Gratuity Order

The Order is finally out addressing discounted coffee and meals, and it pretty much follows the Federal guidelines we've seen here and there, along with stuff from the Ethics Test we take every year.

We're wondering about this part though:

• Section III - Prohibited Gifts
  
  Subsection B - Specific Prohibitions on Gifts
  
  Part 2 - Exceptions: The above restriction will not apply to the following
  
  Item e: Any gift from a personal friend, unless the Department member has reason to believe that, under the circumstances, the gift was given because of his or her official position within the Department.

Would this gift include the answers to a promotional test from a "friend" who happened to be the wife of a high ranking Subject Matter Expert? And would you have to declare it to the Ethics Board? It's obviously worth a bit more than the $50 limit set by the order. We were just wondering.

Another Stripping

No, not the cheating lieutenants:

• A third Chicago police officer has been relieved of police powers after department brass made the preliminary determination that officer and two others violated policy when they fired their weapons in an incident that killed an 18-year-old man, a police spokesman said Saturday.
  
  Three officers fired their weapons in the incident that left [a gang banging car thief], 18, dead after police say he sideswiped a squad car and hit a parked car while driving a stolen Jaguar, injuring some officers about 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the 7400 block of South Merrill Avenue. Police officials announced Friday that two of the officers were relieved of their police powers, and the third was relieved of police powers on Saturday, police spokesman [...] said.

See that phrase, "injuring some officers"? That's Aggravated Battery with a weapon weighing a ton-and-a-half. Seems kind of deadly to us. And the total disregard for uniformed officers traveling in marked cars? What's to stop him from disregarding a little old lady crossing the street? State law and General Order seem to conflict with the prevailing "community" feelings, and everyone knows "feelings" are the new currency of the realm.

Funny how the Department brass are demanding ISR's, for which we need Reasonable Articulable Suspicion checked by a sergeant, reviewed by downtown and audited by the ACLU. And if we happen to actually arrest someone, we need Probable Cause, sworn under oath, checked by a sergeant, and reviewed by a Detective, a Assistant State's Attorney and ruled on by a judge. But Special Ed can make a determination on three officers' livelihoods in under 48 hours just using the power of his massive brain.

The Connected Game

Nice to see this is still going on after all these years:

• Three of every four property owners in Chicago have been hit with higher property taxes this year, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis shows — often thousands of dollars more and in some cases in the Loop and surrounding hot neighborhoods twice what they were last year.
  
  That’s the result of a perfect storm of higher property assessments from Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $318 million tax hike, passed to shore up the city’s shaky finances and boost police and fire pension funds that for years have been shortchanged.
  
  Eighteen of the city’s 50 aldermen — including Ald. Patrick O’Connor, the mayor’s City Council floor leader who rounded up the votes to pass the tax increase last fall — staved off the hefty tax hikes, shifting a total of $19,484 in taxes to other property owners. Those aldermen, including several whose wards have seen real estate prices skyrocket, did that by convincing Berrios or the Cook County Board of Review to lower the estimated value of their homes or apartments.

This is something the media ought to be harping on every single year - the double standard by which the connected avoid and evade paying what most of their neighbors end up eating.

Logical Extreme

We'll just leave this here:

• Now an issue that the department and IPRA must address is whether officers followed department policy by shooting at the vehicle. In February 2015, former Superintendent Garry McCarthy revised the department's policy on the use of deadly force to prohibit officers from "firing at or into a moving vehicle when the vehicle is the only force used against the sworn member or another person."

Because a car has never been used as a weapon to hurt, maim, affect an escape or kill.

It's a good thing the Chicago Police Department order on Use of Force wasn't in place in France recently:

Under the current Use of Force policy, the truck is the "only force used against the sworn member or another person," meaning a terrorist would have been able to make runs up and down Michigan Avenue, Columbus Drive, or Grant Park mowing down Lolla attendees and as long as his doors are locked, he doesn't run out of gas and the wheels don't get jammed up with the dead and dying, the Chicago Police are not allowed to stop him.

If you do, Eddie Johnson will strip you, send you to call back and fire you.

And Here We Go Again

Special Ed stripping people as fast at he can:

• Two Chicago police officers have been relieved from their police powers after Thursday night's shooting that left one man dead, according to the Office of the Police Superintendent.
  
  A suspect behind the wheel of a stolen car was shot and killed by Chicago police Thursday night, officials said. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identified the person shot by officers as [a dead gang banging car thief], of the 1700-block of East 70th Street.
  
  A statement from the Superintendent's Office said while the incident is still under investigation by IPRA, CPD investigators determined three officers discharged their weapons. It appeared that departmental policies may have been violated by at least two of the police officers, the Superintendent's Office said.

No rush to judgement here!

In case anyone isn't getting the message here, the community spells it out for you:

• Eric Russell, president of the Tree of Life Justice League of Illinois, said it was not justified.
  
  "So how is it, a chase ends up in a homicide, and our kid, chased a kid down. These kids don't have visas. These kids aren't not going to skip the country. These kids have a small world. If you don't catch them today, you catch them tomorrow," Russell said. "We know that there is a precedence that our children are steadily being shot by the Chicago police and we are just outraged as a community."

The "community" has conducted it's own investigation, based on their vast experience of law breaking, and has declared, "if you don't catch them today, you catch them tomorrow."

Even the "community" is saying, "Stay Fetal." Run no plates, chase no dope, stop and question no one.

And guess who showed up at HQ to talk to Special Ed?

• Lamon Reccord is a friend of O'Neal and a well-known activist.
  
  [...] On Friday, Reccord was escorted into Chicago Police Headquarters by the CAPS coordinator to meet with police executives about the case.

Curious company Lemon maintains - felons, car thieves, gang bangers, police superintendents.

It's over boys and girls. Until there is a wholesale shakeup in the political order, the loud and lawless have won. Let them sort it out.

One day, they'll demand and scream at the police to "do something!" And we'll whisper from our retirement home far away from here, "no."

Evan's Sues IPRA, Others

Striking back at a half-assed prosecution:

• A high-ranking Chicago police officer recommended for firing after a string of excessive force complaints filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging officials at the embattled Independent Police Review Authority botched investigations of wrongdoing against him and set him up for criminal charges by leaking reports to the media.
  
  Glenn Evans, a controversial former South Side commander known for his aggressive policing style, was acquitted in December by a Cook County judge on charges he shoved his gun down Rickey Williams' throat, despite evidence showing the alleged victim's DNA on Evans' gun. Last month, a bid to fire Evans, who is now a lieutenant, over a separate misconduct allegation fizzled after officials realized they had failed to act before a five-year statute of limitations passed on taking disciplinary action.
  
  Evans alleged in a nine-count lawsuit filed Thursday evening that a disgruntled IPRA investigator, Matrice Campbell, leaked key information about the DNA tests on the gun to a reporter for WBEZ, who used it in a series of reports on the investigation.
  
  According to the suit, Campbell long held a grudge against Evans because he had written her up for insubordination in 1999 when she worked at the Wentworth District police station while he was a sergeant.

And if you read Martin Preib's Crooked City blog, the connections of Evans to the Hobley arson, the "Innocence Project," certain Chicago media and other Chicago law firms, you have a sordid tale that Hollywood couldn't make up. Evans has a helluva case that screams "conspiracy."

De-Escalation - German Style

You know the HQ softballs watching this are taking extensive notes.

CompStat No Show

90% of life is just showing up. Unless you're a CPD Lieutenant with the test answers and a warm bed:

• Yesterday at compstat Lt Fenner didn't even bother to show up. So much for holding the Lts accountable. She comes in 45 minutes late after someone called her at the station and told her to get her ass down to HQ. Unbelievable! I guess when people get promoted who shouldn't be, they don't give a shit.
• OT - Heard the Supt's girlfriend Lieutenant strolled in an hour late for Compstat today. Must be nice to not have to answer any questions.
• Not only that, but after strolling in an hour late, she hides in the back of the room. Finally came up to her seat in the front of the Compstat, after somebody apparently texted her to get up there!

Remember those inspirational posters that still hand in the police stations?

"Earned, Not Given"

That probably ought to be amended a little bit.

The War Continues

This time in San Diego:

• San Diego police on Friday took into custody a second person after a police officer was fatally shot and another officer was wounded in gunfire that erupted following a stop the night before.
  
  Police identified a man arrested earlier, Jesse Michael Gomez, 52, and said he was responsible for the killing of Officer Jonathan DeGuzman and the wounding of Officer Wade Irwin.

This is going to go down as probably the worst July in Law Enforcement history. God Bless the Fallen.

Grannie Clampett Mouthing Off

And the rumor mill is in full swing:

• You'd better hope Escalante doesn't leave - Kirkpatrick has been telling people that she's getting the first deputy spot if he goes.THEN we're screwed.
• Wait 'till you all SEE who is replacing him...HINT, from the OUTSIDE! 

Rahm, you're going to let this incompetent, who cost Washington taxpayers a few million dollars for ignoring due process and contractual protections,  come in and start telling everyone your plans before you've even made a public move? What happened to big-little-take-no-prisoners-tough-guy?

You're slipping. Big time. No boss worthy of the name would let an outside hack come in and start blabbing plans around.

Did the DNC snub make the tutu too tight around the testicles?

Loud Horns

Believable or not, this one was too funny not to post:

• Off topic:, but after some complaints from the alderman and the DOJ, the department is taking this seriously. As stupid as it sounds, some residents feel the air horn on the squad cars are a little too intimidating and the sound they make is a little too aggressive. They have claimed that some officers are using the airhorns in a "bullying fashion", causing some residents to feel uneasy and sometimes even fearful in their own communities. The motor maintenance people at 51st St. have received a request to put together cost estimates and a timetable for the removal of the airhorns from all department vehicles. What is this department coming to?!!

Next thing you know, it'll be the cushions! And after that, the Comfy Chair until lunch time, with only a cup of coffee at eleven.

Honest to God, we'll have feather dusters and rainbow glitter by the end of our careers.

Judge Luckman Again

Good thing the "Rahm and Eddie Show" sent the Summer Mobile Force into the ghetto and not the lakefront:

• A man is facing criminal charges in the stabbing of a volleyball player on his way home from North Avenue beach, according to Chicago police and the victim's account on social media.
  
  On the night of July 17, the 46-year-old volleyball player said he was walking to his car in the 2000 block of North Lincoln Park West after playing at North Avenue beach when a man threw a "liquid substance" at him, according to Chicago police and the victim's Facebook post.
  
  When the victim asked the man why he threw something at him, the man pulled a knife and stabbed him multiple times before running away, police said.

Someone should do something about criminals preying on citizens!

According to the Crime In Wrigelyville and Boystown blog, someone did do something about the criminal - let him out after being charged with not one, not two, not three, but four felonies:

• How did the man accused of repeatedly stabbing a volleyball player near Lincoln Park Zoo last week get out of jail after being charged less than a month earlier with two counts of armed robbery and two counts of aggravated battery on the Near North Side?
  
  The answer: Cook County Judge Marvin Luckman.

Despite two eyewitness identifications and four felony counts (Armed Robbery x2, Aggravated Battery x2), ol' Marv cut the guy lose with a finding of "no probable cause." Marv has been losing his marbles for years now, and losing touch with reality. If the Machine won't retire him, perhaps the Chief Judge should nudge him out. The police are arresting the right people - the judges are letting them go.

Understaffing Again

In a properly manned and maintained jail this doesn't happen:

• A standoff and hostage situation at a maximum security wing of the Cook County Jail was resolved Thursday evening, according to the Cook County sheriff's office.
  
  Two inmates had sabotaged security cameras and went into a standoff with officials after they took another inmate hostage late Thursday afternoon. The situation was resolved by a little before 8 p.m., according to the office, which did not immediately elaborate.
  
  The two inmates took control of the area, which houses 16 other inmates in Division 10 of the jail, after they covered the floor with soapy water and obscured cameras in the area before ripping them out, according to a release from the sheriff's office.

But hey, this guy wants to be mayor, and he's buying the silence of media figures by hiring their relatives.

Baseball Hats Are Back

That is all.

Shooting - Englewood

No cops hurt that has been reported:

• A man was shot by a Chicago Police officer Thursday night in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.
  
  Paramedics were called at 6:55 p.m. to the scene of the shooting in the 6700 block of South May, and the wounded man was taken to Stroger Hospital in fair-to-serious condition, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Nothing else yet.

UPDATE: Another shooting - this one in 003:

• ...officers responded to a report of a robbery in progress in the 6700 block of South May around 7 p.m., according to the Chicago Police Department. Officers observed a suspect with a gun running through a gangway and ordered him to drop the weapon. When he did not, officers opened fire, striking the suspect, police said.
  
  He was taken to an area hospital in stable condition; a weapon was recovered at the scene, police said.

UPDATE: The offender in South Shore (003) has passed on. The Tribune is already quoting all the Ivy League legal eagles as to what went down.

Rumor Comes True

So we scooped the Tribune by how many days?

• The Chicago Police Department’s second-in-command and the department's chief of internal affairs have applied for the top police job at Northeastern Illinois University, a university spokesman said Wednesday.
  
  First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante was named interim Chicago police superintendent when Garry McCarthy stepped down from the post last year in the wake of the release of the video of Laquan McDonald’s killing. Escalante was passed over for the permanent job for another department veteran, Eddie Johnson, but Escalante remained in the department in the first deputy job. Chief of Internal Affairs Eddie Welch III heads the police bureau responsible for internal investigations of allegations of misconduct against police officers.

What is it they say about rats abandoning ships? The rats always seem to know.

Spotted at the Academy

It's coming:

This was a Police Academy sequel, right?

Baltimore Railroading Derails

Someone realized a prosecution without evidence doesn't lead to anything good:

• Charges have been dropped against all the officers who still faced trial in connection with the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray last April.
  
  The prosecutors’ decision was announced at a pretrial motions hearing for Officer Garrett Miller, who faced charges of second-degree assault, misconduct in office and reckless endangerment.
  
  Four Baltimore officers already stood trial in connection to Gray’s death. Three were acquitted by Judge Barry Williams

The fourth was a hung jury and would have been an additional acquittal upon retrial.

Looking at the big picture though, we wonder if this was intended as yet another boost to the "outrage" wing of hte democratic party. Hillary needs a massive minority turnout to win. What better way to motivate than to drop charges against three clearly innocent cops, blame the system and then run commercials to stoke the fires of the low-information voter?

Lambs Lined Up

IPRA has lined up some lambs for the slaughter:

• Chicago's police oversight agency has recommended that three officers be fired for shootings the agency ruled unjustified, officials said.
  
  Last week, the Independent Police Review Authority ruled that officers in two separate cases shot into vehicles even though the officers were in no serious danger.
  
  The agency's recent rulings — made as city officials continue to cope with public outrage over police practices — represent a shift for an agency that had previously justified almost every shooting by an officer. IPRA has ruled more shootings unjustified over the past 1 1/2 months than it had in the previous nine years.

That tells us that this is a political move, "mob justice" if you like. The first shooting is from 2013, the other from 2015. Both involve vehicles.

• In one of the cases the agency ruled on last week, [the officer] shot Ryan Rogers to death in East Hazel Crest in 2013 while the officer was on a special assignment investigating robberies in the city and suburbs, records show. [The officer] told IPRA investigators that he shot four times because Rogers drove an SUV at him, records show, but IPRA's ruling said the evidence showed that he fired at least one shot after he was no longer in peril.

So three shots were justified, but the fourth wasn't? Because someone who showed no hesitation about aiming a ton of metal at an officer wasn't a fleeing felon who would have run down anyone else in his path to get away?

• In the other case, records show, [Officer A and Officer B] shot and wounded a man who drove off in his SUV as the police tried to stop him after an alleged drug transaction on the South Side in 2015. In its ruling, IPRA noted that the bullet trajectories indicated the officers were standing alongside the SUV during the shooting, not in its path.

General Order 03-02-03, II-A:

• A sworn member is justified in using force likely to cause death or great bodily harm only when he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary:
  
  1. to prevent death or great bodily harm to the sworn member or to another person, or:
  2. to prevent an arrest from being defeated by resistance or escape and the sworn member reasonably believes that the person to be arrested:
  
  a. has committed or has attempted to commit a forcible felony which involves the infliction, threatened infliction, or threatened use of physical force likely to cause death or great bodily harm or;
  b. is attempting to escape by use of a deadly weapon or;
  c. otherwise indicates that he or she will endanger human life or inflict great bodily harm unless arrested without delay,

Forcible Felony - like the attempted murder of a Police Officer? Deadly weapon - like a car? Will endanger human life - like driving a hunk of metal at a human being? We just tore this apart with almost no effort. Imagine what a lawyer could do.

These are crap-tacular efforts to find something administratively to fuck coppers on, because they know legally there is as little evidence as the Baltimore prosecutor had railroading six cops. IPRA is looking for scalps - don't be their trophy.

The next move is up to Special Ed - a guy who can't even keep his lies straight about his girlfriend cheating her way to a crooked promotion along with Wysinger's wife and half of IAD. Anyone think he's going to do the right thing? Or the thing that keeps the spotlight off his own dirty house?

Homicide Rate Surges for...

Guess who?

• Chicago's per capita homicide rate climbed over the last decade, and the chances of an African-American being killed in the city spiked drastically, according to a new report.
  
  From 2005 to 2015, the city went from 17.3 homicides per 100,000 residents to a rate of about 18.8, according to a report from the Injury Prevention and Research Center at the Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
  
  But the report held particularly troubling news for African-Americans. The rate for blacks in Chicago jumped from 36.1 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2005 to 46.5 a decade later. Other studies have shown steep drops in the city's African-American population in recent years, but crime figures remain stubbornly high in many largely black neighborhoods.

Well, if the decent law-abiding community scrimps and saves enough money to move out of the crime ridden neighborhoods, who's left for the police to shoot? Oh wait. The police have shot exactly 0.5141388% of those catching bullets in 2016 - one-half-of-one-percent.

Meanwhile, on the west side:

• Neighbors turned their heads at the sound of screeching tires in the intersection of Lavergne Avenue and West End Avenue in the Austin neighborhood Tuesday afternoon.
  
  A woman frantically parked her minivan in the middle of the road behind orange crime-scene tape. Her sandals flew off as she ran into the street where her 18-year-old son had been shot in the chest.

18-year-old dead, 17 and 13-year-old wounded. Typical Tuesday we suppose.

And in Florida:

• What started as a beach-themed teen party at a Florida nightclub ended early Monday in a shooting, with a 14-year-old and an 18-year old killed and more than a dozen others injured.

And the three shooters were all cops. Just kidding! They weren't cops at all. But in keeping with the mainstream media's habit of not identifying offenders who don't fit the narrative, we'll keep quiet about it, even though all three have been identified and are currently in custody.

Anti Police is DNC Platform

Tonight was the Night of the Narrative. Philly PD was not happy and let people know, though the media barely covered it:

• Philadelphia’s police union is blasting Hillary Clinton for inviting relatives of victims of police shootings to speak at the Democratic National Convention next week, but failing to include relatives of slain police officers.
  
  John McNesby, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said the union was “shocked and saddened” by the planned choice of speakers at the convention, which opens Monday in Philadelphia.
  
  “The Fraternal Order of Police is insulted and will not soon forget that the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton are excluding the widows and other family members of police officers killed in the line of duty who were victims of explicit and not implied racism,” Mr. McNesby said in a statement.

They released this letter:

Little to no coverage though. Hillary needs a huge push to turn out her husband's core constituency, and the lives of a few cops (or a few dozen) are just a stepping stone to the presidency.

UPDATE: The always spot-on AceofSpades blog calls it "Cop Killin Night"

DNC

Night One at the Democratic National Convention ought to tell everyone quite a bit:

• Guess who filled in for Wasserman Schultz yesterday
  
  If you said Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, you understand the modern Democratic party very well.
  
  Rawlings-Blake formally opened the proceedings in place of the deposed Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
  
  Readers will recall that, as rioting commenced in Baltimore, Rawlings-Blake stated:

  
  It’s a very delicate balancing act because while we try to make sure that they were protected from the cars and the other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well, and we work very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to de-escalate.

  (Emphasis added)

Mayor "Space to Destroy" representing the face of the DNC.

Mayor "Stand Down the Police."

We're surprised she didn't bring her sidekick, "Railroad the Police" Mosby

OT Boycott Gets Media Coverage

WBEZ had something, but we can't find it.

The Sun Times followed:

• The Fraternal Order of Police is urging its members to turn down all requests for “non-mandatory overtime” over Labor Day weekend to protest “continued disrespect of Chicago Police officers and the killing of officers across our country.”
  
  “This is a time when very few people have come out and supported police officers. Very few people have spoken out against the murderous attacks or non-stop, anti-police rhetoric. No one is taking into account the spouses and children of police officers and the heightened concern they have for what their loved ones do every day,” FOP President Dean Angelo said Monday.
  
  “We’re asking our members to consider not participating in secondary employment to spend time with their families. They deserve it. They’ve earned it. They should take advantage of it. This is not a job action or to put pressure on anybody at the city. This has got nothing to do with what is or isn’t going to be discussed in 2017 [contract talks]. It’s for our members to spend time with their families.”
  
  The decision to declare Sept. 2, 3, 4 and 5 “FOP Unity Days” was communicated to rank-and-file police officers in a union flier.

That seems kind of.....well, weaselly. It is not a job action as it is voluntary special employment, but it is most certainly is a message to the administration - "Hire more cops!" seems to be what we're reading. And that's a perfectly appropriate message to be sending to the city - the Department is badly understaffed. But Dean is calling it something else.

CPD Civilian Shooting

Concealed carrier makes life interesting for a robber:

• A civilian Chicago Police Department employee shot a man who tried to rob him at gunpoint a few blocks from Douglas Park on the city's West Side, police said.
  
  Police said the 57-year-old man was trying to get on his motorcycle around 6 a.m. Monday when two male suspects, a 31-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy, walked up to him and announced a robbery near West 13th Street and South Sawyer Avenue.
  
  The older suspect pointed a gun at the CPD employee while the younger suspect went through his pockets, police said. When the teen tried to take his licensed concealed weapon, the victim shot man in the neck.

Nice shot there. But we don't understand this part:

• Both suspects are in custody. Charges are pending. Area Central detectives are handling the investigation and the Independent Police Review Authority responded to the scene, police said.

IPRA? Why? They investigate and review police actions, not civilians. Hopefully, he told them to go fuck themselves. Again though, nice shot. More concealed carry, less criminals.

Another Lovely Weekend

No mention of this at the DNC we imagine:

• Forty-seven people were shot in Chicago over the weekend, five of them fatally, as the pace of gun violence in the city has pushed the number of victims to nearly 2,300 this year, according to data kept by the Tribune.
  
  So far this year, the number of people shot in Chicago is at least 740 higher than last year at this time, the data show. The city has had at least 268 homicides so far this year, which is about 105 more homicides than this time last year.

Overachievers.

UPDATE: That number in the second paragraph should be 368 - even though HeyJackass puts Chicago at 381. And the "nearly 2300...." Chicago passed that milestone in early July.

The massive difference in the "official numbers" and the HeyJackass numbers is pretty much "The Department is lying to you."

Witness Getting Grief

This is what people who do the right thing have to put up with when they don't toe the line of the prevailing narrative:

• A violent confrontation on the Near South Side that left a man dead and a police officer wounded began when a woman walking her dog became suspicious as the man sat drinking in a park.
  
  
• [the witness] said some comments on the Internet have blamed her for Love's death.
  
  “It’s not my fault what happened. I just reported something that I saw that was worth being reported," she said. "That’s what police are there for. If you can’t tell them, then I don’t know what you’re supposed do."

Of course, she's not from around these parts, so she doesn't understand how dangerous it might be to go against the "community" that wants nothing to do with actual law and order:

• [the witness] moved to Chicago last year and is working on her master’s degree in public policy at the University of Chicago. She was born and raised in Lebanon, and received a bachelor’s and master’s degree in English literature before switching career paths.
  
  "If you feel like you’re seeing something suspicious that could potentially put other people in danger, the way you should respond is, to get the people there out of harm’s way and report it and let professionals deal with it,” [the witness] said. “Clearly I didn’t walk up to the guy and ask him, 'Hey, why are you here? Why are you drinking?' I just made sure the park was cleared and the girls went home. And I told the cops because figured it’s their job to deal with it.”

And educated? That's a no-no among the perpetually aggrieved people. Who does she think she is?

Vigil Coverage

Surprisingly, the media covered it:

• (Tribune) A few dozen police officers and family members gathered for a short prayer vigil Sunday morning for a Chicago police officer shot Thursday night, as well as for several law enforcement officers shot and killed nationwide in recent weeks.
  
  The Chicago officer, who was assigned to bike patrol, was shot in the leg in an exchange of gunfire with a 50-year-old man in Battle of Fort Dearborn Park in the Prairie Avenue District neighborhood.

The Sun Times also had an article.

DOJ on the Prowl?

Is this for real?

• I sure hope that the DOJ have their hands into the Detective's promotional exam, once the city gets the scores back from the private company. My brother told me that the DOJ removed the refrigerator from the 001st District's CAPs office. They said that the officers were stealing electricity from the city. No refrigerators allowed without a CPD inventory number on it.

Which supernintendo was it who figured that Officers would eat better if they brought lunch from home? We seem to remember that the boss they'd be able to store their healthy veggie snacks and such in the refrigerator located at the desk.

That's out now? We guess that officers shouldn't expect to use the station washrooms as that would be stealing water from the city. The new stations equipped with weight rooms? Better exercise in the dark lest the DOJ say that electricity is stolen also. And don't even think of using the showers afterward.

That television in the Tact Office? Or the one in the Watch Lieutenant's office? Or the commander's office? The one with the "satellite hookup? Yeah, not any more.

Guess we won't be siphoning gas out of the pool cars for our lawnmower this year either.

Airport Nonsense?

Someone wrote in the comment section that there is an order, currently posted in the O'Hare C.O. Book, that Officers are forbidden from using the "family" restrooms at the airport, but must instead use the regular public washrooms.

As the commentator said, that isn't really that intelligent, given that a full duty rig down around one's ankles is an invitation to someone in the next stall grabbing hold of things and wreaking havoc. There aren't any "employee only" restrooms that might be single use? Or something similar out of the public eye that doesn't mean a trip back to the substation?

Unfortunately, their language tended to the scatological, so we "flushed" it.... in a manner of speaking.

But this is yet another example of Department shortsightedness - outdoor roll calls set up in conjunction with aldercreatures and "community"groups, many of whom wish us ill; DUI checkpoint locations advertised weeks in advance; day-glo vests at outdoor events, that make picking out targets as simple as ABC; promoting unqualified girlfriends and wives by feeding them test answers; etc, etc.

It's almost like safety is a secondary (or worse) concern.

By Popular Demand

People asked, so here's a little something for the collection plates:

Write your message on the back so word gets to Blase.

"New" Crystal Ball Unit

Still doing a bang-up job:

• When a few police cars pulled up outside Daniel Alcantara's West Side residence last summer, the gang member dashed into his home.
  
  From outside his window, the officers asked him to come out and talk. They weren't there to arrest him, they explained, but to warn him: They believed he was at a high risk to go to prison — or to the grave. It was time to give up the gang life, and they were there to help him, they said.
  
  The warning proved prophetic. Last month, Alcantara, 20, was gunned down in the Logan Square neighborhood, another victim of escalating gang wars.

After all that effort, he still managed to get killed. You can lead a gang-banger to safety, but you can't make him drink. And so the "Strategic Subject List" was reduced by one.

Here's some amusing math:

• After taking office in March amid one of the most tumultuous times in department history, Superintendent Eddie Johnson bluntly said, "We know who they are." He was referring to the approximately 1,400 individuals, many of them gang members, whom the department put on a list of those they say are most likely to commit or be targeted by violence. Those on that list, Johnson said, are driving the killings and shootings.
  
  Indeed, officials said 85 percent of the more than 2,100 people shot so far this year had been placed on what police refer to as the "strategic subject list."

85% of 2,100 is 1,785. The SSL is "only" 1,400 names, which means that 385 of those 1,400 have been shot twice this year? We can think of half-a-dozen who have been shot twice, but 385? We'll even leave out that 2,100 is at least 197 short of HeyJackass.com's totals as of yesterday.

The article does point out that citywide units seemed to play a part in keeping the homicide totals under 500 - and that the totals began to climb once these units were disbanded. And that coincided with Rahm's and McCompStat's to gut the manpower numbers - cutting budgeted spots by 1,200, slowed hiring, retirement attrition, etc.

We're trying to figure out what this love letter to Lewin is about - is he up for De-Escalante's spot?

Bella Explains

This was forwarded to us - it has the Recording Secretary's name attached to the header as author, though he wasn't the one forwarding it to us:

• The Chicago FOP is asking the membership not to volunteer to work any type of VRI over the Labor Day weekend.
  
  How does it affect you?
  
  You might get one day of VRI from Friday to Monday. If not working VRI impacts manpower the City will cancel your day off and you will make the money anyway.
  
  What does it prove?
  
  The media will have to report on the manpower shortage and it will prove that Rham and the Department have been lying about manpower for the past 6 years. Every cop out there complains they can't get time off, can't get off on holidays this will bring that fact home.
  
  What will you gain?
  
  You will prove to [Rahm] that we are united, we will do what it takes to fix the problems. We are sick and tired of being screwed. We are the ones being hospitalized, suspended, shot and yes killed.
  
  We deserve better and the worst that happens is that you have a nice BBQ with your family. Take the time to hug and kiss them because that is worth more than the time and a half pay.

As many know, the FOP, indeed, any member of the FOP, advocating a "job action" is subject to sanctions, charges and termination. An overtime initiative is a voluntary endeavor, and therefore is not a job action, and this essay pretty well explains why everyone ought to consider and adhere to the FOP's direction.

Prayer Vigil

Planned by some CPD spouses:

• PRAYER VIGIL TO SUPPORT LAW ENFORCEMENT
  
  Sunday July 24th @ 10:00 AM
  1718 S. State St, Chicago
  
  In front of the 001 District Station
  
  We are having a prayer Vigil to support all of our brave men and women in Law Enforcement. Please wear blue and feel free to make signs to show support. This is going to be a peaceful vigil to show we stand behind our police.

The party forwarding this along apologized for the short notice. Apparently this was just planned.

Well This is Something

The FOP actually discovering some form of testicles (click for a larger image):

Time to make Rahm feel some pain. One suggestion for the FOP though:

• You need to have a penalty for anyone working these days. Otherwise, some jerks are going to sign up for it and just say, "Screw everyone else - I'm getting mine."

Therefore, to put some teeth in there with your newly-found nuts, we respectfully suggest anyone found to be working this day will be expelled from the bargaining unit and denied the benefits of the bargaining unit.

No cowering behind, "Well, we can't make them not sign up." That's going to be Rahm's hope. Sure you can. How do you think the dems and repubs maintain party discipline? Denying the benefits of their party - committees, chairmanships, fundraising, election support. Crack the whip or Rahm is going to walk all over you and the membership, which already doubts where you stand, will de-legitimize the entire organization.

Get the PBPA behind this, too.

A Good Deed

Above and beyond:

• Two Chicago Police Officers helped a woman in need Tuesday after a call came in that she was wandering around her neighborhood for hours.
  
  Officer Haro and Officer McDonald found the woman, who was lost and disoriented, near the intersection of 95th and Halsted. When they asked her if she needed help getting home, they realized she was non-verbal, so they started writing on a piece of paper to ask her questions.
  
  They discovered that her home was just a few blocks away and helped her walk back home. At her house, the officers noticed that she lived alone and that she had very little food, so they made a run to a local grocery store to stock her pantry and fridge out of their own pockets.
  
  The officers said that when they came back with the food, they were thanked with tears and a hug from the woman, before they went on to their next job.

Very well done Officers.

This is Farcical

Instead of actually canvassing the area, IPRA pulls this rabbit out of their collective asses:

IPRA can't be bothered to do an actual investigation at the scene, contemporaneous with the events, but rather solicits any information from passersby who might happen to see a flyer posted in the neighborhood.

We guess they didn't want to get wet in the rain.

UPDATE: Aren't there some sort of ordinances about "Post no Bills"? Perhaps a few ANOV's for the "investigators" might be in order.

Openings!

The City posted District openings Friday.

The sergeants have 57 openings - every district except 015 and 017.

The Patrol Division has exactly 10 openings, all in 003.

What a joke.

Officer Shot

(This post has been moved up from 2152 hours last night when it originally appeared.)

18th and Calumet.

Officer at Northwestern.

Offender dead.

Prayers for the officer - last report was positive.

UPDATE: Officer released from hospital and is resting.

Mounted Graduation

Congratulations to the graduates:

• A new group of mounted Chicago police officers has hit the streets, after completing what they said was some of the most difficult training of their lives.
  
  The officers ran their equine partners through a demonstration that included a police SUV barreling into the training arena at the South Shore Cultural Center.
  
  The horses stood perfectly still as the SUV circled them, tires spinning, horn and sirens blaring, and a capgun blazing – all noises the horses might encounter on the job.

And some new uniforms were unveiled at the ceremony:

Nowadays, even the horses need all the possible protection available.

Hire 1,000

Remember those 1,000 cops Rahm promised? The "community" is remembering, too:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday unleashed a familiar emotional tirade in response to the shooting of a 6-year-old Englewood girl caught in the crossfire between rival gangs, but the mayor’s words rang hollow to the local alderman.
  
  After three shootings this week in a gang-ridden South Side ward that includes Englewood and Back of the Yards, Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) is demanding that Emanuel finally make good on his 2011 campaign promise to hire 1,000 additional police officers.

And Lopez wants "reinforcements" for CPD:

• In the meantime, Lopez wants Chicago Police officers now working in pairs for their own safety to get reinforcements from the Illinois National Guard, the Illinois State Police, the Cook County Sheriff’s office or all of the above.
  
  “The police are now forced to be reactionary. They’re forced not to be pro-active and engaged. … We’re pulling them back because of the safety concerns we have for our officers. But that hurts our ability to bring stability to the neighborhoods,” Lopez said

Rahm sticks with his scripted stupidity:

• “There is no sense by somebody behind that gun pulling a trigger that they are responsible. There are too many guns, too few values and not a sense of consequence to the actions you take…. The ability to have guns—and any type of type of gun. The ability to use `em without a sense of consequence. And a criminal justice system in which those who are using guns are repeatedly put back on the streets.”

So, guns, guns, no values, guns, guns and the courts. Got it.

And the ones he's working on? Well, he isn't hiring. He's paying lip service to values (which is a family problem, not a government problem). And he isn't backing the police or bringing political pressure on judges to make consequences stick. So, pretty much nothing.

Understaffing = Escapes

The major media outlets are ignoring this since so many of their relatives work for Dart:

• The prisoner who led authorities on a three-hour manhunt after fleeing the Rolling Meadows courthouse Wednesday is being held on $1 million bail after Cook County prosecutors Thursday filed a felony escape charge against him.
  
  The Cook County sheriff's office said it is launching a thorough investigation into how Jonathan J. Scott was able to escape. As part of the inquiry, they say they will conduct a comprehensive review of staff and procedures.

Dart's people were quick to deny the obvious:

• The escape was not the result of a shortage of guards at the courthouse, [sheriff's spokeswoman Kara] Smith said.
  
  "There is no suggestion that this was related to staffing," she said.

Could Miss Smith explain why this is the fourth such escape at a Dart run facility just this year then? We were just wondering.

Channel 7 Strikes Again

Once again, the media alters a story without noting that they "corrected" it, because that would mean that the agenda was exposed (again) and they'd have to explain how their multiple layers of "fact checking" failed once again in the face of a few phone calls.

• Version #1 - But on Tuesday, a judge agreed to lift Green's curfew after his lawyer submitted letters from several supporters including Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Father Michael Pfleger.
  
  
• Version #2 - But on Tuesday, a judge agreed to lift Green's curfew after his lawyer submitted letters from several supporters, including Father Michael Pfleger.

Something is missing in that second version.

The FOP provides this bit of information:

• What we have learned thus far is that the media might have reported a crucial aspect of this story incorrectly. When we pushed City Hall for a copy of the alleged letter, we received a letter dated June 10, 2015 which we were told was mailed out to numerous volunteers who worked on the city-sponsored, 'Put the Guns Down' anti-violence campaign. We were also informed that the original letter was in no way intended to be used as support of any kind concerning this person's recent arrest; nor to help him to be removed from electronic monitoring or to assist him to once again use social media. If we are to believe this explanation, it could be construed that the Court was misled.

So a lawyer misrepresented a letter from thirteen months ago to alter the bail restrictions on someone who attempted to disarm an officer, spit on another officer, threatened the physical safety of a number of officers and told another he would "have his badge." That would appear to be an invitation to sanctions and/or disbarment.

We also don't see Rahm's lawyers (Corp Counsel) going to Court to correct the misrepresentation so that the judge had a complete picture of what was going on.

And finally, Channel 7 made the changes to their article without any notice of what had actually occurred. This is journalistic malpractice at its most blatant. Channel 7 has been rightly described as "thieves" by us on more than once occasion. Now they can rightfully wear the jacket of "hacks," "agenda driven" and "lying by omission motherfuckers."

(Aside to the unpublished asshat who said Channel 7 got their lead from us and we ought to check our sources, that isn't our job - that is the media's job. They're supposed to be at Court following cases, not stealing from blogs. We're cops (unlike you) who blog part time. They're "professionals" or so we've been told)

Someone ought to be fired over this, but they won't be. They won't even be identified by the management pulling the strings. The mask is slipping more and more.

Time to Close the Beaches!

Higher temperatures predicted the rest of the week - topping out at almost 100 degrees on Friday (heat index well over 100). In order to avoid problems and prevent untoward violence, Rahm needs to use the Summer Mobile Force to immediately shut down the beaches. All that cool water only provokes people (and folks) to act out. We take you back to June 2011:

• Police have been blaming hot weather on Monday for the sudden evacuation of North Avenue Beach.
  
  But as CBS 2 [...] reports, two days later, a lot of residents and beachgoers still are not buying the city’s version of events.
  
  They want to know, why weren’t all the beaches closed on Monday?
  
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel is now asking for a report on what went down, but he’s standing by the decision to close.
  
  Meanwhile, city officials are sticking to their story about collapsing beachgoers who were sick from the heat pushing people to close North Avenue Beach around 6 p.m. on Memorial Day.
  
  “You had public safety and you had public health,” Emanuel said. “There’s no Monday morning quarterbacking.”
  “There was no gang activity that was involved in the commander’s decision to close the beach,” said police Supt. Garry McCarthy.

We wonder if anyone in the media actually followed up on that report. CBS, you want to answer that one?

Call a Crackhead

This billboard conveyed a very appropriate message:

• A billboard in Indiana has caused some controversy in the wake of the high-profile police killings and officer-involved shooting deaths of African-American men.
  
  The electronic billboard in Muncie caught the eyes of plenty of people around the town Saturday and one person described it as “vulgar” and “discriminatory.” It read “Hate cops? The next time you need help call a crackhead.”
  
  Megan Thomas told The Star Press on Sunday that she noticed the sign while walking with her niece. She said she was offended by the message, which she alleged was "vulgar, discriminatory to many different classes of people in our city.” She said it also seemed to have been up ahead of a police brutality protest.

Vulgar? Hardly.

Discriminatory? Because it made libtards butthurt?

Ahead of a protest? Seems timely.

You don't want the cops around and you got to call someone, why not a crackhead? They probably know where the crime is happening - they probably committed it or can direct you to where your TV ended up.

In any event, the social-justice warrior couldn't take the implied criticism and and complained to the billboard company. The company removed the board from the rotation lest some other sissy-ninny started whining.

Garfield Ridge

There are pockets of support, here and there. Mostly the taxpaying areas of the city - who are being shorted police coverage on a daily basis:

• With blue ribbons on trees and blue light bulbs, porch after porch in Garfield Ridge illuminated in the color of law enforcement, a way for residents to say to police, "We're leaving the light on for you."
  
  "It sends a message home. It's such a quick indicator, a very simple action, but there's a lot of meaning behind it. And we certainly hope it catches on," says Al Torres of Garfield Ridge.
  
  Torres is among many in the community bathing their porches in blue. The campaign was organized by residents of this southwest side neighborhood where many cops live. At a community meeting Monday night there were prayers for the safety of officers.
  
  "We just want to show them that, hey, you know what, in all the troubled times that are going on in the country and in Chicago, that, hey, we've got your back. We support you," says resident Al Cacciottolo.

All well and good. Now we need your voices - in the media, in the community meetings, and in the voting booth. Stop voting for the "same-old-same-old." Start a grassroots "law and order" candidacy and put the fear of a vocal majority in the asshole politicians.

Seriously? Seriously?

We have a hard time believing that Rahm would be so foolish as to inject himself into this:

• Scc. We went to the court hearing this morning for Ja Mal Green in 42. State is going to indict. However numerous people wrote letters of support go Ja Mal, Including the Mayor of the City of Chicago. We thought that was interesting. The Mayor, who Ja Mal always rips on and wears the Tahm failed us shirts, writes a letter for a show of support for Ja Mal. That is a slap in the face to every Chicago Police Officer. 

We're going to need some more information on this one. FOP, are you going to ask for the Court Reporter's notes?

UPDATE: 100% true - Rahm has declared himself to be solely on the side of the lawbreakers:

• Chicago activist Ja'Mal Green is off electronic monitoring after a court hearing Tuesday. He is also allowed to post on social media.
  
  Green was arrested earlier this month at a demonstration against police shootings.
  
  He is charged with hitting a Chicago police officer and trying to take his gun.
  
  But on Tuesday, a judge agreed to lift Green's curfew after his lawyer submitted letters from several supporters including Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Father Michael Pfleger.

So FOP, now what? Dean-o, you still selling us all down the river for Junior's supposed "merit" bump? Is that what it costs for your soul? Because Rahm has pretty much declared where he stands.

Where do you stand?

Another Day, Another Englewood Victim

What matters again? We keep forgetting:

• A 6-year-old girl was shot and seriously wounded Tuesday afternoon in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.
  
  The girl was in front of her home in the 6000 block of South Paulina about 1 p.m. when she was shot in the abdomen, according to Chicago Police.
  
  She was taken in serious condition to Comer Children’s Hospital, police said.

Not sure how the denizens of 007 are going to make this into the police's fault, but we're betting that her "What I did on Summer Vacation" essay is going to be quite the story.

Another Day, Another Officer Down

Kansas City, Kansas:

• An officer with Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department was in critical condition Tuesday afternoon after being shot while on-duty.
  
  The officer, whose identity has not been released, had responded to a report of person being shot at by several people in a vehicle. When he and other officers arrived on the scene, the three or four occupants of the car jumped out and ran away, police said in a news release.
  
  One officer took one suspect into custody at 1:39 p.m., but a second officer was shot at 1:57 p.m. when he tried to make contact with another suspect, police said.

Unfrtunately, this Officer has since died.

And earlier today, it was revealed that the Officer shot near St. Louis is paralyzed from the neck down:

• A suburban St. Louis police officer shot in the neck during a traffic stop is paralyzed from the neck down due to what the Ballwin police chief calls "catastrophic damage to his spinal cord."
  
  Officer Michael Flamion was shot from behind on July 8 after stopping a man for speeding in Ballwin, a well-to-do St. Louis County town of about 30,000 residents. Antonio Taylor of St. Louis was arrested later that day and is jailed on $500,000 bond on several charges, including first-degree assault of a law enforcement officer.

Prayers for all of the fallen and wounded.

Stop the Violence Rally Ends in....

...go on....guess....you know you want to:

• Ohio police on Tuesday were investigating a shooting at an impromptu anti-violence rally that killed a 19-year-old man and wounded a 12-year-old boy.
  
  As many as 300 people filled a lakeside park Sunday night in Euclid, outside Cleveland, for the "Stop the Violence Beach Party" when the shots rang out.
  
  The Cuyahoga County medical examiner said Phillip Banks was shot in the head and died later in a nearby hospital.
  
  Police did not identify the 12-year-old boy. They said he was shot in the back. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital.
  
  Residents had organized the beach party on the shore of Lake Erie.

Yup, it ended in violence. Imagine that.

It's the Courts John

And the prison system:

• Then blue and red lights flooded her block in Austin as police and paramedics pulled up close to midnight Sunday. Two men had been shot at a house party in the 5000 block of West Jackson Boulevard, the end of another violent weekend in Chicago that saw seven people killed and at least 52 wounded.
  
  The toll brings the number of people shot in Chicago this year to nearly 2,200. At least 329 of them have been killed, about 100 more than this time last year.
  
  The spike prompted the Chicago Police Department to form a new summer patrol unit last month to tamp down violence during months when shootings historically rise. First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante said commanders were meeting Monday "coming up with what else we can do for this week."

You can stop having useless meetings first of all.

• "We added resources each day," Escalante told reporters at police headquarters. "Those commanders are here right now, meeting with the chief of patrol."
  
  But he said "the courts, our state legislators, other community activists" need to step up and help the police "hold people accountable for their gun violence."
  
  He cited the killing of Raygene Jackson, 38, who was shot around 4:45 a.m. Sunday in the 4500 block of West Maypole Street.
  
  "I don't mean to victimize this victim any further, this man lost his life," Escalante said. "But our frustration is, in 1995 he was sentenced to 46 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a murder. In 1995. He was paroled last year. How and why he's on the street, I don't know.
  
  "But if he was still serving his sentence, he wouldn't be a murder victim right now," he said.

Or he was murdered, he'd be counted in some prison stats and not a Chicago statistic, which would make Special Ed very happy.

• Escalante also mentioned a 20-year-old man who was killed in a double shooting in Austin shortly before 8 p.m.
  
  Carlos Harding and another 20-year-old man were found shot inside a black SUV in the 100 block of North Lavergne Avenue. Harding suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The other man was shot in the leg and was stabilized at Stroger, Quaid said.
  
  Escalante noted that Harding had a record of 61 arrests. "Sixty-one arrests at the age of 20," he said. "That's the frustration we deal with. He has, and I believe it is correct but we'll double check, he has 20 convictions. Now granted, most of them are low-level misdemeanors but he has 20 convictions at the age of 20 years old.

But we imagine cops are the problem for....for...well, for something we guess. Arresting some asshole 61 times before age 20 pretty much means you're doing something that attracts attention to yourself. So blame the courts and the prison system for releasing these oxygen thieves back on the street, not the cops doing their part to keep the streets safer.

Shortages on the Horizon

This popped up in the comment section a few days ago:

• So drove a copper to the 4th floor to retire the other day. Came back with 2 gems.
  
  1) Payouts on CU are taking 16 weeks, instead of the usual 6. (Excuse was they had a lot of people retire in May/Jun
  
  2) Total number of coppers signed up (so Far) to retire in Jan 2017?? In excess of 1000. Yes, that's One Thousand! How many are presently in the academy? How much are our taxes going to go up to pay the pension fund with 1000 more retirees?

One-thousand retirees? By next January? Is that even possible? We're assuming it's because the "55 and out" provision expires, but do we really have a thousand cops at or over 55?

The Department has absorbed the loss of 2,000 coppers because it happened in small increments, so no one actually noticed until the cars started going unmanned and the days off were getting denied.

But one-thousand in the next five months? The Department will collapse. Literally.

Can anyone verify this at all?

Zero-for-Three

This is what happens when you rush an investigation based on nothing but lies and "feelings:"

• Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams has ruled that Lt. Brian Rice, the highest-ranking Baltimore City Police officer to be charged in relation to the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, is not guilty of all the charges he faced — involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office. Gray died on April 19, 2015, a week after he suffered a severe spinal cord injury while being transported in the back of a city police van. His death prompted riots last year in Baltimore.
  
  Rice is the third officer charged in the Gray case to get a full acquittal from Judge Williams.
  
  “The judge decided that there was no proof of any of the charges yet again,” according to WJZ’s Mike Hellgren, who was inside the courtroom as the verdict was read.

The State's Attorney, who was assuring everyone that she'd indict everyone even remotely connected with the case, didn't even bother to show up for the trial or verdict, attempting to sidestep the damage she did to the process that is supposed to protect all citizens.

Missed It

As someone pointed out, the media must have missed the "Days of Rage" that may or may not have been threatened last weekend. Rumor has it that 5,000 protesters were abducted and run through the wood chippers in the basement of the Homan Square "Black Site."

Baton Rouge

(post moved from 1441 hours yesterday to stay at the top today - regular posting appears immediately below)

Three dead, three wounded in what is pretty much a declared war on the police.

Check the news links and such on the right hand side for more updates than we could possibly do.

July Numbers

After a slow start to the month, the carnage has picked up:

• Five people were killed and at least 42 more have been wounded in shootings across the city since Friday evening, according to Chicago Police.
  
  The weekend’s latest homicide happened Sunday morning in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.

This after the Sun Times pointed out that racist assignment practices left the Englewood District with a mere 509 officers assigned to one of the smallest Districts while Jefferson Park is generously allotted 250 officers (on paper) to handle an area nearly three times the size.

The HeyJackass numbers tell a slightly higher story for this weekend:

•  six dead, fifty-two wounded as of Sunday 2100 hours

And July has been on the skimpy side:

• twenty-seven dead, two-hundred-nine wounded

Past July's have numbered over fifty dead, so this is going to look good at the end of the month...until Special Ed opens his mouth and jinxes the whole thing again.

Englewood is running away with the homicide totals since summer began, far outpacing Harrison. Must be all the white police not relating to the community.

Another Off Duty Save

A drowning child saved by an off-duty sergeant:

• An off-duty Chicago police officer saved a young boy’s life at a suburban pool party on Saturday, fire officials confirmed.
  
  Emergency personnel from the Orland Fire Protection District responded to a home on Steeplechase Parkway in Orland Park at around 6 p.m. for calls of a young boy drowning, according to a release.
  
  The boy, between the ages of 10 and 12, was in full cardiac arrest, authorities said.
  
  When emergency responders arrived, officials said the boy was conscious and breathing thanks to the quick-thinking actions of a guest at the pool party, who happened to be an off-duty Chicago police officer who had emergency training.

Nicely done sergeant.

Aldercreature Threatened (UPDATE)

(part of this post references a comment that was accidentally deleted yesterday)

The Department of Transportation affixed signs honoring a known gang banger the other day - Aldercreature Beale was pissed off:

• Honorary street designations are a Chicago tradition mired in political controversy.
  
  On Thursday, a new dustup was added to the pile.
  
  Transportation Committee Chairman Anthony Beale (9th) angrily demanded that the Chicago Department of Transportation take down signs put up without authorization earlier this month to honor former gang member-turned-community activist Hal Baskin.
  
  Beale had initially intended to hold the ordinance in committee during Thursday’s Transportation Committee meeting.
  
  When he was told that the Chicago Department of Transportation had already renamed a healthy chunk of 65th Street as “Hal Baskin Street,” Beale let CDOT have it and demanded that the signs be taken down.
  
  “The department is putting the cart before the horse. They’re operating outside the scope of their job. They need to wait until it has passed City Council before they start erecting these signs. The signs will come down until it is passed,” the chairman said.

Now, we have ZERO doubt that Beale's committee would have rubber stamped the signs honoring a "retired" gang banger. The political winds being what they are, the effort we assisted in denying Fred Hampton a street sign years ago would fall on dead ears today. The politicians are all about pandering to low-information, no-impulse-control criminal types spouting a false narrative. Baskin would have gotten his sign anyway even while belonging to a gang that has a body count rivaling many banana republics.

But the "process" was violated, so Beale was "disrespected" and it's surprising gunfire didn't erupt.

Now, according to a commentator, Beale is getting death threats and he's gone to...surprise!...the police for a case report, protection and resolution. If anyone has the RD number, we'll helpfully publish it so anyone can FOIA the report.

And no one will make the connection between a gang banger, an organization whose "power" derives from intimidation, and threats made to an aldercreature over a sign that is pretty much a waste of taxpayer money.

UPDATE: Here it is for any interested parties: HZ 348848

Comments Lost

We hit the wrong button and lost about 40 comments yesterday afternoon - mostly submitted between 1300 and 1500 hours. If you notice yours is missing, kindly resubmit it. Many apologies for that.

Closed post - informational only.

CPD Shooting Overnight

Can't wait to see how the "community" spins this one:

• A man was shot by a Chicago police officer during a police investigation into a suspected "gun house" Saturday evening in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.
  
  Gang Investigations Officers responded about 9 p.m. to the first block of North Kilpatrick after police received a tip that an auto repair/car wash business was storing weapons, according to a statement from Chicago Police.
  
  When the officers entered the business, they saw a man who matched officers' suspect description, police said. When he saw the officers, the man ran away and, as he did, he pointed a handgun at an officer.
  
  One of the officers then opened fired, striking the man in the leg and arm, police said. No officers were injured in the shooting.

At least five guns were recovered, so the information was good. Was it someone from the hood who realized that the dealers in heartache and death aren't the police, but rather the criminals?

Coming Soon - Bussing Cops

Does no one have a clue over at the Slum Times?

• Chicago has 22 police stations scattered across the city, and white police officers hold at least half of the jobs in 12 of them — including two stations serving black neighborhoods on the West Side, where murders and shootings are rampant.
  
  Black cops have more than half the jobs in just two police stations — both on the South Side, one serving Hyde Park, Kenwood, Bronzeville, Grand Boulevard and Washington Park, the other covering Roseland and West Pullman. Some districts have hardly any black officers at all.
  
  Hispanic police officers hold more than half the jobs at only one police station, a district that includes Little Village, one of the city’s most heavily Mexican neighborhoods.

So....what exactly? This is news? Or yet another subtle dig at contractual protections?

• More than 70 percent of Chicago’s nearly 12,000 police officers are assigned to one of the city’s 22 police districts. They include Chicago’s street officers, the most visible cops in the city, the ones most likely to respond to calls for help, but not the department’s detective units and other specialized bureaus.

There's that bullshit 12,000 again. How many news outlets have done stories on how more officers are retiring than being hired?

And it's leading to this crap:

• State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, says he thinks Chicago needs more black officers assigned to black neighborhoods — which are often patrolled by rookies, black or white, who are typically assigned to high-crime beats because they have no seniority to transfer to other assignments.
  
  “You can’t presume everything just based on race,” Raoul says. “But there’s an increased likelihood that, if you have an African American, they’re more familiar with the nuances of the African American community. There’s a certain cultural competence that can allow for officers to distinguish between one individual who may be dressed in a hop-hop type of attire that’s not a threat and somebody who is, in fact, a threat.

So with Kwame's vast experience as a police officer in minority neighborhoods, he.....what? He isn't? So what''s the basis for his "vast" knowledge here? Oh, race-baiting agitator? Amazing.

Perhaps Kwame could explain why so many minority officers bid out of predominantly minority neighborhoods where they're called all manner of names, race-traitors, etc. We suppose they get sick of the bullshit heaped on them by those Kwame says they should "relate" to. We imagine they don't want to relate to assholes.

Districts are majority biddable positions. If someone wants to go somewhere, they have to weigh things like seniority to figure out what watch they'll get or what kind of vacation they can bid for. Then there's the high crime busy spots and the lower crime, retirement spots. Most shitholes, like 011 and 015, get all the new kids when all the senior people bid out. 011 and 015 eat up coppers at a tremendous rate - most people bid out as soon as possible. That has nothing to do with race and everything to do with cops going to wherever their seniority can get them.

But we have this imaginary "black cops for black hoods" mentality appearing among the morons. Among those who know better, we get this:

• But Wesley Skogan, a Northwestern University professor who specializes in police issues, says race shouldn’t factor into the assignment of police officers, an issue he says was debated by Emanuel’s Police Accountability Task Force.
  
  “It flies in the face of police research,” says Skogan, who, like Raoul, was among the experts who served in working groups to help the task force suggest reforms for the police department. “Cops are blue in color, with race predicting very little about their behavior or performance.”

Amazing. Now apply that to the supposed "profiling" going on - cops see and profile behavior. If you act like an ass, you are going to attract attention. It's natural. You know who cops don't notice? The guy driving a clean car with working equipment and up-to-date plates, obeying the traffic laws and not talking on their cell phone.

But the media has to find a racial angle to everything - it's overplayed, it's insulting and it's bullshit.

There She Goes Again

Karen Lewis's buddy is calling for the abolition of the police:

• After the fatal shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile last week, Page May and the rest of Assata's Daughters don't want police to change. They want police to disappear.
  
  Through a microphone Friday evening, May made the case to a mostly young and diverse crowd in Washington Park for abolishing a system of police and prisons she called fundamentally racist.
  
  "This isn't just an issue of a few bad apples," she told them, "And this isn't an issue that we think can be reformed or fixed with more policies."

Funny, we were thinking the exact same thing. Not about the police though. HeyJackass.com lists 2,179 people (and folks) shot so far this year, 358 dead. Of those, 10 were shot by the police. That's what? Half-of-one-percent? Statistically insignificant? That's a rounding error of the carnage on Chicago's streets. One police shooting for every 218 people shot? Sounds like great odds.

And as for disbanding the police, has anyone of these idiots looked east lately? Baltimore PD was ordered to stand down, to give the community room "to destroy." The police weren't disbanded, but they weren't serving or protecting by political design. So we can see exactly what happens when the police aren't there.

Page May, AssHoleO's Daughters and #blm wants this to happen.

Reserve Your Spot Early

You can see what actual leadership looks like:

• Please join the Northsiders Retiree Luncheon at BIAGIOS, 4240 N Central Avenue, on Tuesday, 9 August, from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm.
  
  Milwaukee Sheriff David A Clarke, Jr. will be a guest speaker.
  
  Interested members MUST RSVP no later than Monday, 1 August, by contacting Paul Vitaioli at: (See the FOP site for the rest of the info).

 Maybe Special Ed and Weezie can go and pick up some pointers.

Have Incompetence, Will Travel

Once again, the "meri-clout-orious" process damages another Department:

• The Chicago State University Police Metropolitan Alliance of Police have no faith in Chief of Police Patricia Walsh and want her removed immediately.Union representative Ray Violetto said in an email that the officers have “lost the trust that the Chief of Police can manage the department."
  
  Neither Walsh nor a university spokesman could be immediately reached for comment.
  
  Prior to coming to Chicago State, Walsh worked with the Chicago Police Department, where she was the deputy chief of the Bureau of Patrol for Area South, the highest ranking female in the department in 2013, the Tribune reported. She was also a detective, a sergeant, a lieutenant and a commander.

"Merit" all the way. And when put in charge of another Department without anyone to turn to (or blame), promptly drives it into a tree. Why anyone would hire a CPD member over the rank of lieutenant, we have no idea. And even the lieutenant rank is pretty shady nowadays.

The Policeman's Wife

Jack Dunphy does it again - a timely and heart-wrenching article.

Go read it all.

If we tried to quote it, we wouldn't know where to start and couldn't do it justice.

Rock the Badges IV

Save the date:

The day starts with a Motorcycle ride:

06 August.

IPRA Overstepping

IPRA has come out with its Quarterly Report.

Seventy-three pages of stats, charts, fluff and some meat.

And this little recommendation:

There is a reason that there is no General Order, Special Order, directive or similar that says when an Officer may unsnap, unholster or display their sidearm. That reason is because the Department (and law enforcement professionals in general) realize that each situation is unique and must rely on the officers' individual observations, experiences and "gut instincts."

You cannot legislate or write a directive for that, and you'd be a fool to try to. But here comes IPRA! They're going to insist on disregarding everything cops know, are trained for, have experienced, and come up with some bullshit policy that will hamstring, handcuff and endanger police every single day. They are trying to make it a fact that you will be shot first before returning fire. Your safety and your life mean that little to them.

FOP, you better be all over this shit. PBPA, you better step up. State? National? They better be involved in discrediting and blocking this before it gets enacted.

One-in-a-Billion

We're thinking one-in-a-trillion:

• Investigators say an off-duty Colorado sheriff's deputy fired a bullet straight down the barrel of a suspect's gun, a shot they called "one in a billion."
  
  The detail emerged in a letter from prosecutors Wednesday announcing that Arapahoe County Deputy Jose Marquez was justified in shooting the attempted-robbery suspect, who survived. Marquez also was wounded in the January shooting and is still recovering.
  
  The Aurora Sentinel newspaper in suburban Denver reports that Marquez was visiting his girlfriend's apartment when two suspects approached him in the parking lot with their guns drawn.
  
  The off-duty deputy told investigators that one suspect told him to "give it up."
  
  Marquez says the suspects fired first and he shot back. One was wounded in the leg and arrested, and the other got away.

Here's the picture:

Don't bother buying any lottery tickets - that is a lifetime of luck right there.