Be Careful and Happy New Year

Once again, another year closes. Be safe, be careful if you're working tonight. "Amateur night" on the roads and "stupid people night" in the neighborhoods. Best wishes to all for a happy and healthy new year.

Amazing Numbers by NYPD

Can a major metropolitan city survive without an engaged police force? We might be finding out shortly:

• It’s not a slowdown — it’s a virtual work stoppage.
  
  NYPD traffic tickets and summonses for minor offenses have dropped off by a staggering 94 percent following the execution of two cops — as officers feel betrayed by the mayor and fear for their safety, The Post has learned.
  
  The dramatic drop comes as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio plan to hold an emergency summit on Tuesday with the heads of the five police unions to try to close the widening rift between cops and the administration.

Look at these numbers:

• It has helped contribute to a nose dive in low-level policing, with overall arrests down 66 percent for the week starting Dec. 22 compared with the same period in 2013, stats show.
  
  Citations for traffic violations fell by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587, during that time frame.
  
  Summonses for low-level offenses like public drinking and urination also plunged 94 percent — from 4,831 to 300.
  Even parking violations are way down, dropping by 92 percent, from 14,699 to 1,241.
  
  Drug arrests by cops assigned to the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau — which are part of the overall number — dropped by 84 percent, from 382 to 63.

THAT is how you stick together. THAT is how you bring politicians to the table, hat in hand. We wouldn't be surprised to see the unions demand the mayor's resignation. They probably won't get it, but they may ask, just to make a point.

CPD Memorial Service for NYPD Fallen

Announcement from the Chaplains:

• CPD PRAYER / MEMORIAL SERVICE AT GOLD STAR FAMILIES MEMORIAL AND PARK
  
  THIS THURSDAY, 01 JAN 2015, AT 2:47 P.M. (RAIN/SNOW OR SHINE)
  
  In solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the nation, we will gather for a brief prayer service at the exact time in New York on 20 DEC when Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were murdered for being the police.
  
  - All CPD members (active/retired, sworn/civilian--and families) are most welcome to attend.
  - Officers will direct you to ample free parking along Museum Campus Drive.
  - Come as you are; no uniform necessary.
  - Service - 30 minutes for those coming on lunch.
  - For more information, contact Fr. Dan Brandt, CPD Chaplain, at 773/550-2369, or visit www.ChicagoPCM.org
  - Kindly post on your website/FaceBook page and share with your CPD contacts

Comments closed here - informational post only

NY Mayor Booed

At a police graduation no less:

• During Monday's New York City Police Academy graduation ceremony, for the first time in history the Mayor of New York was subjected to boos and heckling while he welcomed the latest class of police cadets to the NYPD. In fact, some of those attending the graduation gave New York's top politician the "Bronx cheer," a/k/a the raspberry.
  
  While the graduating class were silent as they sat in New York City's landmark Madison Square Garden, the graduates' families and friends were openly voicing their disapproval for Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is accused siding with anti-police politicians, agitators such as be Blasio's close friend Rev. Al Sharpton, and the thousands of anti-cop protesters.
  
  A few of those attending the graduation ceremony also turned their backs on the mayor when he stood at the podium, but the Democrat's staff made certain to quickly spin the embarrassing episode by releasing a press statement: "We heard a mix of applause and boos today. We want to remind folks that today was not the first time a NYC Mayor has been booed at a police graduation."
  
  "I've been a member of the NYPD all of my adult life and I can't imagine what mayor was booed before de Blasio. I've served as a cop during the Beame, Lindsay, Koch, Dinkens, Giuliani, and Bloomberg years and not one of them was ever openly disrespected by their own police department," said veteran detective George Knudsen. "If [President Barack] Obama was speaking at the graduation ceremony it's a safe bet that he would have heard boos and cat-calling," he added.

Shortshanks was tone-deaf to a fault. This guy doesn't even realize there's music.

There's video over at this link here if you want to see it.

Florida Drive-By Attempt

This appears to have happened around the same time as the California ambush, so it got lost in the shuffle:

• Two Pasco County Sheriff’s Deputies were targeted by a drive-by shooter early Sunday in the central Florida town of Dade City according to the Tampa Bay Times.
  
  The deputies were parked in their respective squad cars in a church parking lot when three shots were fired at them from a passing vehicle around 3:30 a.m., according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. The deputies said they heard the bullets as the passed near them. Neither deputy was wounded.
  
  The deputies did not ID the vehicle but neighbors reported hearing the shots and seeing a ‘small dark vehicle with tinted windows in the area at the time of the incident.’
  
  The deputies’ names have not been released.

Um, why would they need to release the names of cops who got shot at and didn't even return fire?

We'll confess to having used the words "open season" on a few occasions to drive home the point that by pinning on the star, shield, badge, we are automatically targets for certain elements. But we must also say that those words don't nearly convey the situation going on nowadays. Be safe ladies and gents.

Chewie Doesn't Believe Numbers

The Trib can't wait to carry Rahm's water:

• Mayoral challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia promised to show "unprecedented levels of violence in Chicago" during a Monday news conference attacking Mayor Rahm Emanuel's record on crime, but instead used a narrow set of statistics that dates back only four years.
  
  Garcia noted the number of city shootings is up about 15 percent this year. With just a couple of days left in 2014, the city has had 2,506 shooting victims compared with 2,185 last year.
  
  "That is what people in Chicago fear. That is the unknown. That is what keeps people young and old as prisoners in their own homes," said Garcia, a Cook County commissioner.
  
  What Garcia didn't mention is that overall crime in Chicago is down this year and the number of homicides is on pace to be the lowest in decades. Garcia sought to focus on the number of shootings, not deaths.

That Chewie - he'll believe "hands up" bullshit stories, but not Garry's numbers.

In any event, the Trib proves it hasn't read anything except Garry's press releases this year. They must have completely missed the Chicago Magazine articles about number manipulation, you know, the ones about burglaries being downgraded to thefts, pickpocketing and such being made lost property, sexcual assaults of all stripes being made into simple batteries. And the double digit reductions in crime when every other city in the country experienced mere 3-and-4% drops.

It's almost like Chicago exists in opposite land - if you legalize guns, the streets will run read with blood, completely unlike every other city in America. And when crime goes down 4, 5, even 8 times the national average, coinciding with the introduction of a new counting system, it's the brilliant former NYPD eggheads who are dragging Chicago cops into the 21st century!

What a pile of shit.

Wasting Time

McRahm's Lapdog is taking a personal interest in this:

• Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Monday his office will review security at Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home, following the recent mugging nearby of one of Emanuel’s children.
  
  “We’re taking another look at it to see if there’s a way to improve it,” McCarthy said, addressing reporters at police headquarters.
  
  But McCarthy, who was there to talk about end-of-year crime statistics, bristled at a reporter’s question about how his officers might have been better positioned at the mayor’s house.
  
  McCarthy noted that the mayor’s son was not at his home at the time, but instead making a phone call nearby.
  
  “The officers are sitting on the mayor’s house,” McCarthy said. “They are not sitting on the mayor’s neighborhood.”
  McCarthy said he was frustrated that Zach Emanuel’s name had been made public.
  
  “We don’t give out victim information, especially not a juvenile,” he said. “That information should not be out there."

Victim information? You mean....like when an Officer is a victim of a battery or some sort of attack and the media is in a race to see who can get his name first? Especially if the Officer shoots the OFFENDER. The officer is still a victim and gosh-darn-it-all, McCarthy says victim's names shouldn't be out there!

Of course, when you are an active participant (buyer) in a criminal enterprise (baggies of green vegetable matter) and you are non-cooperative to the point of wiping the phone history and text messages lest someone find out the story you gave is bullshit....well, is that really a "victim"?

What's the phrase? Move On Garry.

LA Ambush

Almost another very bad scene:

• The search for a second suspect in an "ambush" on Los Angeles police was called off early Monday, and red and yellow caution tape barred entrance to the scene of the shooting.
  
  "We don't know what precipitated the shooting," LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman told the Los Angeles Times, but "everyone's keenly aware of what happened in New York," and there is a "sense of uneasiness."
  
  Sunday night around 9:20 p.m., two officers in a single patrol car were responding to a call and driving southbound on Hoover Street near 62nd Place. They saw a muzzle flash -- the visible blast from a gun -- and determined they were being fired at, Neiman said.
  
  Neither officer was hurt, and they returned fire, officials said.

A rifle was recovered and a "person of interest" questioned initially.

The Media Game

The best explanation we've read about the failure of the media lately:

• These stories about the killings of African-American men by police officers (or by a “neighborhood watch captain,” in Trayvon Martin’s case) are all what my long-time radio and podcast partner Brian Ward calls “stories of choice.” They are plucked from a nearly endless supply of sad events that occur daily in a nation of 315 million, and are promoted because they further a political narrative. An unholy alliance of activists and newspaper reporters and editors tries to distort our perception of reality by giving undue emphasis to them. Then, of course, reality begins to catch up with perception, and we have riots, murders of police officers, and so on. But understand that the decision to promote these stories, in preference to others that are equally or more newsworthy, is a choice that is consciously made by people with a political agenda.

A very astute observation by the gentlemen over at the Powerline blog. And a very good take-down of the liberal narrative that decides that all police are bad, a white officer (or any officer for that matter) can never kill a black offender for any reason other than racism and that somehow, any factual defense of police actions must be denied, ridiculed and belittled because it doesn't "fit the narrative."

Coppers Injured

Looks like it was a rough one:

• Two Chicago police officers have been hurt in a collision on the Northwest Side and police say a 30-year-old man has been ticketed for causing the accident.
  
  The police officers were in a marked SUV responding to a call for assistance just before midnight. And police say the officers had their lights and sirens on.
  
  At Irving Park and Melvina, police say a sedan driven by a 30-year-old Berwyn man collided with the police SUV. The SUV then hit a light pole.

Pic from the scene:

That should buff right out. In the meantime, prayers for a speedy recovery Officers.

This is a Strategy?

We're having a time wrapping our heads around this new policing strategy downtown.

• show up at a brawl involving upwards of 100 individuals;
• call for CTA buses;
• push em back to the south side

We like a suggestion from a reader or two:

• call for the buses with the chicken wire windows;
• ship em all to 018/001 and surrounding districts to cool their heels until mommy or daddy show up

We mean, seriously? Is this normal?

That was the Rock-and-Roll McDonalds after the police cleared Navy Pier. Related? Not sure, but there were three or four "spontaneous" and simultaneous wildings across the country last night. It isn't unreasonable to suggest some sort of coordinated social media event, is it?

NYPD Funeral

NYPD continues its rejection of the mayor:

• Hundreds of officers outside the church where a funeral was held for a policeman killed along with his partner in an ambush shooting turned their backs on the mayor as he spoke during Saturday’s service.
  
  The reaction from officers watching Officer Rafael Ramos’ funeral on giant TV screens followed comments from police union officials who had said Mayor Bill de Blasio contributed to a climate of mistrust that contributed to the killings of the two officers.

We imagine if the media wasn't just counting coppers, the total was thousands.

RIP Officer/Detective First Grade/Chaplain Ramos.

Murders Down!

Play to your strength:

• Chicago could record its lowest murder total in nearly five decades for the second consecutive calendar year, despite an increase in shootings in 2014.
  
  Chicago Police reported 390 murders through Dec. 20, while the Cook County medical examiner’s office reported 410 homicides, including 16 fatal police shootings, during the same period. There have been at least 10 additional homicides and one fatal police shooting since then.
  
  Police, which follow federal guidelines when counting murders, determined some of the homicides were self-defense or accidents.

Only through 20 December? Well, add a bunch to the intervening 8 days. We've seen headlines of another few since then. We're actually in dander of a single digit drop and well within striking range of 400...pending the outcome of half-a-dozen "death investigations" that will be reclassified sometime in January.

Another Wilding

Friday, Navy Pier. Saturday, Chicago Ridge:

• A report of shots fired and a fight that erupted in the food court at "jam-packed'' Chicago Ridge mall caused its evacuation and early closure Saturday night in the southwest suburb.
  
  No one was injured and no arrests were made, Chicago Ridge Mayor Chuck Tokar said.
  
  At about 6 p.m. officers responded to a fight in progress in the food court and while on the way, received a report of shots fired, prompting a "multi-jurisdictional response,'' according to a statement released by police.
  
  
• “It’s kind of scary that last night there was a fight at Navy Pier and here at a big mall in the south suburbs,’’ Tokar said, adding he had no information that the two fights were connected.

Connection? Why would anyone think there was a connection?

Do Tell!

Was this covered in any of the local publications?

• Pam Zekman was told in 2013 about an Alderman very close to Rahm who had taken a 2nd homestead exemption on his investment condo that was listed on financial disclosure. This alder crook and his wife slapped their son's name on deed along with their names - and mortgages also and said they were living in condo. Well the son was away in college and they didn't live in the condo either.
  
  The alder crook wife was selling condos in building for some shady Serbian developer, with a felon brother who assaulted a peace officer and fled country.
  
  Pam Zekman was given sufficient proof to do the story, but she is unethical troll under bridge
  
  Someone should chase her with microphone. She protects Rahm's crooked city council !

Why wouldn't the media cover something like this? Oh wait....it's Chicago. Never mind.

December Wilding (UPDATE)

Gee, warm December weather, school out of session, what could have triggered this?

• Chicago police on Friday night were investigating a disturbance at Navy Pier.
  
  Around 9 p.m., about 30 police officers blocked the entrance to the popular lakefront tourist attraction, saying it was temporarily closed. People were being allowed to leave Navy Pier.
  
  Khaaliq Warner, a face painter at Navy Pier, said he saw a stampede of 50 people running away from the Winter Wonderfest area around 8 p.m. and saw three teenage boys handcuffed. People were talking about fights breaking out.

The Sun Times has more:

• A person was hospitalized and several people were arrested after a disturbance Friday night at Navy Pier.
  
  About 8 p.m., 18th District officers responded to the disturbance at the popular tourist destination, police said. As of 10 p.m., police would not confirm that the disturbance was a fight.
  
  But several media outlets reported a large fight had taken place, and police said that no gunshots were fired.
  
  Some news outlets reported that as many as 200 people were in a fight at Navy Pier.

Isn't crime supposed to be down in the winter?

UPDATE: Five arrested, one pregnant female injured and a number of strong arm robberies reported during the melee.

Suicide by Police

Officer is okay - or as okay as you can be after getting stabbed twice through the vest:

• A 25-year-old man who had been threatening suicide was shot and killed by police near his home after he attacked an officer with a knife Thursday night in the West Woodlawn neighborhood, police said.
  
  The incident took place about 6:40 p.m. in the 400 block of East Marquette Road, according to a statement from Police News Affairs.
  
  Grand Crossing District officers responded to a call of a man threatening suicide in that area and found Terrence Gilbert sitting on a porch, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office.
  
  Once police officers pulled up and exited their vehicle, Gilbert charged at a police officer with a knife, stabbing him twice in his vest, according to the audio of Chicago police Deputy Chief Berscott Ruiz’s statement at the scene.

There'll be someone wanting a protest over this making statements on social media shortly. In the meantime, good job Officers.

Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't

Welcome once again, to the world of second guessing the police:

• Christopher Anderson's mother believes he would still be alive had state troopers patted him down at the scene of a car crash hours before he was shot inside a Highland Park emergency room.
  
  "He should have been frisked. All of this could have been prevented," said Venus Anderson, whose son was killed by Highland Park police last month when authorities said he pulled a handgun from his waistband at NorthShore Highland Park Hospital and refused multiple requests to put it down.
  
  The tragedy of the situation — that had state police frisked Anderson at the crash scene, authorities likely would not have needed to resort to lethal force against him later — underscores the complex set of legal and ethical factors that officers routinely have to weigh when dealing with potentially dangerous situations.
  
  Legal experts said troopers who responded to the single-car crash on the Edens Expressway seemingly would have been within their rights to pat him down to check for weapons, which they did not do despite a request from paramedics, according to a police investigation of the shooting.
  
  But the experts also said it was a tough judgment call, and that it's not easy to determine when a pat-down of a person not under arrest is warranted.

You can bet any amount you like that had they frisked him and he wasn't under arrest, there'd be another bottom-feeding lawyer up in front of the judge claiming the dead guys civil rights were trampled.

Here's an idea - blame the asshole felon with the stolen gun! It's almost foolproof! But then, we've been wrong once or twice before underestimating fools.

Another One Out on "Early Release"

Early release on gun charge lets crime flourish:

• A Little Village man has been charged in a shooting Tuesday night that was witnessed by police officers who fired on the gunman and arrested him after he pointed a gun at them, police said.
  
  Hugo Minon, 18, was spotted firing at a 29-year-old man in the 2200 block of South Marshall Boulevard about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, police said. He's been charged with aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated assault of a police officer, unlawful possession of a firearm and defacing a firearm's identification markings, according to police.
  
  Minon already was on parole for unlawful use of a weapon in an incident that took place a block away in 2013.

Anyone notice the Tribune describes the offender as "A Little Village man...." But had we shot him, no doubt, it'd be oppressed and misunderstood minority youth.

And here he is, on the streets, with another gun, firing at other gang bangers and pointing it at the police. You want reform of the criminal justice system, start with the judges - cops are locking 'em up, judges aren't keeping 'em there and neither is the parole system.

UPDATE: Post corrected for "parole," not "bond."

Clemency?

Because Quinn has done so well in the past releasing criminals:

• Gov. Pat Quinn granted 179 clemency petitions in time for Christmas, but thousands of other applicants are anxiously awaiting word on past criminal records during the Democrat’s final weeks in office.
  
  Quinn still faces roughly 3,000 requests with less than three weeks before Republican Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner takes office. Some want criminal records expunged. Others seek innocence pardons to clear their names. Advocates say the uncertainty with how Rauner will act — it’s the businessman’s first elected office — have given them a sense of urgency. But how far Quinn will get is unclear.

Quinn's inattention to detail worries most normal thinking people in these cases.

Revisiting WWII?

The commies are trying to rewrite history like good leftists do:

• A leading Russian elected official on Thursday called for an investigation of the United States' atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II as a "crime against humanity."
  
  The effort to reconsider history by Sergei Naryshkin, the parliament's lower house speaker, comes on the heels of two similar calls by colleagues earlier in the week to revisit significant events involving Russia during the 20th century.

We heard Obummer is all set to tender a public apology any moment now.

Merry Christmas

During this time of the year, we wish our readers a very Merry Christmas from everyone here to you and yours.

In light of recent events, we must also wish you a safe and sane shift if you are spending time away from what matters most. Be safe, be careful, be aware. There are too many families with nothing but memories of loved ones gone this year. And there are at least four police families who will only remember the pain of the Christmas season for the foreseeable future.

God Bless you all.

As usual, open post and light posting to be expected.

Math for the Doubters

A number of people posting yesterday about our "Riddle Us This" post:

• How? Do explain.
• Explain how jobs are being eliminated.
• I join in asking SCC, what is the FOP doing to eliminate 2000 jobs?
• SCC, your post is a little confusing. I am assuming that you are talking about the new schedule in 005. Just like the proposed contract settlement, some P.O.s look at the 10.5 hour schedule and think about how it would effect them in the short term. They don't look at the bigger picture. Eliminating an entire watch would require far fewer P.O.s. (I think.) I haven't seen the math but I have heard others, like you, mention that the City would get by with 2,000 less. Can anyone show how they came up with the figure of 2,000?

Well, let's start with a little history first. Our timeline might be a little off, but each of these things happened, just maybe not in the order listed.

Rahm promised...PROMISED...to hire 1,00 coppers when he got elected. As soon as he got there, he claimed to have been misquoted (he wasn't) and said he meant he would put 1,000 more coppers on the street. He promptly accomplished a third of this by disbanding a group of coppers who were....wait for it....ALREADY ON THE STREET!

The media lapped this up like a a dog goes after peanut butter. Then he started "dumping" officers out of HQ and had his paid mouthpiece McCompStat say things like "getting the most out of our manpower" and reassigning dead weight and maybe even "civilianizing" certain functions. But you still couldn't get a parking space at HQ, even before the Fire guys moved in. We personally know one guy who got "dumped" three times and he's still there. But the media loves it's peanut butter.

Shortly after this, Rahm eliminated around 1,200 budgeted spots in the Department that hadn't been filled for numerous reasons - no test, no money for a test, no money for promotions, no money for whatever. This was on top of the early 2000's where Daley wasn't hiring and we went nearly 5 years without graduating 100 total Officers per year while the last of the Vietnam guys retired to the tune of another 1,000 vacancies. That budget trick allowed Rahm to claim we were at "full strength." It was a lie.

Next, Garry combined Districts - 002/021; 019/023; 012/013. We aren't sure if it happened in each case, but the people up in 019/023 raised hell about cuts to their manpower. Garry and Rahm PROMISED that there would be no reduction in manpower. The same number of Officers would be assigned to the new district as were there before. This was in fact another lie. Eliminating one (or closing two) lockups eliminated spots. One commander slot vanished. Lieutenant spots, Sergeant spots, Officer spots, Tact spots, all of these spots disappeared. One complete office staff - gone. Not a bad thing since they run heavy, but less spots is less officers. Crime in Boystown blog has documented something like a 10-15% drop in manpower, over an area that used to have hundreds of Officers.

Now let's get to actual math. 012 and 013 had 9 beats each.

• 1st Watch - 2 officers; 2nd Watch - 1 officer;3rd Watch - 2 officers

That's 5 officers per beat car per District 45 cops times 2 District equals 90 cops.

Combined they only have 15 beats in the new 012. 5 times 15 equals 75. That's a 15 man reduction in force right there...16% or so. How about the Tact teams? Do they still carry a combined 6 teams in these combo district? If not, that's 3 sergeants and 24-to-30 spots gone. Are you seeing it yet?

Now let's talk about 10.5 hour days. You have how many desk bids? Spots listed in the contract. Two shifts equals a 33% reduction in bids. How about an Area? One lockup bid for males, one for females per watch. Two shifts, that's two spots gone. Fill in the overlap with civilians and you see where this is going. How about supervisors? Each watch had 2 lieutenants, 5 bid sergeants and 2 management sergeants per watch (give or take the day lieutenant). Now you have two shifts - are those spots gone? You can't bid for a spot that doesn't exist. You can spread some out (say 7 bids per watch plus management), but you've lost spots.

Any "increase" in manpower will be temporary at best. Attrition will lessen the ranks (see 019/023) while hiring slows once again until the Department is "right sized" to what Rahm wants - something along the lines of Houston which patrols a similar sized city with just over 5,300 officers.  Of course, Texas has very permissive concealed carry laws and county sheriffs picking up a bit of the overlap, so that might have something to do with their lower crime rates. Oh yeah, and a State government that doesn't hesitate to put murderers to death semi-regularly.

2,000 less coppers is a real possibility, and by their silence, the FOP is going to take blame from this quarter. The organization should be fighting to preserve every job they can, working with the city (hahahaha) when modernization presents itself, but saving what we have so far. No labor organization ever won by giving up positions. Especially if 2,000 fewer officers are paying in to a pension that's in trouble already.

Merry X-Mas Captains-to-Be

There's a list out. No, they didn't make captains. They made a list of lieutenants who will attend training in anticipation of vacancies occurring one day. There is a rumor about going back to One Watch/One Captain, but no one is sure.

Here is a list of the blessed:

• 055 - Bauer, P
  006/211 Betts, D
  241 - Blisset, R
  008/712 Chung, S
  312 - Darlin, R
  115 - Dejanovich, M
  007 - Escamilla, A
  384 - Gonzalez, A
  142 - Harmon, M
  003 - Johnson, K
  129 - Joyce, S
  018 - Kane, P
  126 - King-Smith, C
  024 - Kusinski, P
  010 - Kwasinski, P
  001 - Lajewski, R
  022 - LaVoy, J
  123 - Lewis, G
  353 - Marianovich, M
  002 - McDermott, B
  189 - O'Shea, D
  124 - Saldana, Fabian

22 names, 14 from Units. More than a few heavier-than-whale-shit connected folks, some who have served next-to-no-time in patrol, at least one former Commander and a couple who haven't even been lieutenants for a year yet.

UPDATE: Fourteen more names added to the list?

• 010 - Brennan, J
  010 - Giltmier, B
  007 - Gushes, E
  606/102 - Harris, D
  004 - Liebas, P
  002 - Moore, M
  050 - O'Brien, T
  606 - Richards, W
  018 - Roman, M
  313 - Riordan, J
  393 - Ryan, J
  006 - Sears, M
  124 - Sesso, S
  016 - Shouse, T

Must have been an attempt to balance out the over-representation of units? Or maybe someone realized there weren't enough people with the letter "R" in their names. Seems as good a reason as any, but a lot more political players listed now.

Who Are These People?

They work for plaintiff attorneys or what?

• Chicago cops should face mandatory firing when they engage in the so-called “code of silence,” according to a nearly two-year study of the department’s disciplinary process.
  
  The department should put officers on notice that they run the risk of sacrificing their jobs when they cover up for misconduct by their fellow officers, according to the “Preventing and Disciplining Police Misconduct” report released Tuesday.
  
  Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Safer, who is with the law firm Schiff Hardin, conducted the review for free along with A.T. Kearney, a management consultant firm. The review was first announced in January 2013.

A "free" review, eh? You get what you pay for evidently. We already run this risk. If the Department can prove that you had knowledge of misconduct, you can be held culpable. We say "can" because everyone knows the clouted are covered.

• The department already has adopted some recommendations of the study. For example, police Supt. Garry McCarthy recently approved a pilot program for officers to wear body cameras.
  
  The department increased the number of officers in the department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs from 102 in 2013 to 125 this year, according to city officials.

That's probably the only unit in the city to actually expand in recent years. Detectives? Undermanned. ETs? Pathetically shorthanded. K9? Good luck. But hey, IAD is expanding, even as complaints are decreasing. Why is that?

• City officials noted that Chicago has started “procedural justice training” for every police officer. Other cities like New York have expressed interest in the program, which is intended to build officers’ understanding, fairness and respect for the public, according to the city.

Yeah. Okay. And get a load of this set of paragraphs:

• The report not only addressed the potential problem of cops lying to cover up misconduct — but of citizens lying to get cops in trouble.
  
  “We recommend that only certain false complainants — those who file either multiple false complaints or a single, particularly egregious, false complaint — be referred to the [Cook County] state’s attorney and face consequences for their actions,” the report said.

So...cops are held accountable for "code of silence" incidents, even though the actual misconduct is usually conducted out of sight of witnesses, not in front of someone you don't know or trust. But citizens who swear out false affidavits, a felony in Illinois (it's perjury), and the free review says, "Don't bother prosecuting these crimes." What a bunch of assholes. What if the citizen is lying about....misconduct? And then you get hung up denying you saw any, but have to drop paper, write statements, clear your name and work history, but the complainer walks? Fucking brilliant!

And this closer is just amazing:

• For the city, one of the practical purposes of the report is to help bring down mammoth legal expenses related to lawsuits against the police. Over the past decade, the city has spent more than half a billion dollars on police-related settlements, judgments, legal fees and other costs.
  
  In a prepared statement, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city is making progress “to prevent the type of police misconduct that has occurred in the past, and to respond to any police misconduct swiftly, consistently and with transparency.”

Yeah, we tried that before and actually cut payouts by millions - it was called "fighting the allegations," and it worked. J-Fledgar left three legacies for this department:

1. rifles (but that would have happened anyway with the Olympics);
2. fight lawsuits in court to cut down on frivolous suits;
3. fuck the blue shirts every chance you get

As soon as Rahm arrived, Corp Counsel went back to settling lawsuits in order to enrich connected firms. J-Fled's most successful initiative went right out the window as soon as he was a memory. And you want to "prevent the type of police misconduct that has occurred in the past," then fire the connected, untouchable clout babies who cost you millions. You know, like merit sergeants raping women, merit sergeants firing guns at suburban cops, merit detectives shoplifting, merit commanders sticking guns in people's mouths...things like that.

Riddle Us This

Why would a labor organization representing nearly ten thousand people, be actively working with the City to eliminate about 2,000 of those jobs?

Seems almost suicidal, but there's the FOP doing it.

Stay Classy Scumbags

Frankly, we're surprised CNN actually reported this:

• CNN Correspondent Sara Ganim reported that a small group of protesters were yelling at police officers who had gathered to pay their respects at a memorial to slain NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos on Monday.
  
  While Ganim said that most of the people who had showed up were paying their respects to the officers, she added “I do, just in full disclosure, want to say that in the last couple of minutes, for the first time today, we’ve seen protesters come out here and start yelling at groups of police who are mourning their slain police officers.”
  
  Ganim continued “it’s just a few of them, Suzanne, and like I said, just in the last five minutes, and they’re quite frankly yelling at a group of police officers who are standing here silently, just looking at the memorial of candles and flowers and posters, and they’re yelling similar rhetoric that we’ve been hearing over the last couple of weeks related to the shooting of — the chokehold death of Eric Garner and the shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri.”

There's the same old CNN bias though. No "chokehold" was used on the heart attack victim and the other asshole was an active assailant who left blood and tissue inside the squad car from the initial attack and who attacked a second time.

Welcome to the Party Pal

Two mayoral Johnny-come-latelys:

• Two prominent challengers of Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city needs to put the brakes on a troubled red-light camera program, arguing that the mayor misled the public about its safety benefits at motorists’ expense.
  
  But while the two candidates — Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd) — were happy to rail against the city’s program, Garcia apparently did not not have similar concerns last March.
  
  That’s when he accepted a $1,500 donation from Safespeed LLC the day before casting a “yes” vote that cleared the way for the company to install a red-light camera in River Forest, records show.

Nice job there "Chewie." We remember years when bought aldercreatures would stay bought. Not any more though. And Fioretti needs to step it up a few notches or Rahm is going to win coasting in. Get nasty Bob. Paint Rahm with any brush that you can find - hell, half the narrative has already been written:

• out-of-touch;
• liar (says he'll hire police, then reassigns instead);
• shootings up double-digit percentages;
• closer of minority schools;
• enemy of the unions;
• mayor 1%

 Do we really have to draw a map?

Crime Still Down

Summertime numbers continue to roll in:

• Three men were killed and at least 25 other people — including an 8-year-old boy — have been wounded in shootings across the city since Friday afternoon.
  
  A robbery Sunday evening in the Austin neighborhood left a man dead and an 8-year-old boy injured.

Eight-year-old shot and the "community" and the "community leaders" don't blink an eye. That's okay though - neither will we.

Can They Forfeit?

In a final ironic twist to the end of a lost season:

• Jay Cutler is once again the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears. Just like that.
  
  In yet another surprise twist in a season full of unpredictability, the Bears announced Monday afternoon that Cutler would start their regular-season finale Sunday against the Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The move came in concert with the team’s announcement that Jimmy Clausen has been ruled out for the finale after being diagnosed with a concussion.

That must have been an interesting meeting:

• Yeah....Hi Jay....it's Coach. You know how we benched you for the rest of the season? Yeah, the team had lost confidence in your ability to throw the ball. Yeah, $15 million a year kind of leads people to expect some sort of accuracy and all that. Mmmmhmmm, well, we've got a little problem...

What's the worst a forfeit could bring them?

Operation Santa

Some better news than what's been appearing of late:

• Katarina Perez was 9 years old when her father, a Chicago police officer, was killed in the line of duty.
  
  Now a 21-year-old college student, Perez spent the weekend with the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation as it caravaned around Chicago to deliver gifts and holiday cheer to the families of fallen officers and those who have been catastrophically wounded.
  
  A senior at the University of Iowa, Perez said she came home early for the holidays so she could give back to the charity group that has been a source of emotional and financial support for her family since its founding in 2004.
  
  The foundation completed its eighth annual Operation Santa on Sunday afternoon when it arrived at the Perez family home in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood after visiting the homes of 15 other families. Retired law enforcement officers, dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus, as well as active Chicago police officers dressed as elves stepped out of black SUVs and greeted the Perez family.

And some other things that aren't getting nearly enough coverage:

• New York Jets’ center Nick Mangold donned an NYPD cap in support of slain officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos before today’s game against the New England Patriots.

The Yankees step up, too:

• Yankee owner George Steinbrenner died in 2010, but his appreciation for the men and women in blue who protect New York City lives on.
  
  For 32 years, Steinbrenner's Yankee Silver Shield Foundation has provided for the education of the children of New York City police officers, firemen and Port Authority employees who died in the line of duty, and will do so for the family of NYPD officer Rafael Ramos, gunned down by a cold-blooded killer Saturday along with his partner, Wenjian Liu.
  
  The foundation will pay for the education of Ramos' son, 13-year-old Jaden, and another son who is in college.

The media couldn't wait to plaster the "hands up" lie and the "can't breathe" fiction all over television. But this is barely a blip it seems.

10.5 Hour Days Come to 005

Why have three shifts when you can do it all with two?

• Hey SCC, is fop making some back room agreement with the city which violates the rights of the BARGAINING members of the CPD in the 005th district? I mean re pick new furlos, new DOG's, no more 3rd watch, spending breakfast, lunch and dinner at work, moving your start times more than 2 hrs in violation of the just voted on FOP contract? This is the city's ways of eliminating a watch, doing more with less, more works days, using a lot of time due to take a day off, less vacation time, good luck going to,court and then going to work at 1800 till 0430 hrs.... Or 2000 till 0630 and they still call it third watch? Where's fop on this? This is a disaster in the making.....

Let's hear it guys and gals.

We keep thinking about the lies told to everyone, including the citizens, when they combined Districts and said there wouldn't be any reduction in manpower. The "Crime in Wrigleyville and Boystown" blog has documented a massive decrease in the 019/023 manpower and the coincidental uptick in robberies, burglaries and thefts. 002/021 was a similar disaster. 012/013 citizens might have gotten the worst of it since their beat cars are coming from nearly three times the distance away.

Now the public is supposed to sit back while the City eliminates an entire shift of police officers and trust that the numbers will be the same inside of a year? Don't make us laugh.

Florida Officer Killed

A horrible weekend for law enforcement:

• A police officer in Tarpon Springs, Florida, was shot and killed early Sunday, a sheriff's spokeswoman said.
  A suspect is in custody.
  
  The fatal shooting occurred in a residential area in the predawn hours, said Cecilia Barreda from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
  
  The slain officer, Charles Kondek, was a 17-year veteran of the Tarpon Springs Police Department.
  
  Kondek, 45, was a New York City police officer for five years before moving to Florida, the sheriff's office said.

But don't worry - the killer apologized already, so it's all good by liberal standards. Anything can be forgiven if you just apologize - except being white, republican, religious, or an agent of the law.

Third NYPD Escapes Death

It was almost three dead in New York Saturday:

• A third NYPD cop narrowly escaped with his life Saturday night when a suspect pointed a gun twice at him and pulled the trigger in The Bronx — not realizing the weapon was empty.
  
  Cops had gone to East 140th Street in Mott Haven at 9 p.m. after getting a report of a man shooting out windows with a .357 caliber revolver.
  
  They spotted the suspect, Raymond Leonardo, 17, and ordered him to drop the gun. Instead, he took aim at one of the officers and pulled the trigger two times, officials said.
  
  When the gun didn’t work, he put it in his pocket and ran, authorities. Cops tackled him a few blocks away.

That is some bold-as-brass shit.

Imitation is...

...the sincerest form of flattery they say:

• A south suburban man was killed and at least five other people were injured in a shooting at a house party in Calumet City early Sunday.
  
  About 1:50 a.m., between 100 and 150 people were at the party in the basement of a home in the 600 block of Escanaba when a fight broke out and at least one person opened fire, Calumet City Police Chief Ed Gilmore said.
  
  Dewayne Purnell, 19, was taken with gunshot wounds to Franciscan St. Margaret Health in Hammond, Ind., where he was pronounced dead at 2:37 a.m., according to the Lake County Coroner’s office.
  
  At least five other people shot were taken to hospitals by ambulance from the scene, but as many as 11 people in all may have been shot, Gilmore said. Police were still tallying the number of victims who showed up with gunshot wounds at hospitals early Sunday.

Looks like Cal City wants to be just like the big city. Any Chicago addresses in the victim list?

RIP Officers

Congratulations Holder, Obama, de Blasio.

You got what you wanted.

Watch your backs boys and girls. Copycats are emboldened by shit like this.

UPDATE: An off duty St. Louis cop was also wounded yesterday. Prayers for the injured officer.

NYPD Turns Back on Mayor

A powerful statement in the wake of the assassination of two NYPD Officers:



Coming mere days after the PBA began circulating petitions to keep the mayor and other politicians who have been fanning the flames of hatred away from police funerals.

We turn to the always pointed commentary of the AceofSpades blog for this observation:

• ...in light of the murder of twp NYPD officers, Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, I thought I'd bring up one quick concept that too many people tend to forget or understandably shy away from.
  
  This is what they do.
  
  The political left in this country is comprised primarily of people who have a background as, or the mindset of, "community organizers". The job of a community organizer is to make things worse. They are the ones throwing gasoline on the fire and rubbing salt in the wounds. Their job is to sew turmoil, discord and hate. They work to prevent accord from being reached, to end cooperation between peoples and to head off agreement. They are professional shit stirrers.
  
  Why?
  
  Ideologically, their reason is to destroy western civilization so that it can be replaced with a collectivist Utopia. That's great and all, but it's kind of fuzzy. Personally, however, their motivation is pure personal profit. There's not a single one of these sons of bitches that doesn't get rich ripping the scabs off of wounds, and in that lies the ultimate irony. They decry the capitalist and free marketeer as promoting a system based upon the assumption that people act from in own self interest, while at the same time demonstrating all of the traits that they condemn, proving that the capitalist was right in the first place. Human nature is human nature. None of this should surprise anyone who is a student of history, yet somehow it always does.
  
  A peaceful, prosperous community or nation does not need community organizers. Community organizers, on the other hand, can't function in a peaceful, prosperous nation, so they are always, ALWAYS, striving to destroy it.
  
  None of this is new, or surprising. We just need to remember who these people are.

The Quiet Dump

Reports from the Lieutenants Union that they are once again collecting dues contributions from the check of one Lt. Glenn Evans, meaning he is no longer a commander.

Interestingly, the word is that the former (and current lieutenant) declined to keep his PBPA membership active upon making commander rank, so the union allegedly isn't paying for the defense costs for his current troubles.

It would seem that McCompStat's rock-solid faith in his hand-picked loose cannon has collapsed.

Emanuel Mugging and the Media

We took an inordinate number of comments down yesterday. There was a disturbing amount of glee in the mugging of Rahm's kid. There was also truckloads of abuse heaped on the district personnel that was out of line (don't mistake what appears in the Comment Section as ours - people making that leap of stupidity will be deleted).

We'll confess to leading the pack when someone wanders into a no-go zone with a pocket full of cash, a desire to score intoxicating compounds and gets a lot more than they bargained for. Or the altar boy turning his life around and managing to play backstop to half-a-dozen rounds in the early hours of the morning when he should have been home working on that cure for cancer. But we don't visit the sins of the father upon the son unless the son has proven himself an asshole....like the Shortshanks family.

So now we get to see if the media can actually do an investigation, because the story is falling apart as we speak. We have it from numerous sources that there are holes in the story that you could drive a truck through. No video exists (that we've heard of) despite cameras at both ends of the block, at nearby businesses and the CTA El station. Someone else claims the phone was wiped before the detectives could start tracking it. Others have said the victim was uncooperative when confronted with inconsistencies.

There is no upside for Rahm here. His kid may have been mugged by what used to be Rahm's faithful voting bloc, in which case:

• does Rahm insist on full prosecution of the misguided youth?
• does Rahm decline to allow his son to appear in court?
• does Anita plea bargain, or put more black/brown children to prison, pissing off Prickwrinkle?

Or is there something else at work here?

And what about the manpower? Crime in Wrigleyville and Boystown blog has been covering the police shortage for over a year and the rise in armed robberies, strong armed robberies, reclassified thefts and other crime. Rahm can't possibly admit that he lied to those residents and police manpower is down double digits.

We're feeling a stonewalling coming down.

Hey Rahm, Crime is down!

This might be interesting:

• A person was robbed Friday night across the street from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s home, police said.
  
  The robbery happened in the 4200 block of North Hermitage in the Ravenswood neighborhood on the North Side, according to police at the scene.
  
  Emanuel’s home is in the same block.
  
  Police wouldn’t say who was robbed.
  
  About a half dozen police officers were on the mayor’s porch early Saturday morning.

Here's the pic with the article:

That's Rahm's house all right. Why would there be 6 cops on the porch? There are already two or more parked in front, two or more parked in the alley, a heavy weapons car nearby, a roving patrol.

Then these rumors popped up in the comment section:

• Rahm's son was the victim of a robbery right in front of their house tonight.
• Rumour has it that the Mayor's son was beaten and robbed. Crime is down Crime is down!  

Really? With 6 cops on the block 24/7? Golly. We don't know about you, but we're sensing another "Tomato-gate" type dumping of police personnel...which is going to be interesting logistically seeing as how that detail is already filled by reverse-seniority because no one wants to deal with the mayor or his family.

Broad Daylight

It's almost like...like...

• A 19-year-old man was pronounced dead and 10 other people were injured in daytime shootings in Chicago Friday, police said.
  
  The fatal shooting happened at 4:35 p.m. on the 3000 block of South Kedvale Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood, said Chicago police spokesman Thomas Sweeney.
  
  The man was walking when someone walked up to him and began firing, Sweeney said. The man was struck several times in the chest and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, Sweeney said.

It tis the season, isn't it? Where's the peace on earth and goodwill toward men?

File Under "No Shit Sherlock"

Who has been saying this for months? Oh yeah - all our readers:

• The Emanuel administration was standing by the city’s scandal-plagued red light camera program on Friday, in the face of a Chicago Tribune study revealing the city’s safety claims have been overblown.
  
  
• The city has boasted a 47 percent reduction in right-angle crashes at intersections with red light cameras. However, the Tribune study found the city did not factor in significant changes in the way the state tracks traffic accidents, the improved safety of modern vehicles, or changes in traffic flow due to the recession. The Tribune study showed a 15 percent drop in right-angle crashes, but also a 22 percent increase in rear-end crashes, likely due to drivers slamming on their brakes to avoid a ticket.

The Tribune article is here (password needed).

The insurance companies wanted us to pass along their thanks to Rahm and Richie for permitting massive premium hikes.

The Pros From Dover? Not Likely

Philadelphia police shooting:

• The family of a man shot in the head and killed by a Philadelphia police officer sought answers in the hours after the deadly incident during a traffic stop in the city’s Mayfair section.

Damn those police! Killing a man for....what was the reason again?

• The deadly gunshot rang out around 2:45 a.m. along the 6600 block of Frankford Avenue after police said the suspect reached for a loaded handgun — stolen last year — in his rental car.

Yeah! All for the minor crime of having....um...wait a minute. A loaded gun?

No...a stolen loaded gun.

Oh.

Momma is beside herself:

• "I would like to know why the police, law enforcement, has the right to kill instead of disabling," the victim's mother Tanya Dickerson said. "It has to stop, this is enough already."

Seriously. It's right there in the report. We couldn't make this up if we tried. Actually, we could come up with something close, but then we'd be accused of all sorts of racism and shit.

What was sonny up to lately Momma?

• Dickerson said that her son served five years in prison for aggravated assault stemming from a 2007 beating where he was charged with attempted murder. She said that since his release from prison, Tate-Brown was trying to get his life back on track — working at a rental car place — being a "good guy."

Riiiight. Turning his life around? Prison degree in something? Maybe a GED? Still doesn't explain the stolen gun in the possession of a convicted felon - a violation in every state we can think of.

So what does Momma want?

• Dickerson said Tate-Brown's family contacted the NAACP to also investigate the case.

Sure. Because the NAACP has all those scientists and stuff on call ready to investigate at the drop of a sideways hat. They'll have the protests up and running in no time...and with no evidence either.

de Blasio Hypocrisy

The New York Post reports this amusing little story from the Big Apple:

• Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered city lawyers to stay silent about a groundbreaking lawsuit to keep bootleg cigarettes out of the Big Apple — because it came as Hizzoner was downplaying the illegal cigarette sales that led to the ill-fated police arrest of Eric Garner, The Post has learned.
  
  The city Law Department drafted the civil racketeering suit the same week that a Staten Island grand jury did not indict NYPD cop Daniel Pantaleo in Garner’s chokehold death, and it was quietly filed in Brooklyn federal court on Dec. 9.
  
  The Law Department drafted a press release boasting that the suit “is the first of its kind brought by the city against an out-of-state entity for supplying cigarette traffickers,” sources said.
  
  But City Hall suppressed the news, ordering the Law Department not to put out the release, according to the sources.

So de Blasio's administration was preparing a massive RICO suit against a tobacco seller for circumventing the New York tax code at the exact same moment that de Blasio was ripping the NYPD for enforcing the so-called "minor offense" of selling loosies. But who's taking the beating in the press? Oh yeah, the NYPD for enforcing the law.

Anyone See Any Bias Around?

Just maybe a teeny tiny bit of slant to this asshole's drawing?

Gee, it's the same jagoff who drew the cartoon directly below. And no one on the editorial side of things saw a possible problem with this? Especially as it makes no sense from panel #2 to panel #3 - that's a helluva leap of lib-tarded logic that a cop would think ignorant NFL players would = trigger happy cops.

Anyone Done Policing Yet?

But don't worry. The paper ran an explanation!

• A Philadelphia-area newspaper regrets publishing a Santa cartoon that has drawn the ire of local law enforcement.
  
  The cartoon published in Sunday’s Bucks County Courier Times features a line of black children lined up asking Santa Claus to "Keep us safe from the police."
  
  Drawn by nationally-syndicated political cartoonist Chris Britt, the cartoon references a relationship of distrust between the black community and police recently spotlighted in the Ferguson, Cleveland and Staten Island cases of black men dying at the hand of police officers.

Well, let's see:

1. Ferguson - cop killed an attacker;
2. Staten Island - guy died of heart attack an hour post-arrest after fighting with police;
3. Cleveland - kid pointed toy gun with the orange safety indicator removed/painted over at a cop

Of those, only the last one could be (or has been) considered questionable as there is an allegation that the 9-1-1 caller said it might be a toy. Bad tactics, avoidable tragedy, etc. A sad set of circumstances.

But hey, fine, insult, demean, piss all over the cops. When your garage, apartment or house gets broken into, don't call the police to walk through and make sure the bad guys are gone, the basement is clear,  the windows are re-secured. You'll be fine sitting up all night in shifts with the spouse comforting the kids for the next few years.

Next time little Johnny, Jamal, Amir, whoever is lost, be sure you get a hold of your neighborhood crack addicts, dope dealers and child molesters to go look for him. After a decade or so of therapy, maybe he'll tell you what happened when he couldn't approach a cop to bring him home.

When you get dragged into an alley at knife point and relieved of your wallet, your dignity, your life, thank your own private deity that you didn't have to call those racist police. You can say with pride that you kept faith with the downtrodden and exploited masses, while the downtrodden and exploited enjoy the fruits of your labor.

40,000 CR Files?

This keeps popping up - what's the progress on it?

• Regarding the CR files that are the subject of the current fight about releasing via FOI:
  
  They all exist all right, about 40,000 of them and they are on disc, every one of them. Entire file, not just a one sentence summary. Including at least a couple with one former FOP President John Dineen as the accused. Also including my entire career with 27 years of CR files but not one sustained complaint.
  
  The older ones are not supposed to exist. But they do. Now what? 40,000. You can bet that if the Tribune gets it's hands on them that there will be a link for the public to view the entire group of them.

40,000 files, most of which should not even exist, most of which we were promised didn't exist any more. But there they are.

Suspicious Package

All Points Bulletin issued for the Keesing Bandit:

• Police are responding to a suspicious package on State Street in the Loop, officials said.
  
  Police were called to the 100 block of North State Street at 3 p.m., police said.
  
  Several streets were being closed off as police investigated, officials said.
  
  No other details were available.

Rumored to be in the package:

• feather boa;
• fuzzy pink handcuffs;
• Sybaris gift cards;
• "Do-It-Yourself Wine Spritzers" handbook

Call Area Central with information.

The Rebuilding Begins

Cutler benched:

• The Bears’ marriage to quarterback Jay Cutler, consummated to the tune of seven years and $126.7 million less than 11 months ago, is broken.
  
  Sources confirmed to the Sun-Times late Wednesday that Cutler will be benched Sunday against the Lions for backup Jimmy Clausen, the Notre Dame alum who’s yet to take a significant snap this season.
  
  The team informed Cutler of the decision Wednesday, though Marc Trestman didn’t reveal it during his midday press conference.
  
  The second-year coach, hired in part to mentor the mercurial quarterback, did state the obvious: that he hadn’t helped Cutler improve as much as some of his former pupils.

Well golly, for $126 million over seven years, we'd expect that the coach didn't have to do much "improving" on an investment like that.

We've been watching football a long time (longer than hockey if you must know) and we haven't seen a team completely give up on itself, each other and the fans like this team has. Even during the bad years of the 1970's, they played a full game. They sucked as we all know - Walter could only carry the team so far in those years - but they played 60 minutes. This team...not so much.

Might as Well Post the Rumor

Even if it isn't true, it makes everyone at 35th Street nervous and the phones start chirping nonstop when we do:

• Rumors are swirling through the hallowed halls of 35th Street that Superintendent McCarthy has finally gotten the phone call of his dreams. It's rumored that the good and righteous Mayor of New York has called Mr. McCarthy to request an audience.
  
  The rank and file in New York are not happy with the socialist in chief there, and he believes a renowned member from the NYPD can help him with his moral problem there. It seems Bratton is too much of a copper and not enough of a socialist politician.
  
  Garry, take it. I am sure I can find about 12,000 guys and girls that will help you pack the truck. Hell, we'll kick in for your air fare too.

We're good for $10 per for relocation costs.

The Search Continues

Still looking for a willing match:

• Dozens of people showed up at a Northwest Side police station Tuesday afternoon to help save the life of a Chicago Police officer.
  
  Blanca Magallon, 43, a plain-clothes tactical officer who works out of the 1st District at 18th and State, has leukemia, and needs to find a bone marrow match in order to undergo a life-saving transplant.
  
  Many of her colleagues submitted to a quick cheek swab to see if they could be a potential donor to save her life, or the life of some one else in search of a match.

There might be some options out there:

• Nine potential matches for Magallon have been found, but each donor decided not to go through with the procedure.
  
  
• “Most people wrongly assume the process automatically involves surgery, but 80 percent of the time the bone marrow can be obtained through stem cells in a person’s blood,” said Lauren Johnson, who coordinated the marrow drive for Be the Match, which is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program.

Hopefully, someone changes their mind or another match is found shortly.

• Another bone marrow drive in which volunteers will undergo a simple cheek swab will be Dec. 29 at the 4th district station, 2255 E. 103rd St. from noon to 8 p.m.

Keep trying.

Another Repeat Offender

Among the subjects who shot and killed DeMario Bailey, a previous...wait for it...GUN CHARGE!

• Prosecutors said Johnson was convicted earlier this year of unlawful use of a weapon and was sentenced to two years of juvenile probation.

Wow Prickwrinkle, that juvie probation thing is working out great! No need whatsoever to transfer juveniles to adult court for certain crimes, eh?

Unions Sue Rahm

Entirely expected:

• On Tuesday, [pensioner Mary] Jones was one of a dozen current and former city employees named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the city, along with four unions that represent them: AFSCME Council 31, the Chicago Teachers Union, the Illinois Nurses Association and Teamsters Local 700.
  
  They’re asking a Circuit Court judge to overturn the bill that saved the Municipal Employees and Laborers pension funds, citing the same clause in the Illinois Constitution at the core of the state pension reform case: that pension benefits promised to government employees “shall not be diminished or impaired.”

This will likely set the stage for any number of pension fights. Follow along closely boys and girls.

Seriously? Wine?

What, you can't afford Binny's so you shoplift as Costco?

• Shoplifting has escalated in the city, and the Chicago Police Department’s organized crime division is part of a task force trying to stop it.
  
  But now the 2 Investigators have learned one of their own officers was charged with shoplifting after an alert store security guard and cameras caught the cop in the act.
  
  According to police reports, on Oct. 18, Costco security saw a customer at its store at 1430 S. Ashland Ave. take a bottle of wine off the shelf and place it in her shopping cart. She then moved to the back of the store, where security saw her place the bottle in her purse.

Not just one bottle of wine - but five. And then attempted to flee the scene following a confrontation. Great job there lady, way to tarnish the star.

Remember What Matters

Not these lives it would seem:

• Four people — at least two of them boys — were shot in the South Side Washington Park neighborhood on Monday evening.
  
  About 4:45 p.m., two male juveniles and two other people whose ages and genders weren’t immediately known were approached by gunmen in the hallway of a building in the 5700 block of South Michigan, police News Affairs [...] said, citing preliminary information.
  
  The gunmen opened fire and ran away...

Tsk tsk. For shame. Four at a time? Sounds like the summer that wouldn't end.

Someone Has Seen the Future!

And it looks like this:

• Any Street, Anywhere USA
  
  Victim: Officer, officer! That man just stole my purse!
  
  Officer: Good morning ma'm, or does that pronoun offend you. If so, please advise me of the correct pronoun I may use in order to not....
  
  victim: Officer, you're not listening to me! That man stole my purse.
  
  officer: That gentleman across the street?
  
  Victim: Yeah, that's him.
  
  officer: Okay, let me go talk to him.
  
  victim: He's a big guy, don't you want some help?
  
  Officer: Oh no, anything that might give the appearance of a show of force isn't allowed.

Officer leaves to talk to the alleged suspect and then returns:

• Officer: Is it a red purse with black trim and brass colored clasp with the initials MS on the side?
  
  Victim: That's it, my name is Mary Smith and those are my initials. That's my purse.
  
  Officer: I figured it was yours, he doesn't look like the purse type. The problem is he doesn't want to give it back.
  
  Victim: Well, arrest him, he robbed me of that purse. He punched me, knocked me down and then took my purse. Look at this bruise on my arm, and I'm bleeding from my forehead.
  
  Officer: I'm afraid I can't do that. He said he wouldn't allow me to arrest him. I can call the EMS folks though to treat you for your injuries. There will be a fee of course.
  
  Victim: What??!! You have to arrest him. He committed a robbery and I'm the victim. I demand you arrest him.
  
  Officer: I'm afraid I can't do that. He said he would fight if I tried to arrest him and our new Rules Of Engagement don't allow us to confront a hostile suspect.
  
  Victim: Rules Of Engagement? What the hell is that?
  
  Officer: Basically it means if the alleged suspect offers any resistance, or even says he will resist, our Rules Of Engagement say we shall not "engage". It's really quite simple and it makes our job much simpler. No more fights, no violence involved and everyone is much safer that way aren't they?
  
  Victim: But he robbed me and he's standing right there, you mean you can't do anything?
  
  Officer: Oh, whether or not I could do something doesn't matter. I'm not allowed to confront a possibly hostile suspect. Perhaps you could talk to him and see if he will come down to the precinct house and turn himself in.
  
  Victim: That's it? That's all you can do?
  
  Officer: Well, I can give you our website and you can make a report of this alleged crime. It's a really neat website, designed by the same folks that did that Affordable Care Act site. And I'd be glad to give you the office phone numbers for Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Eric Holder.
  
  Victim: Will they do anything?
  
  Officer: Not really, they're only interested if I do something.
  
  Victim: Well did you at least get his name so I know who the bad guy is when I make this report?
  
  Officer: No, he didn't want to give me his name, and gosh all I can do is ask.
  
  Victim: This is incredible. He's just standing over there like he knows nothing will be done about this.
  
  Officer: I know. Happens all the time now. Well, have a nice day and call any time, we're here to help.
  
  Victim: But officer....
  
  Officer: You'll have to excuse me, I have to go apologize to that gentlemen for disrupting his day.

Sounds very prophetic.

The Bears Still Suck

That is all.

Open post this fine Tuesday morn.

Any changes coming down yet?

Make up Your Damn Mind

This passes for deep thinking on the left:

• A 15-year-old boy who was fatally shot during an attempted robbery Saturday afternoon in the Englewood neighborhood was walking with his twin brother and was only days away from his birthday, according to his school principal.
  
  [...]
  
  Demario was a 10th-grade student at Johnson College Prep, according to Principal Garland Thomas-McDavid. She called for increased levels of security so people do not have to live with the "constant threat of being killed."
  
  [...]
  
  "I believe I speak for every mother who lives on the South Side of this city in saying we don’t mind if it takes (martial) law to get this in order. Demario did not deserve to die three days from his 16th birthday," she said.

"...increased levels of security..."

"...if it takes (martial) law..."

And where, pray tell, are these increased levels of security and martial law going to come from? Certainly not from the oppressive and racist Chicago Police Department?

Bloody Weekend

A warm December weekend, results in spring-like mayhem:

• A 15-year-old boy shot dead during a robbery attempt was among three people killed and at least 27 others wounded in shootings across the city so far this weekend.

With the neighborhoods of North Lawndale and Humboldt Park accounting for 66% of the violence. Maybe a new strategy is in order?

Spare the Rod...

...spoil the child:

• Probably the most significant way that Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle continues to distinguish herself from her political brethren is by challenging the get tough law-and-order assumptions underlying our criminal justice system.
  
  On Friday, Preckwinkle opened a new front in her campaign for a more thoughtful approach to crime and punishment by seeking an end to the Illinois law that requires juveniles accused of certain felonies to be tried and sentenced in adult court.
  
  Preckwinkle said she will make elimination of the state’s “automatic transfer” law her top criminal justice priority in the Legislature, likely putting her on a collision course with Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Just another in a long line of democrats catering to the criminal class. Reduced penalties, early releases, low bonds, shameful plea deals, and now this. The entire goal for Prickwrinkle appears to be electronic home monitoring for any and all offenses.

Hey, Look!

The white police didn't kill a black criminal:

• TARRANT, Alabama - Helen Johnson stared in amazement at the piles of food accumulating in her small Tarrant apartment on Wednesday.
  
  "The last time I saw my house this full, I was 12-years-old and staying with my grandmother,'' said the 47-year-old mother and grandmother. "I've been crying all day."
  
  On Wednesday, Tarrant police delivered two truckloads of groceries to the woman, who on Saturday was caught stealing five eggs from the nearby Dollar General. Instead of arresting Johnson, Tarrant Police Officer William Stacy bought her a carton of eggs and sent her home with the promise to never shoplift again.
  
  That in itself, Johnson said, was a blessing. But those blessings now seem to have taken on a life of their own. Tarrant police said they've received calls from across the United States and world since hearing of Johnson's plight. People have offered food, money and clothing.

Golly. If this keeps up, what's going to be left to protest? People (and folks) might actually have to get jobs to fill their days and contribute to society.

Black Lives Matter

Except when they don't:

• A 17-year-old boy was charged with the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy during a robbery attempt on the South Side.
  
  The teen is accused of shooting Demario Bailey for his jacket about 12:40 p.m. Saturday in the first block of West 63rd Street, police said.
  
  Bailey, of the 7500 block of South Wabash, was shot in the chest and pronounced dead at the scene, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

So a black life is worth less than a $100 jacket? $150? $200? That's kind of sad, but we aren't seeing any protestors marching up and down the south side for some reason. Any lib-tards want to explain that one?

Shut Up Already

This is getting stupider by the moment:

• Thousands of protesters marched down iconic Pennsylvania Avenue on Saturday, arriving at the Capitol to call attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police and call for legislative action.
  
  “What a sea of people,” said Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, killed by an officer in New York in July. “If they don’t see this and make a change, then I don’t know what we got to do. Thank you for having my back.”

How about you people (or folks) stop attacking police?

How about you folks (or people) stop breaking the laws PASSED by the legislature and ENFORCED by the designated law enforcement officials who undergo hundreds of hours of training and continuous training for YEARS afterward?

These street corner lawyers and media assholes are getting so much wrong. We actually heard on the radio that this "excessive force" has to stop. Seriously? What's "excessive" about defending your life from an attacker? We're just supposed to let someone take our gun? What's "excessive" about not retreating in the face of UNLAWFUL resistance? How about you break the fucking law, you go to jail?

We can't wait until the leftists, anarchists and media take this to the logical conclusions:

• Someone hits your car? Maybe they'll only beat you into a coma, not a coffin
• Someone wants your iPod/iPhone? The economy needs more spending - go buy another
• Someone in your house? Give them the TV and jewelry
• Someone decks you in a "wilding"? They're just misunderstood
• Someone wants to rape you? Lie back and enjoy it
• Someone confronts you with a gun? The police will be here, right? Soon? 

You think it isn't coming?

NYPD Takes a Stand

Nice move by our brothers and sisters on the east coast:

• The union representing New York City police is encouraging officers to sign a waiver banning Mayor Bill de Blasio from attending their funeral should they be killed in the line of duty.
  
  The "Don't Insult My Sacrifice" waiver is available on the website of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which has been enraged by the lack of support from de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito following a grand jury’s decision not to indict the officer involved in the chokehold death of Eric Garner, the New York Post reports.
  
  The mayor added fuel to the fire at a news conference where he confided he'd warned his biracial son Dante to be careful around police, while PBA President Patrick Lynch charged de Blasio had basically thrown cops "under the bus."

We're about to see a nationwide "de-policing" shortly.

What's Up in 011?

Seems like the bad old days, accounting for something like half the violent crime in the city:

• 12 people shot in 011 in 30 hours. How about changing the command staff in 011?

Indeed. It seems the "missions" that a lot of commentators are talking about aren't working. 011 is leading the homicide race and is the only district with over 50 killings. 007 isn't far behind though either. Seems a bunch of people ought to be sweating their jobs.