NYPD Contract Protest

Maybe the FOP could pick up a few pointers?

• What a crumby way to start the week! About 100 protesting cops chanted outside Mayor de Blasio’s favorite Brooklyn bakery Monday as Hizzoner chowed on a flaky pastry ahead of his usual morning workout.
  
  The angry mob screamed at de Blasio through the windows of Colson Patisserie in Park Slope as he, Chirlane McCray and a City Hall spokesman dined inside. De Blasio enjoyed his pastry so much he poured the crumbs off his plate and ate them out of the palm of his hand.
  
  The protest in Park Slope came after the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association announced it had opted for arbitration upon reaching an impasse in contract negotiations with the city. When de Blasio ventured across 9th St. to the YMCA gym at around 8:20 a.m., the rowdy cops surrounded him on all sides — hurling insults and blowing whistles.

The FOP is coming up on a year without a Contract - and a suspicious uptick in media hit pieces. The PBPA is closing on two years without a Contract. Maybe some NYPD-type action would bear some amusing Rahm reaction.

Number Games

Shootings are down, and there are a few readers who point out that's the only stat Rahm cares about. The trouble is the folks (or people) affected, aren't likely to vote for Rahm this time around. So who's left?

That would be the people who don't experience homicides on a regular basis - but they might notice a triple-digit increase in things that DO affect them:

• While gun violence continues to decline throughout Chicago in 2018 — homicides have dropped by 17 percent since last year and shooting victims have decreased by nearly 30 percent — some of the city’s more touristy, trendy and affluent areas, particularly downtown, have seen an alarming spike in robberies.
  
  Through nearly the first three months of 2018, 86 robberies were reported in the Loop, the highest first-quarter tally in at least 15 years, according to city crime data through March 21. Through the same period last year, 49 robberies were reported in the Loop compared with 52 in 2016, 33 in 2015 and 20 in 2014.
  
  [...]
  
  What’s more, the Near North Side — which includes downtown areas like the Magnificent Mile, Gold Coast and River North — has also seen a spike in robberies, with 73 through March 21. That’s the most robberies in Near North since it recorded 75 during the same period in 2011, data show. In Lincoln Park, a well-to-do community that includes the Old Town Triangle, 25 robberies were reported through March 21 compared with 13 last year.

Rahm is walking a tightrope and failing miserably. He strips the police protection from "quiet" areas to tamp down the usual trouble spots - 011 and 007 have something like 400-450 cops each. So where do you think the thug population goes to? Maybe somewhere like....019?

• Calls for police service in the 19th (Town Hall) Police District grew into “backlogs” 239 times last year, according to newly-released city data. By comparison, in the 56 months between January 2011 and August 2015, the district had just 167 backlogs. The district is the 10th largest in the city by square mileage and ranks #2 for population, according to the Chicago Office of the Inspector General.
  
  [...]
  
  After failing to fulfill a promise to maintain a manpower level of at least 376 cops in the 19th District, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is now saying that he will return the district to manpower levels seen in 2011. Doing that will require the addition of 98 officers to the district with more officers brought in to replace every current cop who retires, quits, or transfers. It’s a tall order for a mayor who has broken a much easier manpower promise.

Hiring still isn't keeping pace with attrition. The CWB article linked above has a couple of graphs showing exactly how badly Rahm is failing. Go read it all.

Fugitive Illegal Arrives

What makes illegals think they can run and hide in Chicago? Oh yeah - Sanctuary!

• A Senegalese man who escaped Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in New York has been arrested in Chicago by the agency's fugitive operations team.
  
  Mohamadou Lamine Mbacke was in the custody of ICE agents at New York's Kennedy International Airport late Tuesday when he escaped. ICE agents were preparing to place Mbacke on a commercial flight when he escaped custody.
  
  Surveillance cameras show him later getting into a cab. The 31-year-old Mbacke was arrested Friday at a coffee shop near Chicago's Union station.
  
  The agency says Mbacke entered the country lawfully in 2005, but violated the terms of his status. Mbacke was ordered deported in September 2015.

Sources say he applied for a "Chicago CityKey" card upon arrival. Five bucks says he votes in the midterms in November.

Nice City (Again) Rahm

A productive citizen killed by a non-productive one:

• Chicago police are asking for the public's help as they investigate the stabbing death of a software company CEO in the River North neighborhood last week.
  
  Miguel Beedle, founder and CEO of Enterprise Scrum from Park Ridge, stumbled out of an alley in the 400 block of North State Street about 2:30 a.m. Friday, stabbed in the neck, according to police. A trail of blood led from the alley to the street and sidewalk on Hubbard, just north of State.
  
  Police have reviewed video footage and were looking for a homeless person believed to have stabbed Beedle, 55, during a robbery attempt...

The father of six was killed by a homeless person.....that Google-me can't even bother to provide a description of, so if you see a homeless person, we guess it's safe to assume that they killed this guy.

Numbers Against Rahm?

Hopefully true - but there's no way to actually tell:

• The Democratic pollster to whom Rahm Emanuel once famously sent a dead fish on Thursday delivered the political version of a dead fish to the mayor’s doorstep: a poll that, Alan Secrest claims, shows Emanuel is unelectable.
  
  The poll of 800 registered and likely Chicago voters—with a 3.5 percent margin of error — was conducted Jan. 23-through-Feb. 1 for former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy. The limited results Secrest shared suggest why McCarthy jumped into the race against the mayor who fired him.
  
  In a “one-on-one trial heat pairing,” Emanuel and McCarthy are in a “statistical tie,” Secrest said, refusing to reveal the specific numbers.
  
  Emanuel and McCarthy were the only candidates to reach double-digits in a seven-way race that includes: former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas; County Commissioner Bridget Gainer; fired Chicago principal Troy LaRaviere, tech entrepreneur Neal Sales-Griffin and businessman Willie Wilson, the poll showed, according to Secrest.

Anyone know who Chewy Garcia is pushing into the race? Rumors of a female Hispanic being pushed by the "progressive" wing of the party. Rahm needs a few more major "identity politics" fractures in the party to finish in the top two.

Great Use of Money

Didn't some "insignificant" blog site predict this something like six or eight years ago?

• After serving 24 years in prison for the murder of a gang rival, Francisco “Smokey” Sanchez claimed to have found a new purpose in life as a violence interrupter with CeaseFire.
  
  But federal prosecutors say his job with the controversial anti-violence group was just a facade. Instead of trying to stop the unrelenting bloodshed on the city’s streets, Sanchez had actually resumed his old role as a leader of the notorious Gangster Two-Six Nation, prosecutors alleged in a court filing this week.
  
  In fact, a sprawling federal investigation into the gang’s activities captured Sanchez on undercover wiretaps encouraging the very kind of violence he was supposedly working to prevent, according to the 35-page filing.

And this isn't the first time:

• Sanchez is hardly the first CeaseFire employee to be accused of a crime. Since its inception in 2000, the group has been controversial, especially in the eyes of Chicago police officers who don’t trust the CeaseFire workers because many have criminal backgrounds. More than a dozen have faced charges ranging from drug sales to domestic violence.

Guess who's defending this piece of shit?

• Sanchez’s attorney, Scott Lassar, said prosecutors completely misinterpreted what’s on the wiretaps. He said the conversations reflect Sanchez’s necessary efforts to maintain a rapport with the gang in order to save lives.
  
  “Mr. Sanchez is trying to relate to the gang members so that they will come to him to mediate deadly disputes,” Lassar, the former U.S. Attorney in Chicago, wrote in a 17-page filing that asks the judge to sentence Sanchez to time served. “He intentionally talks like a gang member to gain their trust.”

How much taxpayer money was steered to these "interrupters" while they ran gangs? By whom? And why aren't all of them in jail alongside their creations?

Defensive Gun Use

Look Lib-tards - a gun stopped a crime:

• A man exchanged gunfire with an armed robber Wednesday evening inside a West Garfield Park neighborhood church, leaving both men wounded.
  
  A 57-year-old man was sitting in a the church at 8:09 p.m. in the 4400 block of West Maypole when a 27-year-old man walked in and announced a robbery, according to Chicago Police.
  
  Maypole Avenue Church of Christ is located at 4400 W. Maypole.
  
  The two men then started shooting at each other, police said. The older man was struck in the left arm and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition. The robber was shot multiple times in the chest and was in critical condition at Stroger Hospital.
  
  The 57-year-old legally owned his gun, police said.

We're betting the 27-year-old has an extensive record, a high SSL score and didn't own his gun legally. But hey, let's ban guns from the law abiding.

Hypocrites

The Slum Times has it on full display on the Editorial page:

• Why do so many Chicagoans distrust the Chicago police?
  
  At least one reason stands out with yesterday’s news related to the 2015 shooting deaths of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones:
  
  The city sought to keep secret Supt. Eddie Johnson’s letter detailing his rationale against firing Officer Robert Rialmo, who fatally shot LeGrier and Jones while responding to a 911 call.
  
  [...]
  
  Surely the public deserved better than a leaked letter to learn of Johnson’s decision and rationale in a high-profile, controversial case like this. And with two civilians dead, openness would have better served the department, too. Secrecy breeds more suspicion, and the department’s reputation for honesty and professionalism already is in tatters, especially in the African-American community. Better to face the music if police ever hope to repair that breach.

And who was keeping that letter secret again? The beat cop? The tact officer? maybe an overworked detective? Oh wait, it was "The city...." It says so right in the editorial. And the Slum Times says they obtained it via a leak.

So what is the Slum Times doing about the "secrecy" of COPA? Paying for outside consultants and refusing to release the findings, even though they spent over $130,000 in taxpayer funds? And that's only one of the two reports.

Is COPA's credibility "in tatters, especially in the African-American community" or is that only reserved for the cops - who have exactly zero input into whether or not Rahm's legal department releases (or leaks) a letter ghost written for Special Ed by Corporation Counsel?

And how about that "Memorandum of Agreement" we covered yesterday? The entire document outlines over a dozen instances of keeping things "confidential" and eliminating the City's ability to appeal anything. That type of "secrecy" is okay because .... why again?

Mayoral Field Filling Up

Willie Wilson jumped in the other day:

• Willie Wilson made his announcement Tuesday at Chicago State University. This is his second run for City Hall.
  
  "Chicago is bleeding jobs, citizens and hope. The present administration doesn't know how to stop this but I do and will as the next mayor of our great city of Chicago," Wilson said in a press release.

And the guy who probably worries Rahm most is up next:

• After talking for months about taking on Mayor Rahm Emanuel in next year’s election, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas soon will make it clear he’s running, his election attorney said Wednesday.
  
  Attorney Burt Odelson said he plans to file state paperwork Monday to set up a “Paul Vallas for Chicago” campaign committee. Vallas is “150 percent” committed to running, Odelson said.
  
  “It’s full speed ahead,” he said.

So three white guys and a black guy. Rahm needs another black guy to siphon away options and a Hispanic to give him a better feel for how his "outreach" is fairing in the neighborhoods.

CPS Inspections

CPS schools are filthy cesspools!

• The discovery of rats and rodent droppings throughout the building at Mollison Elementary School in Bronzeville and two failed health inspections there last fall prompted Chicago Public Schools officials to declare they were ordering an all-hands-on-deck series of inspections citywide.
  
  That “blitz” was supposed to inspect 220 schools to start, CPS said. But despite initially finding that problems such as rodent droppings, pest infestations, filthy food-preparation equipment, and bathrooms that were dirty, smelly and lacked hot water, CPS quietly halted the inspections before completing them all, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show — shortly after the newspaper requested information on the early results.
  
  CPS provided blitz reports from 125 facilities that show only 34 of those schools passed inspection by inspectors from the district’s facilities department and Aramark, the private company that manages the custodians and oversees food service. And not all of the schools that were re-inspected passed the second time around, according to hundreds of documents and photos taken at nine schools that were provided under the state’s public records act.

CPS cancelled the inspections halfway through because it was obvious that Aramark and whatever is left of the janitor's union weren't really doing their jobs with a 27% pass rate.

So, when can we expect a facilities inspection of police department buildings? Long time readers will recall a numerous photos we've posted over the years of leaky bathrooms, collapsing structures, broken plumbing, etc. There's enough there to keep Bonnie Amato and her crew of ghost payrollers busy for the next two elections.

UPDATE: By the way, Rahm is "outraged," probably because this might cost him votes.

Special Ed Countdown

It just got that much harder for Rahm to keep Mr. Wheezie around:

• African-American aldermen who are among Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson’s staunchest supporters were stunned and outraged by the superintendent’s decision to back a Chicago police officer who fatally shot two people in 2015.
  
  Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, branded it a “bad shooting” and said he can see no way to justify Johnson’s decision to argue Officer Robert Rialmo was within department guidelines when he fired the shots that killed Quintonio LeGrier and innocent bystander Bettie Jones in December 2015.

The usual crew of hacks and weasels express all sorts of politically appropriate noises to their voting base and that will translate into non-votes for Rahm. So this is likely the death knell for Special Ed and the announcement for a "nationwide search" for a new police superintendent. They'll drag it out for months of course, but in the end, Rahm will do what benefits Rahm's vote totals.

We'll put the over/under for Special Ed's career at 01 September. Sooner if the summer killing season opens quickly.

Transparency?

Here's an interesting passage from the "Memorandum of Agreement" between Lisa Madigan's Office, the City, the ACLU and assorted bad actors including #blm regarding the CPD:

• The OAG and the City agree to meet with counsel for the Coalition Founders to discuss the Coalition Founders’ proposed consent decree provisions, if any, as the consent decree is being drafted.
  
  To the extent the OAG or the City disagree with terms proposed by the Coalition Founders, the City or the OAG will, where feasible and appropriate, discuss with the Coalition Founders alternative terms for consideration.
  
  In the event the City or the OAG has a conceptual disagreement with a proposal from the Coalition Founders, the City or the OAG will explain the basis of the disagreement.
  
  The Parties agree that these discussions and any documents or information exchanged by the Parties will be kept confidential unless otherwise agreed to by the Parties, and be governed by Federal Rule of Evidence 408. The terms of this paragraph shall survive the termination of this Agreement

What happened to Rahm's protestations of "transparency?" Have they all disappeared?

There are also about 10 different paragraphs where the city surrenders any right to object to procedures, time constraints, and counter litigation, effectively hamstringing themselves, and by extension, the taxpayers.

Go read it all. It's eyeopening.

Plea Deal Rejected

The Facebook torture crew:

• Jordan Hill, one of four people charged in the 2017 Facebook Live torture case, rejected a plea deal from Cook County prosecutors Tuesday that would have sent him to prison for eight years.
  
  Under the deal, Hill, 19, was to plead guilty to aggravated kidnapping and a hate crime.
  
  At the conclusion of Tuesday’s brief hearing Judge William Hooks asked Hill, “To be clear, the offer’s rejected?”
  
  “Yes, sir,” Hill replied before being lead out of the courtroom.

Is Judge Hooks setting the stage for a bad verdict?

• Hooks had previously noted that it may be difficult to empanel and impartial jury, given the case’s international exposure.
  
  Hooks said he will want an extra-large jury pool of 200 to 300 people in hopes of finding people who haven’t made up their minds about a case about which millions of people have stated an opinion.

One of the females pled out and got time served (11 months) and probation - for a major league felony. It will certainly be interesting to see what Kim and Hooks come up with as adequate in terms of punishment.

Stolen Ambulance

Whoops:

• A man crashed a Chicago Fire Department ambulance that he stole early Tuesday after being kicked out of a South Side Englewood neighborhood hospital.
  
  The 34-year-old was waiting to be treated for an injury just before 4 a.m. at St. Bernard Hospital at 326 W. 64th St. when he became impatient and disruptive, leading security to throw him out of the hospital, according to Chicago Police.
  
  After being kicked out, he stole an ambulance and crashed it into a light pole a block away from the hospital before officers pulled him over, police said. He was still in the driver’s seat when officers arrested him.

How big of an asshole do you have to be to get thrown out of a hospital? Without being treated.

And the ironic part?

• He was taken back to St. Bernard Hospital for treatment, police said. Charges are pending.

Except this time, he was chained to a gurney and couldn't leave.

Dogs Dogs Dogs

So another Slam job by the Slum Times:

• Across the city, 700 dogs have been shot or shot at since 2008 by police officers who later said they feared for the safety of themselves or others. And even in cases in which the courts have found the dogs were wrongly killed and the city was ordered to pay damages to their owners, not one of those shootings has resulted in a recommendation of discipline against an officer, city records reviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
  
  Animal-rights activists say too many dogs are shot by the police. They say that, with proper training, officers can learn how to approach a seemingly aggressive dog safely and not have to resort to deadly force.
  
  Juries have been sending a similar message to City Hall, with hefty judgments like the award given Lady’s owners in the lawsuit they filed against the city.

So instead of increasing the number of Animal Care and Control trucks on the street, ticketing irresponsible pet owners and confiscating unlicensed dogs, the City sends coppers out untrained and then acts surprised when the only tool at Officers disposal to stop a dog is....a gun.

Do you know there is seldom more than a single ACC van on the streets at any given time? And 90% of the time, it's on the west or south side? Try asking for an ETA on ACC personnel when you have a stray cornered that's been chasing kids in the neighborhood.

And now they want us to do this?

• How many times have you seen a dog yelping to get out of a parked car with the doors locked and the windows closed on a hot or sub-zero day and felt helpless to do anything about it?
  
  Dog-loving Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) has seen too much of it – and he has finally done something about it.
  
  On Monday, Villegas convinced the City Council’s Finance Committee to approve a watered-down ordinance that would empower animal control officers or police officers to “enter a motor vehicle by any reasonable means under the circumstances” when a dog is locked inside.

And when the dog leaps out of the car, we certainly hope no one shoots it.

Clean Up Our Constituents Mess!

This is representative of a sizable portion of the neighborhood that the Dan Ryan runs though:

• A pair of South Side aldermen demanded Monday that the Illinois Department of Transportation clean up the embarassing mess left behind on the shoulder of the Dan Ryan Expy. by motorists who cavalierly toss their trash out the window.
  
  Ald. Mike Zalewski (23rd) and Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said the southbound Ryan in particular is a pigpen that provides an ugly impression of Chicago, even though the city is powerless to stop it. That’s because the expressway is IDOT’s jurisdiction and the state’s responsibility to keep clean.
  
  “Southbound all the way from the Loop to 95th Street, there is just an excess amount of debris on the road,” Zalewski said.
  
  “It’s not the Department of Streets and Sanitation’s or the city’s responsibility. It’s more the (Illinois) Department of Transportation’s responsibility. But the perception is you’re in the city and there’s garbage out there. People don’t know the difference.”

They should have seen it ten and twenty years ago. You would have to run a couple of snowplows down the Ryan to clean up around Taylor and Stateway stretches were rocking.

And when the aldercreatures attempted to address it years ago?

• Five years ago, South Side Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) proposed stiff fines and vehicle impoundment for Chicago motorists who open their car and SUV windows, dump their trash and turn Chicago streets into a dumping ground.
  
  Brookins was promptly accused of giving police “another tool to demonize, imprison and punish black men.”
  
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel subsequently got behind the crackdown, but only after Brookins watered it down considerably.

You don't say?

Many More Billions There

Somehow, promised health care for retirees and widows is cut off. But for a shitload of connected contracts?

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $8.5 billion O’Hare Airport expansion plan — and the $4 billion borrowing needed to get it started — are now cleared for take-off at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
  
  There’s nothing a Chicago mayor loves more heading into a difficult re-election campaign than to have a massive public works project under way that provides thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in contracts to dole out to allies and campaign contributors.
  
  Emanuel will have that marquee project, thanks to Monday’s vote by the City Council’s Finance Committee.
  
  Aldermen authorized $4 billion in so-called “general airport revenue bonds and passenger facility charge bonds” retired by the increased landing fees and terminal rents baked into new airline lease agreements. South Side Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) cast the only “no” vote because she’s holding out for a list of minority law firms tied to the deal.

At least Hairston isn't shy about why she's selling her vote - gotta keep those connected campaign contributions flowing. We can't believe there isn't at least one federal law violation taking place with all this "free money" floating around.

Another Billion Here

CPS school pensions drive deeper into insolvency:

• Less aggressive investment return estimates have carved an additional $1 billion hole in the severely underfunded pension system for Chicago teachers, reviving questions about how a retirement plan for tens of thousands of public workers can survive without additional money from taxpayers.
  
  Consultants for the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund now conclude the system is about $11 billion in the red and faces an even steeper climb to comply with a state law that requires it to be 90 percent funded by 2059, financial documents show.
  
  Schools and households won’t feel the worst pain of the impending pension payment spike for several years. Experts say that’s because the state-mandated payment plan pushes an enormous and growing burden onto future taxpayers.

So you still have a few years to escape before the bill comes due. And that last line about "future taxpayers"? There aren't going to be any left soon.

Officer Cleared

Appearing on the FOP blog as the weekend began:

• An attorney representing an officer accused of an unjustified fatal shooting in 2015 says Superintendent Eddie Johnson has ruled the shooting justified.
  
  Joel Brodsky, attorney for Robert Rialmo, who shot a bat-wielding youth after responding to a domestic disturbance call, said Johnson “totally rejected COPA’s findings and has stated that Officer Rialmo was justified in shooting Quintonio LeGrier in self-defense.”

Seeing as how COPA paid for one, possibly two outside consultants with taxpayer money, then refused to release the findings to the public or the Superintendent, an intelligent person can only conclude that their "finding" was a railroad job from start to finish.

The FOP ought to be looking into legal options to reduce or eliminate cooperation with COPA as it has proven itself to be a thoroughly corrupt organization.

Command Changes

From last week:

• Brendan Deenihan - Deputy Chief Bureau of Detectives
  Ed Wodnicki, Commander of Area Central,
  Dan O’Shea Commander of 018th Dist
  Keith Milmine, Executive Officer of 006th Dist.

We saw barely a mention of these moves.

Cancel the Library!

Obviously, this is a site of archeological significance and ought to be preserved:

• Archaeologists turned up remnants of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, the fabled White City that drew millions of visitors to Chicago’s Jackson Park, as they scoured the site of the Obama Presidential Center and nearby parkland as part of the federal review of plans for the proposed complex.
  
  Among the artifacts are pieces of fair buildings — including red fragments that could be from one of the fair’s most notable structures, the multicolored Transportation Building by architect Louis Sullivan — and shards of cups and saucers that bear the mark of Chase and Sanborn, the fair’s official coffee supplier.
  
  The archaeologists also discovered animal bones, most of which they identified as waste associated with food eaten at the fair. But they dangled the possibility that some of the bones might belong to camels and reindeer that were part of the exotic attractions that lined the fair’s Midway. The creatures are said to have died during the event.

And it's a crime scene. Best bet is to cancel the Sparklefarts Library and leave the open parkland alone.

Crime is Down!

Except where it's up.....300%:

• The Old Town neighborhood saw another mugging this week—at least the 24th robbery of the year for that neighborhood, where hold-ups have increased nearly 300% compared to last year.
  
  Around 9:45 p.m. on Thursday, a woman was attacked and robbed of her purse in the 100 block of West Eugenie, about a block west of the Clark-LaSalle intersection.
  
  [...] According to city data, the Old Town neighborhood recorded 23 robberies through March 6 this year. During the same time last year, the area had reported only six cases.

And guess who the aldercreature blames?

• Alderman Michele Smith (43), whose ward includes most of Old Town, said earlier this year that the neighborhood’s increase in violent crime was due in part to the fact that juvenile offenders rarely experience meaningful consequences for their actions.

Wait....what? "rarely experience meaningful consequences for their actions." Is this some sort of Stepford aldercreature?

• On January 25, Smith wrote an email to constituents about the subject: “I have spoken with many of you when crimes occur near your homes or places of work. These conversations prompted me to research and question recent changes to the laws concerning juvenile offenders, sanitizing juvenile criminal records and new protocols for setting bail that seem to favor defendants' rights over public safety."
  
  Smith revisited the topic on February 5: “more proof that crime must have consequences. A teen quickly becomes a repeat offender within days.” She linked to a Sun-Times report headlined “Teenage boy charged with attempted carjacking of retired cop arrested again.”

That's the sort of talk that doesn't earn you any happy calls from City Hall. In fact, it's downright hostile to the image and fantasy that Rahm and the Machine are attempting to sell. Especially in light of the mass-expungement rumored to be going on in the juvenile system. Records deleted, pictures erased, detectives unable to find rap sheets or run actual photo arrays due to no existing records.

It's a real mystery all right.

Un-touchable

So this happened the other day:

• Lamon Reccord was TVB'd in 005 yesterday 23MAR18. He was I-bonded and came back to grab his car which was awaiting impound and had a orange sticker on it. A couple PO's saw this and approached. Tried to arrest him and he began to struggle with officers. They lock him up and big Ed called the WOL and said to let him go now! He was RWOC. CB#019619680. I didn't read the arrest report because I wasn't sure if they look at who reads it.
  
  
• At roll call today 24MAR18, the arresting officers asked what happened with it and the WOL and SGT said to drop it and forget about it.

So if you have Special Ed on speed-dial, you can drive illegally AND avoid an impound AND resist/obstruct police officers when you attempt to liberate your impounded ride. Good to know.

Good to know the Sgt and Lt in 005 have no balls to stick up for their watch - where is Ed going to send you? You're in 005 for god's sake.

Time to resign Ed - you're becoming a political liability to Rahm.

Near Darwin Award

Bad choice:

• An 18-year-old man was critically injured Friday night after he stuck his head out of a moving CTA Red Line train and hit a pole on the South Side.
  
  The man was on a southbound train at 9:37 p.m. when he hit his head on a pole near the Sox-35th stop at 142 W. 35th St., according to Chicago Police.
  
  Paramedics took him to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was being treated for a fractured skull, police said. He was in critical condition.

Any bets on whether someone sues the CTA for having unattended conductor windows?

Nine Lieutenants?

That's it? Nine?

And in light of the two recently filed sex "discrimination" allegations, not a single female among them. Seems light on Hispanics, too. Rahm must be tone deaf.

Of course, that one guy has (allegedly) touched numerous unwilling females, so maybe they were counting "two-degrees-of-separation" as actual promotees? We don't think it works that way.

Only the best.

(UPDATE - thanks to the reader who caught this): And only two from Districts? But we thought Patrol was the "backbone" of the Department and future "merit" promotions would reflect that. Special Ed is so full of shit on every single level of his existence.

This Can't Be Code

The city that works:

Note the extension cord running from the building to the sign.

Rocks?

We've heard some weird ones before, but this might take the cake:

• There’s a rocky controversy when it comes to school safety in Schuylkill County.
  
  The superintendent of the Blue Mountain School District is in the spotlight after telling lawmakers in Harrisburg his students protect themselves against potential school shooters with rocks.
  
  “Every classroom has been equipped with a five-gallon bucket of river stone. If an armed intruder attempts to gain entrance into any of our classrooms, they will face a classroom full students armed with rocks and they will be stoned,” said Dr. David Helsel.

How very.....biblical. Perhaps the principal ought to include a sling? He does realize that to get any sort of heft behind a stone, you have to pretty much expose your entire upper body to get arm clearance - just the sort of silhouette that appears on a target.

And what if these turn out to be high capacity assault rocks? And they fall into the wrong hands? They're storing these things in a closet - is there a lock? Is the closet fire rated? So many questions.

Reading the whole article reveals that the school has supplied door locks and locking devices that immobilize the doors in the event of an intrusion, which is more than we've heard of at any CPS school. But relying on the aim of panicked grade school kids?

And They're Off!

And both morons immediately start to campaign against....Trump?

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel and fired Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy got the 2019 mayoral campaign off to a roaring start Thursday — with each man attempting to tie the other to President Donald Trump.
  
  “Washington is in a world of hurt. We’re in a place where our government is completely ineffective. And I think [Trump] is an incredibly polarizing figure — just like Rahm Emanuel,” McCarthy told the Chicago Sun-Times.

McCompStat lands the first haymaker though:

• He even has a one-liner ready if Emanuel tries to portray him as a carpet-bagger.
  
  “Somebody show me that 78th neighborhood in Chicago called Wilmette. I haven’t seen it,” McCarthy said of the north suburb where the mayor spent most of his childhood.

So two outsiders fighting over the rotting corpse of a once great midwestern city. Should be a great time. And there are plenty of character flaws, missteps and behaviors bordering on misconduct in both camps. Quite frankly, we're hoping for a "scorched-earth" campaign.

Ramble On

Anyone else getting the feeling that Rahm gave a free stadium to the wrong Catholic University?

Shrinkage

For the third straight year, Chicago and Cook County are losing population - and the trend is accelerating:

What could possibly be the reason? High taxes? Crushing debt? Corrupt politicians? Out-of-control crime? No accountability for any of it?

You know what city grew by almost 7,000 residents? Detroit. We are't sure if that 7,000 included fugitive Eddie Hicks though...it might only be 6,999.

Nice Criminal Justice System Toni

These are the two misguided yutes from the dozen-robbery-spree the other night:

• The 15yo in custody has 25 arrests and the 16yo has 32 arrests. 50% or so are felonies. No worries though. All those arrests will be expunged in a couple of years. Don't you just love it when the system works?

And what exactly is the deterrent here?

There is none. No punishment means the only thing learned is the State permits them to get away with any misbehavior their deviant mind can come up with. And this gives them all sorts of practical experience, too.

AlderAsshole At It Again

This is an adult? An adult male - allegedly?

• A Chicago Police Officer filed a police report against Alderman John Arena today, claiming the Alderman committed cyberstalking in social media messages sent to the officer.
  CPD officer [...] is part of a group of City employees who claim that Alderman Arena and his staff have attempted to silence them because they oppose a building project in Arena’s 45st Ward. Arena reportedly filed complaints against officers with the police civilian oversight agency, COPA, as well as complaints against firemen who opposed a building project at 5150 N. Northwest Highway.
  Arena staff members alleged in their complaints that the officers’ opposition to the project were “racially motivated.”

There's more at the link, actual screen shots that seem like they might be legally actionable by a competent Civil Rights attorney, if police officers weren't assumed to be second class citizens without Rights in the Workers Paradise of the 45th Ward.

This guy obviously stopped developing around the age of twelve.

Once Again, Crap on the Police

SEE-B-S news provides cover for Pritzker already. Here's what appeared on their site early this morning:

• “Let’s fight to protect our labor unions, because they fight to protect all workers. Whether it’s firefighters, or teachers, or nurses, or carpenters, or any number of the everyday Americans who work hard to make our lives easier; we owe them a good wage,” he said.

Anyone notice a certain someones missing from that list of professions? We're feeling a little left out.

But don't worry! SEE-B-S News fixed it - by removing the entire quote from the story. You can find it in a web search, but the entire paragraph is gone from the actual story, down the rabbit hole. That way no one feels slighted....unless they read the original story and managed to copy/paste it.

Soccer Club Event

Honoring Paul Bauer:

• The Chicago Police Soccer Club is hosting a tournament in Chicago May 3-4 and all CPD players will be wearing uniforms with the number 29 in honor of Commander Paul Bauer. We will also be selling these shirts at  https://cpdsoccer.itemorder.com/sale  The shirts are $20 and all profits made will be donated to the Bauer family. The online store will stay open until March 26 at which time all orders will be printed and shipped. We’re trying to get the word out to raise as much money as we can for the family. Thank you!

Jerseys at the embedded link above. Mark the date.

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Unarmed "Ambassadors"

Trying to do it on the cheap:

• Businesses in the Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods are forgoing the idea of hiring private security officers and instead will rely on their own employees to act as unarmed “ambassadors” patrolling neighborhood streets.
  
  The program, to be administered by the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, comes despite a gradual decline in neighborhood crime. It also follows a decision by the Chicago Loop Alliance to hire armed security guards for part of downtown Chicago.

We suppose more eyes on the street might help in some ways, but we see a lot more potential victims, too. The criminals stalking the easy picking up north aren't deterred by extra witnesses. They aren't deterred by cameras either. Without an effective Criminal Justice system to put them away for violent offenses, they aren't deterred by anything.

Charges

We're going to have to start questioning the entire hiring process:

• A Chicago Police officer was ordered held on $200,000 bail Tuesday after he was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and official misconduct.
  
  The alleged victim was a man suspected in a misdemeanor whom Carlyle Calhoun and another officer were assigned to guard at St. Bernard Hospital on Feb. 3.
  
  Prosecutors said that, as the victim was shackled to a bed, the officer sucked the man’s toes, grabbed his penis and took a photo of the victim as he tried to use a portable urinal. Once the two were in a bathroom, Calhoun forcibly performed a sex act on the man, prosecutors said.

If you want an actual play-by-play, go read the link up top. It's stomach turning, and even the Keesing Bandit would have trouble believing the entire episode, even after half-a-dozen of his famous white wine spritzers.

This goof made it though psychological screening? And background checks? And field training? But then we remember who dear old dad (uncle?) was and how he skated on some pretty heavy accusations for years. The media could have a field day with those IAD files.

It's Still Over

Great fucking idea - give terrorists a seat at the table:

• A coalition of community groups, including Black Lives Matter, now has a legal voice in negotiations over proposed federal court oversight of the Chicago Police Department, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois announced Tuesday.
  
  The city and Illinois attorney general’s office have been negotiating a consent decree that would give a federal judge power to enforce police reforms recommended in a scathing report by the Obama administration’s Justice Department.

If this doesn't tell you exactly whose side everyone is on - including politicians, you're delusional.

Another Bat?

Baseball bats are really getting a bad reputation in this country nowadays:

• A Florida teenager allegedly beat a 15-year-old boy to death with a baseball bat Monday afternoon, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
  
  During a news conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Dillen Murray, 16, was angry and jealous that the victim had relations with a girl he liked. Deputies said they were called at about 2:45 p.m. to a wooded area near Lake Wales.
  
  Investigators said Murray asked Giovanni Diaz to play with him in the woods, where he beat the boy.

Maybe he ran him over with a car, too....you never know.

Another Lawsuit

It's almost like in order to advance, you have to be connected or something:

• After acing an aptitude test three years ago, veteran Chicago police Officer Maureen Bresnahan thought she was well-positioned for a promotion to the department’s elite Bomb Squad, even though the 11-member unit hadn’t included a woman for years.
  
  But her superiors had other ideas, a federal lawsuit alleged. After a round of interviews, they rejected Bresnahan’s application, writing in an evaluation form that she was “best suited for clerical” work, according to the suit, filed Monday.
  
  Meanwhile, two male officers who had the same score on the written test were put on the promotions list, even though one had been accused of beating his fiance and another received only tepid reviews in the in-person interviews, the suit said.

And if this part is true....:

• In his interview, one of the male officers who’d scored the same as Bresnahan on the written exam — identified only as Candidate 53 — was asked to describe a time when he “had to make a quick decision based on information available at the moment” — a key criterion of the bomb technician position, the suit alleged.
  
  The officer, who had spent the previous five years in a desk job with the police News Affairs office, cited his arrest for domestic violence against his then-fiance, saying that “in hindsight, (he) would have reacted in a different direction and had ‘learned from the incident,’ ” the lawsuit said, quoting from the interviewer's notes.

You're in a do-nothing clout position at News Affairs, and you're asked about a time you had to make a "quick decision" and you bring up a domestic violence arrest? Are you fucking insane? And then the bosses recommend this Einstein for promotion?? Are they fucking insane? You might as well write the check right now.

de Blasio Logic

So this time, a school officer actually confronted a shooter and killed him:

• A teenager armed with a handgun shot and critically wounded a girl inside a Maryland school on Tuesday and the shooter was killed when a school resource officer confronted him moments after the gunfire erupted. A third student was in good condition after he was shot.

Big difference from the Parkland, Florida shooting where the sheriff hid outside. But get a load of what the mayor of New York did last week:

• Police officers were pulled from New York City public schools after the massacre in Florida, prompting outrage from some parents and teachers.
  
  The NYPD officer assignments were eliminated by Mayor Bill de Blasio because he said the new community policing units will go into schools instead, while patrolling neighborhoods.

These "community policing units" are, of course, unarmed. Because taking every single gun out of a school makes it safer and a pile of dead kids is easier to campaign on.

Nice Crime Spree Rahm

You'd almost think that there weren't any police on the north side after dark:

• Police recovered a car Monday afternoon in the Rogers Park neighborhood that was wanted in connection with 15 armed robberies overnight across the North and Northwest sides, according to Chicago police.
  
  Officers from the Rogers Park district recovered the car Monday afternoon in the 7600 block of North Rogers Avenue. Two juvenile suspects are in custody, according to Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department.
  
  In a community alert issued Monday afternoon, police tied the string of robberies in the Albany Park, Magnolia Glen, Rogers Park and other neighborhoods to one in the Old Irving Park neighborhood the day before.

Thankfully, detailed descriptions were available for immediate release:

• The robbers were last seen driving a 2005 dark-colored Nissan Sentra with a spoiler on the back. Its license plate was Q817490, police said. The Sentra was reported stolen this past Friday in the 6100 block of North Broadway in the Edgewater Glen neighborhood, Chicago police said.
  
  The robbers were described as males in their late teens or early 20s; police did not release detailed descriptions of any of them.

Seriously, there was a better description of the car rather than the robbers.

And technology pitched in!

• Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said officers on patrol were using devices that automatically read license plates to try to find the robbers. The robbers appear to be targeting random victims, and it was unclear to police why the incidents took place in Albany Park, Johnson said.

Um, because there aren't any police around up there? And the plate reader technology is great if your driving around and have no idea what might be stolen. How about you look out the window and look for a dark-colored Nissan for starters? If you happen to run across a few vanilla steals in the meantime, recover them as you go. Your eyes should be looking for a Nissan with guys with guns. Don't rely on the computer.

And Special Ed wants to be an FTO?

Federal Judiciary Infected

One of the more heinous executions in history brings a lot of heat - Federal heat. And that means Federal charges:

• Federal authorities have accused a Chicago man of helping bring to the city the weapon used in the execution-style killing of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee.
  
  Anthony Morgan, 31, faces four gun charges in a federal indictment filed last week.
  
  He appeared Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole, where a prosecutor revealed the connection to the child’s killing.
  
  Authorities said Morgan paid for seven illegally obtained firearms that were shipped through the mail by an unnamed associate in New Mexico. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Durkin said one of those, a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol, was used to kill Tyshawn — an act he called “one of the most heinous crimes we’ve seen in this city in years.”

No argument there. But then why this?

• The prosecutor tried to convince Cole to keep Anthony Morgan locked up Monday, but [Judge] Cole put him on home detention. He also agreed to let Anthony Morgan go back to his job at the U.S. Postal Service, where his mother also works. The judge assigned Morgan’s mother to act as a third-party custodian.

This jagoff is a gun-runner who brought at least two murder weapons into the city, probably more. And he's on "home detention." Does this home have concrete walls? Bulletproof glass? Underground parking? Because we wouldn't give a nickel for his life expectancy right about now, and the gangs have long memories.

Streets and San Workers Killed

Two separate incidents:

• Two workers for the city of Chicago were shot dead and a third was wounded during a violent weekend that pushed the number of homicide victims in the city this year to 100, according to police.
  
  “These are the types of incidents that keep all of us up at night,” Chicago Police superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a news conference Monday. “And I promise you, we’ll do everything that we can to bring these individuals responsible to justice.”
  
  Darnell Simmons, a laborer for the Streets and Sanitation Department, was shot around 6:30 p.m. Sunday in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side, police said. He was coming out of a store in the 300 block of North Central Avenue when he was hit in the chest by gunfire not intended for him, Johnson said.
  
  The night before, another Streets and Sanitation laborer was killed in an apparently road rage incident in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

And the media is back on "violence watch" for 2018:

• Chicago recorded its 100th homicide this year a month later than in 2016 and 2017, but a month earlier than other recent years, according to data kept by the Tribune.
  
  At least 454 people have been shot in Chicago this year, again lower than 2016 and 2017 but higher than 2015, 2014 and 2013, according to Tribune data.

All downtown cares about this year is the number 500.

499 dead = success. 501 dead = failure.

Blame Suburbanites

Whatever floats your boat Brendan:

• While most of his City Council colleagues play it safe (and dull) on social media, the 42nd Ward alderman lets it all hang out, often going after the president himself.
  
  But Reilly took a break from his criticism of Trump on Sunday to pick on a new target: “suburban kids” who can’t handle their booze.
  
  “My thanks to Streets & Sanitation for cleaning-up the disgusting mess St. Patrick's Day brought to downtown Chicago,” he tweeted Sunday morning. “No thanks to the thousands of drunk suburban kids who used our neighborhoods like a giant toilet bowl. Never ending cab horns from 1A-5A were a nice touch as well.”

Simple answer Brendan - cancel it all like the Southside did when it got too stupid to control.

One pressing question though:

• On Monday, Reilly was busy campaigning for Chris Kennedy, among the Democrats hoping to win his party’s nod in the Democratic primary, and did not respond to requests for comment, meaning we do not know how he identified the downtown drunkards, or their excretions, as suburban.
  
  We suspect the explanation would be amusing, if not entirely reliable.

As reliable as any other number coming out of City Hall we suspect.

No One Paid the Bill?

Another great job by Lewin and his IT people (click for larger version):

This is what many people got Sunday across various platforms when they attempted to access the Department web page. Someone else bought or picked up the domain name Chicagopolice.org. Well done.

UPDATE: And speaking of bills, some Department car wash locations are refusing service because once again, the City hasn't paid the bill.

This "Affordable Bail" Thing

It isn't really working as the CrimeInWrigleyvilleAndBoystown blog is reporting:

• Just under a month ago, 20-year-old David Phipps starred in our weekly “Monday Gunday” feature. Now, he’s back in jail. When last we heard from Phipps, he had been released on a recognizance bond after cops arrested him in Uptown. He had stolen credit cards in his possession and a 9-millimeter handgun and ammunition in his car, police said. Prosecutors charged him with possession of ammunition without a Firearms Owner ID card, felony identity theft of two or more persons, two felony counts of unlawful possession of a credit card, and burglary.
  
  Judge Sophia Atcherson, carrying the torch of "affordable bail" in Cook County, released him on a recognizance bond.
  
  So, what’s the Hazel Crest resident been up to since his CWBChicago debut? Well, it looks like he got his hair done. Everything else is pretty much the same. Police arrested him on Sunday after a Lincoln Park resident reported seeing Phipps breaking into a car in the 1400 block of West Shakespeare.

And this guy:

• It’s probably just a coincidence, but three days after a man charged with possessing a stack of skimmed debit cards skipped bail, police today recovered a skimming device from an ATM in Lincoln Square.
  
  According to police records, today’s was the first skimming device recovered by police on the North Side since suspected skimming guru Marius Manolache was arrested February 11.
  
  The skimmer was found around 1 o’clock this afternoon on an ATM at Walgreens, 4801 North Lincoln, police said. An evidence technician was seen retrieving the device a couple of hours later.

This particular individual was caught with 17 fraudulent debit cars and over $3,000 in new twenties. He paid his $500 bail with the cash and subsequently disappeared - imagine that.

And just for kicks, here's their annual report on the St Patrick's Day parade mayhem in their neck of the words. Always entertaining.

Messy Weekend

Nothing to see here - move along:

• Four people were killed and at least 12 others have been wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday afternoon.

As Chicago closes in on 100 homicides for the year....whoops, passed it already.

Forced to be FTO?

Is there an actual order or AdMin Fax Message about this?

• Message is out. Each watch, each district, is to "nominate" at least 3 officers for the act-up FTO.
  
  Put another way, at least 3 officers are about to get strongarmed into the job.
  
  If the city is allowed to do this, then they will have no reason to make any Permanent FTO's from this point on.

So the unwilling are going to be "nominated" to train the unknowing to do the impossible for the ungrateful?

Should be a wonderful experiment for everyone.

Did We Miss It?

Was there a promotional class of lieutenants announced this Friday?

What Stupidity is This?

This is going to look damn ugly:

• With the character of the Chicago Riverwalk and millions of dollars in tourist revenue at stake, a behind-the-scenes battle has broken out over an ambitious plan to construct an aerial tram that would link two of downtown’s most popular attractions, Navy Pier and the Riverwalk.
  
  In recent weeks, the proposal has been quietly shopped to civic organizations by its chief backers, Chicago hotelier Laurence Geller and Lou Raizin, president of Broadway in Chicago. They say it will give Chicago an iconic tourist attraction on a par with the London Eye wheel along the River Thames.
  
  But opponents contend that the tram ride would be an eyesore and that it would crowd the narrow Riverwalk. It could also compete with tour boats run by the Chicago Architecture Foundation and companies like Chicago’s First Lady Cruises and Wendella.

Just our opinion and all, but a bunch of metal towers lining the river? Maybe if they passed it off as a "crime fighting measure"? It would be difficult for the ne'er-do-wells to attack tourists if they were fifty or sixty feet in the air. Maybe make it interesting by giving the tourists cinder blocks to drop periodically.

Alderman Sees the Future

Someone is paying attention:

• Crime will spike and police morale will plummet—to the point where veteran officers will lay back and “nobody will want to take this job”—if a civilian oversight board is empowered to fire the police superintendent and establish police policy, a former cop-turned alderman is warning.
  
  Northwest Side Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41st), the City Council’s champion for Chicago Police officers, condemned the fundamental change in police oversight proposed by the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) after 18 months of public hearings.
  
  Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham has argued that “policing is becoming almost impossible in Chicago” because of redundant layers of oversight by the FBI, the Illinois State Police, the state’s attorney’s office, a Civilian Office of Police Accountability that has officers “under virtual siege” and an “exceedingly biased media.”
  
  Even more oversight would bring about “chaos mislabeled as reform,” Graham has said.
  
  Napolitano made a similar argument — even more forcefully.

On the bright side, Rahm would get his wish of a lot more higher paid veterans retiring as soon as humanly possible.

Thanks to Napolitano for speaking up.

There He Goes

Announcement next week:

• Former Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy plans to announce next week that he will run for mayor in 2019, a source close to his campaign said.
  
  The announcement making it official will come via a video, the source said. The former top cop has been inching toward entering politics for months. Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired McCarthy in the wake of the Laquan McDonald shooting video going public in late 2015.
  
  McCarthy declined to comment Friday, and his campaign exploratory committee released a statement on his behalf Friday that stopped short of confirming he would run.
  
  “It’s no secret that for the last several months literally thousands of Chicagoans have asked me to run for mayor,” statement says.
  
  “I have taken those calls to heart because I know the city is badly in need of genuine leadership and real change,” it reads. “At some point next week I will be making my final decision and sharing that with my supporters and the citizens of Chicago.”

Let's see if the media starts asking difficult questions of "McCarthy - the Candidate" that they refused to ask when it was "McCarthy - Rahm's Instrument of Deflection." Fun times ahead.

Almost Unanimous

A very revealing survey in New York City:

• The vast majority of NYPD cops hate Mayor de Blasio, according to a police-union survey.
  
  An overwhelming 96 percent of the 6,000 cops who responded to the poll have unfavorable opinions of Hizzoner, with 88 percent holding “very unfavorable” opinions of him, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association survey found.
  
  As for specific complaints against the mayor, 97 percent said de Blasio has created an environment where criminals feel emboldened, while 95 percent said he has established an environment that is combative to police.
  
  When asked what they liked “most” about de Blasio, 66 percent responded, “nothing.”
  
  Eight-five percent of cops gave City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito an unfavorable rating, and 96 percent are dissatisfied with the City Council in general.

Any guesses as to what an FOP survey of the rank-and-file might find?

More Clouted Lawsuits

The media is already trying to turn this into a #metoo moment:

• A Chicago police lieutenant who rose to become the first woman to ever command the department’s Marine and Helicopter Unit filed a federal sex discrimination lawsuit Thursday alleging she was harassed by a sexist boss and ultimately demoted because he didn’t want to see a woman in her post.
  
  Lt. Allison Schloss alleged in the 19-page complaint that at the time of her appointment in May 2014, she was among only a handful of women assigned to the Police Department’s so-called Special Functions Division, which includes the bomb squad, SWAT team and mounted patrol in addition to the Marine and Helicopter Unit.
  
  In fact, as of May 2016, only eight of 175 positions available in Special Functions were held by female officers — and only one of those was assigned to the marine unit, according to the lawsuit.
  
  The “abominable” record also included no women on a SWAT team of nearly seven dozen members, the suit alleged.

If only the media knew.....

Old timers be warned - we will be monitoring the comment sections very closely.

Protesters Gone Wild!

For some reason, the media isn't covering this behavior:

• Chicago, IL – A crowd of students swarmed a south side strip mall during Wednesday’s National Walkout Day demonstration, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
  
  “They pretty much trashed this whole area,” GameStop manager Robert Owens told Blue Lives Matter on Thursday.
  Advertisement
  
  The nationwide demonstration, touted as a demand for gun control legislation, was slated to last for exactly 17 minutes, in remembrance of each of the 17 people murdered during the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
  
  Not all of the protests were peaceful.

No mention either that quite a sizable percentage of the homicides in Chicago are actually perpetrated by.....CPS students. Why is that do you think?

Speedwinkle

We still prefer Prickwrinkle, but the CWB blog has a story on Toni's shenanigans:

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says she does not condone speeding. She says any speeding tickets issued to her county car “are paid.” We found the truth to be a little different.
  
  There must have been quite a political emergency in the Austin neighborhood at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, February 25. That’s when Preckwinkle’s county car—captured on video above—went barreling along Central Avenue at 45 MPH in a 30 MPH park zone. (She’s lucky. On school days, the speed limit is 20 MPH.)
  
  The emergency lights on Preckwinkle’s car are flashing. In the video, you can even see an on-coming driver pull over to make room. The driver was probably wondering what terrible emergency the oncoming SUV with flashing lights was heading to.
  
  It was nothin'. The lights were on to get the peasants out of the way.

What possible reason could there be for Prickwrinkle (or Rahm for that matter) to need to speed, run lights, etc., ever? A political emergency? A pending federal indictment? Maybe being late for a deposition regarding some massive expenditure of taxpayer money?

Again with a Bat?

Hasn't anyone told the thugs that bats are not weapons?

• A man was beaten with a baseball bat Tuesday night in the South Shore neighborhood on the South Side.
  
  The 33-year-old man was arguing with someone he knew inside an apartment when the person grabbed a baseball bat and began beating him about 9:28 p.m. in the 2400 block of East 78th Street, Chicago Police said.
  
  The two had been drinking alcohol, police said.
  
  The man was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with trauma to the head and eye and was in critical condition, police said.

"Critical" meaning he "might die."

Please forward to COPA.

Combat Training

This pops up every so often - military doctors come to Cook County to train for treating traumatic injuries:

• Konrad Poplawski, a 22-year old Navy hospital corpsman, is about to be deployed as a battlefield medic with the 2nd Marine Division, which has served in deadly battlegrounds in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  
  But first, he is making a pit stop at Cook County’s Stroger Hospital, which the Navy says is among few places here in the U.S. that provide experience treating the types of wounds he will inevitably see on the battlefield.
  
  For so long “the first time a corpsman got any trauma experience was when they were deployed, and some would just freeze up,” said Captain Paul Roach, a U.S. Navy surgeon at the Lovell Federal Health Care Center north of Chicago. “We don’t want that to happen anymore,” said Capt. Roach, who heads the program in the Great Lakes region.
  
  The Navy is working to formalize a pilot program that has been tested here for three years, rotating newly enlisted hospital corpsmen—the combat medics for the Navy and Marines—and those needing a refresher while they are back home, for six to eight weeks through Stroger Hospital’s trauma center. The 14-bed unit treats over 6,000 trauma patients yearly, many of them with penetrating, life-threatening wounds akin to those on the battlefield.

We don't know why Toni, Kim, Tim, Tom and Rahm don't advertise this more.

Bring Chris Home

A Chicago copper receiving treatment in Texas for leukemia:

• Some of you may know already but here's what's going on. May 2017 Chris was diagnosed with bi-phenotypic leukemia which only account for 5% of leukemia patients.
  
  October 11th he had a stem cell transplant but relapsed right before Christmas. The doctors said his last option was to look for a clinical trial at MD Anderson cancer center in Houston. After aggressive chemo in Houston, he wound up in the ICU due to septic shock. He was in a medically induced coma for 2 weeks and is now awake with a tracheostomy helping him breath and is fighting very hard to gain strength and recover.
  
  Chris has stated he wants to come back home. So let's bring him home!!! He requires a Air ambulance, which is 15000.00$. I ask you to o give any amount you can and please share this with friends and family. Chris has faught extremely hard and deserves to be back home.

The GoFundMe page is already one third of the way to its goal. Let's see what we can do.

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Ed's Testicles Drop

Congratulations to Special Ed on the momentous occasion of his testicles finally descending into his scrotum:

• Allowing a civilian oversight board to fire the police superintendent and set policy for the Chicago Police Department is “like telling a surgeon how to do his business,” Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said Monday.
  
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel tiptoed more softly, having promised — but not delivered — civilian oversight nearly two years ago. But the mayor’s carefully-worded response still threw up a cautionary flag.
  
  [...]
  
  Johnson didn’t need political interpretation. He was flat-out against the idea of creating a seven-member civilian review board that would be empowered to set policy and strategy for the police department, fire the superintendent and choose three finalists for superintendent from which the mayor could select.
  
  “They don’t have the professional acumen to be able to develop policy and strategy for a police department,” Johnson said.
  
  “The public should have some input on things. But I don’t think they should be developing policy and strategy for a police department. To me, that’s kind of like telling a surgeon how to do his business. We’ve been educated in what we do and there’s a reason for that. If you want it to be done correctly, you should have it done by people who are accustomed to doing that. Just to take a person from off the street and let them develop policy for a police department is just crazy to me.”

All of this after

• his predecessor signed off on the ACLU agreement where a bunch of civilians came up with the most unwieldy form in CPD history,
• the DOJ civilian lawyers came up with a copy-and-pasted boilerplate "consent decree" to regulate the Department,
• the birth of COPA, an entity made up solely of civilians, cop haters, and communists (not a cop among them),
• Kim Foxxx's re-opening numerous closed shooting cases with the sole intent of charging officers in events already deemed "justified,"
• and the civilian Police Board, which already covers many of the duties proposed for the new bureaucracy.

Special Ed was part and parcel of most of these, or stood silently by while implemented. But the minute his position was threatened, by golly, he was right up there spouting Rahm's thoughts and objections to taking away any part of the political influence currently ruining the Department.

On a side note, we heard Rauner found his balls today also, vetoing a redundant and pointless gun shop "licensing" scheme passed in Springfield. There must be something going around.

Bridgeport Shooting

Thirty days off the street:

• A Chicago police officer shot a man armed with a large meat cleaver Tuesday morning, while responding to a domestic disturbance in the Bridgeport neighborhood.
  
  Shortly before noon, Deering District officers responded to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance involving a man armed with a knife at a home near 28th and Throop, Deputy Chief Kevin Ryan said.
  
  When police arrived, the woman who had called 911 helped the officers get inside the home, and told them where she thought the man was. When the officers went to the second floor, they found a man armed with a cleaver in one of the bedrooms, and he appeared to be cutting himself, Ryan said.
  
  The officers told the man several times to drop the knife, and when he didn’t, the officers used Tasers in an effort to prevent him from harming himself any further, according to Ryan. The Tasers appeared to have minimal effect, and when the man came out of the room, one of the officers shot him in the leg.

We can't remember - is a meat cleaver a "deadly weapon" under the COPA Use of Force?

In any event, the officers went home safe, which is all that matters in the end. Good job.

Another Challenger?

This has the potential to completely gut Rahm's black support:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel will face a furious political backlash if he refuses to empower a civilian oversight board to fire the police superintendent and establish police policy or attempts to stall a City Council vote until after the 2019 mayoral election, Police Board President Lori Lightfoot warned Tuesday.
  
  Sounding more and more like a mayoral challenger, Lightfoot embraced the sweeping proposal drafted by the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) and warned Emanuel to get on board a “ship that is sailing.”
  
  “The mayor endorsed this process two years ago….Any effort to stall it and not let it see the light of day, not engage in the City Council process….will be met with extreme, extreme hostility. And it will be taken out on them in February of 2019,” Lightfoot said.

Wouldn't it be amazing to see Rahm come in third in the next election? Lightfoot has the potential to split a sizable portion of the black vote, this despite her having run the old OPS into irrelevancy. If McCarthy isn't bought off, he could take a chunk of the city workersand maybe some "revrunds" who remember so-called "lower crime" via crooked CompStat counting. One decent Hispanic candidate and Rahm is suddenly a lame duck with no identifiable voting bloc.

Hey, we can dream, can't we?

Don't Panic

A lot of people sending us this and commenting about it (click for a larger version):

When pictures are taken of vehicles speeding or going through red lights, the plate photos go to the company. All "M" and "MP" are automatically flagged and (as we understand it) sent to the Department for adjudication - meaning they are tossed in the garbage. This AdMin Fax message is supposed to be applied to coverts and exempt vehicles that don't carry the "M" or "MP" plates. This is per a highly placed contact who graces us with Department insight now and again.

If you happen to get tagged while driving a marked vehicle, we'd like to hear about it, but it hasn't happened locally that we've ever been informed of. Some people got tagged in suburban locations with marked vehicles, but were cleared when they proved they were on department business.

Sergeant "Merit" Letter

The Department is soliciting for resumes for "merit" nominations this week. This ties into recent rumors of an April class. We've heard anywhere from 50 to 100.

This also begs the question of how Rahm is going to fulfill his promise of 1,000 new officers on the street by the end of the year. We pointed out already how the total net gain is around 100 officers halfway to the "two years" promise. The only way he gets there at this point is blatantly lying, which isn't out of the realm of possibility.

State Rep "Doxxes" Critics

So State Representative Martwick, who is allied with Alderasshole Arena and whose District will include the Section 8/Night Ministry housing project, has undertaken an effort to "DOXX" his critics:

Pardon our French, but what in the Hell is this crap? This is some 1984 Stalin-esque bullshit to be sure. Martwick or his people are scouring voting records of his social media critics and seeing what type of ballot they pulled in recent elections. Then he is attempting to shame them for holding a different opinion, ridiculing them for daring to vote republican.

And we hate to keep bringing it up because her opponent is such a scumbag, but what is judicial candidate Daly going to do now? Is she proud of Martwick's endorsement, now that we've demonstrated he is yet another "progressive" engaging in the politics of personal destruction of those who are engaging in thought crimes?

And where the fuck is the media? Too scared to criticize their fellow travelers?

Well Lookie Here

There's a whole stack of these things at the Academy Range:

So why aren't these being used by the training staff?

Aren't bats dangerous weapons? Deadly weapons?

Rahm, you want to have Corp Counsel explain this?

Why Promotion Processes Suck

This is a great take on promotions:

• I have never been one to sugar coat or mince words. Sometimes these words have gotten me in trouble. The trouble always comes from those of rank. More specifically, above my own.
  
  Now all of us have heard or uttered the obvious “wow, he’s (or she) has changed since they got promoted”. I’m sure the same has been said about me. But we all know that one, or several cops, who become complete unbearable assholes once they get a couple of stripes or bars. Why does this happen?
  
  I recently saw a meme on a financial page with a quote that had me thinking for several days. The quote posed the following question,“does money or wealth change a person or does it bring out who they really are?”
  
  I believe the parallels are similar. With money comes a certain amount of power. The same can be said about those cops who chase rank. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with going up for promotion to better your organization (and make a few dollars) if your knowledge and leadership are ready for the next level. Sadly, many cops who chase after promotion have motives that are self-centered and completely self-serving.
  
  It is not leadership, responsibility, challenge or even money they seek. It is power. And they will step on the back of your neck to attain it.

Go read it all. Cops are cops the world over, and this gentleman has some pretty good insight that is applicable across jurisdictions.

The Salty Sarge is linked on the right hand side of the blog.

Oops

This is amusing:

• Mount Vernon, VA – A man who was fleeing from police ran over himself with his own car in Fairfax County (video below).
  
  Fairfax County police said they initiated a traffic stop on Isaac Bonsu at about 1 a.m. on Sunday morning for “apparent equipment violations,” KRCG reported.
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  Bonsu, 30, failed to stop, and fled police. He led police on a chase that that included a trip through a Starbucks parking lot and an apartment complex.
  
  Eventually, Bonsu jumped out of his vehicle and took off on foot. However, he failed to put his car in park before he got out of it.

Priceless:

There ought to be highlight reels of this type of occurrence uploaded annually by Departments across the nation.