You Want What Now?

The Sun Times knows this is typical Chicago insanity, so they buried it in the Saturday paper:

• Predominantly African-American neighborhoods on the South Side face such a chronic overload of 911 calls the Chicago Police Department frequently has been unable to respond to many calls in those areas, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
  
  Backups of 911 calls have been concentrated in South Side and also West Side police districts since Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office in 2011, according to the records, which City Hall fought to keep confidential, citing safety concerns.
  
  Sources said police Supt. Garry McCarthy was working on plans to address the problem when Emanuel fired him Dec. 1 in the fallout over the release of video of the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, shot 16 times by a Chicago cop in October 2014.

And if you really really want to see some twisted liberal logic, get a load of this paragraph:

• Black aldermen have called on the police department to assign more officers to handle 911 calls in their neighborhoods. Aldermen representing North Side neighborhoods have balked, though, at the prospect of losing cops in their districts.

So the solution is......more police? The community that wants/needs/desires/demands the most police service is the community that is currently marching/protesting/screaming/decrying the police? What about the $100 million in police overtime initiatives...overtime that was spent almost 100% in this community?

A-fucking-mazing.

Did Someone Miss Our Memo?

What part of "Stop" did you not understand?

• One person was killed and 12 others were injured Saturday evening when three people in a stolen vehicle led Chicago Police on a chase and eventually crashed into a van in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side.
  
  The vehicle sped away from police about 5:45 p.m., ran a stop sign then struck the van that was carrying eight people near 71st Street and Carpenter Avenue, according to police.
  
  One of the occupants of the van was pronounced dead, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the fatality, but did not release additional details about the victim.

All of this for three juveniles in a hot ride? Even if Anita manages to get Murder charges, you do realize who is going to get sued? You realize who is going to be appearing in court? In lawyers' offices listing their assets? Who might be up on Department charges for whatever Rahm's tools can dream up in this most anti-police climate? We can hear Corp Counsel, the 50 Thieves and Rahm signing the check already.

All for a property crime? If they run, they run. At least you aren't jeopardizing your lives, your livelihoods and the lives of others. The stolen car can be replaced - you cannot be, and your assets took a long time to acquire. We don't know how many other ways to say it - wake the fuck up boys and girls.

No Torches? No Pitchforks?

Not yet - but soon maybe:

• Three people were taken into custody Saturday after a protest in which people threw rocks and other objects at the South Lawndale home of Ald. George Cardenas (12th), according to the West Side alderman and the police.
  
  Cardenas said Saturday night that the protesters were walking down 26th Street in Little Village and decided to walk toward his house, though he doesn’t know why, and started throwing things at his home, the Sun-Times is reporting.

We can think of half-a-dozen reasons to throw rocks at aldercreatures. George isn't thinking hard enough. George was interviewed and started making some really....interesting statements:

• “My family was startled and scared,” Cardenas said. “That’s not cool. That’s not acceptable. I work very hard to maintain law and order. I am not sure why I was picked.

You know who else's family is scared George? Ours. And the families of every copper we know lately. You want to guess why you asshat?

• “Once you start throwing objects, that crosses the line,” he said.
  
  He said there wasn’t any major damage to the home, just debris near the windows and objects on the sidewalk.

How about when someone starts throwing punches? Punches recorded on video? Oh, but wait....Anita says there wasn't any "damage" to an actual human being, so charges aren't really warranted. We certainly hope that Anita maintains this level of disinterest for a simple piece of property that got hit by some rocks.

Storms coming, and the politicians want the police around.

Nice Headline ABC

And the bias continues. Here's the headline:

• Officer-involved shootout damages cars in Wrigleyville

But the actual story?

• Two officers were making a street stop when they heard multiple gunshots and witnessed armed male offenders in the 1100-block of West Patterson around 3 a.m. Sunday, police said. The alleged offenders then began heading west on Patterson towards the officers, prompting the officers to fire one shot at the men. Police said the offenders then dropped their weapons and fled.
  
  Several cars were riddled with bullets, and police say two weapons were recovered at the scene.

So the coppers ran toward the gunfire (well done), discharged one shot when two guys with guns ran toward them (completely legally by the way), and despite the offenders making good their escape, recovered two weapons.

So how did the officers damage "cars"? All the reports have upwards of 30 shots being fired by three of more people (all no doubt, with Concealed Carry permits and valid FOID cards), all before the police even ran toward the gunfire.

But hey, got to keep up the anti-police rhetoric.

• One woman whose car was hit during the shootout says the violence so close to home is unnerving.
  
  "This is not something I expected to happen and I've lived here for five years already, I've never heard of anything this crazy happening," said Keena Prugh.
  
  Prugh says she heard about 30 gunshots.

Get used to it lady. You're going to be hearing a lot more of it soon.

Another Koschman Reassignment

The lieutenant with the memory loss, taking home files and misplacing them for years, was suddenly reassigned to an Administrative spot. More to come.

Anti-Police Sunday

All the major media outlets, print and broadcast, local and national, are spending their Sunday ripping on Rahm and the CPD.

We're going to relax, avoid the news, have a beer, maybe two, and remember what used to be.

Open post for Sunday.

What's All This?

Friday:

• The victim was identified as Joseph Graves, 19, of the 8400 block of South Green Street in Chicago, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
  
  Graves, who was killed Friday night in the 700 block of West 92nd Street, was one of 13 people shot in Chicago since mid-afternoon Friday, including six shot in a two-hour period early Saturday.

Saturday so far:

• A 5-year-old boy and three other people were injured Saturday in separate shootings on the city's South and West sides.

Amazingly, none were shot by the police.

But then this little brouhaha:

• Five people were seriously hurt Saturday in Englewood when a stolen car fleeing the police crashed into a van, the police said.
  
  It happened around 5:45 p.m. when the car ran a stop sign and hit a van with eight people inside at 71st Street and Carpenter Avenue, according to the police.

When police caught up with the fleeing felons and attempted to put them under arrests while summoning and rendering aid to the eight other injured parties, do you think the neighborhood turned out to assist? Or even just gawk? Nope. They began to bottle and brick the police and squad cars, necessitating a rather large call-out of manpower.

Even more strangely, not a word of this attack on the police by the bystanders made it to either major newspaper. Why is that do you suppose?

Yeah, not Watching

Bears favored (3.5) again for some reason. But we can't bring ourselves to care.

On the other side of the sporting season, the Department ought to be looking at the possibility the Cubs might break a century-plus old curse. It certainly is different to see an ownership group who actually wants to win.

Again, Terror Warning

And it's coming from the French, who have been rather busy lately, closing terror-mosques and rolling up terror-networks:

• L’organisation a demandé «d’exécuter» un plan visant Genève,Toronto et Chicago, selon nos informations.
  
  La ville canadienne avait déjà été mentionnée dans les vidéos d’un des suspects.
  
  Quant à Chicago, il s’agit de la ville d’origine de l’homme arrêté hier à Genève, dont le profil commence à circuler sur les réseaux sociaux.

The basic translation for you non-Frenchies:

• The organization ordered "the execution" of a plan targeting Geneva, Toronto, and Chicago, according to our sources.
  
  The Canadian city has already been mentioned in the videos of one of the suspects.
  
  As for Chicago, it is the home city of one of the men arrested yesterday in Geneva, whose profile is beginning to circulate on social media.

But remember, guns are bad, workplace violence, JV team, blah blah blah. Stay alert boys and girls, especially around downtown, parades, and sporting events.

Actions, Not Words

Keeping with Rahm's exhortation that everyone should be treated the same:

• So NO ONE should be treated like a second class citizen, says Emanuel? That's real rich considering he treats the whole police department like second class citizens! If anyone treats the citizens here like crap, it is that shit for brains mayor.
  
  He made sure to give generous raises to all his staff once he was in office, while claiming how the rest of the city had to make budget cuts and raise fines because of "economic hardships".
  
  He refused to do anything toward making the pensions solvent, and wasted more tax money fighting a losing case in the IL supreme court.
  
  He then continued to waste millions on useless bike lanes, parks, depaul stadium, the gang infested, extortionist group who work under the guise of "community workers" call "cease fire", and dozens of countless pet projects that wasted tax dollars.
  
  He made sure that NO ONE would be given a break when driving past the numerous speed cameras and red light cameras, that is, except for himself and his caravan when they drove through them, in which case all tickets were NONSUITED! But the SECOND CLASS TAXPAYING CITIZENS must hand over $$$ for every one of those violations, unlike Rahm or the alderthieves who get excused.
  
  And what citizen, besides Rahm, enjoys a 24/7 detail of a dozen officers who watch, escort, and chauffeur his/her family, all paid for by the rest of the working citizens. So Rahm, looks to me like you are the one who acts, spends, and lives like he is above everyone else. You are the one who treats everyone here like second-class citizens asshole!!!!

All you are required to do Citizens, is pay for it all. Reach deep.

Watchdog of the Year

A postmortem salute to this reptile::

• A 22-year-old man suspected of burglarizing homes in Florida was killed and partially eaten by an 11ft (3.4-meter) alligator after he waded into a lake, apparently to avoid detection by law enforcement officers pursuing him, police said on Tuesday.
  
  An autopsy on the man, Matthew Riggins of Palm Bay, determined that he drowned in November after an apparent alligator attack. A necropsy on the alligator revealed parts of the man’s body in the reptile’s stomach, according to a report released this week by the Brevard County sheriff’s office.

Well done Mr. Gator. If only we could import a few to reside in the park lagoons.

The Only Solution

Applications being accepted for the position of Supernintendo of the Shit Show in Chicago:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s revamped Police Board on Thursday launched a nationwide search for a new police superintendent amid concern that the furor over the Laquan McDonald shooting video and a federal civil rights investigation could diminish interest in the $260,000-a-year job.
  
  With a “code of silence” to eliminate and bridges to rebuild in the African-American community, the Police Board has established a tight time frame to fill the position held since May 2011 by larger-than-life Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.
  
  Applications are due Jan. 15. The board will then summon roughly 10 semi-finalists for in-person interviews before presenting the names of three finalists to Emanuel by the end of February.

Here's the link to the actual application for all interested parties.

But we'd like to make a proposal to save everyone some time, effort and the "jumping-through-the-hoops" circus that has led to the past two outsider disasters and the decades of unqualified, unimpressive, and underwhelming political animals inhabiting the 35th/Michigan and 11th/State offices.

We humbly offer our services to the Chicago Police Department as Superintendent of Police.

• We have an opinion on just about everything (see our written works);
• We support the rule of law, the Rights of all, and the Constitution;
• We're pretty damn smart;
• We use words like "integrity" and "diversity" and actually know what they mean;
• We don't tolerate fools.

And rather than waste everyone's time pretending the Police Board actually "reads" the massive amounts of essays and such that will be submitted, we offer the following:

• We will take the job for a guaranteed 3 years time frame - no ifs ands or buts. An option for an additional two years upon mutual agreement. All money will be paid in advance because we don't trust Rahm's accounting practices. This will be in contract form, vetted by legal experts of our choosing from out-of-state.
• We shall accept a salary of $1 less than the mayor, because you shouldn't make more than your boss.
• We will receive in writing, signed by the Police Board and mayor, a blanket exoneration of all CR's from the beginning of our term of office and retroactively backward regarding any and all complaints about the blog. We know there are a few, including IAD's illegal First Amendment investigation into Constitutionally guaranteed Free Speech during our off-duty hours. The former lieutenant (now commander) who initiated will be publicly caned with a rod made out of rolled-up facsimiles of the Constitution. This item is non-negotiable.
• We will guarantee a first-year savings in operational costs of no less than $15 million dollars.
• Carte Blanche in appointing our command staff - that means no input from the mayor, the aldercreatures, the Machine (city or county or Springfield), the "revrunds," the media, the ACLU (and other legal entities) or the feds. We will vouch for their ability and integrity. And believe us, our picks will be far superior to anything currently serving in an exempt capacity.

It's the only solution. You have our e-mail. We await your letter.

Not a Recommendation

A lot of "buyer's remorse" coming out of Jersey in recent weeks following McCarthy's ouster from Chicago:

• News that former city police director Garry McCarthy was relieved of his duties as head of the Chicago Police Department has generated little sympathy among city leaders that remember his tenure.
  
  The city is "still suffering because of his bad public policy regarding police issues," said Central Ward Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield-Jenkins. "I just feel sorry that the citizens of Chicago had to be subjected to his horrific brand of community policing for all those years. He needs to get a different profession."
  
  Udi Ofer, Executive Director of the ACLU of New Jersey, questioned the decision by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to hire McCarthy.
  
  "He left a legacy of widespread civil rights violations," Ofer said, referring to the findings of a U.S. Justice Department review spurred by the ACLU that found that municipal police in the state's largest city had repeatedly violated the rights of its residents.
  
  "That was his track record in Newark, and that's what he brought to Chicago," Ofer said.

Granted, the ACLU isn't the best gauge, seeing as how they think looking cross-eyed at a suspect is a Civil Rights violation, but you have to question Rahm's ability to pick the absolutely worst person for various positions.

This Changes Everything!

An amazing revelation in the Tribune:

• A Cook County sheriff's officer was on the scene of Laquan McDonald's fatal shooting by a Chicago police officer within a minute of the event, but he did not show up in police reports and was not part of any investigation until the FBI tracked him down months later, the Tribune has learned.
  
  Sheriff Tom Dart's office said Thursday that the officer and a second sheriff's officer who arrived soon after were notified by Chicago police that they were not needed and left the scene. They never filed police reports about their involvement, Dart aide Cara Smith said.
  
  Asked why the sheriff's office's involvement was never made public amid a yearlong investigation or during the recent uproar after video of the shooting was released and McDonald's shooter was charged with murder, Smith said the office was not aware of its officers' involvement until contacted by the Tribune on Wednesday night.

So obviously, County is involved in the cover-up. Dart and Prickwrinkle are part-and-parcel of the conspiracy to deprive a PCP-addled, knife-wielding maniac of his right to turn his life around, and therefore must resign immediately.

Media? #blm? You paying attention?

Again, Targeting Police Houses

From an e-mail:

• Just passing along some info.The wifes aunt (lives at 103 and Christiana) found a sign on the tree in front of her house this morning.The sign read something like "how do you like the pooolice now, get rid of rahm ". Police were called, took report, seems other houses on block were targeted. Targets are P.O. s homes.Don't know if there's reason for concern or if this bears more looking into.Stay safe.

Be aware.

Sgt Class Re-Announced

So they re-announced the Sergeant class, added a bunch of names AND sent the All "Merit" Golden Baker's Dozen back to their Districts of assignment to await promotion with the new class of 87, making a nice even graduation class of 100 after the first of the year.

• The class of 13 will continue their classes but will not graduate. They will return to their unit of assignment and watches effective Sunday. It's due to the lawsuit and seniority issues. They will not be sergeants. Info is in the Document Management System under Bureau of Patrol order #BOP 15-0089.03 released on 09 December.

If you want to see the original class list, click on the tag at the bottom of the post that says "promotions" and it should give you all of the posts with that tag. Then you can find the AdMin fax message that has the list to mix-and-match the new additions.

F#$% You Rahm

Once again, SCC drags us out of retirement to say the things that they aren't allowed to say. Namely, to assess your actions calmly, thoroughly, methodically and completely in the amount of time it takes to come to a proper and legal decision that won't endanger your life, the lives of other officers, or your career.

In other words, slow down. In some cases, stop.

Rahm completely threw the Department under the bus, the Department we gave decades of our lives to, the Department that, while it didn't make us rich, provided us a decent standard of living and allowed us to send kids to school and college and finally, out-of-state, where we currently are spending our golden years.

His speech was pure unadulterated crap. This statement just fucking dumb:

• Emanuel said he was with a group of young men last weekend, describing them as all having "a history with the criminal-justice system," but "trying to get on the right path, do the right thing."
  
  "One young man asked me a simple question that gets to the core of what we're talking about. He said, 'Do you think the police would ever treat you the way they treat me?'
  
  "And the answer is no," Emanuel said. "And that is wrong. And that has to change in this city. That has to come to an end now. No citizen is a second-class citizen in the city of Chicago."

Do you even know why the answer was "no" Rahm? Do you have a clue? Perhaps it's because you aren't driving a ghetto-hoopty ride with one headlight, invalid plates and music jacked up do window rattling volume at all hours? Maybe you aren't howling gibberish, shoving shoppers, snatching iPhones on Michigan Avenue? Maybe you aren't hanging out on the corner at all hours, holding an entire neighborhood hostage with your drug sales, threatening, beating, burning the houses of those who complain? Or maybe, just maybe, you aren't firing weapons at someone who "dissed" you over a rap song, killing the rival dealer or executing 9-year-old kids for who their relative are to the tune of 450 murders and 2,800 wounded.

Or this horseshit?

• He addressed how the Independent Police Review Authority had been created in 2007 only to "ask why, out of the hundreds of police shootings in the last eight years, only a handful of them have led to any charges?"

Has Rahm seen the recent Washington Post study that found 95% of police involved shootings nationwide are fully legal and justified? There is no "epidemic," by any stretch of the imagination. But that isn't stopping the witch hunt.

Or this?

• Emanuel again came close to addressing racial profiling a few minutes later, when he said police officers and community members alike should learn how to "see past their roles, to their souls" when interacting on the streets.
  
  "The officer can see dreadlocks and tattoos," he said, "or a student and an artist."

A lot has changed since we went through the Academy, especially if Officers are taught how to see souls. We are a reactionary job - how the encounter goes is determined by the subject's behavior, 99.9 times out of 100, plain and simple. And the last time we saw an "artist" on video, he was punching a Chicago Police Officer in the head and getting charges dropped by the State.

We don't know how many way to say it, but you have been abandoned by the City. Rahm and the Machine will sacrifice you on the altar of political correctness and not lose a wink of sleep over it. Where does that leave you? Your family? Your kids? Back living with your in-laws while everything you worked for is destroyed for a political game? And when you get out from under, you're doing what? Something that doesn't have a stringent background check we suppose.

The criminal element has won. Self initiated police work is a fool's errand. Every citizen contact you make is immediately suspected of racist undertones. Every observation you make, the ones that make the back of your neck prickle, is subject to review by local, state, federal, IPRA, politician, reverend, lawyer oversight. Every piece of paper you are required to fill out is there to hang you, regardless of what the bosses are tell you.

As SCC has stated in the past, who are you going to believe? Some boss who tells you to go out and get the numbers so they look good? Some old retired fart like us who survived nearly three decades in a rough and tumble era of policing? Or your own damn eyes?

Wake up.

Madigan's New Solution

This is a novel idea - raise taxes!

• Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan declared Wednesday that the state income tax rate should be raised back to at least 5 percent to help balance the state's out-of-whack finances.
  
  In doing so, Madigan potentially gave new life to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's argument that Democrats are to blame for the stalemate in Springfield because they're intent on only raising taxes to dig out of the state budget deficit. That's likely to be a GOP attack point in next year's House and Senate campaigns as Republicans try to cut into significant Democratic majorities.

It's a "one solution fits all!" typical of democrats nationwide. First claim you can't tax your way to prosperity, then proceed to raise taxes on everyone, hopefully to make your family/business connections prosper.

More Koschman Fallout?

Chief of Area South resigned or retired - Salemme. Also involved in the Koschman case when he was north.

Word is the final Inspector General's report is going to be released Friday and a couple more big names are going to be leaving.

Maybe the new crew will allow the Department to drain Douglas Park Lagoon next for the homicide victim(s) that a known serial killer dumped there - he drew the detectives a map after all - instead of pretending that this is just a Missing Person case, all for the sake of CompStat?

Ford at it Again

Who is pulling this guy's strings?

• State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-8) has filed legislation in Springfield which would provide for a mechanism for recalling the Mayor of Chicago. The bill is House Bill 4356.
  
  Ford's bill is of course not submitted arbitrarily. With a recent poll suggesting an outright majority of Chicagoans want Rahm Emanuel to resign, Emanuel being steadfast that he will not do so, and no existing legal mechanism in place by which Emanuel might otherwise be removed from office, HB4356 could very well become a very hot topic in Springfield.

This is the guy who shorted the IRS and faced seventeen felony charges for tax evasion. Miraculously, he pled guilty to a single misdemeanor count and evaded prison. Funny how the feds backed off so quickly ...almost like they got some pressure or phone calls from somewhere....bigger. And now Ford is "writing" legislation to remove Rahm from office.

But that wouldn't ever happen, not in Chicago. But it makes one wonder who is pulling what strings.