Monday?

We have a source, buried deeply, that has informed us of a couple of instances where the blog broke department news, and the Groot administration changed deadlines or actual actions so as to deny the blog legitimacy. We understand - leaks look bad and Groot is a typical politician - control the information to control the narrative.

That being said, we'll put e-mail out there knowing that Groot has all weekend to revoke or delay the decision:

• S(t)upEd is being shown the door Monday (officially). Its finally dawned on LL and her minions that legally (under municipal code) you can only have one S(t)upEd at a time. [...] Beck starts his (LL’s) changes next week (Monday) to culminate on Friday.
  
  On an interesting note, for some reason S(t)upEd is bending over backwards to get MS’s a Street Deputy position instead of back to her civil service (Lt) rank as LL has demanded...she still needs about 15 months before she can go. Hmmmm?!?! Lewin seems to be shit-outta-luck since the new Executive Director of Administration spot is going to a City Hall insider and Waller’s pouring syrup on shit these days and as we know (predicted) Avila dropped his papers.

Believe it, don't believe it. Discuss - politely - in the comments. This might explain the last minute moves the past few days including a new commander at the airports. Gotta get their people in spots before Beck starts swinging his axe.

Attack of the "Merit" Sergeant

It's bad enough the Department promotes the unqualified via a corrupt "merit" process where the only "merit" is being related via marriage to a former First Deputy.

But then to put the "merit" pick into a busy District to fuck with people doing an already difficult job is unforgivable.

And to have the "merit" pick be completely wrong in her actions is downright criminal:

• Newly promoted Sgt. [SP] is now in 011, on 1st watch and what she is doing is trying to jam guys up that are doing traffic stops.
  
  During traffic stop if she sees that you have occupants out of the vehicle and searching the car she will step out of her car, turn her camera on and walk up to you. Then she says, while recording in the middle of you conducting the stop, in front of everyone: why do you have the occupants out of the vehicle and why are you searching the car? You have no right to do so. Claiming that what we are doing is illegal and against consent decree. Not knowing any facts what led to the stop and what led to the search in the first place. Then saying that she will have to get a CR pulled on the officers for violating the rules.
  
  This started happening within a 1st week of her being in 011. All of this can be verified as it was also recorded by officers BWC.

Someone might want to send Dana Stark's sister-in-law a copy of the Consent Decree. None of what she is claiming appears anywhere in the document. And also a Training Bulletin referencing Pennsylvania v Mimms and Maryland v Wilson where officers can legally order every single occupant out of the car.

Then midnights in 011 might want to look into a Hostile Work Environment EEOC complaint and name the Commander as condoning this behavior. After all, he asked for her to be assigned to 011 as a favor to Dana.

Parking Ban Coming

Everyone's favorite game is afoot again:

• A warning to holiday travelers: Chicago’s overnight parking ban begins early Sunday, Dec. 1, so be careful where you park. The parking ban is enforced regardless of snow on 107 miles of main streets in the city between 3 a.m. to 7 a.m., according to the Chicago Dept. of Streets and Sanitation. The ban lasts through April 1, 2020.
  
  Violators can face a $150 towing fee, $60 ticket and $20 storage fee charge per day of storage.
  
  The city said drivers can avoid violations by checking street signage. A complete map of impacted streets can be found on the city’s website.

Traditionally, around 100 cars get towed in the early AM hours of 01 December. However, last year, the City snatched nearly 300 cars, probably to help close Rahm's extensive budget gaps. We're not even going to try to set the over/under tonight.

Anyone Surprised?

If you are, you haven't been paying attention:

• OT: Does everyone know that the department is looking into every pointing incident. They said all it would be is a “notification” to oemc. Well it turns out that they are tracking every pointing incident and force review unit is going in and reviewing BWC and reports for every incident. So u point your weapon, you are going to be scrutinized every which way they can and if they find something on one of the body cams that doesn’t match up... watch out. If u don’t believe me, go into clearnet and look at the new tab. Every pointing incident is in there and they’re investigating them just like TRR’s.

Of course they're tracking it. Of course they're looking at them. And pretty soon, if you point your weapon too many times, you'll be counseled, retrained, SPAR-ed and accused of profiling, etc. And it will ALL be discoverable at your next lawsuit.

Gee, What Happened?

Anyone see the problem here?

• Trespassing charges against nine members of the Chicago Teachers Union arrested for holding a sit-in outside the offices of a mega-developer during last month’s teachers strike were dropped Wednesday. The nine CTU members were summarily dismissed and wished a “Happy Thanksgiving” by Cook County Judge Robert D. Kuzas after their complaining party did not appear before the court.
  
  The CTU members were arrested on Oct. 29 after staging a sit-in protest at Fulton West, an office building in the 1300 block of West Fulton Street, which is the headquarters of Lincoln Yards developer Sterling Bay. The CTU targeted Sterling Bay to show what they believe is the city’s misplaced funding priorities, since Lincoln Yards stands to receive as much as $1.3 billion in tax-increment financing to help pay for infrastructure improvements at the planned new development on the North Side.
  
  All nine teachers were charged with a single count of misdemeanor criminal trespass to property.

They did trespass - they admitted to such and it's on video everywhere. They did it purposefully as an act of Civil Disobedience. Whatever, there should be minimal consequences for misbehavior.

But Sterling Bay, after receiving $1.3 billion in TIF money....well, that's a pretty big stick for Groot to hold over their heads if they actually went ahead with a slam-dunk guilty finding on the teachers.

So everyone just wasted the time and efforts of how many officers, arresting, transporting, processing, etc. What a great use of resources.

UPDATE: The teachers were arrested on signed complaints from Sterling Bay - "Court Sergeant to Handle."

Shameful

Chicago's highest awards for Bravery and Valor were handed out late last week:

• Friday the city of Chicago honored men and women who put their lives on the line every day.
  
  Mayor Lori Lightfoot presented Chicago firefighters and police officers with medals of valor at city hall.
  
  “It’s not just their heroism but their humility,” Lightfoot said. “Not just courage, but pledge to a city you love and serve.”
  
  The Award of Valor for bravery in the line of duty honored those who went above and beyond and put their lives on the line under extreme conditions in order to save others.

We are told that out of fifty aldermen, only four - all former cops or firefighters themselves - even bothered to show up.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just trying to get through the holiday.

As always, wishing each and every one of our readers a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving Holiday.

If you're lucky enough to be off, spare a thought for all of us currently on the street.

Comments will be updated when we have a chance.

And for all you traditionalists:

Holiday Decor

002 has installed its indoor waterfall display for the holiday season:

Not sure if this is sewage or just leaking from the roof, but it seems all the police areas built in the 70's are currently falling apart.

Wait....What?

We're not surprised something like this happened - we're just surprised it happened in Oklahoma:

• An Oklahoma police lieutenant has been indicted for second-degree murder in the May 20 killing of a woman during a vehicle pursuit. Supporters of Blackwell, OK, police Lieutenant John Mitchell say the suspect was an active shooter. The media describes her as a “road rage suspect.”
  
  Oklahoma City grand jurors concluded Lt. Mitchell acted without justifiable or excusable cause and engaged in "imminently dangerous conduct" toward Micheal Ann Godsey. If convicted, he faces at least 10 years in prison.

And what was Ms. Godsey doing?

• "She shot at the police twice. She has shot at her mother twice. She has shot at a private citizen. We know she fired other rounds around town. And Mitchell gets in behind her," the attorney told the Oklahoman. "He took his AR-15 and he started shooting through the front windshield at her."
  
  Godsey, 34, was found dead in the driver's seat of the pickup, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in May.
  
  The attorney said Mitchell had just completed training on how to deal with an active shooter and was cleared by an independent internal affairs review of the incident.

We'd expect this bullshit from Crimesha. This sounds like a case of brilliant tactical positioning to eliminate someone blasting away at citizens. We can't imagine this getting anywhere near a guilty verdict.

Nice Monitoring Dart

Tommy Dart's Electronic Monitoring working wonders once again:

• A man accused of fatally shooting a man who was dating the mother of his child last week in University Village was released on bond several weeks earlier on charges of resisting an officer. Ed Rush, 24, now faces charges of first-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Rayveon Hutchins, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. In a bond hearing Tuesday, Rush was ordered held without bail.
  
  Rush was allegedly seen on camera and by a witness approaching Hutchins in a parking lot by his car about 11:59 p.m. Nov. 22 in the 1200 block of South Throop Street and firing shots, prosecutors said in a bond proffer. Hutchins was hit in the head, hip and back, and was pronounced dead at the scene, prosecutors said.
  
  At the time of the attack, Rush was on bond on a September 2019 charge of aggravated battery of a police office, according to records. He had been placed on electronic home monitoring, and records show he was out of his home during the shooting, prosecutors said.

This must be another of those non-existent "horrible incidents" that Chief Judge Timmy Evans says aren't happening. Has any reporter contacted Hutchins' mom to see if she's on board with that?

And does anyone know if Dart has made any headway on the couple of hundred felons currently unaccounted for in the EM program?

10,000

That's a lot of felony charges!

• Chicago police say they have passed a milestone in illegal gun seizures.
  
  Police have confiscated more than 10,000 guns from city streets so far in 2019, police Supt. Eddie Johnson said in a news conference.

Why, the jail must be bursting at the seams with all these arrests.

Welcome to the Department

You'd think that people taking a promotional exam would realize what an actual promotion entailed - things like salary, bidding rights, and what seniority you were giving up to get promoted:

• New sgts just literally came out. Day one, during conversation a Sgt with 19 years on got into an argument with another Sgt who only has on 13 years but has been a Sgt for the past two years. She says that she expects to get a good furlough because she has 19 years on.
  
  The Sgt with 13 years breaks the news to her that she is dead last in seniority on the watch and she flips and says I don’t care I have more time on the job than you and won’t let someone with 13 years pick in front of her. She “has kids and needs spring break and a summer furlough.” Sgt with 13 years now irritated and thinking she’s nuts now says no kidding. Man, good luck with that but not a chance you will be getting that furlough. In fact spring break and summer are always gone last, he says that judging by the numbers he is gonna be able to get the 4A (spring break) because he goes to California with the family.
  
  Well, she lost it. Still is ranting on how she has more time on the job and she needs and deserves it and that “kid” shouldn’t get anything because of her time on. She runs to the Lt and he screams her out of the office with the parting words of, “your time on the job means nothing with those stripes on you’re arm, we might as well call you a PPO because this is your first day of seniority.. enjoy your 1B,2A. She cries and runs out. Embarrassing. And guess what, she has been inside secretary in units for the past 14 years!!! A whole 4 or 5 years on the street and spoiled for the rest. Enjoy midnights and enjoy your furlough in January bigmouth.

At least sergeants bid in two waves, so she'll probably get something close to decent. But do you know how entertaining this person's remaining career is going to be? And how funny it's going to be bidding her start time when Squad Policing arrives citywide and she's at the back of THAT line, too?

This is exactly why many people don't even bother with a promotion exam after a certain point. You have to go to the back of the line that you spent so much time advancing in.

Good to be Exempt

And once again, rules for the peons, but not for the ones who enforce the rules:

• “Use of force training” today. DC Johnson signed in and took a seat amongst the men and women....only to stay for 1 hour and never return

Remember, this guy is in charge of the Academy. He could be called as an expert witness when your career is on the line in a criminal trial or your house is at risk in a civil suit.

But he won't be called when anyone is cashing his dead mother's checks. His brother has that on lockdown.

"Earned," not given. Beck, you paying attention?

Coming Soon - but Not too Soon

It's not a matter of if - it's a matter of when - because recruitment has becoming a major issue:

• With St. Louis leaders unable to agree, Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature could step in and remove the residency requirement for police officers in St. Louis. Attorney General Eric Schmitt said Tuesday he is backing a plan that would lift the requirement in an attempt to boost efforts to recruit and retain officers. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department reports it is down 124 officers this year.
  
  “This requirement has and is keeping good, qualified candidates from applying to serve our communities and to fight crime. Put simply: more officers means more brave, dedicated individuals patrolling St. Louis streets and keeping residents safe,” Schmitt, a Republican who is seeking a full, four-year term in 2020, said at a news conference.
  
  The residency issue has vexed local officials for years. In September, the Board of Aldermen rejected putting repeal of the residency rule for police and most other city employees before voters next year, dealing a political setback to Mayor Lyda Krewson. The mayor has made scrapping the residency rule — especially for the short-staffed police department — a major priority.

We'll probably see some form of it in our lifetimes, but not in our careers.

Did Shit Just Get Real-er?

We've heard whispers about this a few times. Did someone wise up?

• SCC you must hear this.
  
  The lesser of Johnson’s problems is his DUI. Supposedly the real investigation by the IG is on his close relationship with Chicago Uniform Company on Roosevelt and now his 01JAN20 retirement date is in jeopardy.
  
  Rumor is the other uniform stores contacted the IG when Johnson received freebies from C.U.C. [Their] concern is Johnson approved uniform items that C.U.C. had pre-made and stockpiled such as pink flag patches and an exempt raincoat and a rainbow hat for the Pride parade. Johnson approved the items without the required pre-notification to the stores which means no other store had time to make them before breast cancer awareness or the pride parade, giving C.U.C. a complete monopoly.
  
  If this all started with a free very expensive raincoat which Johnson then required all exempts to purchase, this is turning into something way bigger than his drinking problem. Id like to see all the receipts from everything he got from C.U.C. for himself or his relatives. I think the IG does too.

The Uniform stores have always had one scam or another going. The reason they kept quiet about it was because all shared semi-equally in the spoils. If someone (or many someones) got shut out of some lucrative markets, there are going to be some irritated people more than willing to talk.

BOHICA!

When you can hold children hostage as a negotiating ploy, sawed off dwarves cave to your every demand - we saw it with 9.5, we just saw it again with Groot.

But when you lay your life on the line for others, the mayor shows up at a press conference, chokes up a little bit, maybe sheds a few (fake) tears, and spouts the same narrative about how we should all appreciate those who are all that fold back utter chaos....

.....and you get this in return:

• Mayor Lori Lightfoot deliberately dodged a City Council rebellion by steering clear of a massive property tax increase and using one-time revenues to erase nearly half the $838 million budget shortfall she inherited.
  
  [...]
  
  All bets are off if Lightfoot strikes out again during the spring session — or if the 16% pay raise she gave to striking teachers turns out to be a floor for police officers and firefighters, whose contracts expired 2.5 years ago.
  
  According to the City Council’s Office of Financial Analysis, the budget now includes funding to cover a meager police pay raise of 1.6%.

The FOP hasn't had a Contract in 2.5 years, the supervisors for 3.5 years, and you don't see any Department members grabbing hostages and demanding something even close to 16%.

Maybe it's time to switch strategies?

Parolee Murders Student

Once again, the system in Illinois is broken:

• A 26-year-old parolee has been charged with first-degree murder and criminal sexual assault in the strangulation death of a University of Illinois at Chicago student whose body was found in a campus parking lot over the weekend, university police said Monday evening.
  
  Donald Thurman, who lived near the campus, is expected to appear in Cook County court Tuesday in connection with the killing of 19-year-old Ruth George.
  
  Thurman was released from state prison late last year after completing a six-year sentence for a 2016 armed robbery, court records show. An arrest report alleged that Thurman snatched an iPhone from a woman’s hands before fleeing in a stolen car.

Read that underlined phrase again:

• ...Thurman was released from state prison late last year after completing a six-year sentence for a 2016 armed robbery...

We learned math at the point of a yardstick wielded by Sister Mary BringerOfPain, and we're pretty sure that you can't "complete" a six-year sentence handed down in 2016 any sooner than 2022.

Unless you're in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Then math doesn't mean anything and a young lady, described universally as a wonderful human being, is savagely raped and murdered in her own car.

The Illinois Parole Board needs to be disbanded and a Truth in Sentencing law needs to be passed.

Mo' Money from the Money Tree!

Some unimportant people need to feel important - and if someone else is footing the bill....:

• City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin paid $35 an hour for private security using taxpayer money after the Chicago Police Department eliminated her protective detail earlier this year because it found she was not in any danger, newly released records show.
  
  Conyears-Ervin personally protested the department’s move to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who stood behind the decision after a contentious exchange of emails, records between the two citywide elected officials show.
  
  “Of course, if you believe the assessment is incorrect and you are in need of a security detail, there is nothing to prevent you from using resources under your control to procure private security resources,” Lightfoot wrote to Conyears-Ervin this summer. “Also, if there is a threat to you or someone on your staff, please immediately call 911.”

And just like Ed Burke, she made up some fantasy stories to justify the expenditure:

• In an interview at her City Hall office last week, Conyears-Ervin criticized the Police Department’s process to eliminate her security detail. She said it’s been a long-standing tradition for the city treasurer to receive a security detail and spoke about feeling threatened because she took office after a contested election and manages the city’s massive financial investment portfolio.

Treasurer Mendoza got rid of the detail it because it was pointless. She biked to work - Melissa might follow that example.

• “I cannot tell you how many places I go to where people say, ‘give me a loan, that’s the money lady, can you write me a check?’” Conyears-Ervin said, reiterating arguments she personally made to Lightfoot. “People truly associate me with money … I’ve had people, when I walk in the room, they say, ‘Money, money, money — money.’”

Conyears-Ervin "cannot tell you" because it never happened. She doesn't carry around billions, or even millions, of dollars. It's all tied up electronically and moved around the same way. If someone kidnapped the Treasurer and tried to hold her for ransom, Aldercreature Ervin would have to come up with the money (and we have our doubts he'd even be inclined to). If she disappeared tomorrow, there would be a dozen office drones available to carry out her functions. She is a caretaker at best, and if someone doesn't understand that, maybe the schools should be teaching Civics a little better.

You know, if she's that concerned, she could always get a gun.

Was it Worth It?

We're going to go out on a limb and say, "No:"

• A veteran Chicago police officer will spend a year and half in prison for taking bribes to leak the names of crash victims to an attorney referral service.
  
  Milot Cadichon, 47, was sentenced Monday to 18 months in federal prison for accepting about $10,000 in the scheme, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick. He was facing a maximum of five years.
  
  Cadichon, a member of the department since 1998, is no longer an active duty officer and will face termination charges before the police board...

Ten grand? For a career and a pension? You're an idiot.

Better than a Soap Opera

Groot is surrounded by some real winners:

• Bail was denied Sunday for a woman who unwittingly hired an undercover Chicago cop to execute another woman she thought was romantically involved with her ex-girlfriend — another officer who was assigned to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s security detail.
  
  Lissette Ortiz, 54, of Jefferson Park, was arrested Friday evening in the 4700 block of North Central Avenue and charged with a felony count of solicitation of murder for hire, according to Chicago police.
  
  The investigation was set off Monday when Ortiz offered to hire a man to kidnap the 62-year-old woman, according to Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Jack Costello. Ortiz’s public defender Courtney Smallwood later said he was a handyman who worked in her building.
  
  Ortiz believed the woman she was targeting had started dating her ex-girlfriend, veteran CPD Officer Marni Washington, according to Costello and a police source. Ortiz’s relationship with Washington had fizzled out by this summer, when Washington was acquitted of misdemeanor domestic battery after Ortiz accused her of abuse.

Seems like a lot of unnecessary drama, but then, Groot loves drama.

Wounded Cop Heads Home

Good news:

• A Chicago police officer who was shot by a suspected bank robber in Irving Park last week has been released from the hospital and is continuing his recovery at home.
  
  The officer, a 46-year-old man, was released from Illinois Masonic on Friday, according to Chicago police spokesman Anthony [Google-me]. He was shot in the head Tuesday during a chaotic pursuit which also saw a 15-year-old boy wounded by a stray bullet, likely from a Des Plaines police officer.

Even better news:

• A man who the feds say admitted his role in the Des Plaines bank robbery that led to the shooting Tuesday of a Chicago police officer and a 15-year-old boy on the Northwest Side now faces a federal bank robbery charge.

That means Crimesha won't be able to release him on an "Undocumented Withdrawal" charge, Evans won't be giving this asshole a signature bond and Dart won't be giving out pizza.

That Chase

We had a couple of emails about that chase in 011 the other day that ended with five cops hurt:

• it began as on-view shots fired, with a rifle involved;
• the car is the one that rammed a squad up in 016 a few days prior;
• the occupants are wanted for approximately 90 ATM robberies;
• they're also part of the O'Hare carjacking crew, stealing multiple cars at a time

We know these are mostly property crimes, so we aren't endorsing chases out of hand, but ramming an occupied squad crosses into the "justifiable" category. We guess you have to be your own judge of what you're willing to risk, personally and professionally.

"I'm the Victim!"

The Chicago Contrarian weighs in on Crimesha's reelection:

• A short film brimming with sentimentality, galvanizing slogans, a whole catalog of accusations and insinuations, and dominated by Progressive themes of “injustice” and “inequity,” Foxx opened her campaign video to swelling piano music with her driving a car in a light snow. Her voice grating on the ear, Foxx dreamily reminiscences over her upbringing by shining a light, again, on the hardships she faced in the crime-infested Cabrini-Green Homes. Conditions of her past Foxx has expressed unreservedly for years, from her palette, Foxx paints a portrait of her youth in public housing living in fear of police, overcoming racism, enduring poverty, and surviving a sexual assault. Visual junk food for Foxx, the montage depicts public housing projects as being overpoliced and, to taint Chicago police with the patina of criminality, includes a grainy re-creation of uniformed white men resembling Chicago police officers randomly hauling off minority residents of Cabrini to the nearest jail. Slowly and laboriously reaching contemporary Chicago, Foxx describes how the projects were razed, but Chicago police officers’ passion for brutality, violence, and spite for minorities lingered. Unsurprisingly, Foxx recites the names Jon Burge and Laquan McDonald as modern-era emblems of police abuse and random cruelty.
  
  Resuming her narration a bit awkwardly but with a steely resolve, Foxx carries on by groaning over the burdens of the job, bellyaches at her critics, and bemoans one man and two organizations which she suggests hover menacingly in the background, President Trump, the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). Artless comments, Foxx’s political ad reaches an absurd zenith when, in a long overdue gesture and in a very Rahm Emanuel-esque manner, she finally acknowledges her blundering over the special treatment her office accorded to B-actor Jussie Smollett. Staring into the camera with a blank face, Foxx numbingly asserts: “Truth is, I didn’t handle it well. I own that.” Only a partial admission of failure in office, Foxx continued with an assurance the Smollett slip-up had obligated her broaden her reform efforts to “do better.” To the surprise of absolutely no one, Foxx declined to offer any specific remedy.

Florian Sohnke makes a compelling case that even though Crimesha has (undeservedly) risen to the top lawyer spot in Cook County, she has been such an abject failure that she has no way to campaign on actual accomplishments. So she's portraying herself as the victim. Still. After all her success, Trump, the NRA and the FOP are keeping her down.

The trouble is dumb Cook County voters will buy it, or at least let their votes be bought.

Go read it all.

What Waller Said

From someone who (might?) know what the Initiation Report says:

• ....Waller made an off the cuff remark when [Consent Decree Monitor in Charge] Hickey asked for PO’s to assist her team. Waller in jest stated “I knew I was gonna get fucked, but I didn’t realize I was going to get raped at this meeting!” Hickey took offense and complained to LL’s people....

While having no filter is entertaining when a Chief is making "syrup on shitcakes" type comments, it's less endearing in 2019 and certainly not in mixed company.

Tone Deaf

Chief Judge Tim Evans is about as tone deaf as they come as evidenced by his recent statements:

• Two years into an “affordable bail” initiative that is allowing most accused gun offenders and even accused murderers to be released from jail to await trial, Cook County’s chief judge says the program is working fabulously.
  
  “It’s not by magic that we haven’t had any horrible incidents occur using this new [bail] system,” Chief Judge Timothy Evans said during county budget hearings on Nov. 4.

No "horrible incidents"?

• On Feb. 9, Daryl Williams violated the terms of a court-ordered curfew, secured an illegal handgun, and then fatally shot 45-year-old Daniel Smith in the back of the head, prosecutors allege.
• In August, someone fatally shot 34-year-old Neal Sumrell as he sat in his car in Humboldt Park. Someone also shot a woman who was in Sumrell’s vehicle as she tried to run away. Prosecutors say they know who at least one of the shooters was: Antwane Lashley. The 18-year-old who was free on a recognizance bond and electronic monitoring at the time of the shootings...

The CWB Blog (go read it all at the link up top) has another three homicides listed - all by offenders out on low-to-no bond - so there can be only one logical conclusion:

• Chief Judge Tim Evans doesn't think black people getting murdered qualifies as a "horrible incident"

Try running on that election platform some time, see how it goes.

Groot Making Nice

With the Prickwrinkle Machine:

• Mayor Lori Lightfoot has endorsed Kim Foxx for Cook County state’s attorney.
  
  In a tweet Friday, the mayor said Foxx “stood up to the NRA and won. She took on Trump’s war on people of color and immigrants. And she’s working to undo decades of injustice in Cook County.”

That's some amazing "reform" coming from Groot, ain't it?

Anatomy of a Tool

Of course, this is what lib-tards want:

• Burlington, VT – Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo has declared that law enforcement officers are too quick to defend themselves against potential deadly threats.
  
  Chief del Pozo’s thoughts on the matter were published in an op-ed piece by The New York Times on Nov. 13.
  
  “We tell officers that a knife or a shard of glass is always a lethal threat and that they should aggressively meet it with a lethal threat in return,” the police chief wrote. “But doing so forecloses all of the better ways to communicate with a person in crisis. There are alternatives.”
  
  He said that one of the biggest mistakes trainers have made has been to teach law enforcement officers “to lead with the gun.”

One hundred toothpicks says this Poindexter has ten arrests, tops, in his entire career and all as Box Two. But he'll have been to every single "supervisor symposium" offered to those up-and-comers who land in these spots.

More Resignations

Sal Avila dropped his papers for 30 or 31 December.

Lewin and Staples are thisclose to dropping theirs if it hasn't happened already.

Waller stepped on his dick in front of the Consent Decree Monitor, who promptly informed Groot what was going on and now there's a Log Number against Waller. He'll be dropping his papers shortly if it moves forward.

This is going to be a fun few years coming up.

Squad Policing Schedule

This was released to the boys and girls in 006 for next year (click for larger version):

The way it is explained to us is there are only three day off groups - 61, 63, 65 or 62, 64, 66. Certain start times are unique to the entire day off group. Sergeants will bid (?) for their day off group/start time and then officers will "apply" (or bid?) to work with a Sergeant. This team will be on the same schedule except for furlough, which will still be bid by seniority. There are allowances being made for School Officers, CAPS and House Mouses. It's a disaster in the making.

• It failed in LA, which is looking to abandon 12s and return to three 8-hour shifts;
• It failed in NYPD over ten years ago;
• A similar schedule failed in San Francisco; 
• It failed here in 003 and 012

There are only two districts in the city that have a reasonable shot at making this succeed:

• 007 and 011

And the only reason it might succeed is because they have over 400 officers per District. The key to Squad Policing is over-staffing. You need approximately 33% more manpower than is currently budgeted per district to have even a reasonable chance at success. Groot can't afford to overstaff and is hoping to bring the numbers down to something like Houston (8,000 or so).

Strap in 006 - it's going to be a bumpy year.

Apply Today!

The Police Board is looking for the latest stooge qualified applicants for Supernintendo:

• The Chicago Police Board on Thursday officially began its nationwide search for the city’s next top cop to succeed outgoing police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.
  
  The nine-member board compiled a five-page job application that lists more than a dozen requirements for the job, including ensuring the 13,400-strong Police Department is compliant with its federally mandated consent decree in a timely manner and overseeing policies that address the mental health of officers.
  
  Those are two key issues facing the Police Department. Just last week, a court-ordered monitor overseeing the consent decree announced the city has missed most of its deadlines to enact certain reforms within the Police Department. And the department has also placed a special emphasis on hiring more mental health clinicians after eight Chicago cops died by suicide in little over a year.
  
  The Police Board is tasked with choosing three finalists to be the next top cop before submitting their names to Mayor Lori Lightfoot for her consideration. Candidates have until Jan. 13 to apply, and the application was posted Thursday on the board’s website, ChicagoPoliceBoard.org

Fully three-quarters of the job is answering the phone when Groot calls, kissing assorted "revrunds" asses, and falling on a sword upon request.

Thick skin a plus.

More Shortfalls

Groot once again, fails basic economics:

• Chicago water bill payments are down $20 million this year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration said months after the mayor announced the city would stop shutting off households’ water because of unpaid bills.
  
  The administration provided the data after far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale hammered the mayor’s budget team this week for what he said was a misguided policy at a time the city desperately needs new sources of revenue.
  
  While Beale charged during a Tuesday hearing on the mayor’s 2020 budget plan that water payments were down $165 million in 2019, Finance Department spokeswoman Kristen Cabanban said the shortfall is actually $20 million.

Even Groot's own people can't tell how much less the city is collecting in fines and fees. All they know is it's less.

And it's probably the fault of the police. Somehow.

Rules for Thee, Not for Me!

How very very....typical:

• Illinois State Rep. Curtis Tarver II (D-25th) was arrested Monday during a traffic stop in Woodlawn and charged with having a handgun without a valid concealed carry license — though he says the arrest stems from a “clerical error” by police.
  
  “The facts are clear and supported by documents which I have shared with the Chicago Police Department...” Tarver wrote in a statement published by Capitol Fax. “I fully expect this case will be resolved quickly and without incident.”
  
  Officers pulled over Tarver for a broken headlight about 8:30 p.m. in the 6500 block of South Stony Island Avenue and learned he had a handgun with an expired concealed carry license, Chicago police said in a statement.
  
  He was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of “failure to surrender a concealed carry license,” police said. He posted bond and is due in court Dec. 27. In his statement, Tarver said the arrest was the result of a “clerical error,” and that Chicago police records did not reflect the current status of his concealed carry license.

Blame the police for his failure to take the proper steps to renew and maintain a CCL. Why aren't we surprised?

Good Lord, Slow Down

It was warm and raining Thursday - and it showed:

• Five Chicago police officers were hurt Thursday when two CPD vehicles crashed into each other during a pursuit in East Garfield Park on the West Side.
  
  The officers were pursuing a car wanted in a shooting when the two police vehicles collided about 10:30 a.m. at Jackson Boulevard and Francisco Avenue, according to Chicago police and fire officials.
  
  Photos show an unmarked squad car crashed through a fence and into a tree on the lawn of the John Calhoun North Elementary School.
  
  Police initially said two of the officers were seriously hurt, but later said all of their injuries were not life-threatening. They were taken to Stroger and Mt. Sinai hospitals, and only one of them needed to be moved with a stretcher.

We're told this vehicle was wanted for a series of high profile crimes across the city. We're also told at least one of the occupants has been released by Crimesha on multiple occasions at a low-to-no-bail status for more than a few violent crimes.

Best wishes to all the injured for quick recoveries.

Get Behind the Vest

Late notice, but there's one more day left this week to get sized for a vest in the 022 District.

• Friday: 8am - 12pm

We're told interest has been spotty - it's a free vest people (upgrades will cost a little bit). You're supposed to replace it every five years or so.

Stay tuned for a location up north shortly after the new year.

Sentencing Recommendation

Figure he'll get half of it:

• A former Chicago police commander who was caught pilfering more than than $360,000 in Social Security payments should be imprisoned for 18 to 24 months, federal prosecutors say in a memo filed Tuesday evening ahead of sentencing next month.
  
  Kenneth A. Johnson, who led the Englewood patrol district for two years ending with his 2018 retirement, pleaded guilty this year to collecting the payments — intended for his mother — for more than two decades after her death.
  
  "For over 23 of the 32 years that Johnson was employed by the Chicago Police Department to serve the public and enforce the law, Johnson was committing a federal crime every single month," the memo says. "Johnson betrayed the public trust and stole from a program designed to assist the most vulnerable members of our community."

But hey, he got a nice car out of the deal.

We heard the plate said "THX MA RIP"

Priceless

Employees of McDonald's suing for an unsafe workspace:

• McDonald’s Corp. was accused Thursday of opening the door to an “epidemic of violence” against its Chicago-area employees with mandatory store redesigns and late-hours without adequate training or security.
  
  Seventeen McDonald’s employees filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court accusing the fast-food giant of failing to protect workers from risks it was aware of and chose to ignore. They work at 13 different stores in Chicago, including the showcase restaurant at McDonald’s global headquarters in the West Loop.
  
  Three workers claim they were assaulted or sexually harassed by customers while cleaning restrooms that are a “magnet for crime” because 90 percent of restrooms are isolated and “not in the line of sight of the main customer service area.”
  
  The lawsuit also contends McDonald’s dictated a store redesign tied to its so-called “Experience of the Future” program that split counters, allowing unruly customers and would-be assailants to walk through the opening and attack workers.

Hey, it could be worse. At least there isn't shit dripping from the ceilings.

Great Great Program Dart

Who's running against Dart? McCompStat? Whoever runs has our vote already:

• Since being paroled in late August, an eight-time convicted drug dealer last month was arrested twice for selling narcotics in Chicago. Judges released him both times, once on electronic monitoring. Now, police say he escaped from the home monitoring program and last week robbed two people in the downtown area.
  
  Four people called 911 last Wednesday evening to report that a similarly described man either robbed or tried to rob them in the Loop and West Loop neighborhoods. One woman reported that the man asked her for directions on the 500 block of South Jefferson and then threatened to kill her if she didn’t give him money around 5:15 p.m. The man left after she handed over a credit card, the woman said.
  
  Another alleged victim flagged down police near the Greyhound bus terminal at 630 West Harrison after a man tried to rob them while implying that he was armed. Then, around 6:50 p.m., a woman reported that a man implied that he was armed as he robbed her at an ATM near Wells and Van Buren in the Loop. About ten minutes later, police who were searching the area found a man matching the offender’s description standing outside a convenience store across from City Hall on the 100 block of North LaSalle.
  
  Multiple victims identified 31-year-old Devin Wilder as the man who either robbed or tried to rob them, police said.

What's the point of having a jail to hold criminals if no criminals are ever held there? We think Prickwrinkle and Dart could zero out a lot more of the jail budget in short order.

Thanks to the CWB Blog for doing the actual reporting that the lamestream media refuses to do any more.

Juicy Sues Chicago

One way or the other, Crimesha's stupidity is going to cost taxpayers a shitload of money:

• Taking the offense for the first time since he was accused of faking a hate crime, actor Jussie Smollett turned the tables this week by accusing the city of Chicago and multiple police officers of malicious prosecution.
  
  Smollett’s lawyers filed their two-count counterclaim late Tuesday. They delivered it in a 49-page response to a lawsuit first filed by the city, which seeks to recover $130,106 for the investigation it conducted after Smollett made his allegedly false claim in January.
  
  The actor leveled his new accusations against the city, the Chicago Police Department, detectives Michael Theis and Edward Wodnicki, CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson, and bodybuilding brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo.
  
  His move raises the stakes in a case that already threatens to lead to an all-out court battle. The actor continues to insist on his innocence, while the city accuses Smollett of a hoax even though criminal charges against him have been dropped.

Anyone think this might nudge Webb's "impartial investigation" into the "Refile Charges" column? And if so, what sanctions are going to be leveled against Crimesha's incompetency? If there were any actual justice, she'd be stripped of her law license, which might cramp her reelection efforts:

• Embattled Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx officially announced she is running for re-election Monday. She currently has four challengers who are vying for her job, as well as the Jussie Smollett case hanging over her head. The challengers are all raising a similar issue: trust.
  
  "Four years ago, I ran for State's Attorney to change criminal justice in Cook County. I'm running again because we're only getting started," Foxx said in an ad launching her re-election bid.
  
  Her challengers include Democrats Donna More and Bill Conway and Republicans Christopher Pfannkuche and Pat O'Brien. But her biggest nemesis could be someone not even in the race: Jussie Smollett. The dismissal of the case against the actor, who's accused of staging a racist homophobic attack, now has Foxx's office under investigation by a special prosecutor.

Smolletts needs to be a giant fucking anchor around her efforts. In fact, Dave Chappelle has cut an amazing campaign commercial for any of her competitors. You can see it here (NOT safe for work - Language Warning)

Thanks Kid

Compare this to what they're currently teaching CPS students:

• A Wisconsin teenager is helping keep police officers in Chicago safe, and because of her generosity, she is being recognized.
  
  The 15-year-old recently visited Chicago and fell in love with CPD. Then, she heard the story of an officer using a tourniquet to help save his own life. Now, she wants to make sure all officers have the life-saving device.
  
  On a cold day in Chicago, there was a warm and heartfelt thank you inside the Chicago Police Union Headquarters. Taylor Pflum was being honored. She's a 15-year-old, small-town Wisconsin girl and loves police officers.

Here's to hoping for success for her continued efforts.

About Damn Time

Good news coming soon:

• About 50,000 Cook County residents who receive food stamps are going to have to find jobs next year — or risk losing their benefits.
  
  Starting Jan. 1, food stamp recipients in Cook County who are able-bodied, under the age of 50 and not living with children or other dependents will be restricted to three months of food assistance in a three-year period unless they work at least 80 hours a month. They can also meet the requirement by participating in a work-related activity, such as job training or volunteering.
  
  The vast majority of Illinois’ 1.8 million SNAP recipients — most of whom are either elderly, children or people with disabilities — are unaffected by the change. But it will be a huge shift in Cook County, where 50,000 of the county’s 826,000 food stamp recipients will be subject to work requirements for the first time since the federal rules went into effect in the mid-1990s.
  
  State officials and social service groups worry people who struggle to find or keep jobs will be driven out of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP or food stamps, leaving them hungry and putting pressure on food pantries. They say there isn’t enough federal funding to help connect them with jobs.

Well then, as their numbers dwindle via starvation, taxpayers will save millions.

Win Win.

Now how about dope testing? We have to pass a whiz-quiz to stay employed and pay for the terminally lazy. How about a whiz-quiz to retain benefits? We don't care if they're picking up trash on the highways, raking vacant lots, or shoveling sidewalks.

Officer Shot

Gunfight following a bank robbery and chase.

Irving and Pulaski/Kostner area

Preliminary coverage here.

One report has the Officer listed as "responsive."

UPDATE: Bystander shot - critical.

Chase may have originated in suburbs

UPDATE: Officer is "talking" so that's good.

Bystander still critical.

Suspected robber/gunman also critical.

UPDATE: Subject dead - let's see if Crimesha charges his accomplice with murder

UPDATE: Subject killed by Des Plaines police

No shots fired by Chicago.

UPDATE: Post moved to the top of the page today from 2041 hours last night

No One Shot for 24 Hours

It is truly sad that this has to be a reason to celebrate:

• Chicago went more than a full day without one reported shooting-- from Sunday night into early Tuesday.
  
  There were no reported gunshot victims from 10:02 p.m. Sunday until 12:43 a.m. Tuesday, according to Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago police records.
  
  Fourteen people were shot Sunday, the last of which was a 17-year-old on the southwest side. The boy was inside a vehicle around 10 p.m. when an SUV approached and someone inside fired shots, striking the boy in the leg. He was taken to a hospital and is in good condition.

The last time this happened was 21 March, and this is only the third day all year that didn't have someone shot.

Take a bow.

Bad Timing

But it could have been worse:

• Immanuel Asare flew from Germany to the United States two months ago to help rebuild homes that were damaged by hurricanes in New Orleans.
  
  But then the 20-year-old took a side trip to Chicago, where in less than 48 hours a bullet ripped through his arm.
  
  He was walking with a friend in Bridgeport over the weekend when two cars pulled up, someone shouted slang he didn’t understand and at least five shots were fired as the two scrambled away.

Thank goodness someone is keeping Bridgeport safe from tourists coming in to spend money and spread the word about what a welcoming city Chicago is.

Call Takers Assist Fetality

This isn't the first time we've heard about this...and we've experienced it firsthand once or twice:

• Chicago police issued a community alert on Monday night to warn residents about a series of robberies that unfolded across the North Side on Sunday evening. But one Old Town resident says a 911 operator did not connect the dots between her boyfriend’s “suspicious person” call and the quickly unfolding robbery spree.
  
  [...]
  
  ....an Old town woman says her boyfriend got an earful when he called 911 to report four teenagers acting suspiciously in an alley near their home as the robberies were breaking out.
  
  “Four teens ran down the street yelling and acting suspiciously,” the woman said in an email. But when he gave those details to a 911 operator around the time of the third robbery, the call taker gave him a lecture instead of a police response.
  
  “The dispatcher told him, “Sir, running and yelling isn’t a crime,’ and she refused to send any officers,” the woman said.

Anyone want to guess why the call taker refused to send cops? We know they're supposed to get pertinent info, but the decision to expend police resources isn't theirs to make - it's the job of the street supervisors. You see, we don't have the luxury (and haven't had for decades) of that phrase we used to hear daily on the radio - "Fire Refused." Nowadays, the dispatchers say "Advise Fire."

Eight or nine time out of ten, a car is getting dispatched to everything and is the direct cause of backlogs. That one time out of ten it isn't is usually for anonymous third party complaints where no victim is on observed on scene or traffic complaints where the car is traveling fast enough to be out of District by the time it's dispatched.

But if OEMC would like to alter this policy properly and get the Department on board, especially in light of the consistent non-prosecution of violent crimes/felonies by Crimesha, we're willing to get behind their efforts.

UPDATE: Post clarified to differentiate between call takers and dispatchers

Whoops

Someone got some 'splaining to do!

• A Chicago police officer was taken to a hospital Tuesday afternoon after accidentally shooting himself during a drill at O’Hare International Airport.
  
  The officer was participating in a drill about 2:15 p.m. at an administrative building at O’Hare when his firearm accidentally discharged and struck him, according to Chicago Fire Department and police officials.

This is why training drills are usually done with either unloaded/flagged weapons or red-man plastic guns.

Get well soon.

Lieutenants Made

Ten promotions made:

An early Christmas present.

UPDATE: Two administrative sergeants and a CAPS sergeant?

For "merit"?

Wow.

Save us Obi-wan Beck. You're our only hope.

WTF?

The is no fucking excuse for this:

• There’d better be an exodus of 1 from O’Hare after an absolutely cowardly act Sun morning of a fellow officer standing and watching 2 co-workers fighting for their lives with a homeless maniac in which even the taser didn’t work. Useless Mr “Too Many Cameras” do the right thing and leave, you are a disgrace. FOP please please FOIA the video of this fool and insist on discipline. The bad guy guy TKO’D an innocent women just walking to catch an early flight and tried to kill 2 policeman all the while a 3rd PO...watched!
• Get well wishes to the 2 injured CPD P.O.’S at O’Hare from the 10-1 with the HIV positive lunatic Sun. As for the 3rd Officer who stood by and watched and did NOTHING and told the Supervisors, that he didn’t because, “there were too many cameras” just leave. The big question is where is the CR# ?

Someone should be at Callback tomorrow awaiting 30 pending.

Nice Police Station Ed

Just three days ago, we posted about all the toilets in 005 were out of order. Guess what closed Monday? The entire lobby of the 005 District was shut down due to raw sewage seeping through the ceiling. We have a single picture of closed lobby, but we can't seem to upload it at the moment. We'll try again shortly.

Here's the picture finally.

So who's to blame for this? The Facilities Director retired abruptly a few months ago (Bonnie) and the guy currently running it is (A) not versed in actual facilities management and (B) hamstrung by backed-up work orders and other unions' work rules.

We don't know if this falls under "irony" or "epitome."

Hey Look!

More money materialized out of thin air again!

• Mayor Lori Lightfoot agreed Monday to raise the annual aldermanic expense — from $97,000 to $122,000 — to appease aldermen demanding more staff for their ward offices and build support for her 2020 budget.
  
  Instead of budgeting $4.85 million for the annual aldermanic expense allowance, the city will spend $6.1 million — about a 26% increase. The additional $1.25 million will come from unspecified spending cuts and revenue increases, officials said, as the City Council’s Budget Committee approved the mayor’s $11.65 billion spending plan.

We've lived here well in excess of four decades and we can tell you with 100% accuracy that when anyone in city government says "revenue increases," check your wallet. Because they have no fucking idea where the money is going to come from. The west side isn't going to start buying city stickers, the south side isn't going to start paying parking tickets at a higher rate, and god only knows how many north side people are going to put their houses on the market next year.

And if you read the linked article, Groot's "hiring freeze" is obviously a joke with more than a few six-figure starting salaries included in her budget.

FOP, you taking notes?

Save the Date

It's early next year, but a good cause:

(informational post only - comments closed here)

Heads up From the Jail

A sheriff supervisor writes to us:

• ....I work in receiving.
  
  Today, my superintendent gave us the order going forward to send back and prisoner we find with contraband (dope, weapons, phones, etc.)
  
  Normally we just inventory the narcotics, and write a report.
  
  This change came because CPD admin contacted Sheriff admin, and wants to generate discipline against your coppers for not searching.
  
  So heads up to the arresting officers, lock up guys, and wagon guys our hands are tied due to the number of cameras in the jail. I don’t want money taken out of anyone’s pocket and this is bullshit.

This, of course, is a reversal of long-standing policy and it's put in place simply to fuck with CPD.

Does anyone know which dickhead in Administration came up with this crap? Because unless we're suddenly authorized to strip prisoners down to their underwear and perform cavity searches, each and every time we have to answer this bullshit, it's going to be that "the prisoner must have secreted the contraband in his/her (chose a bodily orifice) where R/O is not allowed to search."

Of course, if you don't arrest anyone, then you don't have to worry about this - once again, Fetal is Good!

Thanks to our friends at the Bridge.

Exodus Beginning?

Let's see if the trickle becomes a flood:

• OT...Deputy Chief Deveraux (PATROL) and Betts (CAPS) put in their papers, last day 15 December...it's starting, lets see who is next.....

Nagode is gone too if the rumors are correct, and someone says Riccio was seen packing boxes after Groot's vote of No Confidence in her command staff.

We Hadn't Thought of This

Someone is a big thinker....and a heckuva shit-stirrer:

• Don’t worry because there is talk that Beck will be staying on for some time. The Mayor is trying to see how to keep him on as Director of Public Safety. He will be in charge of CPD, CFD and OEMC. She can eliminate the $260k of the Super, $200 of the cfd commissioner and the $175 of the Director of OEMC.

Now that would be something, and we're chagrined we hadn't thought of it especially in light of the PSHQ designation for 35th and Michigan rolled out in the not-to-distant past.

Is there any actual ordinance against it?

Seventy-four Percent

That's the percentage of deadlines Special Ed and Groot have missed for the Consent Decree:

• The city of Chicago failed to meet most of its deadlines and obligations for enacting court-ordered police reforms during the first months of the lengthy process of overhauling the Chicago Police Department, according to a court report filed Friday.
  
  The first progress report from former federal prosecutor Maggie Hickey says the city missed 37 of its 50 deadlines during the first six months of implementing a consent decree, a court order calling for changes to training, supervision and the way cops use force, among other areas.
  
  The decree contains 577 paragraphs that contain some requirement for the city in the coming years, and Hickey’s first report examined the 67 that held mandates for the first six months of the order. As of Aug. 31, the city had not complied with 52 of those paragraphs, she found.

Among the missed targets?

• For example, she wrote that the Police Department had drafted a training bulletin on foot pursuits — which have often led to uses of force — but failed to “incorporate best practices from other jurisdictions.”
  
  Hickey also found problems with the department’s policy on whistleblowing, writing that it failed to mention protecting officers who report misconduct from retaliation. The city’s disciplinary officials also failed to create sufficient plans to train their investigators, she found.

We can't really bring ourselves to care much. They'll come up with "training." We will all go to the "training." The city will claim everyone is "trained." This will extend far beyond the scope of our careers here. The police will still the whipping boys and girls of the politicos. media and "community."

Sounds Familiar

Anyone else experiencing a sense of deja vu?

• Explosions in Malmö, which is home to several no go zone migrant ghettos, are becoming commonplace, with the city suffering three blasts in the space of just 24 hours earlier this month.
  
  An alarming 29 per cent of residents in Malmö say they have been victims of of crimes against an individual. According to Wilhelm Agrell, professor of intelligence analysis at Lund University, the situation is so dire that it threatens the power monopoly of the Swedish state.
  
  The vast majority of the unrest is driven by rival drug gangs made up of second and third generation immigrants.
  
  Instead of taking bold measures to fight the gangs, Malmö police invited 12 gang leaders, 9 of whom turned up, to have a friendly chat over some pizza. The gang leaders were told that they were “most at risk of being injured or killed,” a sympathetic message which suggested police cared more about their welfare than that of their victims.

There was an article the other day that said Sweden was averaging three grenade attacks PER DAY. That is disturbing to say the least. But to follow Chicago's lead on inviting gang leaders to "meetings" and Dart's pizza idea, well....

Weed Lottery

Guess who wasn't "represented"?

• Long before the lottery to determine which marijuana dispensary companies would get to sell recreational pot in Chicago next year, the room in City Hall was packed, with business owners, company reps and executives filling every seat.
  
  [...] Though Mayor Lori Lightfoot has preached equity, the crowd was not diverse. It was an overwhelmingly white and male group decked out in business suits, casual sweaters with their company logos embroidered into the front, and hoodies representing elite Catholic high schools.

And guess who isn't happy?

• As it all unfolded, Black Caucus Chairman Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, stood at the front of the room, surveying the process and silently taking it all in. Not all of the people crowded in the room, taking copious notes and whispering to their team members, were actual dispensary owners.
  
  But with the exception of a few women and two African Americans in the room, most of the representatives for marijuana businesses were white and male, Ervin pointed out.
  
  “I wanted to see for myself how many applicants and where they were deciding to cite their locations. And it proved what I thought: Our communities are going to get left behind,” he said. “This will probably generate a billion dollars’ worth of sales in the city. With no African American participation, I just think that’s a problem that needs to be addressed.”

We'll just leave that "participation" comment alone for now.

There are piles of money to be made in political contributions and kickbacks on the horizon and goodness knows how many future FBI investigations. It'd be a shame if Ervin didn't get his chance at the federal pen, especially with all of the current members of the Madigan cabal under sealed indictments.

Good Chase

Special Ed and Rahm's "Chicago Values" on display again this past Thursday:

• A man was shot to death Tuesday in Little Village on the Southwest Side.
  
  Frank Aguilar, 32, was walking about 11:30 p.m. in the 3700 block of West 32nd Street when someone in a gray SUV drove by and opened fire, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
  
  He was shot in the chest and taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he died, authorities said. Aguilar lived in West Englewood.

The victim was a nurse, walking with a laundry basket, and it seems the victim was a casualty of the usual drive-bys that pop up on the southwest side.

The car turned up in a pursuit Friday:

• Two people were arrested Friday after leading police on a chase in a vehicle wanted in connection with a fatal shooting earlier this week in Little Village.
  
  The pursuit started about 11:47 p.m. in the 2300 block of South Sawyer Avenue in Little Village, Chicago police said. Illinois State Police saw the vehicle at 11:52 p.m. in the southbound lanes of Interstate 94 at 47th Street, according to a statement.
  
  The vehicle crashed into another vehicle at 75th Street and Lafayette Avenue, and the driver and passenger were taken into custody for questioning a block away near 75th and Perry Avenue, authorities said.

The article isn't clear who was chasing - it seems like ISP picked it up - but this would be one of only two instances we'd agree with continuing pursuit, the other being someone who shot at cops.

Swiping Exemptions

Interesting:

We also have an extensive database outlining the weekly swiping compliance from every single unit in the Department (via an FOIA request) and it's amusing, especially after someone said that everyone at HQ swipes in every single day, without fail and no one ever misses a swipe out.

Anyone have a specific unit in mind?

Go 020!!!

This is why Groot wants all those teams west or south....and the house mice on the street:

• 011: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(lots more x's)xxxxx (68)
  
  006: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (42)
  
  007: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (41)
  
  015: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (35)
  
  005: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (31)
  
  004: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (29)
  
  008: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (28)
  
  003: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (27)
  010: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (27)
  
  009: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (16)
  
  002: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (15)
  012: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (15)
  025: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (15)
  
  022: xxxxxxxxxxxx (12)
  
  014: xxxxxxx (7)
  016: xxxxxxx (7)
  024: xxxxxxx (7)
  
  017: xxxxx (5)
  
  018: xxxx (4)
  019: xxxx (4)
  
  001: xxx (3)
  
  020: (0)

Can someone explain 011? How any one serving as commander over the past six years is considered even remotely competent at their job? And promotable? West, un-indicted Johnson, who else?

Gotta Pee?

You can't go in 005:

• This morning as I walked into the mens locker room on the 2nd floor of 005/area south, I noticed a sign on the door that all toilets are out of order. I thought no way all 6 are out of order. So sure enough all 6 are out of order. There is only 1 other locker room with a toilet for men to utilize.

Is it too much to ask to have a couple of functional bathrooms in a Police Area where hundred of officers and detectives work on a daily basis?

In the meantime, might we suggest an increase in fiber for everyone working the far south side?

Great Job Officers

An excellent job:

• Two Chicago police officers were hailed as heroes on Thursday, credited with saving a child from a burning car last week. Officers Ramon Curet and Raul Sandoval were working the night shift in the 15th District last Friday, when they got a call for a crash in the Austin neighborhood.
  
  Police said a Range Rover was heading west on Washington Boulevard around 3:10 a.m. on Friday when it struck a Toyota sedan that was headed north on Cicero Avenue. The Toyota flipped onto its roof, and caught fire.
  
  Two adults and three children –ages 10, 11, and 12 – were inside. Everyone was able to get out, except for one boy who was stuck in the backseat.  Officers Curet and Sandoval arrived a short time later. “There’s people around the car, saying that there’s someone still inside,” Sandoval said. Curet said Sandoval went into the car to cut the child’s seatbelt and get him out of the burning wreck.

Fantastic job Officers.

All Hands on Deck! (UPDATE!)

Once again, someone downtown found an idea to be recycled:

• Full duty personnel from HQ will be deployed to Districts (006,011,015 & 007 we assume) for 2nd Watch.
  This will be every Friday (starting 15 Nov) going forward IN AN ATTEMPT TO KEEP THE MURDERS UNDER 500 FOR THE YEAR! Not one original crime fighting idea in the supposed brain trust at HQ. What’s even more amusing (than watching HQ people squirm) is the order was sent out at 1430hrs with no details or assignments information. As of this email (1550hrs) NO ONE KNOWS JACK SHIT about where to assign [personnel] from HQ

We don't know what is going to be more shocking to the house mice:

• the "community;"
• the end of "casual Friday" at HQ;
• or the swipe-in, swipe-out full tour on a Friday 

Are they going to handle paper jobs or just sit on hot spots?

By the way - the HeyJackass.com count (which is the ONLY number that's even close to being based in reality) stands at 456.

UPDATE: Are all these HQ people being issued a camera? Because god forbid they get into something hairy and suddenly, there isn't any footage to help explain what happened. After the new year, they'll all be back in their spots and Patrol will be bearing the brunt of any protests that might occur because everything is "a cover-up" when video doesn't exist.

And even when it does, actually.

Another Domino?

We've found that those in power don't usually give it up willingly:

• Illinois Senate President John Cullerton on Thursday told his Democratic colleagues that he plans to retire in January.
  
  The Senate President’s office did not immediately confirm his retirement. But Senate Democrats said Cullerton, 70, made the announcement during a Senate Democratic caucus on Thursday, the final day of the veto session.
  
  Cullerton and his wife had discussed plans for his retirement for the last several years, his office said.
  
  The announcement comes as two Senate Democrats are embroiled in federal investigations — and the Chicago Democrat has come under fire for his handling of those investigations. Cullerton in August declined to say whether federal prosecutors have contacted him, when asked by the Sun-Times.

We'd be willing to bet substantial amounts of money that if Cullerton was asked that same question again and compelled to answer, it would be in the affirmative.

Groot Said What Now?

For an alleged lawyer, Groot sure seems to be lacking understanding what the words "slander" and "libel" mean:

• A day after accusing Uber of offering to pay off a group of black ministers to get them to oppose her proposed $40 million rideshare tax hike, Mayor Lori Lightfoot changed her tune somewhat, saying the rideshare giant offered tens of millions in “investments” as part of a “divide and conquer strategy.”
  
  “My understanding, as I said yesterday, is that they offered up $54 million in, I’ll put in air quotes ‘investments,’” Lightfoot said Thursday morning. “They’re trying to divide and conquer, and pit one group against another. We’ve seen that happen historically in Chicago. We’re not going to tolerate that.”
  
  A day earlier, Lightfoot left reporters at City Hall stunned when she accused Uber of offering black ministers a payoff to help get the mayor to back off her plan to increase the congestion tax the city charges to rideshare services.

Not as stunned as Chicago taxpayers would be if they had to foot the bill for a lawsuit. Anyone know if a company has ever successfully sued a politician for intentional falsehoods?

Sergeant Executive Development

What's this now?

• How come nothing's been said about the sgt's executive development program? Sounds like a way to justify merit lt spots to the connected ones. 8 weeks spent being "mentored" by other merit picks. If Beck ends this now I'll give him a chance at turning this place around. If not, it'll be same old shit

So is this to "legitimize" future "merit" picks? Is everyone going to get a shot at it?

Great Rumor

Every good rumor has a bit of truth to it - a hook to get everyone believing it:

• From a very well placed source, expect “Black Friday” to be a massive purge of bosses late in the day. The headlines will be about shopping and nobody pays attention on a Sat. The dump list is supposed to be massive and expect loads of big bosses to be busted down and banished to the opposite sides of the city from their residence. Beck will have to take the heat temporarily then just be...gone. Bank on it.

We like this rumor. It ties in with the speculation that Beck is here as a hatchet man and that Groot is finally fed up with the Department brass lying to her constantly. If she'd open her eyes to reality, she'd see that decades of "merit" promoting relatives, the connected and the pin cushions, has left the Department wholly un-functional.

Her bringing in an outsider hints at some sort of awareness, though how much no one is sure. Start looking for resignations before demotions.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

In the comments earlier yesterday:

• Anonymous said... Shit...watch bids are due tomorrow, and these jackasses refuse to tell us what the start times will be. That's beyond incompetence, that's intentional.

And late Wednesday, the previously released draft has become the new policy (click for larger versions):

The FOP promptly filed an unfair labor practice.

Did They Get Madigan?

This is getting very very interesting now:

• Federal authorities recorded phone calls of one of House Speaker Michael Madigan’s closest confidants as part of the burgeoning investigation into ComEd’s lobbying practices, two sources with knowledge of the probe told the Chicago Tribune.
  
  Recordings of phone conversations involving Michael McClain, who lobbied for ComEd and parent company Exelon before retiring in 2016, are part of the expansive probe that has rocked the Springfield political establishment over the past several months, the sources said.
  
  One of the sources said the recordings were made as a result of an FBI wiretap on McClain’s cellphone.

While we doubt that the feds actually got Madigan on tape (he's too wily), they are hammering on the inner circle. Is there any sort of charge for "constructive bribery" or "constructive extortion"? Something involving a RICO charge perhaps? Because with all of these indictments of the people surrounding Madigan, it's only a short hop to believing Madigan must have had direct knowledge of what was going on. How could he not?

And yes, knowledge isn't proof (and certainly not proof beyond a reasonable doubt). But Madigan might be in a position to be forced out or convinced not to run.

Another Bright Groot Idea

Everyone is going to be getting contact highs next year:

• Arguing that Chicago’s cannabis enforcement laws have “disproportionately impacted” communities of color, Mayor Lori Lightfoot wants to end the city’s practice of impounding vehicles found with marijuana inside and dramatically reduce fines for those caught using pot in public.
  
  Even after Jan. 1, when adult use of pot is legalized statewide, people will continue to be fined for consuming marijuana in places where public use is not allowed or transporting unsealed cannabis in a vehicle or school bus.
  
  But the new ground rules Lightfoot plans to introduce at Wednesday’s City Council meeting would establish a far more lenient approach to enforcement.

Driving while buzzed still qualifies as a DUI and CPD still (so far) impounds for DUI's. Are we entering a new era where those who drive high are getting a bigger play than those who drive intoxicated?

And once again, where is Groot going to find the money to fill the next big gap in the budget? For years, the City has been increasing fines and penalties to feed the growing government monster. Now Groot is singing from the "social justice" handbook without even suggesting cutting services that are/were paid for with these fines and penalties.

There are economic realities at work here Groot. Start paying attention.

Bow and Arrow Attacks

California again, among the homeless:

• Authorities on Tuesday arrested a man suspected of firing arrows that injured two homeless men along the San Francisco Bay Trail in Richmond over the weekend, East Bay Regional Park District Police confirmed.
  
  Working with additional law enforcement agencies, the East Bay Regional Park District Police Department arrested 22-year-old unsheltered Albany resident Addae Preciado in connection with the attack that happened Saturday.

An "unsheltered resident"? That's hilarious.

The lower rungs of society reverting to bows and arrows though? That sounds like "cultural appropriation" of some sort.

Charlie Beck's Los Angeles

Coming soon to Chicago?

• A California woman claims she was assaulted by a homeless man who pulled her out of her car, dragged her into the middle of the street and poured a bucket of hot feces on her head.
  
  Heidi Van Tassell described the disgusting incident to Fox News on Tuesday.
  
  She said she was getting into her car after grabbing dinner with some friends near the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles when a 6'2" man, who appeared to be homeless, attacked her a few months ago.

Some of the poop must have penetrated her brain though - get this:

• The man who attacked her was identified in court records as Jere Blessings, a transient with "schizophrenia and psychotic disorders." Blessings was charged with battery and taken to jail.
  
  Van Tassell, though, said Blessings would be better off under psychiatric care.
  
  "He doesn't need jail time," she said. "He needs mental-health care. I have empathy for him because he needs help."  Blessings was found unfit to stand trial and released back on the streets, she said.

So he's out walking around, saving up more shit-in-a-bucket no doubt, ready to pour it over another lib-tarded victim in the near future.

Falling Behind

This Department hasn't operated efficiently in forty of fifty years. They expect miracles now?

• Chicago police officials in charge of implementing an array of court-ordered reforms in the department admit their first progress report, due to be released this month, will likely leave something to be desired.
  
  Their response: We’re committed to the process and we’re working on it.

Might this be part of the reason Groot doesn't trust the current crop of exempts to implement the Decree?

• The report will examine the department’s progress in the development of a new use of force policy, its work to engage the community in the reform process and in training for officers as part of reforms the consent decree orders, among others.

Well, the Department is about to finish training each and every supervisor in which pronouns to use in today's politically charged atmosphere. At least, that what it says on paper. That's certainly an effective use of police resources, right?