Sand in the Gears

Someone once said that if you want to bring the entire police department to a screeching halt, start doing the all the paperwork, go through all the steps, make all the notifications, work completely by the book.

Unions have done this throughout history - a "slowdown." Management starts making dumber and stupider work rules (always in the name of "progress" of course) and expects the same output, despite workers protestations that the new rules are a hindrance to productivity. Management says, "You don't know what you're talking about" and workers then demonstrate exactly what they're talking about by following the rules....To. The. Letter.

Police can't strike by law, and CPD can't advocate a "job action" by Order, but if we advocate following the Rules exactly as written, well then, we're just model employees who want to do our job so well that someone somewhere gives us a "meritorious" promotion that all decent employees should aspire for!

Meanwhile, we'd like to see a few hundred retirees have some fun with this:

• With hate crimes on the rise in Chicago, there is going to be a new way to report those incidents to 311. As CBS 2 [...] reported, Chicago Police data show there have been 254 hate crimes reported so far this year alone - compared with 204 last year, 109 in 2021, and 80 in 2020. Back in 2013, there were 60.
  

• "The statistics are alarming and cannot be ignored," said Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th). Silverstein is behind the effort to strengthen the city's existing hate crime ordinance. She spoke at a meeting of the City Councill Committee on Public Safety.

  "Chi vs. Hate will make Chicago a leader in this fight against hate," Silverstein said. "This initiative is the city's first comprehensive effort in more than three decades to combat the growing epidemic of hate."

  Here is how it would work – those who experience what they feel is a "hate incident" can call 311, use city's 311 the mobile app, or report it online. "We want to make reporting as easy as possible, ensuring that victims and witnesses have a direct line to share their experiences 24/7 and 365 days a year," Silverstein said.

"...what they feel..."

We've got serious crime issues here and "hate incidents" are far-more-often-than-not, a political ploy to avoid addressing real issues. Over a thousand robberies a month for three straight months....do you really care if someone's feelings were hurt?

We aren't allowed to foot chase, pursue a vehicle, use tools that we're trained with (like tasers) except in highly restrictive manners, and if we do accidentally arrest someone, they're out on no bail before we finish our shift.

Time to work within the system they've created to make our displeasure known. this will be up for a vote shortly and when it goes online, you won't even have to be in the state to register your hurt feelings.