Emanuel and McCarthy sought to assure the public they are focused on new strategies for dealing with the city's seemingly intractable gang problem.
  
  
• McCarthy hinted at a comprehensive gang-related strategy, but provided few details. Police will identify gang conflicts, new territories and factions, focus on gang-related violence and share that information throughout the department to prevent retaliation, McCarthy said.

Either we're going back to the map full of push pins or the Crystal Ball assholes got another shot at things. If only we had an actual gang unit that concentrated on gangs. They could fit right in with Garry's latest "reorganization" and call themselves Gangs North, Gangs South and Gangs Central. And when that got boring, Gangs South could become S.O.G.

Again.

First Amendment Anyone?

This is interesting:

• The New Orleans police department has suspended an officer under who is currently under investigation for a fatal police-involved shooting for posting that Trayvon Martin "acted like a thug" and deserved to "die like one" in a comment on a news website.

So the New Orleans PD suspended an officer for making a comment on a case that isn't even in their jurisdiction? On a news site that isn't in any way associated with the New Orleans PD?

And as more and more of the truth comes out (the "victim" dealt drugs, the "victim" was suspended for ten days for drugs, the "victim" had a twitter account where people congratulated him for beating up a bus driver, the "victim" had gang tattoos, the "victim" had gold grilles at 17 with no job, the "victim" was the aggressor in the confrontation, the "victim's" mother is trademarking his name, etc.) the New Orleans PD brass is in the unenviable position of having violated an officer's First Amendment rights for simply telling the truth.

Things that make you go "Hmmmmm."

Another Englewood Death

The bodies keep on coming:

• A 16-year-old boy was shot to death on a West Englewood street this afternoon, police said.

  The boy was shot in the head in the 1400 block of West 73rd Street at about 2:40 p.m., said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer...

We hadn't realized Chicago passed 100 homicides for the year almost a week ago - 21 March. That's the quickest run to 100 since 2004 and we're on pace to leave that year in the dust.

A funny thing we noticed over at the Red Eye homicide tracker though. They track homicides by date, age, sex, cause, day of the week, community area, race, and locale. But the race code is a little bit skewed. For example:

• Ramon Salgado - white
• George Marrero - white
• Johnny Vargas - white
• Gustavo Reyes - white
• Aliyah Shell (the six year old) - white

So which politically correct entity leaned on the Tribune Company to report their stats completely at odds with Chicago Police classification procedures and the nationally recognized standards?

Gas Prices

Once again, Chicago is Number One!

• Filling the tank today? Prepare yourself: It’s gonna hurt.
  
  Gas prices in Chicago and the metro area hit a record high Monday, according to AAA, with the average price of regular unleaded gasoline at $4.67 in the city and $4.51 in the suburbs. Those prices compare to $3.95 one year ago in Chicago and $3.77 at the same time last year in the Chicago metro area.
  
  Beth Mosher, a spokeswoman for AAA, said the spike can be attributed to a seasonal change over to a summer blend of gasoline.

And Obama dithering on Iran. And Obama canceling the Keystone pipeline. And the Obama administration refusing drilling permits for the Gulf and coastal United States while China sets up deep water rigs near Cuba and American companies take their rigs elsewhere. And Obama demonizing coal, leading to a greater dependence on hostile regimes for oil supplies.

Expect $5-per-gallon gas shortly. And a stalled economy.

Local Merchant Supports Police

Up north near Belmont and Central:

A&G International Fresh Market is located at 5630 W. Belmont. If you're up around there, drop by and tell them thanks.

Potential Killer Eliminated

010 District Officers:

• Chicago police shot and killed a theft suspect who allegedly took out a gun while officers were patting him down Sunday in an abandoned Lawndale neighborhood building, police said.

  The shooting happened about 11:30 p.m. after Ogden District officers responded to a call of “theft in progress” at an unoccupied building in the 1500 block of South Kostner Avenue, according to a police News Affairs statement.

  They found the man inside, and were performing a “protective pat-down” when the man allegedly took a handgun out of his waistband, the statement said. The officers and the suspect began to struggle and the officers fired their weapons, fatally shooting the man.

  The officers were not hurt and a weapon was recovered at the scene, the statement said.

That's what? Four or Five Officer involved shootings in the past 10 days or less? And a few attempted disarmings? The criminals are feeling bold and they aren't hesitating attack police at every turn. It's probably safe to assume they aren't feeling too deterred to attack citizens either.

But crime is down, right?

More Shootings

It was a nice Sunday for the beginning of the day. And then:

• A man was shot and killed in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side this morning, authorities said.

  The man, identified as Julio Cintron, 35, was fatally shot in the 4000 block of West Cortland Street, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The victim was shot just before 10 a.m. near Cortland Street and Keeler Avenue, said Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer

And let's not forget the south and west sides:

• A 22-year-old man was fatally shot at a Far South Side liquor store Saturday evening, police said, and a 46-year-old man was killed about 45 minutes later.

  At least six others were shot on the South and West sides overnight.

All is well! All is well!

Phleger Pfinally Speaks

But not about the 100-plus shot this month. Or the 35 dead and counting. No, he's going to whine about a case 1,200 miles away:

• A group of teenagers and young adults stood in silence Sunday on the South Side at Racine Avenue and 78th Court, surrounded by members of St. Sabina Catholic Church.
  
  Cars whizzed by as they stood like statues, one holding a cross that said "Stop Shooting." They all had two things in common: They are African-American, and they were all wearing hooded sweatshirts.

Gasp! Hoodies? Call the authorities.

Of course, it wasn't 80 degrees or so like it was in Florida a month ago. And the forensic evidence, the stories, the potential

Gun "Goes Off" Again

Once again, a gun just happens to go off and shoot a child who shouldn't have been anywhere near the gun:

• A 5-year-old girl was in good condition early Sunday after she was shot in her ankle Saturday afternoon while jumping on a bed when a gun hidden under the mattress accidentally went off.

  The girl was jumping on the bed in a home in the 6400 block of South Artesian about 12:20 p.m. when the gun discharged, according to police. She was taken to University of Chicago Comer’s Children’s Hospital, police said. She was in good condition following the treatment.

  The gun was hidden between two mattresses.

Darn kids. And darn those silly guns.

More Shot; More Dead

Every killing marks another increase from last year's totals. This year we're up over 30 so far, probably nearing forty with six days left in March:

• A 22-year-old man was fatally shot in a Far South Side liquor store this evening, police said, and a 46-year-old man was killed about 45 minutes later.

  The younger man was shot to death while standing in the store near 133rd Street and Indiana Avenue about 8:45 p.m., said Chicago Police News Affairs [...].

  Someone outside fired into the store, hitting the man, police said. The man was shot in the chest...

  Area South detectives were investigating.

  About 9:30 p.m., the 46-year-old man was shot in the chest and right bicep and found in an alley by responding officers, according to police.

  Officers found him on the 1800 block of West 63rd Street in the West Englewood neighborhood and he was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

That's another two dead with another two shot. Nowhere near the previous week's total, but the temperature is nowhere near what it was last week.

Good thing they aren't counting vehicular homicides in the totals - we had about three of those this past week, none of which would have been prevented by speed cameras (we're just saying.)

Rahm Says "Please Don't Leave"

We say, "Why stay if you can afford to leave and be picky about your child's education?"

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel has a message to the middle class: Don’t leave my city in pursuit of a high quality, high school education for your kids.

  The message accompanied a promise, issued during an exclusive interview with the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday — the same day the mayor announced he was doubling the size of an International Baccalaureate diploma program in the Chicago Public Schools. A recent study deemed the program extremely successful in preparing neighborhood high school students for college.

  “Don’t head for the doors when your kid’s in fifth grade or sixth grade — for the suburbs — because the city of Chicago is going to give you a high-quality life with a high-quality education for your children,” said Emanuel, speaking in his office and flanked by Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard.

Sorry Rahm, we just don't see it. And the way you're treating the teachers, we don't see the high quality instructors sticking around just to starve to death in a broken system.

Crime is Down...

...but guess what's up? Besides shootings. And homicides:

• The robbery Friday of a Northwest Side Albany Park bank branch was at least the 50th this year in the Chicago metropolitan area. In all of 2011 there were 115 bank robberies in the Chicago area, according to the FBI.

  Friday’s bank robbery took place at the Albany Bank branch, 3400 W, Lawrence Ave., according to the FBI.

  No weapon was shown in the robbery.

No weapon? So that makes it a theft instead. And the feebs investigate bank robberies, so CPD probably won't even count it in the stats. But it's still March and we're almost halfway to last year's totals. Indicative of a larger trend?

Another Police Shooting

No good guys wounded:

• A Chicago police officer shot a man on the 9300 block of South Vernon Avenue in the Burnside neighborhood about 11 p.m. Friday, authorities said.

  Police were called to a home on the block because of a domestic disturbance involving a man with a gun, said Pat Camden, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7.

  Police arrived and confronted the man in the back yard, Camden said. Police, along with people at the house, yelled at him to drop the gun, Camden said.

  And officer opened fire after the man started raising the gun, Camden said. The man's injuries are not life threatening, he said.

  Police recovered the gun he was holding in his hand and another gun he was carrying, Camden said.

  No officers were injured, he said.

Packing guns two at a time. At least they were both legally owned and the gunman's Concealed Carry Permit and FOID were up to date.....oh, wait.

If the Weather Holds....

Rahm may luck out along with McWhatWeather?

• Saturday - high of 66, low of 50
• Sunday - high of 62, low of 41

Of course, McWhateverHeIsToday says weather has no effect on crime. He's going to be eating those words one day.

Missed Deadline?

A couple of comments popping up. Someone want to explain and then verify?

• I heard a rumor from a reliable source in iad that the genius legal minds at fop missed a critical deadline required by the contract (look it up).
  
  Anyone from fop care to comment? Can we sue our own lawyers for malpractice?
  
  
• Section 28.1 — Term of Agreement.
  This Agreement shall be effective from July 1, 2007 and shall remain in full force and effect until June 30, 2012. It shall continue in effect from year to year thereafter unless notice of termination is given, in writing, by certified mail, by
  either party no earlier than February 1, 2012 and no later than March 1, 2012. The notices referred to shall be considered to have been given as of the date shown on the postmark. Written notice may be tendered in person, in which case the date of notice shall be the written date of receipt. It is mutually agreed that the Articles and Sections shall constitute the Agreement between the parties for the period defined in this Section.

Someone want to address this? Have we just been backdoored by our own lawyers? Or is this much ado about nothing?

Rahm Spins and Spins...

...and spins and spins and spins some more:

• Pounding the podium with emotion, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Friday he’s outraged by the bloodbath of violence that claimed the life of a 6-year-old playing on her porch in front of her parents and nearly killed a Chicago Police officer.

  “What happened is unacceptable. Our streets are for our children and for our law-abiding parents. I cannot think of anything worse than if a family is hanging out on their front porch [enjoying] nice spring-like weather that that is violated by violence. Our streets do not belong to gang-bangers,” Emanuel said.

  “While obviously 10 [murders] over a weekend is dramatic, it is too frequent and too normal. I will not allow a child in Chicago to not have — as long as I’m mayor and I have something to do about it — the most basic of rights, which is the ability to play in their neighborhood, play on their streets and grow up with that sense of normalcy.”

So, in essence, Rahm is promising to finally hire more police officers. Because cameras aren't doing it, the "reverends" aren't doing it, the brass isn't doing it and McCarthy isn't doing it either.

More nonsense:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel today called on residents to help police take back their neighborhoods in the wake of a spate of shootings around Chicago.
  

• Responding to criticism that there aren't enough cops on the streets to prevent the violence, Emanuel pointed out he has moved more police officers into patrol jobs from administrative positions since taking office.

And it still isn't enough, is it? 9-1-1 calls go unanswered for minutes at a time. The calls sit and wait for an available car for tens of minutes, even hours. But as long as it falls into their "window," the city claims response times are stellar. Talk to citizens however and the luster starts to dim.

This is interesting:

• After returning from his ski-trip to Utah with his kids, he said he went straight to the New Life Church to find out more details on the gun violence that plagued the city during a spell of warm weather.

So while the children of Chicago (who will probably never see the Rocky Mountains except in pictures) were being slaughtered in their front yards and on their blocks, Rahm was off skiing with his kids.

And more BS from Rahm:

• Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel made a plea to the public Friday asking residents to help police stop violence in their neighborhoods.

  "I understand the comfort that comes from 'It didn't happen in my neighborhood.' But it happened in your city," Mayor Emanuel said Friday.

"your city"? How about "our city" Rahm? Or are you admitting again you weren't really a citizen of Chicago for a stretch of years?

And unfortunately, Rahm has followed Shortshanks in taking away the very things that might prevent violence and protect citizens. A fully staffed police department and failing that, embracing the Second Amendment so the law abiding aren't treated like criminals when they can see with their own eyes that the police aren't around and they aren't likely to be coming around in time to prevent what is occurring right here, right now.

Anita Continues to Stumble

Every time you think this is going to fade into the background, another revelation:

• A nephew of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley “may have made an admission of guilt” to detectives that he threw the punch that caused David Koschman’s death, attorneys for Koschman’s family said in a court filing Wednesday.

  They said sworn witness statements to the city of Chicago inspector general’s office, which they obtained under a court order, contradict arguments made by Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Alvarez is fighting their efforts to have a special prosecutor appointed to reinvestigate the case and determine whether her office and the police are guilty of “official misconduct.”

  Minutes after four of Koschman’s friends were unable to identify Daley nephew Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko in a police lineup nearly eight years ago, the friends say an unidentified detective told them the police knew who had punched the 21-year-old from Mount Prospect in the face, according to their sworn statements, which Alvarez unsuccessfully tried to keep from being released.

Every single step Alvarez has taken has been to keep information from the public. Every single step. And every single step just convinces more and more people that someone connected got away with murder, not due to a poor investigation or a crappy job collecting evidence. Someone got away with it because it was Daley's nephew.

Shotgun Wielding Man Shot

It seems to be happening more and more:

• A Chicago police officer shot a man wielding a shotgun at a traffic stop tonight on the Far South Side, authorities said
  
  The shooting happened around 8 p.m. near West 105th and South Green streets in the Washington Heights neighborhood.
  
  When police pulled a vehicle over, a man exited it with a shotgun, apparently raising it in the direction of at least one officer, police said, citing preliminary details.
  
  An officer shot the man three times, police said, and he was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. His updated condition wasn’t immediately available.

Careful ladies and gents.

Startling Admission Part II

Guess who else noticed what the city was saying?

• If Chicago lacks the police manpower to secure the NATO summit and a protest march to McCormick Place on the same day, City Hall has no business hosting world leaders, protesters argued Thursday.

  After rejecting a city counterproposal they claim would have “ghettoized” their parade route to streets with “virtually no public visibility,” protesters formally appealed the decision by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration to reject a permit for a parade virtually identical to the one City Hall approved in January.

Odds have dropped from 25-1 to around 10-1 that the city will somehow manage to dodge the NATO summit before the first week of April.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Englewood Carnage Continues

Keep it real 007:

• Two men were shot and one of the men later died after being wounded in the Englewood neighborhood this evening, officials said.
  
  The shootings happened at 6:42 p.m. on the 5500 block of South Bishop Street, said Chicago Police News Affairs [...].

  The men were on a porch on that block when they were shot, police said.

Who has the totals for March in general and 007 specifically?

PDT's Down for a Week Now

We've noticed that when we're lucky enough to get a car with a computer in it recently, 8 times out of 10 the PDT doesn't function.

Now we hear word that the network or "host" is down?

Just mentioning this to McViolenceZone, it's awfully hard to do name checks, plate checks, automated contact cards and such without a functioning PDT. Hope you're at least a little understanding when you drag the bosses over the coals next week.

Justifying the Cost

Funny stuff:

• The added cost of the shield is certainly within the norm for the options requested by CPD.
  
  The new shields have two custom upgrades that only CPD required. the first is a custom blended acrylic that enhances peripheral vision in multitudes and pinpoint optical zoom when viewing directly forward.
  
  This new technology allows for the officer to focus on just one individual directly in front of him/her and only that subject. The advantage of such an option is that it puts the officer within his/her comfort zone by giving the perception that the subject is alone. This enhances the officer's ability to conduct themselves in a politically correct manner .
  
  The second option is the new "Rose Colored" option along with the peripheral "Multiplier" that gives the officer the perception of being amongst thousands of officers.
  
  The cost is actually a deal but the only disadvantage will be the 4" x6" Mayor rahm emanuel decal on the shield,the adhesive tends to drip down and the officer's footing may become affixed to one spot.
  
  The basis of this technology is the new federal mil spec requirements used to conform with
  the obama administration Rules of Engagement strategy.

Whatever this commentator is having, we'll have two and we got the next round for the bar.

Offender Charged

Charges in the police shooting:

• On his facebook profile, Paris Sadler posed for photos throwing the hand sign of a gang with a chilling name: The Every Body Killers.

  According to charges filed by the Cook County State’s Attorney, it’s a name he tried to live up to. Sadler — a 21-year-old McDonald’s employee — is accused of the attempted murder of Chicago Police officer Del Pearson. He allegedly shot Pearson, 47, in the chest with a 9mm handgun during a foot chase down an alley in the 8400 block of South Kingston Monday night.

  Charged late Wednesday, Sadler, who lives with his mom just yards from the shooting scene, was arrested following a manhunt early Tuesday morning. Pearson had approached him and a group of three other young men suspected of a possible curfew violation around 10:45 p.m. Monday when Sadler ran off then turned and fired at the officer during a gun battle, police say.

Nice work getting this asshole into custody and charged.

Show Them the Money!

Gee, increasing call volume and staff reductions equals what?

Massive overtime $$$!

• Overtime at Chicago’s 911 emergency center more than doubled during the first two months of this year, thanks to a 13.2 percent increase in call volume and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to reduce the ranks of police and fire dispatchers, records show.

  Police dispatchers wracked up 10,024 hours of overtime in January and February, at a cost of $516,642, compared to 5,247 hours with a $247,662 price tag during the same period a year ago, records show.

  Fire dispatchers piled up 3,504 overtime hours at a cost of $220,653 during the two-month period, versus 1,521 hours and $96,366 a year ago.

And get a load of this asshole:

• The alarming increases — which came as the number of calls went up by 13.2 percent, or 108,000 calls — are outlined in a March 15 email to 911 center department heads from James Carroll, finance director for the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
  
  “Please respond by March 20 with the reason for the overtime, as well as a plan to reduce your section’s overtime,” Carroll wrote. “Hiring new employees is not an option.”
  
  
• Understaffing has been a chronic problem at the 911 center over the years. As a result, a handful of call-takers have been able to more than double their salaries in overtime.
  
  Emanuel’s original plan called for eliminating the jobs of 17 fire dispatchers, laying off nine others and shrinking supervisory ranks from 13 to eight. After union negotiations, the mayor ended up eliminating 10 dispatcher vacancies, demoting three supervisors and one dispatcher and laying off one call-taker.
  
  Also, the jobs of 45 police dispatchers were eliminated, and so were four of 22 radio repair technicians.

Well gee whiz Jimmy, we guess the only option then is to stop answering the phones and letting everyone go home on time regardless of the stacked up emergencies. Or start randomly murdering citizens so they stop calling 9-1-1 with their bullshit. How the fuck else are you going to stop paying these people for sticking around past their work hours? And no wonder the radios suck lately - technicians cut, too?
At least under the old system of granting them Compensatory Hours, you could defer portions of the overtime payments as long as their retirement dates. And by granting people days off, they would drain the Comp Time bank naturally. Now, by denying time off and capping the number of hours on the books, you have to empty out the OT piggy bank months ahead of schedule and you get bean counters like Carroll looking for solutions to a problem that is literally going to cost people their lives.

And of course, this article being by Fran Spielman, she trots out this tired old canard:

• Earlier this month, the Chicago Police Department pointed to faster response times to 911 calls as proof that the department’s strategy of putting more officers in patrol cars is working.
  
  But the winning streak came to a crashing halt on an unseasonably mild St. Patrick’s Day, when bars and the city’s annual downtown parade drew huge crowds downtown and to River North. Sources said 911 dispatchers were so inundated between 10 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday that only 18 percent of the calls received during that time were answered within two to three rings.

And again, Fran has no one's word to go on about the "faster response times" that the numbers tossed out by the city with no attribution or statistical data to back it up. OEC has been understaffed for years which means they aren't answering calls as fast. Calls stack up and wait for an available unit. Everything we've seen shows they are only tracking from the time of dispatch - the wait time doesn't count as "responding" seeing as how the dope jobs are sitting for over an hour, the disturbances sit for twenty minutes and the 1A jobs can sit for ten minutes before they are considered backlogged.

More Equipment

Look! More of the same:

• The City of Chicago has agreed to buy more than 8,500 new face shields for police helmets in preparation for the May NATO conference.
  
  The new shields will fit over police helmets and provide added protection against rocks or fluids, according to Chicago Police Department spokeswoman Melissa Stratton. While all the shields are expected to be delivered in time for the May 20-21 NATO conference, Stratton said "essentially this is about protecting our officers" at all times.
  
  The $757,657 purchase was made through a contract Safeware Inc. has with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and did not utilize the special powers the City Council granted Mayor Rahm Emanuel to enter into no-bid contracts for equipment related to NATO, Stratton said. The city used a federal Homeland Security grant to cover the cost, she said.

This order of 8,512 shields is in addition to the 3,057 ordered last month.

That's only 11,570 - not nearly enough for the supposed 13,500 officers the administration always seems to claim exist. If there are a few hundred extras on order in case of breakage, loss or theft, we're even shorter.

We're just saying.

UPDATE: A sharp eyed reader related the following:

• The first purchase of 3,057 shields cost $193,000 ($63.13 per shield)
• The next was 8,512 at a cost of $757,657 ($89.01 per shield)

Correct us if we're wrong, but don't most purchasers get volume discounts? The bigger order ought to be a bit cheaper, right?

So why does the second order from the exact same company cost an extra $25.88 per shield? Who got their palms greased to the tune of $220,290.56?

Cool Photos

These are making the e-mail rounds - a low level pass by a B-52 Stratofortress in the Persian Gulf around 1990:

They have to be what? 30 feet off the water? And from the other side:

Back to our regularly scheduled mayhem.

Off Duty Wounds Two Assailants

Including one with a gun:

• A woman and a man were shot by an off-duty Chicago Police officer in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side early this morning.

  About 1 a.m. the off-duty Chicago Police detective shot a woman in the head and a man in the hand near the intersection of 15^th Place and Albany Avenue, police said.

  [...] Pat Camden, a police union spokesman, said the detective was in his car in the 3100 block of West 15^thStreet and was stopped when he ran across four people on the street who were causing a disturbance.

  When he told them to quiet down, they approached his car and one of them raised a gun and pointed it at the detective, said Camden.

Officer is fine, but it's going to be a very long summer.

We Can Fix That

A little bond-o, some paint, you'll barely see the scratches:

• Three people were hospitalized including two Chicago Police officers after their wagon collided with a civilian vehicle Tuesday night in the Gresham neighborhood on the Far South Side.

  The officers were inside the police wagon when it crashed into another vehicle at 9:50 p.m. in the 8000 block of South Halsted Street,said [...] a police spokesman citing preliminary information.

  No prisoners were in the wagon, which flipped and was left lying on its side....

Not to be picky, but judging by the picture, the other vehicle crashed into the wagon and rolled it.

Officers are hospitalized, but should be okay.

Officer Doing Better

Still a long road to recovery:

• A decorated Chicago police officer was awake and aware this afternoon after being shot in the chest during a foot chase on the South Side, authorities say. A person of interest is being questioned.
  
  South Chicago District tactical officer Del Pearson, 47, was shot just above his bulletproof vest and underwent surgery through the night at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn...
  
  Doctors' first priority was to stop the bleeding, and the bullet remains lodged near Pearson's spine, [...] told reporters outside the hospital this morning. "He's holding his own."
  
  By this afternoon, Pearson was awake, aware and interacting with family members, a police spokeswoman said. His wife, two children, mother and pastor were at the hospital.
  
  Pearson joined the department in 2003 and has received 109 department awards and commendations, including the Superintendent's Award of Valor after he shot and killed a man during an exchange of gunfire in July of 2007, police said.

Exactly the type of officer you'd expect to run after a suspicious person in a craptacular neighborhood intent on mischief and violence. Get well soon Officer.

Cop, Paramedic, Clerk Injured

West side:

• A scuffle at a West Side store resulted in a police officer, paramedic and store clerk being injured, officials said.
  
  The incident began at 11:37 a.m. when Chicago police were called to the 600 block of South Sacramento Boulevard to conduct a well-being check after someone reported a person bleeding inside, said Chicago Police Department News Affairs [...].
  
  In addition to police, Chicago Fire Department paramedics responded, according to police and Chicago Fire Department spokesman [...].
  
  Officials said a scuffle broke out and resulted in minor injuries to a police officer, paramedic and clerk, police said. Police did not know what led up to the scuffle.
  
  A person was taken into custody after they were subdued by a police officer using a Taser, police said.

Hopefully, no one seriously hurt, but first responders from both sides of the public safety arena injured trying to help an ungrateful populace.

Sneed in the Bag for Gang

The liberal media keeps painting this jagoff as a victim:

• Second chance . . .
  
  Sneed has learned Herbie Pulgar, the 15-year-old kid whose award-winning Chicago city sticker design was yanked amidst allegations of gang signs in his art, is getting another chance.
  
  To wit: “I hired him to design a T-shirt,” said former Fox News producer Jason Erkes, who runs Chicago Sport & Social Club.
  
  $$$$: “I called Herbie’s mom weeks ago when he was still bummed out due to all the controversy. The shirt will be given out to 20,000 of our spring participants. And he’ll be compensated, but he signed on not thinking he’d get a dime. I think the kid totally got shafted.”

Let's just get this straight:

• Herb is a self admitted drug dealer - Herb Dilla was his nickname, a take off on "herb dealer" - a marijuana merchant
• Herb is a self admitted gang banger - we posted Facebook pictures of him flashing gang signs, wearing colors, and his friends congratulating him with "DL," meaning "disciple love"
• Herb's own father, a fugitive in South America, berated his son for broadcasting his gang affiliation on Facebook along with Herb's brother
  
• Herb has a criminal record of burglary, battery, hot cars and dope, and during each of his arrests, he admitted gang affiliation
  
• Herb's buddies shot two children and ended up on the receiving end of McObliterate's special attention for the past few months

And there's Sneed slobbering all over this gang banger like he didn't do anything wrong. It certainly makes us question her sanity and the Sun Times signing paychecks for her.

Sun Times Discovers Playboy

Once again, Frank Main plays "catch-up" to the new media:

• An imprisoned Chicago cop claims in an interview with Playboy he’s innocent of a plot to kill a fellow officer — and blames his former partner for being the one who wanted to carry out a hit.

  Last year, Jerome Finnigan was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court to a murder-for-hire plot and tax evasion for failing to report stolen cash as income.

  In court, he admitted he tried to arrange the murder of a fellow cop he suspected was talking to the feds about thefts that he and other members of the Special Operations Section were committing on drug dealers and innocent citizens alike.

  But in the April edition of Playboy, Finnigan changed his story, laying the blame on ex-partner Keith Herrera, who wore a wire on Finnigan to expose the murder-for-hire plot.

We suppose Frank was checking out the pictures and that led to the delay in actually reporting on the article.

Indicted Rep Re-Elected

This is why Illinois is so screwed up:

• State Rep. Derrick Smith scored a big win Tuesday against his Republican-turned-Democratic challenger in a quirky primary contest a week after his arrest on a federal bribery charge.

  [...] Smith (D–Chicago), who was appointed to the House in 2011, was busted by the feds after allegedly accepting $7,000 to write a recommendation letter for a daycare center he thought was seeking a state grant.

  [...] “I was annihilated,” [opponent Tom] Swiss said. ““The ideologues came out, and those are the people that just would rather vote for a crook than someone who had worked for Republicans.”

And Madigan won big - we expect that will start paying dividends almost immediately for the FOP, right?

FOP Meeting? Time for a Motion

There is an FOP Meeting today at noon.

Seeing as how 50 people were shot this weekend despite brand new "crime strategies," contract violations seem to happen on a near daily basis, and the manpower shortages have reached critical levels (levels that can arguably have contributed directly to the critical wounding of one of our brethren,) wouldn't it seem that a "no confidence" vote might be in order for the mayor, the city council and McButchMcGuire's?

It might bring a little more light to an already bad situation.

Officer Shot

South side:

• A Chicago Police officer has been shot during a foot chase on the South Side tonight.
  
  The South Chicago District tactical unit officer responded to some sort of "juvenile disturbance" when he encountered an individual in the area of 84th Street and Kingston Avenue, police said, citing preliminary information. It happened about 10:30 p.m.

  Shortly thereafter, the individual ran away from the officer and the two ended up in a nearby backyard, police said.

  The individual opened fire on the officer, striking him in the chest, above his bulletproof vest, police said, adding that the officer might've fired back.

Prayers only.

UPDATE: Person of interest being questioned.

We Only Read the Articles (SOS Again)

The April Playboy magazine has a lot of articles in it. There's a guide to 2012 music, a "Walking Dead" feature for the zombie fans, a visit with Mick Fleetwood for the old timers, an interview with Bruno Mars for the youngsters.

Oh yeah, there's also a rather large interview with imprisoned ex-cop Jerry Finnigan. We don't see the point in linking to a paysite you can't access without a password, but here's a few paragraphs to pique your interest:

• There was once a time when the image of the SOS was anything but threatening. Back then, Special Operations referred to the CPD equivalent of kiddie rides: horses for mounted cops, bicycles to patrol running paths or boats to monitor the waterfront. Because these were cushy assignments, they tended to attract children of the brass - hence the nickname Sons of Supervisors.
• As Finnigan started his second stint at the SOS, his cop friends were not so much concerned about the supervisors above him as they were about the cops alongside him. "Suddenly he became the old guy," one says. "Everyone around him looked him looked half his age. He didn't have a peer to calm him down. And sometimes Jerry needed to be calmed down."

The article describes a cop gone rogue in the worst way. Finnigan also spreads the blame around, with Herrera and Hurley (deceased) taking a lot of the blame, along with indicted co-conspirators Maka and Pratscher. Unindicted, but left hold a bag of shit, include Officer Burzinski, Sgt. Eldridge and ADS Tobias & Kirby. The article ends up being almost seven full pages and cleared up a few questions we always had about the scandal. Of course, you have to remember, Finnigan is doing 12 years and anything he says has to be viewed through a veil of suspicion anyway.

Oh, and there might have been a picture or two of some naked people in there, but we only read the article.

UPDATE: What is particularly interesting is some of the names left out. We aren't going to get into them here as they are unindicted at the moment, but at least one other sergeant resigned under investigation, a lieutenant retired, another PO who was on the periphery of another scandal ended up at SOS for this investigation and was later promoted.

Many questions were answered, but a few more raised.

Uh...A Lot of People Got Shot

No shit McSherlock:

• At least 10 people were killed, including a 6-year-old girl, in shootings over the weekend in Chicago.

  The slain were among at least 49 people wounded in shootings from 5 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday, according to information compiled by the Chicago Tribune.

At the Tribune link, Mc(insert insult here) says he and his crack staff was able to "connect the dots" between shootings that occurred and then a few hours later, the retaliatory shooting. Color us underwhelmed. Any asshole with a basic knowledge of street gang territories can draw a line from Point A to Point B after a shooting occurs. We went through two-years-plus of the Crystal Ball Unit that was supposed to use Deputy Officer Chief Goldfinger's magic restaurant reservation system to "predict" crimes, especially Aggravated Batteries.

After two years and a few million dollars, the number of shootings predicted by the downtown eggheads stood at exactly ZERO. Oh, they claimed at least one accurate prediction, but if you gather info on one shooting in the Insane Assholes territory, then draw a "box" about a mile-and-a-half square on the border between the Insane Assholes and the Unknown Assmunchers, you're going to get a hit in a few days, but that doesn't actually prevent the shooting.

Rahm, who hasn't been heard from all weekend as the bodies piled up, is outraged after MSNBC.com broke the news embargo and pointed out the bloodbath on city streets:

• The city of Chicago will step up efforts to combat gang violence in light of a bloody weekend in which 10 people were killed and 39 shooting victims were wounded, Mayor Rahm Emanuel vowed Monday.

  “The violence this past weekend is unacceptable to me and every law-abiding Chicago resident,” Emanuel said. “ Our streets belong to the families and children of our city; not to the gangs and gangbangers.

  “The violence this weekend underscores that Chicago has a unique gang problem, and I have discussed with Supt. [Garry] McCarthy a citywide anti-gang strategy similar to the successful strategy CPD recently used with the Maniac Latin Disciples.”

  Chicago police officers arrested more than 1,800 members of the Maniac Latin Disciples gang from last June through the end of February, after McCarthy declared war on them for shooting and wounding two young girls by mistake at a Northwest Side park in June.

Which proved exactly what? There are still hundreds of MLD's around. One of them even designed the recently canceled city sticker if we recall. And since we're retired, we'll reveal that little Herbie had a record any gangster would be envious of - and in each case, was a self-admitted gang banger and proud of that fact. The word "unrepentant" comes to mind.

And the interview the mother of the dead child gave to the media. She rightfully calls the killers animals, but neglects to mention the intended target of the shooting, her boyfriend, has a gang history and an extensive record. Combined with the gang colors/insignia visible at the sidewalk memorial, we can only think, "Pot, meet kettle."

That "animal" tag cuts both ways and a child paid the price.

Startling Admission

Well lookie here Br'er Rabbit - the Tribune published another truth:

• After approving a parade permit for a group protesting the G-8 and NATO summits in Chicago, the city has denied an identical application by the same group seeking to move their parade one day later in the wake of the White House’s decision to move the G-8 conference.
  
  The demonstrators asked to move their march from Saturday, May 19, after word came that the G-8 meeting scheduled to start that day had been moved by President Barack Obama to Camp David. The protesters filed a permit that was identical to the one the city approved for Saturday, except the date of protest was moved to Sunday, May 20, when the NATO meeting is set to start.
  
  But this time the city rejected the request, citing a lack of police officers as well as other security and logistics complications from the very summit the demonstrators are seeking to protest.

And look what our old acquaintance published in the Sun Times:

• The Chicago Department of Transportation now says the planned protest would “substantially and unnecessarily interfere with traffic” if it were held on that Sunday.

  In a letter denying the application for a march that was sent to protest organizer Andy Thayer, assistant transportation commissioner Mike Simon wrote that there wouldn’t be “sufficient number of on-duty police officers, or other city employees authorized to regulate traffic,” on that Sunday.

So what we, along with a few thousand other coppers have been saying for any number of years now, is true? Manpower is the issue? "More with less" is in essence, unmitigated bullshit?

You're welcome citizens and media trolls of Chicago.

The line for apologies starts over to the left.

"Final" Tally - and More Killings

Of course, nothing is ever really "final" around here, but it's close:

• Ten people were killed and at least 39 others were wounded in shootings across the city this weekend.

  Most of the victims, male and female, ranged in age from their mid-teens to 30s, with the notable exception of a 6-year-old girl who was shot dead as she played on the front porch of her home in the Little Village neighborhood.

And the weekend violence carried over into Monday with at least one dead:

• A 58-year-old Albany Park man died this morning, a day after he was knocked to the ground in a fight on the street outside a restaurant blocks from his house, authorities said.

Not a "shooting," so McAggBattery doesn't really care.