Same Scandals as Always

The only amusing part about this story is everyone involved seems to have gotten fired:

• Alexus Byrd-Maxey had just finished her second month at the Chicago police academy, well on her way to fulfilling her childhood dream. The South Side native wanted to become a detective so she could bring closure to families who have lost loved ones to homicides by arresting those responsible.

  Byrd-Maxey, then 26, was proud of herself for making it this far: completing college classes, applying to the academy multiple times, passing a background check and physical tests. She was delighted to be part of the academy despite the sacrifices it required, including leaving her toddler son most mornings at 5 a.m. and having her mom spend thousands to buy her new uniforms and equipment.

  [...] But on March 17, 2023, an encounter with a fellow recruit derailed that dream. She was leaning over a classmate’s computer, helping him log on to do their lesson. As another recruit walked behind her, she said she felt his hands on her waist and his body pressed against her.

She claims she made a complaint to the HRI who didn't do anything, other recruits claimed she was trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, and she was fired a few weeks later for gang associated behavior.

And the accused had his own shady side:

• Eight months after Byrd-Maxey was fired, [Eric] Tabb was arrested for allegedly grabbing a fellow officer’s genitals over her uniform, repeatedly, after roll call in their police precinct.

  That woman, too, had been in the academy with Byrd-Maxey. Two more female recruits also have said Tabb assaulted them, and witnesses allege yet another was assaulted but did not report it, meaning five of 17 women in his academy class have given similar accounts, investigative files show.

  Tabb now faces multiple felony charges, including aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Five out of seventeen? With matching stories? And an AggCSA charge? Probably should have been something either caught in the screening process or dealt with long before he hit the streets.

But is anyone surprised? There's a Superintendent whose biggest claim to fame is banging every willing recruit at the Academy for years. Another with a string of embarrassing Harassment CRs and flaming underwear. A couple of the outsider Superintendents found willing partners as soon as they landed in town. The list of current married exempts who have side pieces on (and off) the job is extensive and promotions for sexual partners is commonplace across the board. There have even been more than a couple suicides over these relationships.

If our readers put their minds to it, they can name names going back to the 1970s without breaking a sweat. Are the 35th St exempts still using that no-tell hotel over by 26th and State for their lunchtime and late night romps?

With this culture of depravity embedded in the Department, is it any wonder that what happens on Day One at the Academy is ignored? 

(no names - we don't need the threats from lawyers)