Mail, We Get Mail

From the clinically delusional evidently:

• From: mike d.
  Subject:
  To: sccmaillist@yahoo.com
  Date: Thursday, February 12, 2009, 8:43 AM
  
  'government' is not industry. Industry, a synonym for work, means to produce something of value. law enforcement, like most government positions, is a parasitic career. I was a prison guard, I know first hand what civil service skids are all about- they don't even want to do their easy and generously compensated jobs honestly- preferring to seek early fraudulent retirement. Now you sit in your duty station and create an internet site on government time. You ought to be ashamed, if you had a conscience.

Well gee Mike, if you think for a moment we do any of this on government computers on government time, you're a fucking moron. We aren't sure what the rules are in Pennsylvania, but they fire people for that here in Chicago. If you read our archives, which you obviously haven't, this is a hobby, a place for coppers to vent. We make no money, publish no ads, and spend maybe a couple of hours here all told moderating comments and getting the article submissions in place for the following day. It's like our very own personal printing press, subject only to our personal whims.

You also have absolutely no idea what policing and politics are like in Chicago. Our "duty station" is a 140,000 mile beat car with intermittent heat, one working wiper, no working computer and the smell of dead ass. Shame is barely in our vocabulary and we traded our consciences for half a case of whiskey 22 years ago.

Asshat.

Another "Merit" Letter? And Another Lie

Someone said J-Fed is looking for a few names for a promotional class.

How's that hiring phase going? Are we short yet?

And where's that lieutenants class that they've had the "merit" letter for since last September?

UPDATE: As a sharp minded reader pointed out:

• Hey, J-Fed promised me, face to face, at Lane Tech, that he would allow me to submit my own name for consideration for merit promotion to Sgt.
  
  He promised he would release information on how this could be done before the next promotions to Sgt.
  
  His words. His promise. Jody Weis, what happened? What about your promise? What about any of your promises? I don't recall you keeping any of them. Except the one about Officer Cozzi never working as a police officer again. You kept that one.
  
  Well, time to go to work so I can keep my promise to J-Fed to keep writing tickets and making arrests and being agressive because as we all know, he has our backs.

Institutionally speaking, coppers never forget a scandal, a slight or a broken promise made to a roomful of officers.

Blago Begins Burning Bridges

Kind of like Sherman's March to the Sea:

• Refusing to go quietly, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich spat a new round of venom today at the same lawmakers who drove him out from office, accusing them of having affairs and drinking too much while being "holier than thou."
  
  "This is how the system in Springfield works, where a bunch of these lawmakers go down to Springfield," Blagojevich said. "Nobody even knows who they are. They're away from their families. It's a whole different world down there. A bunch of them are cheating on their spouses.

Name names Blago, name names! Truth is an affirmative defense. Royko outlined the basics of an entire State Government culture that kept their jobs "with their tails" in his book "Boss. This might get very entertaining.

Police Impersonation Fine Raised

We're still amazed it's only a fine. But this should solve all our problems:

• Getting caught impersonating a Chicago cop could get more expensive.

  Chicago Ald. James Balcer (11th) introduced an ordinance today that calls for increasing the minimum fine for posing as police officer from $10 to $500.

  The maximum fine would be increased from $100 to $1,000, under Balcer’s measure, which comes in response to an embarrassing Chicago Police Department security breach.

Gee, maybe Shortshanks and J-Fed could put together a program to charge people $1,000 so they can ride along for a night and see the fine vehicles we travel in, the cutting edge mobile computers, the latest in paperless technology and the finest weapons money can buy.

Then they can see how we respond to numerous calls per hour, engage in hearty vigorous debate with our highly educated citizens, kill another tree for the umpteenth time explaining Orders of Protection, warrant procedures, and suggesting locksmith options to keep your heartache at bay.

We'll fill that budget gap yet!

He's Got Your Back

Well, someones back at least:

Sometimes, the appearance of impropriety and improper influence can be at least as damaging as the real thing. And for a Department teetering on the brink, perception is reality.

SOS Case Falling Apart

Two cleared.

Updates as available.

Budget Shortfalls Increase

Don't get used to all that new equipment that's been turning up in the Districts....oh wait, it hasn't been. And it won't be anytime soon it seems:

• Mayor Richard Daley's chief of staff today announced $9.2 million in spending cuts and warned that more city workers could be laid off.

  The city will try to save $6 million by making a 3 percent reduction in spending on "non-personnel costs like commodities, materials, supplies and services" across city government, said top Daley aide Paul Volpe.

  Another $3 million would be saved by renegotiating contracts with companies that provide services to the city.

And what's driving these further cuts?

• ...additional spending cuts will be needed because revenues are $50.5 million below projections made just a few months ago.

  The tax on real estate sales brought in only $3.5 million in January---$7.3 million below what the Daley administration was expecting to collect.

  Sales, income and cigarette tax collections also are coming in below the expectations that officials relied upon to balance the city's nearly $6 billion budget.

This is what happens when you have chronic mismanagement and base entire years worth of budgets on fantasy numbers that aren't based anywhere in economic reality. As predicted here and elsewhere, the increasing tax rates are driving city dwellers to shop in the suburbs and the suburban dwellers to surrounding counties and Indiana. We haven't bought gas or groceries in the City in meaningful quantities for years now. It's a few hundred bucks in our pockets during tough times and no contract.

Chicago continues to rot from within thanks to Shortshanks and his merry band of thieves. How about cutting some executive salaries - like someone who got hired for two jobs and is only doing one of them. And doing it badly.

An Interesting Poll

WGN ran this one twice on Tuesday:

• Should Illinois residents be allowed to carry a concealed weapon?

On the noon news, the results were 90% yes, 10% no.

At 9pm, the results were 77% yes, 22 % no.

An unscientific poll by all means, but possibly the hint of a fundamental shift in attitudes toward firearms for personal protection. Part of it is a rejection of the liberal group-think that all firearms are evil. Part is undoubtedly a realization that citizens must be responsible for their own safety. And part might be that 520-plus murders in Chicago points to the blindingly obvious fact that police are short handed, can't be everywhere and Chicago is a dangerous place to be.

The Illinois Sheriffs' Association has come out in favor of Concealed Carry for the first time since 1928. Change may be afoot.

An Idiot Arrested

There's more than a few of these running around at any given time, mostly sticking up illegals and drunks:

• A man armed with a fake gun who impersonated a police officer has been charged after he ordered two people -- who happened to be off-duty Chicago Police officers -- out of the area early Tuesday in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the North Side.

  Juan Quintero, 25, of the 4600 block of North Monticello Avenue, was charged with impersonating a police officer, a felony, and aggravated assault for pointing a phony gun at the officers, according to police. Quintero was also charged with possession of a replica firearm, having no driver’s license and no insurance, according to a release from police News Affairs.

If he had only shown up at a District station...

And does anyone at 35th Street care to explain why IAD is calling an entire desk crew down for interviews regarding a humorous fax sent to 003 regarding their security breach? Seems a waste of hundreds of man-hours and thousands of dollars for a few laughs.

Nonsense Post - Drew Peterson

Once again, Drew trolls in the shallow end of the gene pool and hooks the same fish:

• A 24-year-old woman who once claimed her relationship with Drew Peterson was a publicity stunt now says she again is his fiance and has moved back in with him.
  
  Earlier this month, Christina Raines told CBS' "The Early Show" that her engagement to the 55-year-old former Bolingbrook police sergeant had been a publicity stunt.
  
  But late Tuesday night, in a brief interview with the Tribune, she retracted her statement and said that she was indeed engaged to Peterson. She didn't say why she had called her engagement to Peterson a stunt on the morning program.

They are going to write volumes of books on abnormal psychology with this guy. We wouldn't put it past him to attempt to make this one disappear while he's under the microscope - just to show he could do it. He's that into himself.

Bomb and Arson Disbanded?

From an e-mail (edited slightly for spelling) :

• On Friday, around noon, budget dweebs from city hall told cpd and cfd that OFI would be disbanded. OFI, fire investigators, go on a lot of fires that CPD doesn't have to. It's nice when they pick up the extra load. OROZCO, that fuckin' suck hole, called Daley and at 1530hrs OFI stays and unit 603 is disbanded. Whatever everyone's feelings about bomb and arson, let me tell you that they do a lot and this should piss off any bargaining member.
  
  1) they are eliminating a bid unit during contract negotiations
  
  2) CFD is NOT equipped to investigate criminal fires to COMPLETION. No interviewing skills, law enforcement power, etc...
  
  3) HANG on to your wallets boys and girls because your homeowners insurance will sky rocket!! OFI makes most fires incendiary. Incendiary as defined by the fire marshalls means it is intentionally set. B&A re-classify 80% of those fire to non-criminal. For example, a 6 year old playing with matches, according to CFD is intentional. B&A would re-classify it as accidental.
  
  There are many more reasons why we should be outraged.
  Final meeting is today where B&A can plead its case.

Anyone know anything about this?

6th Most Miserable City (Correction - 3rd)

Detroit won by a landslide, but hey, we made the Top Ten!

• Residents of the country's third-largest metro face long commutes (31 minutes on average) and high violent crime rates (619 crimes per 100,000 residents). Another chief complaint: the bitter-cold winters. And as for misery, nothing tops being a Cubs fan. The team has not won a World Series since 1908, the longest winless streak in baseball.

Via Forbes Magazine.

============

Seems we looked at last year's link. Chicago moved up to #3 with a bullet! Well, actually 520+ bullets:

• So with all of the good vibes coming out of Chicago, how does it show up as the third worst city on our second annual list of America's Most Miserable Cities?

  Lousy weather, long commutes, rising unemployment and the highest sales tax rate in the country are to blame for the Windy City being near the top of our list. High rates of corruption by public officials didn't help either.

And a climbing crime rate (for 2008). But this year will be different. This is a year of results. Too bad there isn't an election or recall provision to go along with those results.

Drive By Training

We think we had this up a few years ago. Still one of the funnier videos ever made:



Just some filler on a slow day.

Rumors Everywhere

In all shapes and sizes:

• Rumor has it that Chief of Staff Mike Masters, a civilian, is going around making arrests and the shit is going to hit the fan - again.
  
  
• A CLEAN CUT WHITE MALE WAS CAUGHT IN THE PARKING LOT PHOTOGRAPHING WITH A DIGITAL CAMERA THE BUILDING AND THE LOT. HE WAS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY AND QUESTIONED. A BACKGROUND CHECK WAS DONE AND GUESS WHAT POPPED MULTIPLE ARREST 4 IMPERSONATING THE POLICE. HIS LICENSE WAS SUSPENDED AND OF COURSE HIS ADRESS LISTED WAS FAR FROM CHICAGO!
  
  THE AREA DICKS WERE CALLED IN DUE TO THE FACT THAT THIS WANNA B TERRORIST BROKE NO LAWS. U SEE 10TH DIST LOT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND HAS NO SIGNS STATING NO TRESSPASSING...


• Shhhhhhhhhh...Lts to be promoted will start Acad. on 09 MAR... Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........along with a new class of recruits...Shhhhhhhhh.

Discuss.

Tobias Moved Out?

Lot of comments popping up about a lateral trade. ADS Lodding and ADS Tobias swap spots? What's the deal? And is this the only move?

City Giving Away Money - Again

Shortshanks and his crew of idiots continues piss away money at a tremendous clip, this time by NOT pursuing money from moving violations. It has been all over the comment sections recently:

• Judges have been summarily dismissing all LIDAR tickets since December.
  
  This is because after numerous requests from defense lawyers for a "Fry Hearing" which determines for Judges to take Judicial Notice of new technology and allow it. The City has not been answering ready for a Fry on a daily basis for the last 18 months or so.
  
  The City has been blowing this off for years, it costs a lot of money to put on a case like this because of the cost of expert witnesses.
  
  There was a Fry Hearing in DuPage last month and it (LIDAR) was admitted as sound technolgy. There will be one in Rolling Meadows at the end of this month, that should then allow the LIDAR to be admitted into court in Cook County.
  
  In the meantime, thousands of dollars in fines and fees have been lost by the City and the County.

Thousands? We'd imagine it was tens of thousands, maybe more. But then again, there aren't that many tickets being written anymore since we're in backlog for eighteen out of twenty-four hours every day.

Maybe Some Warning Signs?

This guy comes all the way up from Georgia, just to get shot and killed:

• A Georgia man was fatally shot early Sunday in an Englewood neighborhood parking lot, according to officials.

  The victim, [...] of Oakwood, Ga., was found with gunshot wounds in the chest and neck about 2:15 a.m. near E.T. Lounge at 7247 S. Racine Ave. and was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn about 3:50 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

  The victim quarreled with an unknown offender who shot him in the street then fled in a van...

We sense an entire neighborhood in Georgia that won't be coming north for the Olympics in 2016. Shortshanks is going to be unhappy.

Whoops

Hopefully, a Streets and San tow:

• A body was found today in the trunk of a vehicle in a city-owned auto pound on the city's South Side, police said.

  The body was found at about 5:30 p.m. at the lot at 10300 S. Doty Ave. in the Pullman neighborhood, said Officer John Henry.

  He said the case is a death investigation, pending results of an autopsy.

  He could not provide further information.

Candid Camera might be a good thing, catching the S&S guys' face when he pops the trunk and finds a stiff.

None of Your Business

Arrogance:

• Mayor Richard Daley said today Chicago has compiled a wish list of "shovel-ready projects" to spend federal economic stimulus funds on should Congress approve a plan.

  Unlike hundreds of other cities, however, Daley said Chicago won't make its list public.

  "Yes, we do, we have our list, we've been talking to people. We did not put that out publicly because once you start putting it out publicly, you know, the newspapers, the media is going to be ripping it apart," Daley said.

In other words, just give him the money and he'll make sure it ends up in the right pockets. Don't look too closely at the connected firms the money ends up at. There's a whole bunch of change coming from Washington don't you know?

Feds Squeeze ex-CPD

This might go places yet:

• O'Hare has been a golden goose of possibilities for well-connected businesses and politicians. In the last year, Mayor Daley's own Inspector General David Hoffman has, according to published reports, been probing contracts and political connections out at O'Hare.

  And now we learn the feds have in their clutches former Daley aide and Blagojevich chief of staff John Harris, who -- guess what? -- did two tours of duty for the mayor out at O'Hare. Harris was arrested on Dec. 9. The Kelly indictment spans airport work from 1998-2006.

  Where was John Harris during some of those years? In 1999, the mayor named him first deputy commissioner of aviation overseeing the "future of O'Hare," the project manager for "design, financing and construction."

Harris might still give up the entire inner circle on this O'Hare contracting scandal. Keep watching this one.