Chasing? Hahahahaha

These morons want us to chase again? (long post)

• The Chicago Police Department should relax restrictions on vehicle pursuits because the sharp controls have encouraged robberies by criminals who believe they are unlikely to be chased, the head of a civilian oversight panel said Monday.

  Anthony Driver, president of the Community Commission on Public Safety and Accountability, joined the chairman of the City Council’s Police and Fire Committee in sounding the alarm about severe restrictions they say have contributed heavily to a citywide surge in robberies.

  Driver said he has asked commission staff to determine whether the civilian panel has the power to relax the restrictions without running afoul of a federal consent decree.

Well, seeing as how it's not a real "consent decree" and a commission has no real legal power, we'd imagine the answer is "nope."

• If it can’t be done by the commission, Driver said he would consider asking newly appointed Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling to take the lead by issuing a new general order on vehicular pursuits.

  “People do feel emboldened. … People run from the police and know that police aren’t going to chase them. They flee in cars and they go do more robberies,” Driver said on his way into a meeting with Snelling Monday to formulate annual goals that will be used to assess the superintendent’s performance.

  “Those chases do get very dangerous. That decision was made at a time when not only officers were being injured but so were members of the public,” Driver said. “It’s trying to find the right balance between … keeping pedestrians safe, but also making sure that folks are held accountable.”

Yeah, we were saying that almost at the beginning of the blog, nearly two decades now. We also said if you reward bad behavior, you get more of it. Not chasing is a reward of sorts because the criminal gets away with whatever they did that they're running from.

• In late January, Driver was the victim of an armed robbery while walking near his South Side home.

  Two teenagers jumped out of a tan SUV, stuck a gun in his abdomen and made off with his wallet, phone and computer.

  “When I was robbed, they had robbed six people before me. Literally. They pulled up and, when they robbed me, they threw out purses. They dumped the purses in the street,” Driver said.

  “I’m hearing from Chicagoans. I’m hearing from police officers and ... stakeholders that this is something that needs to be looked at. We can’t hide or run from this issue anymore. ... I don’t think there was a lot of public input from either the general public or officers when this policy was created.”

..........wow

Seriously....wow.

We seem to be overrun with stupid morons.

Anthony is it? Tony? Here's the scoop Tone - there was ZERO input from either the public or (most importantly) police. This was a political decision made by politicians with input from plaintiff lawyers who make a living suing the city, then making contributions to the people who passed the law.

Are you truly that uninformed? Should you even be the head of this commission that literally dictates the increasingly dangerous crime conditions affecting millions?

• Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th), a former CPD officer now chairing the council’s police committee, urged the commission to take the lead in revising the current vehicle pursuit policy, which he believes went too far.

  The policy requires every vehicular pursuit to meet a balancing test: the need to “immediately apprehend the fleeing suspect” must outweigh “the level of inherent danger created by a motor vehicle pursuit.” It also states CPD “will not discipline any member for terminating a motor vehicle pursuit.”

  In practice, it “essentially becomes a no-chase policy. ... Even if you do see a robbery, does the current policy allow for a chase?” Taliaferro said. “Our chase policy does play a role in the criminal mindset,” he added, with robbers figuring “that since there is a no-chase policy, then I don’t have to worry.”

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, and Taliaferro just found three. (1) Criminals have made the calculation that don't have to worry about being chased, apprehended and face consequences and (2) there was a hole in his pocket, and his hand wandered into his testicles.

• Yvette Loizon, another commission member, said she believes changes in the vehicular pursuit policy must be made by the superintendent.

  “Under the ordinance, that probably exceeds our purview because it’s a matter for the consent decree, which we don’t have direct authority over,” said Loizon, an attorney who serves as a partner at Clifford Law Offices.

  “But if CPD were to attempt to modify that order as a general order, we would then have the ability to provide them with input.”

How do we put this politely? "How about you input deez nuts?" You ignored the Department before. And not to brag of anything, this publicly available blog has been critiquing policy for years now, pointing out inanity, stupidity and plain old dumb decisions. The archives are still there. We write slightly above the third grade level that CPS aspires to, so if you need help with the big words, we're still here.

• Over the years, Chicago taxpayers have shelled out tens of millions of dollars to innocent pedestrians, motorists and passengers killed or injured during police pursuits gone bad, despite repeated overhauls of the pursuit policy.

And the Slum Times then cites a 2020 crash involving a squad car, the subsequent payout, and the "no foot chases" policy of last year. Counting the punitive damages assessed against Officers AFTER self-terminating pursuits in accordance with these policies, juries are still reaching into Officers' pockets for additional money.

So no thanks. It's safer to not even begin the pursuit in the first place.

Unless.....

Tell you what:

• go to Springfield, convince those idiots down there to grant blanket 100% immunity to Officers EXCEPT in cases of PROVABLE avoidable injury by Officers' NEGLIGENCE;
• outlaw punitive damages against Officers EXCEPT for the above condition;
• expand the Felony Murder statute to include Great Bodily Harm by the offender;
• and require States Attorney to charge it in all cases under threat of losing their law licenses, their elected positions and a couple years in prison.

Then we'll think about it.