Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Values?

First, a bunch of numbers from the Tribune, numbers that ought to lead to a wholesale firing of brass at HQ:
  • The burst of violence follows two straight weekends when more than 50 people were shot in Chicago. That's the first time that has happened on back-to-back weekends over the four years the Tribune has been tracking shootings. In August, more than 40 were shot on four consecutive weekends.

    So far this year, at least 2,300 people have been shot in Chicago, about 400 more than during the same period last year, according to a Tribune analysis. Through Sunday, homicides have risen to 359, up 21 percent from 296 a year earlier, according to preliminary data from Chicago police.
Crime is down? Pardon our laughter - hahahaha.

A whole bunch of outlandish statements from Rahm:
  • Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday addressed the shooting in Back of the Yards, saying he was angry and “enough is enough.”
Really? Because you certainly aren't holding Garry's feet to the fire. And we have yet to see a single exempt member of the command staff demoted over out-of-control shootings.
  • As he often does, Emanuel railed against the poor values of gangbangers. “Wherever you live, you should be able to get out of your car and go to your home,” said Emanuel, who attended the opening of a renovated Red Line CTA station at Clark and Division streets.
Um, that doesn't sound like he's railing against shit. Railing against "poor values" would be something like, "Parents, raise your kids with a strong base in moral decency. Raise them in a two-parent household. Teach them right from wrong. A gang isn't a parent. Teach them the value of hard work and delayed gratification." But that doesn't play into the "Give me that now" culture so prevalent today.
  • The mayor then returned to his oft-repeated themes of making all Chicago neighborhoods equally safe and calling for tougher penalties for crimes involving guns.
Really? Because we seem to recall Prickwrinkle complaining about too many black/brown folks (and people) in jail. Dart has been closing down entire Divisions at Cook County because the judges aren't housing people any more. Anita is undercharging like she's attempting to win an election. And the Parole Board is bending over backward to release cop killers with the full support of aldercreatures and state reps.
  • “You can say this happened in the neighborhood of the Back of the Yards, but everybody (who) woke up this morning, or heard it last night, felt a pain of anguish, and it’s time that our criminal justice system and the laws as it relates to access to guns and the penalties for using 'em reflect the values of the people of the city of Chicago,” Emanuel said.
Actually, the actions of the lawless seem to exactly and completely reflect the "Chicago values" we see daily. Add in the entire criminal subculture of the City Council and outright corruption prevalent in the mayor's office, we'd say it's pretty darn accurate.

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Car Chase on TV!

Someone actually let this go for a while - and let us apprehend a suspect!
  • A potential suspect who led police on a 30-minute high speed car chase on the West Side Tuesday evening may be in custody.

    Police started following a black jeep at Madison and Sacramento in East Garfield Park around 5:15 p.m. The jeep traveled around 70 miles per hour over a span of six or seven miles across the West Side.

    It appeared at least one car was struck during the chase.

    The suspect stopped the vehicle near 227 North Central and fled on foot. He or she then entered the building at that address, and more than a dozen police vehicles surrounded it.
So the chase went on for 30 minutes? Or the chase was going on for maybe three or four minutes tops, and then the foot pursuit and building search went on for 20 minutes? Because at 70 mph, you can cover a bit of ground, even on the west side. We're willing to bet that this guy fled because he pretty much knows that CPD isn't allowed to chase, and certainly can't chase for anything near 30 minutes, which of course, merely emboldens the lawbreakers and encourages more fleeing.

An excellent and professional job all the way around.

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Undercharging

With Garry pointing out (correctly) that the courts are dropping the ball on charging and sentencing, you'd think that something like this might be a thing of the past - nope:
  • 2 people shot 3000blk of Lexington, car chase with offending vehicle 2 guns tossed out of car(great job of pursuing vehicle to see it and call it out, both recovered), 1 M4 still in vehicle after it crashes near ogden and California, 3 offenders bail and are taken into custody inside the park. Great response by police from 010 and 011. 3 weapons recovered from a vehicle and offenders who had just tried to add plenty of extra holes in some not so upstanding citizen(over 20shots fired from all three weapons). Great case right? Attempted murder? Agg discharge? Multiple AGG UUW charges for all involved? Not here in crook county! Each of the passengers only got 1 charge of AGG UUW, and the driver of the shit show only got a charge for AGG Fleeing and eluding. Funny thing is the driver will probably the only found guilty and do any time. Just as the media is calling for more action to stop the violence the beautiful people at Anita's office are afraid to do their part in putting the bad guys in prison.....
We realize the difficulty of putting a gun in each occupants' hand in terms of a court case, but really? Three guns, three heads. Even if the driver was only driving, they're all accomplices in an attempted murder of two individuals, regardless of the "victims'" rap sheets. The law allows everyone in the car to be charged with murder, why not attempted murder? Aggravated UUW? Pile the charges on and let them take their chances at court. If you can prove they're gangbangers and part of an organized criminal conspiracy, why not RICO them?

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Quick Decision - Correct Decision

One bit of good coming out of last night's bloodbath - police heroism recognized:
  • Two Chicago police officers arrived to Monday night's chaotic quintuple shooting scene in the Back of the Yards neighborhood and were immediately met by a woman carrying a wounded baby.

    The baby, 11-month-old Princeton Chew, was losing a lot of blood. No ambulances were in sight.

    The Deering District officers, John Conneely and Michael Modzelewski, were left with no choice but to go against department protocol -- and drive Princeton to the hospital on their own.
There probably isn't an officer - or a decent human being - who wouldn't do the same under similar circumstances, and these cops rose to the occasion. We don't want to hear from the naysayers and trolls who have been whining about the severity or lack of severity of the wound - any hole in an 11-month-old child is severe, and the kid certainly didn't get to choose his parents.

An excellent job by the officers.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Redmoon Fire Burns Yacht Club

  • About 60 members of the Burnham Park Yacht Club on Northerly Island were sitting down to a surf-and-turf dinner to honor new club members Saturday when embers and ash from the nearby Great Chicago Fire Festival started to fall onto the club, several members told the Tribune.

    "All of a sudden, it was like a meteor shower," club commodore-elect Chris Edmonds said. "A number of people got so frightened they thought the building was on fire and started to exit."

    Thousands attended the fire festival Saturday night at Northerly Island to watch event host Redmoon Theater light a house on fire to celebrate the city's resolve following the Chicago Fire of 1871. Edmonds said thick smoke filtered into the club and ash fell onto some boats in Burnham Harbor from the spectacle.

    Redmoon representatives said in a statement provided to the Tribune, "Our first priority was always the safety of our festival attendees, staff, artists, performers and the surrounding area. We worked directly with the Chicago Fire Department to ensure we exceeded all safety requirements associated with the burning of the GRIT House and we regret any inconvenience that may have occurred at the Yacht Club or their members."

    A Redmoon spokeswoman said anyone affected by the fire should contact Westrec Marinas, which manages Chicago harbors and will coordinate with Redmoon.
Uncontrolled conflagrations are a bad thing.

Uncontrolled conflagrations approved by Rahm Emanuel, licensed by the ciity and torching $100,000 worth of taxpayer money must be good things.

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Grandma, Mom Killed, Baby Maimed

  • Two people were killed and three others - including an infant - were injured in a shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood Monday night.

    Chicago police said an 11-month-old boy and four adults were shot by someone in a vehicle around 7:10 p.m. near 53rd and S. Aberdeen. One woman was pronounced dead on the scene, and another died at the hospital Monday night, police said.

    Relatives identified one of the victims as Patricia Chew, the mother of 11-month-old Princeton. She was two months pregnant, relatives said.

    "You have an innocent family coming home from a family outing. Somebody opens fire on two women, a child, and two adults, killing the mother of the 11-month-old and the grandmother of the 11-month-old,"
Chiraq indeed.

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Pension Board Election

We're told (and our comment sections has reflected this) that there is a Pension Board Election coming up and it seems a bit contentious.

Anyone have a listing of candidates? And is this for all the elected positions?

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Again, Over 50 Shot

Anyone held accountable? Besides the regular ass-chewing at CompStat we mean.
  • The violence in Chicago did not stop even for a minute during the beautifully cool weekend that featured a “Blood Moon” and first supermoon eclipse in over 30 years. With 53 wounded, including a ten-year-old girl, and four killed during the weekend, the moon was not the only place for blood in the Windy City.
Anyone demoted? Anyone fired? Anyone pointing out that "mission" based policing is a ridiculous failure? Anyone pointing out that we are shorthanded beyond belief, nearly 3,000 cops short of what we had back in the 1990's?

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Monday, September 28, 2015

NYPD "Receipt"

Here it is, the "stop and frisk" receipt that NYPD will be required to give to everyone they have a police interaction with:


You can bet ours won't be nearly so simple, seeing how it was written in conjunction with ACLU lawyers and Department pinheads. From the accompanying article:
  • The NYPD has formally introduced the “receipt” cops will now be required to issue to anyone they question during street stops, the Daily News has learned.

    Patrick Lynch, head of the largest NYPD union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, called the new paperwork “another nail in the coffin of proactive policing” and predicted a rise in retaliatory complaints against cops.

    “Instead of improving community relations, these receipts will accelerate an increase in crime and disorder, which will damage the city’s economic health while hurting those crime-ridden communities who need our protection the most," Lynch said.
How bad will it affect policing in New York?
  • Street stops reached a record high of nearly 700,000 in 2011 but are on a pace for about 42,000 this year.
We expect similar reductions in contacts here, along with the accompanying rise in mayhem that New York is experiencing now, too.

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Ladies and Gents - Here's Herbie!

There he goes again:
  • SCC:

    YES!

    Herbie Pulgar Again !!!

    This is about his 15th Arrest!

    Event # 1527006781

    Arrested Sunday in the 014th District around 1200hrs for ONCE AGAIN, stealing a car!

    (At least none of the cars he steals have any of those fuckin' gangbanger city stickers that the liberals thought "had nothing to do with no gangs!" )
And just to show you what kind of judge of character is running Chicago:


We love this photo more and more following every arrest Herbie racks up. How soon until Rahm phones a judge and tells them to stick Herbie in the deepest hole they can find until he leaves for Washington DC?

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Other Things Ed Burke Looks At

You didn't think it was all business in Council chambers, did you?


This one is kind of timely:


And we're pretty sure this is true:


Thanks to the reader who captured these images.

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No More Training

  • Police departments across Illinois say the state budget stalemate has left them struggling to provide necessary training to officers on everything from how to deal with the mentally ill to proper use of force.

    Hundreds of classes are being canceled at a time of heightened tension between police and the communities they serve, and as officers are increasingly the first to respond when a person with a mental illness is in crisis, law enforcement officials say.

    It's also happening just months after lawmakers approved a bill requiring additional law enforcement training — part of a response to fatal police encounters in cities such as Ferguson, Missouri, New York City and Baltimore.
Well let's see - Ferguson was a completely justified shooting in response to an attack, New York was a legit arrest that devolved into a heart attack once the arrestee decided to fight the police, and Baltimore, from every available report, was a "death in custody" when the arrestee stood up in a moving transport van and managed to break his neck. So yeah, it's the police who need training and not the community who doesn't seem to want to accept any responsibility for their own behavior.

Since there's no training, can we empty the Academy for a few months? We've got some days off we'd like to take without getting static from the boss.

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Sunday, September 27, 2015

Two Touchdown Underdogs


Any bets on when the Bears might win their first game?

14.5 point underdogs and the over/under is 43.5.

We're going to bet Seattle scores about 44 points.

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Guilty Verdict in 2011 Shooting

  • A man who prosecutors said is a member of the Black Souls street gang was found guilty Friday of attempted murder in the 2011 shooting of two police officers in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.

    After a four-day trial, Alvis Holley, 28, was convicted of two counts of attempted murder of a police officer, according to court records and a news release from the Cook County state's attorney's office.

    Prosecutors said that in the evening hours of July 18, 2011, the officers saw a narcotics deal in an alley on the 4000 block of West Wilcox Street. When they approached the alley, Holley, who was involved in the transaction, walked up to the passenger side of the police car, prosecutors said.

    Holley could not tell the officers what he was doing or where he lived, so he was told to put his hands on the hood of the police car. Instead, he began to fight with the officers, prosecutors said.

    During the fight, Holley pulled out a .22-caliber pistol from his waist and shot one of the officers in the left bicep and grazed his left temple. When the officer fell to the ground, Holley shot the other one in the head, prosecutors said.
Both officers still carry the bullets in their bodies, one may never return to the streets. Sentencing is late next month and hopefully, he gets the maximum 90 years.

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He Cocked Back the Gun....

  • Police shot and killed a man on Chicago's West Side Friday night.

    Police say officers were responding to a domestic call in the 900 block of N. Central Park Ave. around 9:00 p.m. when they came across a man with what appeared to be a knife or a sharp object in his hand.

    According to police, the man refused to put the weapon down. Police say officers attempted to taser the man twice, but it had no effect.

    Police say the man then attempted to approach officers and that's when an officer shot him.
    The man's mother identified him as 34-year-old, James Anderson.

    Pamela Anderson says her son had mental health issues and that she had previously called police for help with her son.

    Anderson says she called police Friday night hoping someone could come take her son to Loretto Hospital for psychiatric help.

    When officers arrived, Anderson says she asked officers to take her son to the hospital. Anderson says the officers asked if her son had a gun or knife on him. Anderson said she told officers that her son was not dangerous, but that he did keep a box cutter in his pocket.

    Anderson contradicts the police account saying officers did not taser her son before shooting him.

    "When he pulled his gun out and cocked it back, I said 'sir, you don't have to pull that gun back, you don't have to cock it back. He's not going to hurt you,'" said Anderson.
Make that Exhibit A in the defense's refutation of the inevitable lawsuit - Chicago hasn't authorized a weapon that is "cocked" in over 20 years now. So Mama's story is complete bullshit right out of the box.

Cops go home safe. Good job Officers.

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Retiree Killed

Survives a career in Chicago only to get killed during a home invasion in Arizona:
  • Tragedy has struck a former Chicago police officer who was one of the department's first Native Americans.

    He was killed in a home invasion in Phoenix, and now, his family is looking for answers.

    The deadly home invasion is also puzzling Phoenix police officers.

    The victim is Native American icon Jess Sixkiller. The 78-year-old was one of the first Native American Chicago police officers, and his family says he studied at Yale and fought for Native American civil rights his entire life.

Yale to CPD to Phoenix - and you can't even retire in peace any more.

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Saturday, September 26, 2015

More CompStat Questions

Going over yesterday's top post, a number of commentators mentioned this:
  • 002nd District Commander T Williams proves to all in attendance at COMPSTAT this a.m. that the Burger Queen was not the dumbest Commander ever. Paraphrasing the exchange.

    Tracy: "Go on to the next shooting".

    Williams: "I have to admit, this is a murder that we should have prevented! We failed. My officers failed to stop this.
Um, really? As we've stated here and many other places (namely the bar....Shirley Temples for everyone! We swear!), if someone needs to get killed, the killers are going to find a way to kill that person. Step one usually involves picking a spot where the police aren't, which in Chicago means you've just increased your chances of getting away with it by nearly 80%.

More interesting would be a couple plaintiff attorneys we'd like to introduce Commander Williams to who would just LOVE to get that statement on the stand under oath.
  • So, former-Commander Williams....what's that? Oh, sorry, Twice-demoted-former-Commander Willams, you're saying the agent of the City of Chicago, namely the Chicago Police Department, who "meritoriously" promoted you how many times again? You, as a duly appointed leader of that Department were able to prevent this homici...sorry, "killing," by what means again? And you failed to do so?

    Your Honor, we'd like to enter for a Directed Verdict against the plaintiffs Williams, McCarthy, Emanuel, the Chicago Police Department and the City of Chicago. $100 million would do nicely, thank you.
And this moron made it twice.

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Tax Money - Up In Smoke

  • Join us on September 26th as thousands gather at Northerly Island for a spectacular urban ritual that celebrates Chicago's people, history, and unique neighborhood culture.
Remember, this is a fire that left a swath of destruction nearly four miles square, totaled over $200 million in damages and, oh yeah, killed over 300 people. Now it's an "urban ritual" even though it was rained out last year.

Come watch as nearly $100,000 in taxpayer money gets burned, yes burned, into ashes, releasing who knows how many toxic pollutants into the air and particulate matter into the "global warming" blender. Your taxes are going up, but it's so you can enjoy festivals like this pyro maniacal extravaganza celebrating the deaths of 300 fellow Americans.

By the way, our baby has "asthma," and when she gets a whiff of that smoke, you can be sure we're going to sue the crap out of Redmoon and the city - and you know the city always pays.

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Has Rahm Looked Into This?

No, we didn't apply there and get turned down - we have zero desire to work there. No, our ex doesn't work there. No, we don't golf the outing.

We're genuinely trying to help Rahm streamline operations and save money that we are going to need one day in our pensions.
  • Why not arm the Aviation Police and move CPD out of the airports?
You'd gain some dozens of coppers, over one hundred. Dozens of supervisors, too. You could eliminate an entire command structure. Aviation police are already sworn officers, they are eligible for gobs of federal money, they have enough toys to do the job, they know the territory - they just can't be armed on airport property for some unknown reason, even though they can carry anywhere else in the State. Which essentially makes them targets without guns at the place they're supposed to be working.

And while you're looking at this proposal, look at this one, too:
  • CPD out of the high schools.
CPS has hundreds of security officers on staff. They work school hours, school events, school games. The schools even have a "mobile citywide force" to go to problem schools when trouble is expected, which puts them one up on the Police Department. Most are already off-duty coppers/sheriffs earning Social Security credits.

And they are supplemented by one or two CPD officers per high school - for what exactly? The schools aren't looking to start their students down their life paths with criminal records. Most offenses are disciplinary in nature and the schools would rather have "in-house suspensions" than jail a kid. So get the cops out and you'll suddenly see another hundred cops on the streets....at least on paper.

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Friday, September 25, 2015

Wanted: Bus Mechanics

Someone has to untangle all the dead careers that went under the bus at CompStat Thursday:
  • 002nd District Commander T Williams proves to all in attendance at COMPSTAT this a.m. that the Burger Queen was not the dumbest Commander ever. Paraphrasing the exchange.
    Tracy: "Go on to the next shooting".

    Williams: "I have to admit, this is a murder that we should have prevented! We failed. My officers failed to stop this. My officers failed to take any action. They were called there three times, coded out the job twice and the third time issued an ANOV". I wrote up the officers"

    McCarthy: "you should have written up the supervisors too,"

    Williams: "OK, I will do that later!"

    McCarthy: "no you won't. You're not making me the asshole".

    A little bit later on. . .
    Williams: "these conflicts are originating in the Districts surrounding 002. (Implying not his fault but that of those surrounding District Commanders) This one here is right across the Dan Ryan, in007. "

    McCarthy: "Did you communicate with those commanders, Larry did you know about this?"

    After a pregnant pause! Watson "nope, Don't know what he is talking about!" (Exchange heavily paraphrased)
Word is that McCarthy was none-too-pleased at the meeting, but gleeful afterwards - he has the exempt staff doing his dirty work, turning on each other, and it only took four years for them to begin cannibalizing one another. Years of incompetence and politics has finally bent the Department beyond any hope of repair. 

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Life Plus 115

Death would be preferable, but we're biblical that way:
  • Wearing a blue and white dress, the widow of slain Chicago police Officer Thor Soderberg walked to the front of a packed Cook County courtroom Wednesday and poured out some of the pain from her vast loss.

    "I lost everything," Jennifer Loudon said, at times dabbing the tears from her eyes as she spoke of the couple's plans to become foster parents, buy a house and live abroad. "I had no idea it was possible to lose so much in a single lifetime, much less in a single moment."

    Sitting nearby at the defense table, Bryant Brewer, convicted last month of Soderberg's slaying, mocked Loudon. He put his head down and rubbed his eyes with his fists as Loudon wept on the witness stand. Then he lifted his head and laughed.

    Moments later, Judge Timothy Joyce cited Brewer's "malignant heart" as he sentenced him to life plus 115 years in prison for "executing" Soderberg with his own service weapon and then shooting at three other officers and a civilian in 2010.
We probably haven't heard the last of this piece of waste, and that is truly unfortunate.

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Now You See It....

Someone noticed this:
  • OT: Rahm was just on WTTW 11, Chicago Tonight. He was interviewed for about 25 minutes. The word "casino" never came up.

    Before his re-election he appeared several times on CT saying the casino profits would be dedicated completely to the police/fire pension. The casino would "solve" all the financial problems. He also said increasing property taxes would be the absolute last thing he would do.

    What happened to the casino???
So where has all the casino talk gone? Is the casino money out now? Wasn't there some sort of "gentlemen's agreement" with the FOP, PBPA and Fire unions about casino revenues going to fund pensions for a certain number of years? Is all of that gone now? Wasn't Rahm pushing to get the FOP endorsement of the casino deal so he could fire up McCormick Place with slot machines? Supposedly, Trump has an entire floor vacant in his hotel for high-roller gaming, primed for that casino bill that no one is talking about any more.

All we see right now is the Police and Fire pensions holding a $550 million trick bag while casino investors are dividing up the previously earmarked "pension dollars" among themselves.

Are we wrong?

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Pssst. Media....Start Here

This might very well be what the old media guys used to call, "a tip:"
  • 005firefighter said...

    SCC, I just looked at our monthly house supplies order, and found something interesting. The city pays $17.64 for a gallon of bleach. That's one gallon. If only I had that contract.
Gee. We went to a big-box type store the other day and got a 3-pack of one gallon containers of bleach. Our cost? $8 and some change. That means we could have gotten 6 gallons of bleach for what the city pays for one for a single firehouse.

Anyone see a problem here?

We've explained it more than once - all purchases have to go through "approved vendors." Those vendors usually have a storefront in some downtrodden area so it looks like a minority owned company. Inside is a phone forwarded to somewhere else. The answering service takes the call, places the order and shops at the big-box store just like you and us, but they add in a sizable markup - in this single case, over $15 dollars per gallon of bleach. For how many gallons? For how many firehouses?

We pointed out years ago a storefront address on Madison Street that supplied a largish number of city contracts for all sorts of stuff - paper, bike chains/locks, printer parts, K9 Unit dog food, dozens of things we might label as "incidentals." And everything was at a markup of hundreds-of-percent. Seriously. Like maybe a $3 gallon of bleach supplied to the city by the approved vendor at a 600% markup. You think that doesn't add up?

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It Pays to be Connected

Just to refresh everyone's memory:



After being cleared by a Cook County judge (who found that she was connected to the Vrdolyak and Joyce political organizations), she was brought up on Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission charges and the day of reckoning has arrived!
  • Ms. Naughton, who was licensed in 2008, was suspended for 30 days. During a time when employed as an Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney, she entered a retail store with a companion after consuming alcohol. She engaged in disruptive behavior both inside and outside of the store. Police who were called to the scene handcuffed her and placed her in a police SUV. Thereafter, she repeatedly identified herself as an Assistant State’s Attorney and swore at a female officer, calling her derogatory names, and, after she was taken out of the SUV, sat on a curb screaming obscenities. The suspension is effective on October 13, 2015.
Wow....30 days. You don't see a hammer like that come out very often.

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Where Did He Learn This Trick?

  • The Chicago Tribune filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that Mayor Rahm Emanuel violated state open records laws by refusing to release communications about city business conducted through private emails and text messages.

    The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, asks a judge to order the mayor to comply with a state Freedom of Information Act request from the Tribune and produce the documents. The lawsuit also seeks to have Emanuel declared in violation of the Illinois Local Records Act for failing to preserve emails and texts he sent or received while doing city business.

    The lawsuit claims that, in recent years, Freedom of Information Act requests from the Tribune to the mayor's office "have been met with a pattern of non-compliance, partial compliance, delay and obfuscation." Emanuel's use of private phones and personal email, the lawsuit alleges, allows the mayor to do the public's business without scrutiny and contributes to a "lack of transparency."
Golly, it's a good thing there are laws at every level covering this sort of behavior and punishment shall be meted swiftly and ruthlessly against all who disobey. If there weren't consequences, why, a former Secretary of State could run a private e-mail server out of her house, conduct sensitive national business away from Congressional oversight, and allow foreign governments could steal all sorts of classified information. And that would never ever happen.

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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Leadership

The most powerful aldercreature, leader of the Finance Committee, ruler of the Airports, king-maker, judge appointer, steering the Titanic as we serfs toil in the engine room:

  • While the mayor was rallying support for the largest property-tax increase in city history Tuesday, one of the most powerful aldermen in the Council Chamber had something else on his mind — like what to slap on his head, pardner.

    Ald. Edward Burke (14th), the City Council's senior alderman and chairman of the powerful Finance Committee, was captured looking at cowboy hats on his smartphone during Mayor Rahm Emanuel's speech. A person sitting in the upstairs gallery for the invitation-only event took a picture of the alderman at work and sent it to DNAinfo Chicago.
Didn't this guy have his own police radio call sign? Car 1 was the mayor. Wasn't Car 2 Burke? And Car 3 was the Supernintendo. And he's looking at hats while screwing taxpayers to the tune of nearly $600 million.

Again, Repeat Offender

Anita's people decide "not enough evidence," even though that's the job of a jury to determine:
  • A 23-year-old man charged in a Sept. 11 shooting in Rogers Park that hospitalized two, including one in critical condition, had been arrested less than two weeks earlier in a separate shooting that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute for lack of evidence.
And what exactly was the "lack of evidence?"
  • On Aug. 31, twelve days before the latest incident, Richardson had been arrested by police responding to a report of shots being fired, according to both police and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

    In the Aug. 31 case, officers arrived in the 7700 block of N. Sheridan Road around 8:45 p.m. and were told by witnesses of a man in a white shirt and blue jeans running from Rogers Beach after the shots were heard in the area.

    Officers quickly stopped Richardson in the 7700 block of Eastlake for questioning and recovered a loaded .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun nearby, police said. Eyewitnesses ;said Richardson looked like the man they had seen running from the beach, according to a Chicago Police report.

    At the time Richardson told officers the gunshots came from an unidentified rival gang member who fled south on Rogers Ave. in a grey Range Rover with tinted windows.

    Richardson denied the handgun police found was his but later, at the 24th District station, he told officers he had seen the gun before, police said. Richardson told officers his fingerprints might be on the weapon but could not explain why they would be there, according to the report.
Gee, fits the description, gun found nearby, admits he's "seen" the gun before and his fingerprints "might be on the weapon." Can you imagine the incompetence of a States Attorney who couldn't get some, if not all of this, admitted into the record?

Nothing to see here! We'd never win at trial! Guns are bad! We need more laws! Black Lives Matter! Move along folks.

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An Idea Worth Exploring

  • Chicagoans requesting the removal of gang graffiti or complaining about rats in their alleys would have their calls fielded by a private company rather than the city-run 311 operation under a proposal Mayor Rahm Emanuel floated Tuesday.

    His idea of privatizing the 311 call center came in his 2016 budget address, saying it would save the city "about a million dollars a year" to replace union workers with outside contractors. It was one of the few pieces of actual news Tuesday, after the mayor's administration had spent the past week dribbling out many of their financial proposals for the coming year.

    The mayor later said bringing in an outside operator would save the city the cost of making much-needed upgrades to the technology at the non-emergency information center, which would cost considerably more than the operations savings.
There are plenty of able-bodied officers at 3-1-1 who would be better utilized on the streets. There is a command structure in place that would be better serving in the Districts. Civilian operators, even outsourced ones could easily take the standard non-emergency calls about vacant lots, open buildings, burnt out streetlights, potholes, city service requests, etc.....essentially, the entire CAPS system.

This in turn might free up dozens of bodies hiding at HQ in the CAPS implementation office or whatever they're calling it now, headed by one of the eighteen Deputy Chiefs that do nothing except suck up money and manpower.

The Department was looking at automating much of this in the past, but how many votes can a robot deliver? The only questions become (A) what to do with POW's serving there along with the short-and-long-term medical people who aren't street ready, but capable of performing sworn duty functions, and (B) which functions must be performed by a sworn officer?

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IPRA Supervisor Sues CPD

  • A supervisor with the agency that investigates allegations of misconduct against Chicago police officers has filed a lawsuit claiming he was falsely arrested and mistreated when police charged him with driving under the influence and other traffic violations on New Year's Day.

    George Roberts, 51, a supervising investigator with the Independent Police Review Authority — which investigates officer misconduct allegations and police-involved shootings — was arrested early Jan. 1 in the 1500 block of East 85th Place, a block from where he lives. Roberts was found not guilty June 25 of DUI, and had another citation dropped, but was given supervision for two traffic violations, according to court records.

    Roberts filed a lawsuit in federal court last week claiming false arrest, excessive force and violation of his constitutional rights.
He then spins a yarn worthy of the OPS/IPRA Hall of Fame...if there is such a place. Cameras disabled, rough handling, too tight handcuffs, a laughing white shirt....the works! It was a gripping tale of suspense and horror. We certainly expect an Oscar nomination early next year.

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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Rahm's Overblown Rhetoric

  • Mayor Rahm Emanuel told aldermen Tuesday the city must raise property taxes by $543 million to shore up police and firefighter pension funds, or face laying off thousands of firefighters and police officers.
That's it. No other options. Of course, if the City Council actually said no, and Rahm was forced to send out pink slips, he would still be stuck with a hole in the pension about the size of the Grand Canyon - the outstanding liabilities against the pension are something in the neighborhood of 35% funded...if that. So Chicago would have a few thousand less police, half the fire/ambulance coverage and still have to raise taxes $550 million.

And still, not a word about cutting spending, reducing overhead, purchasing smarter, open and fair contracting, etc.

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Second Bloodiest Weekend

We knew the number was high, but we didn't realize it was "Second Bloodiest Weekend" high:
  • The number of people shot in Chicago this weekend is sobering.

    Eight people were killed and 45 others were wounded, which makes it the second most violent weekend in Chicago this year.

    A surprising number of the shootings took place in the Kenwood and Hyde Park area, which are neighborhoods not far from the University of Chicago and President Obama's house.
Why does the media always call that "surprising?" The University of Chicago has had it's own police force for years because, quite frankly, the neighborhood aside from the university, is a shithole. Kenwood is an oasis of calm in a maelstrom of crap. We certainly aren't surprised by the tendency toward violence in the area. You'd think veteran reporters wouldn't be either, if they actually got out into the hood.

And remember, Rahm is going to have to lay off police officers in the midst of this violence.

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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Gullible Fools

These assholes would applaud their own execution if Rahm told them that the noose was a new swing set:
  • Aldermen cheered a mayoral proposal to put 319 more police officers on the street Monday as a spoonful of sugar to help the 2016 budget get passed.

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Sunday that he'd move an additional 319 officers off desk duty and onto the street, replacing them with administrative workers, as part of his 2016 budget proposal to be submitted to the City Council on Tuesday.

    According to Emanuel, the officers "are currently working as Freedom of Open Information Officers, nurses, crossing-guard supervisors, watch relief/police aides, watch secretaries, alternate response call takers, detention aides and property custodians." He has previously touted moving officers from desk duty to the streets during spikes in shootings and violence.
Um, should these officers already be on the street preventing the "spikes" of violence? Or would that make actual sense?

Also, as we pointed out just days ago, the Detention Aides are already civilians, so whatever smoke Rahm is blowing is just that.....smoke. Watch Relief are bid spots by Contract, so those people aren't going anywhere but one day a week. They already got rid of Watch Secretaries the last time around....oh wait, that was a shady paper move. Sorry. And a bunch of people at Callback are stripped of police powers - they're kind of "prisoners of war" unless Rahm is suddenly going to exonerate and absolve them of pending charges?

What a bunch of morons. And the media that prints this drivel without asking...you know...actual cops, aid and abet the moron-ity.

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Perfect Storm of Taxes

  • Chicago already is one of the most expensive cities in the world -- No. 7, according to a report by financial firm UBS.

    But the cost of living soon could rise even more, if Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel gets his way.

    The Windy City mayor is pushing a $500 million property tax increase, the largest in the city's history, as a way to balance an almost $700 million deficit.

    On top of that, surrounding Cook County just raised the sales tax to the highest in the nation, at 10.25 percent, while considering a hodgepodge of other fees. And the state of Illinois faces its own budget crisis, and will likely need to raise taxes to get out of it.

    "There is almost a perfect storm of tax increases coming forward in Chicago," said Laurence Msall of the Civic Federation. "And people who live in the city are in a state of shock."
What was that definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Rahm is right there with the democrats Tax-and-Spend playbook and he's nailing it step-by-step. Detroit is right around the corner.

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This was a Bad Night (UPDATE)

  • A person is dead and 11 others are hurt following a shooting and subsequent car crash in Englewood early Sunday morning, police said.

    Five were wounded from the gunfire and another six were wounded in the crash, according to police.

    At 2:08 a.m., at least six people were standing in the 5800 block of South Lasalle Avenue when another group ran out from an alley across the street and opened fire, according to Officer Jose Estrada, a Chicago Police spokesman.

    Someone from the group pulled out a gun and returned fire, hitting a passing car, Estrada said. The car's driver lost control and flipped over.
No word yet from honeymooning Garry if the original gun was wielded by a Concealed Carry Licensee or if the return fire was sent downrange by a fully qualified holder of an FOID card. Twelve casualties from this incident alone and a particularly blood weekend checking in with something like 8 dead and 45 maimed.

UPDATE: Lots of people insisting this address isn't Englewood. That's the media for you - not like Englewood couldn't absorb the hit for another dozen victims anyway.

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Bring Back the Death Penalty

  • Michael Jones, 62, is held without bond in the 1985 sexual assault and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Glen Ellyn. Prosecutors said DNA tests from earlier convictions led to his arrest 30 years after the crime.

    Kristina Wesselman was sexually assaulted and murdered on her way home from a grocery store on July 21, 1985. Her body was found in a field the next morning.

    "She had been sexually assaulted and had been stabbed eight times," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said.
Thirty years ago, this horrific crime occurred. But investigators did a thorough job and preserved evidence that might one day lead to the killer.
  • A rape kit was performed during her autopsy and semen found in her body led to the DNA profile of her attacker. That DNA was entered into a national database in 2000, Berlin said. On September 10, 2015, investigators were informed there was a hit with an offender in the database, he said.

    That hit: Jones, who was charged with aggravated domestic battery, a felony, in July 2015 in Champaign, Ill. After 2002, the law required those convicted of a felony in Illinois to provide a DNA sample.

    "That law resulted in the evidence that led to the charges in this case," Berlin said at a news conference. "Although it's taken 30 years, we are now on our way to getting the full measure of justice that this case demands."
Very well done. Hopefully, a vigorous and prompt prosecution results in this animal dying behind bars.

But then....:
  • Jones, a repeat offender, was out on parole on a 1977 sexual assault case in Cook County when he raped and murdered Wesselman, Berlin said. In the 1977 case, Jones crashed his car into a woman riding a bicycle and took her to his parents' house where he raped her repeatedly. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 to 20 years, but spent only 7 years in prison.

    He was paroled in 1983. Two years later, Wesselman was murdered.
If he had served even half his sentence back in the day, he doesn't cross paths with the victim. Parole doesn't work on sex offenders. Sorry. We've seen way to much recidivism over the years to give it any credence whatsoever. And to all the bleeding hearts who are at the forefront for regulating everything else in people's lives with your "If it saves just one life...." bullshit, what if keeping these animals behind bars for 100% of their sentence saves one rape victim? One molested child? One murdered victim?

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Monday, September 21, 2015

Brilliant Comment

We posted about the 319 cops being reassigned to the street yesterday, the latest smoke-and-mirror proposal from downtown despite at least 4 previous "house cleanings" that were supposed to reduce hidden spots and maximize the numbers of cops on the street.

Rahm's people claim this is the deciding factor in who stays and who goes:
  • “The plan was borne out of a simple question the mayor asked about officers working in administrative functions: ‘Do you need a gun, a badge and arrest powers to do this job?’ ” Collins said.
Someone posted in the comment section:
  • Maybe he could also ask ..... do you really need a gold star to do that job....[and] gold pension
Bingo. There are a dozen or more units in the Department that could and should be run by Lieutenants and even Sergeants. In the Districts, they've completely removed any sort of responsibility from the Lieutenant rank anyway - everything is the "District Station Supervisor" which is the desk sergeant. The Lieutenants could run the Districts, Captains could run the Areas, Commanders could be cut in half and Deputy Chiefs eliminated. The layers of redundant command are ridiculous along with the pay grades and pension rewards.

Who's got a decent proposal for this? We'll save Rahm millions within a year.

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That's a Lot of Pizza

  • Chicago Public Schools spent millions of dollars to bring in food and beverages from area restaurants and catering companies, including more than $500,000 since July, and now the district says it crafted new guidelines because "no clear rules" were in place.

    On Wednesday, CPS acknowledged it spent roughly $2.9 million on "food from outside vendors" during the budget year that ended June 30. Nearly half was spent by the district's central office bureaucracy. And lackluster record-keeping meant more than a third of the money couldn't be properly accounted for, the district said.
If we couldn't account for one-third of our money, we'd have a lot of explaining to do to the numerous banks, the car loan company, the mortgage people and the significant other.

But hey, the schools can just raise their portion of the property tax to the maximum again to pay for it all. The schools are broke you know.

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Amazing Numbers....if True

The comment section was alive in the "Openings" post:
  • 80 PAR forms in 011
  • 120 in 005
  • 150 in 003
No way to tell if any of those numbers are true without one of our regular readers at Personnel drops us a line, but damn, those are pretty strong indications that (A) people are sick of the ghetto or (B) people are sick of the supervisory structure in those locations. Even if the numbers given are half of what the comments claim, it's a big issue.

Now, a decent manager/supervisor would look at those numbers and ask themselves, "What is so wrong in my organization that people are bailing or attempting to bail out of these positions?" Of course, we have no decent managers or supervisors anymore, so a giant red flag like this will be ignored. People will continue to leave until such time as the Department can send a bunch of green kids who don't know the first thing about police work to go in and get into all sorts of trouble. Lawsuits, CR's, harassment complaints, more lawsuits, maybe even corrupt practices etc. and the city ends up paying out to lawyers and plaintiffs when it all could have been prevented  via a simple analysis of the paperwork.

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Sunday, September 20, 2015

More "Spots" Discovered

  • The Chicago Police Department will soon move hundreds more officers out of desk jobs and onto the streets to battle the city’s surging violence — the latest in a series of transfers of cops from administrative jobs to patrol in recent years under Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

    The department is reassigning 319 sworn officers from administrative positions to boost manpower on the streets without breaking the bank, said Adam Collins, a spokesman for the mayor. Those sworn officers include nurses, detention aides, property custodians and others whose jobs will be filled by lower-paid civilians, Collins said.

    “The plan was borne out of a simple question the mayor asked about officers working in administrative functions: ‘Do you need a gun, a badge and arrest powers to do this job?’ ” Collins said.
Um, Detention Aides aren't sworn - they have no guns and no arrest powers. They're already a civilian program. As for "property custodians," again, it's already civilian for the most part. Some of the mail room people kind of need guns as they're transporting large amounts of narcotics and weapons. We have no idea about the nurses at the medical section except that a lot of them left after that nutty captain drove them out.

This is something like the fifth or seventh "transfer" of cops from inside spots back to the streets in the last 5 years, yet somehow, hundreds more spots are discovered whenever Rahm needs to show he takes the violence seriously, EVEN THOUGH CRIME IS DOWN! Perhaps someone ought to be asking how all these inside people remained inside after the last few rounds of "cuts," yet the same people who got sent out in the last "cut" ended up back at HQ before the ink was dry on the transfer order.

Cut middle management and you'll cut inside spots by design.

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Underdogs Again (UPDATE)


This is going to be a familiar sight all season we think.

Arizona by 2 and the over/under set at 46.

UPDATE: Well that was painful. 8-and-8 is looking like a dream at this point and the 5-and-11 crowd might be right on the money.

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Uber Drive By

Didn't see this one in the media:
  • Hey SCC,

    West side drive by the other night - no hits, but the funny part is the driver, who happened to be working for Uber, came into the District desk to report the fare he picked up directed him to a certain side street where he rolled down the window and started blazing away at the dope boys before ditching the Uber driver to face the return fire alone.
We're betting 015, 025 or 011. Anyone know about this?

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Openings!

A bunch of openings around the city - some in nice districts:
  • 001 - 4
    002 - 6
    006 - 4
    008 - 2
    010 - 2
    012 - 2
    016 - 6
    018 - 2
    019 - 6
    020 - 4
    022 - 2
Good luck.

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Saturday, September 19, 2015

A Very Bad Idea

Can someone please stop this parade of bad ideas coming out of City Hall? Has no one there studied even the most basic theories of Economics? We guess we can't expect much from big city democrats, and Sneed is just a cheerleader/water-carrier for the Machine, but isn't there a single adult anywhere in the room?
  • Sneed hears an addition to a massive city property tax increase is being considered, which could generate $195 million a year!
Oh boy!!! $195 million!
  • Sneed has learned Mayor Rahm Emanuel is eyeing a city commuter/congestion tax that could add mega millions to the city’s barren coffers at City Council Finance Committee Chairman Ald. Ed Burke’s (14th) suggestion.
Uh oh - Ed Burke? He of the trans-fat, foie gras, sugary drink tax ideas? This is headed downhill in a hurry:
  • Upshot: Burke recently persuaded Emanuel to impanel a blue ribbon committee to study the feasibility and logistics of collecting a congestion fee from suburbanites who drive into the city, with a goal of easing Chicago’s notorious traffic problems.
A "blue ribbon committee"? That usually means a panel of morons appointed to be yes-men to anything the mayor or aldrecreature says. No one with an actual, you know, degree in Economics or who built a business (as opposed to inherited a successful company).
  • Big bucks shot: The panel, which is being created as we speak, will look at how such a fee would be collected, where it could be collected, and the costs of operating such a program. At $10 a day, a congestion abatement plan would generate $3.75 million per week or $195 million per year, sources tell Sneed.

    Road block: A number of factors make a congestion fee highly complex, including the fact that it could only be imposed on city streets. The city would not have the legal authority to collect a fee from people driving on state or federal highways.

    Road stats: In order to achieve the goals for reducing emissions and generating revenue the Central Business District — as defined by the Chicago Department of Transportation and the Department of Revenue — would be the focus of any abatement.

    Abatement would take place between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for the evening rush-hour period.

    An estimated 194,000 vehicles travel to the central business district from elsewhere in the city and the suburbs, according to a Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning study conducted before Feb. 2010.
Ummmm.....first Sneed says they want to soak suburbanites who clog up the streets. Then she quotes the "Planning" agency which says 194,000 cars come "from elsewhere in the city and the suburbs." This is blurring the issue and casts immediate doubt on the rosy "$3.75 million per week" Sneed is touting.

Then, Ed Burke says some things that make us (A) doubt his sanity and (B) think he's been hitting the glass pipe a bit hard lately. It does reaffirm our opinion that he is an unqualified moron, an economic dunce and a blithering idiot:
  • “It would be a hard-fought battle, but in European capitals like London, it is extremely successful,” said Burke.

    “New York Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg waged a losing battle to try and impose a similar congestion fee in Manhattan, only to be thwarted by the legislature,” he added.

    “But I’m hoping it could be done. Anybody not a resident of the city and doesn’t have a car registered in the city will pay for the privilege of driving in a congested downtown area, specifically the Loop . . . or take public transportation.

    “We’re talking businessmen, bankers, delivery truck services, vehicles, plumbers, electricians, you name it,” added Burke, who said it would involve automated electronic metering but no stopping on expressway tolls.
Well Ed, London is a congested city because it dates from the second century and doesn't have the advantage of being a planned grid like many American cities.

"thwarted by the legislature"? That's their job you idiot. But of course, being granted your seat by being the spawn of your father's loin and spending all that time as the mayor's "rubber stamp," we kind of get where you would think that the legislature exists to do the will of the elected and not the people they actually represent.

"privilege of driving in a congested downtown area"? What the hell does that mean? Most people view it as an inconvenience.

Here's the only truth in the entire big-wet-kiss-to-Ed-Burke of an article:
  • “It’s a very attractive idea to get taxes to fund the government’s expenses, but it could have unintended consequences,” said a Sneed source.
The biggest hurdle (taxing cars on city roads, not federal or state highways), is going to drive people to those roads, increasing congestion - we haven't researched the whole thing, but there are undoubtedly a few routes that are exclusively state or federal.

So let's say you charge them an extra $10 a day - it works out of another $200 a month for that person to drive downtown. That's on top of whatever they pay already to park somewhere - probably many thousands of dollars a year. Those people might be able to absorb a $1200 hit every year...if they're suburbanites that is. City dwellers wouldn't be paying this, right?

Then there's Ed's contention "We’re talking businessmen, bankers, delivery truck services, vehicles, plumbers, electricians, you name it," These are the people who keep downtown running. If they're going to have to pay another $10, that's going to be a drag on their bottom line. Costs get passed along. Now you're making it inconvenient to companies looking to squeeze every dollar into their bottom line - companies with dozens, even hundreds of trucks with suburban/out-of-state plates and stickers on their trucks because you've already made it prohibitively expensive to register their vehicles here. Hell, even the city leases it's vehicles from out of state. It becomes an economic disincentive.

So you drive out the little guys and the workers, who now park in the burbs and commute in on Metra or CTA lots. You've made those bottom lines bigger (though still operating at a loss in the case of the CTA) at the expense of parking lots and garages who contributed to the city's tax coffers.

And what about companies that actually, you know, listen to their employees about how inconvenient and expensive it's gotten to work downtown? A happy workforce is a productive workforce (and the opposite is true - look at the CPD). What's to stop the companies from moving to the cheaper burbs? Sears? RH Donnelly? United has a token presence downtown, but nothing that can't be relocated with the flip of a telephone switching relay. Even the Exchanges have made legit noises about moving operations out of Chicago should certain harebrained schemes ever come to pass. Those are guys who know the value of a dollar.

Has anyone even done an economic impact study?

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Garbage Fee Arrives

  • Several Chicago aldermen are proposing an alternate garbage fee for residents to help the city solve its budget problems.

    As the mayor prepares to propose what reportedly will be the largest property tax increase in Chicago history, a sheepish city council will wear the jacket for new garbage pickup fee.

    "What am I going to say? We have a financial crisis. We need to come up with some options," said Ald. Danny Solis, 25th Ward.
Well gee, Danny, maybe you could look into cutting costs instead of taxing everything under the sun? We still haven't seen a legitimate study to reduce the number of aldercreatures, trim aldermanic staff, reduce organizational redundancy (even in the police and fire departments), slash and burn administrative staff (especially at the always top-heavy CPS), stop building stadiums for private universities, mega-parks, TIFs....the list is near endless.
  • Zoning committee chairman Ald. Solis was joined by other influential city council members, including the progressive caucus chairman as well as the mayor's floor leader. They have agreed - as a way to raise $80 million - on a maximum $11 monthly garbage pickup fee.

    "This is about as high as it could possibly go and we're working on trying to reduce it," said Ald. Pat O'Connor, 40th Ward.

    And the alderman said they'll support a reduced rate for the city's oldest homeowners.

    "My seniors should not have to pay the full price," said Ald. Michelle Harris, 8th Ward.
Guess who else isn't going to have to pay for garbage pickup?
  • The plan would exempt homeowners from the increase if their houses are worth less than a certain amount.

    "The expanded exemption would cover properties with an assessed value of under $250,000, which will cover a great number of properties in my neighborhoods," said Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th Ward.

    In Ald. Connor's 40th Ward, the vast majority of houses are appraised at more than $250,000. He said his residents would understand.
Yeah, understand they're taking it in the shorts again for a certain segment of society. There was actually a tiny bit of truth in the article, though it was tinged with the typical anti-police/fire slant we've come to expect from the media:
  • City garbage pickup has always been paid for by the property tax, but the administration wants to increase that levy to raise half a billion dollars a year to pay Chicago's police and firefighter pension debt.
Hey, you know, if Daley had actually followed the actuarial suggests for decades, and raised the city contribution like he was supposed to, and didn't get "pension holidays" from Springfield, we wouldn't even be in this position today?

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Again, This is Surprising?

  • Gunfire erupted in the tony Streeterville neighborhood on Wednesday, shattering the lobby window of a high-rise apartment building.

    [...] The bullet’s impact shattered a nearly floor to ceiling window in the lobby of Branden Zollar’s apartment building.

    “I was completely terrified. I did not expect something like that to happen where I’m located. I moved here to feel safer, and it completely freaked me out,” she said.

    Surveillance video captured the two cars involved in a shootout about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. A white four-door passed a dark-colored SUV as both cars were travelling near a Lake Shore Drive pedestrian walkway, getting ready to turn west onto Grand Avenue.
Between these jagoffs, the wilding and the drag races, downtown and the surround neighborhoods are rapidly becoming no-go zones, lest you end up run over, beaten or shot.

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Friday, September 18, 2015

Department Employee Killed

  • A 25-year employee of the Chicago Police Department shot to death outside his Morgan Park home while unloading groceries with his wife Wednesday night was an innocent victim who played guitar in his church's gospel choir, police said Thursday.

    "Outside of his professional life, people didn't know that he actually played guitar at his church, so I knew that side," First Deputy Superintendent Al Wysinger said. "Always just a giving man. And you should be able to ... be able to take groceries out of your trunk in front of your home without worrying about getting shot."

    John Buckner, 59, who was known as "Buck" to family and friends, handled police gear and did administrative work. He was described by police as an innocent victim of a conflict between gangs who earlier in the night had fought in a neighborhood park.

    Three teens on bicycles rode to the 11500 block of South Church Street and started shooting after the fight, police said, hitting no intended targets but killing Buckner and a wounding a 41-year-old man. "Multiple weapons" were involved in the shooting, police said.
What a f#$%-ed up world this is.

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Make Your Plans Now

Especially if you're a Tact officer or low seniority - you will be here and nothing will be allowed to ruin it:
  • Look out, New York City. Chicago is ringing in 2016 with a big outdoor celebration and a twist on the Times Square countdown and ball drop.

    The epic, first-of-its-kind New Year’s Eve event dubbed Chi-Town Rising will feature music headliners, a “visually spectacular countdown to 2016,” and a major fireworks show, organizers announced Thursday. The celebration will be televised live on NBC 5.
We're surprised this hasn't been tried before. The logistics are fairly simple, the amount of graft and cash money available for the political taking is extensive and it's during what is usually a pretty cold night, so opportunities for mayhem will be limited.

This could solve our pension problem, too!

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With Taxes Like These....

  • Hey, Chicago. It's cheaper to live in Tokyo.

    Or so says a report released this week by UBS that lists Chicago as the 7th most expensive city, behind top-ranked, super-pricey Swiss towns Zurich and Geneva.

    Other cities ranked as more expensive than Chicago are, in order, New York City; Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; and London. Tokyo was listed No. 8, followed by Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney.

    Published every three years, the report ranked the cities based on the cost of goods and services. It also ranked cities including and excluding the cost of rent. In both comparisons, Chicago, where a three-person family on average spends about $2,792 monthly on goods and services, held steady at No. 7. In New York City, spending $3,342 monthly (excluding rent) is the average.
Yet another reason to shop in the suburbs.

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Thursday, September 17, 2015

How to Underreport Crime

  • Chicago police executives are bragging about an 8% reduction in crime this year (even though murders and other difficult-to-hide crimes have increased).

    But part of the crime "reduction" is almost certainly the result of the hurdles that citizens must jump to simply report an incident.

    CWB Chicago has now learned that the Chicago Police Department web site that is supposed to allow citizens to file police reports online doesn't work, adding yet another layer of frustration.

    Tipped of by a reader who tried to file a package theft report online this week, CWB editors decided to give it a try. Every time we tried to submit a report, the site told us that the address we entered is not in the CPD's jurisdiction. We should try calling to file a report over the phone, the site said.

    We tried to report criminal damage at 1060 W. Addison. According to the CPD site, that address—the location of Wrigley Field—is not in their jurisdiction.

    We tried to report a bicycle theft from outside of the John Hancock Center at 875 N. Michigan Avenue. That's not in CPD territory, either, the site says.

    We even tried to report criminal trespassing to a vehicle in the Chicago Police Department headquarters parking lot at 3510 S. Michigan. But, you guessed it, the Chicago Police Department headquarters is apparently not in the Chicago Police Department's jurisdiction.
In the Department's defense, 35th and Michigan exists in something we like to call The Twilight Zone. Rules of time, space, physics and crime reporting don't exist there - neither do concepts such as accountability, honor or common sense.

The followup report claims to have "fixed" the problem, but who knows.

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Turnabout

  • A reputed gang leader famous for receiving a $25 million wrongful murder conviction settlement now is being sued by the man he was charged with shooting in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood in August.

    Earl R. Casteel, 33, filed the lawsuit against Thaddeus Jimenez on Monday, according to court documents.

    The suit alleges that Jimenez shot Casteel in both legs in the 3500 block of West Belle Plaine Avenue on Aug. 17. Police previously said that Jimenez and another man, Jose Roman, confronted the victim, who was standing outside his car. Jimenez, a reputed leader of the Simon City Royals, apparently had tried to persuade the victim to rejoin his gang after several years of inactivity. When the man refused, Jimenez then pointed a gun at the victim's head and chest before firing into his legs, police said.
Of course, the plaintiff has his own extensive record, but it's nice to see these jagoffs eating their own. Too bad this goof couldn't get Loevy to represent him.

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Peaceful CompStat Expected

It's Thursday, so the hurricane flags should be flying at 35th Street today....except for one thing:
  • Police Supt. Garry McCarthy is on his honeymoon in Greece.
We thought the bosses all looked a bit more relaxed, as if they had a good bowel movement and their sphincters weren't clenched hard enough to produce diamonds from coal. We think we even saw one boss smile. No word if CompStat is going international.

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Wednesday, September 16, 2015

47 Detectives Made

If you have the list, post it.

Congratulations to the newly promoted off a list that is nearing a decade in age.

Rumor of Sergeants after October getting stronger.

Any word on a new test?

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Rent a Gun

  • Touting the program’s convenience and affordability, Chicago officials unveiled Monday the city’s new gun-sharing service, “QuikShot,” which allows individuals to check out a loaded firearm for short periods of time.

    The municipal initiative, through which users can rent semiautomatic pistols, shotguns, rifles, and submachine guns at more than 250 self-service kiosks, has reportedly been designed to make firepower easily available to residents and tourists alike nearly everywhere within the city limits.

    “QuikShot lets anyone with a credit card walk up to one of our street-side firearm stations, select a gun, and head out into the Windy City fully armed in just a few seconds,” program director Arvind Reynolds told reporters, noting that borrowers can either rent their weapon for increments of 30 minutes or withdraw it for a full 24 hours if they plan on using it throughout the day. “With QuikShot, you and your friends can each take a Beretta up to Wrigley Field, or you can head to an outdoor concert in Millennium Park with a concealed 9mm revolver, or you can simply take in the great view of the Magnificent Mile from the roof deck of the Hancock tower through a scoped sniper rifle. The possibilities are truly endless with QuikShot.”
This could solve our pension crisis and reduce crime rates all at the same time!

(yes, we're aware it's from The Onion.)

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Paid Survey

The notoriously leftist UIC, via a grant from the liberal MacArthur Foundation, is running a paid survey from "randomly selected households" in Chicago



It sure seems to be some sort of study on the "perception" of crime. Anyone hear about this?

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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Police Shooting

  • Chicago Police shot someone in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side Monday night.

    The person — whose age and gender were not known late Monday — was shot by police about 9:40 p.m. in the 900 block of North Laramie.

    Further details were not available late Monday.
All Officers are okay.

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Prosecutor Fired

Anita is very angry:
  • A Cook County prosecutor was fired Monday for allegedly giving false testimony in a case against a man charged with shooting a Chicago Police officer in 2012 — raising the possibility key evidence could be tossed out.

    The mother of suspect Paris Sadler made a secret 30-minute audio recording of her interview with prosecutors the day after Officer Del Pearson was seriously wounded in a shooting on March 19, 2012, officials say. Pearson underwent more than five hours of surgery to save his life after a bullet severed an artery. He was chasing Sadler, who was suspected of violating a curfew, police said.

    Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Joseph Lattanzio — who took statements from witnesses after the shooting — was fired Monday. He is accused of lying recently on the witness stand about a written statement he took from Sadler’s mother on March 20, 2012.
Hopefully, this doesn't screw the entire case against Officer Del Pearson's assailant.

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Crain's Article

Someone gets the idea that all aspects of the city budget should be looked at - especially where money is obviously being wasted:
  • Having once famously suggested that no good crisis should go to waste, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is preparing for a huge property tax hike that, in retrospect, probably should have been enacted years ago. But the mayor will be forgoing a grand opportunity to accomplish more if he uses the city's pension woes only as cover to raise revenues and not to re-examine normally politically sacrosanct expenditures.

    I'm referring to the holy of holies, the untouchable third rail of city government that only the most foolhardy of officials (usually lame ducks) dare touch: the police and fire departments.

    Between them, the two eat up more than $1.6 billion a year, nearly half of the city's corporate (operating) fund.

    Even so, aldermen and community groups constantly call for more spending. Common sense suggests they need a close look.
    Yet, with each department having a potent labor union and even its own network TV show, “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago P.D.,” the tough questions aren't being asked.

    So here's one: Are the two departments as top-heavy with well-paid managers as they appear?
There are even some devastating numbers included:
  • In most city departments, the list of those making more than $150,000 a year—a good salary almost anywhere—is limited to the top boss and a few of others. The city Department of Finance has one official over that figure, the comptroller, according to the 2015 budget. The corporation counsel's office and all its be-suited lawyers have one; the Department of Public Health and the doctors, two; and the Planning Department just one: the commissioner, who gets $156,504.

    The police department is big—with 14,367 budgeted positions—and has 77 people with a base salary of at least $150,000 a year. Most of those earn many thousands above that. The fire department has 60, even though there are just a third as many firefighters (5,184 budgeted positions) as police. Add 25 percent for pensions and other fringe benefits, and those 137 commanders, deputy chiefs, district chiefs, etc., collectively are compensated nearly $30 million a year. Every year.
That's a textbook case of a top-heavy supervisory structure. The redundancy of command is ridiculous, with individual commanders having individual captains report to them in every district, and numerous units with an individual commander reporting to an individual deputy chief reporting to a single chief. Each of these offices has its own complete staff, hiding dozens of officers inside and tripling the paperwork that a single command position should be able to handle.

And let's not even get started on Rahm's personal bodyguard detail - 2 sergeants making commanders pay for the sole reason that they are politically reliable along with 24 or so officers making D-3 pay (sergeant) for the same reason...and not just making it every day. They make one-and-one-half times that every time they work overtime or take part in a Special Employment opportunity. Because they know somebody, are married to somebody or slept with somebody.

Time to trot out the Booz-Allen report again (the only known public copy in existence is at the Harold Washington Library). Or that "efficiency study" that was conducted three or four years ago. Times are rough all over - start looking at everything.

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Who's This Jagoff?

A headcase without a question....oh, and he's ex-CPD:
  • Former Chicago police Officer Joseph Battaglia, of southwest suburban Oak Lawn, was charged Sunday with two counts of disorderly conduct after threats were made to harm two key officials investigating the death of Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, officials said.

    The 54-year-old Battaglia, who is being held in the Lake County Jail after being assigned a $100,000 bond, is accused of calling Lake County Coroner Thomas Rudd's office Friday and threatening Rudd and George Filenko, who heads the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, officials said.

    Battaglia described himself as a retired police officer. He was denied a public defender because of his police pension, the judge said.

    Battaglia allegedly threatened to harm Rudd and Filenko unless they declare Gliniewicz's death a suicide.
If we aren't mistaken, this is the troll who was spamming the crap out of our comment sections last week with all sorts of bizarre accusations based on nothing but unsubstantiated rumors that started up regarding the death of Lt. Gliniewicz. Everything we caught, we deleted. And while we certainly hope that speculation is exactly that, the investigation should continue to go forward and reach a conclusion based on facts and evidence, not the ramblings of the coroner and certainly not over this moron's ramblings.

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Only $20,000 Bail?

  • A Chicago woman has been charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer following a display of “disruptive behavior” after being denied a hospital dinner tray at Stroger Hospital, according to prosecutors and court documents.

    Jonnetta Shepherd, 18, was charged with felony aggravated battery of a peace officer, as well as misdemeanor battery and resisting or obstructing a peace officer Thursday.

    Cook County Judge Laura Sullivan ordered Shepherd held in lieu of $20,000 bail on Saturday.

    Stroger Hospital police were called after Shepherd became upset when she was denied a dinner tray while visiting the hospital, according to a police report. A nurse told her that dinner was only served to patients, not visitors, the report said. Shepherd responded by swearing at the nurse and making racial remarks while refusing to move to the waiting area.
And then the fun really began:
  • When police arrived, Shepherd told them that they would have to fight her because she would not leave, the report said. When police tried to remove Shepherd from the hospital and handcuff her, she kicked one of them in the chest and another in the hand, breaking it, and caused lacerations to the forearm of a third officer by scratching him.

    While in Stroger Hospital police custody, Shepherd hit her head on a concrete cell wall several times, was restrained with leg irons and was taken to the emergency room for a psychological evaluation, according to the report.

    While being taken to the emergency room, Shepherd kicked an officer in the right thigh, according to the police report.
So, the casualty count is one officer off for a few months with a broken hand, one for a few weeks with a laceration, two bruised...all over some bizarre sense of entitlement to a $5 food tray because she "visited" the hospital. And bail is $20-grand.

Makes perfect sense.

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Monday, September 14, 2015

This is a "Safe Passage"?

The Department released a pamphlet of the so-called "Safe Passage" routes across the city to the affected Districts recently. This one caught a couple of eyes:


We certainly hope everyone in this ::ahem:: Safe Passage area is using proper....protection.

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Officers Break Child's Ribs

At least, that was the headline before they got Mope-rah away from the computer:
  • A Chicago Police officer saved a baby’s life by performing the Heimlich maneuver in the South Side Englewood neighborhood Saturday night.

    A sergeant and two officers working “Operation Impact” in the Englewood District saw a vehicle speeding in the 6700 block of South Union Avenue about 8 p.m. Saturday, according to a statement from Chicago Police.

    The vehicle quickly stopped and the officers heard the female driver yell, “My baby, my baby” and spotted a 2-year-old girl in the vehicle unresponsive, police said.
Very nicely done Officers.

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Coming and Going

This is what happens when a city council votes for something that everyone hates, then backtracks, but fails to read the small print:
  • The termination of red light cameras in one major U.S. city has the company behind them seeing red.

    Xerox is suing the city of Cleveland for ending its three-year contract to use the traffic cameras -- claiming the company is owed money because the city backed out early, violating the terms of the agreement.

    "The city selected Xerox as its automated enforcement vendor in a competitive bid process that required Xerox to incur millions of dollars of upfront expense to implement the city’s automated enforcement program," Xerox said in a statement to FoxNews.com Thursday.

    "The resulting contract between the city and Xerox requires the city to pay cancellation fees in the event of an early termination," the company said. "The city has refused to meet its clear contract obligations and has declined to negotiate despite substantial good faith efforts by Xerox over many months to reach a solution without litigation.

    "Unfortunately, this left Xerox with no reasonable choice but to file this lawsuit," the company added.

    The red light cameras and speed cameras were at first favored by city officials -- bringing in $9 million in revenue -- but residents later voted by a 78 percent margin to ban the use of them in 2014.
So ignorant politicos vote in a program with dollar signs in their eyes. 78% of the population hates it and the politicians, realizing too late whom they are supposed to answer to, revoke the contract. Unfortunately, the corporate lawyers, so much smarter than your typical politician, drop in a standard termination-of-services clause that no one seems to catch...until to politicians get cold feet facing a pissed off electorate.

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