Rumors EVERYWHERE

Half of the fun of this place is trying to pick out the rumors from the genuine information that pops up every so often. Like these:

• The command staff is to report to HQ to get their digital radios with a special federal channel in case everything goes to Hell. (might be true)
• Cancelled days off and 12-hour days start as soon as closing arguments begin, maybe as soon as Wednesday, certainly by the weekend (probably true, but dictated by the pace of trial)
• The Jewels’ store sent out a managers memo to put all shopping carts inside at night under lock and chain to discourage expected looters from carting out merchandise and limiting losses to hand carry. Also Oscos’ will not restock any liquor this week and suspended all deliveries.(would be the smart thing to do, so maybe true)
• CPS will allow all student to participate in any manner of choosing to protest at anytime during school hours. Buses and free lunches will be provided.(so nutty it HAS to be true)

There will be a whole bunch more before this is all over.

Get Under That Bus!

Once again, police can never be the victim of any crime:

• Attorneys for the Fraternal Order of Police are accusing Cook County prosecutors of failing to provide Chicago Police officers with equal protection under the law. In a letter to First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats, FOP attorney James Thompson assailed prosecutors for denying input of police officers in prosecutions in which officers have been injured. The prosecutors may be violating state law in doing so, the attorney alleges in the letter.
  
  The letter, authorized by FOP Field Reps Bob Bartlett and Martin Preib and President Kevin Graham, taps into a sentiment among FOP members that the Cook County State’s Attorney administration under Kimberly Foxx cares more about criminals and their attorneys than police officers. The letter specifically addresses an incident in August of last year in which an officer was bit in the leg during a downtown demonstration called “Slut Walk.” The demonstrator, Lee Dewey, was accused of biting the officer. Dewey was charged with Aggravated Battery of a Police Officer, a felony.
  
  Because of the bite, the officer was out of work for six weeks and ordered by doctors to take a concoction of medicines to prevent the possibility of an AIDS infection. The officer spent his time off simmering in anxiety. But a plea agreement was apparently worked out between prosecutors and Dewey. His charge was reduced to a municipal code violation: unlawful assembly.
  
  The decision was made without the knowledge of the officer, the FOP claims in its letter. The officer stated he would never have approved of such a reduction in the charge. The failure of prosecutors to inform the officer and allow him input in the process violates the Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Action (725 ILCS 120/1)...

Maybe this could be applied across the board since Kimmy and Prickwrinkle, Timmy and Tom don't want criminals behind bars. Why bother including the victim of any crime?

Great Idea, Eh?

Sounds like Canada is the place to be the police at, eh?

• With just weeks to go before legalization, the Vancouver Police Board approved on Wednesday a set of regulations for officers’ use of cannabis.
  
  As per recommendations laid out in an August report by the Vancouver Police Department, the board rejected a 24-hour pre-shift period of abstinence in favour of a standard that simply states officers must arrive to work “fit for duty.”

So all you hosers out there better get your boxes of Twinkies and a bunch of back bacon ready for a long cold night of patrolling the Great White North. And maybe get uniforms with a bit of extra room in the waistline.

(yes we know Bob and Doug weren't stoners)

Yet Another Tax?

Just in time for the Christmas shopping season:

• Illinoisans should prepare to pay more for online purchases from out-of-state retailers.
  
  The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc. is projected to increase revenue to the Illinois state budget by $140 million this year. As a result of the decision, and a change in Illinois law passed with this year’s budget bill, most out-of-state retailers who sell to Illinois customers will be required to collect and remit a “use tax” of 6.25 percent on all online transactions starting Oct. 1.

Anyone know if you ship to a PO Box in another state, can you avoid the 6.25%? We make enough trips to [censored] that renting a PO Box and picking up stuff every month or so might be a good economic move. And we'd be more than willing to let others ship to that address for the price of a six-pack.

CFD Rumor

True? False?

• Fire has rehired 80 Firemen and 30 paramedics starting at 1200hrs on Friday. The members have been told to plan on spending the night in a camp-like situation. Seems as if strike teams are being formed, the plan is in place to combat the combatants.

Also, a military chopper has  been spotted over the west and south sides. Anyone have specifics?

McCarthy Panders

But in a good way:

• Mayoral candidate Garry McCarthy showed up Tuesday at a jam-packed Daley Center courtroom to demonstrate his support for former city employees fighting to restore the 55 percent retiree health care subsidy abolished by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
  
  If he is elected mayor, McCarthy said he is determined to find the $130 million a year needed to restore the subsidy for retirees, 10,000 of whom started working for the city prior to April 1, 1986 and, therefore, are not eligible for Medicare.
  
  “Emotionally, it disturbs me greatly that this is the way we treat retirees. It’s not fair. You’ve heard me say we need more compassionate government. This is exactly what I’m talking about,” McCarthy said.
  
  “Underneath my being a cop for 35 years, I’m kind of a sensitive person, which a lot of people don’t realize it. The more time I’ve spent with the retirees, the more it’s gotten to me. I wanted to know more about it and show my support for them. I don’t think this should have happened. It needs to be corrected. It’s just another fiscal challenge we’re gonna have to face.”

Remember, Chicago doesn't have a revenue problem - it has a sending problem whereby everything is spent on buying the next vote and not paying for obligations.

Trial Break

The judge has been reserving Fridays for closed door sessions with opposing counsel to further hash out jury instructions.

The defense hasn't rested, so figure two more days or so next week. That brings closing arguments at midweek and the possibility of 12-hour days being implemented at that time (03, 04, 05 October?)

We had forgotten the Chicago Marathon is on tap for 07 October and Columbus Day is 08 October. Is Gaughan planning (hoping?) to have a verdict in before then?

And has anyone considered Cubs riots???

Gee, That Sounded Close!

Nice double murder Rahm:

• An argument near a South Side alternative high school erupted into gunfire near the CTA’s Sox-35th station when multiple shooters chased two boys down 35th Street, leaving them both dead Wednesday afternoon, Chicago police said.
  
  The confrontation began around 3 p.m. at Youth Connection Charter School at 10 W. 35th St. near the Bronzeville neighborhood, said Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.
  
  The victims, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, ran away west on 35th Street toward the Red Line and Guaranteed Rate Field as the shooters fired at them, Johnson said. Police did not yet know what sparked the argument, he said.

So about 800 feet from Headquarters and 1000 feet from Sox Park. The rumor mill from HQ says that the usual smokers ran back into the building and warnings issued to occupants to be careful if they were headed toward the Dan Ryan and points beyond.

There is No "Code"

So now there's NO "code of silence"?

• Under fire for how his administration handled the Laquan McDonald shooting, Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2015 gave an emotional speech before the Chicago City Council acknowledging a “code of silence” allowed police to cover up misconduct.
  
  Since then, however, Emanuel’s Law Department on five separate occasions has fought police misconduct lawsuits with the help of a hired expert witness who has testified a widespread code of silence does not exist, according to an analysis of city records by the Better Government Association and NBC5 Investigates.
  
  The city’s efforts ultimately proved futile, costing taxpayers nearly $70 million in judgments, settlements and legal fees in four of those cases. In addition, the city has paid the expert witness — former Irvine, California, deputy police chief Jeffrey J. Noble — more than $165,000 since Emanuel gave his speech.

So that $70 million ought to be removed from the tab that lib-tards like to tout as the supposed "cost of police misconduct." That portion lies directly at the feet of the nine-digit-midget talking out of his ass.

Sanctuary! Sanctuary!

Why do murders think they can hide out in Illinois?

• A man wanted on murder charges in connection with the shooting death of a man in Mississippi earlier this month was apprehended in Zion Tuesday, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. Deshaude Jones, 40, of Ocean Springs, Miss., was arrested by multi-jurisdictional law enforcement teams at a residence in Zion, according to sheriff’s office Sgt. Christopher Covelli.
  
  Covelli said Jones is “a documented street gang member,” and is wanted on charges of murder by the Ocean Springs Police Department in Mississippi. Based on information received by the sheriff’s office, Jones allegedly shot and killed a man Sept. 14 in an Ocean City bar and grill, Covelli said.
  
  Jones was being held Wednesday in Lake County jail on $10 million bail pending extradition hearings.

And a $10 million bond? Wow, you can tell who has a real law-and-order states attorney.

Jury Instructions Already?

If they are hashing out jury instructions already, the end of trial could be coming quicker than anticipated:

• When jurors make their decision on whether to convict Jason Van Dyke in the murder of Laquan McDonald, Van Dyke’s lawyers want them told they can’t use “the vision of 20/20 hindsight.”
  
  As the Van Dyke trial continues in Judge Vincent Gaughan’s courtroom, the more arcane but critical battle over the instructions that the judge will give the jury before they decide the case continues behind the scenes.
  
  Special Prosecutor Joseph McMahon late Tuesday filed a motion challenging four instructions proposed by Van Dyke’s team as “complicated, lengthy and unabashedly argumentative.”

And what are the instructions?

1. They need to consider “specific acts” McDonald committed to resist arrest before he was shot
2. If Van Dyke’s decision to use deadly force against McDonald was justified, then he was not required by law to use “non-deadly alternatives first”
3. That when a person is in reasonable fear for their life, that person isn’t required by the law to “use infallible judgement” when deciding if deadly force is justified — and that “the passage of a few seconds during which the fear abates is normally not enough to hold that person guilty of an unjustified homicide”
4. Police officers often are forced to make split-second judgments about what’s reasonable, rather than with “the 20/20 vision of hindsight.”

The first instruction isn't vital. The second and third are pretty important. That last one is the kicker. Numerous Supreme Court decisions specifically mention that Use of Force is based on what a "reasonable police officer" believes, not what a non-LEO thinks based on hindsight.

Nice Bike Dude

Remember those little shops that would repaint and retag a hot ride for thieves back in the day?

Someone has a new take on an old job.

Great Pick Ed!

So how does a "merit" pick for detective, submitted by a Commander who should have been in jail himself seven or eight times by our count, manage to piss hot the first week of training?

Perhaps the "Merit" Board would like to explain how this choice was (A) allowed in the first place and (B) what outstanding example of police work he accomplished that we should all aspire to?

Did This Ever Turn Up?

Stolen last week - has anyone checked the recycling yards?

• A missing semi with very expensive plane parts inside vanished, apparently taken from a secure area at O’Hare Airport. CBS 2 [...] reports, sources said police have been looking for the driver of the truck and want to question him.
  
  There is a surveillance image of the truck reported missing by PFH Air LLC. The Lake in the Hills company hauls general freight and does interstate transportation. The truck was taken from a secure area on West O’Hare Avenue at the airport on Sept. 17. It was last spotted near Washington and Kilbourn on Chicago’s West Side.

Great airport security. This is going to be problematic for vehicle pursuits if the thieves manage to mount it on a car.

Or this:

#29

Commander Bauer's star was retired today:

• The No. 29 star of Cmdr. Paul Bauer, which he received when he attained the rank of captain, was placed by his wife, Erin, and teenage daughter, Grace, in a glass cabinet alongside those of some 500 other Chicago police officers who died while serving the city.
  
  Bauer was the highest-ranking Chicago cop to be killed in the line of duty in decades when he was fatally shot outside the Thompson Center in the Loop on the day before Valentine’s Day. The gold star Bauer was given when he became commander of the Near North patrol district was presented to his family.

RIP Sir.

Defense Animation

You can see the video at various media links on hte right hand side. Here's one of them:

• Sun Times link

It does show how dash cams are unable to fully capture a rapidly evolving situation in three dimensions. Oblique angles come into play constantly where the parties involved are seldom stationary. It also shows how different officers can have different (and constantly changing) views of an event as everything/everyone moves around.

It going to come down to whose experts make the better case.

As an aside, does anyone know if any exempts are going to be called by the defense? These individuals judged the shooting to be within Department guidelines and as every here knows, Department Orders are specifically written to be MORE restrictive than State Law. And if it's MORE restrictive than State Law, it can logically be judged as reasonable. McNaughton ought to be front-and-center for that explanation and grilled mercilessly.

Off Duty Shot At

After witnessing what may have been a failed carjacking:

• An off-duty Chicago police officer was shot at Tuesday morning around 11:30 a.m. while chasing three suspects on Chicago’s South Side.
  
  Police said an off-duty officer witnessed a shooting involving a 21-year-old man exiting a vehicle at 81st Street and Loomis Boulevard, in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Gunfire was reported from a vehicle that pulled alongside him, police said.
  
  The off-duty officer pursued the vehicle, and gunfire was exchanged, police said.

Three weapons were recovered. Initial reports don't list any subjects in custody, but this may have changed. Be careful out there.

(UPDATE: Conflicting info among the media as to whether this was a Chicago cop or a suburban officer.

Regardless, Special Ed stripped him of his badge, arrest powers and assigned him to callback.

Nice Bike Program Rahm

Divvy bikes still disappearing at a rate that would amaze even Houdini:

• On July 12, after multiple reports of stolen cycles on social media (and five days of me pushing for answers from the bike-share network and the Chicago Department of Transportation, which oversees the program), Divvy finally sent me a statement acknowledging that it had experienced "a recent series of thefts from stations." I was assured that it was "retrofitting all [its] docks with stronger, more tamper-proof lock mechanisms."
  
  But as more people have learned how to remove the blue bikes from their docks illegally, the theft problem seems to have only gotten worse. [...]
  
  In late August the crime blog CWB Chicago reported that, while there were only seven adult arrests for possession of stolen Divvies during the first half of 2018, there was a massive spike in arrests this summer, with 120 cases between July 1 and August 16 alone.

How bad is it?

• Luc Sabbatini, the CEO of PBSC, fired back that the Divvy program had been mismanaged. "The Chicago situation is unique to Chicago," he wrote. "We do not have issues with missing bikes anywhere else, including Brazil, which could be the toughest market in the world. As of August 26th we only have seven bikes missing for a long period within all our systems around the world, when the number is over 500 in Chicago alone!"

So 507 bikes missing world wide....and 500 of those are in Chicago? Someone somewhere is making a whole shitload of money off the taxpayers for this debacle.

Terrorists Attend Trial?

Unconfirmed reports that terrorists Bill Ayers and and Bernardine Dohrn were spotted at the Van Dyke trial today. 

If true, this ridiculous circus is turning into the "must be seen at" event for all the regular Chicago assholes.

The regular protestors numbered exactly six today - two with bullhorns, so they sounded like more.

Preparations

The brass must be finalizing the plan enough to let the media know about it:

• Chicago police officials on Monday said they are prepared to expand shifts and cancel days off for the entire 12,000-strong department if widespread protests occur after a verdict in Officer Jason Van Dyke's murder trial for shooting Laquan McDonald.
  
  Department officials said officers are prepared to have their usual 8 1/2-hour shifts extended to 12 hours a day, while days off would be canceled for other officers.
  
  During an interview with the Chicago Tribune on Monday at police headquarters, Superintendent Eddie Johnson would not specify whether the department would wait until a verdict before instituting the measures.
  
  "We'll monitor the court events, and as we get closer to the end of it, we'll make that decision," Johnson said.

So days off are probably safe this week. Still no word if the brass has fixed the no-overlap hours:

Now we notice that if 2nd Watch is Cancelled RDO, they have to work 3rd Watch hours? Has anyone downtown figured out the Contract violations and how much OT the City is going to have to pay for switching hours past the 2 hour limit?

Defense Begins

(our opinion - feel free to politely disagree)

And they score a few points:

• For nearly three years, the phrase “16 shots” has been cemented in the public’s mind with the police shooting of Laquan McDonald.
  
  But only one of those shots mattered, a pathologist testified Monday as Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke’s defense got underway.
  
  Van Dyke’s defense led off with Dr. Shaku Teas, who testified that a shot that tore through the right side of the 17-year-old’s chest and severed his pulmonary artery caused McDonald to die, likely within one to five minutes.
  
  “It is my opinion that this is the one that caused Laquan to die so rapidly,” she said.
  
  She called the remaining 15 shots “totally immaterial.”

Immaterial....except for the ability to generate outrage. It was some solid testimony and she laid some broadsides into the Cook County Medical Examiners sloppy autopsy. No idea how a jury will interpret it.

Protestors were again mostly absent from the courthouse. Maybe twenty-five at their most numerous. Perhaps the economy has recovered enough that they all went and got jobs.

Media Continuies Smears

Should Dave Savini be allowed to cover the police beat?

• CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini repeatedly caught a Chicago police officer driving the wrong way down busy streets, obstructing traffic and making it potentially dangerous for motorists.
  
  It might not be illegal, but drivers say it should be stopped. Savini exposes the officer’s driving and allegations about bogus parking tickets too.

One could assume that Savini always casts the police in a bad light. You'd be correct and do you remember why?

• CBS 2 investigative reporter Dave Savini pleaded guilty Tuesday to driving under the influence of alcohol.
  
  Savini was arrested on Jan 4 by Naperville police after a minor car accident in a restaurant drive-thru.
  
  Savini was cited for drunken driving, hit and run, battery and child endangerment.

Aren't there any crooked political deals Dave would better serve his viewers investigating?

The Game is Afoot

Political bargaining with Lightfoot that is:

• Sneed hears rumbles former Chicago Police Board President Lori Lightfoot, an early entrant into the mayoral sweepstakes, might entertain backing Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in exchange for Preckwinkle letting Lightfoot implement new police reforms should Preckwinkle become mayor.
  
  The rumored ticket?
  
  Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, would become the city’s new corporation counsel in Preckwinkle’s administration.

We sense a lot of this horse trading going on shortly. Chico is going to want something. McCarthy has been rumored to want stuff for his compatriots, Bill Daley is a Daley - he'll deal if it's good for Daley. Other political threats will be bought off by promises or commitments.

Watch whomever can't or won't be bought off - that's who to vote for - the non-Machine candidate....if one exists.

Summer's Last Gasp

A warm Friday, rapid cooling for the weekend - and still, 25 people manage to get shot before the weekend is over:

• Shootings across Chicago since Friday evening have killed one person and wounded at least 24 others.
  
  On Friday evening, eight people were shot between 5 p.m. and midnight, including two women caught in a triple shooting in Englewood on the South Side.
  
  The weekend’s lone homicide happened Saturday night, ending a day when 12 other people were wounded in shootings.
  

It could be the last double digit weekend of 2018.

Oh, who are we kidding?

Retirees Needed

Getting down the the wire here:

• Retiree Update-It is important that as many of you can, to attend the September 25 2018 hearing before Judge Cohen
  
  Participants,
  
  We’re as worked up as you all are about Judge Cohen’s ruling, and will make a strong effort in a filing Thursday or Friday, to convince him that he’s wrong in declaring that neither the Funds nor the City is obligated to provide you all with healthcare coverage; only the subsidy.
  
  We’ll send you all a copy of our motion when it’s filed. But it’s really important to show that there are really annuitants out there who are being put in a terrible situation by his rulings. It may be that this is the definitive hearing with him, and that we’ll have to appeal this one as well, but it’s absolutely worth showing up for this one.
  
  September 25, 2018 at 10:00 a.m., Daley Center, Room 2308.

That's Tuesday. Sorry about the short notice, but we do what we can.

Day Off

We're taking a day off from blogging - minimal posts tonight. We've got plans tomorrow and what with the uncertainty of the coming days, we've got to get some basic stuff done around our personal existence.

From what we've heard, read and put together, this week is NOT the week they're cancelling days off. Once the defense wraps up it's case - later this week or early next week - then the Order will be implemented regarding 12-hour days and canceled days off.

Our sharp readers - far sharper than any of the dull tools running this sinking ship - noticed something in the Order:

• the 0730 to 1930 and 1930 to 0730 hours for Second and Third watch don't allow for any street coverage as literally hundreds of cops leave the street unprotected while all the radios,Tasers, phones, vehicles, rifles and body cameras are exchanged magically among the watches.
  
  Shouldn't someone have pointed out that there should be 0600 to 1800 shift along with the 0730 to 1930 shift so the city isn't totally unprotected?

If any burglars, muggers and murderers are reading, try to commit your crimes at EXACTLY half-past-seven, AM and PM for the greatest chance of escape.

Citizens, arm up. You're on your own at 0730 and/or 1930. Free self defense opportunities!

Bogus E-Mail

And the fearmongers have started up with made-up "e-mails:"

It's BS people.

This is a picture that someone is passing off as CPD directions.

Relax.

UPDATE: Someone suggests it may be an outside agency, such as ISP, which might make some sense as some of their personnel aren't local. That wasn't how it was presented when it was forwarded to us by about a dozen worried cops.

McCarthy Lied?

From no less a source than the New York Times:

• The national murder rate reached a modern low in 2014, capping a quarter-century decline. Then it rose across the United States in 2015 and 2016. Why gun violence increased in those two years remains somewhat of a mystery, and no single factor is likely to explain it, but there is one potential contributor that is rarely talked about: weather.

But McCompstat told us that weather has no effect on crime. He even pinky swore it!

The charts included are amusing - we can't reproduce them here, but this is the pertinent information:

• In Philadelphia, for example, there were 2.6 shooting victims per day on average when it was cold, 3.4 on pleasant days, and 4.4 on hot ones.
  
  On average, about twice as many people are shot in Northern cities like Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit when it’s hot versus when it’s cold...

In fact, Chicago had as many shootings during a "hot day" than Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and Milwaukee had COMBINED - 13 per day.

Go read it all. It's entertaining at least and shows you exactly how little so-called professionals know.

Blanket Dismissals

Another scandal with a "merit" supervisor at the center:

• One man accused former Chicago police Sgt. Ronald Watts and his crew of roughing him up and planting heroin on him in an incinerator room at the Ida B. Wells public housing complex.
  
  Another alleged Watts framed him for narcotics possession because his brother had failed to pay $5,000 in protection money.
  
  A third said the notorious sergeant stole cash from his wallet and bought buckets of fried chicken for his team — which they ate in front of him at the station while typing up a bogus report for his arrest.
  
  On Monday, the criminal convictions stemming from those arrests will be dismissed by Cook County prosecutors, along with charges against 15 other men who also fell victim to Watts and his corrupt crew of tactical officers, the Chicago Tribune has learned.

One has to wonder that so many of the "best and brightest" who happen to be bad test takers end up at the wrong end of federal, state and department investigations. Perhaps "merit" ought to be discontinued.

Trial Order

We have been gifted with the entire 118-page order entitled "Crowd Management and Control; 24 September 2018 Until Further Notice."

It's a monster and we'll be spending the weekend going over it. It verifies all the info we had the other day and includes all District deployments. We'd post the entire thing but that'd be irresponsible at the moment.

We certainly hope that this won't be implemented prematurely like the Cubs Playoff Order a few years ago where we were on 12-hour days for times the Cubs couldn't clinch or weren't even playing baseball. That was a waste of time and money and needlessly exhausted the troops, but knowing the current command staff, their ability to learn from past mistakes is questionable at best.

Deployment Order on Tap

Our usual sources at HQ have told us that the Trial Order has been drafted and is making the rounds for review. As suspected:

• 1st and 2nd watch will be on 12 hour shifts in the Districts;
• Hours at 0730 to 1930 and opposite for 1st/3rd;
• 3rd watch is a mobile force, deploy-able citywide;
• Hours are 1330 to 0130 for 3rd

Day off cancellation is a given, but not furloughs (yet). No start date, but it may be dropped on the troops with less than 24 hours notice. Figure it'll start when the closing arguments begin or wrap up.

Don't make any long term plans.

Police Shoot Infant

Man, Jesse Jackson was right target on yesterday, pointing out "how intentional" police are when they open fire:

• After a chase that lasted less than two miles, a gunman in a ski mask walked up to a car and opened fire in the South Loop Wednesday night, seriously wounding a 6-month-old baby and a 13-year-old girl and also hitting two adults, according to Chicago police.
  
  Another child in the car, a 15-year-old girl, escaped unharmed.
  
  Police said there was "some type of interaction" between the car and the gunman's blue van or SUV that led to the chase and the shooting around 9:10 p.m. near Cermak Road and State Street.

Wait....it wasn't the police? Again? So where are all the protests now? Someone in a mask walked up and shot a 6-month-old baby, a 13-year-old girl, missed a 15-year-old, and clipped two adults who may or may not have deserved it.

Where's Jesse now? Mikey? Is Rahm somewhere weeping? Mope-rah? Dope-rah? Mope-rah Lite? Any of the usual media tools who feign outrage?

::crickets::

FOP, You On This?

Here's a good idea:

• Chicago could be the latest municipality to face diversion of state money as a result of a pension intercept law that took full effect in 2018. Under that law, municipalities that fail to make full contributions to their police or fire pension funds can see state money meant for the local government diverted directly to the pension funds instead.
  
  According to The Bond Buyer, the Firemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago filed two claims with the Illinois comptroller for a combined $3.3 million shortage, alleging the city shorted it by $1.8 million in 2016 and by $1.5 million in 2017. While these are relatively small amounts for such large pension funds, there is no ignoring the city’s enormous pension problem and its crowding-out effects on core services for residents.
  
  Bond Buyer reported that the city will likely contest the fund’s claims. The amount of the full, or “actuarially required,” contributions to municipal pension funds each year is determined by either the Illinois Department of Insurance or an independent actuary employed by the pension fund or municipality.
  
  Under the pension intercept law, the Illinois comptroller must withhold state funds owed to a local government once a pension fund makes a claim for pension payments owed. For most municipalities, the comptroller can intercept all money owed to local entities from the state – including sales and income tax collections on behalf of municipalities – but for the city of Chicago, the comptroller can only withhold grant money from the state.

Make them live by the law.

Trial Break

The defense opens up on Monday.

We'd certainly like to see their witness lists. We hope it includes every single exempt who signed off on the shoot as "justified" along with the names of every individual who pressured them to alter their findings (we're looking at you 9.5).

The defense scored a few minor points and the prosecution seemed awfully thin, resorting to cheap theatrics by keeping the video monitor with the still picture of the deceased in view of the jury at all times. No idea why that wasn't expressly forbidden by the judge.

Prosecution to Wrap Up Today?

Someone better alert the protestors and rioters so they don't miss anything:

• Testimony is proceeding faster than some anticipated. The prosecution could rest as early as Thursday. So far, jurors have heard from 21 prosecution witnesses over three days. Still on deck to testify is the state’s ballistics expert. If this brisk pace continues, the defense may begin its case Monday. Lead defense attorney Daniel Herbert promised the jury in his opening remarks that the defense would call experts to show Van Dyke’s use of lethal force was justified.

So far, the prosecution hasn't proven even the barest hint that racism played any part in this shooting, even though in opening statements they declared that it was sole motivating factor. This brings to the fore an interesting question that was e-mailed to us just last night:

• Is the prosecutor attempting to hang the jury?

Our letter writer expressed a thought that Herbert took the jury because Herbert thinks he can hang it based solely on the racial and personal backgrounds. Now the prosecution, after a lofty promise to pin this whole thing on racism, hasn't made a convincing argument to back it up. Is McMahon trying to hag the jury, too, knowing that Alvarez screwed up the charging?

The defense made some good points today pointing out that even the prosecution's "expert" couldn't determine what order the shots occurred and whether the "fatal shot" was fired first, third or sixteenth, nor if it was fired while the offender was upright.

And once again, Jesse Jackson had to add his .02 cents with his usual uneducated nonsense:

• After listening to hours of graphic courtroom testimony and viewing dozens of autopsy photos of McDonald’s injuries, Jackson said he was struck by how intentional Van Dyke was when he opened fire.
  
  “Each shot drew blood,” Jackson told reporters.

So now Jesse wants the police to indiscriminately spray gunfire at offenders, with lead flying all over the place, wounding innocent passersby - you know, like Jesse's congregants do.

RIP Jon Burge

A convenient Boogeyman for all sorts of crooked reporters, lawyers and professors.

Used to smear an entire Department, 99.9% of whom never worked for him.

May you find the peace that eluded you in life.

You're On Your Own

So those guys with the heavy weapons and nifty toys?

• The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) recently filed a complaint that accuses Chicago’s SWAT team of having a shortage of manpower that endangers the public and police force.
  
  Unlike SWAT teams in other major U.S cities, Chicago’s team has no on-call system in place that guarantees a minimum recommended number of officers will respond to the taking of hostages, the threat of a suicide or other emergencies during off-duty hours, according to the FOP complaint.
  
  The complaint, a copy of which was obtained by Chicago City Wire, was filed on Aug. 29.
  
  “The situation has been addressed by members of the SWAT team with their supervisors on countless occasions in debriefs over the years,” the complaint states. “As of this time still nothing has been done.”

Of course nothing has been done. This is the Chicago Police Department. We lurch from one disaster to another with band-aids being the order of the day and "we hope nothing happens" being the current operating policy.

With the current CO only worried about not rocking the boat and jeopardizing his next "merit" promotion, is it any wonder that shit like this goes on?

• More swat folllies. Ass clown swat sgt was involved in a road rage incident in Lake County. Or should I say “roid rage?” Didn’t know he was so special that he could drive his take home car to Lake County. Yep, that right. Driving a take come home Dept Vehicle and involved in a serious altercation. Then he tried to punk the responding units. IAD investigating which means nothing, since they are to scared to touch this guy. Goofball was bragging on how he went down to IAD and demanded answers on CR#.

We're pretty sure taking a city vehicle outside of actual city limits requires the approval of a Deputy Chief at the very least along with an insurance authorization letter on file with the Department's Legal Affairs. And it better be on a Department authorized event.

What a Bargain!

The disease that keeps on infecting taxpayers:

• The foundation behind the planned Obama Presidential Center in Chicago has a tentative agreement with the city to pay just $10 to use 19.3 acres of city park space for 99 years, according to a report.
  
  The accord is described in legislation that Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration will send to the City Council on Thursday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
  
  If approved, the proposals will bring the estimated $350 million project closer to reality.

And again, this ISN'T the "official" presidential library:

• The foundation said in May 2017 that Obama’s official presidential library will not be housed at the Jackson Park campus. A permanent location for the Obama Presidential Library is still being determined.

Which will be yet another monument to an oversized ego.

Section 8? Move to Hawaii!

This is an amusing story:

• Maui Hawaii Mayor Alan Arakawa answers some of the most-asked questions submitted to his staff.
  
  Aloha Mayor,
  
  Q: I was awarded a Section 8 voucher for Maui for me and my son. We live in Rockford IL. I was very excited about being able to live in paradise just to find out that there aren’t any homes or apartments available. Why are you giving out Section 8 vouchers if you have nowhere for people to live?
  
  A: I have to admit that I was a little puzzled at first as to why out-of-state residents were being given Section 8 vouchers for housing in Maui County, especially since our housing inventory is very low. But after checking with our departments, I was reminded that this is a federal program, and by law, it is open to any eligible applicant no matter their state of residence. But although that is true, it is also true that just having a voucher does not guarantee you housing. This is unfortunately the case for voucher holders all over the United States, not just here on Maui.

But if there was an actual Section 8 house in Hawaii, who pays for the relocation?

How Many Places?

Once again, our spies deep in the bowels of HQ, have come up with the list that shows exactly how many spaces the clouted had to skip over in order to steal their promotions (click for larger versions):

So hey, don't worry if you score at #2998. As long as you work for former Commander Kenneth Johnson, recently ordered to retire due to an upcoming investigation of some sort, you, too, can command nearly 3,000 other men and women who scored better than you did.

Remember - "Earned, not Given."

UPDATE: Does everyone notice that the higher the number of places skipped, the nominator is almost always:

• a boss whose is known as an incompetent, politically connected moron OR
• mentioned in connection to a particularly nasty scandal?

These nominators are not particularly competent at their jobs....and they're proving that they aren't particularly good at picking out capable test takers.

Q.E.D., they are picking the next generation of morons, who will be picking the next generation of morons, and so on.

Day 2 Review - Day 3 Today

The defense scored a victory on Day 2:

• FBI forensic examiner Mark Messick made a slowed-down version of the dashcam video with arrows pointing to where he believed the bullets hit. But later he said on the stand he was not an expert in ballistics and that the arrows could only really indicate where he saw puffs of smoke. After a tense cross-examination, Gaughan ordered that his testimony be stricken from the record, so that jurors cannot consider it as evidence at all. “He has no background in what the smoke means,” Gaughan said.

Gee, an FBI "expert" making up evidence and explanations as they go along? Passing off "enhanced" video as actual bullet impacts? Being unable to tell puffs of "smoke" from the "debris clouds" that occur when bullets ricochet off pavement?

And on the protest front, a grand total of 10 malcontents showed up at various points of the day.

This Will Work GREAT!

Can the Department just pre-issue RD Numbers for this?

• Chicago’s new Amazon Go store, marketed as “just walk out” shopping, drew curious downtown workers and passersby with its novelty and cashier-less convenience on Monday, its first day of business.
  
  To shop, customers first had to download the Amazon Go app — a process made easier with free wi-fi provided by the company.

From the pictures and the stories, we didn't see any security staff on hand and the "gates" were two panels of plexiglass about thigh high that Granny Clampett could push through in a pinch. Sure, there are cameras, but under the current regime, we don't expect them to be used for prosecution.

We might be cynical as Hell, but we are already thinking of these things as "Food Divvy's."

$16 Million

A pricey payout for a terrible tragedy:

• Aldermen gave the go-ahead Monday for a $16 million payment to the family of a woman fatally shot by a police officer who was firing at a teenager carrying a baseball bat, after the city’s top attorney said the “tragedy” of her death could have prompted a jury to award even more money if the case went to trial.

Although the vast majority of the blame lays with the criminal who threatened responding officers with a baseball bat and the family who neglected and enabled him for years, he's dead, and the City has deep pockets. An innocent woman paid an incalculable price.

Liberal Contradiction

So the Tribune reported this the other day:

• Fifth-grader Henry Klucznik has a lot to look forward to this school year, his last in elementary school at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School on the North Side.
  
  Though he’s only a few weeks into the new year, the 10-year-old is already involved in cross country and will be part of the school’s math club. He’s also learned what to do in the event that an armed intruder shows up at the North Center parochial school, which recently spent nearly $90,000 on a security system designed to quickly notify police if an active shooter is on church or school premises.
  
  The more than 700 students enrolled at St. Ben’s this year were greeted by 30 new bright blue pull boxes on the walls, fixtures installed because of concern about the possibility of a deadly school shooting. The school also spent $40,000 on new security cameras.

But a reader with a long memory pointed this out:

• (12 Sept 2017) Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich has issued a decree banning guns in all parishes, schools and other facilities across the archdiocese.
  
  The decree, effective Thursday, echoes statements the cardinal has made over the past two years in support of banning guns from churches. It stipulates that anyone found with a gun on archdiocesan property will be asked to remove it from the premises and won't be allowed to return until it's gone. Clerics and staff members also will face disciplinary action.

So did the parishioners over at St. Ben's get ripped off? No one would dare defy the decree of a Catholic Church Cardinal, right? That would be like, we dunno, covering up for a bunch of pedophiles or something.

Day One into Day Two

No one landed any significant body shots.

The prosecution showed that they are going to make this all about race. How that plays to a jury that has a lone black woman on it is anyone's guess.

The defense had a few hiccups, but no major errors. They even extracted a major concession from a prosecution witness regarding what we think of as "fish eye" lenses distorting distance and exaggerating movement.

Before the trial opened, the prosecution dropped four of the Murder counts, pretty much validating the common thought that this was overcharged for political reasons, but you'll never hear that from the courtroom or the media.

Protestors were minimal, running from under ten to almost twenty-five at one point.

.....

On a completely unrelated note, does anyone remember what years and what superintendents L. Flores served as lieutenant and commander? Asking for a friend.

Prickwrinkle to Run

This is going to suck the air (and the fundraising) out of just about every minority candidate out there:

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will announce her run for mayor this week, the chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus said.
  
  Ald. Rod Sawyer (6th) told the Sun-Times he talked to Preckwinkle on Monday and the veteran County Board president told him she plans to enter the crowded race.
  
  Another alderman, who asked not to be identified, also said they’d been told by Preckwinkle she is in.
  
  A spokesperson for the Preckwinkle camp, however, would not confirm any plans. Other sources said Preckwinkle’s announcement is scheduled for Thursday at 3 p.m.

Prickwrinkle could have wiped the floor with Rahm last election, but she decided to stay out for whatever reasons. Supposedly, if she wins, she's going to keep both jobs - a feat not too dissimilar to Richard J keeping his position as the (A) Ward Committeeman, (B) Chairman, Cook County Democratic Party, and (C) mayor. It enabled Daley to run the slating committees and therefore, the Machine itself.

History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes.

Shots Fired at Police

Robbery gone south?

• On 15 Sep 2018 a PPO was the victim of an armed robbery in the 8900 S. Blk Blackstone Ave in the early morning hours. There were shots fired at the PPO too.  This was reported under JB436092.

There was a comment or two about the offender discovering the badge before opening fire. Officer is unhurt, but one comment said the officer's weapon was in the trunk...that's not smart and hopefully, not true.

Gee, Really?

No inherent biases among these two:

• Two fresh hires at City Hall will help steer Chicago through the most momentous legal issue the city has faced in decades: reforming the Chicago Police Department.
  
  Tyeesha Dixon and Katie Hill this summer joined Chicago's 280-attorney Law Department. Hill, 39, who most recently was policy director for Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx, will hold the department's No. 2 job and report directly to Corporation Counsel Ed Siskel.
  
  Hill, who oversees all 15 of the department's divisions, has dealt with criminal justice issues for much of her career, including as a litigator at Loevy and Loevy, a plaintiffs firm that rose to prominence winning multimillion-dollar verdicts against the city for police misconduct.
  
  Dixon, 33, is taking on a newly created role as deputy corporation counsel for public safety reform. She previously was a senior associate at Washington, D.C., law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, on the team of lawyers representing the city during the U.S. Justice Department's probe of its policing practices.

A bottom-feeding Loevy graduate and another bottom feeder who negotiated with Sparklefarts' DOJ. We can hardly wait!

Day One

As you can imagine, the events at 26th Street will be occupying quite a bit of the spotlight for the next few weeks.

As you might deduce, updates here will be contingent on Department whims and events. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Why the Courts are F#$%ed

Here's how the Cook County Court System operates....and probably 99% of people don't pay attention enough to realize what's going on:

• Michael Gentry has received two year’s probation for burglarizing a Wicker Park home in August 2017. Notoriously, Gentry was located by police because he took time to stop and masturbate in a nearby gangway after breaking into the home, according to prosecutors.
  
  Judge Lauren Edidin approved the plea deal that reduced Gentry’s charge to attempted burglary. His sentence will run concurrent to another two-year probation term that he received for head-butting a glass window in the Leighton Criminal Courthouse last year.
  
  A Wicker Park resident called police around noontime August 13, 2017, after he saw Gentry enter his home and steal an iPad in t But instead of he 2000 block of West Le Moyne.

That isn't "attempted" anything. He successfully entered a dwelling and successfully completed a theft, i.e. Burglary. But instead of getting prison time, where he might actually be deterred from committing additional crimes, he gets probation... and is free to commit more "attempted burglaries."

Six Robberies

Crime is down! Or at least crimes involving bodies....property crimes aren't:

• Six people were attacked in back to back robberies in South Loop and Hyde Park Friday night and early Saturday morning.
  
  According to police, the offenders are a group of two to four men between the ages of 18 and 25 traveling in a gray four-door vehicle. Victims told police one of the suspects has dreadlocks.

But hey, we're sure Hyde Park residents don't mind the forcible redistribution of their property.

Spotlight on Suicides

(Our opinion only)

The media shines a light on the Department's inadequate efforts:

• [...] One took his life while on duty in his squad car, the other two in the parking lot of the Calumet District station on the Far South Side. The cluster of deaths has brought renewed attention to the Chicago Police Department’s mental health services — an area criticized in a 2017 U.S. Justice Department report [...].
  
  A proposed consent decree filed last week requires the department to reform its mental health outreach and counseling services. It must staff 10 clinicians for its employee assistance program by 2020 and ensure that officers have access to non-emergency counseling within two weeks of a request, and emergency counseling within 24 hours.
  
  The department says it has already hired additional clinicians and undertaken a campaign to educate officers on options for seeking help.
  
  Still, law enforcement and mental health experts say meeting the terms of the consent decree is just a start to addressing the needs of roughly 12,000 officers and their families. Ten clinicians is likely not enough for one of the largest police forces in the country, they say.
  
  And adding more mental health professionals doesn’t address the problem if the department doesn’t lessen the stigma of seeking therapy and doesn't reach out to officers.

We've debated this here and elsewhere many times. Obviously, the Department-wide email isn't accomplishing much. Even our feeble efforts and pleas to just call someone (links provided on the right hand side of the blog) aren't reaching those determined to hurt themselves. We've tried to think of something different to do, something to trip that urge to seek help somewhere, anywhere.

And we realize that we can't.

That isn't to say we aren't going to keep trying. We're not about to write off fellow coppers. We're just saying that we need a better tool or a better message to stop this runaway train. We're open to suggestions.

Well Lookie Here

Someone is taking our advice to heart:

• Attorneys for the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) threatened a defamation lawsuit against an attorney and his clients for claiming that police shot and killed a youth on the West Side this summer.
  
  In a letter authorized by FOP President Kevin Graham, FOP attorney Tim Grace warned attorney Andrew M. Stroth from the Action Injury Law Group that statements made by Stroth and his clients claiming the police shot Steve Rosenthal on August 17 are defamatory.
  
  [...] Grace attacked these statements in his letter to Stroth. Grace warned that if Stroth or his clients continue making such statements, Grace will take legal action on behalf of the officers.

You want to shut some of these loud mouth agitating assholes up and take back control of the narrative? You file the slam dunk cases and hit them with a couple of multi-million dollar judgements when they out-and-out lie. Hit them where it hurts.

Wait a Minute....

....the Department doesn't have a training plan?

• The Chicago Police Department provides no clear directives on how it selects, trains and evaluates officers assigned to patrol public schools, according to a report released Thursday from the city inspector general.
  
  CPD doesn’t even have up-to-date staffing rosters and legal agreements with the Chicago Public Schools system for its school resource officers, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s office said.
  
  The department’s lack of guidance and structure over school resource officers underscores what Ferguson’s office describes as a “high probability” that students get unnecessarily entangled in the criminal justice system. The IG said it urged authorities to immediately create formal standards and responsibilities for school-based police officers by the start of classes this fall.

Students usually get "unnecessarily entangled" in the courts because they're breaking the law, not because cops are doing their jobs. Aside from that, is anyone really surprised there's no training records, no staffing rosters and no legal agreements with the CPS? You have two gigantic bureaucracies operating under two completely different sets of rules and (to be quite frank) two completely different aims:

• an institutionally conservative CPD enforces the law
• an institutionally liberal CPS teaches typical leftist bullshit

Is it any wonder there are problems?

Meet the Leeches

There's a lot of money in monitoring "consent decrees," so it's no surprise a bunch of ambulance chasers have lined up to get a slice of the pie:

• On Thursday, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Mayor Rahm Emanuel filed a proposed consent decree for the Chicago Police Department in federal court. Absent any major changes from Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr., who still has to approve the proposal, this 227-page document will chart the course for CPD reforms for years to come.
  
  Neither Madigan nor Emanuel are running for re-election, so they both will be out of office by the time most of the consent decree’s mandates take effect. As with most cities, Chicago will be placed under the authority of an independent monitoring team to ensure the city makes the changes required under the consent decree.
  
  Nine teams responded to a request for proposals to become CPD’s independent monitor. Most of the teams are led by attorneys—including former federal prosecutors, former judges, and a former mayor. Many of them include retired police executives as full team members or subject matter experts. Three of the nine lead monitors are based in Chicago, but the others are spread across the country, from Oakland to Cleveland to New York.
  
  Over the past two decades, as the number of police consent decrees has increased, a cottage industry has cropped up to serve as monitors. Some of the teams that applied to be Chicago’s monitor include well-known players in this field. Others are relatively new. All teams have experience conducting government or corporate audits.

You can read all about the firms at the link up top.

Another Daley?

No.....just no:

• Former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley will announce Monday that he’s going to run for a job once held by his brother and father — mayor of Chicago.
  
  Daley would mark the first big-name candidate to officially jump in the race since Mayor Rahm Emanuel made the stunning announcement earlier this month that he would not seek a third term. Daley, whose nascent campaign confirmed Friday he would run, succeeded Emanuel as then-President Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff after Emanuel left the job to run for mayor in 2010. He also worked as commerce secretary for more than three years under former President Bill Clinton.

Our initial opinion is that Daley is running to suck the oxygen out of the room and drive out the lesser funded campaigns to clear up the field. How long he stays in is another matter entirely and could skew the race. We might be seeing some internal Machine grudges being settled here and a full scale effort to keep McCarthy and Vallas from garnering a runoff spot. Time will tell.

DV Scandal Wraps Up

So...the money is all gone now?

• A dozen years ago, five financially strapped city of Chicago pension funds invested $68 million in a shaky real estate deal put together by a former boss of President Barack Obama and a nephew of Mayor Richard M. Daley.
  
  It was a high-risk investment. Allison S. Davis — a longtime Daley ally who once headed a small Chicago law firm that gave Obama his first job out of Harvard Law School — and Daley nephew Robert G. Vanecko even warned in the prospectus that the pension funds could lose their entire investments.
  
  But, with Daley in office and three top officials in his administration in on the decisions, the city pension funds agreed to give Davis and Vanecko’s DV Urban Realty Partners the money, which they said they would use to buy and develop properties in struggling Chicago neighborhoods.
  
  Eleven years ago, the Chicago Sun-Times exposed the deal, which quickly turned sour. The mayor publicly distanced himself from his nephew, whose pension deals created friction in the Daley family.
  
  Vanecko pulled out of the partnership with Davis and his family in June 2009 — 12 days after a federal grand jury issued subpoenas for DV Urban’s records.
  
  Three years later, the pension funds dumped Davis and seized control of the real estate portfolio DV Urban had put together, with lawsuits filed in Illinois and in Delaware.

No one is going to prison? No money is forthcoming? Is there a "Vanecko Cat Food Company" where we can get some snacks? The article outlines many of the local property deals that enriched the connected few. Maybe somewhere we can camp out in our retirement years?

Brotherhood Raffle

Time is running out:

(Comments closed here - informational post only)

Cicero Officer Shot

Expected to recover:

• A Cicero police officer was shot during an exchange of gunfire near the border between Chicago and the west suburb late Thursday afternoon that left a suspect in serious condition and at some point involved a citizen with a concealed carry license, authorities said.
  
  The shootout happened near the Cicero exit on the Stevenson expressway around 5:05 p.m. during the evening rush hour commute, Cicero police said.
  
  Cicero police officers tried to stop a vehicle for a traffic violation in the 3900 block of South Cicero Avenue when the driver took off, according to Cicero police superintendent Jerry Chlada, Jr.
  
  Officers boxed the vehicle in on the southbound ramp of the Stevenson, Chlada said, and the male driver got out and fired multiple rounds at officers.
  
  Officer Luis Duarte, 31, was hit multiple times, officials said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and his condition was stabilized.

The Chief over in Cicero was very appreciative of the assistance:

• The alleged shooter then ran north on Cicero, and fired at another officer that chased him, Chlada said. A man with a concealed carry license driving south on Cicero in heavy traffic exited his vehicle and fired at the suspect, Chlada said.
  
  “We were lucky enough to have a citizen on street that is a concealed carry holder and he engaged in gunfire with this offender who was struck one time,” Chlada said.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery Officer.

More Magic Money

Another brilliantly stupid idea:

• On his way out of office, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to create a task force that would consider whether to make monthly no-strings-attached payments to a group of Chicago families to help them make ends meet.
  
  “Universal basic income” is an idea that has been gaining traction recently among progressives, and North Side Ald. Ameya Pawar introduced a resolution in June calling on Emanuel to launch a program to pay 1,000 families $500 every month.
  
  Now, Pawar, 47th, says he will be part of a panel Emanuel will convene to figure out whether such a program can be implemented in Chicago.

So two assholes, neither of which will be facing the voters again, are going to figure out how to spend $6 million on a social experiment that has failed every single place it has been tried. How about that $6 million goes toward the widows and retirees Rahm screwed with Pewar's help.

Only 25?

Should have made it 50:

• A Chicago police officer who admitted to paying for sex with girls as young as 14 — including one with braces on her teeth — was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison.
  
  U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall also ordered 62-year-old William “Willie” Whitley to pay $240,000 into a trust fund for his four victims, one of whom faced the 26-year CPD veteran at a hearing last week.

He's going to be really popular in prison - fired cop, short eyes - belle of the fucking ball.

What Is Going On?

We are at a complete loss here:

• A Chicago police officer committed suicide in the parking lot of a Far South Side police station early Wednesday.
  
  The officer, a 54-year-old woman described by police as a “veteran” of the department, is the second member of the Chicago Police Department to take her own life in that parking lot since early July and the third Chicago police officer to commit suicide in the last two months.
  
  She was found in her personal car and her name was not released as of Wednesday afternoon, according to police. The department said it was making counselors available to officers in the Calumet District, where the deceased officer was found.

We have no words.

J-Day Thursday

A jury might be seated by the end of the day, so it's decision time:

• It’s the most crucial strategic decision so far for Jason Van Dyke’s defense team — and his lawyers could be forced to make it as early as Thursday.
  
  Should they put the fate of the indicted Chicago police officer in the hands of the jurors they’ve spent two days questioning? Or should they ask Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan to decide whether Van Dyke murdered Laquan McDonald?
  
  That decision looms because 10 of the 12 jurors who would hear the case have now been chosen. Five were picked Wednesday — a black woman, who is the first African-American on the jury, a white man, a white woman and two Latina women, one of who is applying to be a Chicago police office and wanted to be a cop since she was 12.
  
  On Wednesday, when Dan Herbert pressed the judge about their deadline to make a decision, the judge told him, “when we get to 11, you’d better make a decision.” The judge soon relented, and said he’d give the defense team a night to think about it.
  
  They fell one short of 11 jurors Wednesday, but one more pick could put Van Dyke’s lawyers on the spot — especially if it comes early Thursday.

The Department is also finally making some decisions. An order came out that from 24 September onward, all elective time off must be approved, not by a Deputy Chief as has been past practice, but by an actual Bureau Chief. This is on top of the manpower counts that every District and Unit had to submit this past week for the remainder of September and all of October.

Definitely an interesting jury being seated so far though.

Election Fix

As predicted here and elsewhere:

• The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners on Wednesday upheld a hearing officer’s finding that a petition to hold a referendum on term limits for Chicago’s mayor was legally invalid.
  
  The referendum will not appear on the November ballot, the board ruled.
  
  Former Gov. Pat Quinn and his Take Charge Chicago group, which gathered signatures in an effort to get the referendum on the ballot, promised to take the matter to court.
  
  Quinn argued the Chicago City Council should not have been allowed to crowd the binding referendum on term limits off the ballot by approving three advisory referenda questions, which he described as a deliberate “sabotage tactic.”

God forbid the actual voters have any sort of say in how their government is run. Voters might disrupt the rampant corruption and cronyism.

Property Tax Disaster

Interesting read:

• This one was so easy to see coming we can only say, “Duh,” instead of our usual “Told you so.” Last year, Chicago lawmakers wanted a way to soften the blow of the city’s recent property tax increases, or at least make it look softer. Singling out the city wasn’t workable, so they got Springfield to pass increases in the homeowners and senior exemptions for all of Cook County.
  
  The Chicago Tribune last week detailed the actual results. The broadened exemptions merely shifted the tax burden to to other properties. Many properties were taken off the tax rolls entirely, leaving the remainder to pay the bills. The levy — total taxes raised — didn’t drop. The consequence has been a “perfect storm,” the Tribune says, for many communities already in a property tax catastrophe.
  
  We weren’t the only ones who saw that coming. The Daily Herald and Illinois News Network, among others, wrote about it. We said it was a wonderful illustration of rampant idiocy in the Illinois General Assembly.
  
  The actual effect of the stunt has been particularly pronounced in Chicago’s south suburbs, which are largely working class and African-American.

And the exodus of decent middle class, tax paying families continues.

"Free" Library

Taxpayers are about to be blessed by the largess of our political masters:

• Projects relevant to the forthcoming Obama Presidential Center in Chicago’s Jackson Park will cost taxpayers $224 million, according to the Washington Examiner.
  
  This includes $174 million for roadwork in and around Jackson Park and $50 million for renovations to the Garfield Green Line station, two miles from the presidential center. Illinois taxpayers will be on the hook for $199 million of the total cost, with $25 million of the Garfield station renovations funded through a federal grant, according to the Washington Examiner.
  
  Unfortunately, Illinois taxpayers would have no way of knowing this money was flowing to the presidential project from looking at the state’s 1,245-page budget, which makes no mention of the Obama Presidential Center. That spending is hidden, but has been confirmed by political figures such as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

But wait! There's more!!

• Illinois’ state budget might not be the only source of taxpayer money for the center. Chicago residents may face a property tax add-on, as the General Assembly amended the state’s Museum Act in 2016 to permit such a tax to help finance the center. Alterations to the Museum Act also allowed lawmakers to grant the parkland transfer to the Obama Foundation. That transfer is the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Protect Our Parks. Protect Our Parks claims the city and the Chicago Park District broke state law through their transfer of the parkland, and also argues using tax money for the center’s construction is compelled political speech and a violation of the First Amendment.
  
  Hidden money for the Obama Presidential Center is a consequence of the state spending plan’s opaqueness. The negotiating process in drafting of the budget took place outside of public view and state senators were given five hours to read the massive document before taking a vote. By the Illinois Policy Institute’s estimate, the spending plan exceeds realistic revenue estimates by as much as $1.5 billion.

Remember, Illinois is over $100 Billion in the hole right now. This will only get worse.

Detective List

Here you go (click for larger versions):

To those wondering, 25 "merit" divided by 126 total equals 0.1984. Multiple that by 100 (to get a percentage) and you have 19.84%. The City is NOT ALLOWED to round "merit" percentages upward so this falls at the 20% agreed upon.

LAPD Shooting Video

A quick demonstration why having your gun out and available is the right move sometimes:

• The Los Angeles Police Department on Monday released graphic video footage of July 28 shootout that occurred during a routine traffic stop that resulted in the injury of an officer and the death of the suspect.
  
  The police officers seen in the video were not identified and the events leading up to the shooting appeared routine. The female officer-- who approached from the drivers' side-- worked in the gang unit and apparently knew the suspect.
  
  The officer asked the driver to exit the car, at which point he could be seen pulling out a .380-caliber handgun and firing just inches from the officer. She could be seen falling to the ground and her partner-- who was at the passengers’ side-- returns fire, mortally wounding gang member Richard Mendoza, 32

Full video here.

The officer was wounded, but survived. It all went down in about 2 seconds.

9/11

Where has the time gone? Seventeen years.

Special Ed's Special Math

Remember when Mr. Fenner promised that a majority of "merit" promotions would come from Patrol seeing as how Patrol was the "backbone" of the Department?

Special Ed lied....again:

• 3 "merit" lieutenants - 2 from units, 1 from a  District 
• 30 "merit" sergeants - 19 from units, 11 from Districts (6 were FTO's)
• 25 "merit" detectives - 12 from units, 13 from Districts

And one of the Detectives from the District was detailed FROM a unit, so even that razor-thin majority is actually not a majority at all.

Without a doubt, the worst superintendent in Department history.

"Removing"

Isn't this what the Personal Concerns Program was for?

• Two local legal scholars who examined thousands of police misconduct allegations have determined that taking those complaints more seriously “could substantially reduce the most serious incidents of police misconduct.” Northwestern University law professor Max Schanzenbach and Kyle Rozema of the University of Chicago examined 50,000 misconduct complaints lodged against members of the CPD between 2002 and 2014.
  
  They found that “citizen allegations are a valid predictor of serious misconduct” by police officers.
  
  In a soon-to-be-published paper, the two write that, when it comes to racking up misconduct complaints, an officer’s assigned district does not matter. Schanzenbach and Rozema found that officers who were the subject of misconduct complaints in more violent areas of Chicago were just as likely to be the subject of complaints in safer parts of the city.

The solution?

• The two concluded that “removing the worst 1 percent” of Chicago Police officers — about 120 people — and replacing them with “an average officer” would have saved Chicago taxpayers more than $6 million in payouts between 2009 and 2014.

Interesting wording - "removing."

How about "removing" the clouted who get away with misconduct, again and again and again and again?

Keep an eye on this report.

Lt and Sgt Lists

Here's the lieutenant list (click for larger versions):

And the sergeants:

Sorry about the shadows - only one person sent the lists, so we're thankful for what we got.

Still looking for the Detectives list.

Light Reading

Here's some fun stuff:

• THE SETTING: When an Illinois casino license became available in the late 1990s, it triggered fierce competition between several cities, all eager to be chosen for the very-profitable, highly-coveted enterprise that is legitimate, big gambling in the Land of Lincoln.
  
  THE WINNER: In March 2004, the Illinois Gaming Board awarded the license to the City of Rosemont, Illinois, adjacent to O’Hare Airport.
  
  THE FIX: In response to allegations that criminal interests aligned with the “Chicago Outfit” (AKA “The Mob”) were active in Rosemont, then Illinois Governor Blagojevich, now prisoner #40892-424 in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, hired Eric Holder, former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder during the Clinton Administration, to investigate, draft and release a report that would clear the Rosemont casino project with a clean bill of health.

It's entertaining seeing as how anyone with even the tiniest bit of knowledge regarding Chicago history knows the Outfit still runs a sizeable portion of things around here. They never completely went away - just kind of went "legitimate" in some things, not so legit in others. You don't think there's a reason the Organized Crime Unit ceased to even look for Outfit connections years ago?

This article ties a lot of loose ends into a good read and gives you a hint of how deep things might go.

About Those Promotions

So Robin Robinson and Bonnie Amado each got a "merit" pick.

Each chose someone from Unit 189.

Robinson is in some made up CAPS spot at 6-figures for some reason. Amado is "in charge" of facilities management.

Since both are civilians, there is exactly zero chance that they worked in Unit 189, meaning neither nominee is within their supposed "chain of command."

Not to mention the usual complement of house mice getting hte nod over people who do actual police work.

Would someone care to explain exactly how this supposed "merit" process works?

Saturday Promotions

For the first time our memory, the Department released promotional lists on a Saturday. At least Sergeant and Detectives.

Expect these classes to be held over as some sort of response force for the JVD trial in addition to whatever other schedule changes take place (12 on/off; 3rd watch standby).

Post the list if you have it.

UPDATE: FTO's and Lieutenants announced, too. Congratulations to the deserving.

McCarpetbagger Campaign

Is anyone else getting the feeling that McCarthy's entire campaign has been short-circuited by Rahm's announcement? Even if he revealed the date and time that Rahm secretly saw the McDonald video, it does nothing but undermine his own unwillingness to resign on principle and merely shines a spotlight on what a gutless command staff he had surrounding him, meaning one of two things:

• he is an extremely poor judge of character (likely) or
• Rahm picked everyone for him (more likely)

Neither of which makes him look competent to run an actual city.