A Memory Stirs

Back on 03 September 2010, a lieutenant promotional list was out. On it were a number of "merit" promotions - the so-called "best and brightest" that were just too damn dumb to actually, you know, score high enough to get promoted. The names were as follows (along with their sponsors):

• 606 Cesario, Robert C. by Cmdr Eddie Johnson
  610 Duffin, Kevin B. by Cmdr Patricia Walsh
  111 Hamilton, Raymond J. by Cmdr Robert Roman
  189 Ramirez, Jose G. by Cmdr Genessa Lewis
  193 Sanchez, James R. by Cmdr Joseph Gorman
  189 Sanchez, Noel by Cmdr James O’Grady
  196 Valadez, Francis A. by ADS Steven Georgas
  193 Waller, Fred L. by Cmdr Walter Green
  153 Watson, Larry W. by Cmdr James Roussell

On 13 January 2014, we revisited those names and discovered that fully 7 of the 9 had been bumped up yet again, to Captain or Commander, with one being pulled out of Captain class to be made Commander. At that point, the other 21 poor saps, the ones who actually scored high enough to get promoted, not a single one had been promoted beyond the rank of lieutenant.

Now, with the pending return of Hamilton (following a five year Leave of Absence) the potential for a clean sweep arises once again, as 8 of the 9 have already been promoted at least once, some twice, one maybe three times. We are told that one recently passed away, which is regrettable, but that hasn't stopped his classmates from rocketing to the upper echelons of the command structure. By the way, 2 of the 21 other lieutenants made exempt rank - a 9% success rate - as opposed to the 88% success rate of the "chosen ones."

Any odds on how soon another gold star is issued to the 9th "merit" pick? If they can make a guy a Commander after being found "not credible" by a United States' Federal Judge, why not a guy off the job for 5 years?

Weekend Gets Worse

Via HeyJackass.com, 8 dead and 41 maimed as of earlier tonight.

Included in the Butcher's Bill, this one:

• A man was shot and critically injured Saturday night following a dispute just outside Millennium Park, authorities and witnesses said.
  
  A 54-year-old man was shot in the head about 7:35 p.m. at the northeast corner of Michigan Avenue and Monroe Drive after a dispute with a man who fled on a bicycle, authorities said. The victim was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

Assorted news reports have him listed as "brain dead" and "non responsive." Another one laid at the feet of Rahm's criminal mismanagement of the Department, allowing manpower to dwindle to unsafe levels, not to mention a chronic mismanagement of available manpower in one of most visible and vibrant sections of the city, dependent in no small measure on tourist dollars and residents looking for a night out.

Champaign?

Downstate is not immune:

• A Mundelein man on the verge of starting a career as a registered nurse was killed in an early Sunday morning shooting near the University of Illinois in Champaign that left three others wounded, authorities said.
  
  George Korchev, of Mundelein, was a bystander who was shot and killed after an argument at a Champaign apartment party carried into the street and turned violent, authorities said. Korchev was supposed to start work as a registered nurse Monday at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, according to a hospital statement.

And this:

• Four people were shot, none of whom were involved in the fight, police said.

Hopefully, no Chicago connection.

Weekend Starts with a Bang

And a bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang:

• Six people were killed and at least 15 others were wounded in shootings between Friday afternoon and early Saturday in Chicago, police said.

Englewood and Harrison both clocked in so far, continuing their virtual tie for the Homicide 2016 crown, Johnson in the lead with Johnson close behind.

Special Ed Johnson had no comment - but word is he has one of those two districts in the Ghoul Pool.

Parole Still a Bad Idea

But the Department of Corrections keeps handing it out:

• A man on parole in a 2013 Valentine’s Day robbery has been charged with murder in the killing on Valentine’s Day this year of two men he knew, according to police and records.
  
  Marquise Hollerway, 22, faces first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Jeremy Hunter, 25, and Steven Tate, 26, who were found shot to death in their apartment in the 5000 block of South Champlain Avenue about 10:40 a.m. on Feb. 14, 2016. Cook County Judge Laura Marie Sullivan ordered him held without bail.

How about a "truth in sentencing" type movement? You get ten years, you serve ten years. And no counting the time spent waiting for trial, especially if your side is the one asking for continuance after continuance after continuance, hoping someone doesn't show up. If the State is ready, you go to trial. Any delay is just wasted time, not "credit."

And we promise to stop acting surprised when felons become repeat offenders.

Rahm Running Again

Not for office.....at least not yet:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel is out for a three-mile run this morning with some Chicago police recruits.
  
  This comes just after he delivered a major policy speech Thursday evening with his plan to combat Chicago’s growing problem with street violence.

There's a photo gallery here....if you want to see a sweaty mayor.

But you can tell he cares. That's why he's going to hire how many new bodies? with how many promoted? And how many retiring? Until we see solid numbers, the Department is still facing reduction by attrition.

New Order in Los Angeles

We'd almost believe this was a made up article - except the Department of Aviation Police in Chicago have been told the same thing:

• The Los Angeles Police Commission wants LAPD police officers to run away when a suspect confronts them with a weapon, warns the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the labor union of the city’s police officers.
  
  The organization posted a blog post critical of the commission’s recent decision to find that fault lay upon an LAPD officer who used deadly force when a female suspect, Norma Guzman, came at him and his partner swinging a large knife.

Los Angeles has a commission made up of 5 representatives of the "community" appointed by the mayor and city council, none of which are required to have any police experience or legal background. They determined, by a 4-1 vote, that policy was violated in a fluid, dynamic situation where an officer was left with two choices when a knife-wielding madwoman had him trapped between two cars - (1) shoot to end the threat to his own life or (2) run away and allow her rampage to continue, possibly against other officers or innocent citizens.

More Third World Crap

Nice city you got there Rahm:

• A worker found what was believed to be a human head Friday morning in a bag in the McKinley Park Lagoon, leading to the discovery of other body parts in the lagoon, officials said.
  
  Police were called to the lagoon, 2210 W. Pershing Road, about 10 a.m., after someone working at the lagoon found what were appeared to be human remains in the lagoon, said [...] a police spokeswoman. Area Central detectives were conducting a death investigation.
  
  Police News Affairs would not detail what was found, but officals [sic] said what was believed to be a person's head was found in a bag. It was not known if the head was that of a man or a woman, a source said.

So now....

• the Marine Unit gets some more practice searching for the rest of the body, 
• the K9's get to practice cadaver sniffs,
• the city engineers get to practice draining another lagoon, a la Garfield Park last year,
• the Detective Division gets to open yet another "death investigation"

How soon until they get around to draining that other lagoon? Where the shooter drew a map to the location of yet another dead body? Oh yeah - that one is just classified as a "missing" and McCompStat wasn't looking for extra bodies for that year.

Finally, Some Guidance

We've been begging for this for years now - a list of rules, laws, ordinances and societal norms that certain "communities" aren't going to be expected to follow. That way, we can get away from all this "profiling" nonsense that pervades the liberal progressive leftist narrative of the day.

Now a court in Massachusetts has begun the arduous process of listing those actions that all you naughty police should refrain from considering based simply on the color of one's skin:

• Black men who try to avoid an encounter with Boston police by fleeing may have a legitimate reason to do so — and should not be deemed suspicious — according to a ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
  
  Citing Boston police data and a 2014 report by the ACLU of Massachusetts that found blacks were disproportionately stopped by the city's police, the state’s highest court on Tuesday threw out the gun conviction of Jimmy Warren.
  
  [...] In its ruling, the court made two major findings: The justices said police didn’t have the right to stop Warren in the first place, and the fact that he ran away shouldn’t be used against him.
  
  On the first point, the court said the description of the break-in suspects’ clothing was “vague,” making it impossible for police to “reasonably and rationally” target Warren or any other black man wearing dark clothing as a suspect. The court said the “ubiquitous” clothing description and the officer’s "hunch" wasn’t enough to justify the stop.

Tie this into Cook County's great strides in reducing prison sentences by bonding everyone who can write their name, electronic "monitoring" everyone else, allowing offenders with multiple gun charges to go to "boot camp" (in violation of sentencing laws), permitting felony shooters to plea to lesser charges, time served, day-for-day credit, etc, etc, etc...

"Totality of the circumstances" doesn't mean a thing any more in Massachusetts - coming to a state near you.

Rahm's Violence "Plan"

Delivered at Malcolm Ten college to an invite only crowd - how brave:

• With the city pulled apart by gun violence, public trust in the police at a “breaking point” and a “fractured” criminal justice system, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday proposed a multi-pronged solution that included everything from more cops on the street to job training to mentorship programs.
  
  Emanuel’s speech to an invitation-only crowd at Malcolm X College included details of his master plan to address the city’s soaring crime rate that City Hall had released earlier this week: hiring nearly 1,000 additional police; investment in struggling neighborhoods and millions in funding for youth mentoring programs.
  
  From the dais in the Malcolm X gymnasium, Emanuel peppered those points into a speech heavy on emotional anecdotes, pulled from some of the most chilling of the 500-plus murders so far in Chicago.
  
  [...] While painting a bleak picture of life in Chicago neighborhoods beset by gangs and violence — by way of calling for programs that would offer opportunity to youths who live there — Emanuel’s remarks did not include a critique of black fathers that had apparently fallen flat with African-American leaders who heard an earlier draft.

So instead of holding a mirror up, Rahm holds up excuses with promises of more money, more blame on the system and, oh yeah, more of those oppressive police that the "community" doesn't want around and don't cooperate with anyway. Sounds like a brilliant plan.

One reporter at the Slum Times points out Rahm's two-faced-ness:

• The recruiting surge was a reversal — or perhaps a re-reversal — for Emanuel, who campaigned for his first term on a pledge to add 1,000 officers, then shifted the goal to putting 1,000 officers “on the street” by dissolving special tactical units and shifting officers off desk jobs and onto patrol. In his run for a second term, Emanuel mocked rival Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s campaign promise to add 1,000 officers, calling the proposal “fairy dust” and warning that there was no money to pay for that many new officers.

As far as we could tell from the tape, no one asked Rahm where he found the "fairy dust" to pay for the new police though.

It's Getting Better?

Just in case you thought it was getting better:

It isn't.

Everything down. No cars available.

Again with This "Strategy"?

Donald, you're a few months (or years) late - Rahm already fired that guy:

• Donald Trump on Thursday said Chicago needs to employ controversial “stop-and-frisk” police practices to stem violence, continuing his critique of policing here a month after saying the city’s crime problem could be stopped in a week if police were “very much tougher.”
  
  “Chicago is out of control, and I was really referring to Chicago with stop-and-frisk,” the Republican presidential nominee told the television show “Fox & Friends,” responding to criticism for earlier appearing to suggest the tactic should be used nationwide. “They asked me about Chicago, and I was talking about stop-and-frisk for Chicago.”

We understand that "Rahm" and "Chicago" are going to be used as punchlines for the next few weeks leading up to the election. But "stop and frisk" was dismantled in New York as soon as the current communist was elected and he directed the New York city attorneys to drop the suit defending it. And Chicago never really had a "stop and frisk" policy as much as a "stop everyone to get a name for the contact card so McCompStat won't rip the boss and we might lose our spots" policy....or something like that.

The violence issues go way deeper than a simple catch phrase.

Fuzzy Math Again

Our readers caught it immediately:

• The Chicago Police Department will launch a two-year hiring blitz that will add 970 police officers to confront a 50 percent spike in homicides and improve detectives’ ability to solve crimes, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
  
  The hiring surge — the biggest since the mid-1980s — marks a turnaround for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has relied on police overtime in a failed attempt to stop the cycle of gang violence on the streets.
  
  Over the next two years, the police department will add 516 patrol officers, 92 field-training officers, 112 sergeants, 50 lieutenants and 200 detectives.
  
  The first-year cost will be $138,000 per officer including salary, benefits and supervision. So the 970 additional officers will carry a price tag of almost $134 million.
  
  Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said he has no idea how Emanuel plans to pay for the extra cops.

As our readers have been pointing out all day:

• 200 detectives will come from the patrolman rank
• 112 sergeants will come from the patrolman and detective ranks
• 92 FTO's will come from the patrolman rank

That's 404 bodies that will need to be replaced, so the 516 seems to be down to 112. And that doesn't even count the retirement numbers - at last report, passing 700, 800 and fast approaching 900 due to the Contract expiration.

But last time we checked, the Academy took 6 months to complete - unless Special Ed gets this going pretty soon, these kids aren't going even be on the street before the killing season is in full swing for 2017.

Increasing Liability

There was a reason this wasn't allowed:

• Rising crime Downtown could mean more off-duty police officers moonlighting in uniform.
  
  Some off-duty police officers would be allowed to wear their CPD uniforms while working private security through a new ordinance introduced last week by Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd).
  
  While many Chicago police officers work security and other second jobs, allowing them to do so in uniform would help prevent future violence as crime rises across the city, Hopkins said.

So....insurance? Liability? Indemnification? IOD? Lots of questions. Not to mention the pay scale and burnout rate.

7,000 Cameras

So the total number of body-cams is supposed to be around 7,000:

• The Chicago Police Department announced Sunday that it will spend about $8 million to buy body cameras for the rest of the force, a rollout officials unveiled though it won't be complete for years and they aren't sure who will get the new equipment next.
  
  [...]
  
  The Police Department started issuing body cameras to officers as part of a pilot program in the Northwest Side Shakespeare District at the beginning of 2015, and about 2,000 cameras are now in use in seven of the city's 22 police districts. Johnson said the department will use "CPD's operating budget, as well as grant funding" totaling about $8 million to buy about 5,000 additional cameras.

Correct us if we're wrong, but Rahm keeps spouting the line that CPD is manned at 12,000 officers. Every officer is slated to get a camera - not like radios that are passed along watch to watch with a fresh battery. So that's just over half of our manpower to be equipped with a body camera.

We read once that the US military needed six soldiers at the "tail" to field a single fighting soldier at the "teeth." CPD isn't fighting an overseas battle far from friendly shores and flying in supplies, ammo, armor, etc., so that nearly 1-to-1 that CPD appears to be operating at seems a bit....inefficient.

And yes, we know about the 700 detectives. It's still a ridiculous ratio of hidden bodies.

Bug on the Wall

This could get interesting:

• It would have been a good idea to put cameras on those working at 35th Street. But that has not prevented the IG from actually uncovering proof of a cheating scandal on the Lieutenant's exam. Yes folks, it is true, and when it is made public, the fall out will be significant. Its far reaching up and down. Some will be charged criminally because they have profited from the cheating and some will be fired. If you accepted the promotion, and you cheated, you are getting locked up. If you cheated, and not yet gotten promoted, you will be fired.
  
  Much of what has been assumed here is true, some is not. What is true is that the cheating occurred, proof has been obtained and heads will roll.
  
  bug on the wall.

So the allegation of money changing hands might some truth to it? And that they used Department e-mail to set up the study group and payment?

Rat Killing on the Cheap

Doing more with less again:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel is turning to a rock-and-roll stage prop in his Sisyphean fight against Chicago rats, kicking off a limited-trial program to see how well dry ice kills the beasts.
  
  With the mayor looking on in a Near North park Tuesday afternoon, a Streets and Sanitation crew jammed the ice into a few rat holes and covered them up. The torturous idea: As the ice melts, it turns into carbon dioxide — suffocating any animals inside.

This might be effective against a rats nest with a single entrance/exit, but years of observation in various alleys across this fine city has led us to the conclusion that rats seldom rely a single exit. This is borne out by some quick research over at this site, which describes an average burrow as having up to 6 exits.

Maybe something like this would be effective.

Or this.

More Depravity

Who does this?

• A body found burned beyond recognition in a West Side alley over the weekend has been identified as a 15-year-old freshman at Steinmetz High School.
  
  Demetrius Griffin Jr.'s body was found after police got a call for a trash fire about 1:30 a.m. Saturday in the 5500 block of West Cortez Street in the South Austin neighborhood, officials said.

Probably some of those police funnin' again.

What is He Running For?

This guy sounds like a politician now:

• Former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Monday he would not have released the dashcam video that showed the fatal shooting of a teenager by a city police officer — not that anyone asked what he thought.
  
  “If I was asked, and I was not, I would have recommended to not release the Laquan McDonald” video, “because the case was still pending,” McCarthy said at a City Club of Chicago luncheon.
  
  [...]
  
  “Just because people want it, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea,” McCarthy said. “Releasing videos in not going to build trust.” It does, however, compromise ongoing criminal investigations, he added.

Something we and many had been saying for years.

Then he comes out with this:

• Non-compliance with police officers is becoming standard, he added — as is a defensive posture by police, which limits their effectiveness because the aren’t as likely to be proactive.
  
  “Why would you stop anyone if you’re a police officer today in Chicago?” McCarthy asked. “Officers are getting mixed messages on how to do their job.”

Which is as ironic as fuck, seeing as how his entire policing strategy was "Numbers numbers numbers!" and ripping on bosses whose troops didn't produce the adequate number of stops.

Mark Brown from the Slum Times sees a politician in the making:

• Usually when New Yorkers working in Chicago are shown the door, there’s no question of it hitting them from behind on the way out, so eager are they to depart.
  
  Former Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has proven an exception, a matter sure to draw political conjecture after a Monday speech to the City Club of Chicago that drew a mostly adoring crowd to hear his don’t-blame-the-police message.
  
  Sounding almost Donald-Trump-like at times, McCarthy took a couple of swipes at Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and decried the “lawlessness in America” that he said has been created by a “culture today that is investigating police instead of criminals.”
  
  McCarthy told his listeners he’s not interested in being a politician, but the enthusiastic applause for his views indicated he’d find some support if he wanted to try his hand.

We're pretty sure he's still playing the role Rahm assigned him - distraction to the masses. Distracting the "community" that Rahm hid the video from for months. Being loud and brash, (properly) blaming the criminals while distracting from the fact it isn't the police releasing them from prison and proper sentencing. It's an interesting message, but it's different from the line he was preaching and practicing when he was actually in the big seat. Remember:

• his first major speech was at St Sabina
• he tripled the number of Deputy Chiefs
• he closed 3 districts and 2 detective areas
• the clearance rate cratered
• death "investigations" skyrocketed under his regime
• and the routine "reclassification" was all that "drove down" crime stats

The consistent double-digit "reductions in crime" should have resulted in negative crime numbers owed to future generations and were a source of constant amusement to the blog and some interested reporters at Chicago Magazine.

Mourning Bands

The Inspection Division came out with an Administrative Fax Message the other day about how Mourning Bands were not authorized to be worn since June or so, and all supervisors should be enforcing the proper wearing of the uniform.

This, the day after Sheriff’s police Officer Jason Gallero died during a training run, something considered "in the performance of duties" for years.

During this horrible year for law enforcement, is it too much to ask we acknowledge the sacrifices of other agencies, especially one we work in close contact with on a daily basis?

Another #blm Moment

Darn those police!

• A pregnant 19-year-old woman was shot to death in front of her mother's home in South Chicago Sunday evening, but relatives said doctors were able to save the baby.

And the media, specifically Mope-rah, is whining that Rahm doesn't have the moral standing to lecture the "community" about his only seeing one father in all the times he's visited shooting victims in hospitals. At least Rahm's kid is only taking suspicious phone calls from college counselors at 2300 hours and not killing pregnant women.

Echoes of Masters Masters Masters

Bad memories returning to CPD?

• Mike Master's tool Ray Hamilton's vacation at county homeland security appears to be over.
  
  Greedy s.o.b. got called back or else his pension a pissed away.
  
  This is worse than putting at deskjockey/housecat on the streets.

If you leave for that many years as a mercenary for PRickwrinkle's machine, does CPD really need you back? And those undiscovered financial mismanagement incidents - is this really what Special Ed wants around?

Off Duty Killed

Hit by a drunk driver while on his motorcycle:

• An off-duty Chicago police officer was killed in a motorcycle crash in suburban Forest View about 2 a.m. Sunday, sources said.
  
  A motorcyclist, whom law enforcement sources identified as off-duty Chicago police Officer Charles Barango, stopped at a red light at Central Avenue after exiting the Stevenson Expressway, according to Steve Good, Forest View chief of police.
  
  The light turned green, and Barango drove forward. A northbound vehicle then ran a red light and hit him, officials said.

Deepest condolences to his family, friends and co-workers

CCL Shoots Burglar

While checking on his house that was being rehabbed:

• A 61-year-old man shot at two intruders, 11 and 16, injuring the older boy during a burglary Sunday morning on the South Side, police said.
  
  The 16-year-old was hit in the lower back and right hand and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition has stabilized. The 11-year-old suffered a laceration to the back of his head, possibly while fleeing, and was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, police said.
  
  Charges are pending for both boys.
  
  The man, who had a valid concealed carry license, was not injured during the incident, which happened about 8:25 a.m. in the 6600 block of South Rhodes Avenue, in the city’s West Woodlawn neighborhood, police said.

If those kids had been in church and not out burglarizing....ah, never mind.

Media, FBI in the Bag

Ridiculous headlines all day:

• FBI investigates Minnesota stabbings as possible terror act

Really? What was their first clue?

• A man in a private security uniform stabbed nine people at a Minnesota shopping mall, reportedly asking one victim if they were Muslim before an off-duty police officer shot and killed him in an attack the Islamic State group claimed as its own.

That and the reports he was yelling the usual "Aloha Snackbar!" must mean something, though the feebs aren't saying what it could possibly be. The off-duty copper who ended this rampage put the guy on the ground three separate times before he stayed there.

Then you have the New Jersey / New York bombings:

• N.Y. Gov: Bomb blast does not appear to be linked to terror

Amazing how he reached that conclusion without any sort of training or investigation. It's almost like he doesn't want New Yorkers to feel unsafe with a presidential elections looming shortly.

Meanwhile, this picture is making the rounds of the non-liberal media sites:

What appears to be a crescent and star drawn on the un-exploded pressure cooker. Nope, nothing to see here folks. Move along. You're perfectly safe.

UPDATE: 5 arrests, suspects of .... Middle Eastern origin. But that could be anybody.

Cameras

Everyone to have one...except the mayor's detail we'll bet:

• Chicago officials have decided to expand the use of police-worn body cameras throughout the city following a pilot program that began in 2015 but has raised questions about whether officers always turn on the devices.
  
  Police Supt. Eddie Johnson is expected to announce Sunday that all 22 police districts will be equipped with body cameras for every officer on every shift. The number of cameras will rise from 2,000 now to about 7,000 by 2018. The expansion is expected to cost $8 million, paid for through city funding and grants.
  
  The pilot program began in January 2015 in the Shakespeare District on the Northwest Side. This year, the department expanded the program to the Austin, Wentworth, Deering, Ogden, South Chicago and Gresham districts.
  
  “Body cameras have proven to be a valuable tool in promoting departmental accountability and trust while providing a firsthand look into the dangerous situations Chicago police officers face every day to protect our communities,” Johnson said.

In addition to no cameras on the mayor's detail, we heard there won't be cameras at CompStat, at HQ and not at any promotional testing sites or secret study groups.

Bombs

A couple disturbing incidents out East today. First, a Military event targeted in New Jersey:

• A pipe bomb exploded in a New Jersey shore town Saturday shortly before thousands of runners were to participate in a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors.
  
  No injuries were reported in the blast in Seaside Park around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s office. He said no surrounding structures were damaged.

The FBI has taken over that investigation and reports are a number of other devices were "neutralized," either by the initial blast of by police.

Then, something exploded in New York City:

• Police and firefighters are at the scene of a possible explosion in New York City.
  
  The Fire Department says the blast was reported shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday on West 23rd Street in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.
  
  No information about injuries or about the extent of the damage was immediately available.

Upwards of 25 people have been injured.

The new "normal."

More Ambushes

Philadelphia:

• Philadelphia's police commissioner said Saturday that a 25-year-old gunman who killed a civilian and injured two police officers before he was shot and killed by police had left behind an angry, rambling note that showed he was "hell-bent on hurting a lot of people."
  
  The gunman, identified as Nicholas Galent, had an extensive police record and in the note ranted against his probation officer and police, Commissioner Richard Ross Jr. told reporters Saturday afternoon.

Two cops were wounded, a hostage was wounded, two other random people shot, one of whom died. The gunman was eventually cornered and killed by police.

Texas:

• Two Texas police were shot while responding to a call about a suicide in Fort Worth, Texas. The man who fired on the police officers was killed when the officers returned fire.
  
  Fort Worth Police Officers Xavier Serrano and Ray Azucena responded to a call Friday night about a suicide. Officers had previously been called to this home on multiple occasions for domestic disputes. When the officers arrived they found a man inside the house who was “unresponsive from a gunshot wound,” NCBDFW reported. The officers were told a man who witnessed the shooting was outside in a shed.
  
  The officers approached the shed and a person inside the structure opened fire, striking Serrano and Azucena, Fort Worth Police Spokesman, Sergeant Marc Povero told reporters during a late-night press conference. The officers were able to return fire on the suspect.

Best wishes for speedy recoveries to all the involved Officers and bystanders. Stay aware and alert.

County Training Death

Too young:

• A Cook County sheriff’s police academy instructor died earlier this week after collapsing during on a run at the sheriff’s training facility in Maywood, authorities said Saturday.
  
  Sheriff’s police Officer Jason Gallero, 45, was pronounced dead at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park following the incident near Fifth and Chicago avenues in Maywood, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Sympathies to the family and all our brothers and sisters over on the County side. RIP Officer.

Re-opening Old Cases

Anyone think that the government isn't hunting scalps?

• A Chicago police officer has been indicted on federal civil rights charges for shooting into a car full of teenagers, marking the first time federal authorities have brought charges against one of the city's officers for a shooting in the last 15 years.
  
  Officer [...], 41, was captured on video shooting repeatedly into the car as it backed away from him on the South Side in December 2013, wounding two teens inside.
  
  In an indictment announced Friday, [the officer] was charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under the color of law alleging he used unreasonable force. He is free on his own recognizance and due to make his first appearance in federal court Thursday, court records show.

Nearly three years later. We don't know about you, but stories like this make us want to go right out and stop everything on two legs or four wheels, regardless of the consequences, because gosh darn it, this city, these politicians, this "community" is worth it!

Nice Background Check

The other day, we hinted at something hinky in the self-defense shooting. The original shooter was in a hot car, circling the block, opened fire, wounding a private ambulance worker, who returned fire, killing the shooter.

Self defense, right?

Well, sort of:

• For 10 years, Michael Arquero built a new life after leaving prison. He changed his name, found a job he loved, married a woman he loved even more, had two sons and settled into a nice home in Avondale away from the streets where he ran with gangs.
  
  But a split-second decision last weekend threatens to tear all that apart.
  
  Arquero, 33, was at a food stand in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on Sept. 9, on an errand for his pregnant wife who had a late-night craving for tacos, according to police and his family. Just before midnight, a Honda Civic circled the 2500 block of West Division Street two or three times before someone inside started shooting, hitting Arquero, according to police and court records.
  
  Arquero fired back, killing the 18-year-old driver, police said. Two plainclothes officers heard the gunfire, pulled up and fired at Arquero, possibly hitting him too, according to police.

So a convicted felon and gangbanger changes his name and ::PRESTO!:: he can pass a background check in Illinois to get a Concealed Carry License? Pardon our French, but what the fuck? Seriously? Someone recognized him and tried to kill him, regardless of his name. And the "tacos after midnight" story is just a little too pat - a hundred toothpicks will get you decent odds he was still banging on the corner after dark.

And the anti-gun crowd will use this as some sort of twisted example of how the system failed, so every other law abiding citizen should be punished for someone who is willing (and abetted by the State) to break the law.

No One Signing Up?

So has the Department demoralized everyone so badly that no one is signing up for various Voluntary Special Work Opportunities?

They just re-opened the Chicago Marathon Special Employment sign-up for an additional week because they didn't fill the slots. It's time-and-one-half, but with a possibility for a long day.

So what's the real story?

Openings for Everyone!

Explosive Canine Handlers:

• 050 - 2 openings
• 701 - 1

Field Training Officers:

• 001 - 1 opening
• 002 - 3
• 003 - 4
• 016 - 2
• 017 - 1
• 018 - 1
• 020 - 1
• 022  -2

Lieutenants:

• 001 - 1 opening
• 002 - 1
• 004 - 1
• 005 - 1
• 006 - 1
• 007 - 2
• 010 - 1
• 015 - 1
• 016 - 2
• 018 - 1
• 024 - 1

Police Officers:

• 001 - 6 openings
• 002 - 4
• 003 - 3
• 012 - 6
• 016 - 6
• 018 - 6
• 020 - 4

Not only that, but the Department posted Captain openings:

• 001, 002, 005, 007, 014, 019

 meaning they'll be making Captains and shuffling the deck again in the upper echelons.