Smoke, Fire?
This was all over the comments over the weekend:
Joseph Vecchio racked up more complaints than any other officer in his six years on the Chicago Police Department, many of them stemming from his work on a tactical team that’s developed a notorious reputation.
Vecchio was stripped of his policing powers late last year after the city’s police oversight boss told Supt. Larry Snelling about the “concerning number of complaints” he faced.
He had been the subject of 76 investigations since he joined the department in October 2019, wrote LaKenya White, the interim chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. At the time, he faced allegations of domestic abuse, civil rights violations and providing false statements about traffic stops involving guns.
And whose name is all over this budding scandal?
- Barz
Seventy-six complaints in six years. Fifteen lawsuits. Settlements already in the six digit totals.
What can we say that hasn't been said already?
Labels: department issues, we got nothing
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
107 Comments:
Everyone missing whose name should be all over this. Hein,
He put that team in place and reeled the benefits of their success. The numbers they’re all in trouble from are from when he was commander.
That stuff is mild compared to sos, watts and what coppers used to do before cameras. So all these holier then thou old farts can stfu. They ruined it for everyone
Did he not realize he is working in a blue city, umm hello McFly anybody home.
Part of the trouble with 18 tact is supervision:
https://news.wttw.com/2026/01/12/police-leaders-agree-suspend-sergeant-violating-rights-black-driver-during-downtown
You may remember this Sgt :
https://cwbchicago.com/2023/09/solo-chicago-cop-chases-armed-robbers-across-the-city-im-not-going-to-terminate-myself-until-we-crash.html
OT
Why is the IG goof handling the PPP loan shit?
Is IAD really that incompetent?
Supervisors and or new "software" should have noticed after the first 5.
BARZ BARZ BARZ! Say his name - to the FEDS that is.
J.V. Is one of the biggest buffoons on this department. Learned well from Bo Blows.
I made myself a target for 30 yrs on this job (with about 5-10 complaints in that amount of time) and the fair and supposedly progressive, discipline model that they're supposed to use got me stripped, put into a no pay status, had to pay full boat for health insurance, and got a C.R. number for refusing a bogus direct order (from spineless Snelling) because I refused to put my COVID shot status (private health info) into a most likely not HIPAA compliant computer system. THEN, after using my savings to support myself for 3 months, I was forced to retire under duress without getting any retirement credentials cuz of the open C.R.
Yeah...this story is a perfect example of how corrupt this fu@king city is and they don't care about how open and in your face they are about the discriminatory way they administer discipline. There was no investigation for me, there was no going to call-back during the investigation, that never happened. CORRUPTION! Plain and simple, that's all it is.
Sounds like someone that never should’ve been hired. That’s what happens when you demonize a profession to the point that you have to lower standards to fill squad cars, because nobody with sense and self-preservation wants to join any longer.
BARZ was a former shithead boss of epic proportions. He would step on his own mother to get ahead and then lie about it. He had this Tact team and others running around with Impunity. Told us all that we needed to be aggressive in stopping cars or be dumped. Guess what? The smart
ones left. The others like Vecchio kept going and evidently it has now caught up with them. Stopping every car with a M/1 in downtown was not the solution but Barz kept pushing and pushing and this is the result.
BARZ thought he was going to skate out and they weren’t coming after him. Ohhh buddy. They’re coming for you. If I were him I’d leave the country, preferably to a non extraditeable place.
Barz is so FUCKED. Anyone seen him lately? Looks like he gain a couple hundred lbs.
Working police always get complaints and law suits. Even in the hood, you don't get that many complaints. Something's stinky.
How much does he cost the taxpayers, and how much damage has he done causing more problems for police officers with the public?
In before everyone says “he’s a working copper, of course he’s going to get complaints”. He is clearly shit at doing his job, even semi properly.
Were any of the complaints sustained?
Shouldn’t be discipline based solely on allegations.
Give him a cocobolo and send him to ice
Barz will always have the golden parachute. His investigation into the cheating female NOBLE Sgts, where he found no wrong doing, then miraculously became a deputy chief in a few short years from the rank of sgt. He has the dirt that will shield him from any harm. Some say he has a hard drive from a particular copy machine.
That is what working hard in today’s error gets you. We all have cameras. Either he was just working or he did it wrong and should be held accountable. Complaints has always been part of working. But something changed about 15 years back. Complaints equals trouble. Only a fool would be hard charging with the climate we are in.
The tac team in 018 thought the bosses who told them to go out there and work the way they were would have their backs. The bosses became magicians and disappeared. The bosses always do this when trouble comes. It was all good until it wasn’t. Most officers who have been around know better. You are now judged by the number of complaints you have.
Awww, are the criminals complaining??should we be more soft spoken and less hands off.
Unbelievable to me
That’s what happens when you put a merit self promoter in charge.
Remember the source is the slum times. So take the view point very lightly.
"I got clout what you about"
Slow down young man!! Not worth it.
That is Ridley Believe it or Not territory. This lawsuit will never make it to depositions and will be largest payday ever
15 lawsuits in 6 years? Clown
I’d see this goof over the years at the FFC gym. Kid screamed arrogance and ego. Figured he was a copper but didn’t give a fuck enough to care. Seeing his pictures now confirms the douchery. Typical know-it-all wonder with no humility. Yeah, let me target male blacks, and ONLY male blacks, in the 018th District. No one will ever beef and if they do, I’m so much smarter than anyone else! Fuck the body cam footage, fuck the cell phone footage, fuck the in-car camera footage, fuck all the beefs coming in from independent beefers, fuck the attorneys that have made it their purpose in life to file lawsuits against the city and dummies like me, fuck the veteran coppers that have played and survived this game longer than I will. I found a couple bosses that blew up my head and they have my back!
Enjoy your humble pie at 376 dumbass! No one is missing your police “work!”
What about his Sgt and Lt in Tact? Why didn't they put him in timeout? Because they all wanted to ride his stats and be promoted or reassigned to a Unit. Fact
But the boomer coppers on the CTA post said guys like this are what she should all strive to be? I don’t get it.
Those are just embellished stories. :)
I'm afraid of him.
Now, kees me you fool!!!!
Exactly. Name anyplace else where Barz could spend most of his career in places like 019 and IAD then rise and get ahead. Barz is not a real cop, just a hack.
STFU BARZ. Stop blaming others you cocksucker.
5-10 complaints over 30 years is a pretty tame career. Unless you mean jag off numbers like Cantazara accumulated.
Yes and no.
From someone who used to work there, the way it works is like this.
If they have a heater case, they assign it to someone who’s brain is softer than puppy shit like former Sgt. Patrick Lee P. knowing damn well that he isn’t capable of investigating nor solving shit to protect them. Or if they want to really target someone they’ll give it to someone like former Sgt. Michael BARZ who don’t get me wrong is not the smartest but dumb enough to follow orders so that they can make or break a case. Then it goes up to the former Chiefs like Talley where they ensure it goes one way or another if they are connected or not.
That’s how it’s always worked and continues to do so. Why do you think they have a former IAD commander and now civilian chief double dipping? So that they can control the outcome of the cases.
So yes, they are incompetent when they need to be but the better word is CORRUPT!
Now this is some funny shit…
COPA and Kelly Shnoor have zero credibility. One is an organization hell bent on railroading police officers and illegally feeding law firms info(most likely the poster) and one is twit, who cheated on LT test with zero police experience.
That’s bullshit! He never said we would get dumped. He said he was going to help us get into units like Narcotics or Gangs. I’m still waiting you lying POS fuckface!
Shit loads of CR later and lawsuits I’m now involved in,
simply for being on a scene or assisting someone asking for help because of Barz’s corrupt and failed tactics he ordered.
The dummies are us for believing this douchebag.
Exactly, and especially in under 5
Years? wtf?
The correct question should be who was the supervisor who ordered it? That’s who they should after.
Majority of those in 018 on tact are way over their heads
That’s the issue, the cameras show this officer and other
tact cowboys stopping cars without ARS or P/C, failing to complete the proper reports,
yanking and restraining folks out, just long enough to search for guns and then letting them go simply because they were a certain demographic that they were ordered to target and stop. Only not everyone of that demographic was a criminal. Some were upscale doctors, lawyers, and business folks and that’s where the problem is. Lack of TRAINING and also listening to bozo bosses that were never the police and more than likely have never conducted a proper and legal traffic stop themselves.
Uh, yeah.
The Tac Lt is a useless as they come. He’s phony and all smiles when the bosses come around. He’s been that way since he was a PO
No numbnuts, that’s the problem. They just didn’t stop criminals. These dummies were stopping anyone and everyone fitting a certain racial description.
The blue cards they did indicated 99.9% of the stops were M/1’s
creating an “unbelievable” nice pattern of stops.
That is not a good look especially when they put it up on a nice big crispy clear screen while your clinching your butt cheeks, sweating profusely
and wondering why your disclosing all of your assets in federal court. Understand now?
Fuck Barz, all he did was lie to a lot of good young cops so that he can continue to look good and rise. They’ll get him in the end.
Barz got the drive, that’s how he stays alive and that ain’t no jive!
Ya dig?
Is that BARZ saying that in the joint?
Yes indeed! But don’t worry, no one is lying for anyone and they’re all telling it like it is.
That’s exactly what I heard that he was policing like he was in1960’s Mississippi.
Don’t slow down - STOP!
Don’t you worry, it’s a comin’…
OIG hires former FBI agents. Met a few personally. Decent people.
He has zero honorable mentions what numbers?
Subject of 76 investigations? Rookie numbers.
Rhetorical question I assume
Almost all were not sustained. Probably 3-4 sustained for minor things. The letter COPA sent to the media about this said it was No IsR or BWC issues.
I feel you pain brother and its ASTOUNDING to see the lack of accountability for this unethical illegal and immoral act done to good employees.It is blatantly clear it was nothing but a money grab by big pharma and those in power. I fell under pretty much the same circumstances as yours on the CFD. I hope all those responsible ROT in hell......
Sad but TRUE. Mikey bragged all over HQ and the Union Hall about his solid case- went in with a righteous fervor----and---crickets. Would just give a sad shake of his head when the investigation was closed--and then buckled in for his meteoric rise
Not trying to be too cryptic here but you’re all smart enough so read between the lines. If you are in PRT, you may want to start making phone calls to get to another spot because all 5 areas are going back to districts. You only have until the end of the 3rd period. They aren’t making anything new but they will be adding 110 bodies to CIRT. CIRT will handle all of the downtown events and protests. PRT will go back to their district of assignment to supplement manpower needs. CIRT NOJO will come out citywide start of 4th period to be filled by start of the summer season. Tac teams will remain as is.
Ok Mikey
I really hope ALLof that was worth just not saying weather you got a shot or not. When I register my kids for school, I have to submit their vaccination card for all the vaccines they got as babies. No big deal.
Think about this, you are doing all these stops for Hein, Barz, and a captain and Tac Lt who don’t give a shit about you. Bullshitters just looking to move up the ladder or go to a unit.
Heins and Barz, two losers.
Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Those are amateur numbers
Yeah exactly another hello McFly is anybody home moment.
Actually, you’ve just told the world what a goof you are! 30 years of complaining. You should have left way back then and found employment in the private sector.
As someone who worked in the office. No one ever pushed traffic stops on us, he may have history with that but never happened with us in the office.
7 OUT line away
Dumb and dumber
How is he going to pay for his 120k car now!?!? Park ridge weirdo kid
Life is hard, it’s even harder when you ain’t very bright.
"Actually, you’ve just told the world what a goof you are! 30 years of complaining. You should have left way back then and found employment in the private sector."
Your reply didn't make any sense to that persons comment. It looks like they were trying to show the wishy-washy way the CPD doles out discipline and they are correct...they don't follow the rules and for not putting vaccine info into a computer shouldn't have resulted in what happened to many people on CPD & CFD.
As someone who has worked over 25 years inside on the desk, I even managed to get 5 CRs. But 73 is way too much. Did he not realize how things work after maybe the 40th CR or 5th law suit.
Loser would lock up people with CCL’s. Thats all you need to know about him. Pad those stats little Joey!
Atleast the old guys yielded results...
New guys all they obtained was a TSS
The tactics killed them both(old & new)
That is why you don’t take pictures for awards
The Tact Lt.’s mom was a miserable woman at the Academy! Go pound sand, Mo!
Exactly. This same story was pushed multiple times on WTTW and got zero traction. The lawyers who orchestrated this whole thing had to push a new media outlet to get the city to settle lawsuits they can’t win without political pressure. It’s the same old playbook and everyone just sees the shiny apple and not the rot beneath it.
76 CRs would be solid for a career guy in 011. For someone with 6 years in 018..
You left out the Chicago Ave, Marquette ten, Major Traffic, Pac-Man in 015, Six tac robbery, and my favorite the Superindentant that was banned from the federal building. Yea it’s the old farts, family on the job since before and after WW2, told me kid every ten years the CPD has a good scandal, and guess what they were right.
No, you dumbasses ruined it by chasing Blue cards. That ain’t police work dipshit.
Looks so terrible.
STFU Barz, the article they wrote about you is spot on. Come down to call back and tell us to our faces otherwise. We are not going down for this - you are
For less than 5 years? Your a dumbass..
Barz ruined the old Saturation teams by making them Community Safety Teams under Brown. Fucking Epic failure of an administration.
Okay Barz
The majority of the new
Coppers are way over their heads. They think running out and getting Blue Cards for BARZ or any other bosshole is police work. They have no concept of it and are truly pathetic excuses for officers.
Yes Barz lied to supervisors as well. Promised promotions and unit assignments and they all bought it hook, line, and sinker.
He did but Barz promised him that he would take care of him and he fell for it and believed him.
As nojo’s were posted for 4/5 PRT teams this morning. This aged worse than Talleys stretch marks
From Hein on down! If people ever thought Hein or Barz or Koenig were going to back them up, they're delusional. Biggest rat bastards. Hein needs to be held accountable but since he has more money than God from an inheritance, he'll be able to fight the shit out of any allegations. They're just gross
Once again, get your facts right. Yes PRT will be done away with but it is not the 3rd period. They are safe for the summer and most likely till October when the new budget talks take place. CIRT will be beefed up and PRT back to the districts. Hein is considering allowing districts with 3 teams to go up to 4 but this is the plan for now. No need to make phone calls, BUT, if any of you out there plan on putting in to go to these area teams, you may only get spring summer and part of the fall out of it. They don’t want to get rid of PRT before the summer which I can’t blame them for. And if you haven’t read the news, if you have too many CRs open or spar history you need not apply. They are also going to be looking at current people on 4th watch and areas for excessive open beefs and may sideline them back to the watch.
Exactly, I remember being at a union meeting and everyone at the entire meeting looked around and shook their heads in disgust because some of us had spent thousands in study classes and we were glad to hear the progress on the investigation but in the end BARZ sold his soul to the Devil for rank, money, and what he thought was prestige. Instead, he notoriously got stripped of his rank/demoted, sued and humiliatingly thrown out on his ass without a proper retirement or credentials. Not to mention from what we’re hearing some forthcoming serious, potential legal/criminal repercussions pending the outcome of multiple on-going local and non local investigations.
Why not take pictures? If they did nothing wrong, there is no reason to hide.
07:41 add Summerdale, 007 (Flagg), and Hanrahan (mob connected) to your list
That tac Lt in 018 has no balls. Just hides and hopes one of the Sgt’s will handle the problems. Now you have a team in call back and the rest fighting over holding the offender calls.
Yes, the IAD is incompetent and corrupt. Civ/ Director Tim Moore has no control. The investigators are doing everything under the sun.
Anonymous
As someone who has worked over 25 years inside on the desk, I even managed to get 5 CRs. But 73 is way too much. Did he not realize how things work after maybe the 40th CR or 5th law suit.
Sounds like you do nice work officer! 25 years working the desk? This and you are the problems with the Department.
Thank God I was able to have fun before BWC! Suck it!!
Anyone doing anything remotely proactive that isn't some nonsense CAPS fluff, or targeted only against straight M3 offenders is out of their minds. If you are doing this in this communist led hellhole at this point in time, no matter what lies your ladder climbing supervisors are telling you, its only a matter of time until you are stripped or prosecuted. Bet.
You need a lot of time to bid for the desk unless they worked midnight desk for 25 years.
Stopping only vehicles driven or occupied by M/1s in downtown Chicago is not what any smart officer would consider proactive police work. Your comment reads like a person who has no idea how to do any good police work, let alone the proactive type. So you make excuses to do nothing.
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