So Now What?

Culled from various comments and summarized for your reading pleasure:

• People dropping their retirement papers - are they going to be allowed to pull them back if desired? The more we see how this disaster unfolded, the more we think the conspiracy people might have had a point that the push to send Second Watch personnel was a push to drive old-timers off the job. Another crisis not going to waste;
  
• So now what happens with the 5B furloughs? We expect that the Department will be insisting that some sort of "emergency situation" still exists, so don't look for any changes coming down the pike;
• Police Memorial Week - All the hotel rooms are booked and time due will still be restricted. Thanks for nothing Rahm, Garry and others. How about a gesture of good will and letting our Honor Guard defend their drill title from 2011 and provide some active officer representation due to the fact that at least two of our own are being added to the wall this year?
• The feds sent some $55 million here for G8/NATO preparations. G8 being the larger of the two events, we'd assume that quite a bit of this money will go unspent...or should we say "unspent on the original intentions." Can anyone in the lame stream media ask for an accounting? A Federal audit even? Rahm spent under $250,000 on new and improved face shields for the police and pretty much nothing else on the CPD end. All training took place on the clock - no overtime, remember? That's an awful lot of money unaccounted for. An enterprising reporter could make a name for themselves asking the right questions;

It was also hilarious to see the Sun Times article. Fran, Frank and company couldn't find enough buckets to carry all the water Rahm needed moved around. If this decision was based out of Washington DC, why the rush to defend the police brass by Rahm and his people?

• “Our Police Department is highly-trained, very professional with the right leadership. And, as you saw over the fall [with the ginger handling of Occupy Chicago protesters], Chicago — unlike any other city — did not have any issues. It had the ability to protect peoples‚ First Amendment rights and also to enforce the law. I think you’ll see that in the weeks ahead.”

"Highly trained?" By whose standards?

The "right leadership?" Not in this lifetime.

There ought to be a line of people whose heads are on the chopping block over this crap. There was never a comprehensive plan that covered a myriad of concerns brought to light here and elsewhere. The incompetence and unpreparedness of the Chicago Police Department was, and remains, almost criminal in nature.

God forbid an actual emergency situation arises like 9/11 or Mumbai or a series of mass transit bombings. We'd be in the textbooks for years to come on exactly how not to run a disaster.