St. Baldricks Fast Approaching

Warm weather is right around the corner, so why not get that summer cut a little early?

• March 22nd, just four weeks from Friday and coming up fast but there's still time to sign up for St. Baldrick's 2013. So far 95 brave men and women have signed up to have their hair drastically cut or entirely shaved off in support of kids facing cancer and there's still time for you to join us.
  
  We will be at the Academy, 022, and 025 on Friday, March 22nd from 0700 - 1500 hours. Fundraising is easy once people know why you are accepting this memorable undertaking and there is no minimum amount required, except for an expectation that you raise at least $50 to get a t-shirt.
  
  Just go to St. Baldrick's website, www.stbaldricks.org and under search type in Chicago Police and pick your location. If you have any questions please contact Bill O’Reilly for the Academy event, (chromedome1269@sbcglobal.net), Bill Murphy for the 022 event, (50murf@comcast.net) or Anne Zamzow for the 025 event, (anne.zamzow@chicagopolice.org).
  
  Thanks in advance for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you at one of the events this year.

Best of luck to all participants.

FTO Exam Saturday

Did we cover this? Did we miss it completely? You'd think with 600 recruits on the way out to fight crime, we'd have covered this more:

• Dear Candidate:
  
  Congratulations on your eligibility to participate in the Police Officer Assigned as Field Training Officer selection process.
  
  The written practical examination will be held on Saturday, 2 March 2013, at the Education and Training Division, 1300 West Jackson . The test will begin promptly at 0900 hours.
  
  Each eligible applicant is asked to report to the Education and Training Division between 0800-0900 hours. Please allow sufficient time to locate legal parking. Applicants must bring their Chicago Police Department identification card and two sharpened number two pencils to obtain entry. LATE ARRIVALS WILL NOT BE ALLOLWED ENTRY.
  
  Members will not be compensated for participating in the testing during off-duty hours. The Unit Watch Commander/Commanding Officer will excuse a member who has been scheduled for testing during duty hours, provided they are notified by the effected member at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled testing.

It seems spell-check is optional over at the Bureau of Organizational Development.  And the reference to the non-existent "watch commander" position is amusing as a Bureau with the word "Organizational" ought to at least have the Department command structure at its fingertips

No idea how many people signed up to take this, but nothing would surprise us at this point.

 Good luck to all the candidates.

Two Sets of Rules Again

Or maybe three - we lose count sometimes:

• Is it true that a CR# was brought against Laddner because Carrothers was allowed to retire in good standing even though there is a sustained separation CR for lying to the Feds? Or how about that the Department sat on that very same sustained CR for over 2 years until he was ready to retire? Im sure they would do the same for all of us, right?

Isn't lying to the Feds a felony?   Doesn't a felony conviction have a detrimental effect on one's pension?

Sequester Cuts

No word if crime will be part of the massive sequestration cuts coming out of Washington DC. You can't even look sideways at a television lately without the giant panic about $85 billion in cuts being the downfall of America. And even though it's an Obama proposal, passed by the dems in the House when they controlled it a few years ago, somehow, it's all the republican's fault if it all goes through tomorrow.

Here's some visual representations though:

Doesn't seem that disastrous, does it?

But now you've got Rahm claiming O'Hare airport and food safety will be compromised if the sequestration goes into effect:

• The mayor said security screeners will be cut back at O’Hare and other transportation would be effected. People going shopping will feel the effects.
  “What is reliability when a mother or a father or somebody else shows up at a grocery store? We all assume food safety. Well, there is an inspector ensuring that food safety. So from O’Hare to our manufacturing in our food area, you are going to find out how important the security and safety comes from the federal government,” said Emanuel.

ICE is releasing hundreds, if not thousands, of illegals aliens detained for crimes:

• The federal government released groups of illegal immigrants from custody across the country Monday at the same time the White House was making its case that impending budget cuts would harm efforts to protect the border and enforce federal immigration laws.
  
  Advocates reported “waves” of illegal immigrants being released from at least three detention centers in Texas, Florida and Louisiana.

These are people being detained for crimes, suddenly being released back into the general population. You think crime isn't going to spike a bit? The White House denies any hand in the decision and blames Homeland Security.

Bob Woodward of Watergate fame and no friend of the republicans, is saying weird stuff:

• The Washington Post's Bob Woodward ripped into President Barack Obama on "Morning Joe" today, saying he's exhibiting a "kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time" for a decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf because of budget concerns.
  
  "Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying, 'Oh, by the way, I can't do this because of some budget document?'" Woodward said.
  
  
• Woodward's harsh criticism came after he stirred controversy last weekend by calling out Obama for what he said was "moving the goal posts" on the sequester by requesting that revenue be part of a deal to avert it.

If you aren't wondering about all this nonsense coming to a head at the same time, you're aren't paying attention.

Irony Defined

This from the Vice Chair of the democratic party:

Remember, they had to pass this bill so you could see what was in it. That's how great it was.

Surprise!

Move the CTA Crime Around

This is promising to be an amusing experiment in crime stats:

• The five-month reconstruction of the CTA Red Line promises to redirect a tidal wave of riders from the city’s No. 1 line for station crime to its No. 2 one.
  
  In fact, three of the four South Side Red Line stops that will feed passengers by free shuttle into the Green Line during the massive track rebuilding project were among the top 10 in station crime last year.
  
  
• Come mid-May, passengers at the four southernmost Red Line stops will be offered free shuttle buses to the Green Line’s Garfield station. Riders at other affected stops can take existing bus routes with discounted fares and more frequent runs.
  
  [...] Some wonder whether the Green Line is due for an onslaught of redirected Red Line crime — especially at the Garfield/55th Street station. Will free shuttles and free train rides attract those with crime on their minds?

The short answer is "yes."

By a strange coincidence, the long answer is "yes," too.

Like we said, it's a slow news day.

More NY Nanny Statism

Bloomberg strikes again:

• That ban on big sodas being pushed by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is about to spoil family pizza night.
  
  The ban on sodas over 16 ounces takes effect on March 12, and the New York Post reports it has some previously uncontemplated effects. For instance, ordering a 2-liter bottle of Coke, Pepsi, Sprite or whatever the family desires with a pizza delivery won’t be allowed. Even pitchers of soda at children’s birthday parties are going to be a no-no under Bloomberg’s far-reaching ban, according to the paper.
  
  Bloomberg, who instituted a widely emulated smoking ban early in his tenure at City Hall, has followed that up by taking aim at trans fats, salt and baby formula. But the soda ban, announced last year, moves him farther into nanny state territory than any previous measure, say critics. The rules are tricky, and violations can bring $200 fines. Diet sodas and alcoholic beverages are not covered by the ban, fruit smoothies are okay as long as they don’t have added sugar and coffee drinks and milkshakes pass muster if they contain at least 50 percent milk. Drinks with added sugar must not contain more than 3.125 calories per ounce.

And the effect on the environment?

• Customers will have to order smaller bottles, which cost more and increase plastic waste.

Control freak gone wild.

Denver Boot Extortion

Ira Silverstein strikes again:

• A bill introduced by an Illinois state senator could dramatically increase the amount of cars booted throughout the state.
  
  Chicago Democrat Sen. Ira Silverstein is behind the Vehicle Immobolization bill (SB36) allows cities to place a Denver boot on a vehicle if the owner lost a civil court judgment against a city entity and hasn't paid up. The bill gives the judgment debtor an opportunity to appear and contest the immobilization before the boot is applied.
  
  If the car is booted, the owner has 24 hours to pay the judgment, or the car would be towed and impounded, and sold after 21 days to cover the costs.
  

In some cases, we're sure seizing the assets of a deadbeat make sense. But denying them the use of a vehicle they might use to actually earn the money to pay their bill seems counterproductive. Maybe we ought to bring back debtors prisons and the like instead.

And what about when the city doesn't pay its bills? Turnabout would seem to be fair play - and the city is notorious for not paying their bills in anything that closely resembles a timely manner.

Shot for Refusing a Ride

A perfectly good explanation for killing someone:

• After several hours at a strip club with a fellow member of the Speed Rascals motorcycle club, Ricardo Rivera refused to get back into a car with his friend and it ended up costing him his life, according to prosecutors.
  
  The friend, Gabriel Guardiola, 36, of the 1500 block of North Monticello Avenue, has been charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Rivera, 31, in the 100 block of South Cicero Avenue Sunday morning, according to Police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez.
  
  During Guardiola's bond hearing, where he was ordered held without bail, prosecutors said Guardiola had picked up Rivera at his Cicero home at 2 a.m. Sunday to go to a strip club, where the two had stayed until 4:20 a.m.

We're keeping a list - we should ban strip clubs and cars now. And Rothchild's liquor stores.

Yeah, it's a slow news day.

SNOW!!!!!

Once again, the media is shocked to discover it snows in the Upper Midwest in February:

• A winter storm warning for up 6 to 10 inches of snow has been issued for Lake and McHenry Counties, and a winter weather advisory for other Chicago-area counties has been extended into Wednesday as a strong storm made travel hazardous and grounded hundreds of flights.
  
  The National Weather Service has extended its winter weather advisory in Cook, DuPage, Kane and DeKalb counties until 6 a.m. Wednesday, and has upgraded Lake and McHenry counties to a winter weather warning, also until 6 a.m. Wednesday.
  

Next up, summer is hot, water is wet, and the sun rises in the east.

By the way, if the city can tow your car off a snow route, it's gone already.

The Kiss of Death

Didn't Brizzard get this encouragement something like 3 days before he left the City's employ?

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel gave Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy his “100 percent support” Monday despite complaints from some aldermen fed up with the department’s inability to bring down violence in their neighborhoods.
  
  The mayor backed up his hand-picked superintendent during his first news conference since African-American aldermen said last week that their constituents are making louder demands that something be done to quash the epidemic of homicides that has drawn nationwide attention to Chicago.
  
  “Both Garry McCarthy, (First Deputy Police Supt.) Al Wysinger and the entire leadership in the police department have my 100 percent support, but they also have my sense of impatience to get the results throughout the city to bring the type of safety we want in every neighborhood,” Emanuel said.

The entire leadership? Would that include the recently retired Carothers? Or would the mayor prefer to amend that statement?

NEWSFLASH! Cameras Don't Stop Crime!

Politicians stunned! Media flabbergasted! Liberals blame Bush!

• Even with $26 million in high-resolution cameras finally in full force last year, reported crime at CTA rail stations rose 21 percent, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis shows.
  
  And compared with 2010 — well before most of the CTA’s current 3,600 rail station cameras were installed — station crime was up 32 percent.
  
  An invasion of glass and plastic balls with hanging lenses at CTA train stations has not stopped crime from rising, a Sun-Times examination of online Chicago Police Department data indicates.

The article makes the further claim that two of every three crimes results in a "swift arrests." Based on the fact that crime keeps rising though, we'd say they ought to count the convictions. Or is this another one of those things where we aren't supposed to look too closely at the end results?

Police Limit

Another home run served up by Garey Mckee:

Someone noted in the comment section that McInventedPolicing had some sort of meeting that was supposed to get input from field supervisors, but somehow it ended up being the Supe reciting all sorts of NYPD exploits that may or may not have happened on this plane of reality.  Anyone want to tell the readers about the highlights?

The NRA Reads SCC

NRA Lobbyist Todd Vandermyde has actually read us for years and we corresponded often during the run-up to the McDonald decision.

Today was a large posting day and if you're only skimming the top posts, you might miss the YouTube video of the Illinois House Judiciary Committee hearing on Gun Legislation.  As we stated before, it's over 3.5 hours long, but the best portion of the video is Mr. Vandermyde's broadsides at McPanderer, comparing him to Bull Connor and a brilliant "streetlights" reference.

See the full post here.

He also has an update on the railroaded suburban gun owner:

• Thank you for the words of support, I humbly appreciate all that you guys do and the support you give me.
  
  I know the guy that got popped in 16. Joe has retained the SAF lawyer who was lead on Moore. I don't know if Gura is coming in on the case yet or not.
  
  The big fight on right to carry is looking to take place Tuesday. We'll see how it goes.
  
  I have to testify again on Thursday at the committee about their ideas of a semi-auto ban/mag ban. So if Mr. Drury wants to go for round 2, I'm game. We'll find out if he knows which end of the gun the bullet comes out of, but I doubt it.
  
  I already asked to bring a bunch of guns in and the committee staff are shitting them selves.
  
  And btw, SCC is daily reading for me on my ipad when at the capitol. reminds me there is a real world out there when the city lobsters come around.
  
  BTW did you guys see the bill Phelps dropped on CPD/FD pensions and a chicago casino? 20% of the city's take has to go to the pension funds. Amazing what some conversation over a few beers can do. . . .

One word for the Corp Counsel - Settle.  You're going to lose badly with this one.  Return the guns, pay the fees, negotiate some damages and agree to retrain the involved parties. Otherwise, someone is going to be posing with another one of those giant novelty checks with Rahm's signature on it.

A Hole in the Logic

McJerseyShore made a comment, has made this comment many times in fact, in the press, before the City Council, anywhere he is allowed to speak:

• "more cops on the street will not reduce crime...."

Really? Because we just got back from VRI (Violence Reduction Initiative) and the word there is that we are hiring back 200 cops....per day....and paying out nearly $800,000 per week in overtime to man the violence zones and hot spots.

And now that Detectives are allowed to work the "supplemental" days (at the higher pay rate) that have brought the VRI to a full seven-days-a-week extravaganza, the total bill to taxpayers is hovering around a full million dollars per week.

This would appear to give lie to the budgetary woes Rahm is always crying about and the stories of untapped billions in TIF money are looking less and less like rumors.

Something the contract negotiators for all the city unions ought to be taking note of.

UPDATE: 200 cops a day.....hmmmmmm. That would be about the size of TRU. Or MSF. Or even SOS.

UPDATE: Commentators say the number has doubled to 400, which would make the weekly cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.6-to $1.8 million per week. Keep it coming Rahm.

Murders Down, CTA Violence Up

Of course, weather has nothing to do with it, but last February, we had a couple of 60 degree days that "facilitated" the efforts of shooters.  This year, a couple of decent snowstorms, lows near zero and highs below freezing....it cuts down on the mayhem.

Not on the buses and trains though, and the manpower shortage is being felt there:

• With almost 20,000 CTA bus trips a day, tempers sometimes flare on a few of them. Regular users of the CTA know what an obstacle course it can be.
  
  On the CTA's 1,200 rail cars, riders are often met with a variety of frightening encounters- from armed robbers and cell phone thieves to fist fights and shoving
  
  Sometimes, shots are fired and people end up wounded or dead.
  
  
• -There were more than 6,800 assaults, robberies, thefts and similar offenses.
  
  -According to the statistics, you are twice as likely to become a victim on a CTA train or platform than on a bus or at bus stop.
  
  -On average, 19 CTA passengers are victimized every day.

It's so bad, the CTA has budgeted $30 million to hire 50 off-duty cops every day.  But as far as we can tell, none of McOnTheRocks's boxes encompass any CTA platforms, so it doesn't exist.

Neighborhood Demands Explanation

The folks over at SothwestChicagoPost.com want to know what the hell happened at Ford City Mall Saturday:

• Ford City Mall, you owe us all an explanation.
  
  The people of the Southwest Side (as well as nearby suburbs) want to know what exactly happened at your shopping center on Saturday, February 23, and why.
  
  Police and others in authority are describing scenes of fights, looting and more---both in the mall and spilling onto adjacent areas.
  
  
• ~~ How many mall security officers were on duty when the situation got out of hand?
  
  ~~ Did you have extra mall security on hand that day? If so, how many?
  
  ~~ Did you alert Chicago Police in advance? How about the Burbank, Bedford Park, Hometown and Oak Lawn PDs? If yes, how far in advance? If no, why not?
  
  ~~ In light of what occurred, do you plan to apologize to Ford City customers, Ford City business tenants, the people who were injured (including a CTA bus driver who was taken to a hospital) and the tens of thousands of men, women and children living in the immediate area? If so, when do you plan to make that apology? If not, why not?

They also have a few YouTube videos posted, most uploaded by the miscreants who caused and participated in the mayhem. Big surprise, it appears that gangs were involved and Facebook/Twitter was used to coordinate the nonsense.

We don't think they're going to get any good answers though.

In related news, the Ford City Mall has cancelled scheduled appearances by the Vienna Boy's Choir and the touring company of Swedish Handbell Ringers.

Manpower Shortage Alleviated Again!

(We're going to be a bit sarcastic here first, then serious)

Here comes a wave of new hires! They even put a number on it - 600:

• With crime continuing to plague Chicago, city leaders are promising to put more police on the streets — at least 600 new officer by early this fall.
  
  As CBS 2 [...] reports, 53 graduated Friday.
  
  The graduation marked the realization of a dream for 53 Chicago police officers.

Six-hundred by early fall? By the most liberal interpretation, that means 01 September. Six months training means the 600 must be hired by 01 March - three days from now. We're going to go out on a limb here - based on past history and the amount of parking we saw by the Academy last week, this is more Rahm bullshit, abetted by CBS 2. And the fifty-three recruits doesn't make a dent in the past two years of manpower bleeding.

All that being said,Channel 2 interviews one of the new kids. We aren't going to embarrass him by posting his name and quotes, but it is refreshing to see his "new kid attitude." We remember being somewhat idealistic at the start of our career. We come from police families, so we knew some of the politics, the bitterness, the physical and mental toll of the job, but most of us still remember the excitement of the first months, even years, thinking we were the hottest thing on wheels, chasing the dope, flying to gun calls, pursuing cars and foot chases.

Five years of no hiring almost made us forget that there are people out there who want the job and dream of it as we did. They'll lose a lot of that in the years to come, but it's a nice reminder as we approach the sunset of our careers.

"Not a Defensive Weapon"

A few days ago we asked which police executive sounded more stupid - Emeryville, California Chief Ken James or our very own Stuporintendent Mc501.

Chief James declared that guns are not defensive weapons, but rather tools to intimidate and, we assume, oppress the citizens. Here's some oppression going on in Houston:

• A 21-year-old man came to his parents rescue after three gunmen forced their way into their Houston home.
  
  The family was baking a cake when someone knocked on their front door. The homeowner thought the man was a friend of his son’s so he opened the door. It turns out he was wrong. The suspect, along with two other men, pushed open the door and forced the homeowner to the floor.
  
  With the homeowner out of the way the suspects went after his wife. The son ran and grabbed his father’s gun out of the bedroom. He opened fire, killing one suspect and the other two fled the scene.

Of course, that's in Texas, not California, so it's really not a good example.

Rather, the Houston family should have followed the recent guidelines issued by the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs and endorsed by Colorado state representative Joe Salazar to rely on "safety zones," call boxes, whistles, self-induced vomiting, urinating on yourself or the Bobby Knight special (#5 on the University top-ten self-defense list.)

Heaven forbid anyone has a gun to defend themselves.

Another Aspiring Rapper Gone

It seems to be a nationwide phenomenon:

• Police have identified a suspect in the fatal shooting of an aspiring rapper as he drove on the Las Vegas Strip in a Maserati before dawn on Thursday, sparking a fiery crash that also killed a cab driver and his passenger.
  
  Ammar Asim Faruq Harris, described as armed and dangerous, was still at large on Saturday, but the black Range Rover from which he is suspected of opening fire had been impounded, Las Vegas police said.
  
  Authorities said a gunman in a Range Rover opened fire early on Thursday on the silver Maserati being driven by 27-year-old Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr., who performed under the name "Kenny Clutch."

If only someone, somewhere could determine what it is about the rap culture that leads to so much lead poisoning.  Won't someone think of the children??!!

Isn't This Ironic?

Supposed examples for the community to follow - well we guess they are, after a fashion:

• A West Side pastor’s son has refused to cooperate with the police — even though investigators believe he was the intended target of a shooter whose errant bullet killed an innocent Clemente High School student, sources said.
  
  Police were holding a suspect for questioning on Friday in the slaying of Frances Colon, an 18-year-old senior who planned to attend college.
  
  Colon was shot to death on Feb. 15 in the 1100 block of North Pulaski. She was never arrested or in trouble with the police, authorities said.
  
  Sources said they believe the 34-year-old suspect is a member of the Black P Stones street gang. They think he and the pastor’s 28-year-old son were arguing over a drug deal before the shooting.
  
  The suspect and the target both have extensive criminal backgrounds, sources said.
  
  The pastor, who requested anonymity, said he urged his son to cooperate with the police.
  
  The pastor and two other pastors accompanied his son to speak to the police. But then the son changed his mind and refused to talk, the pastor said.
  

Preacher's son with an extensive criminal background check - par for the course.

No snitching - priceless.

And we deal with this every single day.

Wilding at Ford City

Shocking behavior:

• Two people suffered minor injuries and police arrested at least 16 people during a disturbance involving crowds of young people tonight at Ford City Mall on the Southwest Side, authorities said.
  
  About 4:45 p.m., a large group of disruptive teens ran yelling through the mall, which is located at 7601 S. Cicero Ave., according to a mall official.
  
  Officials closed the mall minutes later, but the chaotic scene continued outside, where police found between 100 and 200 people damaging vehicles in the shopping center's parking lot, according to a police report.

People are "shocked:"

• In the meantime, mall officials are at a loss as they try to understand what happened.
  
  "Ford City is a family-oriented mall," he said. "We have not had an incident like this [in the past], and I’m still in a little bit of a state of shock actually.
  
  "What would make these youths comes here to try and cause this kind of commotion and trouble?" he continued. "I don’t know. But they did have a plan in mind."

Must be practicing for the downtown events for when the weather breaks.

Completely coincidentally, the boy band "Mindless Behavior" had just left the building.

Laying the Groundwork for Firing

First, prepare the battlefield by leaking to friendly media sources  (in this case, Sneed):

• The McCarthy File…
  
  It’s no secret Police Supt. Garry McCarthy is sitting on a hot seat.
  
  ♦ The big question: Is the Bronx bulldog, a respected top cop gleaned from (gasp!) New York, going to survive the nightmare of Chicago’s killing fields.
  
  ♦ Meeting No. 1: On Monday, Sneed is told, five members of the City Council’s Black Caucus met privately to discuss how to stop the killing spree.
  
  ♦ The focus: Crime prevention, but criticism of McCarthy was expressed.
  
  ♦ The upshot: “Let’s just say the meeting was held on a holiday and there was a lot of dead air and, well, McCarthy is not popular with some aldermen, who feel he is arrogant,” said a source who attended the meeting. “It wasn’t a dump McCarthy meeting, but McCarthy got dumped on,” the source added.
  
  ♦ The flipshot: A top source tells Sneed Ald. Willie Cochran, a former cop who has been critical of McCarthy and was present at the Monday meeting, seemed to be posturing for McCarthy’s job.
  

There's more at the link, but do we really need a member of the City Council, the only legislative body in existence with an obscenely high percentage of members who have gone to prison (over 50%) running the Chicago Police Department?

NRA Lobbyist Zings McCompStat

If you would like to see a man who enjoys his work and is comfortably knowledgeable about nearly every gun issue in Illinois, here's a YouTube video of Friday's Illinois House Judiciary Committee hearing on Gun Legislation. It's 3-and-a-half hours long, but Todd Vandermyde takes the microphone just before the 3-hour mark:

At the 3:30 mark, he verifies the recent story about a suburban gun owner, transporting firearms unloaded and inaccessible in his trunk after dropping off a friend in the city, being arrested and charged with unregisterable firearms - an offense that he can't commit as he doesn't live in the city. But someone wrote it up and some DSS approved it, thereby opening the wallets of Chicago taxpayers once again to damages.

At 3:33:30, he gets in a brilliant jab, saying that it isn't going to be people with Carry Permits that are shooting out streetlights.

***ZING!!!***

No one in the room aside from Mr. Vandermyde and a few of his supporters sitting to his right seemed to get it.  But we did.

UPDATE: As Mr. Vandermyde reminded us in the comment section, he also got in a broadside at McCampStat's denial of a Constitutional Right by comparing it to Bull Connor's efforts to deprive citizens of their Civil Rights in the not so distant past. Framing the debate as a Civil Rights issue completely bewilders the left and exposes their socialist agenda to any clear seeing person. Another great job by Mr. Vandermyde.

Homicides Delayed

From the Onion:

• The city of Chicago is steadily recovering from an overnight snowstorm that delayed hundreds of murders on Friday morning and will likely continue to push numerous homicides across the city drastically behind schedule, public authorities announced.
  
  “As we speak, maintenance crews are working diligently to restore public transportation, de-ice roads, and clear back alleyways so that Chicagoans can quickly resume murdering again,” Department of Streets and Sanitation spokesman Dave Michelson said of the heavy blizzard, which caused numerous homicide cancellations this morning at peak murder times. “Unfortunately, we’re backed up by about 35 deadly shootings at the moment, but we hope to restore regular death tolls as soon as possible. We apologize to anyone forced to postpone shootings or other killings today and assure concerned murderers that they will be able to resume slayings by the early afternoon.”
  
  At press time, authorities reported that murders were up and running in many parts of the city, with four teenagers already gunned down on Chicago’s South Side.

There's some catching up to do as we're currently about 10 murders behind last February.

Parolee Turns Life Around!

Just kidding!  He's out committing crime, as per usual:

• A man on parole for trying to shoot a police officer has been arrested for stealing a car from one woman and trying to rob another on the West Side, authorities said.
  
  Artavis Johnson, 31, of the 100 block of North Laramie Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood, is charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm and armed robbery with a firearm. He was ordered held without bail in a hearing midday today in Cook County bond court, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Gee, an attempted killing of a police officer.  Let's see what his sentence was:

• Johnson was convicted of a handful of felonies after he went on a crime spree in 2003 that ended with him trying to shoot a police officer, according to a Tribune article from the time and Illinois Department of Corrections records.
  
  Johnson, then 21, tried to carjack someone in the 1500 block of North Kolin Avenue and then tried to rob someone in the 1500 block of West Thomas Street. While running from officers who stopped the car, he pointed a gun at police and squeezed the trigger. The gun didn’t fire.
  
  Johnson was sentenced to 16 years in prison for armed robbery, 12 years for aggravated vehicular hijacking with a weapon, five years for being a felon in possession of a firearm and three years for aggravated assault of a police officer with a firearm.
  
  He was released from Illinois Department of Corrections custody in July 2012 and was scheduled to have his parole discharged in July 2014.

Let's see....16+12+5+3 = 36 years.  And the 3 years was for attempting to murder a police officer.  Since he was out, we assume the sentences were served concurrently instead of consecutively, which is asinine in any event.

2003+16 years = 2019. That is if there were truth in sentencing. But this is Illinois, so he's out, jacking cars, with a gun again. Anyone else think there might be a problem with the Parole Board that thinks this jagoff is a good risk?

Oh, and the topper?

• Johnson had also been sentenced to 42 months in prison in 2002 for possession of narcotics and two years in prison in 2000 on the same charge.

So if he had served the 3.5 years he got in 2002, he never would have been on the street in 2003 to get the next 36 years that he only served 9 of.

Illinois is broken.

#4 Most Miserable

We beat out Gary?

• Two cities on our list, Chicago (No. 4) and New York (No. 10) may surprise readers, though they’ve been here before. Both offer a myriad of opportunities and positives as the homes of financial centers, world-class culture, leading universities, sports teams galore and high-end restaurants. But it isn’t easy living in either city, particularly if you don’t earn a lot of money (even if you do it can be tough).
  
  Chicago residents must endure long commutes (31 minutes on average), plummeting home prices (37% the past five years), brutal winters and high foreclosure rates (3.3% of homes in 2012 says RealtyTrac). Many residents are giving up on the Windy City with a net migration out of the city of 107,000 people the past five years, according to Moody’s Analytics.

Detroit, Flint, Rockford, Chicago.  Gary was #19.

Fundraiser

Brotherhood of the Fallen:

Click to view the full size version.

Rahm's Ratings Tank (UPDATE)

People starting to realize they've been sold a bill of goods?

• Burdened by a wave of murders, dissension over proposed school closings and perhaps his own hard-ball image, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's job-approval rating has taken a big hit in recent months, according to a new Crain's/Ipsos Illinois Poll.
  
  Negative attitudes toward the mayor are significantly higher in suburban and downstate areas than in Chicago proper. That may not be surprising, given Mr. Emanuel's fierce focus on his extensive agenda for Chicago. But there is slippage among city voters, too.
  
  Overall, according to the survey of 600 voting-age Illinois residents, 50 percent say they at least lean toward disapproval of his performance as mayor, versus only 19 percent who somewhat or strongly approve, or lean toward approval. That's a margin of 31 percentage points.

Good thing he's only using this as a stepping stone to somewhere else.

UPDATE: We're pretty sure the reason Crain's is using a survey of "Illinois residents" is that they, like us and many of our readers, believe Rahm is using Chicago as a stepping stone to a bigger office (governor, Kirk's Senate seat, or the White House.) His declining appeal statewide spells trouble for Rahm....and Chicago if he stays here.

Extra Pay for Carrying Guns?

Do we have a "me too" clause with the bus drivers?

• If passengers are allowed to carry guns on CTA rail lines, train operators should pack weapons — and be paid extra for doing so, the head of the union that represents CTA rail workers said Thursday.
  
  Robert Kelly, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308, said he is “totally opposed’’ to any legislation that would allow Illinois residents to carry concealed weapons.
  
  His members don’t want to carry guns, Kelly said, but if the law passes, “[Do] you want a train full of people to carry guns and tell the operator, ‘You’re on your own?”
  
  “You have to make it fair. You’ll have to arm our people,’’ Kelly said.
  

Years of leaving citizens at the mercy of roving gangs, years of having bus drivers attacked, years of claiming their camera system is second-to-none in recording perpetrators, but doing nothing to apprehend them, years of calling in bus disturbances, then driving off with the perpetrator and in most cases, the victim too. Now they want guns?

Okay, no problem. Train 'em and arm 'em. It's a step in the right direction.

We must compliment Forrest Claypool for his asinine comments though - he is a Machine tool through and through:

• CTA President Forrest Claypool said Thursday that allowing guns on CTA buses and trains would be “disastrous.’’ Buses can involve “crowded conditions’’ where gun-carriers could be bumped or jostled, causing a weapon to discharge, he said.

Because that happens all the time, right Forrest? Your ignorance becomes you, you moron.

Constitution? What Constitution?

Illinois is the breeding ground for so many ignorant politicians. We can't believe any of them passed a civics course.

Example #1 - Court rulings? Ignore them!

• Prosecutors in Chicago are telling state lawmakers they can essentially ignore a federal court ruling and not legalize concealed carry in Illinois.
  
  The Illinois House on Tuesday held the first of two statewide hearings on how to legally allow people to carry a gun in the state. Illinois is the only state in the nation that bars anyone from carrying a pistol outside their home. In December, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said Illinois must change that.
  
  But Paul Castiglione, policy director for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, told lawmakers there is no need for a new law.
  
  “Only the Illinois Supreme Court can declare a statue from (the legislature) unconstitutional,” Castiglione told lawmakers Tuesday. “I heard (someone) say that after 180 days our UUW (unlawful use of weapon) statute is unconstitutional. Not so.”

Really? And this guy writes policy for Anita? The link above is to the Illinois Carry website and the readers there (who have actually read the Constitution) rip this ass a new one many times over.

And who needs Freedom of Speech?

• A recently introduced bill in the Illinois state Senate would require anonymous website comment posters to reveal their identities if they want to keep their comments online.
  
  The bill, called the Internet Posting Removal Act, is sponsored by Illinois state Sen. Ira Silverstein. It states that a “web site administrator upon request shall remove any comments posted on his or her web site by an anonymous poster unless the anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home address are accurate.”
  
  The Democratic lawmaker’s bill, which does not ask for or clarify requirements from entities requesting the comment removal, would take effect 90 days after becoming law.
  
  Pseudonymous and anonymous comments have long been a critical part of U.S. public discourse, though, and the bill may be on shaky legal ground.

"Shaky legal ground" might be the understatement of the year.  Thomas Paine and John Milton are turning over in their graves.

"Temporary" Tax Hike = Permanent

As surprising as the sun rising in the east:

• The 2011 state income tax increase would be made permanent and the receipts dedicated to pension payments under a plan floated Wednesday by state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie.
  
  Lang’s proposal also would require state workers to pay 3 percentage points more of their salaries toward their pensions, and the minimum retirement age to receive full pension benefits would be 67 for all five pension systems.
  
  But Lang’s plan does not call for any reduction in pension benefits, something he said makes his plan constitutional. Other pension measures floated so far call for changes in cost-of-living adjustments to retiree benefits, something Lang said makes the bills unconstitutional.

A 3% wage cut while the economy staggers through a double-dip recession.  Brilliant.  That's the kind of forward thinking we expect from democrats.

Robbery Suspect Shot, Apprehended

According to reports, we've had nearly 100 coppers and detectives looking for this guy lately:

• Chicago police chased a robbery suspect from River North into Bucktown and shot him after he tried to run over an officer, according to authorities.
  
  Police said the man wanted in more than a dozen robberies of North Side convenience stores and restaurants. He was wounded after robbing a Subway shop on State Street just north of Chicago Avenue, police said.
  
  Officers working a robbery mission team pursued an SUV that matched the description of one fleeing the scene to the intersection of North, Milwaukee and Damen avenues. The man tried to run over an officer after backing into a squad car, police said in a statement.

Fantastic job all around.

But did you guys get any Contact Cards afterward?

Mayor Rips the Press

No, not Rahm.....Evergreen Park:

• Stung by recent claims that Evergreen Park Police traffic stops may be guided by racial profiling, Mayor James Sexton came out swinging at Monday night’s village board meeting.
  
  With the words “…and justice for all” still echoing in council chambers after the Pledge of Allegiance, Sexton immediately began counter-punching, defending his administration and accusing the downtown news media of being interested more in fantasy than fact.
  
  “I’m not going to let a couple of reporters tarnish the reputation of our police,” Sexton said, referring to a
  recent analysis of traffic-stop data conducted by the Better Government Association FOX 32 News.
  
  Sexton ripped the BGA/FOX 32 News analysis as severely flawed. “There’s an old saying: ‘Figures lie and liars figure.’ You can get statistics to say anything you want,” he said.

Someone get this guy a beer or two.

Stand and Fight

Remember, they aren't coming for your guns you silly Right-wingers. Except for when they are:

• New York - In what will likely infuriate plenty of legal gun owners, New York's Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this afternoon that he'd like the state's legislature to consider all options in debating new gun control measures, including "confiscation" of "assault" weapons or "mandatory sales to the state" and "permitting."
  
  
• Missouri - Democrats in Missouri introduced startling anti-gun legislation that would require gun owners to hand over their legally purchased so-called “assault weapons” to “the appropriate law enforcement agency for destruction” within 90 days.
  
  Under the proposed bill, “Any person who, prior to the effective date of this law, was legally in possession of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine shall have ninety days from such effective date to do any of the following without being subject to prosecution.”
  
  
• California - Law abiding gun owners in California have to feel uneasy after Democrats rolled out a massive gun control package on Thursday, which includes strict ammunition regulations and even a bill that allows potential confiscation of the state’s 166,000 legally registered semi-automatic rifles.
  
  
• Washington - Forget police drones flying over your house. How about police coming inside, once a year, to have a look around?
  
  As Orwellian as that sounds, it isn’t hypothetical. The notion of police home inspections was introduced in a bill last week in Olympia.
  
  [.....] “In order to continue to possess an assault weapon that was legally possessed on the effective date of this section, the person possessing shall ... safely and securely store the assault weapon. The sheriff of the county may, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to ensure compliance with this subsection.”

So to those one or two assholes who keep popping in with the "gun nuts" and other assorted crap that we weed out day after day in the comment sections, we present the latest NRA video:

And to those having problems finding the Lifetime NRA Membership for $300, go to this link right here from our archives. The offer is open until March.

Where Are Pat's Guns? (UPDATED)

From an e-mail we received:

• When Pat Finucane died, [...] 1st district coppers took the keys out of his pocket, opened up and entered his condo and took, and inventoried all his guns [...]
  
  No reason to take his keys, no reason to enter his condo and no reason to take anything from within
  
  I was unaware of this aspect of the death of poor Pat.
  
  Finucane had a family who I'm sure would have made some type of arrangement to ensure the guns would not go to the criminal element--and sold them to the coppers. At least they should have had that option.

We made a few discrete calls among trusted associates and discovered that although there is a Death Investigation RD number, there are no inventories listed. But when you run the report number through the CLEAR system, a number of guns appear under various inventory numbers. Shotguns, rifles, pistols. All inventoried.

Finucane died in the lobby of his building. It's on video. As far as we know, there wasn't any reason for coppers to be in his condo. A relative was contacted and she should have been given possession of the keys and control of the property until such time as a will was probated or a judicial hearing undertaken to determine heirs of Finucane's estate. Guns are not inexpensive and can be a significant asset.

Would someone like to enlighten us on what went on this past December? Because at the moment, it looks like some misguided persons violated a dead man's property, illegally removed items belonging to his legal heir(s) and placed them into ERPS where, G-d forbid, someone might use them as props to inflate the supposed number of gun seizures by the Department.

We would really hate for that to have happened. We really hope there's an innocent explanation.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, there isn't an innocent explanation - there's just the regular fucked up one.

A couple of white shirts on scene have contacted us and admitted it was handled wrong and the usual suspect (a gold star) was driving this bus. The situation is being rectified, not exactly expeditiously, but as well as a large bureaucracy can fix an obvious wrong.

To everyone who contacted us with decent verifiable information, thanks.

To those who blamed us for airing "dirty laundry," the fact that you don't know your duties regarding deceased persons' property is just sad. Providing excuses for the bad decisions certain people make speaks to the brainwashing you've received.

And to the other few accusing us of working for Loevy and Loevy or trying to get coppers sued or all manner of bullshit, grow up. Coppers fucked up at the direction of a high-ranking supervisor, but guess who won't be around (and who isn't even on the paper!) if a lawsuit is filed? If you said "the high-ranking supervisor," give yourself a pat on the back, you're already smarter than you were when you woke up. That should be the lesson learned here. The blog doesn't create news, but it can shine a spotlight on things we get from two, three or four concerned coppers that the family of one of our own is being screwed by the very Department he worked for. You asshats that blindly back the Department position, especially when they are in the wrong, does a disservice to everyone trying to do the job correctly every single day, past, present and future.

Comments closed.

The Start of a Bright Idea

What we, our readers and even some union leaders have been advocating for a while now:

• It’s not too early for people to start making plans for the money that would be raised by casinos which have not been approved yet.
  
  State Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) said 20 percent of the revenue of the city-owned casino in Chicago should go to the city’s police and fire pension funds.
  
  “First of all I am confident that eventually the General Assembly will approve a Chicago casino and what I hope to do with this bill is at the very lease to start a discussion. The City of Chicago is looking at a pension ramp-up in the coming years that is going to come with about a $700 million price tag,” said Cunningham.
  
  Cunningham said the gambling forces came close enough passing legislation the governor wouldn’t sign, that he is comfortable looking at more casinos in the state in the near future.

20% should be a starting point of discussion.  The fact is, the City of Chicago ought to devote most, if not all of the casino revenue to retiring old debt and fulfilling pension obligations prior to initiating any new spending programs.

We all know that government grows to meet the size of its revenue stream. Rahm and the Machine ought to temper that urge for the time being and settle up what's been promised first.

Arm the Riders

The NRA says, "non-negotiable:"

• The National Rifle Association says it’s non-negotiable:
  
  Public-transportation users should to be allowed to carry guns on buses and trains.
  
  The question surfaced during a hearing Tuesday aimed at meeting a federal court demand to draw up legislation permitting Illinoisans to carry concealed weapons. A top NRA lobbyist said he won’t bend on allowing bus and train riders to arm themselves.
  
  “I don’t believe people who need public transportation to get around should be prohibited from exercising their constitutional right,” said lobbyist Todd Vandermyde, who later questioned the contradiction of a motorist being allowed to carry a gun in their vehicle but not a mass transit customer.
  
  “Just because one is one economic status, they get rights. But because someone has to avail themselves of public transportation, they don’t get the right to self-defense? They’re supposed to roam around defenseless? Help me understand how that works,” he asked the Sun-Times.

Of course, all the regulars are in a tizzy, talking about "catastrophes" and "gun-free zones" and "bloodbath," completely forgetting that all sorts of cities with mass transit aren't experiencing anything like what they're predicting here.

And casting it as an economic issue is a good move.  The Right to self defense isn't predicated on being it affordable.

Apple-pickers beware.

No Olympics?

Chicago isn't interested in 2024?

• The U.S. Olympic Committee is sending a letter to the mayors of the 25 largest cities/metropolitan areas in the United States to gauge interest in a potential U.S. bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
  The last two U.S. bidders, Chicago (2016) and New York (2012), both rejected out-of-hand by International Olympic Committee voters, are on the list.
  But Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said Chicago is not interested.

Damn, we had a whole year worth of material all stored up, ready to go, starting with this guy:

Oh well.

Lost Gun

Cook County just passed a law regarding lost/stolen firearms:

• Firearms owners in suburban Cook County will face fines up to $2,000 if they don't report to police when their guns are lost, stolen or sold, under an ordinance county commissioners approved Tuesday.
  
  The plan, pushed by County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, will apply to all areas of the county where a similar law is not already on the books. It will not apply within the city of Chicago, which has its own firearms statutes.
  

Ostensibly to curtail "straw" purchases, the law would be used against people who don't report guns stolen or lost within 48 hours. As most decently crafted firearms are worth a few hundred dollars at the very least, we don't see why legit people wouldn't report a gun stolen. And it doesn't apply in Chicago itself, just the surrounding burbs.

So then why is RD# HW-155254 on file?

What is this mysterious Records Division number you ask? Why, that would be an Aldercreature from the 24th Ward reporting a lost pistol....a pistol he last saw 19 years ago.

Yes, we're serious. There's even an AdminFax out on it (#207597). Nineteen years ago, this gun went "missing" and Michael Chandler, who won and lost and won a seat back again in the city council is just getting around to reporting it now?

How many anti-gun initiatives has Chandler introduced, co-sponsored or voted in favor of while representing the west side, yet here he is with at least one gun, which he hasn't kept track of for over 19 years? More hypocrisy from Chicago's anti-gun crowd?

Hey media, we're giving you this one for free.

Obama Kills Another

This is getting ridiculous, but Yahoo.com actually published the following- it is the very last line in the article:

• Another Chicago teenager, Frances Colon, was also shot and killed Friday just hours after she had told her father that she saw President Obama's helicopter fly over her neighborhood.

All things must be connected to Obama is some way, shape or form.

• If Obama comes out of the White House and a ground hog sees Obama's shadow, 6 more weeks of winter!
• If Air Force One flies over Nebraska, and it rains shortly thereafter, the ice crystals from the contrails must have provoked the precipitation.
• If a tree falls in the forest and Obama isn't there to hear it, then it's George Bush's fault and by the way, you're a racist.

But somehow, they no one can make any connections to Obama when talking about the economy, the debt, the job losses, the bankruptcy of "green" technology companies, etc.

New York Money in 2nd District Race

New York mayor Bloomberg had his Political Action Committee dump $2 million into the race for JJJr's former Congressional seat:

• Second Congressional District candidate Debbie Halvorson on Monday accused New York City Mayor — and billionaire — Michael Bloomberg of trying to “purchase this election” from out of state, as new filings showed his SuperPAC’s spending on the Illinois race has now topped $2 million.
  
  That’s one and a half times the amount of money raised by the top three candidates combined in the race to replace Jesse Jackson Jr.
  
  “We cannot allow Bloomberg to buy this district from New York,” Halvorson said at a news conference Monday.
  
  Halvorson is in a bitter battle over the seat, and her opposition to an assault weapons ban has repeatedly been targeted in TV ads purchased by Bloomberg’s Independence USA Pac. The committee is taking aim at candidates throughout the country who do not back President Barack Obama’s gun violence proposals. Halvorson has had scant financial firepower to defend herself — she has raised less than $50,000 on her own — and about half of that money she loaned to herself.
  

Whoa - a pro-gun democrat? With a former NRA rating of "A"? And Bloomberg doesn't like her? That should be plenty to get a bunch of votes of people ticked off at the "business as usual" crowd that runs the Second Congressional District.

In the meantime, typical Cook County politics are running amok as certain candidates drop out and endorse the approved Machine candidate with mere days to go.

Who Sounds Stupider?

Two amazingly stupid individuals, both top members in the same profession, desperately trying to outdo each other.

First up, Emeryville California:

• Earlier this month, Emeryville, Calif. Police Chief Ken James argued that a gun is not a “defensive weapon” but rather an “offensive weapon used to intimidate and used to show power.”
  
  “One issue that always boggles my mind is that the idea that a gun is a defensive weapon,” he said. “That is a myth. A gun is not a defensive weapon.”
  
  He was speaking during a press conference promoting strict gun laws in California. James is also the chairman of the Police Chief Association’s Firearms Committee.
  
  “A gun is an offensive weapon used to intimidate and show power,” James added. “Police officers don’t carry a gun as a defensive weapon to defend themselves or their other officers. They carry a gun to be able to do their job in a safe and effective manner and face any oppositions we may come upon.”

You think this guy channels Chairman Mao much? What an amazingly stupid thing to say. The contradictions alone boggle the mind.

Not to be outdone though, here's our own imported moron, Garry McGunsAreBad:

• Appearing on a Chicago Sunday morning talk show, superintendent Garry McCarthy expressed his conviction that firearm owners who lobby their elected representatives or who donate money to political campaigns are engaged in corruption that endangers public safety. McCarthy went on to express his belief that judges and legislators should rely on public opinion polls when interpreting our Constitution.
  
  After dismissing the citizen's right to redress grievances, McCarthy focused on the 2nd Amendment. Despite recent court decisions to the contrary, McCarthy opined that the 2nd Amendment limits citizens to owning smooth-bore muskets. McCarthy went on to say that he believes the 2nd Amendment supports mandatory liability insurance for firearm owners and the mandatory application of GPS tracking devices to civilian owned firearms.

The head of the Illinois State Rifle Association then rips him a new one:

• "Garry McCarthy 's understanding of our Constitution barely qualifies him as a meter maid, never mind the chief of the nation's third largest police department," commented ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson. "What on earth would possess McCarthy to assert that constitutional rights should be meted out based on public opinion polls? Let's not forget that public opinion polls once opposed a woman's right to vote while it would be a safe bet that, at one time, polls would have shown lynching as an acceptable form of justice. It has been said that our Constitution exists to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. McCarthy's view of our Constitution is dangerous and unbecoming of a civil servant."

Nicely done Mr. Pearson.

McMoron's complete misinterpretation of the United States Constitution is appalling in the extreme. This ass is a complete stroke from the word "go" and it's mind boggling that he actually swore an oath to uphold the Constitution probably something like half a dozen times in his life.

We're going to have to call this one a tie. The fact that these idiots actually head police departments is a cause for despair.

The Deadly Obama Connection

This is a real stretch of the imagination:

• Two people are being questioned in the shooting death of a Janay McFarlane, who was shot to death in North Chicago hours after her little sister sat just feet away as President Barack Obama spoke in Chicago Friday about the violence plaguing the nation.
  
  Community members gave police information that led to the two people who are being question by police and the Lake County State’s Attorney’s office, according to North Chicago police. No charges have been filed as of Sunday afternoon.
  
  McFarlane was shot to death hours after her little sister, Destini, 14, sat just feet away as President Barack Obama as he spoke in Chicago Friday about the violence plaguing the nation.
  

Wow. They're obviously trying to make a connection, no matter how tenuous, to the Hadiya Pendleton killing. Bullshit journalism at its worst, but we're feeling goofy, so we'll bite.

We must ban Obama. It's obvious to anyone watching that those who come into close contact with him end up dead or their sisters end up dead. Even when the unrelated killing takes place tens of miles away in a suburb that shares Chicago's name.

He's a danger to us all.

State Farm Leaving Illinois?

Why would they ever want to leave business-unfriendly Illinois?

• Insurance chain State Farm is reportedly buying up substantial workspace in Texas, which may signal a coming exodus from the company's home state of Illinois.
  
  State Farm is keeping the move quiet so as not to alarm employees. But the Dallas Morning News reports that it is a “major business relocation” already underway and that this is “one of the biggest stories in the Dallas-area real estate market and will ultimately involve thousands of workers.”
  
  Texas-based real estate expert Bob Gibbons notes in a blog post that State Farm’s Dallas office space lease--about 2.5 million square feet of workspace in a few different places--is the Dallas area’s largest-ever office space lease by a single company.
  
  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported this week, too, that State Farm leased several hundred thousand more square feet of office space in Atlanta.
  
  The company has 3.6 million square feet of office space in central Illinois and the spaces in Atlanta and Dallas easily total that amount.

But why State Farm?! Why???

• At the end of 2010, in a special session, the Illinois Legislature passed a 67% hike in its corporate and personal income tax. The state is struggling with a structural deficit and its credit rating was recently lowered. The state now has the worst credit rating in the country. A number of businesses have floated the idea of leaving the state. A move by State Farm, however, would devastate the downstate economy.

Oh yeah. The tax thing and the complete financial mismanagement of the state. That'd do it.

State Farm has issued the standard boiler-plate denials. But the situation on the ground looks like they're keeping all their options open.

Police Shooting in 011

West side mayhem:

• A 23-year-old man was shot by police and a police officer was injured during an investigation of drug sales in the Humboldt Park neighborhood this morning, officials said.
  
  
  
• The incident began when a Chicago police vehicle with four tactical officers pulled up to the 3900 block of West Chicago Avenue to a known drug sales area, said Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Patrick Camden.
  
  According to Chicago Police Department News Affairs [...], the officers observed a "hand-to-hand exchange" of what they believed to be narcotics involving the wounded man and a group of four or five others.
  
  After the police vehicle pulled up to the men, one of the men fled from the area to an adjacent vacant lot with an officer pursuing on foot, Camden [...] said. At that time, a squad car was called in to assist, Camden said.
  
  As police were closing in on the suspect, the man ran into a parking lot and jumped into a van, locked the door and refused to get out, said Camden ...
  
  The police vehicle was maneuvered to block the van, preventing it from leaving the lot, Mirabelli said, but the suspect was able to move it backward and forward. The suspect began to do that -- "dangerous, erratic behavior" Mirabelli called it -- moving the vehicle in the direction of an officer who was between the van and the front bumper of the squad car blocking the lot.
  
  At that point, the officer jumped on the hood of the van to avoid getting hit as the man continued to drive, Camden said. As the van continued moving, the officer's leg got caught between the van and the grill of the police vehicle, Camden said.
  
  At that point, the officer believed the man was going to keep driving and fired his gun three times into the van, said Camden

It appears that the assailant will live to face charges.

Channel 7 continues their nonsense reporting with a headline that reads, "Officer Shoots, Injures Fleeing Man," giving the impression that the Department shoots people running away instead of the officer leaping onto the front end of a car that ended up pinning him against another squad car.

Best wishes to the injured Officer for a speedy recovery.

Officers Injured in Crash

In Gresham:

• Two police officers were injured in a traffic crash in the Gresham neighborhood Saturday evening, authorities said.
  
  A squad car crashed about 8:40 p.m. in the 7500 block of South Western Avenue, Chicago Police Department News Affairs [...] said.
  
  Two officers were hurt, but their injuries did not appear to life-threatening, [News Affairs said], citing preliminary information.
  
  Debris remained strewn across Western long after the crash, as police blocked traffic and guarded the scene.
  
  A dark-colored SUV with extensive front and rear damaged remained on the east curb of Western, completely off the road. At least one airbag had deployed inside the vehicle.

Wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.

Off Duty Officer Killed

Car wreck on the Skyway:

• An off-duty Chicago Police officer was killed Friday when the SUV she was driving crashed on the Chicago Skyway in the South Chicago neighborhood.
  
  The one-vehicle accident occurred near 87th Street on the skyway about 10:40 p.m. when the 2003 Range Rover Discovery she was driving struck a concrete barrier and rolled over...

This is the third off-duty officer to die in recent weeks, one by his own hand and a sergeant from a heart attack.  Sympathies to all touched by these tragedies.

FOP Lobbies Sergeants

The FOP has an open letter to the Sergeants about their contract offer.

Read it at this link here.

Also, we just got word that the First Deputy issued a directive that no members, including exempts, will make any statements in support or lack of support for the Sergeants' Contract offer.  Seems City Hall is worried this is going to fail - and fail badly.

Hey Rahm?

Walking by the newsstand, we caught a glimpse of this cover:

We immediately bought two.  One for us and one for Rahm.

"Merit" Letter Out

Once again, the Department is asking for "merit" nominations for sergeant and lieutenant. Deadline is the end of the month (pending delays) and supposedly a class of each before summer.

We heard there might be another detective class soon also. Rumor was that they will use the existing merit pool from the 24 December class.

Is hiring keeping up with any of this?

Co-Indicted

How the mighty have fallen:

• Former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. was charged Friday with illegally spending $750,000 in campaign funds for personal use and could face up to 57 months in prison.
  
  He faces four charges — conspiracy, making false statements, and mail and wire fraud, according to court documents. His wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson, was charged in a separate information with filing false tax returns from 2006 to 2011.
  
  Among the items Jackson Jr. allegedly purchased with campaign money was Martin Luther King Jr. memorabilia for $5,595, Bruce Lee memorabilia for $2,955, a $5,000 football signed by American presidents and more than $20,000 for a variety of Michael Jackson memorabilia, including a fedora the singer wore for $4,600.
  
  Jackson Jr. also purchased mink cashmere capes and parkas with campaign money, as well as a $43,350 gold-plated, men’s Rolex watch and nearly $10,000 worth of children’s furniture.
  

All that money lying around....it's almost like he was obligated to spend it. Campaigning is so boring sometimes. But a Michael Jackson fedora? Now that is exciting.

Violence Reduction Initiative Expanded

Running seven days a week now?

Up to 200 spots on the weekends, day and night shifts.

Our best guess is that this is costing around $1 million per week including officers, sergeants and lieutenants.

Any idea where Rahm is finding the money for this? Did that money tree finally sprout on the roof of City Hall?

Once Again, We're Babysitters

McNanny says we've got this covered:

• Chicago Police can safeguard students “crossing gang boundaries” to get to new schools after their Chicago Public Schools are closed, but there’s a “lot of work to do to make it happen,” Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Thursday.
  
  One day after Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett narrowed the hit list to 129 schools, most of them on the South and West Sides, McCarthy acknowledged the security concerns that have parents across the city on pins and needles.
  
  “What…is lurking in the back of that is crossing gang boundaries and putting various gangs together who may be in conflict in the same schools,” McCarthy said during a taping of the WLS-AM program, “Connected to Chicago,” to be broadcast at 7 a.m. Sunday.
  
  The superintendent said he’s working closely with CPS to take the larger hit list of 129 targeted schools and narrow it down to schools where Chicago Police can guarantee safe passage of displaced students.

Instead of taking a stand, the superintendent and schools are admitting that the gangs will dictate school closings. No making parent(s) responsible for their spawn. No having them raise their own children. No, the Chicago Police Department will safeguard all.

Better double the day shifts Garry, instead of the manpower cuts you made earlier this year. Or tell Rahm to hire the 2,000 we're short already.

UUW Charges?

A couple stories recently catching readers' attention:

• A University of Illinois at Chicago staffer has been placed on administrative leave after she brought a legally purchased handgun to work because she didn't want to leave it at home while her house was being renovated, a UIC spokesman said.
  
  A judge set bail at $25,000 Wednesday for Kathleen Loviscek, 55, according to the Cook County sheriff's office. She is expected in court again on Feb. 19.
  
  Loviscek, of Westmont, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon, a felony, said UIC spokesman Bill Burton.
  
  “There was no apparent intent or threat,’’ Burton said. “It was never brandished nor was it loaded.’’

So a legally purchased weapon, cased and unloaded, is grounds for a felony charge now?

And this popped up in the comment section:

•  016th District warrior locked up a guy after returning from gun range for having an unloaded carbine in his trunk. Legal, but not in Chicago. Way to go, soldiers of Rahm.

Unloaded and inaccessible to the driver - another UUW charge? Not to mention a seeming violation of at least one Constitutional Amendment.

CrimeFile covers the UIC incident over at his blog. We'll entertain a civil discourse over here.

Chicago's Most Wanted

......doesn't even live here, won't move here because the taxes are too high, and probably wouldn't visit here until Concealed Carry becomes a reality:

• Chicago's new Public Enemy No. 1 is a cartel kingpin in Mexico.
  
  It's the first time the Chicago Crime Commission has used the label since Prohibition.
  
  The commission and the Chicago office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will formally give Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman that distinction Thursday.
  
  The Public Enemy No. 1 label was created for mobster Al Capone. But the DEA says Sinaloa cartel leader Guzman is more menacing than the Chicago gangster was.
  
  The DEA's top Chicago official, Jack Riley, says Guzman resides in a Mexican hideaway. But he says Guzman's cartel is now the main narcotics supplier to Chicago and so is effectively a local crime boss.

Word is that someone found his wife's wedding dress in a crawl space in Pilsen, thereby establishing residency within the corporate boundaries of Chicago.

Seriously, what's the point of this? There aren't a dozen easy-target middlemen who transport the dope? A few trucking companies combined with railroads bringing in the stuff by the ton? Chicago isn't going to form a task force to work south of the border.

Lawsuit Promised

Granted, it's anonymous on a public blog, but he makes a good point:

• If I may indulge the readers of SCC please excuse any ramblings here as I have not made it to bed yet from last night. I am a retired Sgt and we knew this was coming from the PAPB. Several retired Sgts informed the PAPB not to negotiate away any of our pension benefits. But it fell on deaf ears.
  
  Weeks ago I contacted an attorney who specializes in labor issues. Normally the courts will not intervene until a party has become harmed. The firm we plan on using wants to first send a letter to the PABB asking them to Cease and Desist any actions that would harm any retired Sgt. or any active duty Sgt currently employed. We believe that the Executive Board of the PAPB will ignore the retirees and will allow all active duty Sgts. to vote on this proposal. If the PAPB membership votes in the affirmative on this then we will ask the court for a Restraining Order in that this proposal in itself is in violation of the State Constitution and the PAPB has no standing to negotiate away our rights. Upon any Act of Furtherance at this point by the PAPB we will be forced to sue the PAPB. Since the PAPB has almost no assets, after the embezzlement of the former President of the PAPB, the members of the board and any area or unit representative that voted in the affirmative would have to be a litigants otherwise there would be no chance of recouping our costs.
  
  I spent last night on the phone with retirees from the Fort Meyers/Naples, Mountain Home, Las Vegas, and Phoenix areas. We have retired Sgts. from all of those areas that want to be part of this process. What we are trying to do is to quickly compile a list of as many names as possible of retired Sgts. for the letter to the PAPB.
  
  Should the active members of the PAPB vote in the affirmative on this then we will ask all police retirees, regardless of rank, to join as plaintiffs. We will try to have our own informational web site up by Sunday and will run an informational meeting at Lone Tree Manor 7730 N. Milwaukee Ave where the Northside Retiree breakfast is held. We will ask every retired Sgt for one hundred dollars. Should the PABA continue we will have a much larger meeting than the FOP hall could hold and will use something like the Plumber’s Hall or Teamster City and ask every retiree, regardless of rank, to join us.
  
  This whole process is completely unnecessary. Getting in bed with city first makes the PAPB look like a cheap whore.

The FOP has always made a point that they don't represent the retirees.  That's why retirees don't get to vote on the labor contracts and retirees aren't part of the bargaining committee.  Pensions and such are regulated by State Law, not the Fraternal Order. 

So how does the PBPA get this deeply involved in retiree business, to the point that they will go down to Springfield with the mayor and support bills introduced by the City that directly affect retirees and run counter to the Illinois Constitution?

This is the biggest issue.  The mayor will use this as a wedge, in contract meetings, at arbitration hearings, in the press, etc.  The PBPA will be painted as the bad guys as is already happening in our comment sections yesterday - we've seldom seen the amount of vitriol and degradation in such a short time frame that yesterday's "FOP Not Happy" post generated.  

And the sergeants haven't even gotten a ballot yet to vote on this proposal - it's not a done deal yet.

Paroled at 17

And found with a gun, in a hot car:

• A 17-year-old parolee who led police on a chase early this morning that injured three officers has been arrested and charged, according to officials.
  
  Eric Samuels, of the 600 block of East 131st Street, was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet at the time of this morning's chase. He also had been wanted on a parole violation warrant stemming from a gun-related arrest in February of 2012, police said.
  
  He was arrested after police spotted a black 2001 Dodge Intrepid with a broken taillight at about 2:25 a.m. driving near the 400 block of East 69th Street and pulled the car over, police said.
  
  As police were walking up to the car, they noticed that the steering column was stripped and a screwdriver was sticking out of the ignition lock, police said. Samuels then sped off, with police in pursuit, police said.
  
  Other officers spotted the vehicle and pulled it over, police said. During the chase, three officers were injured in a traffic accident, police said.

Assorted bumps, bruises and broken bones among the three injured officers. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

But seriously? On parole, wanted for a parole violation involving another gun, caught with a gun.....anyone else wondering who thought this kid was a "good risk" for home monitoring? Any scapegoats waiting in the wings on the County side?

Red Light Hearings

Um...shouldn't this have been done prior to the contract being awarded and the cameras being installed?

• A group of aldermen wants proof that the embattled company that installed red-light cameras at intersections across Chicago did so based on improving traffic safety, not just collecting lots of money from ticketing drivers.
  
  A resolution introduced at Wednesday's City Council meeting calls for hearings to be held on how the sites were chosen for the cameras put up by Redflex Traffic Systems Inc.
  
  Tribune stories that Redflex lavished sporting trips on a former city transportation official and lied about it to City Hall call into question the company's procedures for placing the cameras, said sponsoring Ald. John Arena.
  
  "The original ordinance calls for better traffic safety, but we don't really know the standards they used," said Arena, 45th. "We want officials from (the Chicago Department of Transportation) to come in and give us specifics on the analysis and on whether these intersections are safer now."

Talk about closing the barn door after the horse is out.  Unethical gifts, questions about how the contract was awards, we're sure bribery allegations will surface soon if they haven't already.  In other words, a typical Shortshanks deal in the Windy City.  And the City Council wants to look like it's doing something about it instead of looking like the ineffectual rubber stamp they've always been.