No Blank Check for Cease Fire

Thank goodness - we were so worried:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Friday he’s proceeding with caution in forging a city partnership with CeaseFire Illinois — and not writing a “blank check” — to make certain ex-offenders hired by the group are “preventing crime, not committing it.”

  The Chicago Sun-Times reported this week that at least six people have been charged with committing drug-related crimes while on CeaseFire’s payroll over the past five years.

  That makes some law enforcement officials skeptical of the anti-violence group that has never before worked directly with the city.

But the city is bound and determined to throw some cash at these assholes who have no proven track record whatsoever. Get a load of the previous article:

• But Hardiman said felons like the ones he hires are best suited to “go into a dark basement where guys have guns and are possibly high on drugs — and stop a conflict.”

  He said his workers mediated 223 conflicts between January and mid-May.

  From Jan. 1 to Dec. 1, 2011, for example, there was a 44 percent decrease in homicides in the three police beats where CeaseFire was operating in the Harrison District on the West Side, Hardiman said. That work was done independently of the city and the police department.

So on three police beats in 011, they're claiming 223 conflicts were mediated, all of which would have been shootings? Seriously? And if they did them all without city funding, why is Rahm so eager to piss away money?

And the numbers in 011 over the same time frame from last year? Exactly the same. So Tio's 44% decrease on the three beats covered means that the conflicts just moved down the block and over one beat.

Sounds like he could really use a few million dollars.