Groot's New Co-Pilot

Aldertool Taliaferro wrested the wheel away from Groot for a moment and reversed that bus right over Brownie:

• David Brown failed his first major test as Chicago’s police superintendent because he was more concerned with cutting overtime than fighting violence and failed to share his Memorial Day weekend plans with local leaders, an influential alderman said Thursday.
  
  Mayor Lori Lightfoot has condemned the “out of control” violence that turned Memorial Day weekend into a “bloodbath” and held Brown personally responsible. The chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety went even further.
  
  Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), a former Chicago Police officer, said the former Dallas police chief turned his first holiday weekend in Chicago into “a fail,” as Lightfoot put it, by putting hundreds fewer moonlighting officers on the street than the 1,200 additional officers who worked last Memorial Day weekend.

Somehow, this runs in direct contradiction with Groot's proclamation just 24 hours prior:

• In her afternoon news conference, Lightfoot blamed disgruntled cops upset about cuts in police overtime for spreading a false rumor that there were 1,000 fewer police officers on the street. But she also contradicted Brown, saying “In fact, there were more officers on the street this weekend” than in prior years.

So which is it? Cops are disgruntled liars or Groot is a serial fabulist making up bullshit to direct attention away from her own incompetence? (hint: it's Groot - there were hundreds less officers. Interested reporters can FOIA the Attendance and Assignment sheets from previous years at their leisure).

Back to that big ol' bus running over Brownie:

• According to Taliaferro, the edict was on full display over Memorial Day weekend. There were “hundreds” fewer officers on the street when there should have been at least as many as last year, maybe more, to “saturate” South and West Side police districts plagued by gang and gun violence, the alderman said. The Chicago Police Department should also have used “outside units” from the State Police and Cook County Sheriff’s office, Taliaferro said.
  
  “The mistake was cutting back on officers. There were a lot fewer. … It did not rise to the level of what we had the last several years. And that’s why we saw an increase in violence,” Taliaferro said. “You need to have those officers on the street during holiday periods — especially when we’ve been sheltered in place for two-and-a-half months. We can worry about cutting back on overtime Tuesday through Thursday.”

Point of Order Chris - maybe you don't remember this, but ISP and Cook County don't get "used" by CPD. They are separate entities with their own command staffs. And if they are anything like our command staff, they'll resent encroachment on their territories and officers. They might deign to "assist" Chicago, but in case you don't remember, we're currently under a Consent Decree. Our rules and regulations are a bit more involved (and restrictive) than theirs might be. Their training is different. Their policies are likely different. Their liability is most certainly different. And if they have half a brain, they wouldn't put any of their officers anywhere near the Chicago shitshow, and certainly not under the command of any of Groot's incompetent minions.