Saturday, December 31, 2016

800 on Tap?

HeyJackass.com has the total at 791 as of this writing. It might be higher shortly.

The Department it at around 750, but they don't count:
  • highway homicides
  • police shootings
  • death investigations
By the way, the Department has 36 open "death investigations" as of a day or two ago, which will all be reclassified as "murders" sometime in the spring after all the bosses get done patting each other on the asses for keeping the surge to only 300 bodies over last year's total.

Unless something really disrupts the curve, Chicago (police department by Johnson) will just miss 800.

The 011 District (commanded by another Johnson) will win the homicide crown for the third year running.

The 007 District (commanded by another Johnson, unrelated to the first Johnson, but the twin brother of the other Johnson) will come in second place.

In any case, be safe and smart tonight. Posting may be delayed depending on how soon we get home.

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UPS to Hired Armed Escorts

Nice to see they're moving quickly on this issue:


Thanks to the e-mailer who updated us.

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This is Certainly True

Remember when the Department installed GPS in the cars? They told everyone over and over that it was an "officer safety" issue and it would never EVER be used for disciplinary purposes. We predicted this was a lie more ways than we could count. In the past week, we've received e-mails telling us how:
  • GPS printouts of a pursuit were used to "prove" a squad car was going far faster than the officers put down on paper, and the officers are facing discipline;
  • GPS was used to track all the cars near a different pursuit, and everyone who didn't upload a functional camera is looking at taking suspension time;
  • Command staff and inspectors have had their GPS disabled because some enterprising officers were checking on their status from the desks - the way the Command staff and Inspectors were checking on everyone else;
In other words, GPS was used in an adversarial manner far more often than anyone in charge admitted to.

Now someone commented the following:
  • My favorite lie related to the cameras is:" The cameras will be good for da coppers!"

    Really?

    So let me get this straight: If some local Democrat attacks you, in a fit of Righteous Rage, because "Da Man bin keeping me down", and the camera records the attack: Ms. Foxx is going Prosecute?

    NO WAY!

    However, if a cop strikes one blow more than what the armchair quarterbacks thinks is excessive; you can be sure that there will be a prosecution of that Officer. And the Mayor himself will hold a news conference, apologize and promise punishment for that officer. Nobody should believe for a second, that these cameras are for any other purpose than to nail officers. The Camera is an extension of the Democrat Party Agenda, that Rahm wants to ride to a Third Term; and that is that THE COPS ARE THE PROBLEM.
In this day and age right now, an Officer is assumed to be guilty. If you have an in-car camera or a body camera, you may luck out. But if it doesn't show 100% clear and convincing evidence of following procedure TO THE LETTER, you will be subject to a media witch hunt, assorted activist protests, a rectal exam courtesy of the States Attorney and a lawsuit to go along with your Department suspension.

Don't bet against it.

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Friday, December 30, 2016

He Blames Whom?

We still don't understand how this guy gets a platform as a "community activist," but the media gives him air time to spot bullshit like this:
  • A 15-year-old boy was charged Thursday with three felonies in the Wednesday morning carjacking of a FedEx truck on Chicago's South Side.

    Police said the teen held a 46-year-old female FedEx driver at gunpoint near West 75th and South Green streets in the city's Englewood neighborhood around 9:15 a.m. and stole her truck.

    [...]

    Andrew Holmes, a city crisis responder, said asked delivery companies to require all trucks to have two-man crews to deter thieves.

    "I am pleading with FedEx and UPS. Put some helpers on the trucks. These packages are not worth them losing their life for," Holmes said.
Um, what now? Because certain people (or folks) can't control their baser instincts, parent(s) can't be bothered to teach their spawn that stealing is illegal and the community refuses to call out their own for behavior frowned upon by a civilized society, FedEx and UPS should have to put a second helper on the trucks to deter thieves?

How about Fed Ex spring for a few armed guards to blow these armed offenders away? That would be a deterrent we could get behind. Plus, the recidivism rate approaches zero in short order, so it's a win-win.

UPDATE: We amended our description of Holmes to a more generic "guy" seeing as how a number of readers have had halfway decent experiences with him on scenes and investigating crimes. We don't know about that "city crisis responder" thing though - sounds like a political angle, and we've never been shy about our feeling where politicians are concerned.

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Cameras Coming Faster

  • The Chicago Police Department will be equipping every patrol officer in the city with body cameras a year ahead of schedule.

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Eddie Johnson have decided to step up the deployment of body cameras, and have every patrol officer in all 22 districts wearing one by the end of 2017. Originally, the city planned to complete the rollout by the end of 2018.

    Police officials outlined the new plan Wednesday morning. Officials said the cameras support the safety of officers while improving transparency.
Do these two goofs think that policing stopped because not everyone had cameras?

We're sensing that the "slowdown of 2016" will be the "grind to a halt 2017" in short order, and shootings will rise again.

On a brighter note, the CPD will save millions in the cost of paper.

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Thursday, December 29, 2016

The War on Cops Continues

  • Chicago’s yearlong shooting rampage picked up steam over Christmas weekend, leaving 61 people shot, 11 fatally. Seven were killed on Christmas Day alone, more than on the three previous Christmases combined, according to the Chicago Tribune.

    Gangbangers targeted each other’s holiday gatherings as if in deliberate mockery of the season. Two young girls were shot while sitting in a van at 11:30 p.m. Monday by a presumed gang rival of the younger one’s father.

    So far this year, 4,334 people have been shot in Chicago: one person every two hours. Almost all the victims have been black. The police have shot 25 people, virtually all armed or otherwise dangerous — less than .6 percent of the total. That disparity between civilian and police shootings hasn’t stopped local Black Lives Matter activists from continuing to claim that it’s the cops who are the biggest threat facing Chicago’s young black men today.

    If there’s any silver lining to the violence, it will be if it acts as a wake-up call regarding the de-policing and decriminalization movements sweeping the country. Chicago is Exhibit A in what happens when the police back off from enforcing public order, having been told that maintaining control of the streets constitutes racial oppression.
Special Ed claims we're "still policing" despite all evidence to the contrary:
  • street stops down from 159,000 in 2015 to 21,000 in 2016
  • property crime skyrocketing in formerly "quiet" areas
  • arrest down tens of thousands
  • a 20% homicide clearance rate
The list is near endless, and the price is paid in bodies.

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Most Dangerous Block

  • The 4400 block of West Monroe on Chicago's West Side is a residential street of two-story buildings, senior citizens and a day care center.

    It's also the city's most dangerous block of 2016, a stretch plagued by heroin, shootings and murder.

    "I don't think it's safe here any time," said a landlord on the block, who asked that his name be withheld out of fear for this safety.
And Big Brained Special Ed has this one all figured out, too:
  • While the South Side spike in shootings is because of "disrespecting on social media," on the West Side there is a "generational drug problem," Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said. "It's more about drug turf."
Glad we have that all figured out. Guess who chimes in next?
  • Ald. Jason Ervin, whose 28th Ward covers Garfield Park, said those involved with drugs shouldn't get a pass from the criminal justice system.

    "Where you find drugs, you are going to find violence," Ervin said. "There has been a laxer attitude of possession and delivery of narcotics. It has emboldened the climbing violence."
Drugs = Violence?

You mean drugs like......Cannabis? That pesky green leafy weed that you and your ilk just made into a ticket instead of an arrest? A ticket that takes a bit longer than an actual physical arrest used to take? And Ervin is surprised that violence follows the lack of enforcement?

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This Guy Again?

  • Chicago’s former top cop blamed the Windy City’s rise in homicides — including 11 over the Christmas weekend — on political pushback against police stops and other proactive measures to curb the ongoing violence.

    Garry McCarthy, Chicago’s former police superintendent, noted Tuesday in an interview with the Daily News that the number of police stops is down by nearly 90% this year compared to last.

    Also, the department no longer holds CompStat meetings to focus on crime hot spots, he said.

    “We have completely flipped the script where we investigate police and not criminals,” said McCarthy, a Bronx native who once served as the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of operations under then-Police Commissioner Howard Safir during the early 2000s.

    “And as a result, we are reaching a lawless state in this country.”
Hey Garry? Why not tell everyone exactly when Rahm saw that video, when you and your command staff saw it, who was present when the shooting was ruled justified, and maybe why so many exempts were allowed to retire with pensions while blue shirt are left with the shit end of the stick? Then we'd think you actually had a set.

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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Ghoul Pool Time


The basic rules:
  • #1 You pay your toothpicks
    #2 You write your code name
    #3 Someone picks the Districts in random order
    #4 You wait for the natural order to determine a winner
There are local variations on this theme. Some pools pick a random starting box (slips numbered 1 thru 22 to correspond to the boxes) then draw District numbers from that box forward. We've seen arguments about what constituted the first "official" homicide - First 0110 RD drawn, first doctor declaration, etc. Make sure you know the rules before you pay your toothpicks.

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Brilliant Insight!

We're telling you, with this guy in charge, we've got this crime thing licked!
  • The head of the Chicago Police Department is now admitting that more gun laws don’t necessarily result in less gun violence because criminals don’t “play by society’s rules.”

    Chicago, a city run by Mayor Rahm Emanual, former White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama, reported double the number of killings throughout Christmas weekend this year than last year. [...]

    Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said during a news conference on Monday that most of the shootings between Friday evening and Sunday evening were “targeted attacks” by gang members going after rival gang members who were gathered for Christmas and holiday parties. The Chicago Tribune reported 90 percent of those fatally shot were involved in gang activities, had criminal histories or were previously known to police.
Criminals don't "play by society's rules." Good god, he's right!!! We never realized it before but it was right there all along! We may have expressed doubts about Special Ed in the recent past, but now.....now we realize, we are led by a man of uncommon brilliance.

And what is the solution, oh Mighty Swami Ed?

Well, someone wrote to us that he just said "tougher laws" on a Fox 32 news report. That would be slightly disappointing after his recent venture into the stratosphere of crime fighting. We did find this quote at the end of the article:
  • “These gun offenders have repeatedly shown us that they’re not going to play by society’s rules,” the police superintendent told WLS-TV.

    As a result, Johnson is now calling for repeat offenders to face tougher penalties for crimes they commit.
Tougher penalties? With Kimesha Foxxxxx in charge? And Prickwrinkle? And Dart?

Special Ed is talking crazy now.

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Mall Brawls

Social media used to coordinate a nation-wide display of ass-hattery?
  • Despite large fights breaking out inside shopping malls across the country, including one at Fox Valley Mall in west suburban Aurora, Chicago area police departments say they’re not anticipating any more problems at malls here.

    Eight teenagers are facing misdemeanor charges stemming from the Monday night fight at Fox Valley that temporarily shut down the shopping center on the Naperville-Aurora border, Aurora police said Tuesday.

    Police were investigating whether that brawl was connected to the series of similar ones across the country. Fights and disturbances — possibly spurred by activity on social media — were reported at shopping centers in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Indiana and Connecticut.
What the hell?

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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

DOJ Plowing Ahead

A big push to have the "report" done before Sparklefarts leaves office:
  • NBC5 Chicago has learned a massive team of attorneys and investigators from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department is, on the eve of Christmas and Hanukkah, working feverishly to complete its probe of the Chicago Police Department.

    And they're planning to finish their work before the Obama administration ends and the Trump administration begins.

    Sources with a working knowledge of the investigation tell NBC5 that the goal, requiring unprecedented speed by DOJ standards, is to issue a detailed “Findings Letter” into the pattern and practice of CPD. And to do so whether or not Mayor Rahm Emanuel or his law and police departments have agreed to the terms of a consent decree for corrective action.
This ties in with a couple of e-mails regaling us with tales of how the DOJ Liaison was systematically shut out of working groups, e-mails, and meetings. This is turning out to be exactly what everyone suspected - a railroad job driven by numerous exaggerations, outright distortions and Rahm caving to a loud group of political terrorists.

We'll see shortly if Rahm is running out the clock before Trump takes over. Rumor is the DOJ is going to cut this sort of funding, so a lot of democrat lawyers who hitched their futures to Hillary are going to be looking for work soon.

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What a Weekend

You'd think with the holidays upon us, people (or folks) would be more cheery, more in tune with the "Peace on Earth and Goodwill Toward Man" thing that pfather Pfleger and his ilk preach about.

You'd be wrong:
  • Eleven men were killed and at least 37 other people have been wounded in shootings over Christmas weekend across Chicago.

    The gun violence since Friday evening has surpassed the toll over the same four-day holiday last year, when 30 people were shot across the city.
Those must have been preliminary numbers, seeing as how HeyJackass.com has the mayhem clocking in a 11 and 44.

With 4 days remaining in 2016, Chicago is 15 short of 800.

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Missing Body Camera

Lost in the vicinity of the 006th District about 10 days ago.

We're interested just to see what type of discipline the Department is going to be handing out for this sort of thing. It's already half-a-day for a shield, a full day for a star, multiple days for a radio...all unless you can come up with a damn good reason for losing any of it - which isn't often the case.

What's a camera worth?

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Monday, December 26, 2016

Rahm, Your Superintendent

When we see the "chain of command" pictures:


Woof!

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Lieutenant List

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Detective List

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FTO List

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Sunday, December 25, 2016

Merry Christmas, One and All


Once again, another Christmas.

Once again, our heartfelt wishes to everyone for a safe and sane Christmas, whether working or relaxing at home. Thanks for visiting all year.

As usual, posting and comments might be delayed due to our own celebrations here.

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What a Load of Crap

We don't usually write long articles for Christmas Day, but this one just begged for a verbal beating. This is the biggest pile of crap to come out of HQ, and believe us, there's a lot of crap that has come out of that building this year. Some highlights:
  • As Chicago grapples with a surge in killings and a mistrust of law enforcement stemming from police shootings, the number of arrests in the city has fallen by 28 percent versus last year, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis finds.
Only 28%? We'd like to see a District breakdown - we'd have pegged it closed to 35%.
  • The drop is steepest in areas such as Englewood and Austin where violence is common and police have long flooded “hot spots” and drug markets. But the decline isn’t limited to high-crime areas: Arrests are down by double digits in every district in the city.
Yup.
  • Police Supt. Eddie Johnson says the figures reflect the department’s focus on addressing gun violence and improving community relations.
And just how is that working out for you Special Ed? Gun violence down? Community relations looking good?
  • “We want to arrest the right people at the right times for the right reasons,” Johnson says. “But just indiscriminately stopping people? No. We cannot arrest our way out of this.”
Have you seriously tried? If the Courts and the Jail worked with us, keeping the people who need to be behind bars, actually behind bars, we bet there would be a few less than 4,200 shootings.
  • The superintendent says the department is moving away from decades of “broken windows” policing — a strategy that emphasizes heavy enforcement of even low-level offenses to send a message that crime won’t be tolerated. While that led to lower crime rates, it also worsened tensions in some neighborhoods where people felt the police were heavy-handed.
Actually, we've talked to a lot of street coppers. You know what they say? They didn't feel any of the so-called "tension" until Obama started attacking the police. The community was happy with the lack of gunfire on the streets and the absence of dead bodies stacking up at the morgue. Some people, believe it or not, were actually glad to not attend funerals.
  • “The time when broken windows theories came in — I think it was effective,” Johnson says. “But we have to focus on what’s really hurting Chicago right now, and that is the gun violence.

    “Don’t get me wrong — we have not abandoned locking people up for quality-of-life issues. But low-level narcotics offenses — we can continue to do that, but would it affect the gun violence we’re seeing? I doubt that.”
Well then, you're an idiot. We don't know how many other ways to say it. The "quality of life" offenders were, in many cases, the ones smoking weed on the corners, gambling on the sidewalks, blasting the loud music. They were stealing the cars, hiding/transporting the guns and running the tip, too. But to accomplish anything effectively, you need what Rahm wasn't going to give you - manpower.
  • Johnson rejects the idea of the “Ferguson effect” — the theory that violence has risen because cops have been holding back amid protests over police shootings in Ferguson, Mo., and other cities. Yet he acknowledges that many police officers feel “vilified,” and others have been slowed down as they learn new legal requirements for documenting street stops.
Wow. Special Ed truly is "special," isn't he? Anyone insisting that this mope was actually a "good copper" at some point is delusional.
  • The decline in arrests is welcomed by civil rights groups.

    “Our perspective is: The fewer people in jail, the better it is for our communities,” says Deangelo Bester, executive director of the Workers Center for Racial Justice, which focuses on access to jobs.
Really? We could point you in the direction of 4,200 people who would beg to differ. Actually, only about 3,500 since the other 750 can't speak at the moment, being six-feet underground. Maybe their mothers could come speak with you?
  • Instead of responding to violence by locking up nonviolent offenders, city officials could divert funds from the police department and into neighborhood development, Bester says.

    “Chicago is the most-policed city in the country,” he says. “Maybe it’s time to do something different.”
Um, earth to moron - "different" is what's happening right now. "Different" is a few thousand extra shootings. "Different" is 300 more dead people. "Different" is another word for "hope and change" that a certain someone promised you by demonizing the very people who kept you safe.
  • Natalie Howse, president of the Cook County Bar Association, says the African-American lawyers group supports “policing that is more concerned with respect for the rule of law and individual rights, rather than the number of arrests.

    “If the Chicago Police Department has placed greater focus on reducing the violent crime that plagues our city, and that new emphasis has temporarily resulted in fewer arrests of non-violent offenders, the CCBA welcomes that strategy so long as the cost is not allowing black communities to descend into lawlessness.”
These idiots have their talking points and by golly, they're going to keep spouting them, even as the streets run red with blood. Everything is the fault of someone else, in this case, the police. not a single glance into a mirror that would lay the 500+ dead black people (or folks) anywhere near their doorstep.
  • Some rank-and-file officers say cops aren’t being less aggressive as an act of protest but because they’re worried they’ll be caught on video making an honest mistake, then blasted for it.

    “You’re being Monday-morning-quarterbacked for everything,” says one officer, speaking only on the condition of not being named.
Self preservation. And then this asshole steps in for the final kick:
  • Others say that’s not acceptable, arguing that body cameras and increased documentation will help police do their jobs.

    “Those people are looking for an excuse,” says a veteran North Side supervisor, also speaking only on the condition of anonymity. “What they’re saying is that I liked it better when no one was recording when I trounced on someone’s head.”
Not a doubt this asshat was on at least one "merit" list. Those days are long gone. No one "trounces" any more. Hell, the last guy to apply a (completely justified) kick to the head of an offender who was strangling his partner in a hostile crowd is still stripped. There would be a lot more mug shots of offenders walking around in bandage-turbans if CPD was still using that amount of force.

The disconnect here is amazing. We know why a lot of people stopped being proactive. But the brass and the media are involved in some sort of kabuki theater where they all dance around the elephant in the room and pretend it isn't taking a giant crap on the floor and flinging it everywhere.

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Rahm, the Filter

Wasn't this asshole a republican?


But he has to run his Op-Ed through Rahm because he doesn't want to upset the Combine that runs Illinois into the ground while enriching the connected, regardless of political party.

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Saturday, December 24, 2016

Repurposing Snitch Boxes


Three or four years ago, the Department ordered a bunch of locking steel boxes that were supposed to be mounted on lampposts and telephone poles in the ghetto where citizens could provide tips and clues about homicides and such, circumventing the "no snitch" culture.

Needless to say, after receiving about 20 metric tons of ridicule and derision, not a single snitch box ever saw the light of day.

But that changes today! Word is that in addition to the "hotline" to report corruption, snitch boxes will be installed in the offices of each District Commander, in addition to the officers of each Deputy Chief, Chief, Director and Superintendent. To ensure the safety of said boxes, each will be monitored 24-7-365 by closed circuit security cameras and a security keypad where you will be required to enter your PC# and provide a thumb print of retinal scan. And finally, a small dwarf will reside inside the snitch box and photograph you through the slot to ensure the complete integrity of the process.

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Bosses v Bosses - CAGE MATCH!

Remember, a boatload of exempts signed off on the Laquan McDonald shooting being justified: (WARNING: Tribune link - you might have to de-activate ad blocker software to read it)
  • Days after Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke shot Laquan McDonald 16 times, top brass watched a video of the fatal shooting at a meeting in which "everyone agreed" the shooting was justified, a lieutenant who attended the meeting said in sworn testimony.

    Newly obtained documents of the city's Office of Inspector General investigation into the fatal shooting show that the department, from beat cops to command-level officials, quickly came to Van Dyke's defense, even after viewing dashboard camera video at the scene that contradicted officers' accounts. Command-level officers raised few concerns and signed off on their reports, the inspector general's investigation found.

    "There was never no question whether the shooting was justified," Lt. Osvaldo Valdez told investigators with the city's Office of Inspector General about the meeting of the top brass. "Everyone agreed that Officer Van Dyke used the force necessary to eliminate the threat, and that's pretty much it."

    Among those who huddled at police headquarters for the meeting, about 10 days after the shooting in October 2014, was then-Deputy Chief Eddie Johnson, who was promoted to superintendent after Garry McCarthy was fired in the fallout of the video's release.
We pointed this out this past August when we tried to remember what the Chain of Command would have been following a police shooting. We didn't include Rahm, though we have it from numerous sources that he watched the video within days and raised no objections.

Amazingly, many of the top brass were allowed to retire with their pensions intact. Other high ranking white shirts retired and are currently ignoring or rejecting contact with the Inspector General because they aren't city employees any more. A sergeant is facing termination for following McNaughton's order to approve a report and numerous other officers/detectives are facing discipline, termination and prison time.

But the blue shirts are to blame for some sort of "code of silence" while unqualified "merit" hacks and test cheaters are covering each others asses left, right, center.

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Rahm Document Dump

And he's proud of screwing the retirees:

  • Rahm brags about eliminating health care for retired city workers.

    Emanuel’s controversial call to phase out Chicago’s retiree health program will leave some 10,000 of workers on the hook for coverage—a move he publicly touted as a regrettable but necessary cost-saving measure. In the email, however, Emanuel comes off as downright boastful about the move. Wealthy investor Henry Feinberg asks, “Since when did Rahm Emanuel let a judicial ruling get in his way and not find a creative work around solution[?]” Emanuel replies, “Never which is why I eliminated health care. Only elected official to eliminate not cut or reform a benefit. Thank you vey much. A 175 million saving!”
Which unions endorsed this midget again?

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Friday, December 23, 2016

Merry Christmas Detectives

135 Detectives made, to start on 02 January 17, including Dean Angelo Jr.

Who's got the "merit" portion of the list?

UPDATE: Merry Christmas to 52 Lieutenants, too?

UPDATE: FTO's? What the heck is going on? Oh yeah - Rahm's "hiring" wave.

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Code of Silence Ending

Thank goodness. It was rough keeping quiet about it all these years:
  • Chicago’s police chief says the department will attack the “code of silence” by making it easier for officers to report police misconduct and by making it tougher on officers who harass those who do come forward.

    In a Wednesday interview, Superintendent Eddie Johnson says in the coming months the department will provide a hotline for officers to report police misconduct. He also says a policy is being put in place in which officers who try to intimidate or ostracize those who come forward will face discipline and could be fired.
We're kind of relieved. We didn't think Special Ed was ever going to do anything about all those IAD people cheating on the Lieutenants Exam. It's good to know that the Supernintendo is leading by example, and no one, no matter who she is sleeping with, will be spared in this all out effort to bring accountability to the Department.

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Unqualified Investigators?

The City wouldn't hire unqualified people and put them in a position to actually do real damage, would they? We mean besides Special Ed and his merry cabal of cheating hacks:
  • The union that represents Chicago Police officers says that investigators hired by the city to look into officer-involved deaths don’t meet the state’s minimum training requirements, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court.

    The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 7 is asking a court to rule that the city is not in compliance with the requirements of the Illinois Police Training (IPTA) and Police and Community Relations Improvement (PCRIA) acts, according to the suit, which seeks unspecified damages and to compel the city to become compliant.

    The PCRIA, which took effect Jan. 1, requires at least one of the investigators looking into an officer-involved death be certified by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board as a lead homicide investigator, or be approved by the board for training of similar standards, the suit states.

    The FOP claims the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), which investigates officer-involved deaths in Chicago, does not currently, nor did it before, have lead investigators that met the state’s standards, according to the suit.

The City doesn't want qualified people investigating - they might actually follow the law and determine that via policy, most police shootings are actually justified, and therefore legal. That isn't politically palatable to certain segments of the community, so Rahm can't have qualified people looking around. He needs people who will do what they're told when it comes time to have someone under the bus to save a politicians' ass.

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The Waaaaay Back Machine is Open

Someone reminded us that we had written about this a long time ago - 8 years ago:
  • While working in 018 under Cline's regime he started a program where 'community people' were invited to address the troops at roll call. On the first day, one of the reverends from Cabrini showed up with a female 'community spokesperson.' The reverend spoke for a bit, complained a little, then turned over the floor to the person of the community he invited to accompany him.

    She began by berating the police in attendance and overall used the pulpit to spit out her self-serving vile. Our Commander who was (ordered) in attendance, Bill O'Donnell (a Prince) was taken aback and totally embarrassed how this community trial balloon turned out in 018. He felt that it was 'his' fault that that his troops had to be subjected to this crap at roll call as he was a big supporter of the women and men in his district.

    Right after roll call, the Commander immediately drove to 35th Street and went in without an appointment or notice to see Phil Cline. He told him in no uncertain terms that the idea, as evidenced in 018 was a complete sham and a failure. He said he was embarrassed that he had to subject his (2nd Watch) roll call members to this type of verbal admonishment as a whole by some alleged 'community spokesperson.'
We wrote about this on 24 August 2006 (click the link for a trip in the time machine.) So who's going to do the apology tour this time around?

Someone else brought up the point that why isn't the "community" pointing out the ne'er-do-wells and their illicit activities every single day, without having to wait for some impressionable youngster who is being forced to listen?

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Streak Hits Four

  • Chicago has gone four straight days without a deadly shooting

    It’s the first time that’s happened this year.

    The last person to die of gunshot wounds was a man who got into a fight in Albany Park early Sunday morning.
First of all, you might jinx it.

Then, you give the media the opportunity to trumpet the 750 dead and 4,200 shot this year, all of which can be lain directly at Rahm's feet.

But what do we know? We've only been predicting this for what? Ten years now?

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Thursday, December 22, 2016

This Crap Again?

  • Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson will introduce recruits to New York-style training methods in 2017 to improve the relationship between cops and a distrustful public, he said in a wide-ranging interview Wednesday.

    Johnson, searching for new ways to prevent a repeat of Chicago’s out-of-control gun violence in 2016, is taking lessons from New York City’s police training academy, which he recently toured.

    Starting in January, the department will launch a pilot program to change the way recruits are introduced to the neighborhoods where they’ll work.

    “Before they go to their district, where they will be formally assigned, we’re going to let them go there for a week or so and meet some community members,” Johnson said. “Then, when they go there for their field training, those same community members will partner up with them and take them around those communities.”

    Johnson said the training will help rookie officers distinguish between “the good people in the community” and the crooks.

    “I liked what I saw in New York,” he said.
We don't have to learn from New York. There's plenty of talent right here in Chicago if you'd just listen. We've been trying that New York crap on-and-off for much of our career. We even imported a top-cop from New York, and we all see how that worked out. New York didn't invent police work.

Here's a simple lesson from us and you don't even have to fly to New York to get it - you want to know how you spot the "good members" of the community? They're the ones going to jobs, doing homework with their kids, maintaining their property, going to church, driving their properly licensed vehicles, sleeping in their own beds at night.

We can't even imagine the liability involved when "partnering" with community members while they point out the ne'er-do-wells ravaging their communities.

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Chicago Skews Stats

  • The city's big uptick in murders this year is helping fuel a national spike, according to a study. The national murder rate is expected to rise by 13.1 percent by the end of 2016, and nearly half of that comes just from Chicago, according to a report from the Brennan Center for Justice, which studied 30 of the country's biggest cities to see how violence has changed this year.

    Other major cities, like New York and Baltimore, have seen murders fall.

    And while the national overall crime rate is expected to remain about the same this year as it was in 2015, Chicago is projected to see a 9.1 percent increase, according to the report.
This is going to put a crimp in Rahm's chances for a spot in Washington. We mean besides the fact that Trump won.

Remember, it's Rahm Emanuel's Chicago leading the way.

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Server Scandal

  • As a result of a BGA investigation and legal action, The City of Chicago and Mayor Rahm Emanuel have agreed to release all of Emanuel's private emails related to city business—subject to any applicable legal exemptions—and institute a new policy that will ban city employees and officials from using their private email accounts to conduct city business.

    The city's change in practices comes in response to Freedom of Information Act requests and lawsuits filed by the BGA, and separately by the Chicago Tribune, and follows more than a year of hard-fought litigation and rulings by two Cook County judges that public officials’ emails are not outside the scope of FOIA simply because they are on a private account.
Quick! Someone alert Hillary!

Now how about the BGA start working on body-cameras for politicians doing taxpayer business so we can all see exactly how the bribes, crooked contracting and shady deals get done?

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Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Police Shortage = Higher Crime

  • A cluster of Northwest Side auto dealerships is reeling from a drubbing of brazen car thefts from their lots, many committed in daylight during business hours, managers and public officials said.

    Managers at three Portage Park dealerships in the 5300 block of West Irving Park Road have reported having cars driven off their lots since November, almost always by the same group of teens. In all, the thieves have made off with more than a dozen vehicles, the managers said.

    The group of six to eight teens or young men repeatedly has been recorded climbing into cars waiting to be serviced, according to Billy Bobron, a manager at Marino Chrysler Jeep Dodge, 5133 W. Irving Park Road.

    Although Marino hasn't had any cars stolen, employees there caught the thieves in the act twice in one day, he said.

    "They brought a car in for service, and someone was hiding in the trunk who then jumped out and got into another car," Bobron said. "Then that night, after we closed, we caught them trying to snip the fence. We had to go chase them away."
Combine the lack of police with the lack of punishment....guess what happens?

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Crime Rate to Climb Again

  • Earlier today President Obama commuted the sentences of another 153 federal prisoners bringing his total to 1,176, more than the previous 11 presidents combined. The president also pardoned another 78 individuals, bringing his total pardons over the course of his eight years in office to 148. Combined, these 231 acts of clemency sets a record for the most ever granted by a president in a single day in history.

    This latest move is just further evidence of his stated intention to ramp up commutations throughout the remainder of his presidency. And, while the President often claims publicly that his commutations are only for "low-level" and "non-violent" criminals, 395 of the 1,176 commutations were offered to people serving life sentences...which typically aren't given to "low-level" criminals caught with a couple ounces of drugs on them.
When Quinn pardoned those hundreds of prisoners, shootings and property crime started climbing steadily. There's no reason to think the same thing won't happen nationally.

In a previous post, some people were commenting that Sparklefarts could be counted on to pardon that cop-killing waste of oxygen in Pennsylvania prior to his leaving office. But from what we read, he can only pardon Federal inmates, not State prisoners and as far as we know, that jagoff was convicted in state court.

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How Bad is Cook County?

One party rule has resulted in an unsustainable business model as discussed about on a local radio show:
  • DAN: Illinois and Wisconsin — So I was speaking to a group of commercial real estate brokers at lunch yesterday. And this guy was telling me, you know, about the climate in Illinois from their perspective as a businessperson that operates in the real estate sector, commercial real estate development. Talk to investors. Talks to big companies, in terms of location decisions, right? So he tells me, we’re talking back and forth about and what’s going on politically and where we find ourselves, and all of the intractable, seemingly intractable, problems that afflict us. But he said, “Let me give you an example of what’s happening and where Illinois is vis-à-vis, like, Wisconsin. Two Costco’s — he’s talking to a honcho at Costco. So they put two Costco outlets, one just south of Mitchell Field, just south of Milwaukee. I think it’s in New Berlin. I’m not sure, but just south of the airport in Milwaukee. And another in Melrose Park, here, in the near west suburbs, Cook County.

    AMY: I’m familiar with Melrose Park.

    DAN: Well, I’m just saying. You know we have people downstate that listen to us, and other states that listen to us. I’m just giving a little geography. Importantly, in Cook County, it costs the same to build the facilities — $33 million dollars for both.

    AMY: Square footage is the same?

    DAN: Yeah. And the same cost to build. The sales are the same, substantially the same, within a few shekels, at the two outlets. The net for Costco at their Milwaukee-area store: $8 million a year. That’s what they net in volume business. The net at their Melrose Park location …

    AMY: Oh, can I guess?

    DAN: What do you think it is?

    AMY: $5 million?

    DAN: $600,000!

    AMY: That’s it? Because of all the taxes?

    DAN: It’s the taxes, and shakedown fees. You know … He talked about, like, there’s a $50,000 a year roof inspection fee, and all of these other layers and layers of taxes, and because we have so many units of government, and fees, and basically, shakedown scams. That’s basically a difference of 13x in terms of return. $8 million dollars just north of the cheese curtain in Milwaukee, a year, that’s their net. $600,000 in Melrose Park in Cook County.
We won't buy bottled water in Chicago at all. We buy ammunition outside of Cook County and we won't even think of buying a gun locally. We're about to start buying soft drinks somewhere within easy driving distance where we can also fill up the car. We aren't the only ones - it makes economic sense, that's how bad it's gotten here. We aren't the only ones and when we retire, it will hopefully be far from here.

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Illinois Shrinking

And when we say "shrinking," we also mean "politically irrelevant:
  • Imagine the entire population of Peoria, Illinois’ seventh-largest city, all picking up and moving across state lines in one year, never to work, pay taxes or create jobs in Illinois again. That’s equivalent to what happened to Illinois over the past year: New migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that from July 2015 to July 2016, Illinois lost 114,000 people, on net, to other states, a record high for the Land of Lincoln.

    Now consider the permanent loss of the combined populations of Illinois’ 10 largest cities outside of Chicago: Aurora, Rockford, Joliet, Naperville, Springfield, Elgin, Waukegan, Champaign and Arlington Heights, along with Peoria. The loss of these 10 cities’ combined populations approximately equals Illinois’ net loss of population to other states since 2000. Illinois has lost some 1.22 million people, on net, over the past 16 years.
About to fall behind Pennsylvania in terms of political standing.And the death spiral continues.

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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

They're Still Out There

  • A truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin on Monday evening, killing nine people and injuring about 50 as it tore through tables and wooden stands. Police said the driver was arrested nearby.

    Germany’s top security official said that he’s not ready to call the incident at the Christmas market an “attack,” but adds that there are many indications pointing to the truck crash as having been intentional.
The leftists, even in Germany, dare not speak of terrorism. That would be impolite.

Someone downtown noticed though...and they took STEPS:
  • The Chicago Police Department is adding extra police resources around the city as a precaution following events on Monday evening in Berlin, where a truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market, killing nine people and injuring about 50.

    There is no threat to Chicago or the surrounding area, but CPD will be adding extra officers at the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza, including additional foot and bike patrols, and specialized units, according to police spokesman...
Wow. Bikes and Foot Patrols. Versus a 25-ton semi-tractor racing along at 40 MPH. We aren't normally betting persons, but we're going to have to lay a lot of toothpicks on the truck winning that cage match. No offense to the Bike guys and gals who we have a lot of respect for - you're just out of your weight division.

A word of advice to anyone working down there - make sure you know what's beyond your target.

Just another example of how little thought goes into actually keeping citizens safe from terrorism.

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Party Bus Operator Words of Wisdom

Maybe this guy ought to be running the city: because his talents are obviously being wasted:
  • The owner of one party bus company in Chicago says a shooting that occurred over the weekend is a symptom of a much larger problem.

    Chris Vechio is the owner of Chi Town Party Bus in Chicago.
Lay it on us Chris!
  • While his company did not own the party bus where the shooting took place, he says the shooting is a sad fact of life in Chicago, where there were dozens of shootings this weekend.
Really? The media just finds a guy, who owns a few of these rolling mayhem factories, and now he's the Philosopher King of the Party Bus Scene? Well that is some in-depth journalism right there.
  • Vechio says his company spells out the rules for riders and the driver has the authority to call 9-1-1, or kick unruly passengers off the bus.

    “There’s nothing wrong with having a good time, but when it gets out of hand, our thing is the safety of the passengers, but also the safety of our driver and other people outside the vehicle,” he says.
So your drivers are all armed? And sealed in bullet-proof compartments? And there's security on the bus? And you have metal detectors and x-ray machines at the passenger loading area? And you frisk everyone for guns, knives, weapons, alcohol, drugs?

None of that, eh?

Let's not kid each other there Chris - you supply a mobile party room. Drugs, alcohol, strippers, whores - anything goes. And it goes to anyone with the cash up front, willing to pay whatever outrageous fee you charge, to have a bus with tinted windows roll around without anyone being the wiser to what's going on inside - until someone gets beaten, stabbed, raped, overdosed or shot. Then it's suddenly the "symptom of a much larger problem" and not you making a few bucks catering directly to the problem.

You know why some politicians prefer "vice districts?" Because it's in a building that you can watch, inspect and tax. We have a feeling that's the exact opposite to why certain people / folks / Outfit-types prefer the buses.

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FOP Books

On the way? From our e-mail:
  • I don't know why the FOP is not sending out books. As a rep, I received mine weeks ago.
This happens annually - it gets close to the end of the year, the calendars are out, everyone bids watches and furloughs, the Court Citing cards appear at the Desk and everyone gets their underwear in a bunch because they can't keep it all in their vest pocket in the book.

Such a big deal about a little thing - deep breaths people. We have no idea why they can't send it out around 01 December - it's not like they can't predict the entire calendar three or four years in advance, including the "adjustment week." Hell, Dean could sew up the vote next year if he got the calendars in the mail by Thanksgiving.

UPDATE: Ask and you shall receive - the books started arriving in the mail today.

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Monday, December 19, 2016

Sparklefarts Last "Fuck You" to Cops

Anyone who doubts for a minute this asshole declared, maintained and advocated a war on the police, just point them this direction:
  • In a move that has already sparked a backlash among law enforcement groups, President Barack Obama on Thursday appointed Debo Adegbile, a former attorney for convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, to a six-year post on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The eight-member commission consists of four members appointed by the president and four appointed by Congress. Unfortunately, the six-year appointments are not subject to Senate confirmation.
An asshole move by the king of assholes.

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Ticket Blitz!!!

Any hear about an effort to ticket anyone that moves, breaths, walks or crawls?


Now that's just wrong.

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Nice Jail There Dart

  • An inmate at Cook County Jail has been charged with aggravated battery after surveillance video shows him punching a correctional staff member, according to the Cook County Sheriff. The inmate was also found with contraband in his cell.

    Jimmie Smith, 41, was seen on video punching the female correctional lieutenant in the face in Division 9 of the jail on December 5. Officials said the attack happened as correctional offers were trying to remove a contraband laptop that Smith had.

    An investigation showed that Smith had previously been given access to a laptop in order to prepare for his defense, since he was representing himself in an upcoming trial.

    The Cook County sheriff said an investigation is going into how he was able to keep the laptop.
Allowed laptops? In jail? What could possibly go wrong with that decision?

Something like this maybe? (sent by a County Source):
  • The real story NOT reported by the Dart controlled Media..

    Jimmie Smith, 41 was allowed personal access to a laptop computer in his cell. Smith allegedly made numerous Pornographic Videos and even started his own talk show to the outside world. Smith is known for attacking staff members but Sheriff Dart refused to take away his privileges.

    Smith allegedly attacked his attorney just last week.. Of course not reported by the press..

    Smith attacked his attorney, following parole for 5 rapes, and then bragged about 3 murders (Smith lived in teen Yasmin Acree's bldg. - she disappeared years ago without a trace.) They're only allowed 5 practice rapes and 3 practice murders in a new "get tough on crime" strategy. Is this one of Dart's low level offenders?
Better get him back on the street as soon as possible!

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"Merit" Extension

Evidently, there are exempts who still can't read a calendar.

The deadline for "merit" selections for Sergeant has been expended to 23 December, meaning somebody is going to get a slightly delayed Christmas present.

So Detectives first in January?

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Sunday, December 18, 2016

Still Trying for 800

  • At least 22 people have been shot — eight of them fatally — across the city since Friday afternoon, according to Chicago Police.

    Most recently, at least five people were shot and four of them were killed Saturday afternoon in the Fernwood neighborhood on the Far South Side.

    The shooting happened at 12:39 p.m. in the 100 block of West 105th Street, according to Chicago Police. Four of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene while the fifth was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition, Chicago Fire Department officials said. Additionally, a child was transported from the scene to Roseland Community Hospital, although it was not immediately clear whether the child had been shot. Further details, including the victims’ ages and genders, were not immediately available.
To hear the media tell it, no one in the neighborhood heard a thing until someone noticed two dead people on the lawn and police discovered two more dead in the house. HeyJackass.com puts the total at 769 with two weeks to go.

This doubles the totals from the last two years, so Special Ed's reign of blood continues to expand. Not that Special Ed was in town to see it - seems almost ten members of the command staff spent the latter part of the week in New York City attempting to learn advanced policing techniques.

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Car Hits 008 (IMPORTANT UPDATE)

21-year-old driver.....0400 hours.....draw your own conclusions:
  • A woman was critically injured when she drove a vehicle into the Chicago Lawn District Chicago Police station early Friday on the Southwest Side.

    Shortly after 4 a.m., the 21-year-old was at the wheel of a car that hit the community room of the 8th District station at 3420 W. 63rd St., according to police.

    She was taken in critical “but stable” condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. No officers were hurt.
Damage is estimated at $2,500 or so, due to the cheap substandard construction materials used.

Now, leave aside the fact that this was unintentional. Can you imagine if this was a vehicle-borne IED? Get that truck halfway into the community room and detonate - there wouldn't be an 008 District building any more. But hey, glass fronted (and enclosed) buildings, low curbs, knee-high fencing. You can see exactly how much thought went into making these buildings safe for the people working in them.

UPDATE: Special Ed arrived back from The Big Apple last night, and promptly stripped the building. All officers are to report to Area Central for assignments, radios and vehicles.

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Another Gun Offender Walks

  • To Garry McCarthy, then Chicago’s police superintendent, there was no doubt about it: Antonio Brown should have been locked up.

    On July 5, 2015, McCarthy told reporters that Brown had been the intended target of a gang shooting at a Fourth of July celebration the night before that instead left Brown’s 7-year-old son Amari dead.

    With TV cameras rolling, McCarthy paged through Brown’s rap sheet, which he said included 45 arrests. And beyond that, Brown had been arrested for illegal gun possession that April and then released on bail — an example, McCarthy said, of gun offenders being treated too lightly by the justice system.

    “If Mr. Brown is in custody,” he said, “his son is alive.”
This was the case where the 7-year-old was out after midnight and caught a round intended for dear old dad:
  • On April 6, 2015, two West Side police officers responded to a radio call saying that a gold Infiniti had fled from police in West Humboldt Park — and that the driver might have a gun in his lap.

    On the Eisenhower Expressway, the cops caught sight of the car, which Brown was driving while another man was in the passenger’s seat, according to their report. When he saw the police, they said, Brown tried to veer off the highway and crashed.

    The officers’ report said they saw Brown “exit the vehicle while holding a black revolver in his right hand. Offender then turned and tossed same revolver onto right seat of vehicle.”
The gun was recovered just where the police said it was tossed. But what does the lawyer say?
  • Rotunno, a former Cook County prosecutor, says, “I’m not some bleeding heart for the gang community.” She didn’t dispute that a gun was found. But she argued there was no proof it belonged to Brown or that the police had seen him holding it. She pointed out that he didn’t own the car and that it had been on the side of the expressway during the foot chase, so someone could have put the gun before or after Brown was in the car.
Um...what? We thought it was just the cops who got accused of planting guns on people, at scenes, in cars. But the lawyer can spin a yarn about mysterious strangers running around, tossing guns in the car of high-ranking member of a particularly notorious west side gang. And the judge bought it.

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Saturday, December 17, 2016

Dean Checks In

After the mayor, the aldercreatures and the blog address the issue, the labor organization that may end up representing these individuals says something:
  • Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo on Friday expressed serious reservations about the push to relax police hiring standards to attract more black and Hispanic officers.

    At a time when police officers across the nation have “never been this scrutinized,” Angelo said the Chicago Police Department should be looking at raising standards — not lowering them.

    Instead, Angelo said momentum is building to move in what he called the “wrong direction” — either by eliminating or minimizing the impact of a candidate’s credit history or by allowing candidates with minor drug and criminal offenses to become Chicago Police officers.

    “When a police officer walks into a drug house with a search warrant and there’s mass amounts of currency there, that’s a situation where your moral and ethical compass has got to be pointed in the right direction. You have to ensure you’re not tempted by that. Same thing with drug use,” Angelo said.
Now we're forced to wonder - is this effort by the connected an indirect attack on the legal defense fund?

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Smoke, Fire....Again?

  • A couple accuses an off-duty Chicago police officer of attacking in a case of road rage.

    It is the same cop caught on camera beating a man at a Portillo’s restaurant.
Five excessive force beefs, three for domestic violence and a 30 day suspension. The Department has some explaining to do.

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Good News

  • The Independent Police Review Authority concluded the Chicago police officer who shot and killed Ronald Johnson was acting within policy. IPRA released their finding Friday night.

    Johnson, 25, was shot and killed during a chase near East 53rd Street and South Martin Luther King Drive in the city's Washington Park neighborhood on Oct. 12, 2014. Police were responding to a call of shots fired in the area when the spotted Johnson.

    Then-Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez declined to charge the officer who shot Johnson in December 2015. The city also released dash cam footage showing the end of the foot chase between the officer and Johnson.
We're not sure when IPRA goes away and COPA takes over. We're also unsure if this ties Foxx's hands in terms of empaneling a Grand Jury. It sad we have to think in those terms, but that's what Cook County has forced upon us.

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Friday, December 16, 2016

SeeBS Picks up Story

  • The price to pay for shoplifting in Cook County has changed. But as CBS 2’s [...] reports, some in law enforcement worry it could actually encourage thieves to break the law.

    When caught on video, brazen shoplifting makes headlines, but a good number of these crimes are often committed by one-time offenders for minor amounts. They end up with a felony record for life, and the paperwork bogs down the system.

    “There will be a concerted effort to change policy, but changing culture takes time,” Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx says. In a letter circulated to law enforcement agencies, her office says it will not approve felony charges unless the stolen property is valued at more than $1,000.

    That is despite a statewide felony retail theft threshold of $300.
Someone forgot to tell SeeBS and Kimesha that it isn't her job to decide what the threshold for charging is. That's the job of the State Legislature, and the Legislature has decided it's $300. Her job is to take the evidence collected and make the best possible case. The felony charge is the starting point.

And if you don't think that shoplifting/retail theft isn't going to skyrocket, just look at what happened when the Department decided to stop pursuits - every single day, we hear subjects fleeing at high speed from traffic stops, knowing that we can't chase for it. When you reward bad behavior, you get more of it.

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Trump Meets Kanye

Seems the President-elect has a job offer for the troubled rapper:


Can't be any worse than the clowns currently in charge.

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Thanks for Your Service

  • A sizeable group of retired city workers are set to lose their health insurance just days from now and are scrambling to figure out how they will afford coverage. [...]

    “Maybe 86 years is enough” sighed retired City of Chicago employee, Julia Tyagay. The strain of Julia Tyagay’s situation adds to her list of ailments requiring physical therapy and prescription drugs. Years ago the retired civil engineer relied on the City of Chicago for her health insurance, but next year that’s scheduled to change costing her thousands. “They charge an awful amount,” Tyagay said.

    “The city promised them it should follow through with its commitment, these are retirees where are they going to get this kind of money,” said Attorney Clint Krislov. “That’s the problem.”
These retirees, numbering up around 1,000, are facing bills running north of $1,500 a month and are ineligible for Medicare, which could prove to be a death sentence for many elderly workers who worked for the city for decades.

A final glimmer of hope:
  • There is a motion in the Illinois Supreme Court that would force the city to continue paying for worker health insurance near term, occurring Wednesday night. A decision is expected to be made any day now.

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Sensitive Material Unsecured?

Not in Chicago we hope - damn, it IS Chicago:
  • Chicago has spent nearly $140 million over the last decade to build a Big Brother network of 2,700 public safety surveillance cameras but has not taken steps either to limit access to authorized personnel or ensure that the system is properly maintained, the inspector general concluded Tuesday.

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel did not dispute the findings of Joe Ferguson’s latest audit. Instead, the mayor promised to tighten things up.

    “They have valid points about the need for oversight in the sense of access, etc.,” the mayor said.
Millions of dollars for connected contracts and almost none to actually secure the networks. Supposedly, Hillary's I.T. guy is on the short list for setting up the camera servers.

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Thursday, December 15, 2016

Newest Cop

  • David Juarez, a 3-year-old cancer survivor, became the newest honorary member of the Chicago Police Department on Wednesday, thanks to a collaboration between CPD, The Make A Wish Foundation and charity group Costumers With A Cause.

    David, whose dream is to be a police officer, was sworn in by Chicago Police Supt. Eddie T. Johnson before joining police officers at the McCormick Center for a training session complete with tactical scenarios.

    CPD filled the convention hall with police vehicles, including SWAT and undercover cruisers, which David said were “too loud with the sirens,” and even the bomb disposal unit robot “F68,” much to David’s delight.
An excellent job by all involved.

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Aldercreature Indicted

  • South Side Ald. Willie B. Cochran has been indicted on federal charges he shook down a liquor store manager in exchange for his support and stole tens of thousands of dollars from a charitable ward fund intended to help seniors and children in his impoverished community.

    Another alleged shakedown involved a federal program intended to assist poor communities in getting vacant homes up to code and occupied as soon as possible, prosecutors said.

    The 15-count indictment, which was returned by a federal grand jury late Tuesday and first reported by the Tribune on Wednesday morning, alleges Cochran used the ill-gotten gains for personal expenses, including gambling at casinos and paying a portion of his daughter's college tuition.
One of the news reports couldn't wait to describe him as a "retired Chicago Police sergeant" as if that erased the stain of being an indicted Chicago aldercreature. Any opportunity to smear the cops we suppose.

In any event, there are supposed to be a few more indictments on tap. We have a list of who we're hoping for.

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Rahm Drowns in Bullshit

Is the media waking up to the bill of good Rahm is selling? Probably not, but they're pretending:
  • Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday emphatically denied he was treading water with his ambitious plan to hire 970 additional police officers over the next two years over and above attrition.

    Emanuel did the political dance known as the sidestep as he welcomed 100 more recruits to a police academy he promised would soon be “busting at the seams” while churning out a conveyor belt of classes.
If it was "bursting at the seams," it'd be running nearly 1,000 recruits through right now so that they'd be on the streets before the killing season begins in May/June, and it'd be running full speed ahead until October/November so the retirement shortage would be unnoticed. That isn't happening.

Then you have the Fall Guy/Fall Gal speaking their pieces:
  • It happened when the mayor was asked about the declining police manpower under his watch and about whether he has any regrets about his heavy use of overtime to mask the manpower shortage.

    “The question is not right. So, I’ll let Eddie [Johnson] speak to that,” the mayor said, deferring to his police superintendent.

    Johnson then stepped up and took the political heat for his boss.
Special Ed lapped it up with a smile on his face, didn't he? Sold his soul right there at the press conference for everyone to see. Granny Clampett was right there, too:
  • Anne Kirkpatrick, chief of the Bureau of Organizational Development, was asked about the Police Department treading water under Emanuel with the hiring surge merely reclaiming ground lost over the last five years.

    “I’m here to speak to you about what I can do and what my mission is,” she said.
This from a woman who's biggest supervisory job (A) ended in failure, (B) cost taxpayers at least a million bucks and (C) was a department about the size of a typical Chicago Police District. No one asked her how she got hired and if it had anything to do with her threat of a Federal lawsuit for Rahm's running a "nationwide search" for applicants, then declaring he was hiring the black guy who hadn't even applied. Kirkpatrick weaseled a six-figure job out of that for herself. And no one asked about who followed her here from Washington for another high-paying taxpayer funded spot.

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The Racism of Lower Expectations

In their inane quest for "diversity," the lure of lower standards:
  • Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday opened the door to allowing candidates with minor drug and criminal offenses to become Chicago Police officers to attract minorities at a time of high crime and deep distrust.

    Emanuel said he’s leaning toward relaxing the hiring rules at the behest of three powerful aldermen: Finance Committee Chairman Edward Burke (14th); Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, and Hispanic Caucus Chairman George Cardenas (12th).

    “I want to take a look at the general idea that, if somebody did something when they were 16 or 17, that doesn’t become an entire impossibility, as long as it’s not serious, to joining a police department,” the mayor said.
While we agree that many minor offenses when 16 or 17 ought to be sealed, we also have to point out that tying this to "minority applicants" is insulting to the men and women from minority communities who manage to keep their lives unsullied, play by the rules, and raise their children to have drive, ambition and a desire to better their situations, the same as most functioning members of society.

The City can't make this job attractive to minority applicants by lowering the bar. There are enough assholes of all races who dirty the job already without bringing in extra because Rahm, Ed, Rod and George want to feel good about pandering.

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So, About That Advice...

Someone brought up some points that we figure need to be addressed concerning our post:
  • NEVER EVER meet with a Sergeant / Watch Lieutenant / Captain / Commander alone where he or she can threaten you.
We figured it was clear what we meant - meeting alone where he or she can threaten you. Evidently, it wasn't.
  • What a ridiculous statement. If you're given an order to report to the W/C or Commander's office what are you going to do, bring your partner or watch rep with you? So let's say you do just that, then the boss tells you to step in and close the door. Are you going to refuse unless your witness is present? You don't have the right to refuse an order. And you don't have the right to have a "representative" present since it's not part of an investigation or hearing. This is very bad advice that could get someone a big suspension for disobeying an order. I've seen first hand someone refuse to report to the Sergeant's office when ordered to do so and they got 30 days for disobeying a direct order after the CR investigation was completed.

    SCC, you're generally on point but on this one you're way off. You should think through your advise before posting.
So let's address it. If there is something to be said to officers in general regarding activity, or lack thereof, then Roll Call is an appropriate locale for the supervisors to bring it up. That's the purpose of Roll Call - to take the roll, inform officers of ongoing events, conflicts, changes in policy, etc. Get the word out there bosses - with 10 or 20 or 30 coppers present to witness it all.

For any sort of individual meeting though, it would be in the Officer's best interest to have a witness present. Supervisors do it all the time, especially when they have to give a direct order. There's always a second white shirt in the room. Always. So why can't an officer have a witness present? Well, does this apply?

Weingarten Rights provide the following:
  • During an investigatory interview, the Supreme Court ruled that the following rules apply:

    Rule 1: The employee must make a clear request for union representation before or during the interview. The employee cannot be punished for making this request.

    Rule 2: After the employee makes the request, the employer must choose from among three options:
    --grant the request and delay questioning until the union representative arrives and (prior to the interview continuing) the representative has a chance to consult privately with the employee;
    --deny the request and end the interview immediately; or
    --give the employee a clear choice between having the interview without representation, or ending the interview.

    Rule 3: If the employer denies the request for union representation, and continues to ask questions, it commits an unfair labor practice and the employee has a right to refuse to answer. The employer may not discipline the employee for such a refusal.
Do Weingarten Rights exist in CPD? If not, there's something called the Uniform Police Officers' Disciplinary Act that is codified in Illinois State Law (50 ILCS 725). There's plenty of loopholes to hang your hat on if you feel like trying, and in this atmosphere, why wouldn't you? Any "closed door meeting" is an invitation to abuse. It comes down to a "(s)he said, (s)he said" argument that you will almost always come out on the losing end of. So our caution to not get roped into a situation like that would be good advice.

We suppose we could offer the following advice instead:
  • If you are "ordered" into an office with the door closed for a private threat session or berating, pull out your phone and tell the boss you'll be recording this for your own and his/her own safety, just so there isn't any misunderstanding of what was said. That way, both parties are aware of existence of a recording. The supervisor can then choose to back down or continue with the meeting.
There's nothing in the Contract or Orders that say you have to sit for threats. In fact, there are numerous items that say you will be treated respectfully and professionally. We'd hate for there to be an unfounded accusation that threats were made without an impartial witness present. That couldn't possibly happen in this day and age, right?

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You Go Mexico!

  • In one of the stranger chapters of Mexico's drug war, townsfolk have kidnapped the mother of an alleged drug gang boss to demand the release of their loved ones.

    The government of the southern state of Guerrero said Tuesday it dispatched 220 soldiers and police in hopes of defusing the situation in the town of Totolapan.

    Totolapan has been essentially controlled for years by a drug gang boss known as "El Tequilero."

    His gang in recent months has been fighting turf battles with other cartels.

    The gang members known as "tequileros" kidnapped about a dozen Totolapan inhabitants who they apparently suspect of supporting rivals.

    A group of armed townspeople on Monday posted a video saying they had his mother and would exchange her for their loved ones.
Of course, this already occurs after a fashion across Chicago, where dope dealers gun down women and children of rivals when they can't get at their actual target. Or blast Momma when she's out with her "can't-do-no-wrong" son.

So does that make Chicago more or less civilized than a narco-state backwater town?

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Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Where There's Smoke...

How does that saying end again? Oh yeah....."There's fire."

We didn't want to write this post. It pains us, because while we've always tried to do our job to the best of our abilities, we have to acknowledge that we are part of a broken organization. We knew it was bent when we got on, but we resolved to do it the correct way regardless, and we've pretty much succeeded as we move into the home stretch. We sleep soundly, not concerned about any late night knocks at the door - we've known too many people not as fortunate.

As we said, we didn't want to write this post, because the information we have available to us is pointing toward a justifiable shooting. We've always advocated for a prompt, thorough and legit investigation of "questionable" shootings because shootings have to be judged through the eyes of a reasonable police officer, not a political actor with an axe to grind.

So this revelation from the Tribune only makes us shake our head once again:
  • A Chicago police sergeant who shot an apparently unarmed man last month — his second fatal shooting in three years — might have been fired years ago, but that disciplinary case fell through the cracks for reasons the Police Department cannot explain, the Tribune has learned.

    Chief police spokesman [...] said Superintendent Eddie Johnson has ordered that an audit be done to try to figure out why the internal investigation of Sgt. [...] was never completed.

    Multiple sources told the Tribune that the allegation against [...] was serious enough for the Police Department to consider moving to fire him well before the two fatal shootings, but it was a mystery why he was never disciplined at all.
A real mystery here. So mysterious that the Sun Times had even more information:
  • Chicago Police Officer [...] was cleared of the fatal shooting of an unarmed burglary suspect in 2013, and he is under investigation in the fatal shooting last month of an unarmed teenager in West Englewood.  Police investigators now want to know why the department never closed a 2004 internal affairs investigation that could have cost [...] his badge more than a decade ago.

    Police Supt. Eddie Johnson has ordered an audit to determine why the 2004 investigation of [..]’ possible ownership interest in a bar, a violation of department policy, has never been closed.

    Owning or working at an establishment that sells alcohol is a firing offense, but [...] went on disability shortly after the department’s Internal Affairs Division began looking at his ownership of a bar in 2004. The investigation apparently went dormant because [...] stayed off the job for another seven years, according to department sources.
He stayed off the job for 7 years? A Leave of Absence is only granted for a year (though numerous superintendents ignore this rule for connected people.) Disability has a short shelf life. IOD runs out after a year, then you might go on Disability. But this guy stayed off the job for 7 years.

Then after returning in 2011, he shoots a guy in 2013 - with his brother's gun - and IAD doesn't find a "missing" investigation. He then gets "nominated" for a merit bump in, and a standard IAD background "investigation" found no trace of an open investigation that fell through the cracks for nine years.

Golly. How can such a thing fall through the cracks? Not just fall through the cracks, but fall so far as to not jeopardize a "merit" bump from the current First Deputy Superintendent. All we can say is it must be a pretty deep crack. Deep enough that:
  • an officer named by the Chicago Crime Commission as a known associate of the Outfit was hired and remained employed even when he was the last person to see three murder victims alive;
  • an officer with a disqualifying history was screened through, only to be videotaped in a drunken rage missing countless hay-makers at a bartender;
  • an officer beating an elderly couple in the suburbs, who had skated on numerous other Battery charges, and who had to be subdued by a suburban K9 Team;
  • a commander with numerous CR's for stalking a boyfriend, domestic abuse, child abuse, an arrest record, battery to co-workers, and a record of general incompetence who had her ex's dogs put down after the breakup;
  • another commander who stole money from fundraisers to gamble with;
  • an Assistant Deputy Superintendent was promoted, demoted and promoted after using Department databases to stalk female cops and citizens;
  • another exempt busted climbing in the window of a female officer;
  • a Chief at IAD who overlooked dozens of Deviations and CR's directly related to the SOS scandal that might have exposed it years earlier;
  • another Chief pissed hot for cocaine not once, but twice; 
  • another Chief at Housing who handpicked most of his teams that ended up going to jail for stealing drugs and money;
  • and another Chief who, as a PO, committed Aggravated Battery on juvenile students, washing their mouths out with soap;
  • a First Deputy with a Domestic Violence CR, and a number of Captains with the same;
  • a Superintendent of Police who was fired for associating with mobsters - and "nobody knew;"
  • another Superintendent who was awfully close to the Marquette 10;
  • an "outsider" Superintendent who had a history of drunken behavior, improper weapon discharges and a "colorful" vocabulary regarding minorities;
And that's just off the tops of our heads. There are undoubtedly dozens more incidents we could dredge up over beers with two of three other coppers with a few more years than we have. The connecting thread to all of it is "clout." Certain people have it and exercise it.

In fact, we'd bet that 90% of the scandals over the past 25 years, are directly traceable to clout - either someone handpicked a team, someone running a team was "merit" along the way, someone politician sponsored someone to a certain spot. You don't get a really good spot without some pull - and those who feel they don't have to play the game the legit way, don't feel any particular need to follow the rules (or the law) when they get there. They've beaten the system once, twice, three times, what's once more?

The Tribune has this laugh-line in the article:
  • According to the department, [...] was nominated for the promotion by Kevin Navarro, then a South Side commander and now Johnson's top assistant as first deputy superintendent.

    At the time, Navarro would not have been aware of the 2004 complaint about [...] involvement in a liquor license or the mysterious inaction on it, according to the department.
Bullshit. Everyone knew. See the examples listed above - we're "aware" about those. The clouted are a law unto themselves. And that's where it really gets bad. Intelligent people eventually figure out when a game is rigged...when the odds are stacked against them. Sometimes they get out. Sometimes, they buy into the game, not matter how crooked they know it to be. Sometimes they just move through, hoping for retirement without too many hassles.

Unfortunately, the hassles sometimes find you. And that's when the un-clouted get fired....or sued....or jailed....and the charmed ones continue on their merry way, sometimes even going up the ladder, to bigger and better things, enabling an entire new generation of clout.

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