"Persons of Interest" Photos

Following the alleged "attack" on Lower Water Street, nearly twenty detectives scoured nearby businesses and properties for even a single frame of video footage of the "suspects." This is what they found:

So on the second coldest night of the year, a Hollywood actor, bundled up against -20 degree wind chill, was recognized by two "fans" in the dead of 0200 hours, on Lower Water Street (a known hangout for the seedy underbelly of MAGA supporters?) who happened to be carrying a canister of bleach and a piece of string, just in case they ran across a black, gay, Hollywood actor wrapped up against the elements in a place known more for homelessness than for the star set being seen in public.

Sounds completely believable, especially the part about this being "MAGA country" hours after the first interview and the insistence that body cameras being turned off (for a guy who makes his living in front of cameras) and the seeking of medical attention after (A) turning down an ambulance and (B) heading to the hospital hours later. Our contacts say that the "persons of interest" happened to wander into a camera frame and seem to have had nothing to do with the event in question - but the bosses want to look like they're doing something to appease Rahm and the Hollywood money people - Empire is losing money and viewers - so it's "All Hands on Dicks!"

In other news, another two percentage points were shaved off the clearance rate.

Not Going to End Well

This is a particularly bad idea (click for larger version):

As predicted by numerous readers not too long ago, they are going to start keeping track of when you point your weapon. Soon it will be when you unholster it. And after that, they will attempt to dictate, via some psychic process, exactly when and how you will be "authorized" to unholster, display and point your weapon - in essence, when THEY feel your life might be in danger....and not when YOU feel your life is in danger.

Some pencil pusher who never worked the street in the dark, answering a radio and responding to shots fired in a dark alley, will arm-chair Monday-morning quarterback you to suspension time and firing. Anyone want to bet there's already an internal directive floating around the "Force Review Unit" attempting to catch officers with unholstered weapons on body cam? Those officers will be undergoing counseling and retraining (before being fired) starting very soon.

Early Registration

The Run to Remember is right around the corner.

Make sure to register by 11:59pm on Jan 31st to save $5!

Run to Remember is May 4, 2019 at Gold Star Families Memorial Park

The Junior Jog has a limited number of spots remaining! Please register your kids today as they will be gone soon!

How Cold Was It?

This cold:

That line near the bottom is calls for R-Service, jumping dead squad cars.

Moron of the Month

Coming in just under the wire for January:

• A Texas man facing a felony gun charge after he allegedly threatened to kill off-duty Chicago police officers in a Bridgeport bar was ordered held on $25,000 bail Wednesday.
  
  The Englewood District officers were attending an event at Fat Fish Bar and Grill, at 234 W. 31st St., Tuesday when the confrontation with 29-year-old Johnathan Barnes took place, Cook County prosecutors said.
  
  Barnes, of Houston, Texas, was at the bar intoxicated when he got into an argument with the officers and was told to leave, prosecutors said. When Barnes tried to re-enter the bar, he was confronted by a police sergeant who blocked his way.
  
  Barnes then threatened to “shoot the sergeant and to kill everyone else in the bar” while putting his hand to his pocket, prosecutors said. The sergeant grabbed Barnes’ arm and found a 9 mm handgun in Barnes’ pocket, which was later determined to have been reported stolen in Houston, prosecutors said.

Good thing he got caught in Cook County. He might have faced real prison time in Texas.

There Isn't Enough Popcorn....

Madigan on tapes?

• Mike Madigan says he did nothing wrong. But the news that he was taped by Ald. Danny Solis, 25th, as part of a federal corruption probe is providing another stunning shock to Illinois politics and further roiling an already unpredictable race for mayor.
  
  In separate statements, both Madigan and his longtime private attorney, Heather Wier Vaught, dismissed allegations in a Chicago Sun-Times report that Solis arranged a meeting with a zoning applicant who needed Solis' backing for a Chinatown hotel project. Solis reportedly told the developer that hiring Madigan's law firm to handle property tax appeals would clear the way for the zoning approval, but though the zoning was secured, Madigan's firm was not retained and the hotel never was built.

We don't expect much to come of this - Madigan has been too canny for far too long. The fact that he's even on tape is amazing and only makes Burke's slip up look quite a bit more serious. Solis had way more access than just about anyone else to the halls and levers of power and wearing a wire for two years has to have a lot of people nervous.

Eating Their Own

If you tried to sell this script in Hollywood, they'd laugh you out of town:

• Susana Mendoza tried Tuesday to drag her mayoral rivals down into the mud with her after the latest shoe dropped in a burgeoning corruption scandal that now involves three of her powerful political patrons: Aldermen Edward Burke (14th) and Danny Solis (25th) and Il. House Speaker Michael Madigan.
  
  Mendoza went to work hours after the Chicago Sun-Times detailed the federal corruption allegations that prompted Solis, chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee, to spend more than two years secretly recording more than a dozen conversations with Burke, the former longtime Finance Committee chairman, as movers and shakers sought city actions.
  
  The newspaper also reported that the FBI secretly recorded Madigan trying to get business for his private law firm from a developer brought to him by Solis, who was weighing the developer’s request to build a hotel in Chinatown.

And the next fifteen or so paragraphs is Mendoza naming names and blaming every single politician she's come into contact with. Honestly, we were waiting for her to name Herbie "Herb Dilla" and the city sticker debacle as having ties to the Illinois Political Combine.

Too bad Vallas doesn't have any financial backing or he would be making some inroads into higher polling numbers.

No Bail

Amazing....the correct call:

• A 33-year-old man who allegedly shot at police officers during a standoff Saturday at the Far North Side home he shared with his parents was ordered Monday to be held without bail.
  
  Swaleh Mohammed allegedly opened fire after three police officers attempted to enter the home. Mohammed’s parents had been hiding in a bedroom and passed the officers keys to the house through a window, Assistant State’s Attorney Britt Steinberg said during a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Mohammed is charged with three counts of attempted murder of a police officer and three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm at a police officer.

Actual charges that sound correct, too. It's like a Christmas Miracle!

Water Rescue

Quick thinking:

• Chicago police reported that they rescued a man from Lake Michigan after he became trapped while trying to save his dog from the partially frozen water on Sunday.
  
  Officers from Lincoln Police District stepped onto the ice to help the man around 1 p.m., police said.
  
  The man said in a statement released by police that his recently adopted 9-month-old American Eskimo mix "was very excited and got away from me, ran down" to Foster beach.

There's video at the Tribune link. Lucky dog. Luckier owner. Nice job Officers.

Houston

Obama's war on police continues:

• Five Houston officers were injured in a shooting Monday in an incident involving a suspect and taken to a hospital, police said.
  
  Houston police tweeted the officers were "struck with gunfire following an encounter with a suspect" Monday afternoon in a neighborhood in southeast Houston.
  
  Joe Gamaldi, president of the Houston Police Officers' Union, tweeted that two officers were in critical condition and the other three in stable condition at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston.
  
  One of the officers was transported to the hospital by helicopter, Gamaldi said.
  
  "Please keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers," he said.

Prayers for Houston.

In case you missed the national news, California democrat Kamala Harris announced her run for president and the main plank in her platform? The anti-police narrative, completely debunked by actual statistics and facts, but still, the centerpiece of a national campaign.

Chicago Crime - NYC Coverage

Even other cities recognize Rahm's abject failure as a law and order mayor:

• Chicago police are reporting gunpoint robberies targeting people wearing pricey Canada Goose jackets as temperatures plunge in the city.
  
  Over the past two weeks, police say there's been a spate of the thefts in which people wearing the luxury coats have been targeted and forced to give up the jackets. The coats can cost upward of $1,000 and are often seen on celebrities.
  
  Six people had their Canada Goose coats stolen last week and two more were targeted Wednesday.
  
  Police say two men jumped from a Mercedes, showed a gun and punched a 54-year-old man before forcibly taking his coat and wallet Wednesday. The same night, two men showed a gun to a 23-year-old man walking with a friend and demanded his Canada Goose coat.

Fox New York even follows the Chicago media lead, being unable to describe the criminals, thereby endangering tourists and mayor de Blasio if he should happen to come to town. Personally, we're waiting for the first Canada Goose Concealed Carrier to tally one. If you can afford a Canada Goose jacket, you can afford a halfway decent pistol.

Aldercreature Cameras

Our stat guy has been busy.

Here's a list of Chicago aldercreatures who have served each Ward since 1973 (as always, click for a larger version):

And here is a list of aldercreatures who have been charged, indicted or actually gone to jail (there might be gaps):

This is by no means an exhaustive list of wrongdoing - Bill Henry died mere days before his indictment was announced over Silver Shovel. There are a few pending cases at other levels. And this doesn't even touch on the staffers/peons who took the fall for their masters.

So one has to wonder why these assholes aren't all wearing cameras 24/7? After all, if it prevents one single crime, it has to be worth it.

Gaining Traction?

Popping up here and there on the north side:

Remember to hang them on private property lest John, Mrs. John or their spawn run around stealing them along with their Streets and San toadies.

Now You See It....

Now you may never see it again.

Supposedly, the "first gun arrest" of the year was dismissed late last week at court, directly attributable to Special Ed and Commander Bangles.

Well done idiots.

Officer Vest Grazed by Bullet

Counting blessings tonight:

• An officer was shot in his bulletproof vest while responding to a domestic incident Saturday in the West Rogers Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.
  
  Officers responded to the call about 5:40 p.m. in the 6400 block of North Kedzie, where they encountered a man who fired shots at them, according to Chicago police spokesman Anthony [Google-me].
  
  During the shooting, a bullet grazed the vest of one of the responding officers, [Google-me] said. The officer was not hurt, but was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Best wishes to the officer.

Teachers Want What?

What makes them so special?

• The Chicago Teachers’ Union recently released a draft contract chock-full of demands: smaller class sizes, salary increases, and more affordable benefits. But one “ask” that’s missing is for a right that educators in every other large urban school district in America enjoy — the right to live outside the city.
  
  Why has CPS held on to its residency requirement since 1996? There’s the belief that teachers who live in Chicago will have more stake in their schools and communities, be more involved in school activities and be less likely to miss work or show up late. CPS also claims that schools benefit financially because educators spend their money in the city — money that eventually trickles down to schools.
  
  Other cities, including Philadelphia and Milwaukee, had residency policies for decades but have rescinded them. Now, CPS is the only one of the 50 largest districts in our nation that requires residency for its educators. However, there’s a list of unfair exceptions.

And amazingly, the Slum Times is supporting their efforts. You think they'd support an effort to ship cops out of the city based solely on their coverage and Mope-rah's screeds.

Great Idea Baltimore!

The idiots are truly in charge:

• The school board of Baltimore City Public Schools in Baltimore, Maryland, unanimously voted its opposition to arming school resource officers on Tuesday.
  
  Baltimore City Public Schools is the only jurisdiction in Maryland to have its own dedicated police force, according to The Baltimore Sun.
  
  On Tuesday, the school board voted 10-0 to express disapproval of a bill in the state legislature that would have permitted school resource officers to carry firearms inside school property.

It has been said that there are few things as useless as an unloaded gun. We'd go a step farther and say there are few things as useless as an unarmed School Resource Officer, especially if there ends up being an armed assailant on campus between where he or she is at and where their gun is locked up.

To their credit, at least one parent pointed this out:

• Leo Burroughs Jr., one parent who attended the meeting, told WBAL, "I support the Second Amendment. De-escalate armed suspects. Let's de-escalate when they're firing at you. You just jump up and shout, 'de-escalate.' It doesn't work."

But the ACLU claims guns are "distracting."

• Kimberly Humphrey, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union, said that armed officers in the building would create a distracting environment.
  
  "[It's] very important that students are in an environment where they feel safe and comfortable, and having a gun around is not comfortable for learning," Humphrey said.

You know what we've heard is really uncomfortable? Being shot.

You know what else is really really uncomfortable? Having to explain to the family of a shot student how an entire uniformed police presence within the campus building was unarmed, rendering them unable to respond appropriately to an emergency situation.

But you know...."feelings" and all that bullshit. The ACLU ought to be on the hook for bad advice instead of taxpayers.

007 Commander Follies

Amazing what Special Ed thinks is supervisor material:

• Just this week the commander of 007 went into all 3 afternoon roll calls, reading the riot act because one of his family members was stopped for traffic, even going so far as to say "this person is now on my radar, you better believe im going to go through every one of their videos until I find something."  He claimed what he was most upset about was that someone said "fuck the commander", so for a day everyone walked around asking who said it, the answer...nobody said it.
  
  Turns out the fearless leader never watched the video, just took one side without any investigation, sound familiar anyone?
  
  Without their camera on and rolling this copper would have been dealt a severe punishment, the commander had made up his mind already without taking literally 10 minutes to go and watch the video.

Great way to instill confidence that the bosses have your backs, isn't it?

Do Your F#$%ing Jobs

First up, the Courts:

• Bail was set at $50,000 for a 21-year-old Markham woman accused of driving head-on into a vehicle driven by a Cook County sheriff’s deputy — killing him — while she was drunk Monday on the Far South Side.
  
  Monzerat Perez is charged with aggravated driving under the influence leading to death and reckless homicide in connection with the death of 39-year-old deputy Nick Theofanopoulos, Cook County prosecutors said in court.

She attempted to escape custody twice while in the hospital, and she's facing 26 years in prison. But guess who got $50,000 (post 10% and walk) along with Electronic Monitoring? And we all know how well Tommy Dart's EM Program is working - what's the total number of missing fugitives up to now? Six hundred? Seven hundred?

Second, Crimesha drags her feet:

• Saying his release would be a “real and present threat” to the community, a Cook County Circuit Court judge on Friday ordered a man charged in connection with a fatal shooting at Orland Square Mall to be held without bail.
  
  For now, Jakharr Williams, arrested two days after Monday’s shooting at the Orland Park mall, is charged only with unlawful possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

This was pretty much a straight up execution, and suburban sources tell us the video is pretty straightforward and the witnesses solid. But no murder charge yet for some reason - just a UUW by Felon. What's the hold-up?

Better and Better

So Solis wore a wire....because HE got caught on a wire? So who was it? Time to go through the list of aldercreatures who retired, resigned or decided not to run for re-election in the last year or so.

It should be easy to spot the federal agent(s) running this operation if they had at least two aldercreatures wearing wires on the City Council. The hard-ons tenting their pants isn't going down any time soon.

Well done, but what took so long?

Everybody Must Get Stoned

A lot of jobs just got a lot easier - tact teams, lock up keepers, court personnel, Assistant States Attorneys, judges:

• Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx came out in support of marijuana legalization and laid out a plan to wipe clean all minor pot convictions during a speech Thursday to the City Club of Chicago.
  
  During the speech — which aimed to highlight the state’s attorney’s office’s accomplishments under Foxx — she noted that her office would “pursue the expungement of all misdemeanor marijuana convictions,” a proposal that was met with rousing applause.
  
  Foxx did not immediately provide details on how many people would be impacted by her widespread expungement plan, but explained in her speech that just limiting prosecutions of current cases doesn’t go far enough.

Welcome to Progressive Illinois - toke up.

Hidden Costs

Has anyone in the media tried to find out this sort of information?

• Smaller departments are choosing to end their body camera programs because of the costs. Evidence retention laws in combination with the high cost of video storage is the culprit for many of these agencies, The Washington Post reports.
  
  Body cameras “are wonderful for winning public trust, but it’s expensive,” East Dundee Police Chief George Carpenter told the paper. The department is located in a tiny suburb of Chicago and has 17 officers.
  
  Police have been using body cameras to help restore and build public trust over the past few years. Although the cameras were widely adopted, many departments, especially those in smaller jurisdictions, are dropping or delaying their programs because of the expenses of storing and managing thousands of hours of footage.
  
  Axon, a body camera manufacturer, says every client that has canceled a contract did so because of the costs.

We aren't suggesting CPD abandon cameras (they've cleared dozens of cops from bullshit accusations), but taxpayers deserve to know how much data cops are generating (HINT: tens of thousands of hours per month) and exactly how much storage costs are eating into the budget. Then maybe look at which former CPD exempt(s) are currently employed by Axon and ask some other pointed questions so taxpayers know exactly what's what.

One Set of Federal Charges

Somewhat good news:

• A South Side man is facing federal charges alleging he threatened the lives of Jason Van Dyke and his family over social media during the former Chicago police officer’s historic trial for the shooting death of Laquan McDonald.
  
  A three-count indictment made public in U.S. District Court on Thursday charged Matthew Ross, 32, with making threats with online posts that allegedly began last August in the run-up to Van Dyke’s trial.
  
  Ross, of the 8000 block of South Sawyer Avenue, was initially arrested on Oct. 4 when he arrived at the Leighton Criminal Court Building to attend closing arguments in the trial. He was charged then with county offenses of electronic harassment and disorderly conduct and released on a recognizance bond, records show.

So that's one. Now, how about the "bounty hunter" down at Emory University? We've done everything possible except draw a road map. Maybe this will help:

• Get Directions Here

Might as well boost that conviction rate - it's as good a slam dunk as this one.

"Unusual Step"

Or politically opportunistic?

• In a highly unorthodox move, the Illinois attorney general’s office is “reviewing” former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke’s relatively lenient prison sentence, a spokeswoman for the office said Thursday.
  
  “We are going to do a careful review of the record and the law and make a determination based on our review,” spokeswoman Maura Possley said in an email.
  
  Possley declined to elaborate on what exactly the office is examining, but legal experts told the Tribune the attorney general might be considering whether to petition the Illinois Supreme Court to order the trial judge to sentence Van Dyke again — only under tougher guidelines this time.

The defense team had agreed to forgo an appeal based on the length of sentence - which is exactly in line with hundreds of other sentences handed down by the courts for similar convictions for similar charges with similar backgrounds. But the opportunity to waste taxpayer money for political purposes may prove to be too big a draw for the assorted bad actors currently occupying political office.

MORE POPCORN!

Solis wore a wire? Over the course of two years?

• Retiring Ald. Danny Solis (25th), the powerful chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee, has secretly recorded more than a dozen conversations with Ald. Ed Burke (14th) over the last two years, including at City Hall, to help federal investigators build their corruption case against him, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
  
  Those conversations include Burke meeting with individuals seeking actions by the city, a source familiar with the matter said.
  
  Federal investigators have focused on Burke allegedly using his influence as chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee to drum up property tax appeal business for his private law firm.
  
  Some of the meetings Solis recorded using an electronic listening device took place at the suite of offices reserved for the Finance Committee chairman on the third floor of City Hall.

For two years. In offices reserved for Burke to conduct "business." That looks like code for "extort money," doesn't it? So what do/did the feds have on Solis to turn him? Because we find it hard to believe he had an attack of conscience after twenty-three years and wanted to secure his place in Heaven.

And who else is on the wires? Solis was chairman of the City Council's Zoning Committee. Who has been pushing through a rather onerous building project against the very strenuous wishes of a sizeable portion of his constituency? Who has even resorted to filing complaints against these concerned citizens who hold city jobs, placing their work histories at risk for merely exercising their First Amendment Rights?

• Alderasshole John Arena

And we've had more than a few hints that something is brewing up north. This could be getting very interesting.

City Council Code of Silence?

Anyone else noticing this?

• Aldermen responded with shock Wednesday to a newspaper report that veteran Ald. Daniel Solis has been cooperating with federal authorities, some directing anger at him while others condemned City Hall culture and said the revelation must act as a clarion call for reform.
  
  In a City Council that’s no stranger to federal investigations, it was nonetheless stunning for many of Solis’ colleagues to hear the powerful chairman of the Zoning Committee was possibly wearing a wire in the federal case against Ald. Edward Burke. They were reacting to a Sun-Times story that said Solis secretly recorded conversations with Burke, whom federal authorities charged earlier this month with attempted extortion.

That "...no stranger to federal investigations..." is the latest entry into the SCC Understatement of the Year award ceremony.

• One longtime colleague of Solis’ said she might cry about his wearing a wire because “you don’t do that.” Another alderman said that in his Southwest Side ward, “if you wear a wire someone’s going to kick your ass.”

So...snitches get stitches on the Council floor?

• Black Caucus Chairman Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, said he wouldn’t wear a wire against fellow council members. Sawyer said the situation could cause distrust, with aldermen thinking twice when dealing with their colleagues.
  
  “You would like to think someone would just take their punishment like they should take their punishment and not try to spread it to other people. It could be entrapment. It could be ensnaring somebody in something they would not normally do,” Sawyer said.

So this would be not just a tacit endorsement of a Code of Silence, but a validation of same.

The next time one of these assholes makes even a peep about some police "code," just remember this and remember that alderassholes go to jail at a far greater rate than the CPD does.

Neon Vests

So, there's a described vehicle suspected of being used by shooters....:

• Two people were arrested Wednesday morning, after leading police on a chase from the West Side to Oak Park, where one suspect was seen running between houses, carrying what appeared to be a rifle.
  
  Police said a stolen vehicle wanted in connection with a report of shots fired struck two squad cars around 8 a.m. near Monroe and Pulaski, and fled west.
  
  Officers chased the car, and it later struck a pole near Jackson and Harlem, where the suspects ran off.

The jagoffs were apprehended and the rifle recovered, though in some reports it's described as one of those pistol-carbines you see occasionally. But we saw this picture and thought it was a really great idea:

Why shouldn't all shooters be required to wear fluorescent vests so that police and bystanders can know exactly who is doing the shooting?

• It would cut down on the alleged "racial" profiling by pointing out exactly who was doing the shooting. 
• Perhaps people (and folks) attention would be drawn the the neon yellow, assisting in identifying the shooter (the white guy wearing a yellow vest went that way!) 
• Of course, you might have the occasional DOT safety worker getting plugged, but it would be a small price to pay for knowing who was doing the shootings.

We're hoping someone forwards this to the people in charge of this type of thing. We want to be part of the solution!

UPDATE: We didn't even think of this, but a reader did - due to the hour of day, perhaps the shooter was attempting to blend in with the Safe Passage workers?

Toni! Toni!! Toni!!!

You got some (more) 'splaining to do!!!

• Ald. Edward Burke’s son was under internal investigation for allegedly making inappropriate sexual comments at the sheriff’s office when Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s administration hired him to a nearly $100,000 per year job, newly released records show.
  
  Preckwinkle’s human resources chief formally offered Edward Burke Jr. a job as training and exercise manager for the county’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department in December 2014 after he spent several years working for Sheriff Tom Dart.

And what would Junior Burke do? Be a crude over-entitled loudmouth prick it seems:

• He left the sheriff’s office while two investigations into his conduct were ongoing, and the allegations against him were serious enough that he faced likely firing if the accusations were sustained, Dart spokeswoman Cara Smith said.
  
  One investigation began after a female sheriff’s employee alleged that Burke was “consistently disrespectful of women,” talked about sex acts and would leave the office by saying, “I’m leaving, going to watch the girls on Rush Street,” records show.
  
  She also said Burke called himself “the law,” claimed to have “tapes” that would “humiliate” Dart, vowed to run for sheriff and said he would fire a bunch of employees when he won, records show.

Junior doesn't have a single testicle if he doesn't release those tapes right now. And guess who Prickwrinkle immediately threw under the bus? Our old buddy - Masters Masters Masters!

• Michael Masters, who headed the Homeland Security department at the time Burke was hired by Preckwinkle’s administration, told the Tribune that Burke disclosed “that there were some issues that were personal in nature between him and other people at his former place of employment” and that he felt retaliated against over a complaint he made against a supervisor.
  
  But Masters said he wasn’t aware of the alleged sexual comments, defended the hire and said Burke was qualified. He said he does not recall discussing the hire with Preckwinkle. He also said it would not have been unusual if they had, as Burke was hired to a Shakman-exempt job – meaning political considerations could factor into the hire.
  
  Preckwinkle’s office has said Masters hired Burke.

How does that bus taste Mikey? Because you're getting it good and hard right about now.

Really Kevin?

Who is really in charge over on Washington?

• Embattled alderman Ed Burke was out campaigning for re-election Monday, less than three weeks after he was charged with attempted extortion. He arrived to an event that was described as a private meet and greet between first responders and Burke at Doc's Grey Horse Saloon on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
  
  The media was not invited inside.
  
  Burke arrived in a black Mercedes SUV, minus his security detail, which was removed after he was charged. Also Monday, Burke, a former police officer, earned the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police.

We thought allowing Skinny Johnson - currently under federal investigation - a "merit" pick and Barb West nominating Skinny's girlfriend for promotion was a new low for the Department.

Then McCompStat opened his gob.

And now FOP endorses someone currently under indictment?

How deep does this rabbit hole go?

Whoooooo!!!!!!

Rumor has it that Leo (Whoooo!) Schmitz has e-mailed everyone in the ISP that he isn't long for Director and JayBee the Hutt is going to replace him. It was a good run and Leo was certainly no more or less objectionable that some other political hacks who occupied that office. Ellen will find him another political job somewhere.

Once Again, a Parolee

Orland Park mall has really gone downhill:

• A 19-year-old University Park man is wanted by police in connection with a shooting that left another man dead at Orland Square Mall Monday night.
  
  Jakharr Williams, who is the subject of a manhunt, should be considered “armed and dangerous,” Orland Park police said in a news release. There is an active parole warrant for Williams, police said.

And the shooter?

Paroled for a Robbery charge. Perhaps it's time for the IDOC to admit that parole doesn't seem to work and for Crimesha Foxxx to start opposing parole for violent offenders?

Not that the victim was anything to write home about:

"Cappalott"? "theShooter"? Anyone know if one or both were turning their lives around?

CC Sheriff Deputy Killed

Traffic accident on the way to work:

• An off-duty Cook County Sheriff`s deputy was killed in a car crash on the far Southwest Side. Nick Theofanopoulos, 39, was involved in a head-on accident near 103rd and Kedzie in Mt. Greenwood on Monday night.
  
  Theofanopoulos was on his way to Christ Hospital at the time for a work assignment. The crash was recorded on surveillance video. Police say a 21 year-old woman was driving a Jeep. The vehicle drifted into oncoming traffic, and plowed into the deputy's vehicle.
  
  Police say no one has been cited in this crash, and have not indicated what caused the woman to drive into oncoming traffic.

The vehicle "drifted"? Sounds like either a medical emergency or distracted driving.

Or drunk at three time the limit.

RIP Deputy.

McDumbass Said What Now?

We certainly hope all the McCarthy ball-lickers are appropriately chastised after their hero's statements yesterday. He didn't just throw us all under the bus - it was actually a bulldozer, and he went backwards and forward a few times:

• Former Chicago police superintendent and mayoral candidate Garry McCarthy compared the city’s police union with segregation-era policing in Alabama during a South Side mayoral forum celebrating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., drawing accusations of over-the-top pandering from some of his opponents.
  
  During the event Sunday at Chicago State University in Roseland, McCarthy was asked to react to a Cook County judge’s sentencing of former Officer Jason Van Dyke to a little under seven years in prison for the murder of Laquan McDonald and to offer what changes to improve policing he would make in an upcoming new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police. McCarthy did not offer specific changes to the contract, but he did compare the union with an era of policing in the Jim Crow South that frequently saw officers unjustly beat and jail African-Americans.
  
  “The FOP has to come into the 21st century. They can’t be operating like it’s 1950 in Birmingham, Ala.,” McCarthy told the audience of about 100 people, nearly all of whom were black. “They have to understand that the world has changed. They have to recognize it and move forward.”

What in the name of all that is holy is this asshole talking about? This is pandering to beat all pandering in the history of pandering. It harkens back to dumbass's anti-NRA rant at pfather pflakey's church when he talked about walking around in crime scenes and getting expended brass stuck in his boots, completely destroying any evidentiary value of said cases. We don't recall CPD ever using fire hoses and canines.We certainly don't recall the FOP countenancing any such behavior either.

Paul Vallas finally got fed up with it:

• Those remarks and McCarthy’s Birmingham comment drew a rebuke on stage from former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who alluded to the fact that the U.S. Justice Department found the police under McCarthy’s direction in both Chicago and Newark mistreated African-American residents, resulting in two federal consent decrees to force policing reforms.
  
  “After two consent decrees, you don’t get to lecture us on how you’re going to become Abraham Lincoln,” Vallas said, responding to McCarthy.
  
  Afterward, Vallas said he could no longer bite his tongue after repeatedly hearing McCarthy’s comments about race at various forums.
  
  “I rarely, if ever, respond to what someone has said at these forums, but I just had to respond to that. There have been two consent decrees in two cities,” he said. “He’s pandering. That’s why he goes to these events and says we don’t need more cops, we don’t need a police academy. He’s pandering, that’s what he’s doing.”

Of course, Vallas did a bit of pandering the other day. So did Lightfoot, Mendoza, Prickwrinkle, and others. Everyone is pandering, but none as blatantly as McACLU agreement.

You thought we forgot Garry? He wants you unprotected contractually, subject to the whims of the mob, beneath even the most basic protections of the Constitution and national norms like Garrity. Fuck McCarthy.

Time for a New Idea

Another dead prisoner, another million dollars:

• Chicago taxpayers will spend $1 million to compensate the family of a man who died in 2015 at the lock-up of a South Side station despite his repeated requests for medical attention.
  
  A wrongful death lawsuit filed four years ago in Cook County Circuit Court alleged that Charles Edward Jones died because Chicago Police officers denied Jones the medical treatment he desperately needed.

We have no idea of the circumstances, nor do we really care, except for the fact it cost us and other taxpayers a million dollars for someone who never would have earned a million dollars in twenty lifetimes.

Time for some new ideas, like in other counties and other states. When someone gets arrested by a smaller department, they don't always overnight in the town lockup. They're transferred directly to the County Jail, sometimes even processed there, and left in the custody of sheriffs who get them directly to court. Sometimes, there's even a medical facility on the grounds of (or within) the jail so that prisoners can be treated and cleared for court all inside one building.

If Cook County won't go for that, perhaps it's time to shut down the outlying lockups and go back to five Areas. Prisoners are processed in the District of arrest, then sent to the Areas to await transport to court. Optimally, there's a trained paramedic in every Area lockup who can determine who gets Dramamine for being dope sick and who needs to see an actual doctor to get stitched together - you know, people actually qualified to make medical judgements to limit City taxpayer liability.

But that probably makes too much sense.

Tact Schedules?

Anyone working tact care sound off?

• When are the geniuses at headquarters gonna realize that this Thursday start of the period doesn’t work with Tact teams being assigned to day off groups 61,63,and 65. Any team going from Nights to Relief are scheduled for Nights, Days, Nights, Nights. The teams need to be moved to 62,64,and 66. I know everyone there signed up for it but how can you justify on the A and A’s working 1800-0300 and then the next day 0930-1830. 

We're pretty sure the only reason Special Ed had the Department go back to Thursday Change Days was to get rid of the Furlough Extensions that some bean-counter pointed out were letting all sorts of people (not the Monday thru Friday mice) get twenty-six day vacations. Can't have that!

More Please

Another woman with a gun defends herself against an attacker:

• A man in Hyde Park was in for a surprise when the woman he was trying to rob pulled out a gun and fired.
  
  Just before 6:30 p.m. Saturday near 56th and Dorchester, Chicago police say the woman took out the gun and shot at the man.
  
  Police say she has a valid concealed carry license.
  
  The suspect drove off in a dark-colored SUV. No one was hurt.

This is Rahm's nightmare come to life - people, especially women, realizing they're ultimately responsible for their own safety.....and doing something about it.

It's so.....Republican.

Federal Law Violation

She upped the "bounty" to $600, including Mrs. Van Dyke for daring to testify in support of her husband. In case anyone was wondering, here's the pertinent Federal Law that was broken:

• 18 U.S. Code § 875 - Interstate communications
  
  (c) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

That's five years Federal time. Does anyone know if US Attorney John R. Lausch, Jr is currently swearing out a criminal complaint for one Jasmine Annise of Emory University (605 Asbury Circle Atlanta GA 30322). She's a sophomore at Emory University Class of '21 and went Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights Class of '17. She's from Matteson, Illinois and has a heavy social media presence on twitter (@JasmineAnnise) and college email (jasmine.annise.bovia@emory.edu)

Anyone wishing to report her to Emory College (though we doubt a lib-tarded college is going to take any sort of action) can attempt to point out the violations of Federal Law (which could place Federal grants and national certification in jeopardy we suppose) at http://conduct.emory.edu/reporting/online report.html or drop an email to conduct@emory.edu or even call them at 404-727-3154

Be polite.

Good Question

The smartest readers around - and very astute observers:

• Lighfoot, Perkwinkle, Daly, Mendoza, and almost every other mayoral candidate says Van Dyke sentence is way to lenient and he needed to be sentenced to more years in prison. Just so I’m clear on this, all these people are now for longer prison sentences? Do I have that right?

Just last month, they all wanted the jail and prisons emptied.

Selective outrage....if they think it will get them votes.

Nice Winter Rahm

Even six inches of snow can't stop the Chicago mayhem:

• Gun violence in Chicago has left at least three people dead and eight others wounded since the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend began Friday evening amid a blustery winter storm.

And none shot by police so far...but the weekend is still young.

Eighty-One Months

Watch yourselves out there:

• A Cook County judge on Friday sentenced ex-Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke to more than six years in prison for the murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014.
  
  Judge Vincent Gaughan sentenced Van Dyke to 81 months in prison, only on the charge of second-degree murder. Gaughan chose not to sentence Van Dyke on the aggravated battery charges, which carried more serious time and cut Van Dyke a serious break.
  
  With good behavior, Van Dyke would serve about half his prison sentence.

And right on cue, the usual suspects are up in arms, demonstrating promptly and thoroughly their complete ignorance where the law is concerned.

• Activist Will Calloway, who played a role in bringing the now infamous video of the shooting to light, said: “It’s a slap in the face to say black lives don’t matter in this criminal courthouse.”
  
  “We want to heal . . . We want to be able to create better relationships between law enforcement and the black community,” Calloway said.

No you don't. Stop lying. No one cared about this kid until there was the possibility of a payday - which Rahm gave up to the tune of $5 million. Politicians across Chicago flocked to offer their carefully crafted opinions that they believed would garner them the most votes from the perpetually aggrieved. He was a Ward of the State because no one in the family or community could be bothered to step up - one of thousands currently bouncing through the system. How many times did McDonald overnight at his uncle's church? How many times did Calloway offer him a bed? Mom didn't even bother to show up in court.

Van Dyke was sentenced no better and no worse than a few hundred individuals who were convicted of similar charges. But he'll be used as often and as pathetically as Burge was - a constant boogieman used to frighten children and maintain the chasm of mistrust sought after by innumerable activists and politicians for their own financial and power-grasping ends.

That being said, be very very aware and vigilant over the next few days, weeks, even months. There are going to be incidents and provocations. We'd suggest extra special attention up north where the spree killer struck twice executing pedestrians on the street. Being fetal doesn't mean being ignorant of your surroundings.

RIP Trooper Lambert

Funeral was Friday for a guy just doing his job:

• Scores of uniformed police officers and hundreds of mourners packed the chapel at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington on Friday morning to say farewell to Illinois State Trooper Christopher Lambert, who died after being struck by a car last week while helping victims of a crash.
  
  Lambert, 34, had just finished his shift and was on his way home to Highland Park on Saturday when he stopped during a snowstorm to help at a scene of a three-vehicle crash on northbound Interstate 294 near Northbrook.
  
  “He saw danger coming, and yet he pulled over, put his vehicle into position and did what the troopers do,” Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz said. “He knowingly, willingly and intentionally put himself in harm’s way.”

RIP Trooper Lambert and condolences to your family, co-workers and friends.

Stay Fetal

Officers are supposed to do their jobs in the face of this crap? Why would we put our families in jeopardy at all?

Unfortunately, this attitude in the "community" isn't unique or rare at all. It is the prevailing mindset across vast swaths of the west and south sides.

Anyone want to take a guess if this individual will be held accountable for anything? Or ever has been held to task for anything? Ever?

UPDATE: The Tribune covered this for some reason:

• Just after 6 p.m. Friday, Van Dyke’s wife, father and young daughters left the courthouse as a large group of bystanders in the lobby jeered in their direction, shouting “16 shots” as sheriff’s deputies escorted them down the courthouse steps and into a waiting vehicle on California Avenue.

But not the part where they shouted, "I hope you die" and "I hope hope you get raped" numerous times at the wife and daughters - three people who had exactly NOTHING to do with any of this. They were dragged into this against their will. They didn't volunteer.

And the "community" wants what exactly? Beatings and violence and death? They've got plenty of that already, at the hands of their own. Look around.

Judge Gets it Correct

Good news out of 26th Street:

• In a stunning decision, a Cook County judge on Thursday acquitted three Chicago police officers of all charges alleging they lied in police reports and conspired to cover up the controversial 2014 police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
  
  The case has been seen as a referendum on a so-called code of silence within the Chicago Police Department designed to protect fellow officers from accountability for wrongdoing.
  
  In her hourlong ruling, Associate Judge Domenica Stephenson blasted the evidence presented by prosecutors as weak, speculative and totally lacking proof of any crime.

Detectives document what they are told by witnesses. Witnesses - especially in a dynamic, fast moving, widespread scene - have different perspectives (they weren't all standing behind the same camera), and documenting those different perspectives is neither a conspiracy nor a code of anything.

• Attorney Todd Pugh, who also represented Walsh, slammed the prosecution evidence.
  
  “They say a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich, and that’s what happened in this case,” he said.
  
  “This case is about perspective,” Pugh said. “It wasn’t about a video that was shot and reviewed hundreds and hundreds of times days later. It was about what people saw on the scene at that moment, and no video captured the perspective of the police officers in this case.”

Somewhere between five and ten exempt members reviewed all of the same evidence this judge did and ruled the shooting justified...before political pressure turned it into a football.

Spectacular Move Ed

And Special Ed officially torches his reputation backing Escamerit:

• Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson is explaining why he suspended and did not fire a senior police official for having officers regularly pick up the commander's child from school and returned to the police station.
  
  The city’s Inspector General recommended the high-ranking police official be fired for having officers pick up his child from school on most Wednesdays for several months and have the child brought to the police station. The school was also outside that police district.
  
  Supt. Eddie Johnson gave the official a 7-day suspension because the official is the single parent of a special needs child. He said he looked at the totality of the incident.

Is Special Ed unaware of exactly why Escamerit is a single parent? Would Special Ed like to review our archives as to a tiny hint? Of course, when you have a significant portion of your exempt staff trolling the Academy for impressionable female recruits and partying with them at no-tell motels on the south end of 012, we suppose banging the CAPS girl in the 025 office is small potatoes.

• "Is what he did wrong? Yeah. But, I will say this too. He’s a single parent having to care for a special needs child," Johnson said.
  
  Supt. Johnson said he was once a single parent and also has had personal experience with a special needs child.

Would Mr. Fenner like a list of single parents currently on the job making countless sacrifices for their kids while NOT pulling down over $160K?

But remember, Ed was a "great guy" back in the day.

Suzie Suzie Suzie

First, she releases a poll that purportedly shows Prickwrinkle taking a big hit from the Burke scandal:

• Toni Preckwinkle has seen a “significant drop in favorability and a clear drop in vote share” since being dragged into the federal corruption scandal that threatens to bring down Ald. Edward Burke (14th) — and Susana Mendoza is the chief beneficiary.
  
  That’s the bottom line of a new poll of 600 likely Chicago voters conducted during a five-day period that ended Tuesday. The poll, by the Global Strategy Group, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s pollster, was taken for Mendoza’s campaign.
  
  It shows Preckwinkle’s “net favorability has dropped by 26 points” over the last month and that she is “now underwater at minus 10,” according to a memo of “key findings” prepared by Mendoza’s pollster and released by the state comptroller’s mayoral campaign.

But then she goes into full pander mode, tossing the police under the bus once again:

• [Mendoza Facebook Page] While today’s verdicts are disappointing and heartbreaking, they’re not surprising. This is something we’ve seen happen time and again throughout our country. It’s another tragic reminder of the broken culture within the police department and the work we have to do to fix it. To keep our neighborhoods safe, we must end the code of silence that for too long has allowed police officers to escape accountability, no matter the evidence at hand. To truly rebuild the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, we must make clear that nobody is above the law. While today’s verdict is a major setback, I am committed to working with every community throughout Chicago to move our city forward from Laquan McDonald’s senseless murder and build a true system of justice that works for all of our families

Nothing about Crimesha running with a half-assed political case that the judge tore to shreds - the evidence was made up procedural crap that the judge agreed was paper thin. The supposed "lack of accountability" is a lie seeing as how there's a sentencing date set for today. And it certainly isn't the police killing an average of 500-plus black and brown people every year. And speaking of a "lack of accountability," what's Suzie's position on assorted exempt members using and abusing their positions for personal gain over the years?

Citywide Day Care On Tap

This is a fantastic program and we're wondering why we didn't hear about it earlier:

• Chicago’s government watchdog recommended that a high-ranking Chicago police official face possible firing for directing officers under his supervision for nearly a year to drive his child from school to his Northwest Side police station in a squad car and babysit the kid on the city’s dime.
  
  But in the end, the Police Department gave the undisclosed official — identified by sources as Grand Central District Cmdr. Anthony Escamilla — only a seven-day suspension despite his claims that it was all part of a “test case” for a new community policing study, according to a report released Wednesday by the watchdog.
  
  The report by the city’s Office of Inspector General said that “the Supervisor’s continued attempts to justify the conduct in question raised serious questions about the Supervisor’s judgment and ability to serve in a supervisory position.”

People in the know had way more "questions than answers" when Tony made it past patrolman without spending any time in prison. You can read the IG report here - page 10 is where it starts and covers almost two full pages.

So it's not a citywide pilot program? Escamerit lied to attempt to cover his own misconduct? Isn't that some sort of Rule Violation...like a Rule numbered as "14"? Was this testimony to the Inspector General's office under oath? Are there not annual Ethics Tests with this idiot's electronic signature all over them?

Of course, ethical people wouldn't be using officers as chauffeurs and babysitters and another officer as a pin cushion in the 025 District. Ethical people wouldn't have been taken out of a District by IAD when un-inventoried gun(s) were located in his locker. Ethical people wouldn't be bragging about how he put one over on Deputy Chief EW, snaring a "merit" spot in spite of his shadier-than-shady career track. Stupidity should be painful, and this ass ought to be fired.

But Special Ed will pretend the seven day suspension is punishment enough and so much for "building trust" with either the community or the rank-and-file. The political optics outweigh the effort to have an actually competent, capable and clean supervisory staff.

Sun Times coverage here.

• While the inspector general’s office says the supervisor admitted to ordering officers to care for the child, the supervisor “disingenuously and implausibly” claimed it was all part of a community policing study.
  
  There was no evidence of a secret study, the report says.
  
  In suspending the supervisor for seven days, CPD agreed only that some department rules were broken but disputed other possible violations, according to the report.

Laughable.

Beware Gallows Crew

A warning from a reader:

• Heads up. He’s contacted FSS [Field Services Section - SCC] to see what can be done to lift prints from any copies found in the building. You folks WILL be seeing copies of that inventoried as well as blanket CR #s coming down the pipe. Once it’s narrowed down and a few sacrificial lamb are identified, you will see them get hammered. This directly from someone at IAD. You have been warned. That said, keep the good work, just be smart about it. The Gallows are the bomb.

So if you see a copy lying around, make sure you handle it so you can add your name to the list of, "Yeah, I saw it. I thought it was a lost piece of paper and I picked it up."

Is this really a good use of Department resources....and taxpayer dollars? It's satirical and sarcastic in the extreme. Do taxpayers want to have to payout more money because another over-promoted dumbass thinks they're above criticism?

Stand in the Corner!

Are things really this out of hand in 014?

• Lt. S McD and KS recently made a PPO stand in the corner, facing the wall, over some imagined error in procedure

Having been subjected to the disciplinary process on a fair number of occasions, we're pretty sure this punishment doesn't fall in the SPAR matrix anywhere, nor the CL/CR process. In fact, actually subjecting a member (regardless of status) to this type of unofficial made-up punishment is grounds for an EEOC lawsuit and a CR of their very own.

The number of comments regarding these two psycho lieutenants we end up weeding out is pretty extensive, but it looks like we'll be letting more through.

UPDATE: Shit like this:

• Lieutenants talking to PPOs and well as POs like dogshit.
  
  The always drunk female Sarah McD (who is supposed to make captain?!?) Locked a PPO in a processing room after screaming at her. Hopefully she'll get fired for it however she will probably get promoted.
  
  On one occasion, she tried taking out 3 PPOs in a squad car while she was stinking drunk one morning. Luckily, a desk officer stopped her and told her she was too "fucked up". She then went to the watch commander's office and locked herself in WC's bathroom and went to sleep on the bathroom floor for about 5 hours.

Back in the day, the officers in 012 (we think) got Lt. Olson stripped by the on-duty Street Deputy for destroying evidence and attempting to release a police impersonator on midnights because "he promised her he wouldn't do it again."

Really John?

Alderasshole Arena must be worried:

Streets and Sanitation are among the most politically connected of jobs. They do what they're told, double as ward heelers, work polls on election day, etc. If they're taking down signs, they've been told to.

Undercharging Again?

Question from a suburban copper:

• Are city officers being told by ASA to initially only charge 1 felony, with other felony charges added when offender shows up to court? This is going on now in the 4th dist, Maywood Courthouse. We are guessing its so the offender wont seem that bad in bond court and get a lower bond if any at all.
  
  Suburban Cop

Anyone?

Gallows 2.0

The situation has gotten so out of hand in 025 that officers have resurrected an old favorite:

Somewhere the ghost of Joe Curtain is seething.

And anyone trying to make something out of their choice of logos, it's a stick figure chosen by disgruntled cops of all stripes to vent their disgust with the current pathetic leadership. Why is this bozo still in command of anything?

• ...on the 11th of January Escamerit was subpoenaed to an arbitration at 30 N lasalle on the 2nd floor at 10 AM. Basically the commander was defending his actions for once again trampling on the rights of a PO after failing to get an accurate story from sgt S. M. of area north whose about as arrogant and unrespected as they come. I was told he was in there for almost an hour and each question he was asked became more and more embarrassing for him. The stresses of lies, deceit, and failure are chipping away at him little by little. If you want a good read maybe someone can FOIA the transcripts because as it was told to me a court reporter was present.

Escamerit is about to cost taxpayers a bunch of money and still, he remains in a position he isn't remotely qualified for and has only used to abuse, harass and demean officers.

Parental Guidance? Hahahaha

Not a verifiable claim - it's still January and school is in session:

• The new “parental guidance required” policy at Water Tower Place has been so smoothly implemented and so successful in eliminating “disruptive behavior,” it should be expanded to seven-days-a-week during summer months, the local alderman said Monday.
  
  Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said the proposed summer expansion would go a long way toward discouraging what has become a perennial problem when school is out: marauding groups of young people harassing, intimidating, robbing and attacking Michigan Avenue shoppers. The new policy took effect Jan. 4.

So why stop with teens? Why not require everyone to have an "escort" to go shopping at Water Tower? Supplied by Water Tower Place of course if you can't afford your own.

Take it All!

Here's some pretty big disconnect:

• Chicago Teachers Union members lodged their first demands for a new contract Tuesday — including pay hikes and a host of topics state law bars the labor group from striking over — months before negotiations will likely accelerate with a new administration.
  
  [...] “Where will the money come from? Rich people,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said Tuesday, as she repeated the union’s call for Illinois to tax its wealthiest residents at higher rates and pointed to revenue-generating ideas that need support from Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
  
  “We have a governor who has committed to legalizing recreational marijuana and putting a tax on it, we can take that as well,” Davis Gates said. “They are also talking about sports betting. We can take that. They’re talking about opening a new casino here in the city of Chicago. We can take that.”

Notice everything that the teachers union says they can "take." Nothing about reducing costs, making classrooms more efficient, cutting out bloated management, maybe contributing what every other civil servant contributes to the dwindling pension funds. No, just "take, take, take."

Rich people have an out though - they're rich enough to move, declare a different primary residence, shift money overseas, create tax shelters, remove all the toilets from their houses, etc. The exodus of millionaires from Illinois will dwarf that from other high tax states.

And that will leave you-know-who holding the bag. Again.

Threats

A sergeant was followed home the other day and a note left on his car in 022 (in 014? Someone to verify):

Be aware of what's going on during your ride home. Vary it up, circle a block somewhere away from your abode before heading home.

Earned, Not Given (Bullshit)

(posted 2101 hours, 14 January - will be moved to 0005 hours, 15 January )

Fifty sergeants made and we're speechless (click for larger versions):

First of all, how is Kenny (the skinny one) Johnson, currently under Federal indictment and singing to the feds allowed to nominate anyone? And someone who didn't even work for him (according to numerous e-mailers)?

Second of all, Barb "Pillow" West nominates (and promotes) someone who is currently living with indicted former Commander Kenny (the Skinny one) Johnson.

Are you fucking kidding us?

Is anyone as fucking disgusted with the current "leadership" as we happen to be? We can';t believe that Rahm, being the micromanaging control freak that he is, is actually allowing this bullshit to tarnish his already disastrous legacy.

If this doesn't show you exactly what the DoJ report was all about, we don't know what would. The Machine is alive and well and ignoring any real effort at "reform" by putting morons and idiots in charge, nominated by thieves and corrupt-a-crats.

ACLU Unhappy Again

In other news, water is wet, fire is hot. Did anyone not see this coming? Anyone? Bueller?

• Pedestrian stops by Chicago police officers plummeted in number beginning in 2016 after a new state law and an agreement between the ACLU and the Police Department required officers to more thoroughly document and justify the encounters to ease concerns about racial profiling and constitutional violations.
  
  Some even believe the impact contributed to homicides hitting levels in 2016 that had been unseen in two decades.
  
  But a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois says that at the same time pedestrian stops fell so sharply, Chicago police dramatically increased how often they pulled over motorists.

We don't have a copy of what a TSSSSSSS Blue Card looks like handy, but this is the version of the ISR we made fun of two years ago (click for larger picture):

 

The Traffic Stop Statistical Study card (aka the Obama Card) is smaller than a 3" x 5" index card, and the bosses love it because they can count it and apply it to CompStat bullshit.

What would you rather fill out? And the ACLU isn't happy about it, so they lie through their teeth:

• The latest report also found that Chicago police stopped African-American motorists at a disproportionately higher rate than whites, Hispanics and Asians.
  
  The findings have raised alarms for civil libertarians at a time when the Police Department is attempting to improve trust with minority communities as it nears a federal court agreement meant to ensure widespread reforms are carried out.
  
  “The problem has been consistent, but now it’s, yet again, a point of data that shows how desperately we need holistic reform of the Police Department,” said Karen Sheley, director of the police practices project for the ACLU of Illinois.

Perhaps the morons over at the ACLU could tell us exactly how the police "racially profile" an automobile? Cops see vehicle violations and pull over violators. Why doesn't the ACLU wonder why certain "communities" are incapable of properly maintaining and licensing their vehicles, thereby attracting the attention of cops? Or is that too obvious?

Great Idea Toni

Prickwrinkle is determined to take the Department backwards:

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says she’ll halt plans to build a new police academy, dismantle the city’s contentious gang database and create an office of criminal justice as part of her plan to create a safer Chicago if elected.
  
  The plan to freeze the proposed construction of a new $95 million police and fire academy “until further review” would allow the department to focus on overhauling police training because “our highest priority is curriculum and content, not buildings and amenities.”

So we need tons of training and all sorts of reform.....but we're going to continue to use a building that is so outdated, it's incapable of meeting the needs of a 21st century police department. Hell, it barely met the needs of a 20th century department, and that was when it opened in 1976.

Prickwrinkle is determined to deny the Department even the ability to improve - it's too convenient a whipping boy.

Which is the Higher Charge

This tragedy on Lower Wacker the other day:

• A catastrophic U-turn on Lower Wacker Drive left a baby girl dead and two adults fighting for their lives early Friday. At 1:09 a.m., a Mazda 3 was heading west in the first block of West Lower Wacker Drive and made a U-turn at an intersection, according to Chicago police. It struck an Acura MDX driving east on a green light and then careened into a wall.
  
  Amaria Glenn, a 1-year-old baby, was ejected from the Mazda, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in critical condition before dying within the hour.

Mom was high, driving like an asshole without a license and without insurance, and didn't bother to secure the child in a car seat. Charges?

• A woman has been charged with causing a Friday crash on Lower Wacker Drive that ejected and killed her 1-year-old passenger.
  
  Adreannia Donaldson, 29, was charged with felony aggravated DUI and several misdemeanors following the early morning crash when she failed to yield to traffic while making a U-turn on Lower Wacker at Garvey Court, Chicago police said.

Maybe a couple of higher charge?

One Way to Downgrade Crime

How soon until this comes to Chicago?

• NBC New York described a January 9, 2019, alleged home invasion suspect whom a resident had to shoot as an “unwanted house visitor.”
  
  Breitbart News reported that the home invasion suspect was allegedly armed when he attempted to enter the home and the resident wrestled away his gun and shot him with it. The suspect, 29-year-old Terrence Coulanges, died after being transported to a hospital.

It was only a matter of time:

• illegal alien = undocumented worker
• drug dealer = unlicensed pharmacist
• bank robbery = improper withdrawal

Add your own in the comments!

Whose Bright Idea is This?

We've seen some dumb shit before. And this has already been proven not to work in at least two districts over the course of our careers:

• Basically 025 will be split into “Dispatch Coordination Areas”. 5 in all consisting if 3 beats each. Each area will have a District coordination officer (Sgt). And get this, now the entire district won’t go down on a rap, just the affected DCA. So theoretically 025 could have 5 raps in place.

We used to have something like this - they were called "Sectors."  And there was someone covering these all the time - they were called "Rapid Response Cars" or "Sector Response Cars."

And it worked fine - when we were at an actual manpower strength of nearly 12,500 during the glory years of the Clinton Administration when Bill was shoveling money at the cities for neighborhood policing initiatives.

But those days passed and Rahm cut some 1,200 spots from the manpower numbers at declared the CPD "at strength" with the new normal. Now calls go unanswered constantly or answered in hours instead of minutes, and some jokers decide it's time to rehash an idea that never worked with the lower numbers of personnel.

Escamerit must really need that Deputy spot for the upcoming alimony/child support/day care expenses, and this time, he can't trick Washington into giving him the bump.

UPDATE: A couple days in and it's already off the rails:

• I was told by numerous LT’s that there are to be no missions with this new strategy. This was brought up several times during the staff meeting in 025. Escamerit is still running missions and the kicker is that the missions are taking cars out of their assigned areas. Some cars were even told to stay off the radio with the missions and just get activity in a certain area.
  
  Escamerit is not following the instructions that came from 35th street. He’s more concerned about his numbers and doing what HE wants. And he still has the wagon sitting at North and Luna it’s been going on for 2.5 years now. Even the dispatcher said the first day of this pilot program “Why isn’t the wagon taking jobs”!!
  
  A Sgt has to get on the air and tell the dispatcher they don’t leave North and Luna. The dispatcher replied “That’s not what we were told, we were instructed everyone takes jobs”

Watch the PAR forms start flying out of 025 again. The old Indian Burial Ground curse raises once again.

What's This?

Someone is putting this on personal cars in a District somewhere:

So who is doing this and where? What makes some inside house mouse suck ass deserving of a certain parking spot rather than the people doing actual work at the position they were hired for? Asking for a friend.

Ban Fists!

All the way from Alabama just to get beaten to death?

• A 49-year-old man from Alabama was beaten to death Friday night in the South Loop.
  
  Jack D. Richardson was in an “altercation” with a man at 9:50 p.m. in the first block of Ida B. Wells Drive, formerly Congress Parkway, when he was struck multiple times, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
  
  Richardson was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died, authorities said.
  
  An autopsy released Saturday said he died from multiple blunt force injuries during an assault. The medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide.

So is Rahm banning fists now? After all, more people are beaten to death with fists and blunt objects in a single year than rifles, which Rahm and Jaybee the Hutt have their eyes on.

ISP Trooper Killed

Tragedy last evening on I-294:

• An Illinois state trooper who was heading home for the night in his squad car but pulled over to help at an accident scene was struck and killed by a vehicle Saturday afternoon in the north suburbs, police said.
  
  Trooper Christopher Lambert, 34, stopped to help at a three-car crash in the northbound lanes on I-294 near Willow Road in Glenview, Illinois State Police Director Leo P. Schmitz said at a news conference.
  
  Lambert, a five-year veteran, positioned his car in the lefthand lanes to protect the people involved but he was struck by a passing vehicle at 4:43 p.m., Schmitz said.
  
  Lambert was given CPR by an off-duty nurse at the scene and was taken to Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview where he died at 7:24 p.m., Schmitz said.

Other media coverage here.

RIP Trooper Lambert.

Participating Restaurants

From a helpful soul (click for larger version):

Enjoy.

Further Clarification

To the "No More Mugshots?" post from the crew over at CWB Blog:

• Hi SCC -
  
  CPD is NOT in compliance regarding mugshots and state law. They are REQUIRED to release mugshots on all offenders within 72 hours of arrest.
  
  The only change in state law is that police agencies are barred from distributing mugshots for misdemeanor offenders ON SOCIAL MEDIA, not on their official sites.
  
  See email below from lawyers for Illinois Press Association that was sent early in the new year.
  
  All the best -
  CWB

So once again, the brilliant minds at HQ (probably Legal Affairs) have misinterpreted the law in such a way as to protect criminals rather than inform the citizenry.