Donate....or Else

Great story out of Homan Square Gang Investigations:

• Off topic but can anyone tell me why a certain gang enforcement supervisor is going Officer to officer in the unit soliciting money for the recently indicted commander johnson?? He’s going up to POs saying they are passing the hat for the commander because he’s a close friend of his and was a good boss who took very good care of him in the past.
  
  When people start asking questions or saying no thanks, as I did this supervisor said, well, there’s always room on the watch for guys like you and it can happen tomorrow so you might want to rethink your choice. Are you kidding me??? Officer in need, a charity, somebody with a big medical issue and I will 100 percent give some money to help. But a indicted commander who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars who I don’t know and did nothing for me??? I once again said no thanks. If I get dumped then I get dumped. It’s on record sarge..

We guess when the illegally cashed Social Security checks stop after 23 years, you gotta make ends meet somehow and pay that lawyer to keep you out of prison.

Big Discrepancy

Big front page headline and article at the Slum Times:

• Chicago’s 2018 murder total falls for second straight year but still tops 530
  
  As of Dec. 25, the medical examiner had declared 539 deaths in Chicago in 2018 as homicides. The Sun-Times has counted 542 murders in Chicago in 2018 as of Dec. 25. The Chicago Police Department has said 555 people have been murdered in the city as of Dec. 23.
  
  A death classified as a homicide by the medical examiner’s office does not mean it will be considered a murder by Chicago Police. For example, the man who shot and killed three people at Mercy Hospital last year was himself shot at killed by a Chicago Police officer. His death, though ruled a homicide, is not considered a murder by police.
  
  The CPD figure also does not include murders on city expressways, which fall under the jurisdiction of Illinois State Police, or killings deemed justified by CPD investigators, as in cases of self defense.

Which partly explains the discrepancy between "official" totals and the only numbers that we use - HeyJackass.com:

• Shot and Killed: 493
  Shot and Wounded: 2454
  Total Shot: 2948
  Total Homicides: 585

So no one, not the M.E., CPD, media nor HeyJackass can agree on a set number.

SDSC Rumor

Re3member when we used to keep gang files? The roster of members, relatives, girlfriends, ex-girlfriends....all the better to locate said banger when he was named in a shooting. Some Districts even kept sweaters and colors confiscated from ne'er-do-wells.

Then the ACLU decided keeping open ended files was some kind of Rights violations, even though many in the gangs took oaths to bang until they died.

Now that everything is recorded on cameras, the specter of "files" is rearing its ugly head again:

• Anonymous said...
  Here’s a good one. And it’s not a rumor. The IG’s office is asking each Commander for the name of their DIO and SDSC coordinator so they can interview them as to how they get their information on gang members, how they document it and how they compile “files” on gang members at the district level. ATTENTION DIO’s....contact FOP immediately and DO NOT answer ANY questions regarding any of that stuff. The IG IS NOT YOUR FRIEND!!! One wrong answer and you will find yourself named as a 1st Amendment violator and the Dept will throw you to the wolves.

Once again, a program that started out as a pretty good idea for gathering intel, suddenly has a high probability of biting people in the ass. As we recall, it was staffed by "volunteers," with no formal training, almost no written directives, and little oversight except by a sergeant and lieutenant who couldn't make the day bid.

Mass Attack on Tourist (UPDATE)

So this All Call message went out to all units tonight, right around 1730 hours:

And mere hours later, this happens:

• A group of about 50 teenagers attacked and battered at least three people Saturday afternoon on a CTA Red Line platform on the Near North Side.
  
  About 7:30 p.m., Xiao Yu Lin, 29, was waiting for a train with her boyfriend, Yue Lei, 28, at the Chicago and State station at 800 North State Street when she noticed a group of teenagers staring at them, Lin said.
  
  The group of teens then walked over and began punching them, Lin said.

An unprovoked attack on a Chinese tourist and - wait a second, was this a hate crime? Fifty against three? Damn - once again, the media fails to describe even a single offender except as a "teen."

No doubt, there were lots of teens gently shepherded to the Red Line to go back to where they came from. How long until the useless commander of Mass Transit is removed from her spot along with her overly useless supervisors?

Guess where they were headed?

• At least four people were injured and CTA Red Line traffic was snarled as large groups of teens and young adults brought havoc to the Magnificent Mile on Saturday evening. One arrest was made.
  
  Alderman Brian Hopkins (2nd) tweeted at 7:47 p.m. that “Water Tower Place will be closing at 8 p.m. tonight due to mob action by large crowds of juveniles.”
  
  The latest Mag Mile mob scene began around 5 p.m. when a victim reported being battered near the Red Line station at State and Chicago. A man was arrested in connection with that attack.

We have to ask, but how long until one of these "angels" gets shot?

Machine meets Machine

A reader notes exactly what would befall Chicago (and Illinois) should Prickwrinkle take the mayor's office:

• New Lt. Governor
  Julia Stratton
  Ex criminal justice advisor on TP’s staff
  
  Newly appointed Deputy Governor
  Christian Mitchell
  Ex senior advisor on [Prickwrinkle]’s staff
  
  Current City of Chicago Treasurer
  Kurt Summers
  Ex Chief of staff for [Prickwrinkle]
  
  [Prickwrinkle] comments negatively about alderman Burke but [Prickwrinkle] is big time BFF with his Supreme Court Justice wife
  
  If [Prickwrinkle] wins she won’t just own city
  but even right now she will have her way with the state laws
  Pensions
  Criminal justice

It's all connected....and it's connected through Prickwrinkle.

And Then There Were...

We don't know....a dozen candidates remaining?

• A document filed with the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners on Friday shows mayoral candidate Ja’Mal Green is withdrawing his name from the ballot, though he insisted on Saturday he’s still in the race as a write-in.
  
  The withdrawal form with Green’s signature was notarized by a registered Illinois notary public on Wednesday.
  
  But the community activist on Saturday said he is still in the race for the Feb. 26 election, adding that he has registered as a write-in candidate.

Which means his chances have dropped to something below zero.

(certain) Crime is Down!

You can tell it's the end of the year:

• Robberies are down 19 percent this year, Chicago police officials announced Thursday.
  
  The decrease is due, at least in part, to a heightened focus on specialized “robbery mission teams” — plainclothes officers assigned to conduct surveillance, connect the dots on robbery patterns and deploy to “hot spots” in order to be in the right place at the right time to make arrests.
  
  “The reason that we are so focused on robberies is because if we look at our shootings … murders … the violence that happens across the city — 90 percent of that is people who are involved in street gangs or involved in that kind of a lifestyle,” First Deputy Superintendent Anthony Riccio said at a news conference.
  
  “But when we look at robberies, those are innocent people, those are people walking down the street, going to work, coming home from work, leaving a restaurant, going about their daily lives … it really impacts the every day citizens in the city,” he said.

Thefts are through the roof though - thefts from persons specifically. We used to call those "Robberies" back in the unenlightened days before McCompStat showed Chicago "The Way" of statistical manipulation.

Bob Makes a Funny

This is actually amusing:

• Mayoral candidate and former Ald. Bob Fioretti made his own pitch to rename an already-named Chicago landmark for Barack Obama Friday.
  
  Fioretti held a tongue-in-cheek press conference Friday morning outside of the Daley Center, which he proposed should be renamed for the former president.
  
  The press conference was intended as a jab at fellow mayoral hopeful Bill Daley, who suggested last week that the Dan Ryan Expressway should be renamed to honor Obama and said he’d “like to see the legislature act on this early next year.”
  
  “I think if we’re going to start un-naming our public institutions that memorialize 20th century politicians and re-naming them for 21st century politicians, we should start un-naming with the ancestor of the mayoral candidate who thinks it’s such a good idea,” Fioretti said Friday at the press conference, which was described in official releases from his team as a “facetious” event.

Thinking people realize that Daley's proposal is an obvious pander to a racial segment he desperately needs to win the mayor's seat. Fioretti deftly makes the point - after all, Daley Senior was a racist of no small measure, kind of like all those guys whose statues are being pulled down.

Too bad Bob is such a tool. He'd be a decent candidate if he wasn't such a two-faced wishy-washy Machine sycophant.

That Time of Year Again

Just shade in three of the squares, sell the other twenty-two (ten or twenty toothpicks apiece):

Randomly assign the numbers 001 through 025 (skipping 013, 021 and 023) and then wait. Winner take all.

More Rumors

Also from our occasional contact with the plausible rumors - additional cameras?

• CPD made contact with 3 vendors that do dash cams, asking for insight and quotes for over 1,500 dash cameras that are aimed INSIDE the squad at officers. They stipulated that the cams have to be 4K, have the ability to be live streamed, and have a microphone for audio recording. Watch every patrol squad have a camera and mic on you for your entire tour, every day, 24/7. Every joke, every comment, conversation, burb, fart, sip of coffee.... all being recorded. It’s coming.

 Contracts and discipline?

• If Preckwinkle gets in, you’re all fucked. She controls the county board and by extension, the budget for county. I’ve seen how she negotiates contracts. Think Iron Fist.... “Yes or no. I’ll allow or I won’t. You’ll get it or you won’t. This is the number you’re allowed, figure out how you want to divvy up the raises/bonuses/perks within that framework.” It’ll be hell. If she is in, look for an overtime/VRI reduction. Instead of $200m in overtime? Think $40 million. Your contracts will focus on reducing the 24hr window for statements after a shooting, to 8hrs. Raises will be smaller but bonuses will go up. She will push for power test incentives, longevity bonuses, annual bonuses and so on.

Don't think the firefighters are immune from "improvements" either if Prickwrinkle gets in:

• As for firefighters, look for 12-hour shifts. Not everywhere, but a “pilot” in 2 or 3 houses and it’ll expand more after that. This will be a reality. Also, manning will be fought HARD by her and she will close houses. Somewhere between 3-5 over 2 years.

Change is coming - how much and how bad is still up in the air.

Damage Control = Warrant

Someone is noticing that Kim Foxxx isn't doing her job:

• An arrest warrant for murder has been issued for a man in connection with the death of a cabdriver who died after being kicked in the head during a traffic altercation, court records show.
  
  Anis Tunkegar, 64, died on Sept. 4, two days after he was kicked in the head following an argument with another driver on the Near West Side.
  
  The driver who allegedly kicked Tunkegar was taken into custody after the incident, but was released two days later without charges. Some time after his release, he went to China, according to Chicago police spokesman [Google-me].
  
  Cook County Circuit Judge Edward Maloney on Wednesday found probable cause to detain the other driver and issued a warrant for the arrest of Lu Fangqi on a murder charge.
  
  Tunkegar’s family, though, fears it may be too late and that the man may have successfully found refuge in China.

Someone commented that Prickwrinkle is noticing the incompetence of her hand-picked States Attorney. It's all well and good to reward your political ass-kissers, but at the same time, they have to actually have a tiny modicum of ability (or surround themselves with a few competent people) lest they embarrass the boss. Foxxx has neither ability nor competent people in her office.

Chico to Fire Special Ed

Poor Mr. Fenner:

• Mayoral candidate Gery Chico would immediately fire Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson as part of his public safety plan, unveiled Thursday.
  
  Chico says the search for a new chief will begin as soon as he’s declared the winner.
  
  “The trust between police and communities has broken down, and we need someone who is going to lead us, who has the full faith of the city to do the right thing when there are any allegations of police misconduct,” Chico said. “There are too many questions swirling around Johnson and how he’s dealt with misconduct to date.”

So Chico has more questions than answers? Interesting. Is Chico going to reopen the misconduct relating to crooked lieutenant promotional exams where wives and girlfriends of top brass mysteriously score in the top two five after not being able to net an actual rank order spot at any time during their careers?

The rest of Chico's platform is the usual progressive, socialist, commie bullshit, but it seems Ed better get his resume together prior to election day.

Murderer Got Five Months?

Combine this with the story two posts above about a slam-dunk murder conviction skating off the China and you have the perfect example of a dysfunctional prosecutor's office:

• [Marques] Gaines’ death, which was captured on a police camera in February 2016, shocked the public, not only because of the assault that led to his death, but the callous response of bystanders in the immediate aftermath.
  
  Seconds after Gaines, 33, hit the ground after being punched, two people approached and appeared to rifle through the unconscious man's pockets. Then, for nearly two minutes, more than a dozen bystanders failed to come to Gaines' aid before a cab accidentally drove over him.
  
  [...] ....Moore was finally arrested in Minnesota in early 2017 and was charged with aggravated battery in a public place, a far less punitive charge than the murder charge Gaines’ family had expected.
  
  Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the case and why more serious charges were not pursued.

Of course she won't comment. People might realize she's completely in over her head and wonder at her political sponsor - Toni Prickwrinkle.

IAD Bounty Hunters

A warning from an insider we have occasional contact with:

• 2 weeks ago, a meeting was had on the CCDOC grounds. In attendance were 10 recruits from the CPD academy (all M/B and F/B mind you), 2 representatives from Kim Foxx’s office, IAD brass from CPD and some OPR guys from County.
  
  The skinny is that these 10 recruits were hired by CPD as recruits, and acting as IAD snitches. They didn’t come from County but County OPR has advised them on what to look for, how to snitch, etc. It was organized this way so as to avoid detection from inside CPD which is why they were at County and not at 35th/Michigan.
  
  These kids are being paid normal CPD salary but also “retention bonuses” on the side from city payroll as a bonus to snitch on officers. Foxx is good with it and will prosecute officers however appropriate. When you’re on the street and one of these snitches is your partner and sees some real police work happening they’ll snitch, you’ll be cracked and they’ll get paid. Watch your backs out there.

This job just keeps getting better and better! There's more, but we'll share that tomorrow. This was the big news.

FOP, you got an opinion on this? There are no allegations of misconduct being investigated - the planted "officers" are fishing....for bounty money.

Free Attacks!

NYPD has their own version of Crimesha it would seem:

• Attacking a cop has joined fare beating and public urination on the list of subway misbehavior Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance won’t bother prosecuting.
  
  Officer Syed Ali -- an Army combat vet who served in Iraq and Afghanistan -- had no trouble fending off five homeless vagrants with his baton and his feet as they came at him one by one on Sunday night. The attack, captured on video, was viewed 4 million times on Twitter.
  
  As of Tuesday night, none of the men were to be prosecuted, said Danny Frost, a spokesman for Manhattan DA Cy Vance.

Guess why?

• Frost said the problem is that the police never charged the men with attacking Ali.

Well golly gee whiz, maybe the actual prosecutors could, you know, use one of those new-fangled computer thingies, watch the f#$%ing video, type up a couple of Complaints, have the Officer attest to the crime, and file a warrant/summons/whatever New York does.

Peace on Earth

But not in Chicago over the holiday. Per HeyJackass.com:

• Final Shoot-o-Rahm-a Tally: 4 killed, 29 wounded

The year to date numbers aren't too shabby:

• Shot and Killed: 491
  Shot and Wounded: 2430
  Total Shot: 2921
  Total Homicides: 582

Barring an all out slaughter, 600 would seem just out of reach. Expect to see a lot of OT initiatives and such being granted at all levels in an effort to keep the number below that total. Yes, we know the "official" CPD total is short another 40 or so bodies, but the Department lies constantly - HeyJackass is the ONLY reputable source of statistics.

How Many Guns?

Numbers twisted so hard, they beg for mercy:

• The Chicago Police Department says officers have seized more than 9,600 illegal guns so far this year and the department is on pace to recover about 900 more guns than were taken off the city’s streets in 2017.
  
  The department has made a concerted effort in recent years to find as many illegal guns as possible, and the total has climbed to the point where police Superintendent Eddie Johnson says in a news release that officers in 2018 were taking more than one illegal gun off the street every hour.

And as in years past, the numbers are inflated by counting weapon turn-ins. In years past, there used to be "deals" made on the street to surrender the locations of certain "security" weapons to avoid arrest, but that is not permitted.

Here is an amusing disconnect though:

• The department says the seizures — along with making more than 4,200 arrests on gun-related charges this year — is part of a strategy that has helped significantly reduce the number of homicides, robberies and other violent crimes in 2018.

4,200 arrests on 9,600 weapons? Sorry - 9,600 "illegal" weapons.

How does that work? Without an arrest attached to the gun, how could is possibly be illegal?

Bad Advice

Here's more bad advice for JaBee the Hutt:

• During his campaign for governor, J.B. Pritzker said he heard countless stories of how Illinois' broken criminal justice system has created hardships and heartbreak for those caught in a cycle of detention, poverty and dead end roads without opportunity.
  
  [...] Advocates for reforms in how juveniles fare in Illinois' court system are hopeful the new office will include juvenile justice on its agenda. Elizabeth Clark, president of Juvenile Justice Initiative (JJI), said Illinois has made significant progress in reforming juvenile justice but more work needs to be done.
  
  [...] Among the reforms supported by JJI are an end to the automatic transfer of youths 16 or older for certain offenses, a ban on detention of children under 13 and raising the age of juvenile court from 17 to 21 for all offenders.

We don't see this actually passing, but the fact that these idiots are actually in a position to make suggestions to JaBee the Hutt is disturbing. What exactly is the purpose of having a juvenile system if you are trying to consider everyone up to age 21 a "juvenile?"

If this would happen to go through, we'd have to insist that everything that comes with reaching the age of majority be delayed those three years, including voting.

Lightfoot Staying in Race

Prickwrinkle withdraws another challenge:

• Former Police Board president Lori Lightfoot will remain on the ballot for next year’s Chicago mayoral election.
  
  The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners on Monday announced it had found Lightfoot submitted 24,483 valid signatures; 12,500 are required to qualify for the ballot.
  
  “I’m a happy person today,” Lightfoot declared after the ruling.
  
  With that finding, the campaign of County Board President Toni Preckwinkle withdrew its challenge to Lightfoot’s petitions. A campaign representative did not respond to a phone call and email requesting further comment.

So the field is remaining large and the chances of a runoff increase with each name. It's politically expeditious to split the voting blocs into smaller and smaller portions, then try to corner the ones you need to finish in the top two. Lightfoot staying in might hurt Prickwrinkle though. Any polling data yet?

Merry Christmas

A very Merry Christmas to each and every reader.

And especially remember the families of the recently fallen, who are no doubt experiencing a particularly trying Christmas this year.

As usual, posting will be sporadic. Stay safe if you're working. If you're home, count your blessings.

How to Save Money

Let's say you have a truck. No wait, let's say an RV. And you don't want to pay for a City Sticker on this RV because, well, Rahm has been raising sticker fees for years (as Daley did before him) and it's just too damn costly and quite frankly, a hassle. Let's say it's this RV:

What is a frugal resident to do? Well the first thing you do is keep the vehicle away from those pesky Chicago cops and revenue people. You park it in a private lot out in Arlington Heights (UPDATE - We're told this is a private lot at Milwaukee and Wilson, right next to a CFD station):

Now, be sure there aren't any odd political connections you might have to explain somewhere down the line....like companies doing business with the City....you wouldn't want to accept any "improper" contributions:

And be forced to return them when caught:

But hey, if you're John Arena:

You can get away with all sorts of things.

Community Policing - Rio Style!

This is an interesting approach to crime:

• Teams of marksmen next year will patrol swaths of Rio de Janeiro with high-powered weapons and a license to kill, said a security adviser to Governor-elect Wilson Witzel.
  
  As many as 120 sharpshooters will accompany police incursions into the slums of Brazil’s postcard city to exterminate gun-toting criminals, according to Flavio Pacca, a longtime associate of Witzel who the governor-elect’s press office said will join the administration. The shooters will work in pairs -- one to pull the trigger, one to monitor conditions and videotape deaths.
  
  “The protocol will be to immediately neutralize, slaughter anyone who has a rifle,” Witzel, a federal judge and former Brazilian marine, told reporters in Brasilia on Dec. 12. “Whoever has a rifle isn’t worried about other people’s lives, they’re ready to eliminate anyone who crosses their path. This is a grave problem, not just in Rio de Janeiro, but also in other states.”

Hopefully, Crimesha is paying attention to this South American experiment. If NYPD picks it up, it'll be in Chicago within a year.

Full Strength Benefits

A couple of e-mailers pointed out the obvious benefits for the Department being at what Rahm counts as "full strength:"

• The 15% restrictions on Time Due can be lessened since we're fully staffed;
• the City is about to save millions on overtime, which can all be applied to our underfunded pension;
• no more Tact Teams detailed out. Since every team is fully staffed, they can stay in the District of assignment and handle tactical things;
• RAPs (Radio Assignments Pending) are now a thing of the past, so OEMC will save additional millions on overtime....and formerly cranky stressed-out dispatchers will be happier;
• command staff can bring their dollies back inside

We can hardly wait to see this new Department.

Two Days, Two Funerals

Sun Times

Tribune

Channel 2

Channel 5

Channel 7

Channel 9

Channel 32

RIP Officer Eduardo Marmolejo

Murderer Escapes Justice

So this happened about a month ago:

• After weeks of wondering how his father was killed while driving a cab in the West Loop, Omar Tungekar finally saw surveillance footage of the September attack: a driver getting out of his car and violently kicking his father in the head, "like it's an MMA cage match."
  
  On Wednesday, Tungekar and family members played the video for reporters as they demanded that the driver be arrested and charged with the death of Anis Tungekar, a 64-year-old immigrant from Pakistan.
  
  "You probably don't know who he was, but you might have met him because for 20 years he worked as a cab driver from dawn until dark driving the city of Chicago to their jobs, to their friends and their family," Omar Tungekar, 36, said during the downtown news conference.

You'd think with video evidence, it'd be a pretty easy charge to make, right? That's what the family thought, but when things didn't seem to follow procedure, they reached out to us with this story:

• Last night I learned that because the CCSAO has failed to act on the evidence they have (including surveillance footage of the attack) and for 3 months have refused to charge the Uber driver who roundhouse kicked my father to death, the offender has now fled the country.
  
  After felony review made the initial decision to release the offender without charges and the case unfolded, they presented CPD with an increasingly long list of evidentiary hurdles they would need to meet before charges would be filed. CPD satisfied each of those requests and again presented the case to felony review last night, requesting murder charges and an arrest warrant to apprehend the Uber driver if he shows up at a US port of entry.
  
  Felony review denied both requests and told CPD they would revisit charges only if CPD brings the offender back into custody. But by refusing the warrant, they have made that very unlikely and effectively ensured this is a homicide that will never be cleared.

Guess who Crimesha Foxxx blames?

• The current situation is pretty perverse. When journalists call CCSAO for an update they decline to comment on a "continuing police investigation" and point the finger back at CPD, but in fact, there's no more information to be gathered. Felony review ignored the video, the eyewitness interviews and won't even revisit charges unless CPD can find a way to track down an international fugitive without a warrant. There's plenty more info if you want to follow up on this story.

This story is only one of many. Where do citizens go for actual justice?

$50 Million?

For what? Being young, dumb, in a hotel on a stolen credit card, intoxicated and wandering around somewhere you weren't supposed to be after your "friends" abandoned you?

• The mother of a woman who was found dead in a suburban Chicago hotel freezer is suing the hotel, its security company and the restaurant that may have been leasing the space where the 19-year-old was found.
  
  Jenkins of Chicago was attending a party at a Rosemont hotel last year. Her body was found about 24 hours after family members contacted police and the hotel to report she was missing.
  
  Surveillance video showed Jenkins wandering alone through a kitchen area near the freezer.

Is no one responsible for their own actions and bad decisions?

Funeral Coverage

Sun Times

Tribune

Channel 2

Channel 5

Channel 7

WGN Channel 9 and WFLD Fox 32 carried the Funeral live.

And again tomorrow.

RIP Officer Conrad Gary.

Time to "Alinsky" Some of These

All of the following candidates have worked closely with that Nyland asshole who never ever chased a man with a gun. It's long past time to make politicians pay for their associations:

• Katie Sieracki (33rd Ward)
  Robert Murphy (39th Ward)
  Dianne Daleiden (40th Ward)
  John Arena (45th Ward)
  Erika Wozniak (46th Ward)
  Matt Martin (47th Ward)
  Maria Hadden (49th Ward)

The left is good for making the most tenuous connections between different parties and using the lesser qualifies of one to smear the other - a quick glance at the national political scene reveals this tactic being used on a near daily basis by the dems and their media tools.

These connections between progressive scumbags is far more provable than most of what CNN and MSNBC broadcast constantly. Time to let people know - spread the word.

What Does Sneed Say?

The Slum Times seems to have turned on Burke in a big way:

• A state senator. A City Hall lobbyist. A banned former city contractor. And a smattering of city workers. They’re all part of Ald. Edward M. Burke’s political army, which gathered 7,193 signatures on the nominating petitions he submitted to election officials last month to secure a spot on the February ballot.
  
  It’s the toughest election fight the 74-year-old power broker has faced since replacing his late father on the Chicago City Council in 1969. Burke is in the crosshairs of an investigation that saw FBI agents raid his City Hall and 14th Ward offices over the past few weeks as he’s battling four Hispanic opponents who say it’s time for voters in the predominantly Hispanic ward to end the 50-year reign of the longest-serving alderman in Chicago history.
  
  His fate could be in the hands of his longtime political operative Peter Andrews Jr., a retired Chicago Park District plumber, who found federal agents on the porch of his house shortly before they raided the alderman’s offices.

Once again, the guy the feebs visited immediately prior to serving the warrant on Burke's offices.

Wasn't it the "White House Plumbers" that brought down Nixon? You just can't trust plumbers.

Equipment Failure

Disturbing report from the Mercy Hospital shooting:

• When seconds mattered during the Mercy Hospital shooting, a SWAT team member’s M4 rifle malfunctioned, CBS 2 has learned. Mercy Hospital was a chaotic scene one month ago when gunman Juan Lopez opened fire outside and then in the lobby. Police responded in minutes, but Lopez had already killed Dr. Tamara O’Neal, Dr. Dayna Less and Chicago Police Officer Samuel Jiminez.
  
  [...] There was a gunfight, and at that moment, a SWAT team member’s M4 rifle jammed, Tim Grace, attorney for Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police says. Grace says, “There is no doubt. There is empirical evidence. The weapon did jam. He had to clear the jam before he could take the offender out.” He did in seconds, then shot and killed Lopez.
  
  But the M4 malfunction concerns Grace and the FOP, who state they’re troubled by the possibility officers were equipped with inferior weapons. Sources tell CBS 2 many of the Chicago Police Department’s issued M4 rifles are made up of used parts. Many are older rifles. And Grace says considering SWAT officers fire 6,000 to 10,000 rounds per year to remain sharp, the wear and tear on used parts could be problematic.

No parts available for replacement? Failing to follow manufacturer recommended maintenance?

If true, would anyone be surprised? The previous FOP slate felt it necessary to make new cars part of the Contract instead of relying on an actual maintenance schedule that would prolong the life of existing equipment. We've even heard from numerous SWAT personnel that the MRAP vehicle is down more than up due to lack of parts/maintenance. Why not cut corners on rifles? It's not like anyone would go shoot up a hospital or anything.

Government Growing Again

How many deputy governors does one incompetent politician need?

• Democratic Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker on Thursday began the process of filling his incoming administration, naming three deputy governors including former state Comptroller Dan Hynes.
  
  Also serving deputy governor roles will be state Rep. Christian Mitchell of Chicago, who also has been serving as interim executive director of the state Democratic Party, and Jesse Ruiz, the Chicago Park District board president who also was an unsuccessful Democratic primary candidate for attorney general.

And in typical pandering fashion, he names one white guy, one black guy and one brown guy.

No women though. Girls must be icky to JaBee the Hutt.

Knives?

So it would seem that knives are deadly weapons again:

• Two women had their throats slashed Wednesday evening in separate incidents on opposite sides of the city, according to police.
  
  The first woman was found with her throat slit about 4:20 p.m. on the back porch of a home in the 1200 block of North Kildare Avenue, Chicago police said. Witnesses told investigators they heard the woman fighting with someone inside her apartment before she was found dead.
  
  She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
  
  The Cook County medical examiner's office has not identified the woman or conducted an autopsy to confirm the cause and manner of her death.
  
  The other woman was killed in a possibly domestic-related slashing in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side.

Time to re-write the Use of Force rules again.

Funeral Info

Going to be back-to-back:

• Funerals for the two Chicago police officers killed when struck by a train while pursuing a suspect will be held Friday and Saturday at a church on the Southwest Side, the Police Department announced.
  
  Services for Officer Conrad Gary will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday at St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel at 7740 S. Western Ave., police said in a release. A wake will be held from 3-9 p.m. Thursday at Blake Lamb Funeral Home at 4727 W. 103rd St. in Oak Lawn.
  
  The funeral for Officer Eduardo Marmolejo will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the church. The wake will be from 3-9 p.m. Friday at the Blake Lamb Funeral Home.
  
  Burial for both will be private, the department said.

This year cannot end fast enough.

As Feared

And once again, Crimesha flips the police the bird:

• Two felony weapons charges were filed Wednesday against a man who was being chased by two Chicago police officers before they were fatally stuck by a train on the Far South Side earlier this week, officials said.
  
  Edward Brown, 24, of Chicago, is charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and reckless discharge of a firearm, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He was scheduled to appear for a bond hearing Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

And we all know what a deterrent those charges are. We've all seen UUW offenders in the lockup mere days after getting out on a previous gun charge. Cook County "justice" has often been a joke, but under Crimesha it has become farcical.

Remember when they used to charge criminals if an officer had a medical emergency during a foot pursuit? Or when the actions of the offender could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to have caused injury to responding personnel? You'd think firing a gun in a populated area would provoke a police response, and therefore fleeing into a zone of danger would be chargeable under the law.

Nope.

Mendoza on the Ballot

Looks like Prickwrinkle's play failed:

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will drop her challenge to state Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s mayoral petitions, clearing the way for Mendoza to appear as a candidate on the February ballot.
  
  The petition fight between two women who are considered among the mayoral front-runners has been a central focus of the past few weeks of the race.

This immediately shapes up to be an City Machine candidate versus a County Machine candidate. It's also Hispanic versus Black to pick over the remains of Chicago. Vallas appears to be a non-entity suddenly. McCarthy? Still the outsider.

Melting! I'm Melting!

Illinois isn't exactly melting....more like shrinking, but we like the image:

• Mary Miller lived in Illinois for all of her 44 years until July, when she and her family left their north suburban Wauconda home to resettle in Florida.
  
  “It’s taxes. It’s corruption. It’s politics,” she said. “And I don’t mean Republicans or Democrats, it’s all of them.”
  
  Miller wasn’t alone in her departure from the state. Illinois has declined in population for the fifth year in a row, losing an estimated 45,116 residents from 2017 to 2018, according to the latest Census Bureau data released Wednesday.
  
  That was a greater drop than the previous year, when Illinois lost about 40,000 people — as well as its spot as the fifth-largest state in the nation to Pennsylvania.

Illinois remains on track to lose two Congressional seats following the 2020 census, which equals even less political pull in DC and nationwide. Even more worrisome is these are actual taxpayers moving out.

The New Left

We didn't want to have to address this, but if this doesn't provide a bright bit of insight into today's "progressive" liberal democrat, we don't know what does:

• Most of Chicago was mourning the line-of-duty deaths of two police officers on Monday night when one Northside community leader took to Twitter to disparage the fallen officers.
  
  “Two people too stupid to avoid getting hit by a train were given firearms [and] the authority to kill people by Chicago Police Department,” Northside Democracy for America (NDFA) steering committee member and organizer Carl Nyberg tweeted late on Dec. 17.

You'll never guess who this two-legged turd is a huge supporter of:

• alderdumbass John Arena

He appears on the Arena social media site, has provided time and effort to Arena's campaign and undoubtedly monetary support.

The usual faux-outrage statements were issued by the various organizations he works/has worked for, but these things don't happen in vacuums. This is the new reality. What was once whispered behind closed doors is the bright new face of this asshole, John Arena and most of the "progressive" left, and it's finding a ready audience with the low-information snowflakes.

Be aware of what we're all dealing with.

Open Thread

We deleted a lot of comments yesterday. Too much second guessing. Too much blame. Too much stupidity.

Too much just being inappropriate.

We usually give everyone that room within a day or so, but not in a memorial thread when everything is so open, raw and unknown. We know you're angry - we're angry, too. And we know why (and where) you're directing that anger. And while it might be therapeutic to vent your spleen and rage, it has a time and place.

Yesterday wasn't it.

Today might not be it either. Be judicious in your choice of words and targets of your anger.

(comments closed here)

Crime is What Now?

We could have sworn it was down. Down a lot. Rahm's had his paid tools over at 35th Street touting it for a couple years now:

• The CTA is warning riders to be alert during the holidays as the number of CTA passengers targeted by pickpockets has increased. The Clark/Lake train station in Chicago's Loop has the highest reports of pickpocketing.
  
  The thefts are the work of about dozen individuals each with multiple arrests, CTA officials said. In the last year, four so called "career pickpockets" were arrested. One told authorities when he's on CTA he does five "picks" a day. The most targeted object are phones.
  
  So far this year, CTA has more than 2,100 pickpocketing incidents on buses, trains and CTA property. 2018 is on track to be the third worst year for CTA thefts since 2004.

Remember when the Department used to print out the four-page Daily Bulletin with all the pictures of known pickpockets, recent parolees and gypsies? That was to help coppers recognize known thieves. Too bad there's no way to reach tens of thousands of CTA commuters with an electronic version of that...something attached to a facial recognition program that could announce to everyone that "Multiple convicted pickpocket John Doe was seen entering the station five minutes ago. Checks your wallets and belongings and alert CTA employees if this man is spotted."

It could be like "PickPocket Spotter."

All Caught Up!

Crime is sure to fall now!

• Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking note of a milestone. Success in his pledge to add 1,000 new police officers by the end of the year. But is it enough? The police union doesn’t think so.
  
  Chicago police welcomed 67 new recruits, the second to last class of the year. And with it, achievement of a goal by Mayor Emanuel. “Each of you represent our two year journey of growing CPD by over 1,000 police officers,” said Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.
  
  A mission City Hall claims he has now accomplished. Two years ago, Chicago police had 12,114 sworn officers. Today, it’s 13,319. Emanuel said with the additional personnel has come additional supervision for street cops.

We know the seniority to get days dropped by half in many places, so there's evidently some new hires out there somewhere. There also seems to be a massive expansion in inside spots, HQ spots, CAPS spots, and quite a few other places that hadn't been manned during the "austerity" times.

We still haven't seen a rapid response car up in about five years. 020 and 017 are downing beat cars on a regular basis on two different watches. 016 and 022 don't even have a midnight watch for all intents and purposes.

How about we see how many beat cars are up (or down) on a daily basis?

One Hundred Fifty PER DAY

Actually, closer to one-hundred-fifty-six:

• Even migration is bigger in Texas. Dallas leads all U.S. cities as the largest net gainer with 246 people arriving daily, according to a Bloomberg analysis of 2017 Census data on migration to the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. In 2014, the crown belonged to Houston with 269 migrants per day.
  
  After Dallas, Sun Belt beacons Phoenix, Tampa, Atlanta and Orlando round out the top five. Seattle, at number six with a gain of 116 people daily, is the only cold-weather destination in the top 10. The daily influx surpassed 100 people in nine cities, while Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles saw an exodus of more than 100 people every day.

Buy stock in U-Haul, Mayflower, North American and Allied.

Maybe the pension fund can buy into them, too.

Two Officers Killed by Train

Investigating "shots fired" call:

• Tribune
• Sun Times

Both had less than three years on, both in their 30's.

RIP Officers.

UPDATE: No posting tonight. 

Media Hypocrites

See if you can spot it - first from the Fibune's Jimmy Greenfield:

• In an incident captured on video that has gone viral on social media, a fan allegedly attacked Blackhawks mascot Tommy Hawk after Friday night’s game against the Jets at the United Center, according to Chicago Police.
  
  The man “fled the scene” before police arrived, and no arrest had been made as of Saturday night, a police spokesman said.
  
  United Center security contacted Chicago Police after the incident, and a report was filed. Police said the alleged attacker was a white male, 18-20 years old, 5-foot-5 and 160 pounds.

And now the Slum Times Madeline Kenney:

• Things went from bad to worse for the Blackhawks during their 4-3 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
  
  Tommy Hawk was attacked by a fan on the United Center concourse on Friday, authorities say, in a video-recorded encounter that has made waves on social media.
  
  Chicago police confirmed they were notified of a disturbance at the United Center around 11:15 p.m. Friday. Police said a “male was performing as a team mascot” when another man began punching him in the face and put him in a headlock.
  
  The alleged attacker was described as a white man between 18 and 20, about 5-foot-5 and 160 pounds. No one was in custody as of Saturday night.

Did you spot it?

These assholes (and their editors) will describe a drunken fan attacking a mascot, but won't even whisper what a pack of wilding gangbangers beating and robbing citizens all over the Mag Mile might look like, the single most obvious factor in identifying and legally stopping a criminal.

We'd be willing to bet one hundred toothpicks that, if arrested and prosecuted, Crimesha goes for the aggravating felony charge based on a "battery in a public place of amusement." Any takers?

Christmas Party 007/011 Style

We had wondered at the combined 007/011 Christmas party last year. The whole "twin brothers" thing was Special Ed's great discovery, this "exempt DNA" that scientists had been searching for for years in an effort to clone a crop of "Super Exempts" that would lead Chicago Policing to the stars and beyond.

Then Skinny Johnson resigned suddenly, and Not-skinny Johnson got promoted AND removed from  his Deputy Chief spot in a matter of months. We saw the Christmas Party posters "honoring" the 007 "retiree" Johnson even as he was being indicted in Federal Court. Now we get this e-mail:

• SCC...ALERT ALERT ALERT.
  
  Let me tell u a tale. Spread the word.
  
  So the Johnson twins, 1 under federal investigaion and the other soon to be, arranged last year to hold THIS years CPD xmas party jointly( 011+ 007 ) at the same terrible location downtown. Fast forward to 2018 and neither commander is running these shitholes, yet since the deposit was made both districts are stuck. So us blue shirts are pressured to by a $65 ticket ( or work a late car). Then it turns out 1 of the Districts didn't pay the venue on time so for first 2 hours its a CASH BAR ONLY. 9$ BEERS 12$ WELL- DRINKS.
  
  Hilarious right? So to top it off we were given placards to place in our vehicles for "COURTESY" parking only to find out some meter maid is hammering people with tickets left and right. Merry fucking Christmas.
  
  Now go get us some blue cards.

And to top it all off:

• Last year, every Johnson attended the party. This year, not a single Johnson attended. No Kevin, no Kenny and no Special Ed. Everyone one was missing their Johnsons.

Sounds like a Christmas Party to remember.

Five? Only Five?

When Special Ed said a "small class" of lieutenants, he wasn't kidding:

• PARKER, Michael - Unit 620 - "merit" by Cmdr Varrick Douglas
• COSTELLO, Robert - Unit 121
• EASTERDAY, Darren - 001 District
• MAGNO, Michael - Unit 115
• SALGADO, Agustin - Unit 701

Word is the "merit" guy transferred into the D Unit about eight seconds ago so it looked better, especially with only one person coming from the so-called "backbone" of the Department. And they start Christmas Eve, so there's that.

Congrats to the deserving.

CompStat Counts What?

You want to know what nitpicking bosses are the "accountability" meetings now?

• I went to compstat for A/S yesterday. Turns out that CPD is now tracking the individual district’s twitter page. The number of tweets was counted in order by grand total of tweets with the last 28 days. Along with the amount of followers they have in total for the past 28 days. The amount of followers gained or lost was also displayed in order of greatest to least per district. I can say that seeing this with my own eyes was absofuckinlutely ridiculous, but confirms that this department continues to delve deeper in shit.

Twitter numbers? Do they still have those Chinese companies that will guarantee you like a million followers for $20 a month?

And to top it all off, the parking situation at HQ sucks on a good day. On a CompStat day?

• Oh and [...] EVERYONE parked outside on the south side of 35 along HQ got a ticket

Was someone that hard up for VRI numbers?

New Jersey Bans Cops Carrying

This is what happens when you rush through laws without reading them:

• A new gun law went into effect in New Jersey that makes it illegal for law enforcement to carry duty weapons off-duty.
  
  Trenton, NJ – The new law that limits gun magazines to 10 rounds went into effect on Dec. 10 without the legislature taking up the amendment to create an exception for law enforcement officers.
  
  Modern firearms issued to patrol officers generally hold 12 or more rounds of ammunition.
  
  That means that just about all law enforcement officers in New Jersey will be breaking the law if they carry their assigned duty weapons while off duty, including just being home with them, unless they live outside of the state or leave their magazines behind at work, rendering the weapons near-useless.

New Jersey is certainly the San Francisco of the east coast.

Special Ed to be Fired

For, of all things, telling an actual truth:

• If Toni Preckwinkle is elected mayor of Chicago, Police Supt. Eddie Johnson will be looking for a new job or living off his police pension.
  
  Preckwinkle said Friday she would dump Johnson for one reason.
  
  “He refused to acknowledge that there was a code of silence in the Police Department . . . I don’t think that’s an honest statement,” Preckwinkle said.
  
  “It’s very important that police be accountable for their conduct. And if you won’t even acknowledge that there’s a code of silence in the Police Department, how can you possibly do that? . . . If you start out by saying . . . we have never condoned or covered up bad police behaviors, I don’t think that’s a characteristic of an effective leader.”
  
  Preckwinkle then let loose about the “police narrative” that followed the shooting of Laquan McDonald that turned out to be false “from the bottom to the top.”

The "code" is mostly manufactured by the media to smear the Department. When was the last time you heard about the:

• medical profession code of silence? Doctors kill tens of thousands annually and all they have to face is a Morbidity and Mortality Conference none of which seems to make it into the public record.
• lawyers code of silence? Attempting to locate an actual finding on an ARDC complaint is like pulling teeth and most discipline is nonexistent.
• politicians code of silence? It's everywhere, and almost like clockwork, aldercreatures go to jail. Hell, Toni is covering for her former security chief who wrecked a car full of campaign materials just last month.
• [Update] teacher code of silence. Wasn't Prickwrinkle a teacher at some point before being an aldercreature? Isn't there a giant CPS sex scandal ongoing right now?
• [Update] priest and clergy code of silence? That one runs worldwide.
• [Update] isn't there some sort of "community" code of silence? Snitches get stitches and all that? We seem to recall running across this one at the scene of all sorts of shootings.
• A Hollywood code of silence? Restaurateurs? Professional sports teams? The list is endless.

Now think about the so-called police "code of silence." Can you name any cops currently in jail or under investigation? We can name about thirty without breaking a sweat. That sure is some code, isn't it? And if this "code" goes, as Prickwrinkle says, "from the bottom to the top," then could she point out a single boss that is sitting at the defense table in the JVD trial or the current "conspiracy" trial?

Here's a clue - there isn't one. They're all retired. With pensions. Funny how that works.

Ginger Spilling the Beans?

This is out of left field and might be a clue as to Burke's troubles:

• Former Chicago Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans is laying out a bill of particulars against Ald. Edward Burke (14th), alleging that he worked repeatedly behind the scenes to inappropriately pressure her and her staff on airport business.
  
  In a memo to the Sun-Times, Evans, who resigned earlier this year, gave five examples of Burke or his staff allegedly interfering or overstepping.
  
  • Burke personally intervened to make sure that the clout-heavy United Maintenance, which held janitorial contracts at O’Hare Airport, got paid promptly.
  
  • Burke pushed to renew or extend a contract with Go Airport, which operates a shuttle service at O’Hare.
  
  • Burke worked to help Clear Channel, the company that controls indoor advertising at O’Hare, when it was upset over a competitor’s actions at the airport.
  
  • When dozens of leases for hangars and aviation support facilities were coming up for renewal, the City was obligated to offer them the same business terms. Those terms required City Council approval. However, Burke insisted that each lease be separately submitted to Council – which delayed and complicated the approvals.
  
  • At a committee hearing on the leases, Burke continued to question Evans’ authority to sign them.

We're going to need a bigger popcorn popper.

Swing and a Miss

Another tech giant blowing off Rahm and Chicago:

• Chicago was bypassed by another tech behemoth Thursday when Apple announced plans to build a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, with smaller sites or expansions in six other cities.
  
  It was just last month that Amazon said it will split its much-anticipated second headquarters between New York City and Arlington, Va. Chicago had been named one of the 20 contenders for the second headquarters, labeled HQ2, when the list of bidders was narrowed in January.
  
  Apple’s search had a lower profile than Amazon’s, which turned into a bidding war as cities tried to woo the online merchant with robust incentive packages.
  
  In an early morning post Thursday on its website, Apple said in addition to the Austin campus, it would open smaller locations in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City, Calif., and over the next three years will expand in New York; Pittsburgh; Boston; Boulder, Colo.; and Portland, Ore. It also left open the possibility of expanding elsewhere in the United States “over time.”

Rahm's mouthpieces try to put a positive spin on it, pointing to a number of smaller companies that have expanded into town. It's still a slap in teeth.

Bad Casino Plan

This casino idea is going to go south in a big way if Rahm gets his way:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday floated a port district site on the Far Southeast Side as the possible location for a Chicago casino, if state lawmakers finally grant the city the long-sought gambling palace.
  
  In a meeting with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Emanuel noted his “love-hate” relationship with the idea of a casino but said if the city finally builds one it should be away from the Loop and McCormick Place. Instead, he said it should bring economic development to an area of the city that needs it, before floating an Illinois International Port District site near Pullman as “an example.”

Sure. Go somewhere where there's absolutely zero economic attraction to the neighborhood. What a great fucking idea! Why bother having it near the downtown or convention areas where tourists looking for dinner and a show might head over and spend a little money - Chicago can build it near an EPA Superfund site AND the second most homicide prone area of the city and reap the benefits!

A quick Google search shows exactly what type of idea this would be:

• A Good Way to Wreck a Local Economy: Build Casinos
• Why Opening a Casino Is a Terrible Idea
• New casinos won't have huge economic impact in New York state

Casinos tend to make money for the shareholders, not the communities they occupy. And a Chicago casino would be extremely late to the party making us wonder what, if any, monetary impact there might be on our pension fund. Not that Chicago shouldn't try - but try harder than this guaranteed failure.

UPDATE: Exhibit A: Comiskey Park (or whatever they call it now) - bad product in a bad neighborhood with pretty much zero curb appeal.

Again?

This is unusual to say the least:

• Federal agents returned to the City Hall offices of Ald. Ed Burke Thursday, two weeks after they carried out unprecedented raids on the longtime alderman’s Downtown and ward offices, sources said.
  
  Federal investigators were looking for information they didn’t find during the first raid, sources said. The nature of the information sought was unknown.
  
  On Nov. 29, federal investigators descended on Burke’s ward and City Hall offices and covered the windows with brown butcher paper. At City Hall, investigators spent at least five hours inside and left with boxes of records and computers.

Why would they think the information was still there two weeks later?

• Because someone is definitely talking. Someone who knows exactly what is being looked for and where to find it and they're giving it up to the feds.

We had another thought about the butcher paper covering the windows. Could the feds have had a camera in Burke's office and they didn't want anyone to know where or how it was hidden? Imagine what that would be like.

Boo Hoo

This comment provoked the usual backlash:

• OT ocd gets New Years Eve rdo cancelled. Another year of uco's putting on uniforms and sitting in hidey holes all night. Can't say I blame them.way to look out for your guys, boss. The ones who bring in all the numbers yet you compromise them.

You work in a Unit. You do what you're told. You probably buy two Christmas Party tickets if the boss wants.

If you don't like it, there's always a squad car and body camera waiting for you back in the District. Don't forget to swipe!

What a $%&#-Hole

This pops up in the comments every so often and we let it through so everyone else can see how luck they are not working on the west side:

2018 INDEX CRIMES LEADERS BY DISTRICT (through Sunday, December 9th)

MURDER...011 (68); 005 (58); 007 (52); 015 (45); 006 (42); 010 (32)

RAPE (CSA)..011 (132); 018 (125); 004 (122); 006 (114); 012 (111); 019 (111)

ROBBERY...011 (918); 006 (604); 008 (553); 012 (517);025 (503); 007 (489); 015 (484); 010 (477)

AGG BATT...011 (680); 007 (498); 010 (463); 006 (433); 005 (366); 003 (361); 015 (331)

TOTAL V/C...011 (1,798); 006 (1,193); 007 (1,129); 010 (1.076); 008 (1,020)

SHOOTINGS...011 (321); 005 (189); 007 (180); 015 (174); 006 (172); 010 (169)

==========

BURGLARY...008 (956);004 (714); 019 (680); 025 (639); 006 (631)

THEFT...018 (1,538); 012 (1,362) 001 (1,207); 019 (987); 014 (912); 008 (869)

VEH THEFT...008 (731); 025 (612); 011 (605); 004 (550); 012 (515)

TOTAL P/C...008 (2,556); 018 (2,236); 019 (2,088); 014 (1,830); 004 (1,743); 025 (1,741)

==========

TOTAL INDEX.008 (3,576); 012 (3,440); 011 (3,412); 018 (3,074); 006 (2,872)

It's hard to believe they actually promote people out of 011, seeing as how they never have any impact on crime trends or numbers. 011 is going to lead the city in homicides for the fifth year in a row, so actual competence doesn't seem to slow down the chosen ones.

You Have to Ask?

We weren't going to say anything. We don't get paid by the visits, so we didn't care, but you'd think someone would have caught this long before now:

• Off the subject. Why did CPD block SCC from the police phones ??????

Because someone screwed up, left it on the screen, didn't clear their search history, talked to someone who wanted to suck up to some boss. there are a hundred reasons why it got blocked. In any event, when Cline blocked it on all Department computers, our readership went from a a few hundred a day to many thousands within a week, tens of thousands within a month.

We warned everyone when cell phones started getting issued - EVERYTHING is discoverable. And on a city owned phone?

Nice Investigator Tommy

The media isn't covering this. Seems small time...and you'd think someone making $106K might avoid shoplifting entanglements:

• JOLIET, IL - A 47-year-old Cook County Corrections investigator who lives in Romeoville spent a good portion of his weekend behind bars at Will County's Jail after Joliet Police busted him for a series of retail thefts at the Kohl's on Route 59, according to police. Amarildo Ponce was arrested on charges of felony retail theft and Ponce's alleged partner his crime, Decebeth Heatley, 48, of Romeoville, was also arrested on charges of retail theft.
  
  According to Joliet Police reports, the arrests of the Cook County investigator and Heatley occurred around 1:40 p.m. on Saturday in the 2500 block of Route 59.
  
  Joliet Police were notified of a retail theft in progress at the business and 911 dispatchers relayed that Ponce fled in a green Honda Civic, reports show.

We're also told that this is one of Tommy Dart's "media hires," meaning he's related to someone in the media. Tommy has made a habit of hiring those types so that he gets positive coverage, or at least less negative coverage than would be the norm.

Tactically Unsound

Here's a prime example of an "administrator" and not a leader:

• Police officers in San Francisco may no longer demand that suspects sit on the ground or sidewalk at a crime scene, the city’s police chief writes in a department memo; regardless of their custodial status—handcuffed or not.
  
  The practice is viewed as “demeaning” to suspects, city police Chief William Scott has determined, according to the Bay Area’s FOX 2.
  
  The change is “aligned with 21st century policing, our department values and our commitment to providing safety with respect to everyone whom our officers encounter,” a police department spokesman told FOX 2.

"demeaning"? You know what's demeaning is not taking into consideration that for decades, Hell, since the beginning of time, the high ground has always been the tactically superior position. It has nothing to do with "demeaning" and everything to do with giving yourself (or your officers) that edge in case something goes wrong.

Of course, this is San Francisco. The city probably didn't have to search far to find this idiot. He can still go fuck himself though.

FOP, Start Educating the Public (UPDATE)

Rahm is pushing to open a Constitutional Convention. Madigroin will support it. JaBba the Pritzker is likely to start pushing as soon as he gets in. And Rahm is already prepping the battlefield.

Can someone from FOP start countering his arguments about the COLA that isn't available to anyone born after 1966? That the Police and Fire Funds are so poorly funded because First Responders can't strike to make the City meet its obligations? That other unions get 80% of their salaries upon retirement with all sorts of "sweeteners"? That teachers still only pay something like 2% instead of the nearly 11% first responders do?

And how about that "gold braid" pension - once that went into place, CPD went from 6 [deputy] chiefs to 18 (corrected), captains came back and the number of commanders citywide almost doubled? The rank-and-file aren't the problem, but the massive financial abuse might be.

UPDATE: This is a start....a tiny tiny start (click for larger version):

Yay. A press release. Now....how many press outlets published it? We'll give you a hint....it's a number LESS than ONE.

We saw Rahm's statements about the COLA and him subtly hinting it involved the police/fire pensions on two TV stations, heard it on the radio twice an hour, and on every single local news link we carry on the right hand side of the blog. Versus a single half-page press release that no one carried.

FOP, we hate to say this, but you've already lost the battlefield to Rahm - make sure you don't lose the fucking pensions.

So Who's the Deadbeat?

Remember - Earned not Given, (Even if You're so Incompetent, You Can't Stay Afloat Financially:)

• Did anyone see the AMC that came out revising the requirements for captain promotion THE DAY THE APPLICATIONS WERE DUE!?
  
  The order was revised to waive the credit check, which means some soon to be captain is a complete bust out, probably a degenerate gambler or is a multiple baby daddy. I'm sure when promotions are made it will be apparent who the rules were changed for.

Sounds like yet another brilliant pick by Special Ed is in the works. Maybe this one won't be caught cashing his dead mother's Social Security checks, or stealing golf outing money, or memorial t-shirt money, or emptying the Unit flower fund money, or any of a hundred smaller instances of graft we could bore you with.

So who's the bustout?

Good, Good, Very Bad

Why now Rahm? Parts of this could have been done almost eight years ago:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday will call for state lawmakers to legalize marijuana, allow a Chicago casino and approve a state constitutional amendment to help the city address a looming pension crisis that will require nearly $1 billion in new annual retirement payments by 2023, according to sources familiar with the mayor’s plans.
  
  Emanuel is scheduled to give a speech to the City Council outlining the challenges that remain to properly fund the city’s pensions and offering recommendations on how to tackle the problem, even though he won’t be in office beyond next May to do so.
  
  The mayor will propose that any tax money the city receives from the legalization of recreational marijuana be dedicated entirely to pensions and he’ll do the same for any taxes generated by a long-sought Chicago casino, according to sources familiar with Emanuel’s speech who were not authorized to discuss his plans publicly. The mayor also will move forward with requesting that aldermen consider setting up the structure to issue pension obligation bonds to help reduce the amount of money the city owes the retirement funds in the near term, the sources said.
  
  [...] Emanuel also will call on lawmakers to amend the state’s constitution to eliminate what’s known as the pension protection clause that says public employee pension benefits are an enforceable contract that “shall not be diminished or impaired.” The Illinois Supreme Court cited that clause when striking down agreements Emanuel made with some labor unions early in his tenure to better fund their pensions in exchange for reduced benefits.

A couple observations:

• Someone's kid is going to have to smoke a lot more weed to make a dent in those pension obligations;
• What changed with the casino? It's been promised as a windfall for so long, yet delayed for every manner of reason. If you believe the rumors, McCormick Place has been wired for the electricity to run a casino for almost a decade. Another rumor says Trump built his hotel in Chicago, complete with a secure floor set aside just for high stakes poker tournaments and slot machines.
• That last paragraph is the worst idea. Unless you grandfather in everyone who has operated under the current law, we would expect strenuous....objections....to any changes.

So what's changed for Rahm to suddenly look like the Pension Fund's best buddy? Do the recent raids of certain aldercreatures' offices have anything to do with the change of heart?

Gas Prices Fall - Raise Taxes!

Driving gets more affordable:

• Gas prices dropped 29 cents per gallon in November while the wholesale cost of American goods and services ticked up only slightly in a sign of softening inflation pressures, the Labor Department said Tuesday.
  
  The producer price index, which measures cost changes of products before they’re sold to the U.S. public, rose just 0.1 percent last month. Overall, wholesale prices have risen 2.5 percent since this time last year. That is the smallest annual increase of 2018.

Which moron was it who said the US couldn't drill it's way to lower gas prices? Oh yeah, Sparklefarts. What a dumbass.

In the meantime, what does a good democrat do when people get to keep more of their hard earned money? Raise taxes!

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a group of suburban leaders on Tuesday called for a 20 to 30 cent per gallon increase in the state’s gas tax to fund a major statewide transportation bill.
  
  Emanuel spearheaded the push during a City Hall news conference in which he was joined by a handful of suburban mayors and regional planners. The mayor’s office also released a list of 26 suburban mayors and village presidents who supported the tax increase.
  
  “We are facing a historic moment, and I stand with a group of bipartisan mayors on behalf of a new transportation bill that should happen in Springfield,” Emanuel said alongside the mayors of Park Forest, Hazel Crest, Oswego, Fox River Grove, Joliet, Batavia, Broadview and Ford Heights.

And the exodus out of Illinois gets yet another boost.

Penalize the Whistleblowers

So much for government actually answering to taxpayers (You have to read all the way to the end of hte linked article to get to this one):

• The county will also seek to plug any leaks of confidential summary reports that come from the county’s Office of the Independent Inspector General. The amendment to the ordinance governing the inspector general’s office will make it so that anyone who releases confidential summary reports — such as the one detailing Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker removing toilets from the mansion next door to his Gold Coast home that the Sun-Times reported on in October — could face fines and jail time.
  
  The county’s top watchdog, Pat Blanchard, said his office had never experienced a leak of that nature before the release of the Pritzker report.
  
  [...] Anyone who leaks summary reports may now “be subject to a penalty of up to six months imprisonment and fines up to $5,000.00 per violation” — a “hefty” penalty, according to Blanchard.
  
  Suffredin is also leading the charge on the changes to the inspector general’s ordinance, which was introduced last year. He says it “undermines the ability” of the inspector general to do deep-dive investigations if the preliminary findings are immediately made public.
  
  [...] “The balance that our office is always kind of engaged in is protecting the confidentiality of witnesses and sources, but transparency is also an issue,” Blanchard said. “What this will do is make clear to recipients and secondary recipients of reports that they can’t release them for political purpose.”

It also undermines the ability of voters to see just how corrupt Cook County, Chicago and Illinois politicians truly are. It's amusing how they demand "transparency" for everyone....except where they do their dirty business.

And who do they think they're fooling? They've released all manner of reports for political purposes. We remember way back in 2004, the Tribune was directed to sue for the sealed divorce records of one Jack Ryan, who was running for the US Senate against some unknown Machine creation named Obama.

In Illinois politics, everything would seem to be fair game - it was just used against a democrat this time.

This is Interesting

Did the FBI tip their hand? Or the Sun Times tipped it for them?

• Shortly before FBI agents raided the offices of Ald. Edward M. Burke, they knocked on the door of the alderman’s top political aide, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
  
  The FBI showed up at Peter Andrews Jr.’s home in Mount Greenwood around 7 a.m. on Nov. 29.
  
  That was about 90 minutes before they seized control of Burke’s City Hall suite of offices, dismissed his staff and covered the windows with brown butcher paper. The agents also raided the alderman’s political headquarters, the 14th Ward office at 2650 W. 51st St., where Andrews helps run Burke’s political operation.
  
  Nearly two weeks after federal agents raided Burke’s offices, it’s unclear why they took such a public action, removing boxes of documents and at least one computer.

We can only think of two reasons why the feds would visit someone ninety minutes before a planned raid:

1. someone messed up synchronizing their watches, or
2. someone is talking or wired up

Burke is slippery as Hell as any reader of Cooley's book knows. But with someone cooperating?

Exempt Countdown(s)

Who's leaving and when?

Gotta be packed and gone before being demoted in February.

Rumors of a lot of heads getting ready to roll.

How Many?

Anyone have the attendance totals for the Entrance Exam this past weekend? Did all those text messages and Barb West phone calls work?

Because we heard they didn't and the total number is the lowest ever for an exam that used to be held at the (in various years) the United Center, the Merchandise Mart, and (?) McCormick Place.

Theother strong rumor is the Academy is going to go into hibernation mode - not because Rahm filled the "thousand" he promised, but because there isn't any interest in the job. All you kids who just got hired, get used to being the bottom in seniority for a while.

Breaking News

Numerous e-mails telling us that Deputy Chief Johnson, brother of the indicted Commander Johnson (retired under investigation), has been removed from the Training Academy and is detailed to HQ to await whatever tales his twin is currently spinning for the Feds.

More popcorn!

What the....!?

Just when you think Camel Rider was as goofy as the exempt ranks could get, someone has to top her:

That's the commander of 020 dressed up as the "Elf on the Shelf," a whimsical invention of the past few years. We aren't going to bore you with the details - you can Google it - but "Wow" doesn't begin to cover what's running through our heads:

Kind of amusing for the community we suppose. This seems kind of awkward though:

All in good fun? Someone had to follow the boss around and boost him up onto places, then photograph him and send it around. Fox Chicago did a piece on it, so somebody was looking for some publicity. Or is this just damn weird?