Show of Support

Not a bad idea:

• Over twenty years ago when I was a new police officer, I remember that we were all requested to put a “Blue Light” in our window during the holiday season in honor of our fallen brothers and sisters from the current year and years past. I have not heard of anyone doing this for many years.
  
  We have suffered many losses this year and I think it is time to bring back this tradition. Would you please assist me in this mission and somehow get the message out to all our members, family and friends.
  
  Please let the “Blue Light” shine during this holiday season and all the holiday seasons to come.

Not a bad idea at all.

The Gallows - Revisited

Evidently, the old crew that published "The Gallows II" still have the old stuff on floppy disks somewhere. Seeing the old articles given new internet life brought back a boatload of memories of the old man bringing home copies of the newsletter that made the rounds via Department mail and covert station runs here and there. The subject of the Gallows ire recently passed and it was evident that many wounds inflicted on the 025 District never fully healed.

The comments section is a running commentary of what appeared a couple of days ago and brought a smile to many faces.

Rahm is the Early Leader

And the only one in double digits:

• Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is off to an early lead in the race for Chicago mayor, but there is plenty of room for other contenders in the crowded field as the fluid contest takes shape, a new Tribune/WGN poll found.

  Emanuel had the support of 32 percent of voters, just ahead of 30 percent who were undecided, making him the only candidate in double-digits with more than two months before the Feb. 22 city election. He was well short of the outright majority needed to avoid an April runoff between the top two finishers.

  First though, Emanuel has to survive a ballot challenge by those who say he doesn't qualify under rules requiring mayoral candidates to be Chicago residents for a year before the election. While several more of the 15 current candidates could be knocked off or drop out as the race gets serious, the poll showed a splintered field largely defined by name recognition.

And speaking of ballot challenges:

• Rahm Emanuel kept his famously sharp political tongue in check for more than 11 hours Tuesday as a phalanx of indignant activists and a seasoned election attorney poked and prodded him during a hearing on whether he is eligible to run for mayor of Chicago.

  The most serious attack on his candidacy came in the first 90 minutes of the hearing as the lead attorney challenging Emanuel bored in on the issue of whether the former White House chief of staff meets the requirement of being a Chicago resident for one year prior to the Feb. 22 election.

The citizen questioners seemed to be run-of-the-mill head cases. The serious questions were at the beginning and fielded fairly well by Rahm's lawyers or the hearing officer. No serious punches were landed that haven't already been debated here and elsewhere.

Interesting Proposal

This popped up in the comments:

• Since were on the topic of Tact guys...Starting 2nd Period, the 009th District will rotate all of it's Tact guys back to the watch that they bid for, and replace them with [volunteers] from the watch.
  The commander is doing this to see if the numbers go up, down or stay pretty much the same. If there is not much of a change in numbers, then most, not all, PO's will be invited back and the volunteers sent back to the watch.

We've heard proposals are also being floated around to make Tact a 90 day detail, renewable once to 180 days, and then back to the watches for the rest of the year. Seems that some people may be ruining it for all, and by mixing it up, HQ hopes to get the numbers up. It would certainly take the wind out of sails.

Whoops

Not cool:

• Police say a man was killed today when he was hit by a refrigerator thrown from an upper floor of a building in Milwaukee.

  Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz says a construction crew was clearing some contents of a building when workers tossed the fridge off a balcony. She says they called out "All clear," but another worker walked out and was killed by the refrigerator.

  She says it appears to be a tragic accident.

What a way to go.

Death of the Traffic Stop

We've noticed that when a CFD engine pulls up on a scene, the first thing that many (if not all) of the firefighters are doing is donning that lime-green safety vest.

Does anyone see that happening in the event of everyday traffic stops with the CPD? In the current atmosphere, we think it more likely that officers will just cease traffic enforcement. We aren't advocating anything, we just see it as a distinct possibility. And what about Tact teams - are they all going to be vested up like a radioactive banana? That kind of eliminates the two or three second edge they might have stopping someone in traffic.

Opinions?

About Time

Someone wising up....finally:

• Sneed is told 23 district police managers — all civilians — will be given pink slips on Dec. 31!

  Cash slash: It’s a little-known part of city budget cuts, which will save the city $2.6 million — and send district commanders scurrying to find someone else to fix the broken toilets.

"...fix the broken toilets"? Have you been to the Academy lately? Or any one of half-a-dozen stations we could name? Someone is falling down on that job, that for certain.

Back in the day, there used to be a document, something like a "Facilities Inspection" sheet. On it were spaces and lines you could use to document things that were wrong in the building: plumbing problems, broken doors, cracked windows, etc. And it was incumbent upon the Commanders to be responsible for their buildings and notify the janitors or the painters or the engineers about problems that would then be addressed. Anyone could drop a line to the Commander's office and the secretary or whomever would make a note on the latest sheet before forwarding it up the chain of command weekly or monthly or whatever it was.

But for some reason, the city decided it needed "managers" around sucking up six-figures and doing the job that used to be covered by this sheet of paper and signed off on by the Commander. We guess we're about to come full circle on that one.

A Rumor of Crime

If true, how does this not make the news?

• Big caper Sat Night in 16th Dist. 3 M/1's armed with hand guns and wearing ski masks entered the Baker Square restaurant at Harlem & Foster, and ducted taped 11 people and put them in the cooler and robbed them. Wonder why that didn't make the news?

Brown's Chicken, Lane Bryant, the start of this "bumblebee" bandit shooting, there's quite a list. Can anyone up north verify?

And here's a scary thought - if this one went south, J-Fled's homicide reduction totals are out the window.

"What if..." Gets Out of Hand

Starting off as a barking dog complaint we should never have had to respond to:

• A Far South Side man was arrested for calling 911 and telling a dispatcher that a Chicago Police officer “was down’’ in order to get faster police service to the scene where his dog was barking at a sewer, police said.

  The man, identified by police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer as Tommy Boston, called 911 about 6:30 a.m. because his dog had been barking at a sewer for two days in the 700 block of East 92nd Place and he wanted to see the police about it, according to a Gresham District police lieutenant.

  Boston reportedly asked the 911 caller: “What if I would say there was a officer down in the bushes,’’ and the dispatcher took him seriously, and a 10-1 was called — causing all available police to immediately race to the scene, the lieutenant said.

  When police arrived, they found no officers “down,’’ and learned Boston only wanted a speedier response to his disturbance.

This seems like a bit of an overreaction by the call taker. There are dozens of calls worse than this one on a daily basis where citizens call about non-existent guns on the street to get police there to clear dope corners and no one ever gets identified and sent to jail. This goof poses a "what if..." scenario and gets locked up for a rhetorical question.

Part Time Residency?

The longer this goes on, the more it seems Rahm is manipulating the system:

• When Rahm Emanuel originally filed his 2009 Illinois tax return, he indicated he was only a “part-year resident’’ of the state that year, since he had moved to Washington D.C. to serve as President Obama’s chief of staff.

  But after he decided to return to Chicago to run for mayor this fall -- and after several people challenged whether he was eligible to run based on the fact that he hadn't lived in the city for a full-year prior to the Feb. 2 election -- he filed an amended return, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

"Part-year resident"? If that's not such a big deal, then why file the amended return? Why not just stand by your position and explain it as government service the same way military service is usually described? Why all this secrecy and amended returns and crap? It makes what could be a minor problem seem very suspicious.

Poetic Justice

It's the 'burbs, but it's still humorous:

• A man died Saturday night after he was shot with own his gun while attempting to rob a tanning salon in southwest suburban Orland Park.

  Police received a call at 6:36 p.m. of an armed robbery [occurring] at L.A. Tan, on the 15600 block of South 94th Avenue, according to a release from Orland Police.

  Surveillance video from inside the business showed that a man entered the business, announced a robbery and pointed a handgun at a female employee, according to the release. The man then ordered a female customer using a tanning bed to tie the hands and feet of the female employee with rope he had brought with him.

  A male customer entered the business minutes later for a scheduled appointment and the suspect pointed the handgun at him and ordered the customer to tie his hands together, according to police.

  The male customer then grabbed the handgun away from the suspect, police said. The man moved [aggressively] toward the male customer, who then shot the man twice with the gun, police said.

It's being reported here and there that this guy might be the one who shot a bunch of construction workers, killing one, over the summer - the one where an off-duty Lynwood cop was arrested, charged and then released by Will County. The same Will County that seems to be calling the shots in the Peterson (the younger) witch hunt.

First Issue Traffic Vests?

An e-mailer has said we're all getting new traffic vests, those lime-green things the CFD has been wearing at accident scenes. Anyone know anything about this?

New Support Group

A new resource for those in need:

• Special Needs Family Support
  
  Do you have a family member who suffers from a Developmental Disability, Autism, ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety or another mental illness? Are you feeling overwhelmed, or having trouble finding resources? You are NOT alone! We want to help you!
  
  Please join us to gain support, exchange ideas, and learn some new resources. We will discuss educational rights, treatment options, homecare and everything in between. Our group will meet once a month and provide speakers based upon members needs. The group is free and open to anyone having a special needs family member.
  
  The first meeting will be held December 16th at 1100hrs at the Education and Training Academy. Following meetings will be held the second Tues of each month at 1100hrs and 1900hrs.
  
  For further information please contact Officer Julie Joyce at 312-754-4381 or Lt Patty Casey at 312- 743-1425, or email us at specialneedspolice@gmail.com

Informational Post only. Comments closed here.

Another "Statement" Game

Patriots favored by 2:

• New England is working off a short week for this road game after their blowout win over the Jets. Special teams could play a huge role. Although the Patriots are not bad on special teams, the Bears do have a substantial advantage in that phase and boast one of the best overall special-teams units in NFL. Kicking to Devin Hester is a very bad idea. Chicago is also one of the best teams at causing turnovers, but New England is exceptional with its ball security. Every member of the Patriots' offense is exceptional at valuing the ball.

And of course, the weather is going to be a giant factor, along with the crappy condition of the newly sodded Soldier Field.

1,000 No-Shows

The final number? 8,600:

• About 8,600 people showed Saturday to take the exam. The last recruiting drive in 2006 brought about 8,000 people to the initial test, Weis said. There are about 1,100 vacant positions in the department, Weis said, though he does not expect to be able to hire that many officers.

  Weis suggested the higher number of applicants could be attributed to the promise of a secure, decently compensated position and a rewarding career in a demoralizing job market. People in some professions have to question their contribution to society, he said.

  "A police officer never has that problem," he said.

  City officials have said they were hoping to recruit more mature and technically skilled officers, and the minimum age for nonmilitary applicants was raised from 21 to 25, though those under 25 could still apply but can't be hired until they are 25. Military veterans can be hired at 21.

Supposedly, 20% of all new hires will have military backgrounds. We don't know if that will shorten the life of the list since no one has released how many military vets actually applied. In any event, expect a class shortly before J-Fled leaves.

Seriously?

Can anyone confirm?

• So that explains why jody was not at the CPD GSF dinner. So you find it more important to sit down with pfleger, muslim leaders and other assholes than the Families of Fallen officers? SHAME ON YOU JODY. Neither jody or any other EXEMPT rank representative was at teh Annual CPD GSF dinner Wednesday. Thankfully we have stand up guys Like Father Brandt and Rabbi moshe Wolfe. Both are true Gentleman and know they both have our deepest respect and grattitude.

Five dead in the Line of Duty and a sixth murdered off-duty and the supernintendo can't make a Gold Star Family dinner? The Gold Star organization does invite the supernintendo, right?

We hope this is a bad joke.

CFD Contract on Tap

And it looks like it's not going to be well received by the rank-and-file:

• Chicago firefighters and paramedics would get a 10 percent pay raise over five years and give the city its most flexibility ever to reduce manpower and cut overtime costs under a tentative contract up for a ratification vote.

  After nearly four years of bargaining slowed by a civil war within the Chicago Fire Fighters Union, the city and Local 2 have finally reached agreement on a contract that calls for the elimination and reassignment of a fire company to reduce city overtime costs. The targeted company had been assigned to the repair shop.

  The contract, which would run until June 30, 2012, gives firefighters and paramedics the same 10 percent raise an independent arbitrator awarded to Chicago Police officers.

Reading the entire article, it sure looks like the firefighters got the short end of every bargaining point.

Tracking Crime and Stuff

An interesting site. Just enter your address, and look to see what crime has been reported. It's nowhere near 100% of course, but it can give you a general impression of the neighborhood. The default setting appears to be registered sex offenders.

And here's a Google.maps feature that tracks foreclosures. It starts in Washington DC, but you can move the map around to Chicago in short order.

Open Post for Saturday in the meantime.

Entrance Exam Today

Any reports from the scene?

The media is calling this both "a record number of applicants," (which is a lie) and "the largest number of applicants in 10 years" (which is slightly closer to the truth).

Of the under 10,000 applying, a whopping 200 will be hired next year (supposedly), which doesn't even cover the retirements thought last April.

Any bets on how many of the 200 spots are already taken via pre-ordained "lottery" picks?

J-Fled Misstep Again

If this Sneed tidbit doesn't sum up the reign of J-Fled, we don't know what does:

• Pssst! Wish I’d been a little mouse under the table occupied for three hours Wednesday night by Police Supt. Jody Weis, Father Michael Pfleger, Nation of Islam’s Leonard Muhammad and CPD’s chief of staff Mike Masters. Was youth violence the topic? You bet.

Does anyone ever vet who this moron meets with? Pfleger for god's sake? That asshole has done more to destroy CPD's relationship with the community than just about anyone besides Jesse Jackson. Has anyone told J-Fled about his shenanigans?

And anyone from the Nation of Islam? These are the same asswipes that used to have "security guards" posted in lobbies of project buildings who would make sure the gates were always open for the fleeing dope dealers, but secured against pursuing officers. And of course, there's their leader's personal problems with race baiting and anti-police rhetoric.

It sure seems like the only job that Masters Masters Masters is capable of is guiding our "leader" into completely inappropriate and counterproductive scenarios that make him radioactive to the rank-and-file.