Notifications

Will someone just issue the aldercreatures a Blackberry and be done with it?

• OT: here we go again, didn't someone try this before and get spanked.
  
  Per the Area 2 Deputy Chief, WC's will now immediately notify the F*&^^%n ALDERMAN along with the Commander and Deputy in all Homicides, shootings with personal injury, CSA's and violence directed towards prominent individuals (Celebrity, politician, clergy etc...)
  
  When is this nonsense of reporting to Politicians gonna stop!!!!!!

We've heard this is going city wide for some reason. And while we appreciate that we are an arm of government reporting to politicians, we have to ask, "What's the point?"

We can't recall the last time we saw an aldercreature at a shooting scene, so what purpose does this serve where an e-mail or fax at a later time wouldn't suffice? We seem to recall more than a few internal Department documents finding their way from aldercreatures' possession into the hands of assorted gang bangers, so what purpose would instant notifications serve? It's not like they're going to be leading an anti-violence march at the scene. It takes them months to pick up the balloon - stuffed animal - empty liquor bottle memorials as it is. And the only marches they're interested in are the ones that make them some money or secure them some votes.

Just another line on the case report.

Recession Over

Except in Illinois it seems:

• The Illinois unemployment rate inched up to 11.5 percent in March from 11.4 percent in February, maintaining its highest rate in 27 years.

  On a brighter note, the report from the Illinois Department of Employment Security also showed that employers added jobs — 3,000 in March — for the third straight month.

  The seeming dichotomy isn’t surprising because as jobs are created, people become more encouraged about their chance of getting a job and re-enter the work force, said IDES Director Maureen O’Donnell.

  The latest numbers show that 148,500 fewer people were employed in Illinois in March than in March 2009.

And in the rest of the country, too:

• The number of newly laid off people signing up for unemployment benefits climbed for the second straight week, and industrial production edged up just 0.1% in March, lagging expectations despite growth in the key manufacturing sector.

  The Labor Department reported Thursday that first-time requests for jobless benefits rose 24,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 484,000, the highest level since late February. Economists were predicting claims would fall.

  It marked the second week that claims took an unexpected leap. In the prior week, claims rose 18,000 to 460,000.

  A government analyst, however, cautioned against reading too much into both weeks' figures, saying they were clouded by seasonal adjustment difficulties related to the Easter holiday, which falls on different weeks each year.

Well, at least they've stopped blaming Bush. Now it's the Easter Bunny's fault.

Police & Fire Committee

A new aldercreature in charge since Ike went to jail:

• Mayor Richard Daley has named Ald. Anthony Beale, 9th, to the influential post of City Council Police and Fire Committee chairman.
  
  “He’s very good,” Daley said today when asked why he picked Beale. “Anthony has a good career. He works very hard for his community. Up and coming political leader. He’s very good. Good government official. He works very hard in the community.”

And of course, Beale hates the police, so it's a win-win for Shortshanks:

• ...Anthony Beale (9th) — who has infuriated rank-and-file-police officers by targeting their supplemental pay and proposing more power for “rent-a-cops”...

It's not supplemental pay - it's contractual agreements whereby the police accepted lower salaries (which are pensionable) in return for increases in allowances granted for uniforms or availability for callback on days off. We did our part and saved the city millions of dollars a year by taking lower salaries than we could have demanded.

Of course, since the pension is now funded at something like 30% of obligations, we seem to have lost on all counts.

Bit of Street Justice

Citizen's arrest! Citizen's arrest!

• Five Good Samaritans chased a man who had allegedly just used a stun gun on a 73-year-old woman in order to take her purse Monday afternoon in the Hermosa neighborhood on the Northwest Side, police said.

  Corey D. Perkins, 18, of the 1200 block of North Long Avenue, was charged with armed robbery with a dangerous weapon and is slated to appear in bond court later Wednesday, according to a police News Affairs release.

  About 4:45 p.m., Perkins approached a 73-year-old woman as she was walking in the 4400 block of West Armitage Avenue. Several witnesses saw Perkins pull out a stun gun and use it on the woman, the release said.

And after the citizens got done with him?

Nice face dude. And nice job citizens! Thanks for doing the job his parents should have done years ago.

"Too Bad I Ran Out of Bullets"

Three children? A seven-month old child? All for what purpose?

And the killer?

• Three children and an adult were killed early this morning in Chicago’s Marquette Park neighborhood, and a relative from Madison, Wis., whom police believe was the shooter was later taken into custody.

  Sources said the shooter told police “Allah” had told him to kill his family.

  And he told the officer who arrested him, "Too bad I ran out of bullets," a source told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Too bad you didn't go and point the empty gun at the police so we could finish your cowardly life for you, asshole. We certainly hope assistance is being provided to any officers on the scene of this horrendous shooting who need it.

Arbitrator Decision?

Unit Rep meeting called for Friday. Arbitrator's decision to be handed down then?

Updates as we have them.

Whoa Nellie

Not a good start to the day:

• Four people were shot to death and two more wounded early this morning at a Marquette neighborhood residence, authorities said. Three of the dead are children.
  
  The two wounded--and adult female and an adult male--were in serious condition and taken to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, a fire department spokesman said.
  
  The shooting was possibly domestic-related...

And a few 80 degree days in the offing.

No One Wants the Job

Have they run out of cannon fodder?

• Big meeting on Weds. Apparently O'Keefe blew his top when no Lts. applied for the Command spot under Weis. Command spots will now be done by reverse seniority! You will be working 80 hours a week. You will ignore your family. You will take 26 furlough days for the privilege. It sucks to be the new guy.

Word around town is that 24 unpaid furlough days aren't enough for Shortshanks - he wants six more before the end of the year, making it an even 30 days. One-twelfth of your salary if you're unfortunate enough to have a gold star.

No wonder no one wants the spot.

Not a Happy Day

In addition to the south side going up, the mayhem on the west side is ratcheting up:

• A 17-year-old boy died after he was shot in the chest Monday evening on the West Side.
  
  
• A woman in her 50s was found stabbed to death inside her Lawndale home Monday night on the West Side, police said.
  
  
• A man who was critically shot late Monday night -- his 27th birthday -- as he sat in a parked vehicle in Chicago's Garfield Park neighborhood, has died.

All in a matter of hours. All in Harrison.

Anyone seen the superintendent in the past few days? He's dropped off the radar and the media has been mysteriously silent.

Cole Fundraiser

They're looking for help:

• Sunday, October 3, 2010
  Time: 2:00pm - 7:00pm
  Location: 115 Bourbon Street
  
  We are currently looking for Committee Members. We have much to do in 5 short months. Please send this to everyone you know and have them contact DenseyBenefit@gmail.com to volunteer. Also, if you would like to donate an item, a service, or volunteer to work the benefit, please email us as soon as possible. We need a few ticket reps per district/unit. Any questions please do not hesitate to ask. We will be having a committee meeting soon! Thanks in advance.

Let them know ASAP if you can assist.

Welcome Aboard!

Another make-work spot for someone with way too much baggage. But when has that stopped Shortshanks from doing what he wants?

• Ex-city Fleet Commissioner Michael Picardi, suspended by City Hall this year after an embarrassing contracting mistake, has landed a new $129,000-a-year job with the Chicago Police Department.
  

  As a deputy director, Picardi will oversee the police department's general support division, which includes the city auto pound, equipment and supply, and document services and graphics, according to police department spokesman Roderick Drew.

It used to be that people with embarrassing episodes in their past were shuffled among various city departments until such time as the heat died down or the offender earned enough pension time to be eased out. We're pretty sure the Department used to be left out of that mix. But not any more.

Comfort Food

A little bit over-the-top as far as sandwiches are concerned:

• Which brings us to KFC's newest menu item, introduced Monday: the Double Down ($4.99), a bacon and cheese sandwich where bread is replaced with fried chicken. Re-read that last sentence, and just try to grasp its cultural significance. The toothpaste is out of the proverbial tube.
  
  Besides being plain gross, Double Down's larger implication is that KFC has broken through a barrier of culinary decency, besmirching the good name of sandwiches and all that is honorable. The sandwich was designed as the first mobile meal, the bread a vehicle to transport perishable and often-messy proteins. The absence of bread robs this “sandwich” of dignity.
  
  Holding this meat-glorb (I shall no longer refer to it as the s-word) is a harrowing task — it's scalding hot to pick up, and oily through the parchment-like paper. Bread would have provided traction, but here, the cheese and mayo interior acts as a lubricant of sorts, allowing the fried boneless chicken fillets to slip and slide against each other.

Our left arms just went numb looking at this thing. One of these things and you can apply for the "heart bill" on general principle. We can't help but wonder, WWCSD (What Would Colonel Sanders Do?)

Solve No Crime - No Overtime!

The future of Chicago popping up in Los Angeles?

• In January, Los Angeles Police Det. Nate Kouri was ordered to stop working.
  
  One of the LAPD's most productive homicide investigators sat idle for six weeks, unable to follow any leads on old cases or pick up new ones. Kouri was not being punished for misconduct or for botching an investigation. He was benched for working too hard -- and he is not the only one.
  
  With the city reeling from its worst financial crisis in decades, the LAPD has stopped paying officers overtime wages, except in rare situations. In lieu of cash, officials have implemented a strict policy of forcing cops to take time off when they accrue large amounts of overtime hours. Because of demanding work schedules that routinely require them to investigate a case into the night or through the weekend, homicide detectives have been among the first officers to be sent home in significant numbers.

Should this all come to pass in Chicago, justice is going to be a rare commodity for the foreseeable future. The clearance rate is about to hit a new bottom.

DC Meet Up

Almost time for the Washington DC Police Memorial. A large Chicago contingent is expected and as in the past, the Chicago contingent will be hosting the following event:

• Chicago Police Social Event
  Washington DC Police Week
  
  Clyde's of Gallery Place
  707 7th Street NW
  Food, Drinks, Friends
  May 14th 7pm.
  $65.00/ticket
  Contact CPDPOLICEWEEK@aol.com for tickets.

See you there!

Bumper Sticker

We'd like to have one for the car, but it seems there's a bit too much going on in this sticker:

Someone trying to read this in traffic is going to get hurt!

Keep It Simple.

More Political Infighting

It never ends:

• well, lots of in fighting going on at headquarters, seems like Peterson is crossing boundaries into every other bureau, has Masters ear and J-Fed too, thinks he can run other depts. Now today, former head of Streets and San, Mike Picardi after being dumped back to Fleet and taking a 90 day suspension, is now the Director of General Support Division of the Chicago Police Dept, and the old Commander Bob Roman a retired Sgt who got the spot from Starks is now Commander in the Supts. Office, like they really need a Commander, Daley once again dumps his Shit on the Dept, he is worried Picardi has the goods on him.

Wasn't Shortshanks bitching about "double-dipping" pension people just the other day? And we get this handed to the Department? Daley certainly has no acquaintance with anything resembling the truth.

Lieutenant Openings

Remember all the bid openings in 003? 30, then 35, then 40 over the course of 6 or 8 months. Everyone knew exactly what the problem was:

But no one would do anything about it. Cops aren't stupid, so we don't really understand why bosses insist on treating so many of us like mushrooms. Cops will go out of their way to avoid an unpleasant work environment. They will bid out, get detailed out, they will even burn phone calls to remove themselves from it. And they'll tell everyone else the who, what and why so no one bids to go there in the meantime.

So what does it mean when the 017 District has not one, not two, but THREE lieutenant openings? That's half the assigned strength of the district, but in these undermanned times where everyone is short lieutenants, it's more like three-quarters shorthanded.

:::Hold on a second...yes. Yes? Really? You're kidding? No, you're not kidding. Borat, eh? Ok, that would explain a lot. Thanks:::

Never mind. Question answered. Carry on.

Still Out There

The chilly snap hasn't damped the enthusiasm for mayhem:

• At least three people were shot and injured tonight in the South Side's Englewood neighborhood, officials said.

  The shooting happened at about 8:15 p.m. in the 5600 block of South Halsted Street, police said. Police were still on the scene investigating as of about 9 p.m.

  A fire department spokesman said three people were taken to local hospitals in serious-to-critical condition.

A few others:

• West side
• North side
• West side again

Supposedly, the shooting in 011 involved a semiautomatic rifle and not one 011 District officer ran away from the scene.

The Second Season Begins

Ending on a sour note, losing to Detroit, but high hopes for the playoffs:

• The Blackhawks will open up the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Predators on Friday night at the United Center.

  The NHL released the schedule for the first round and the Hawks will also host the Predators on Sunday night. Games 3 and 4 will be in Nashville on April 20 and April 22.

They missed the Conference Title by a single point, but it was a great run.

Good luck!

Police Beat Fire

A tremendous game and a great crowd:

• The cops beat the firemen 21-14 in the first Chicago Police vs. Chicago Fire Department football showdown Saturday.

  But the game at Brother Rice High School on the Southwest Side was close. The "Blaze" -- the fire department's brand-new football team, led the game through halftime, thanks in part to the skills of quarterback John Welsh.

A huge crowd, Densey Cole watching from the sidelines, beautiful weather. What wasn't to enjoy?