Discipline Up Over Cameras

Anyone surprised?

• Twenty-two Chicago Police officers have been disciplined — and there has been a dramatic increase in video and audio usage — in the one-month period since the lack of audio in the Laquan McDonald and Ronald Johnson shooting videos prompted a warning from the acting superintendent.
  
  Punishments ranged from a mere reprimand to a three-day suspension or loss of leave, according to Police Department....

And of course, the alder-assholes are making hay over this:

• Ald. Anthony Beale (9^th), former chairman of the City Council’s Police Committee, considers the dramatic increase in audio and video usage proof positive that something fishy was going on.
  
  “If there was nothing mechanically wrong with these cameras and all of the sudden, you have a 75 percent increase, that means they were being disabled. Someone had to be systematically tampering with the cameras. Maybe they don’t want anybody listening or watching,” Beale said.

Or how about this - the Department, which always buys crap equipment from the lowest connected bidder, bought crappy equipment, then failed to maintain the crappy equipment. Then, since the political pressure became too much, actually paid MASSIVE amounts of overtime to the officers in the "technology section" to actually go out to the districts and perform the routine maintenance that had been lacking for the past two, three or four years, resulting in.....a sudden increase in compliance!

In Chicago? Never!!!

By the way, did Beale vote for or against the $5 million settlement without even seeing the videotape in question? Just wondering.