Shooting (UPDATE)

Police-involved shooting a little while ago around 24th and Western. No cops hurt, but no other details. Warm weather coming up this week, so be extra careful.

UPDATE: Two offenders dead, one officer injured.

Stay in Town

"Come visit downtown."

That's the message being sent by Lori Healey on the latest "At Issue" program on WBBM Newradio 780. We couldn't believe this goof advocated everyone stay in the city, come downtown, don't mind the hours long commute on public transit and the possibility of delays, riots, flash mobbings, etc. She's actually saying it's going to be fun time with minimal disruptions, while in the meantime, we're getting 500 State Troopers and 600 National Guardsmen along with assorted hardware to combat a worst-case scenario.

Healey is bordering on criminal negligence advocating trips downtown in the middle of this.

Here's the "At Issue" link if you want to listen.

Those Silly Homicide Numbers

Still climbing:

• A 21-year-old man was fatally shot Saturday night, one of three shootings to occur in the same South Side community on the same night.
  
  
• One man died and another man was wounded this morning in a West Side shooting incident that Chicago police investigators are still trying to make sense of.

And then this shows up:

• A 20-year-old man who was hospitalized after being found apparently having a seizure in the Beverly neighborhood died Saturday and was later found to have a bullet in his head, police said.

Twenty-four hours to go.

Bulls in Jeopardy

Well that didn't take long:

• Just when Derrick Rose was on the brink of alleviating fears that he would be unable to fully recover from a nagging ankle injury, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, making an impressive playoff victory seem more like a loss and all but dashing the Bulls’ title hopes.
  
  Rose landed awkwardly after a jump stop and fell to the floor with 80 seconds left in the Bulls’ 103-91 victory over the Philadelpha 76ers in Game 1 of their first-round NBA playoff series at the United Center. The team later announced that Rose had torn his ACL and will miss the rest of the postseason. It’s the sixth injury Rose has suffered this season.
  

That high pitched squeaking emanation was any number of bosses' sphincters loosening up just a tad. You don't even want to know about the noises coming from City Hall on this one either.

Train Buffs Derailed

Nothing like showcasing the city's amazing public transit system and then having it fall of the rails:

• A four-car chartered train carrying about 40 train buffs derailed Sunday morning on the elevated CTA tracks near State and 14th Street in the South Loop, though no one was injured.

  A Green Line train carrying 60 to 70 passengers was trapped behind the chartered train, the CTA said.

  All but two of those aboard the trains walked down a nearby walkway to the nearest train station.

Rumor has it the train started with 40 train buffs aboard, but following the derailment, rescue personnel counted 127 people on board. Funny how that happens, even 30 feet in the air.

Well Lookie Here

This photo is making the rounds:

This is part or the whole of an extensive stash of bottles recovered in the 010th District the other day. All filled with human waste and no doubt whatever extra fecal matter the ne'er-do-wells were able to pick up on the parkways. Counts range from 100 to 500 bottles recovered depending on the rumor you believe.

We're sure this isn't the only stash floating around out there. How about the Department try something novel and get the media to cover what the protestors and anarchists are planning and maybe get the public overwhelmingly on our side?

Homicides Up in April

According to our readers, we're up to 34 in April. And there's still two days to go.

Last year, the total for April was only 30.

Evidently, the medical care and bad shot placement are sparing us a very bad spike (as if 10% wasn't bad enough) - 7 more shot Friday into Saturday.

And word coming in from 007 and 011 that the Violence Zones were working so well there that they discontinued them last week. Is there anything CompStat can't do? We mean besides not affect crime numbers.

UPDATE: 007 added

CompStat Casualty

Looks like Indianapolis finally saw the light:

• After months of turmoil, money going to east coast cronies, annual budget almost spent in the first quarter, bringing in east coast cronies and trying to stick them in a police chain of command at various levels, CompStat downgrading of reported crimes, and a few inquiries into that from NY reporter......well, NY Former Commissioner Frank Straub announced he is resigning.....
  
  FOP 86 is rejoicing!

Now if only Rahm would see the light about McJersey's bullshit. Or is he waiting for a NATO "incident" to pull the trigger on this "reinventing" of the wheel?

Of course, things could always get worse. thePoliPit.com has a rumor up that Staub might be coming to Chicago.

Joliet?

Sounds good to us:

• Mothballed for a decade, the Joliet Correctional Center could be temporarily reopened to serve as a detention facility for those arrested for serious offenses during the May 20-21 NATO summit.

  Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart says his first choice was to use Division 3 at Cook County Jail before the once-empty division had to be filled with detainees over the last two months.

  A less desirable alternative was to put up tents in the yard at Cook County Jail.

  But, Dart said the solution that makes the most sense is Joliet, the hulk of a prison facility mothballed in 2002.

Bus them out there and make 'em walk back. At least they'll be tired when they arrive for Round #2.

Rahm's Cabinet

Looks like working for Rahm is almost as difficult as working for Shortshanks:

• The woman Mayor Rahm Emanuel plucked from Denver to serve as Chicago’s No. 2 education person is resigning — the fourth high-ranking departure from Chicago Public Schools in recent weeks.

  The 5:50 p.m. Friday emailed confirmation of rumors that Chief Education Officer Noemi Donoso was on her way out was immediately seized on by Chicago Teachers Union officials as an indication of the “chaos on Clark Street,’’ where CPS is headquartered.

  “Donoso’s departure is an unwelcome signal of instability on the education side and yet another example of the chaos on Clark Street,’’ Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said in a statement. “It appears that anyone who knows anything about teaching and learning has a short shelf life at CPS.’’

Shortshanks went through something like a dozen Chiefs-of-Staff during his tenure. The average shelf life was around 2 years before they left for lucrative private sector and lobbying jobs elsewhere - their reward for putting up with 24 months of Daley's insanity. Rahm is just around a year in office and his CPS team has lost something like 4 top tier members since he took over.

In other news, the TabsOnRahm.org site has seen all of Rahm's ratings drop. Nine of the ten categories of "campaign promises" have dropped below 1.4 stars and fifteen of the sixteen "staff appointment" ratings are under 1.4. McCompstat has dropped by over 0.6 just today.

Five Wounded

The build up to summer fun continues.

Black & White Chicago Police Officers suspected in shooting:

• Five people were wounded as they were apparently waiting for a CTA bus this afternoon in the South Shore neighborhood on the South Side.

  The shooting happened in the 7900 block of South Jeffery Boulevard, said Police News Affairs Officer [...].

  Preliminary reports stated the victims were standing at the corner when someone approached on foot and opened fire, striking them. The gunman then fled in a minivan, said Police News Affairs [...].

Once again, future brain surgeons, rocket scientists and aspiring rap stars cut down in their prime.

In the tiny brains of the "reverends" and "community organizers," the absence of any proof whatsoever of officers being involved is proof-positive that the conspiracy is working.

Red Zone Details

No, not the Bears:

• The streets around the city's downtown federal buildings will see a noticeable increase in security — including officers in battle dress — as early as next week as the city prepares for the May 20-21 NATO summit.
  
  The Federal Protective Service, which secures federal buildings, this week informed tenants of the city's federal buildings that they would have personnel patrolling the streets as early as next week.
  
  The officers were expected to be in battle dress and carrying non-lethal weapons, according to several sources who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Rumors also abound about an immigration march the first week of May, the regular communist rabble around May Day, and spontaneous wildcat parades on tap all month.

The Chicago Police Department also released a statement:

• "The security perimeter and overall event plan are under the auspices of the United States Secret Service, with support from a variety of federal, state and local partners, including the Chicago Police Department," the statement said. "Federal Protective Services does not have a direct security role during the NATO summit. Federal Protective Services is in charge of securing their buildings, some of which are on or nearby the anticipated routes of permitted events such as parades and protests that will take place during the summit."

We imagine that part of the action will be on game day.

Bulls March Toward Championship

We don't know if anyone noticed, but the Bulls are marching toward a championship, probably in June. Coming on the heels of the NATO event, we may see a rather strung out police department by the start of summer.

Does anyone know if that was part of the reasoning behind sending 2nd Watch to NATO? Because this one is going to fall squarely on the shoulders of 3rd watch and 1st.

That is, if they've actually planned anything in advance.

Keeping Tabs on Rahm (UPDATE)

Want to vote on Rahm's performance as mayor?

This website here (TabsOnRahm.org) lets you do that. So far he's averaging 2.1 out of five stars.

Any chance we could drive that down to 1.6 by the close of business today? Go there and vote. The lower the vote, the lower the average gets driven down.

UPDATE: Don't forget to click on the "Staff Appointments" button at the bottom of the page (or just click here.) You get to vote on Rahm's cabinet appointments, including McCompStat himself - who at last count is averaging a 1.8, just slightly above the schools chief. There are only 110 votes or so right now.

UPDATE: We did notice that all of Rahm's ratings have dropped through the 2.0 range and are approaching 1.0 with astonishing rapidity as the vote totals tripled since this morning. Keep up the good work!

NATO Canceled

Thank goodness this guy stepped up and saved Chicago from its politicians:

• A Bridgeport man refused to leave City Hall after regular business hours, telling officers it was his "moral obligation" to stop next month's NATO summit, police said.
  
  Jospeh Cohen, 60, was approached by police around 6:30 p.m. Monday and told several times to leave, police said.
  
  Cohen refused, telling the officers “it is my moral obligation not to leave and to stop NATO from coming to Chicago,’’ according to a police report.

  Cohen, of the 3300 block of South Halsted Street, was charged with misdemeanor trespassing, police said.
  
  Police said they searched City Hall with dogs Tuesday evening because someone thought they saw Cohen again. But he was not found.

Recall the bombers. Stand down the missiles. Everything is going to be just fine. Thank you Mr. Cohen!

CPD Catches Blame for Burbs

There really ought to be some sort of IQ test before you're allowed to speak in front of a TV camera:

• There was a volatile protest at City Hall Thursday morning over alleged police brutality.

  Demonstrators stood outside the mayor’s office to protest police brutality, though most of the alleged cases they cited happened in the suburbs [...].

  “What do we have to do for justice? Why do we have to march for justice? Why do we have to get angry for justice? Do we have to riot? Do we have to tear things down?” Aaron Watts said.

Please Aaron, please tear things down. That seems to be all you and your ilk are good at anyway. Destroy, kill, maim, pillage and then blame everybody but the face in the mirror.

And of course, when some reporter actually asks an intelligent question, pointing out the obvious, he gets attacked for it:

• The black community, they said, is under siege by violent officers.

  But every weekend in Chicago, there are multiple shootings in African American neighborhoods, and most of the gunmen are not the police. So, [CBS 2 reporter Jim] Williams asked this question: “What is a greater threat to the black community, criminals and gang members on the street or Chicago police officers?”

  That sparked an angry and emotional response from one of the news conference participants, who called it a “stupid” question.

"under siege"? Last we checked, Cook County Jail had closed at least one wing, maybe two because of a lack of prisoners. Suburban courts shut down their off-business hours because there isn't any backlog any more and Dart still hasn't had to reopen the closed portions of 26th Street. Murders are up and arrest numbers are plummeting across the city and they think they're "under siege?"

But don't worry - the NAACP has an answer:

• David Lowery of the NAACP tried to answer it and said, “It’s not a stupid question.”

  “The greater damage to the community is black officers and white officers who continue to kill our children because they have the position of power,” he said.

So black officers are just as much to blame as white officers? We feel all warm and fuzzy inside now.

Maybe Eric Holder can take a break from running a few thousand guns into Mexico and come tell us how Americans are cowards when it comes to discussions about race. Then we can tell him that it doesn't really help matters when one of the parties in the discussion is bat-shit crazy insane.

Out of the Loop - Priceless

Even the NATO planners don't have any idea what's going on:

• The head of Chicago’s NATO Host Committee said Thursday she was blindsided by the federal government’s decision to create a militarized “Red Zone” in the Loop to protect federal buildings in the run-up to the May 20-21 summit at McCormick Place.

  The image of federal agents on downtown streets far from McCormick Place — in battle gear, weapons slung — three weeks before the summit is certain to have a chilling effect on those who live and work in the Loop. It also calls into question Host Committee Executive Director Lori Healey’s oft-repeated message that Chicago will remain “open for business” during the summit.

  On Thursday, Healey found herself in the difficult position of having to convince the public that a scary headline that blindsided even her is not an indication that the feds are bracing for weeks of trouble.

Don't worry Lori, we knew you were an incompetent political hack from the word "go" anyway. We couldn't possibly think of you in any lower terms than we already do. Remember the No-lympic bid? We thought that was your finest hour. This might prove to be better though.

And this was absolutely great:

• Andy Thayer, a spokesman for the Coalition Against NATO-G-8, accused the federal government of creating the Red Zone to send a “message of intimidation” to protesters expected to descend on Chicago for the summit.

  “It’s reminiscent of what happened prior to the Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue, when the city got all Rambo-ed up as a way of scaring people from exercising their First Amendment rights,” Thayer said.

  “If security measures are necessary, there are ways to go about it rather than getting hyper-militarized in a very visible way. It does nothing to stop any violence, but it does send a message of intimidation. This is a political show. It’s not about security.”

Aw look - he finally gets it. Duh! Andy, everything you do is about a political show. We would be amused as hell if Andy stumbled into one of those Federal zones and they decided to hold him incommunicado for 72 hours as they are permitted to under their detention rules.

Who?

• The Bears decided to use their first-round pick on defense, taking Shea McClellin from Boise State.
  
  McClellin played defensive end in college, but his size and speed can put him either on the line or as a linebacker.
  
  At 6-foot-3, 260 lbs, he is smaller than average NFL defensive lineman, but is a protoypical linebacker. At the combine, he was the sixth-fastest. In his time at Boise State, he had 130 tackles, 22.5 sacks, plus played a key role on special teams. He also helped create turnovers, getting four interceptions and two forced fumbles.

Interesting. Readers?

Someone Get Rahm a Newspaper

Evidently, he's not up on current events. And neither is Fran Spielman if she keeps printing crap like this:

• Five new farmers markets will open in Chicago neighborhoods starved for fresh fruits and vegetables, providing a summer oasis in the food desert.

  Mayor Rahm Emanuel has summoned the CEOs of Wal-Mart and other major retailers to a summit on “food deserts” that, he claims, produced plans to build 17 new stores and retrofit 19 existing stores to sell fresh produce in inner-city neighborhoods.

  He has also promoted urban agriculture — by championing an ordinance that expanded the maximum size of community gardens, eased fencing and parking requirements on larger commercial urban farms and allowed those farms to sell their wares at farmer’s markets.

  The five new farmers markets mark yet another step to fill the void that has left inner-city communities with precious few shopping choices.

Ah yes, an "oasis" to combat "food deserts." But what's this that the bastion of liberal group-think published not even ten days ago?

• It has become an article of faith among some policy makers and advocates, including Michelle Obama, that poor urban neighborhoods are food deserts, bereft of fresh fruits and vegetables.

  But two new studies have found something unexpected. Such neighborhoods not only have more fast food restaurants and convenience stores than more affluent ones, but more grocery stores, supermarkets and full-service restaurants, too. And there is no relationship between the type of food being sold in a neighborhood and obesity among its children and adolescents.

  Within a couple of miles of almost any urban neighborhood, “you can get basically any type of food,” said Roland Sturm of the RAND Corporation, lead author of one of the studies. “Maybe we should call it a food swamp rather than a desert,” he said.

Go read the entire article if you can stomach the New York Times. It pretty much states that the "food desert" is a myth and obesity results from poor food choices, not a lack of available healthy foods.

Rahm and Fran really ought to read the Times. It provides all the liberal talking points on a nearly daily basis.

Evacuate Chicago?

This just keeps getting better and better:

• Is there a secret plan to evacuate some residents of Chicago in the event of major trouble during the NATO summit next month? CBS 2 has uncovered some evidence that there is. It comes from the Milwaukee area branch of the American Red Cross.

  CBS 2 News has obtained a copy of a Red Cross e-mail sent to volunteers in the Milwaukee area.

  It said the NATO summit “may create unrest or another national security incident. The American Red Cross in southeastern Wisconsin has been asked to place a number of shelters on standby in the event of evacuation of Chicago.”

  According to a chapter spokesperson, the evacuation plan is not theirs alone.

  “Our direction has come from the City of Chicago and the Secret Service,” she said.

Evacuation points for gathering people? Buses to be supplied? Accommodations made for getting people clothes, money, food?

Is this going to be Rahm's "Katrina?" People relying on Chicago government to look out for their best interests and safety are going to be sorely disappointed should things go completely sideways.

Citywide Two-Day Drill - Canceled?

What manner of bullshit is this?

• Why was the "large scale NATO exercises" for 25 and 26 April abruptly cancelled the night before at 2100 hrs?

This "exercise" was so important that they even moved the CompStat meeting from Thursday to Friday so all the exempts could go and watch and maybe even learn something about what is coming down the pike.

Then the Blackberries started going off and everything was canceled for reason or reasons unknown. But hey, what could possibly go wrong? It all looks great on paper. As long as we stick with the plan, everything will be fine, right? Nothing like going into battle without any sort of preparations whatsoever to see if there are any possible hitches in the organization.

Hey Rahm? McJersey is blowing it and so is everyone else associated with him. Even your handpicked International Relations mopes are so far behind the curve it isn't funny. These goofs are going to cost you your national ambitions. Seriously.

Contract? Fuck Your Contract

Once again, Rahm and his toadies decide a police contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on:

• Heard today that the City is livid with the Lts union. The Union reminded the City that they can not detail Lts out of their area without paying them time and a half all day plus OT. City called bullshit and union put it on the table. City threw a shitfit and said screw it, they will do with only the tact and area team Lts. and not pay premium to the other Lts. One more screw up by the City

Evidently, the Lieutenants Association brought up the point that any watch lieutenants detailed to the NATO event would have to be paid for being out of their assigned districts. It's pretty much written down in black and white in the contracts, but Rahm doesn't have time for that shit. The union called them on it and now the tact lieutenants are about to have their responsibilities increased by a magnitude or so.

But all you day lieutenants reading this (and we know there are a few of you), you just dodged the NATO bullet. Now stick together and back your bargaining agent and show everyone else what it means to stick together. There's only 200 of so of you left.

Protestors Reveal Plans

Pretty sad when the NATO protestors are having meetings with the Secret Service and then the protestors reveal the plans and some of the NATO security arrangements before the CPD brass let the blue shirts know anything:

• The U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday told Chicago anti-war demonstrators they will have to stay blocks from next month's NATO summit for security reasons, which protest leaders said violates their right to be within sight and sound of the delegates.
  
  "We'll be blocks away" said Andy Thayer of the Coalition Against NATO/G-8 War & Poverty Agenda, after meeting with the Secret Service, which is in charge of security for the two-day summit.

And this:

• Portions of Lake Shore Drive and Interstate 55 will be closed to traffic during the May 20-21 NATO summit to accommodate a security perimeter imposed by the U.S. Secret Service to protect world leaders meeting at McCormick Place, protesters were told Tuesday.

  Andy Thayer, a spokesman for the Coalition Against NATO-G-8, predicted that “tens of thousands” of people would be inconvenienced — from Friday through Monday of summit weekend — because of the restrictions described to protesters by Secret Service officials during a meeting at the Dirksen Federal Building.

  According to Thayer, the restricted area will be bounded by 21st Street, 25th Street and Indiana and Lake Michigan. And Thayer claimed the northern boundary may be moved to Roosevelt Road because of NATO-related events at the museum campus.

So Andy Thayer, gadfly, Loevy & Loevy rainmaker and general all-around pain-in-the-ass knows more about the upcoming event that just about the entire department that will actually be down there. We sure feel safer now.

New Chase Policy?

Things are loosening up?

• Four people were arrested after a 35-mile police chase that started in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side and ended in Merrillville, Ind., police said.

  Shortly after midnight, officers attemped to pull over a Chevrolet Trailblazer that ran a stop sign at 59th and Sangamon streets, police said. The officers pursued the vehicle onto the Dan Ryan and Bishop Ford expressways and I-65 in Indiana, police said.

  The chase ended at 61st Street in Merrillville, where four suspects were taken into custody, police said.

  A police helicopter and the Indiana State Police also were involved in the pursuit, which lasted about 25 minutes, police said.

Be careful boys and girls.

Interesting Reads

Sorting through e-mails and checking out people with websites other cops might find interesting. Here's two:

• Knottheadquarters - a CFD paramedic run site. He's recently speculated on CFD tactics in conjunction with SWAT and upcoming NATO events. Something we might be concerned with;
• Photocopper - out of town cop posting some of the amusing things we all see on the streets at various times that no one else would believe if we told them. He's always looking for new material, but we'd recommend being familiar with Department guidelines before sending anything.

Check em out.

Apple Picking Tactics

Got a light? - the 2012 version:

• A 16-year-old boy is accused of snatching an iPhone as a woman held it in her mouth while searching her purse for a cigarette, police say.
  
  The boy had approached the woman in her early 20s around 7:30 p.m. Monday in the 200 block of North State Street and asked her if she had a cigarette, police said.
  
  She said she did and placed her iPhone in her mouth so she could use both hands to search her purse, police said. The teen then shoved her in the face and grabbed the iPhone, then ran south on State Street and east on Randolph Street, police said.
  
  Responding officers saw the woman and a witness chasing the boy south on Garland Court and were able to catch him and recover the phone, which the woman said was worth $800. The teen was charged as a juvenile with robbery, according to police.

Someone ought to educate the public - someone comes up and asks for a light or a smoke, maybe you ought to think twice about stopping to engage in the transaction.

Nice job by the officers though.

Cell Phones

One of more people have been posting in the comment sections about cell phones being useless at the upcoming NATO event.

• Are the protestors bringing jammers? Not out of the realm of possibility.

Or better yet.....

• Is the Department employing jammers to cut down on the ability of protestors to organize, react and deploy their own tactics?

Things that make you go, "Hmmmmmm."

Rings for Everyone!

Ridiculous:

• Imagine finding three Chicago Bulls championship rings inside a storage locker sold at auction for just $450.

  That's exactly what happened to Chris Amer and his partner, Cleveland Brackett. Ends up the 10x10 storage locker they purchased last week belonged to former Cook County Board President John Stroger, who died in January 2008. Amer said he had about a minute in the locker to decide whether to bid on it.

  "When I saw Todd Stroger's name on a tag for golf bag, I figured the locker had some good items inside," Amer said.

  Those good items included the Bulls championship rings and several awards Stroger received, including one from U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Politicians with championship rings. Worth maybe a few thousand bucks? Shouldn't large gifts like that have been declared, maybe donated to the taxpayers of Cook County? But they turn up hidden away, like all large cash gifts and valuable objects in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.

NATO Rumors

The rumor mill is on fire, and of course, no one at the Puzzle Palace is revealing squat:

• Sheriffs have been informed that their days off are being canceled in May with little to no explanation;
• Some suburban departments are warning their officers days off and vacations are being "delayed" and issuing fire retardant clothing to their members;
• CPD is going to put the day crew in crown caps, no helmets and no cargo pants. Has anyone here ever seen what fire does to 80/20's?

Even some of our admitted non-police readers are noticing odd things:

• Civilian here. I work in a high-rise on LaSalle in the heart of government and financial row. Had our quarterly fire drill last week. Subtle differences this time. Instead of going down one floor, they had us go down five. Fire marshal's spiel emphasized listening to the intercom and NOT assuming it would be an automatic evacuation. Instructions might actually be to shelter in place -- up to and including locking the doors -- because of disturbances outside. Hmm. Wonder why they added that?

Unfortunately, this is the mindset starting to take hold of the Department:

• D/C Velez comes to roll calls this AM to talk about NATO. Says we've had training, blah blah, officer safety is paramount, blah blah, really care about officer safety.
  
  Then he drops the bomb. Seems GMac wants the front line police that will actually be marching WITH the protesters to have a "soft" look. Therefore our helmets will not be on our heads, but rather left in the bus they transported us in. But don't worry, the Ninja police will be paralleling us and can jump out at a moments notice.
  
  Almost felt sorry for Velez, as he was just reading notes that I'm sure were put together by the brain trust downtown.
  
  So, 2nd watch officers on the front line YOU ARE EXPENDABLE !
  (and more so than you thought)
  
  But don't worry, They'll have some sort of 'glasses' there that you can wear if you so choose.
  
  And oh yeh, they will be filming everything, so I'm sure they'll be able to stop the guy that threw the bag of piss before he gets back on his plane. Officer safety, my ass !

Someone downtown ought to muzzle Velez. He isn't doing anyone any favors.

Darwin in Action

Electricity plus liquid equals a problem.....but only for a second or two:

• An Indiana man died overnight, after coming into contact with the electrified third rail as he urinated on the Purple Line ‘L’ tracks in Evanston.

  The man was at the South Boulevard Purple Line stop around 11 p.m. Sunday with two other people when he came into contact with the third rail, according to CTA spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis.

  The man, Zachary McKee, 27, of Ossian, Ind., was pronounced dead at Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston at 11:52 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

  It turned out that the man had climbed down to the tracks to urinate when he fell onto the third rail, according to a news release from the Evanston Police Department.

  Authorities have not said whether the man urinated on the third rail.

Aw crap, we thought we had a winner. Now it's "to be investigated" for later. Put the jokes away and save them for another day.

The Running Rahm Story

We assume it came from this story on Channel 7:

• Activists upset over cuts to mental health clinics interrupted Mayor Rahm Emanuel at an event Sunday.

  The mayor was actually leaving the event at the time.

  Emanuel's security detail and police kept the protesters at a distance.

  Since announcing cuts and closures of mental health clinics, there have been numerous demonstrations by people who rely on the clinics for care.

See, Rahm was just leaving when those noisy serfs started hassling him.

Unless you read Channel 5's coverage:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel can't seem to escape protesters these days.

  [...] The protesters, upset over the closures, went straight to the source Sunday and interrupted Emanuel during an Earth Day event.

  Demonstrators yelled non-stop as the mayor helped a group of children plant a tree on the Southwest Side. The mayor's bodyguards and Chicago Police tried to keep the protesters at a distance, but after a few minutes, the mayor left the event early.

In the second story, Rahm was chased from the event, not "just leaving." It certainly doesn't look like he ran and the cops appear to have done their jobs. Hopefully, that translates into a huge raise for all officers when (if?) negotiations start any time soon.

True or False?

Anyone have the scoop on this?

• Mayor came to plant a tree today @ Garfield and Western. When he got out of his car, Protesters, Anarchists ETC came rushing out of a Carnival that was set up nearby and his detail had to throw him into his car to speed away! The police there were OVER RUN by these nuts, some wearing masks over their faces..
  
  Police called for assist cars.
  
  The press was there, filming this tree planting ceremony..
  
  WHERE IS THE COVERAGE?????
  
  This shows we are TOTALLY FUCKED when NATO comes!!!

Now imagine this at 50 different locations across the city.

Who knew Earth Day could be so confrontational?

POLICE LIMIT Nails CompStat

When you become the butt of jokes, you know you're in trouble.

When the cartoonists start on you, you're doomed:

Garey McKee could get almost enough material from the CPD for a daily cartoon:

Go to the link and read all his stuff. We've had him listed in our right hand column for a few years now.

Locals Chase Down Thief

Quite frankly, we're surprised this isn't occurring more often - the citizens helping chase down robbers we mean:

• A man who grabbed a $7,000 camera from a California tourist in the Gold Coast was chased down by the tourist and two construction workers and caught by security guards and police, authorities said.

  Allen McCrone, 26, of the first block of Boxwood Court in Springdale, Ohio, remains in Cook County Jail today, charged with robbery, police said. A judge Saturday set bail for McCrone at $60,000 and he is slated to appear for a preliminary hearing on Friday, according to Cook County Jail records.

So a tourist from California comes all the way to town to be robbed by a jagoff from Ohio on what is arguably the best known street (and tourist destination) in Chicago. Hopefully, the impression made on the tourist is the quick actions of the construction workers and not the fact that he got mugged here.

Evidently, the Wonders of CompStat haven't reached the ears of Ohio's underworld, but the word of easy pickings may have.

Help is on the Way

Here's some good news:

• As many as 500 troopers from the Illinois State Police will assist the Chicago Police Department in handling thousands of protesters expected to descend on Chicago during the May 20-21 NATO summit, City Hall sources said Friday.

  The 500-trooper contingent would represent nearly 40 percent of the statewide total, raising questions about how the State Police would be able to juggle their other responsibilities to patrol state expressways and tollways and perform other emergency functions.

  Monique Bond, a State Police spokeswoman, refused to discuss the assistance or what it might cost.

Whoops, there's Monique (our ex-wife). Hi honey.

And the state troopers aren't the only ones coming around:

• Earlier this week, the Illinois National Guard disclosed that as many as 600 of its troops would help move international delegations around the city during the summit.

  The National Guard also revealed that it has scheduled an emergency response drill outside the city during summit weekend so even more of its troops can be summoned to Chicago in the event of largescale trouble.

So we can safely assume the CPD is down at least 1,100 if that's what we're borrowing from ISP and the IL National Guard.

Anyone seen the deployment plans yet? Anyone have any idea what our second-watch people are in for? Anyone know what happens if the protestors stage a May Day Parade next week?

GET OUT OF TOWN!!!

Someone isn't drinking Rahm's kool-aid:

• Chicago - Residents of a Chicago condo whose building will be in the eye of the NATO storm are being warned that they should move out for the weekend ... or risk being trapped inside by rioters.
  
  FOX Chicago News was first to report Friday that the people living in the 17-floor Library Tower building at 520 South State Street were warned in a letter from condo management that "we are STRONGLY recommending that all residents find places to stay during the conference from May 18 through May 21."
  
  NATO summits often attract crowds of thousands of protesters. Currently, a march is planned on Sunday, May 20, from the Petrillo Band Shell in Grant Park past Library Tower on State Street to McCormick Place.
  
  The condo is hiring two off-duty police officers to provide security; those cops will be armed.

Personally, we'd lay in stocks of food and ammunition and hunker down in our property.

"Borderline Criminal Conduct"

Things that make you go, "Hmmmm:"

• The Hossa Hit ...
  
  Police Supt. Garry McCarthy witnessed the dirty hit.
  
  Translation: McCarthy, Chicago’s top cop and a former jock, was stunned when he saw Blackhawks star Marian Hossa savagely attacked by Phoenix Coyotes agitator Raffi Torres Tuesday night during the first round series of the Stanley Cup playoffs at the United Center.
  
  “It was borderline criminal conduct,” said McCarthy, who played baseball and football in high school, football in college and tackle football until four years ago.
  
  “Hockey is a tough game that’s played rough. But you play fair. Not dirty,” added McCarthy, a huge Blackhawks fan who sat in a seat three rows behind the bench.

Funny how this appeared just as Shaved and ourselves received a number of comments outlining alleged misbehavior on the part of a certain "huge Balckhawks fan" who's only been in town how many months now?

Easy Weekend

Not for us - we're shorthanded. Easy on the shooting totals, but then again, the weather that doesn't have anything to do with crime is helping immeasurably:

• Two people were killed and three others wounded in shootings Friday night on the South and West sides, according to police.
  

And on Saturday, the press has decided they have to break up the totals into half-a-day segments:

• At least six people have been wounded in shootings in Chicago since 7 this morning, police said.

And once again, no one in custody. Maybe we ought to promote more detectives before working our way to supervisors?

"Merit" Promotees

Someone asked in the comments if we thought that anyone deserved "merit" promotions.

Unfortunately, under the current system in place, the answer is "no."

Are there deserving people? Undoubtedly. But until the City and Department write down and codify what makes one truly deserving of a promotion so everyone can see it and have a legit shot at it, then there will always be questions about the process.

Cline had not one, but two of his drivers promoted. J-Fled promoted his driver. How many of Dana Stark's girlfriends made rank? Exempt rank even? What exactly were the qualifications of any number of bosses we could mention here for "merit" promotion? Wearing a wire? Overzealous self promotion? Taking credit for work that wasn't theirs? Sex?

Here's two quick ideas we gleaned from the comment section yesterday that don't even address the inherent problems we just outlined above:

• All merit nominees must attend all parts of the examination process. We can't tell you the number of times we've personally seen empty chairs in our room for the second part of the exam and then that person is in the first of second class of promotions. What a kick in the teeth that is - they know they're in so they don't even bother with part 2? Hubris in the extreme;
• All merit nominations should be made at the end of the process so as not to get seniority over people who actually ranked ahead of them.

Not radical suggestions by any means, but could lend an air of credibility to a corrupted process if instituted with wholesale reforms.

100,000 Concealed Carry Permits

And we have yet to hear Wisconsin going up in flames or buried in dead bodies:

• The Wisconsin Department of Justice says it's issued at least 100,000 concealed carry permits since the new law went into effect about six months ago.
  
  The agency is required to process applications within 21 days and has been scrambling to keep up with demand. The DOJ initially hired extra staff and moved dozens of administrative workers from elsewhere in the agency to help with concealed carry applications. The rush of application submissions eventually slowed, from thousands a day to hundreds.

Any cheesehead readers notice anything different?

Sun Times Does It Again

They just can't help themselves evidently:

• Regina Evans retired from the Chicago Police Department with a vision to resuscitate a grand old Chicago theater.

Not that she was the Country Club Hills police chief when she committed her crimes. Not that she was a clout-heavy political animal who was got "merit" promotions to assist her resume building along the way to other political jobs.

Nope.

She was a Chicago cop at one point. That's the lead. Everything else is just background info instead of the other way around.

Booing the Bosses

Evidently, Rahm, Garry and the fire commish all showed up at the Battle of the Badges tonight, and were roundly boo-ed by attendees.

No word if Garry stayed in the ring to fight or that fire captain who jumps on-duty police officers was in attendance.

How did the actual boxers do?

Sergeant "Merit" Package Out

Rumor says that the request for "merit" nominations hit the districts today. Remember, each and every "merit" nomination is stealing an earned spot from someone else on the list. We'd name some of the fine "merit" nominations of years past, but all you have to do is run through 95% of the command staff right now to see them and the results of them running this department into the ground.

How big is the class rumored to be?

Excellent Effort Officers

Well done!

• Chicago police chased down a gunman after they saw him fatally shoot another man on a South Side street, authorities said.
  
  Gresham District officers were on patrol when they heard gunshots in the 700 block of East 87th Place just before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and went to investigate, police said.
  
  As the officers arrived, they saw a man fire three shots into the head of a man on the ground, authorities said.
  
  The officers chased down the 30-year-old suspect and took him into custody, according to authorities. The suspect, who lives across the street from the victim, has a street gang affiliation but police didn't offer a motive.

The victim seems like a decent guy, too. Don't expect any marches for him though.

City Sticker Screw Up

As our sharp eyed readers pointed out, the new city sticker is using the 1955 star design for some reason - a star the Department hasn't used in almost a decade.

Not only that, but the City Clerk's people missed this, too:

We can't wait for the liberal apologists to explain this one away.

Anita Declines to Charge Again

From Sneed:

• Charge ’em: Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, a mega Blackhawks fan, bumped into irate Hawks boosters after the game Tuesday at the United Center who jokingly asked her to consider battery charges against Phoenix Coyotes’ bad boy Raffi Torres for his cheap shoulder-to-the-chin shot to Blackhawks player Marian Hossa.

Alvarez declined, citing the continuing investigation and the demands by her subordinates to interview 20,000 witnesses and gather written/videotaped statements from all of them, including the ones in the bathroom or in line for beer.

Torres continued to deny any wrong doing and Alvarez stated the lack of an actual confession was hampering prosecution efforts along with an actual absence of DNA evidence of contact between the parties.

And speaking of the Blackhawks, Shaved has a post up about a certain exempt individual with a propensity for imbibing in frosty beverages and spouting off inappropriately. Anyone have any real info on that?

015 Trials and Tribulations

Here's what happens when manpower shortages meet off-duty life and it's run into the ground by incompetent, over-promoted, "merit" hacks like First Amendment violator Barb West:

• So, I looked for something regarding this matter and didn’t find anything. I will say this, in 015. we had heard rumors that time due was going to start being denied based on man power. We were never told exactly what that meant and were also told we weren’t going to know until three days before we expected to get the day off.
  
  Well, I never had a second thought about, because like everything else on this job, until it ACTUALLY happens, it doesn’t really mean much. Well, now it has happened. In 015 Commander BW and Capt S decided to deny time due for Saturday April 20th . There were 8 people requesting the day off and 4 needed to be denied. The WC was instructed to go by seniority. Well, that left 2 of the 4 not being able to go to their own partners wedding and another not able to go to his daughters birthday party. It was overheard when I cop had asked her about time he requested off because he was going to be out of town, her reply was, “We’ll see. It’s time you officers start taking a more personal interest in the District”. Are you kidding me? You want me to be more concerned about the community then you do with our own partners or our own daughters???? MAYBE, if you gave me OT for attending all these prayer vigils and crap when off duty, more officers would attend. Not that it would matter because we would be denied our time off.
  
  Commander BW, is so scared of losing her job as Commander that she works probably 18 hours a day EVERY day and micro manages more than any other Dist CO I have ever worked for. When Commander WG left, he told Commander BW, this (015) is a great place to work with some of the best and hardest working officers in the city, don’t scew it up… well…. Guess what she came and did???? She is a mindless pawn who knows nothing about policing the STREETS, and obviously knows nothing about actually LEADERSHIP. Someone should tell them when they give CO’s their Star, leadership is earned from your troops, not given to you with this star.
  
  I just wonder how the powers that be, have come to the conclusion that denying time, keeping officer away from their families and canceling their plans will make this city safer. There’s nothing like have disgruntled, unhappy cops on the street. In 015 there are more Tact Teams and Mission teams then any other Dist in the city. There are also less officers in 015 then most districts in the city. So when you do the math, there are far fewer cops that are able to take time, since they are all on tact or a mission team.
  
  I know almost all of us hated JFed, BUT, he managed to keep down crime (by manipulating the numbers, but regardless) without denying cops their time. At least he was able to figure out, a happy cop is a working cop. Funny thing is, he wasn’t even the police!!! Oh wait, and he was also able to do it before they closed districts, and disbanded units in an effort to put “more cops on the streets”.
  I am not sure how we can even try and show them this isn’t the way to handle the manpower issue. Maybe since OUR time due means nothing, we ALL need to start checking the money box. Maybe what city hall sees the Comp Time money go through the roof, they will inform the Supt, he is an idiot!!!

We're hearing more and more of this citywide. The FOP had a note posted a few weeks ago about calling them immediately in the event of Time Due being denied for any reason, especially if it was denied with under 72 hours notice. In these cases, you may be eligible for extra pay based on the Contract violation. However, that isn't going to help in the event of missing a wedding, birthday or other scheduled event.

This needs to be addressed, especially in light of upcoming summer events like graduations, vacations, reunions and everything else that summer entails.

Shot Fired into Firehouse

Sniping at buildings?

• Firefighters at a south side fire station are accustomed to dealing with smoke and flames, but may have averted an in-house emergency on Wednesday when their sleeping quarters were hit by some sort of projectile, possibly a bullet.
  
  "It's just a shock to us that something like that would happen," said Nick Cook, a firefighter of seven years.
  
  Cook said someone on the mid-morning shift spotted glass on the floor of the bunkhouse, in the 1400 block of East 67th Street of Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood. The firefighteres got busy and forgot about the glass until making a startling discovery later in the day.
  
  "We pulled the shade. There we saw the bullet hole," said Cook. "It was right below three different bunks. Firemen could have been sitting there. The bunk room is made of different cinder block walls. A bullet could have ricocheted and hit anywhere in that entire bunk room."
  
  No one was in the bunk room when it happened. Outside the firehouse, however, are two unmistakable marks. One goes right through the glass and into the sleeping area. Another just cracked a window.

So are they going to retrofit all the firehouses to be sniper proof? Or is the CFD going to pull out of these neighborhoods altogether and start crating "no-go" zones like exist across much of Europe, especially in France? It's one thing to risk your life saving people from fires. It's quite another to be targets for jagoffs.

City Sticker Video

This is hilarious (be sure your volume is turned up):



That is some damn good editing.

Obama Eats Dogs

Someone finally sat down and read one of Obama's books. They found this included:

• With Lolo, I learned how to eat small green chill peppers raw with dinner (plenty of rice), and, away from the dinner table, I was introduced to dog meat (tough), snake meat (tougher), and roasted grasshopper (crunchy). - Barack Obama
  

Don't believe us? Here's his audio book version:



Needless to say, this has brought out the creative side in a number of websites:

So all the dog lovers here expressing their righteous indignation at a copper who shirked, disregarded and disgraced his most basic responsibilities for the behavior of his animal should truly be pissed off that the current president is a self-confessed canine devourer.

"Reverends' " Brainstorm

Evidently, the laws of physics and firearms ballistics don't apply in "reverend world:"

• Local activists want Congress to pass a law requiring gun and ammunition manufacturers to imprint barcodes on bullets.

  They believe it would be an effective way to use technology to reduce incidents of violent crime.

  Members of the clergy and community leaders gathered at the Westside Baptist Ministers Conference to present their suggestion. They say barcode imprints would make it easier for law enforcement officials to track the source of bullets used in violent crimes and could also help lead to the arrest of criminals.

  "We think this solution will help solve some of these crimes that exist in the city of Chicago and across the country," said Calvin "Omar" Johnson, Workship Coalition founder.

  The clergy members say they plan to work with their congressmen to draft legislation on this issue.

Prediction: It never gets out of committee in DC, and if it ever came here....oh wait, we already buy all of our ammo away from this unconstitutional backwater.

Speed Cameras Pass

The rubber stamp City Council approves another unpopular measure. How do these people keep getting reelected?

• It’s full speed ahead for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s controversial plan to use cameras to catch motorists who speed near schools and parks.

  Despite concerns that the plan is more about raising revenue than keeping children safe, the City Council on Wednesday approved the dramatic expansion in Chicago’s Big Brother surveillance network. The vote was 33-14.

  The debate turned emotional when Ald. Jim Balcer (11th) recalled that he was run over by a car when he was 8.

  “It was a traumatic experience in my life. I still remember it,” Balcer said. “People said buckle up wouldn’t work. They said why give people tickets who won’t buckle up? It has saved lives [and so will speed cameras]. We will get used to it. We will adjust to it. If people don’t want a ticket, obey the law.”

  Turning to his colleagues, Balcer said, “If you don’t want the cameras, let me have them. I’ll be glad to put them in to save the lives of children.”

Ah yes, "the children." Anyone care to tally up the number of children hit and killed by cars this year in Chicago? Then compare it to the number of children shot sleeping in their beds, sitting on their front porches or walking through a park near a pick-up basketball game?

Anyone else see a disparity here?

Poseidon is Angry

Either that or this guy is the world's worst boater:

• A Chicago sailor and a friend were plucked from Lake Michigan when their sailboat capsized off Montrose Harbor this afternoon -- almost exactly a year after he was rescued by his wife when a storm flipped the same boat during a birthday celebration.
  
  [...] The boat capsized near Belmont Harbor around 2:30 p.m., and winds carried it north to Montrose Harbor. When a police boat pulled up, Kovats and his friend were struggling to hold on to the side of the boat, officials said. They were not wearing life-jackets.
  
  Rescuers threw a line to the men but they were too exhausted, apparently from hypothermia, a police spokesman said. Two divers then went into the water and pulled the men to safety around 2:50 p.m. Officials estimate the two were in the water for about 15 minutes. They were taken in good condition to Weiss Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital.

Time to start charging this guy for use of police and fire resources every time he goes out and endangers officers' and firefighters' lives needlessly.

Seriously?

How long has this one been brewing? It appeared in our comment section a few weeks ago, but we ignored it hoping it was just BS.

A woman out walking her pet had the unfortunate experience of her dog being attacked and killed by a man and his pit bull. The man left after the attack and has been the subject of a number of webpage searches and pleas for information with a photograph taken as he left the scene.

WGN reported tonight that the dog is owned by a Chicago Police Officer and he has been cited for leaving the scene of the attack without reporting the incident. He has also been stripped of his powers.

Seriously? It's a Animal Bite Card, maybe a Damage to Property report. A civil suit wouldn't be out of the question, but minimally involved. And now your career is on the line? Not to mention the beating the Department is going to take in the media and in the minds of citizens who are just going to see another asshole copper thinking they're above the law and, truth be told, common decency.

UPDATE: Here's the Tribune report:

• Chicago police on Tuesday launched an internal investigation against an officer whose pitbull killed a small dog at the Montrose Beach dog park last month, the department said.

  Its animal crimes team cited the officer, a five-year veteran, for failing to report that his dog bit another animal within 24 hours of the incident, which occurred March 17.

  Willy, a 2 1/2-year-old Pomeranian-Papillon mix, died three days after he was attacked by the pitbull, according to WGN-Ch. 9's Web site. His owner now faces a veterinary bill of nearly $6,000.

  The station reported that the pitbull's owner refused to give his information to Willy's immediately after the attack, but dozens of witnesses went to police with descriptions and pictures of him. Police had even handed out fliers with hopes that someone would recognize the pitbull's owner.

  The police internal affairs division launched an investigation into the actions of the officer, who was off-duty during the incident, the department said. The officer has informed the department of his involvement in the incident, and has been relieved of his police powers pending the outcome of the investigation.

New City Sticker

It's beautiful!

• City Clerk Susana Mendoza unveiled a city vehicle sticker with a simple design Tuesday as she sought to move beyond the controversy that erupted when she yanked a teen's winning sticker artwork amid concerns it might contain street gang symbols.

  The new version, done in-house, sticks with the theme of honoring Chicago police, firefighters and paramedics that was the focus of the annual sticker competition the 15-year-old boy won this year.

  The teen's sticker contained depictions of upraised hands some law enforcement experts said may have been designed to imitate the hand signs of a notorious Chicago gang. The replacement sticker features crests of the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Fire Department and the symbol for paramedics. The slogan “Honoring Chicago's Heroes” appears at the bottom.

And this hilarious bit:

• While trying to focus on the new sticker features, however, Mendoza kept getting questions about the earlier controversy.

  Mendoza said she presented the original winner with a $1,000 savings bond to match what he would have received for having his drawing used on stickers. The clerk said she has reached out to the boy and his family to talk with them further, but they have not responded.

Couldn't be because Herbie was in jail again, could it? Oh wait, the media won't report his record for car theft and burglary. Sorry.

Ex-PBPA President Pleads Guilty

A blind plea to Felony Theft of $1.1 million:

• The former head of the Chicago Police Sergeants Association pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing more than $1 million from the sergeants union to fund a lavish lifestyle that prosecutors said included gambling trips, steak dinners and a down payment on a home on the city’s Northwest Side.

  Sgt. John Pallohusky, 56, made a blind plea, which means he doesn’t have any deal with prosecutors. It will be up to Cook County Judge Diane Gordon Cannon to determine his sentence on June 1.

  Pallohusky faces a possible sentence that could range from probation to 15 years in prison.

  During a court hearing Tuesday at which Cannon tersely ordered Pallohusky to spit out his gum, defense attorney Rick Beuke said his client has enough in assets to pay back $1.1 million in restitution.

He has $1.1 million to pay back the union? And a felony conviction means he'll be fired. Call it even we guess.

Swiping!

Who's swiping in?

Who's swiping out?

We've seen 011, 016 and 018 named in the comments.

What about the units?

Home Invader Wasted

This is hilarious on so many levels:

• A man was shot to death on the front steps of an Englewood home, and a witness said it was a home invasion that was foiled by a man who lives there.

  The dead man — identified by relatives as Darryl Turner, 27 — was shot around 8:30 a.m. at the home in the 5800 block of South Shields.

  His body remained slumped at the bottom of a set of steps in front of the home later Monday morning as police recovered evidence from the scene.

Just left him lying there. That's priceless in and of itself.

• But an eyewitness who asked not to be named told the Chicago Sun-Times that Turner was one of three armed men who pulled up in front of the house in a white Pontiac Bonneville and tried to break in and rob it.

  “The guy who lives there shot him, and he fell down the stairs,” the witness said. “His buddies went back for him, but he wasn’t moving, so they got back in the car and escaped through the alley.”

With friends like that, who needs enemies, eh?

• Neighbors Eddie Easter and Kenny Smith said they both heard four shots fired. The two-story, frame home had previously been fired upon several times in just the past week, they said.

  “You’ve gotta be allowed to defend your own home,” Smith said.

The house had been shot at numerous times? So it's a dope house, stash house, money house or some big-wig living there. And the neighborhood knows this.

• Easter added that gunfire isn’t unusual on their block. “In the summer, the kids run up and down here shooting,” he said.

  Turner’s aunt Melinda said Turner was the father of a 5-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy. He grew up in Chicago but moved to Milwaukee and was back in town for a short visit, according to his former girlfriend, Jennifer Smith.

  Turner had survived multiple previous shootings — perhaps as many as 10, his aunt said.

Yeah, just down from Milwaukee to do a home invasion. And the victim of 10 previous shootings? We guess the 11th time is the charm.

Now, can someone tell us exactly how CompStat is supposed to prevent this? Seriously. We'd love to hear this one.

NATO Preparations

For those who thought the helicopters were actually following you:

• While much of the security planning for the NATO summit remains secret, some information about what the protective measures will look like has started to trickle out.
  
  Last week, theU.S. Secret Service published bidding specifications for the work of putting up security barriers in the city for the May 20-21 summit that will bring leaders from around the world.
  
  [...] Workers will have to put up 3,600 linear feet of “anti-scale” steel fencing, as well as 17,000 linear feet of concrete barricades. The fencing is currently stored at a federal facility in Maryland, while the concrete barriers will be supplied by local governments.
  
  The specifications also call for 16-foot-wide “portable vehicle barriers” capable of stopping a 15,000-pound vehicle traveling at 30 mph.
  
  
• As attention on security intensifies, the city announced Monday that a “routine military training exercise” would be under way in and around Chicago from April 16 to 19 to help personnel preparing for overseas deployment learn to “operate in urban environments.” A city spokeswoman said the training is done around the country and is not related to the NATO meeting.

We'd guess the "17,000 feet of concrete barricades" are the "Jersey walls" so prevalent around construction sites. That stuff isn't going to move.

A google search on the "anti-scale" stuff looks like wrought iron 12-15 feet high. No idea how that temporary stuff gets secured in place so as not to collapse or, worse, be used as a battering ram against security personnel...like cops.

Punitive Damages

No wonder the city wants to keep a lid on this:

• To settle a wrongful-conviction lawsuit against the Chicago police, the city recently agreed to pay Harold Hill $1.25 million.

  What never became public was that, to reach the settlement late last year, two detectives in the case that sent Hill to prison for 12 years for a rape and murder he insisted he did not commit agreed to contribute, too. It was not much next to the total settlement — $7,500 each — yet it apparently meant something to Hill.

Without a doubt, the bottom feeders use this tactic to pressure the City over certain issues. And the City knows that as punitive damages start to stack up...you get the idea.

The article closes with this amusing aside:

• As for Hill, he will not be able to spend his money in the outside world — at least not for some time. After he was cleared of the Morgan murder and released from prison, he was arrested on unrelated armed robbery charges and was convicted. He is serving a 27-year prison sentence.

He wins over a million, plus punitive damages and is still doing 27 years for another armed robbery. Must have missed that "turning his life around" window somewhere along the line. Unless he's looking to sue the police for this one, too.

Well, This is a Change

Interesting:

• President Obama said Sunday he would be angry if an internal investigation showed that Secret Service personnel were involved in misconduct while in Colombia because he expected his delegation to act with the "utmost in dignity and probity."
  
  But as he closed a weekend meeting here with world leaders, Obama said he would wait until the investigation was done before passing judgment on the agents and officers...

Gee, what a unique concept - withholding judgement until all the facts are in. Probably learned all that during his days of being a "constitutional professor."

And for all the trolls who are going to start jumping up and down claiming we're (A) gun nuts, (B) racists, or (C) blindly following the racist gun nuts, you won't find one word of support (or condemnation) for Zimmerman written by yours truly. What you will find (if you actually read the posts we wrote) is a rip job on all those who rush to judgement without having the facts at hand. That those making up the mob happen to be liberals, media-types, race-baiting "reverends" and sitting presidents just makes it that much more amusing for us to point it out.

Helmet Problems?

Um, true or false? Because it would really be helpful to know seeing as how we're just under five weeks away from NATO:

• Spent a few hours at 9th Dist yesterday LT . had been notified to send 4 guys to training that day regarding the new face shields being issued for the G8 summit.
  
  What these guys were told is hard to believe.The large majority of helmets in use do not have screws or rivets on the sides. The "fix" is to remove the trim piece which slips over the unfinished edge of the helmet and glue it back on using department issued Gorilla glue. After waiting 24 hours for the clue to set the new face masks will be clamped to the newly glued trim piece. Everyone hopes the glue will hold. Many if not most of the helmets currently in use have exceeded the expiration deadline given by the manufacturer (5 years).
  
  If CPD had not missed a deadline to file a request they could have gotten 13,000 actual kevlar helmets with face masks for DOD for free. Nobody put the request in.

This would be unbelievable if we didn't actually work for the Chicago Police Department. As it is, we're reduced to asking on behalf of the entire rank-and-file for accurate information.

For the reading challenged, you can see we give this rumor no credence one way or the other - we are asking for confirmation or refutation, simply that.

Numbers Pick Up

Just when you thought that the homicide count might slow down with the rainy weather.....

Ah, who are we kidding? No one thought anything of the sort. We just threw that out there yesterday because we heard Tom Skilling was stopping by and we wanted to raise his spirits a bit.

Anyway, the numbers went up, even with all the violence zones in full effect, the manpower at historic lows, crime cameras all down for maintenance, and McFlufferNutter personally checking on each and every foot post:

• Six people have been killed and at least 15 others have been wounded so far in shootings across the city this weekend.

  [...] At least 15 others have been wounded in shootings since Friday evening, including three women who were shot about 10:25 p.m. Saturday night by a male gunman who’d been turned away from a party in the 13200 block of South Vernon Avenue. None of the women suffered life-threatening injuries.

And the truly sad part?

• No one is in custody in any of this weekend’s shootings, according to police.

Twenty-one shot, zero in custody. Amazing.

But we've got some asshole in custody for the two-year-old who got beaten and bitten to death over in Englewood. Good job on that one at least - any who read that case report without wanting to vomit truly has a stomach of iron.

Five Signs

5 signs you might be in the wrong job.

How many do you see in yourself right now?

1. You’re a Loner at Work
   
2. You’re Ashamed of Your Job
   
3. Your Workload Overwhelms You
4. You’re Stagnating at Work
5. There’s No Growth and Development in Your Job

Numbers 5, 4 and 3 pretty much sum up the entire CPD at a glance.

Number 2 is more shame along the lines of what the brass, politicians and "meri-clout-orious" have allowed the job to descend to.

Number 1 isn't a problem - we have lots of friends at work and hobbies away from work, but that's a conscious effort on our parts.

Honesty Lands Man in Hot Water

We have a couple of questions about this one:

• A Nevada man got himself arrested Saturday night after acknowledging to Greyhound security officers that he did indeed have weapons and ammunition in his luggage, authorities said.

  About 7:30 p.m. Saturday, as part of a routine security inquiry to all passengers getting on the Greyhound bus at the South Loop station, Daniel Fenstemacher was asked if he had any weapons with him, police said.

  Fenstemacher, 52, of the 600 block of Record Street in Reno, replied that he did, police said, and he was detained while weapons and ammunition were recovered from his luggage, which was already on the bus.

So was this a violation of Greyhound policy or what? Airlines will ship weapons under certain conditions. Amtrak, too. You can transport weapons in your own personal vehicle as long as they are "cased and unloaded," essentially in a non-functional state.

We're these loaded and ready to go? We mean besides being in suitcases, four feet below the passenger deck, locked in the steel luggage compartment. What aren't we being told about the weapons and owner?

And this security "screening..." How would that work for a suitcase with a few pounds of Semtex and a terrorist who declined to tell the truth about it?

Please, Don't Ever Hire Me

From the Tribune's "Mugs in the News" section:
This just screams never give me a job, give me handouts my entire life, support my worthless ass until the day I die, by my own bad judgement or someone else's hand.