The Guns of August (UPDATE)

That would be a great title for a book about.....what? Someone did it already? Damnit.

In any event, a bloody August is drawing to a close and the numbers are...well, they're incredibly bad. McTool was quoted earlier this month saying he only compares numbers from this month to the same month last year. He might want to avoid that comparison in the future.

He might also want to keep quiet about how well his policies are working at the start of September in case he has another month like August. We imagine he'll be as happy as Rahm to see August in the rear view mirror.

UPDATE: This isn't a good beginning for the last day:

• Eight people were shot Thursday night on the South Side, according to police, including five in a single incident in the Washington Park neighborhood.

  The five were shot about 12:50 a.m. in the 6000 block of South Indiana Avenue, according to the Chicago Fire Department. Four are in stable condition and the fifth is in critical condition. Authorities said a group was standing outside an apartment building when someone inside a passing car drove past and shot at least 12 times. The fire department's first responders asked for an Emergency Medical Services Plan 1, which calld for more ambulances to the scene.

  All of the men are in their 20s, and police described the one with the most serious wound as an "uncooperative victim" who heard shots, felt pain, didn't see anything, and didn't know who he was with when shot.

Hmmmmm. There's something familiar about all this.

More Sun Times Nonsense

This from the article a few days ago about the officer shot:

• A Chicago Police officer and a 15-year-old boy shot each other Wednesday night on the Far South Side, police said.

  The 35-year-old officer was shot near his knee and the teen in his leg and side in the 1300 block of 112th Place, officials said.

  About 8 p.m., plain clothes officers stopped three teenage boys for “suspicious activity,” police said. But the 15-year-old boy fired at the officers and “engaged in a gun battle,” said Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.

  But at least two residents said the officer shot his gun first.

So now the Slum Times expects us to take the first bullet or two before we can legally eliminate the threat to our own lives? We must have missed that part of the State Law. Was this something Quinn added at some point after hours when no one was looking?

Honest to god, the ignorance of the media sometimes astounds us. But we get used to it pretty quick - we just lower the bar a little more.

10 September

The teachers set a date. A few predictions:

• Certain districts will probably have a few extra cars up since their high schools will be closed. Maybe that'll mean an easing of the Time Due policy?
• To counter this anticipated use of our own time off, the Department will claim since all the children are out, about and away from their jailers free day care, all hands shall be on deck to counter the expected mayhem;
• Wildings will pick up on weeknights. Weekend wildings will be more intense;
  
• School Absentees will plunge to near zero, although we've never really written any Catholic or other private school students for some reason. We fully expect that to be the subject of that week's CompStat meeting. Some hapless Commander will take a verbal beating over the low numbers and no one will bother to tell McDoofus that CPS is on strike.

Anyone else want to guess at the impact a teachers strike will have? After all, it's been 25 years since the last one - that's longer than 80% of the people on the job.

Shaved on Hiatus

For reasons CrimeFile covers in this posting, Shaved has taken down his blog, his archives and will remain off line for the foreseeable future.

We fail to see where a non-government agency takes it upon itself to check on the activities of private citizens. It definitely hints at collusion between the government (Rahm) and a supposedly "non-partisan" organization.

There are already entities within the Department to investigate allegations of wrong doing (we should know - we have Barb West's illegal First Amendment investigation of this blog in our possession). For the BGA to wander into these waters has a decidedly chilling effect on things.

Responsibility (UPDATE)

Big chase up north:

• At least one person was in custody in connection with an armed robbery following a pursuit by Chicago that began in one Northwest Side police district and ended in another Tuesday evening.

  The pursuit began after a robbery in the 6300 block of West Diversey Avenue Tuesday evening, and included at least one crash involving two police vehicles, said Chicago Police News Affairs [...].

  The chase began after 6 p.m. in the Grand Central District and ended a while later in the Jefferson Park District, police said.

Evidently, there was at least one termination order given, then countermanded by 1600X at least twice. This set off a lively discussion in our comment section, some of it flat out wrong. First up, if you've been involved in a pursuit lately, you'd notice a box at the bottom of the Pursuit Form for the exempt member re-authorizing the chase. Although rare, it has happened on occasions, the rare part being because a gold star is seldom close enough to make that sort of call on the fly. In this case, it appears 1600X was actually involved, so no problem there.

The only problem we see is the accident(s) during the chase. Any traffic crash is supposed to be an automatic termination. Period. There isn't much wiggle room in the order for that:

• GO03-03-01 III-C The continuation of a motor vehicle is prohibited whenever:
  
  1.a pursued vehicle or pursuing Department vehicle is involved in any traffic crash in which there is a probability of personal injury.

To continue pursuit following a crash is either incredibly ballsy or incredibly stupid. Maybe a little bit of both. That is where the debate should be. Because you and we all know, an XO is going to be subject to a very different form of discipline than a blue shirt who disregarded the termination order or a sergeant/lieutenant who failed to give it.

NOTE: This isn't second guessing. This is the pointing out that a directive directly applicable to the situation at hand is available. How the Department handles it is another matter completely.

UPDATE: Word is there were kids were in the car. Given the history of the offender, kidnapping was a distinct possibility. Regardless of personal feelings about the XO and her history, reauthorizing the pursuit seems to be the correct call. These are split-second decisions people and the XO carries the entirely of this one...at least on paper. In front of the Traffic Review Board is a different story.

More Mentals

Besides Rahm's cuts to mental health clinics, you can lay this one at the feet of former aldercreature Helen Schiller for welcoming every halfway house and mental disorder storage facility into her ward for years upon years:

• It’s dangerous being a hands-on Chicago alderman who walks the streets of his ward and is not afraid to get his hands dirty. Rookie Ald. James Cappleman (46th) is living proof.

  Two months after being shoved and pelted with bread crumbs by an Uptown woman known as the “Pigeon Lady,” Cappleman is pressing charges once again — this time against a woman he claims ran after him with a knife.

  It happened at 6 p.m. last Friday at Broadway and Montrose. He said he was calling police after he saw the woman sitting on the sidewalk drinking a can of beer when she came after him. He said he didn’t see the knife, but he had no doubt his life was in danger.

  “She reached into her blouse and was chasing me. . . . Two witnesses told me, ‘She has a knife. You’d better run’ — and I did,” he said. “What went through my mind was, ‘I don’t want to get stabbed and killed over some stupid thing like this, over someone drinking in the public way. That’s not the way I want to die.’ ”

Gee aldercreature, people have died for a lot less.

But it kind of makes you wish you were allowed to carry a gun, doesn't it? Oh wait, you are authorized to carry a firearm by ordinance. You just choose not to. Not the sharpest pencils over there in the 46th Ward evidently.

Teachers Set to Go

Rahm is going to look bad:

• The Chicago Teachers Union filed a 10-day strike notice on Wednesday in an attempt to put additional pressure on Chicago Public Schools negotiators in ongoing contract talks.
  
  At a packed news conference Wednesday, CTU president Karen Lewis accused CPS leaders and the mayor of engaging in a "smear campaign" against teachers, raising the possibility for the city's first teachers' strike in 25 years.
  
  "It has been insult after insult after insult. Enough is enough," Lewis said.

Rahm can't control the Teachers. The homicide rate is up 30%. For such an allegedly smart politico, he's turning out to be quite the idiot.

Officer Shot in Knee

Channel 5 News:

• A Chicago Police was shot Wednesday night on the Far South Side.

  It happened shortly after 8 p.m. near 112th Street and Racine Avenue. The officer was shot in the knee and was reported in stable condition.

  FOP president Pat Camden said the bullet went right through his knee.

  One suspects accused of shooting the officer was also shot and was reported in serious condition. Another suspect is at large.

No name yet. Godspeed Officer.

Clue for the Media

See if you can follow this:

• Bank robberies are UP - these are reported to the FBI. Lying to the FBI is a very big no-no. People go to prison for this;
• Auto Thefts are UP - Insurance companies report to stock holders and won't pay out without quite a bit of paperwork;
• Shootings are UP - the Tribune, either by accident or by design, published the actual number of shootings as compared to last year;
• Murders are UP - it is extremely difficult to hide a dead body, Drew Peterson aside.

We can't locate the Arson numbers at the moment, but it was UP earlier in the year. No idea if it leveled off or dropped at the moment.

Now, you can prove that these crimes are UP, but you want to believe everything else is down? Not just down, but down by 9% to 15% according to Rahm and McNumbers? Go read the CompStat book we've touted here a few times. Go look at the Milwaukee PD that is in all sorts of hot water for downgrading assaults, batteries and other crimes. Go look at any other metropolitan police force that is using the CompStat method of counting crime

We're leading you to the water here, but you're still drinking the Kool-Aid. Wake up.

Worth 1,000 Words

What does this picture say?

It shows McTool in the background while his boss speaks.

Now what does the picture say when it's posted with this headline and paragraph?

• Cops treading water? Emanuel says no
  
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel tried Monday to skin back ­— ­or at least clarify — Police Supt. Garry McCarthy’s claim that Chicago Police are “treading water” in the fight against violence after another weekend bloodbath on Chicago streets.
  
  “I talked to Garry about that. That’s not [what he meant]. What he was talking about is a particular area at a particular point. Overall . . . crime is down 9-to-10 percent.

The picture has a tiny little caption saying it was taken back in July, but Fran Spielman does her dirty work for Rahm well. Our initial take just based on the article is that Rahm is removing McJersey's testicles and waving them around for everyone to see. Add the picture and the public castration takes on even more significance.

And in case anyone missed it, Rahm is now directly involved in deciding police policy:

• After another violent weekend with a concentration of shootings in a single South Side neighborhood, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday said he wants to bring a police crackdown to Greater Grand Crossing.
  
  Nine people were killed and 32 wounded last weekend in Chicago. A third of the homicides and roughly 40 percent of the shootings were in that one neighborhood.
  
  "We now have to deal with what's happening in Grand Crossing over the weekend," Emanuel said at an unrelated news conference.
  
  Emanuel wants a crackdown that involves saturating roughly 16-square-block areas with police, eliminating corner drug markets and having officers stay there to maintain the peace. The mayor has credited the approach with reducing homicides in two of the city's most dangerous areas.

So why even conduct a "nationwide" search for a superintendent, spend months touting his crime fighting skills, publicly and pointedly demonstrate full support for his gutting the specialized units to fulfill your lie about "1,000 more cops on the street" and then turn around and end up personally directing the police to "saturate" a few square miles of an out-of-control populace with what's left of a gutted department? If Rahm is taking the wheel, McLastDays is probably being eased out of the loop.

Why even have a superintendent at all?

More Numbers

We posted most of an e-mail yesterday that pointed out that after all the manpower, teams, operations, and resources poured into the Harrison (Fillmore) District, their homicide totals from 2011 (year-to-date) were exactly the same as 2012 (year-to-date) - 29 dead.

Now, a helpful soul has done the same for Englewood:

• Through 26 August 12, 007 had 30 murders for 2012 versus 41 in 2011 which equates to a 27% decrease, however, 007 also had 185 shootings during this same time frame versus 178 in 2011 for a 4% increase.
  
  In a nut shell, through 26 August 12, 007 has had 5 less people with holes in them than they did in 2011 through 26 August 12.
  
  So, they are pretty much even with last year like 011 even with throwing all the extra manpower into these districts.

We think the math is off slightly, but the number of people with extra holes is 215 (2012) versus 219 (2011). Four less. So Rahm and Garry are touting a 35% "decrease" to what might be bad aim and medical advances.

We would point out that 007 has received at least as much attention as 011 and the end result is an under 1% improvement in the total numbers.

But "Crime is Down!! Crime is Down!!"

Bernstein Announces Promo Exam

Who is tipping this guy off?

• You should know that the City of Chicago is currently planning to give a sergeants exam in 2013. If you are going to be taking the 2013 police sergeant or future police lieutenant promotional exams, the attached information will be important to you. If not, please forward it to someone you think might benefit.
  
  In order to prepare police officers for the new promotional exams, Bernstein & Associates will be offering a series of classes. The feedback from our students on our promotional review has been extremely positive. Bernstein students have had some of the highest scores! Picking the right class for the new test is an important decision. You want to go with a proven winner.

This e-mail started circulating yesterday. At last count, the city spent some $4 million dollars on an exam that is six years old and only netted them 160 legit promotions by score (other exams have gone down to number 500).

But Rahm is finding another few million dollars from Chicago's broke ass in order to set the next generation of "merit-clout-orious" promotions on their career paths.

To the Unpublished Morons

Every so often, we get a particularly annoying set of trolls who come in here and spout their racist, sexist, antigun, liberal fantasies and expect to get a platform here. Usually, we delete them without comment, but a couple stand out today:

• To the anti gun nut who says the only people signing up for the course offered to our readers are "gun fanatics like you SCC," why would you be against anyone, especially cops, becoming more adept at their jobs and the weapon they carry? You're the one constantly bitching about how untrained citizens shouldn't be armed. Here's training. Now what Asshat?
• And to the other cretin who claimed they'd never take a course offered by a woman - this lady (with McDonald) took Richie Daley, the City of Chicago and the entire anti-gun lobby all the way to the United States Supreme Court.....and won. What have you done lately?

You will continue to not receive a platform here. That is all.

Are You Fucking Kidding Us?

Really? This is a serious "What the fuck" moment:

• Kelly Davis wonders what would have happened had he been looking the other way for just a few moments.
  
  He was standing in Daley Plaza, watching his 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters slide down the Picasso sculpture, when he saw a man rushing toward Myla, the youngest girl, Saturday evening.
  
  The man grabbed the girl's arm, muttering "This is my daughter, Goldilocks," but Davis said he wrestled him away and then chased him through alleys and building lobbies before finally flagging down police.

What? Saturday evening? And it's now Tuesday at 1530 hours when this story hits the Tribune Breaking News site? Almost seventy-two hours and this is "breaking news." Honest to pete, we though we were having iPhone issues when the news alert button chimed. How the hell was this kept quiet?

• "I have no doubt that if I had my back turned, he would have grabbed her and she would have been gone in the city and I would have never seen her again," said Davis, 31, who lives in Zion and drives a school bus.

Oh, a tourist. We have not a doubt in the world that Rahm and Rahm's people made a shitload of calls to the media and demanded they sit on this. Can you imagine the headlines?

• Suburban Child Kidnapped
• Chicago Unsafe for Tourists
• Rahm Cuts Mental Health Budget; Delusional Maniacs Run Rampant

Does anyone have any idea how many calls must have been made and how many people told to keep their mouths shut about this one for it to languish for nearly three fucking days?

Chicago comes off looking insanely (pun intended) bad on this:

• As Davis struggled with the man, their mother Amanda Green grabbed the girls away. "I used myself as a barricade and I told him if he takes another step toward me or my kids, I will beat the ever living (expletive) out of him," Davis said.
  
  The man finally stepped down and began walking away, but Davis said he followed him. "We went through a maze of buildings and streets, he’s looping around. . .Sometimes he’s running, sometimes he’s walking, and I was trying not to lose him," Davis said.
  
  The chase even went through the Chase Bank building. "At the desk, I told them my name and a his description." Around LaSalle and Washington streets, Davis said he spotted police officers and alerted them and the man was arrested.
  
  Green said she was frantic after Davis ran off. "I was standing there, there are no cops coming, I have two very upset children and my boyfriend just took off with some crazy man and I’m standing by myself in the middle of Chicago."

Two-hundred extra police downtown and none around Daley Plaza? Probably all keeping an eye on the wilding crowd.

Journalism is dead in this burg. No way any old time reporter lets this sit for three days. You can't tell us that no one, on a Saturday night, wasn't tipping off someone somewhere about this one. We just don't believe it.

Wake up Chicago. You are being kept in the dark by a bought-and-paid-for media while politicians rifle through your pockets and turn out your socks for the spare change. They are in it together and you (or suburban tourists) are paying the price.

Rahm Contradicts McBorrowedTime

The end game continues:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel tried Monday to skin back ­— ­or at least clarify — Police Supt. Garry McCarthy’s claim that Chicago Police are “treading water” in the fight against violence after another weekend bloodbath on Chicago streets.

  “I talked to Garry about that. That’s not [what he meant]. What he was talking about is a particular area at a particular point. Overall . . . crime is down 9-to-10 percent. That doesn’t just come your way. You have to go work for it,” the mayor said.

  “Where we have tried new tactics — like in Englewood where you see a 25 percent drop in homicides — how do we take that to other places? In the [Grand Crossing] district, we saw we had a problem, put [in] new leadership [and] we’ve seen a dramatic change in just the last three weeks . . . We have to now deal with what’s happened in Grand Crossing over the weekend — and we will do that.”

Rahm doesn't have people walking back what McFigureHead said - Rahm walks it back himself. What does that show besides a micro-manager desperate to stop the hemorrhaging (both literally and figuratively) that is destroying his political legacy before his eyes.

And the citizens aren't helping matters any:

• At least nine people were hurt in six separate shootings across the city in an evening that included three double shootings, police said.

And the Tribune inadvertently exposes McCarthy's lies from yesterday:

• Through Monday, the city had 1,648 shootings, 152 more than the same time last year, according to preliminary police statistics. The city also had 52 homicides for August, 17 more than all of August 2011.

But yesterday, shootings were down (but only in select communities - don't read the fine print).

NEWSFLASH MEDIA MORONS: Shootings aren't being prevented - they are being pushed from one area to another. We have no police to "hold" a neighborhood, so the jagoffs go down the block or around the corner to do their business....but never the alley for some reason.

The media types are being led around by the nose.

Smell the Desperation

It reeks. In fact, it reeks so bad, McNumbers is resorting to lies:

• It’s another Monday morning after another weekend of violence in Chicago, but this morning, a situation that appeared to be getting better is only getting worse.

"appeared to be getting better"? From what angle? Homicides are up across the city, over 28 to 30% depending on which day of the week it is and what the butcher's bill is for the weekend.

• “The fact is that we still have unacceptable level of violence here. We’re struggling in the month of August,” he said.

  During an interview on the CBS 2 Morning News, McCarthy said – up until August – shootings in Chicago were down for four straight months.

  “We compare month to month. So, last August we had basically the best August in the city in 30 years. The numbers were unbelievably low, but that’s not an excuse,” McCarthy said.

Shootings were down? Is this guy fucking kidding? Which version of the numbers is he using? The number of "incidents?" Or the number of people with extra holes in their bodies. Because if he's using the first measure, incidents might be down, but under the second count, we certainly can't recall so many incidents of multiple casualty incidents since the late 1990's. Three, four, five ambulances are being called to scenes with astonishing regularity.

And then hanging his hat on this?

• McCarthy said, despite the weekend violence that left nine dead, officers were able to diffuse a potentially dangerous situation near Michigan Avenue.

  McCarthy told CBS 2 this morning that about 20 teens were running through a crowd Saturday night, pushing people and then darting into traffic. Officers quickly responded before anyone was hurt.

Twenty captured out of over 200, maybe 300 depending on which version you believe. Our best estimate was over 200 and that's on scene eyeballs.

But this is the real laugher:

• McCarthy said, with added patrol officers in the Englewood and West Lawndale neighborhoods, things have started changing around. The murder rate in those areas is down 35 percent this year.

Really? Well let's just open up the SCC mailbag and see what pops out:

• SCC,
  
  You're going to love this. In 011, there is a running tally of homicides this year as compared to last year on a board in the hallway. In 2011, through today's date, 011 had 29 homicides. Not many compared to historical highs, but enough to keep Fillmore in the running for the title this year.
  
  In 2012, McCarthy and Rahm have supposedly sent 011 hundreds of extra bodies, teams, cars, sweeps, buy/busts, reverse stings, you name it, 011 gets it (unless it's Time Due.) Guess what the homicide total is today with all the extra help?
  
  29. Exactly the same. How you like Chalkie now?

So evidently the entire 35% reduction McDesperation is touting comes solely from 007? Not bloody likely. And the media eats this shit up.

Shooting Course Bargain

A friend of ours and instrumental plaintiff in the McDonald v Chicago lawsuit, Colleen Lawson is offering our readers a specially priced shooting course:

• As a certified Mag range instructor, I hereby offer Massad Ayoob's Mag-20 range course next weekend, to any interested LEO, at a full $100 less than normal, and if they'd like to qualify with their back-ups in addition to their duty weapons, that will be okay too. The entire class will be set aside for LEO exclusively that weekend.
  
  I know next weekend won't work for all, but I hope the dates of Sept 1-2 will work for some - it's a 20 hour course and there are NO other 20 hour weekends available till next year -- I checked. It will be held at Article II in Lombard, which I've chosen since it's the only indoor range suited to the Mag-20. In a conversation with a couple of officers this morning regarding the Empire State shooting today, I decided to shuffle previously scheduled classes and offer the weekend to any interested CPD.
  
  What is the Mag-20? The MAG-20 Range Course was formerly known as the StressFire Course of Massad Ayoob’s Lethal Force Institute. After interviewing hundreds of officers who had survived gunfights, Ayoob drew on their experiences, combined with his own decades long research, and created a powerful combat handgun system, initially known as the StressFire shooting method. Ayoob's research showed that in life threatening situations, human beings experience profound physical and psychological pressures causing deterioration of fine motor skills, and altering perceptions of time and other sensory inputs. Combining proven shooting techniques with principles from various martial arts styles, StressFire is a system that not only works under the enormous stress of violent encounters but actually feeds off it.
  
  In short, Massad Ayoob's MAG-20 Range Course is an eye-opening, two day program designed to bring out the officer's maximum potential for shooting a handgun under stress and to achieve the optimum blend of speed and accuracy while maintaining the highest control possible in concert with what's been learned through a focused study of combat psychology and physiology.
  
  Students will learn drawing from concealment, two-handed shooting stances, one-handed shooting with either hand, shooting from positions that work from behind cover, speed reloading and more with overall emphasis on fast, accurate shot placement. Training includes completion of a police-style qualification and entails an expenditure of approximately 500 rounds during training. While the qualifying student's comes away with a frame-worthy certificate, his body comes away with actions and reactions honed to life-saving response.
  
  For those officers requesting it, I'm fine with a payment plan, rather than turn down any officer who'd like learn to be that much safer while sharpening his or her skills.
  
  I'll be updating my website overnight to reflect the class changes, but interested individuals can just call to register, as my firearm skills beat my WordPress skills by a mile!
  
  The number is 773-234-5053, but I'll attach a business card to this email as well. Hope this strikes you as a good way of saying thanks: the mag-20 is the best I have, out of a roster of 9 classes from greenest beginner to well-seasoned shot.
  
  Stay safe, SCC
  
  ~ Colleen Lawson

Give her a call. Any course that lets you put 500 rounds through your gun is something worth looking at. And at a discount?

9 Dead; 28 Wounded

That's 37 shot:

• The city saw another bloody weekend as nine people — including a teenager — were killed and 28 others were wounded in separate shootings since Friday evening.

But don't worry!

• Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy on Saturday defended the department’s anti-violence strategy, which he believes is taking root.

  “We’re not winning, we’re not losing. We’re basically treading water,” McCarthy said. He said that in the month of August, “we had some trouble because some of these retaliatory shootings are happening quicker than we can stop them.”

There's that "treading" word again. We don't think that word means what he thinks it does. "Treading" means staying in one place, holding one's own. Fifteen murders over last August isn't treading - that's losing ground.

Aldercreature Dissed

This is hilarious:

• Fighting crime is not so simple, and that’s something CBS 2 cameras saw first-hand on Monday, when visiting the scene of one of this past weekend’s shootings.

  [...] Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) joined [CBS personnel] in visiting the 7800 block of South Champlain Avenue on Monday, three days after Clayton was shot in a drive-by. Immediately, they were met with hostility.

  “It ain’t y’all’s business,” one man said.

  Sawyer attempted to talk to two young men on the block about what he could do to help the community. One of the two men claimed to be the brother of the victim. The young men cursed Sawyer and called him the “N” word.

  Asked what the young men’s reaction said to him, Sawyer said, “Generation lost. I don’t know, I really wish I could say. … All I’m trying to do is help, and I’m getting a roadblock. I’m trying to help. I want to help.”

Welcome to our world Aldercreature. You can't help anyone who won't help themselves. Anyone who might have been wondering why the clearance rate is at 24% and falling ought to watch the tape from this little escapade. Then everyone else can watch it, too and set off another round of liberal soul-searching as to why these people (and folks) are so angry with a society that gives them everything they could ever want to the detriment of the entire social construct.

Could You Describe the Ruckus, Sir?

Still one of the funnier movie lines to come out of the 1980's. Now the media uses "ruckus" to describe Michigan Avenue wildings:

• About 20 juveniles and four adults were arrested after police responded to reports of people being pushed in the Gold Coast Saturday.

  The disturbances occurred at 5:40 p.m. at West Chicago Avenue and North State Street, police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said.

  About 20 juveniles and four adults were charged with reckless conduct.

  No further details were immediately available.

"Pushing."

And not a single description of the offenders.

And not a whisper of a mention that there were something like a few hundred assholes running around smacking tourists and passers-by on what is arguably among the top 3 draws for out-of-town visitors.

300 Arrests; 100 Guns

McNumbers is playing this one for all it's worth:

• Chicago police busted street drug sales operations in 10 district across the city over a three-day period ending Saturday, police superintendent Garry McCarthy announced Sunday.

  Police arrested over 300 people and confiscated more than 100 weapons.

  Of those arrested who have been identified, 99 percent were gang members, McCarthy said.

  “Efforts such as this are part and parcel of our broader violence reduction strategy,” McCarthy said.

  “Looking at the guns recovered and keeping in mind that this is just a snapshot of the number of guns Chicago police take off the streets daily, it’s clear these efforts are paying dividends but work remains to be done.”

All this effort and we still have around 40 shot and 7 dead, mostly where the police weren't.

If these 100 guns were actually seized in three days, and the seizures were from people who are currently ineligible to have guns, then well done. But we seem to recall numerous incidents from years past where legally owned guns were taken by certain units and paraded about as "seized" weapons. We also remember guns being taken out of E&RPS that had been taken weeks, even months prior and passed off on photo ops with Shortshanks as the product of recent busts.

We were wondering though - how does this sudden influx of 300 arrests, mostly for dope, jibe with Cook County Board President Preckwinkle's recent assertion that Ronald Reagan deserves a special place in hell for his efforts to enforce drug laws while incarcerating lawbreakers of minority descent? After all, aren't these 300 arrests just an extension of Reagan's War on Drugs begun back in the 1980's?

Creative Math

Another amazingly flexible statistic:

• Wow, is it true that shootings are down four months running as GMAC stated? Yet Homicides are still up?
  
  Is the aim of these honor students becoming more true?
  
  Perhaps an EMS and trauma center drop in performance as a result of Obamacare?
  
  Or maybe just some more creative crime accounting by the east coast abacus?

Is this another incident of "less shootings" because they are counting each incident as one and not the number of casualties from each? In other words, the wounding of eight the other night on 79th Street, the wounding of four in Little Village and the single guy catching a bullet in 017 are classified as "three shootings" even though there were thirteen bodies with extra holes in them.

It's just a different way of counting.

Medical Abuse Coverage

According to various comments, Channel 2 is gearing up for a special report regarding people on the Medical Roll doing all sorts of things they shouldn't be doing. Again, expect this to be part of Contract negotiations as Rahm uses the few to punish the many.

We're still waiting for the Special Reports regarding LINK fraud, SS fraud, free cell phone fraud, utility bill fraud, etc. Those must have been pushed back. Again. Fraud is fraud is fraud, no matter how you slice it.

PayFlex Change

From the comments:

• OT, SCC, but not sure how much people may be paying attention to things happening at the national level that affect us here in Chicago.
  
  Per IRS guidelines, and as a result of "healthcare reform," the amount that can be saved in your FSA/HSA (for CPD, that's Payflex) account is being reduced to $2500 per year as of January 1. Might make a difference to those who contribute more than that to cover expenses for a large family or for a family member who has a chronic illness.

Since this money was taken out pre-tax and there was no ceiling previously, this is a big deal if you participate in the program.

Try This Garry

So if it's true McNumbers is going back in time to look up arrest numbers, we would request that maybe on one of his sojourns into the hinterlands of Lawndale, Bronzeville, Englewood or Little Village, he and selected exempts actually see what's going on at ground level. To wit:

• perform three actual arrests; one misdemeanor, one juvenile PCS, and one violent offender for whatever charge they wish;
• complete on their own, a CLEAR system arrest for each incident. We'll see if the boys and girls down at IT can arrange an inconvenient CLEAR outage, an AIRA misfire and a few printer errors. In lockup, the ten-print machine will go down once during the tour;
  
• complete complaints, a TRR, an IOD, an Officer Battery Report, witness To-From and maybe for shits and giggles, chase paper with a fender-bender involved. Then sit around and wait for the detectives (twice - once for Youth, once for Violent Crimes) before getting Felony Review on the horn and waiting around for a lawyer to make a decision;

Then do it in under 9 hours, all while the radio keeps banging everyone for in-progress calls, shots fired, dope, burglaries, robberies, dope, domestics, disturbances, dope, suspicious cars suspicious people, suspicious odors, dope and more dope.

Arrests are down? So is crime according to you. But we still seem to be busier than we can remember being in years.

Treading Water?

Seriously?

• While five people have been killed and at least another 36 wounded in shootings in Chicago since Thursday night, police Supt. Garry McCarthy sees the police department’s anti-violence strategy taking root, though he notes police are “basically treading water” in their efforts to stem the tide of violence.

  In a press conference Saturday afternoon touting a crackdown on two South Side drug markets, McCarthy said he sees the police department’s anti-violence strategy taking root.

  “We’re not winning, we’re not losing. We’re basically treading water,” McCarthy said. He said that in the month of August, “we had some trouble because some of these retaliatory shootings are happening quicker than we can stop them.”

We're not winning or losing? Murders are up 31% on the year and for August? Up double digits and still climbing with a week to go in August.

Newsflash Garry - we've lost August, by slaughter rule. Stop bringing attention to the failure. Explain why you've got Narcotics, Vice, GEU which are basically "head" units grabbing everything that moves when you based your entire first year here on disbanding units that act as a band-aid on crime. What changed? Besides the number of bodies at the morgue.

Downgrading Crime

Whispers of a rumor.

One or more detectives areas are reaching out to recontact the victims of burglaries.

Not for follow up, but in order to reclassify crime as "unfounded" and reduce burglary numbers.

This would appear to be an attempt to alter history and may tie into doubts being expressed on the East Coast about the validity of CompStat numbers.

Rumor Central

A good one:

• Panic at Headquarters
  
  McCarthy now has us looking up Monthly arrest stats for all police officers from 2010 and 2011 and comparing those stats with 2012.
  
  Commanders will be given the names of all officers with lower arrests. Commanders will put ALL officers with significantly lower stats into the Personal Concern program. Then they will counsel all officers who HAVE NOT INCREASED their arrests.
  
  It looks like if you were always a dog, you're in the clear, but those who've dropped down their arrests will be punished.
  
  The real reason is that 2012 arrests are the lowest in the past 15 years and that's only because the records are poor going back further. It is completely possible that 2012 will have the lowest arrest totals in the last 30 years.

If we're going to start with arrest statistics, we should probably start at the top ranks and work our way down, just to set an example. We're going to insist on arrests in which only the officers in Box #1 or Box #2 are counted, and the arrest cannot be "holding the offender." Anything else goes in this instance of counting.

Anyone want to speculate on the totals for any one of our exempt members? How about Captains/XO's? Remember, these are our leaders, the ones we should be emulating and aspiring to be. Low arrest totals would seem to be the norm for these ranks, so anyone without decent numbers can just point to them as inspiration.

If McDumbDumb is endorsing an arrest quota, let's see it on paper. Now please. And a General Order that we can point to when the inevitable federal lawsuit results.

And another point of order - McMoron has been saying for a year now that crime is down across the board with the notable exception of homicides (and shootings he is finally admitting). Here's a quick mathematical equation for McNumberChallenged:

• Less crime = Less arrests

Right? How can we have more arrests for non-existent crime? Or is McCivilRightsChampion advocating a wholesale violation of local, county, state and federal law? Because we're definitely going to have to see paper on that one before we even start the car tonight.

Someone downtown better think this one through again.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, we missed this obvious one:

• Less police = Less arrests

Sorry about that.

What Could POSSIBLY Go Wrong?

This has corruption and scandal written all over it (WARNING: The Tribune has since moved this story behind their firewall - you might have to register):

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel has spending authority over millions of dollars in private donations left from the NATO summit, giving him a powerful new tool to reward projects and causes he supports, the Tribune has learned.
  
  The private donations were raised by Emanuel allies to help cover the city's share of hosting the May gathering of world leaders in Chicago, and officials have only said that any remaining money — currently as much as $14.9 million — would be spent on undefined NATO "legacy" projects.
  
  But this week, the mayor's office and officials at World Business Chicago, the city's economic-development arm, confirmed that Emanuel will decide how to dole out the money. Emanuel aides and officials at WBC, which Emanuel chairs, will be involved in his decisions.

Gee, $15 million just lying around, to be spent on "legacy projects." Decided by a board that the mayor heads and probably appointed, too.

Well, a humble suggestion there Rahm - seeing as how the Police Department made you look like you knew what you were doing, how about tossing that $15 million our way? We'll find a good home for it.

New York Shooting

Checking out the national news tonight, everybody led with the shooting outside the Empire State Building where a disgruntled (and fired) white guy shot and killed a co-worker before being killed himself. Nine bystanders were wounded by stray bullets, some probably from the police.

No one seemed to cover Chicago where 19 people of color were wounded by bullets in under 12 hours and the totals for the week look like something out of a Wes Craven horror flick.

You know what that means, right?

Racism!

Gear Up for the Weekend

Strap in boys and girls:

• Nineteen people were shot in attacks across the South and West sides between about 5:20 p.m. Thursday and 1:30 a.m. Friday - including 13 people during a single 30-minute period - according to the Chicago Police Department.
  
  The shootings peaked between about 9:15 and 9:45 p.m. Thursday when 13 people were shot, including eight in a single incident at 79th Street and Essex Avenue about 9:30 p.m.
  
  Police are still trying to sort out that shooting, the second of three incidents that left multiple people wounded since 8 p.m.
  
  As of 4 a.m., none of the 19 people shot had died.
  
  The first reported shooting Thursday afternoon left four people wounded in the Little Village neighborhood about 5:20 p.m.

Ninety-plus-degrees today and tomorrow.

Some people might wish we had some citywide units to throw at the hot spots - but trial and error has shown that they don't work. At least, that's what we heard. And you know that you MUST believe our leaders because they "passed" actual tests and have intimate knowledge of the ebb and flow of the streets they never served on. Don't be relying on your lying eyes, that stack of bodies on the corner and the endless wail of ambulance sirens.

The Beatings Will Continue...

How can we get more work out of uninspired officers? Here's a bright idea from the southwest side:

• The commander of 10 had a meeting the other day with all the supervisors of that building. From what we were told by sgts at roll call and how we interpreted it, the fixed posts aka "the box" that the district mans are basically punishment and/or extortion. We were told that more boxes may be on the way, but the way to avoid that is to produce more numbers. WTF? Way to motivate your troops commander. Mostly everybody hates sitting on these things because they're boring, you can't leave without proper relief and you're a sitting target. The more boxes we have to man will also mean more work for the rest of the watch since those cars will be down and unavailable for assignment. Oh, and that will probably mean less people will be able to take time due.

Have none of these asshats ever laid eyes on a motivational book? Or taken a speech writing course? Taken a course in Logic? Or studied the basics of debate where you try to convince the audience of the correctness of your side of the argument? Here's a bright idea - read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. The big words will probably frighten most of the command staff in general and Pena in particular, but....

Ah crap, who are we kidding? The command staff pick up a book? We might as well braid the whips they beat us with already. We have got to stop drinking grandpa's homemade liquor.

Spot the Contradiction

Remember when Rahm promised 1,000 more officers on the streets and his handpicked superintendent took 500 officers (who were already serving on the streets) and put them back on the streets? And didn't McSpeaksOutOfBothSidesOfHisMouth tell everyone that TRU, MSF and similar constructs WERE NOT the answer to entrenched crime and disorder problems?

So why are these rumors getting stronger rather than fading like most rumors tend to?

• McNumbnuts LATEST and GREATEST tragedies, um sorry, strategy is to amass narcotics, fugitives and others into one ONE district and, "Just make arrests." Not work on what you we're doing but to become the "new" TRU or MSF without the deterrent those units did.
  Each day is a different district, so ALL the shit you did the day before goes out the window. Don't worry if you found a spot to work, don't worry if you work files with other tact teams, we'll get to those next week.
  Oh yeah, we still want the same activity you did BEFORE we implemented this latest and greatest tragedy, er, strategy for the 7th, 8th or whatever time this year.

In fact, we've just seen an order detailing tact teams, narcotics, gang enforcement to "hot spots" this weekend to do buy/busts and reverses for three days straight.

So let's get this straight - units are not the answer because they don't stick around to build rapport with the community, but taking units and sending them into these troubled neighborhoods while telling them to "generate numbers" is.....what exactly?

Oh yeah, exactly what Mc"I Invented Police Work" said didn't work before. Imagine that.

It's About That Time

Any hour now....

Conspiracy Time!

So the latest killings were perpetrated by:

• an individual on a bicycle and
  
  
• an individual shooting from a gangway

One of our readers waggishly suggested that Rahm ban bicycles and gangways as a deterrent to crime.

We however, wondered if the 650 miles of bike lanes being built at $140,000 per mile are part of a nefarious plan to facilitate murders across minority communities by racists posing as "green enthusiasts" riding bicycles.

We haven't figured out the gangway angle yet, but it'll come to us eventually. All plots by evil cabals come to light once you unravel one section. Look at the Kennedy assassination.

The bikes and the bike lanes are the first discovered portion of the plot.

More Graffiti = More Killings?

You never know:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday defended his decision to cut his predecessor’s popular graffiti blasters program — and dramatically alter the city’s plan of attack — despite a slowdown that has so frustrated one alderman, he’s using his expense allowance to remove it.

  “When we did graffiti [removal] the old way, we’d go into a neighborhood, do one wall, walk away and the rest of the neighborhood would still have graffiti,” the mayor said.

  “Now, it’s the entire community and any community that’s had it since we did the blitz changes it …. So, while you’re calling it lag time, I see an entire neighborhood clean — not just one wall in a neighborhood. It’s a different strategy.”

But on the other side of the coin, leaving gang graffiti up (disregarding simple taggers), especially in disputed or enemy territory, leads to increased confrontation, retaliatory tagging, then someone comes along with a gun and ::BLAM BLAM:: more headlines in the papers, more stories on the news, and more humor from SCC pointing out the failure of politicians and police bosses to wish they were back in Kansas....or New Jersey.

It's an interesting theory at least - leaving this stuff up for more than a day might very well contribute to increased shootings and homicides.

What Day is It?

Isn't today CompStat Thursday? How are those homicide numbers going to play? Because guess what? Two more dead overnight:

• Two men were shot dead Wednesday in separate attacks on the South and West sides of the city, authorities said.

  In the latest slaying, a gunman riding a bicycle shot a 21-year-old in the head on a rear porch behind the victim's home in the 700 block of East 50th Street in the Bronzeville neighborhood just before 9 p.m., according to early police reports.

  The man, Freddie Williams, was dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

  Police hadn't determined the motive for the slaying.

  Earlier in the day, gunman shot a 49-year-old South Side man at least twice at about 5:30 p.m. on the 2800 block of West Wilcox Street in the East Garfield Park on the West Side, police said.

And even more wounded:

• Gunshots fired from a gangway hit four people, one of them a 15-year-old boy, in an early-morning shooting in the Englewood neighborhood on the city's South Side, police said.

  The victims, all males, were sitting on the front porch of a home in the 400 block of West 65th Place at about 12:50 a.m. when at least one gunman emerged from a gangway beside the home and opened fire, police said.

We heard they were discussing the "Back to School" sales at 1:00 AM when the shots rang out.

Shooting, Wounding

No, not this one a few days ago where cops shot and missed:

• Chicago police officers happened upon a drive-by shooting on the South Side and exchanged shots with a gunman who had critically wounded a woman, authorities said.
  
  The shooting erupted around 11 p.m. in the 6700 block of South Blackstone Avenue in the Grand Crossing neighborhood and touched off a chaotic scene as scores of officers, police dogs and a helicopter swarmed the area looking for the gunman, who remained at-large this morning, authorities said.

This one:

• Chicago police wounded a shooting suspect this morning following a chase on the city's Southeast Side, authorities said.
  
  The incident began with officers witnessing an armed man firing shots in the 11000 block of South Avenue M just after 2 a.m., police said in a statement.
  
  The gunman fled the scene in a vehicle with officers in pursuit. During the chase, the suspect's vehicle struck a squad car assisting in the pursuit, police said.
  
  At some point during the pursuit, the gunman got out of his vehicle and was shot in the leg by an officer, police said. He was taken to Advocate Trinity Hospital for treatment, police said.

No police hurt, so good news there.

GROUPON Coupon

Imagine our surprise when checked our e-mail and found this waiting for us:

A tactical arms class being offered to interested parties at a suburban Woodstock gun range. Humorous that this would show up in Chicago area mailboxes as the killing fields of the south and west sides run red with blood.

The good news is that there are still two days to get this deal!

Missed OT Check Again?

Can anyone confirm? (We don't work special, so we can't tell)

• Check your overtime checks. Finance once again did not pay folks for working the OT Initiative the 29th of July.

A few possibilities (if true):

1. they actually have no money;
   
2. part of a ploy to give the impression of no money;
3. incompetence.

We're going to bet on a combination of #2 and #3 with a heavy emphasis on #3.

Hot Rumor

XO's are being "demoted" back to Captains and will henceforth be Watch Commanders.

Rumor is the city lost or is about to lose the grievance filed by the Lieutenants Association and is looking for a cheap settlement.

Next thing you know, we'll have Desk Sergeants in the station.

Everything old is new again.

Chicago Layoffs

With Rahm touting moving jobs from the 'burbs to Chicago, even though all the positions are filled and no one actually out-of-work gets put to work, we are amused when stories like this pop up:

• Northwestern Memorial Hospital confirmed Wednesday that it has laid off 230 employees over the last month as part of an effort to reduce its cost structure by a quarter by 2017.
  
  The Streeterville health system, which has about 7,000 employees, said in a statement that 52 of those who lost their positions have found new jobs, most at the hospital. It said several others are being considered for roughly 200 openings.
  
  A spokeswoman said the hospital has cut jobs each of the past several years after annual reviews of its operations conducted amid budget discussions.

200 openings that might very well be beyond the capacity of the laid-off employees' skills ability. But Rahm is going to tout janitorial staff moving from one locale to another as a sign of an economic turnaround.

Unanswered (and Unasked) Questions

One more week left in August and the number of killings just keeps on climbing.

Silence from Rahm and McFallGuy. Silence from the reverends and CeaseFire. Silence from the media not asking:

• why Rahm's hand-picked supernintendo is failing?
  
  
• why McMoron's "incremental" change has "suddenly" reversed into a bloodbath and why isn't there a new strategy (the 7th this year) to combat the upswing?
  
  
• why faith-based leaders like Pfather Phleger, Jackson and Farrakhan aren't calling for an end to the "no snitching" culture that means 3 of 4 murders go unsolved?
  
  
• why $1 million of taxpayer money has disappeared without a single "interrupter" on the streets and not a single shooting prevented?
  

We'd like to see even one reporter with the nuts to ask any of the above questions.

Shooter Beaten into Coma

We could get behind this - if it wasn't all gang banger bullshit:

• A shooting in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood overnight had an unusual ending: The victim was barely injured and the gunman was left on life support after witnesses chased him down and beat him, police said.

  About 11:50 p.m. Monday, the 19-year-old gunman exited a green van and confronted a 23-year-old man in the 1100 block of North Keystone Avenue, a "hotbed" of narcotics transactions, police said. The assailant tried to shoot the victim but the weapon malfunctioned and during a subsequent struggle for the gun, the gun discharged and hit the victim in the shoulder, police said.

  The gunman then threw the weapon to the ground and began running away. Someone else hopped into the green van and took off with it.

So, if the crowd of other thugs on the tip beat someone to death for shooting at the dealer, is that a killing or justifiable homicide?

These sorts of articles warm our heart, but it must be hell on the media trying to come up with a headline that doesn't point out what nonsense this all is.

Haz Mat

A couple of years back, we ran a series of photos from various police districts showing unsafe, unsanitary and pretty gross conditions. We also pointed out some structural failings due to shoddy construction and on-the-cheap contracting.

J-Fled was trying to upgrade certain things while the city built the last of the new stations. The rehab work is still going on places (Rahm couldn't revoke the contracts evidently), and the 011th District clocks in a new one (the first was excrement dripping from the ceilings - a throwback to the old Ivory Tower):
As the work crew strips the old asbestos pipes, they just toss them in the dumpster, endangering cops, garbage men, neighbors, and the can guy picking through the trash. Watch yourselves Fillmo.

Angry Comment

Now this is a pissed off reader:

• Anonymous said...Start over from Square One. Everyone sworn, out on the street. Uniforms that match. No bullshit. Bring back retired guys for inside jobs, part time. No more B.S. Fire ALL medical abusers. Hire new recruits, have knowledgable retired guys instruct them. Shut down Marine Unit after labor Day, horsies/helicopter too. Basic street policing, with real Supervisors. Demote the incompetent Merit Hacks back to Patrol, they get no guarantee of being a Supervisor forever, they didn't earn it legitimately. Cut ALL Gold Stars salaries 20%, and another 10% 1yr. from now if positive crime-reduction results [not lieing stats] aren't at least 25% better. Run the Dept. like a business, you produce results, at what you are assigned to, or you are demoted, or out. Women who have worked the Office their entire careers, out in the streets, and if you can't hack it, you are terminated, period. Same with the Office Boys.
  
  EVERY Felony arrestee goes straight to County, bonded by a Judge, no laying up in the CPD lockup. Illegals get deported. Only enforce firearms laws against convicted Felons, unless a gun related crime in progress. Leave the Citizens ALONE. They HAVE the Constitutional right to protect themselves from these savages and killers, Coppers CAN'T be everywhere, and we know it. American citizens are FED Up. They deserve better than paying sky-high taxes for living in a Hellhole of Murder and Violence, AND INCOMPETENT POLITICAL AND POLICE Leadership.

Do we have a second? A second? The chair recognizes Detective Shaved for the second. All in favor? The "Ayes" have it. Motion passes.

And Another Record (UPDATE)

A double?

• One person was killed and another wounded tonight in a shooting on the South Side in the city's Chicago Lawn neighborhood, police said.

  As of 8:30 p.m., a body was lying slumped over on a sidewalk near yellow tape in front of a computer repair shop.
  
  The shooting occurred at 6:50 p.m. near the intersection of 59th Street and Francisco Avenue, according to police News Affairs...

Not quite a double. They're holding off on declaring the second at the moment.

Listen - it's the sound of CompStat failing. Sounds like gunfire.

UPDATE: It's a double. Finally.

Another Record

Remember, every killing is another number above and beyond last year's totals - an increase in the increase we suppose:

• A 15-year-old boy was fatally wounded this afternoon steps away from his home on the South Side in the city's Back of the Yards neighborhood.

  Jaime Ruvalcaba of the 1900 block of West 47th Street was pronounced dead at 4:50 p.m. at Stroger Hospital, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office.

  The medical examiner's office said he was shot in the same block where he leaves, but preliminary reports from police listed him as being shot in the 4600 block of South Wolcott Avenue.

Nothing to see here folks......move along.

Aug 2011 + 3 = Aug 2012

It's the new Rahm Emanuel math!

Evidently, the numbers were ahead of where we thought:

• Diorio was one of six people slain that day in Chicago, tying Feb. 19 for the most homicides on a single day this year in the city, according to police statistics. Her slaying was among eight spanning Friday evening through early Monday.
  
  As of Monday, there have been 38 homicides recorded in August, three more than all of August 2011, the statistics show. During the first 19 days of August last year, there were 22 homicides.
  
  The rise in this month's homicides comes on the heels of a July that saw its fewest killings in years.

Again, one month is an aberration, not a trend.

Now, with the national media supposedly about to start covering Chicago's bloody year, one had to wonder if (A) the rumors are true about a massive redeployment of Unit personnel is on the horizon and (B) if McNumbersGame's days are being measured with a stopwatch instead of a calendar.

RedEye Tracker Down

More nefarious work by Rahm? Or just lazy media types over at the Tribune?

• Twenty-four homicides have been logged so far this month. Thirty-seven homicides were recorded in August 2011, according to RedEye data.

That entry was made on 14 August. The RedEye tracker is about 10 homicides short and a week behind.

The fight for the homicide crown has tightened up lately, with half a dozen districts within a single or a double killing from the lead. 010 dropped out of the lead for a bit while 007 caught and passed them. 011 is tied in second place during the month, trailing only by one. The race is a crowded as a Kentucky Derby homestretch.

There used to be a month-by-month number graph put together on the Department Intranet - anyone remember where it is?

Concealed Carry in Illinois

This is great:

• The McLean County State’s Attorney went on record last week of announcing he would not prosecute people charge with weapons violations that directly are in conflict with the Second Amendment.
  
  Edwards County State’s Attorney Michael Valentine said he agrees with the stance taken by Ronald Dozier.
  
  “I have to commend Ron for his public stance,” said Valentine. “He said at the State’s Attorney’s conference earlier this year he was planning to make public the fact the State is in conflict with the Second Amendment.”
  
  Given the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the amendment allows people the right to carry arms, either openly or concealed, Dozier said the State of Illinois, by being the only state to deny concealed carry, is out of step with the rest of the country. He added his office will not prosecute those people charged with possession just because they do not have a FOID card.
  
  He also is circulating a petition expressing the General Assembly reverse its stance and adopt concealed carry.
  
  “I think it does go against the (U.S.) Constitution,” said Valentine of the state’s stance. “I agree and commend Ron for his stance.”
  
  It is a stance, the non prosecution of non-violent firearm violations such as FOID violations, unlawful use of weapons that conflict with federal policy, that Valentine’s office, as well as many in the region, carry out, just not as vocally as Dozier.
  
  “It’s a policy I know several counties in Illinois, including Edwards, now follow,” he said.

So instead of Rahm, Madigan and the rest of the anti-gun people running the state from Chicago, correct thinking State's Attorneys will disregard portions of the law that are so completely out of step with not only the country, but vast swaths of Illinois itself that aren't near Chicago and Cook County.

What's that you say? No bloodbaths in McLean and Edwards County? Nor the rest of southern Illinois? Golly, it's almost like responsible people know better than the politicians what's good for themselves, their families and their communities.

Bribe? What Bribe?

What else do you call it?

• One of Illinois’ most influential labor unions denied Monday that nearly $100,000 it contributed to a campaign fund controlled by House Speaker Michael Madigan was part of a “quid pro quo” designed to kill a pension-reform package in his legislative chamber last week.

  State campaign records show SEIU Healthcare Illinois and SEIU Illinois Council collectively poured donations totaling $97,000 into the Democratic Majority fund last Friday, the same day a special legislative session called by Gov. Pat Quinn to fix Illinois’ $83 billion pension crisis ended in failure.

  Madigan (D-Chicago) wouldn’t allow a floor vote on Senate-passed legislation that would have reeled in pension benefits for state workers and General Assembly members and only allowed a procedural vote on a slimmed-down measure affecting just lawmakers’ pensions. That latter plan wound up being positioned for a final House vote but was six votes shy of the necessary 60 votes it would need to move to the Senate.

Imagine that. Kicking the can down the road does nothing to solve the current crisis. It's going to be painful, unpopular and difficult. But something has to be done and delaying tactics via "bribes" helps no one, especially the unions.

All Hands On Deck

If you read the Bike Unit rumor just below this one, this seems to tie in:

• McCarthy is in a major meltdown.
  
  All three national news networks will do lead stories on Chicago's murder rate. CBS is calling Chicago one of the most violent places in the world.
  
  McCarthy realizes that this is now his last stand. It appears that ALL units will be sent to district patrol. The words out of his mouth are, "The only mission for all police is to get murders down."
  
  No narcotics, no gang intell, no mounted unit, no marine unit, no traffic enforcement, no unnecessary admin spots. EVERYONE is going to a south or west side district. ET's are also going back to the district with the mandate to process crime scenes as fast as possible. McCarthy thinks it's a waste to keep cars down for crime scene protection.
  
  Headquarters will no longer be open 24 hours. Only CPIC will be in the building after business hours.

No one is going to miss anyone at HQ.

With parade season winding down, we can see mothballing the Mounted Unit.

No Traffic Enforcement? They're gutted to the bone anyway - they might not be missed.

No Gang Intelligence or Narcotics? Not smart.

No Marine Unit? With everyone taking their boats in over the next 60 days? With all the rescues this summer? With the possibility of a school strike on the horizon and kids free to play at unattended beaches? This one would be measured in dead bodies.

We are entering the theater of the absurd.

Bike Unit Rumor

Rumor? Or truth? We suspect truth at this point:

• McCawthy plans to start scratching for more bodies to help cover the mayor's lies about more boots on the ground in areas of need.
  
  Who's next? Turns out the bike unit's days are numbered, at least half are slated for transfer orders to 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, and for those who cry loudest -009 (if you're clouted). They plan on sending them to be used on bikes at the respective district Commanders discretion but Superintendent made it clear those officers sent to districts won't last past October on bikes.
  
  Apparently, the big boss has lost respect for the sergeant who turned down a promotion unless he could keep control over his collection of uniform mannequins to display around downtown coffee shops.
  
  Sup says 12 years is long enough to avoid patrol.

See the post immediately above this one and tie the two together. Comments are open above, closed here.

This is Insane

Breitbart.com finds this little tidbit:

• Occupy Chicago’s nickname for Chicago’s infamous Mayor Rahm Emanuel, “Mayor 1%,” is looking more accurate than ever—but for reasons that do not fit the self-proclaimed “99 percent’s” typical narrative. More likely, Emanuel’s plan to spend millions on the 1% percent will receive applause from the Occupy crowd, good “environmentalists” that they are.
  
  This $91 million expenditure will go towards bringing roughly 650 miles of new protected bike lanes to the city of Chicago over the next eight years. This, Mayor Emanuel says, will add more “transportation choices” and help the city recruit start-up companies.

Leaving aside for the moment the loss of traffic lanes, the narrowing of other lanes, and the pushing cars closer together to head-on collisions, is the cost per mile here:

• $91 million dollars / 650 miles of bike lanes = $140,000 per mile.

What? For some painting stripes and sticking plastic pipes into the pavement? $140,000 per mile? Where is the local coverage? Why are we reading this on Breitbart?

Chicago isn't broke if Rahm's pissing away nearly $100 million dollars on the 1.3% of Chicagoans who actually use the bike lanes.

Weekend Count

Subject to change:

• Two men who were killed and a 14-year-old boy who was wounded were among 13 people hurt in overnight gun violence across the city.

  At least 30 people have been shot since 6:20 p.m. Friday, 7 of them fatally.

So for August, we're doing nearly two a day. We should be passing the August 2011 numbers later this week, so for all you cub reporters out there, start prepping your list of questions as soon as possible. You might not get a change at McWiggingOut, but Rahm has to surface at some point.

Congratulations Chicago!

Not a Trend

A nice cool August night and then suddenly....:

• Nineteen people were shot, two fatally, across the city Friday night and Saturday morning.

  The weekend's violence started with an attack in the 500 block of South Kilpatrick Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood about 6:20 p.m. Two people were shot in the block. One person was taken to John H. Stroger Jr., Hospital of Cook County and the other, 22, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where the person was pronounced dead.[...]

  The other homicide happened about 12:15 a.m. in the 11500 block of South Wentworth Avenue in the West Pullman neighborhood. Two men were shot and one didn't survive. Police said an 18-year-old was found dead with a gun in his hand and a second man, 25, was dropped off at Roseland Hospital with gunshot wounds to the leg.[...]

Not even two-thirds of the way through August and the gang recruiting season (schools opening) isn't even here yet. The claims of the latest strategy working it's "incremental" magic are in real danger of failing. Badly failing. When you take credit for a drop of 6 killings, you better accept the blame for a rise. What did we say earlier this year?

• One month does not make a trend

July 2012 was the first month since something like September of last year where there was a drop in homicides. Now August is ramping up. That tells us that July was the aberration, not the previous nine months.

More Dead Turning Up

Bad weekend numbers keep heading upwards:

• Three men were found dead late this morning after separate shootings and one possible stabbing on the South and West Sides.

And another one:

• A southwest suburban girl who was shot in the head early Saturday while inside a vehicle on the South Side has died, authorities said.

These are in addition to the two others listed in the story above this one. That's at least 6 dead since Friday and it's still early on a Saturday night/Sunday morning.

And add this one from last week's "death investigation" numbers:

• An autopsy Saturday determined the death of a 3-week-old baby girl found unresponsive in an Englewood home last week was a homicide.

Bad week for CompStat.

Gould Saves Bears

The kicker is in mid-season form:

• Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall looked sharp from the start, and the Chicago Bears beat Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins 33-31 in a preseason game on Saturday night.
  
  
• Washington took the lead in the fourth quarter, but kicker Robbie Gould aced a 57-yard field goal with 31 seconds left to secure the win for Chicago.

Still preseason, but looking a bit better than last week.

Knife Wielding Assailant Shot

He might still make it:

• A Chicago police sergeant shot a man wielding a knife at the intersection of LaSalle and Monroe streets about 1:50 a.m. Saturday, police said.

  The man was driving a black Maxima that rear-ended a silver car as they headed southbound down LaSalle, Chicago Police News Affairs [...] said.

  The man got out of the car and tried to attack the driver of the other car. A private security officer stopped to check on the car accident, [...], and the man stabbed her. She was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

  The sergeant who responded to the scene told the man to drop the knife and he didn't, [...]. He was taken to an area hospital but his condition wasn't available.

And once again, reporter Peter Nickeas doesn't use the word "victim" to describe the assailant/asshole. Even the headline is neutral - just the facts. Maybe there's hope for some in the media yet. Maybe he'll make editor one day, but why should we wish ill on his life like that?

Demotion? Or Lateral?

019, subject of the recent CompStat beatings lost their commander yesterday while he was on furlough.

Word is that he landed somewhere soft as XO, and the acting Commander is a previously Weis-demoted captain/Inspector/XO.

And last week's promotion to Commander of 018 fell through?

Anyone want to explain to the class? Because we're getting confused again.

UPDATE: And what's this rumor about an exempt about to get indicted? For what?

Today's Victim; Yesterday's Offender

Funny how this happens:

• A man shot in front of his Englewood home this week was arrested after police learned he was wanted for a New Year’s Eve homicide in the neighborhood, police said.
  
  Tony Head, 26, was shot about 1:55 a.m. Wednesday in the 5800 block of South Peoria Street. He was later charged with first-degree murder.
  
  Police say Head shot 18-year-old Earl Warner in the 6000 block of South Green Street on Dec. 31. Warner was found sitting in a car with gunshot wounds to his neck.

Victim, Offender, probably the witness to a dozen more acts of violence, too.

Another Opening

Another corrupt assholes gone shortly:

• A veteran Chicago police officer pleaded guilty in federal court today to stealing thousands of dollars from an undercover FBI informant who he thought was working for drug dealers.
  
  As part of his plea deal, Kallatt Mohammed, who was a tactical officer in the Wentworth police district, also admitted that in 2007 and 2008 he and Sgt. Ronald Watts extorted protection payoffs from heroin and crack dealers in the Ida B. Wells public housing complex.
  
  Watts, who was also charged in February with Mohammed, has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.

Once again, good riddance.

Shots Fired at Police Again

And once again, Englewood:

• Two people were taken into police custody after shots were fired at officers this evening on the South Side in the city’s Englewood neighborhood.
  
  About 6 p.m., shots were fired at police near the 5900 block of South Laflin Street, authorities said.
  
  There were no injuries reported but two people were taken into police custody. Two weapons also were recovered from the scene, authorities said.

  Police did not return fire, authorities said.

Be careful boys and girls.

Oops

Nothing like leaving a calling card:

• A suspect in custody for the shooting death of a woman at a Gold Coast hotel had left his cell phone in the room, police say.
  
  Authorities arrested the 28-year-old man late Tuesday night at his home in the Humboldt Park neighborhood for the slaying of Brianna Gardner, 22, of Dallas, Texas, according to Chicago police.
  

  [...] The suspect, who has previous convictions for residential burglary and aggravated battery, was out on parole for a 2007 drug conviction, according to state records.

We suppose this one will go down in the "solved" column, a rare enough event that it deserves praise. Someone asked about the clearance numbers the other day and a helpful detective forwarded us some actual numbers that are pretty depressing:

• Of the 336 murders to date (16 August), only 80 have been classified as "cleared." That means 256 have not been solved, and that is a dismal 24.81% success rate - less than one-in-four.

That "no-snitching" policy seems to be working out really well for the denizens of the south and west sides.

On a brighter note, Chicago is nearing 30 homicides for the month of August. Last year's total was some incredibly low number, 35 or 36, meaning we'll probably blow by those totals in a week. Any word on how McCompStat is going to spin it? He was so eager to take credit for his strategies working miracles last month by reducing the homicide totals by 6 from July 2011. This month isn't looking good at all.

"Demotion" Lawsuit

Seriously?

• Eleven police officers who claim they were removed from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s security detail so officers who worked on Emanuel’s mayoral campaign could replace them have filed a federal lawsuit.

  In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the officers allege the city violated the 1983 Shakman Decree, which bars city officials from making political considerations in the hiring process.

  A spokesman for the city’s Law Department said the allegations are “baseless.”

  “Any claim that the selection of the mayor’s detail was based on political or other improper considerations is completely baseless and false,” department spokesman Roderick Drew said in a statement. “All decisions regarding the detail were made by then-interim Superintendent Terry Hillard, and neither the mayor nor his staff played any role in that process.”

We don't recall any tests or applications being handed out for these spots. Then again, we aren't part of the political circle jerk, so maybe we missed it. But we really don't see how a "promotion" granted on the basis of "political considerations" in the first place is a protected spot.

FOP Letter

We have now received "the letter" from about 40 or 50 different people. We have been aware of its existence for about a week now.

It was sent to us and Shaved before it was ever presented to the FOP Board, and we deleted more than a few references to it for a number of reasons.

First up, we couldn't verify it was an actual letter.

Second, we had no intention of being used by one of the parties involved to bolster their side of the argument that will, almost without a doubt, end up in the courts.

Third, we are in the midst of what will probably be the most brutal contract negotiations in FOP history and we judged that at the moment, the letter didn't serve any purpose except to distract from the ongoing events - a sideshow so to speak.

We expect "the letter" will continue making the rounds throughout districts and units in short order. It's particularly merciless in its criticisms of some guy who heads the organization. We've heard much of it before (immature, self-centered, disrespectful, disorganized, etc.). We've seen next to nothing that dissuades us that any of it is untrue as evidenced by other lawsuits, columns written, complaints at the meetings and confidences shared.

As you read "the letter" (and we're pretty sure you all will within two weeks), you can make your judgements. "Where there's smoke, there's fire." And from where we're sitting and what we've seen, there's a giant fucking blaze burning over on West Washington.

Ignorant Boss

Too often, that seems to be a requirement. And it certainly isn't an asset. Look at this recent missive from Joseph Patterson, the Acting Chief of Patrol (B.O.P. #12-0179 issued 09 August):

• Our personnel are our greatest resource and as managers we must make tough decisions to balance rewarding our personnel with time off against the needs of the organization.

"...rewarding our personnel with time off..."?

Um, Acting Chief Asshat? That's time off we earned. We earned it staying late, attending court, working shit details and holidays, all the while missing time with what is supposed to be our most valued possession - family.

And now you're going to "reward" us WITH OUR OWN FUCKING TIME DUE? Are you fucking insane? Or have you been deep-throating the McCarthy kool-aid right from the source? How's that taste Joe?

Fuck you. And fuck all these sanctimonious bosses who think they're doing us a favor by letting us use what we earned. From the top on down, screw you, screw your numbers, your CompStat, your endless "more with less" mantra and denying us what is rightfully ours.

Anyone bringing in numbers for these assholes is a fool. And anyone not checking the money box (since you won't be allowed to use the time you earn) is being shortsighted in the extreme. And shame on the FOP for not making a huge stink about this. Grieve, sue or have the city buy us out. This is ridiculous.