"Investigation"

Once again, Pam Zekman crawls out from under her bridge to lambast police officers who are following correct procedures in place and contractually guaranteed in order to paint officers in a bad light and, we imagine, queer the upcoming contract negotiations:

• Millions of tax dollars are spent on the salaries of cops on desk duty instead of on the street where they are desperately needed.
  
  2 Investigator Pam Zekman has learned that’s because there are currently 86 Chicago Police officers stripped of their police powers over alleged misconduct. It can take years for the city to resolve their cases, even when there is taped evidence that seems to support the allegations.
  

The report probably should have stopped right there. The phrase "it can take years for the city to resolve their cases" points to the problem in a nutshell. The FOP has been pushing for years to have IPRA and the Police Board to conduct "timely investigations" instead of ones that take four, five, even six years to resolve. We've all seen murders prosecuted and sentenced in less time that that - criminals have a right to a speedy trial. We don't.

But here comes Pam, all righteous and outraged, that police officers, rightly or wrongly accused, dare to go through the process, no matter how cumbersome, inefficient and burdensome it may be. We didn't build the system, but shame on us for wanting to exercise our rights under the law, the rules of our employer and our guarantees via a legal and binding contract.

And the low sustained rate of so many of these cases actually resulting in firings, even after six years of "investigation," doesn't exactly lend much credence to the process itself. Pam is just another tool of the Rahm administration doing what she is programed to do.