Shooter in Custody?

We expect that the State will charge this offender as an adult shortly. If they don't ...

• Police are talking to a "person of interest" in connection with a fatal shooting on a packed CTA bus Thursday afternoon on the South Side.According to police News Affairs Officer Tom Polick, detectives with the Calumet Area were talking Saturday afternoon to an individual related to the shooting that killed a 16-year-old high school student.

Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7 coverage.

Bringing a gun onto a crowded bus with the intent to commit a battery - this ought to be a slam dunk for Felony Review, right?

School Shooting - Guess Who's Fault?

Why, it's all the fault of ... the POLICE!!!

• Another parent said police should have taken action sooner.
  
  "My concern is if the police knew that all this activity was going on, why did they wait until after the shooting to step up the patrols?" said Lawrence Bosley. "I mean, if they knew all of this was going on, they should've been out here long ago, and when it's over, how long are they going to be here?"

Yup. So you better start feeling guilty about this one. Start feeling shame.

And that's not all:

• Alderman Carrie Austin said, "There needs to be some things put in place where our kids can feel safe in their own neighborhood. I believe our police department are doing a good job, but there needs to be some more things done," Austin added.

More things done. Hmmm. We have an idea! This will be the greatest idea in the history of Chicago policing - let's outlaw all the guns! If we outlaw guns, then there won't be any more guns around to ... what's that? Already done? But then how did a criminal get a gun to shoot these people? Hmmm. Maybe we could put cameras in buses. That'd make everyone feel safer even if they weren't actually... what's that? Already done? Damnit. No guns allowed, cameras everywhere, how is it that there is crime anywhere in Chicago anymore?

And this ends up being a tragedy on a number of levels:

• Bond said Holt did not belong to a gang and that his mother is a member of the Chicago Fire Department and his father is a Chicago police officer.
• Harris told the Chicago Tribune that Holt was a good student with a "bright future" who was taking physics and other college preparatory classes.
• Students said Holt died trying to protect a female student.

So we have a smart kid, from all reports raised correctly, headed for college, dying while trying to protect another student. Dying while doing the right thing at the cost of his own life. Mother CFD, Father CPD - who do you think he learned it all from?

When they catch the shooter (and they will), let's see how his family life compares to Blair Holt's. Hey aldercreature Austin? That is EXACTLY where you ought to be looking to do "something more" and trust us, it isn't the job of the police.

Partial Verdict

And it isn't good:

• There are partial verdicts is the trial of Howard Morgan, a man charged with firing a barrage of shots at Chicago police officers. Morgan was found not guilty of three felony counts Friday afternoon. These actually, are some of the lesser charges in this eight-count indictment: not guilty on two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, and one count of discharge of a firearm within the city limits. The jury remains deadlocked on attempted murder of a police officer.

Whatever happened to the days when if you shot a police officer, you were pretty much guaranteed jail time? Didn't two officers get shot during this incident?

Does a jury seriously swallow the BS that just because there were no prints on the jagoff's gun that officers must have planted it and shot themselves? Would you like to know how many times we've ever seen prints recovered from a gun? Once. It just doesn't happen.

And his excuse that he didn't know there guys were the police? Weren't some of them TRU? Don't they always wear uniforms? Weren't they all in marked CPD cars and actually had to chase the offender for a few blocks before he pulled over?

We aren't looking forward to the rest of this verdict. We just have no faith in the system anymore. This isn't all scandal fatigue on the part of Cook County juries - this is pretty much a declaration that police cannot be victims, no matter the circumstance.

Blago Slapped Around

Amusing:

• Gov. Blagojevich suffered a resounding and stunning defeat [107-0] Thursday when the Illinois House overwhelmingly rejected his proposed $7.6 billion business tax.

But wait! All isn't lost:

• Before the ink had dried on the 107-0 vote, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) signaled possible interest in launching a different tax-increase proposal.
• At least one member was asked by the speaker within the past week about raising the state income tax. But a Madigan spokesman said the speaker has not settled on a particular tax increase.

Well, gee Mr. Madigan. Thanks for not deciding on a particular tax increase just yet. Isn't your daughter up for governor at some point? Aren't you going to end up being a campaign issue at some point?

Technical Difficulties

We will return to regularly scheduled blogging this afternoon or evening. Sorry about that. Open post for now.

New Weapon Order

We have people all over the Department, PO's, Sergeants, Lieutenants, even a Captain or two who read the site regularly. We've been told in strictest confidence that any number of exempts don't have filters on their computers and check us out daily. For some, it's almost required reading.

A number of recent comments have been asking about the new Weapon order. And coincidentally, we've been in contact with some people who actually know things, so we thought we'd help fan the flames of Rumorville:

• First up, the order has been approved by the chain of command and awaits the final signature - the lame duck Superintendent. Who knows what the hold up is at that end, but that's the rumor we've got. Bet on or about 01 June
  
• Approved weapons include the Glock, the Springfield XD and the S&W M&P's in multiple calibers (9mm, .40 and .45)
• From what we've heard, this is the first time in history anyone wishing to switch to one of these guns as their primary weapon will be permitted to do so. Instead of qualifying with the wheel gun you came on with and then the semi auto you carry most days, you can switch to this gun and declare it your primary forever.
• HOWEVER, anyone who declares this as their primary weapon, you will be required to attend some sort of re-training or transition course on your own time and at your own expense. No word how it will be run and we heard the Ranges are completely in the dark on it, too.

Run with it. Start saving money - these guns ain't cheap.

Heroes Honored

From Channel 7, coverage of the Police Recognition Ceremony:

• Chicago police honored dozens of their own Wednesday for their bravery in the line of duty. The top honor, the Distinguished Medal of Honor, was presented to an officer who ended a gunman's deadly rampage last year inside a Chicago law office.

  "You can always carry your head high at all times in the city of Chicago. We will not allow one or two or three instances deter the respect that we should have from the public for every member of the Chicago police department and their families," Mayor Richard Daley said.

  One by one, some sixty-five men and women crossed the stage to receive the police superintendent's award of valor, each with a different story of heroism.

We received a couple of first hand reports about the mayor's speech. Evidently, it was quite a rip job on the media, taking numerous outlets to task for their one sided coverage of recent months, concentrating solely on single issue stories like the played-to-death Abbate video and studiously ignoring the heroism displayed almost daily by the police.

We have a question - who stole the mayor and what have they done with his body? The mayor sticking up for the Police Department? He hates us. Always has. He's got to be laughing at how the media has taken a few manufactured scandals and completely given his corrupt administration a free pass in looting hundreds of millions in contracts and land sales to other corrupt individuals and companies. Is this some sort of ploy to screw us at contract time? Probably not, as we're going to get screwed anyway. But we figure we have to ask, "What the heck is up?"

In the meantime, go read the Channel 7 story. Nice to see some good news for a change.

And Another Thing...

Why is Carol Marin, police hater and Daley apologist, always invited back to host the Police Recognition Ceremony? Is it because she's buddies with Ron Magers? We can't recall Magers ever deliberately skewing coverage to put the Department in a bad light, but Marin does it on a regular basis - more so since she was given a column in the Sun Times with which to continue her moribund media career. Explanations?

Good Riddance

This makes our day:

• Wednesday was the last meeting in City Council for a number of long-time Chicago aldermen who lost in last month�s runoff elections.

Ah yes, Tillman, Coleman, Haithcock, Natarus, and about 5 others. One other aldercreature declined to seek reelection, so fully 20% of the City Council will be new next month.

What does it mean in the great scheme of things? Nothing, really. Daley still controls enough votes to pass what he wants and enforce his own rules. But perhaps the shake up can force some other issues to the fore. We shall see.

What a Mope

Daley has GOT to love having this goof around to take all the heat off him and his shenanigans:

• Facing criticism from both parties, Gov. Blagojevich went before skeptical House members today to make a last-ditch appeal for his proposed $7.6 billion gross receipts business tax and warned of “devastating” budget cuts if the plan isn't passed.

  “We can do this and do big things for the people of our state, or we can sit back and do nothing,” Blagojevich told the full Illinois House.

$7.6 billion in new taxes on businesses that businesses are just going to pass along. And where will all this new tax money go?

• “Schoolteachers will have to be laid off because school districts won’t have the money they need to be able to fund our schools. New textbooks won’t come because the school districts won’t have the money they need. Football teams might not get the uniforms at their high school football games because we don’t have the money we ought to have for our schools.”

Oh yes, the schools. Rod? Successive governors have been throwing money at the teacher unions for years and we still haven't seen commensurate increases in test scores, graduation rates, literacy achievement, etc. Paraphrasing Reagan, this state isn't in trouble because taxes are too low - it's in trouble because it spends too much on fixed political games, crooked contracts, insane golden parachutes for certain political animals and an entire litany of failed social programs. This ought to fail, and fail badly.

News Everywhere

Note: For Tribune links requiring a password, use the name "garbagegoeshere@gmail.com" and password "123456" That way you aren't on any mailing lists.

You can't turn on any media outlet tonight without finding 3 or 4 stories about the Police Department. We'll cover a bunch of them here.

• First up, the bank robbery standoff. No one killed, no one wounded despite a large number of shots fired by the subject. Schools had to be locked down, streets closed, etc., and it all seems to have gone reasonably well. Coverage at Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times, Tribune. Great job people
• Corey Flagg flipping left and right on the hook in an effort to get his sentence reduced to 10 years or so. This one has the potential of embarrassing some highly placed people - again.
• Hanhardt wants a new trial
• OPS investigating another off duty "beating," this time involving an 11 year old boy
• The Jefferson Tap businessmen file suit
  
• The off duty railroad guy who had a gun and was shot some 25 times by CPD and who still managed to live has a jury deliberating his fate. We seem to recall someone saying that this guy had been fired by CPD years ago? Regardless, this trial seems to be about whether or not CPD had a right to shoot him.
• And the mayor is set to introduce his OPS overhaul proposal to the City Council today. We're still trying to get definitive answers on whether or not any of this falls within contract provisions and where 5th Amendment Rights might surface.

A lot of news.

Volunteers?

From the Comments Section:

• D/C T.S. came up with the new plan for ALL of Area 2, and it is for ALL the teams, gang and tact. When you are on relief, you will do three 2000-0430's, then three 1000-1830's. That is set in stone.
  
  She also came up with the set DOG, so no weekends, and they change the set day off each period, and again, with no weekends.
  
  When she was confronted by ALL 5 of the District D/C's - she told them "tuff". It is a done deal.
  
  Allegedly, two tact teams from within the area put in their par forms/to-froms to leave...She said that is fine, she will man her plan if it takes doing it with PPO's and 1 year wonders.
  
  She just went up a spot in the running for Cline's job....

Who's got the inside info on this one? Sounds like a bunch of unhappy people down south all of the sudden. Anything that used to be a good deal on this job keeps getting burned by the bosses for some reason.

Bad Warrants

We've noticed a bunch of stories like this one at FOX News surfacing at the District levels:

• Doors were broken off their hinges. Furniture was tossed upside down. A woman says Chicago police did all this when they raided her home by mistake.

Seems plainclothes officers are either hitting the wrong houses or the number of negative Search Warrants are skyrocketing. We're wondering how many of these "negative" warrants are the result of pressure being placed on plainclothes teams to serve a so-called "quota" of warrants. We all know that certain teams are required via word of mouth to maintain certain minimal activity numbers to keep their spots. Anyone with insight?

Finally, Somewhere to Send Applications

We thought this day would never arrive:

• The Chicago Police board has hired a search firm to help find a replacement for Superintendent Phil Cline, who announced his retirement amid questions over how the department handled police misconduct allegations.
  
  Chicago-based David Gomez & Associates, Inc. will conduct a national search and help the board choose three candidates, board President Demetrius Carney said Monday in a statement. Mayor Richard M. Daley is required by law to pick Cline's replacement from that group.

And of course, the obligatory Abbate beating gets a mention in the article:

• In one incident, a bar camera allegedly caught 12-year police veteran Anthony Abbate beating a female bartender after she refused to continue serving him drinks. Abbate faces felony charges stemming from the February incident.
  
  Police faced intense criticism because Abbate originally was charged with a misdemeanor, until the videotape became public.

Even in the St. Jude articles we located, the Abbate video was mentioned in passing:

• During the parade for Chicago's forgotten heroes, it's easy to recall the seedier underside of the Department as seen in this bar room beating by 12 year veteran Anthony Abbate lumping on a woman barely half his size.

Ok, we made up that last paragraph.

But at least we know where to send applications and resumes for Superintendent now:

• 20 N Clark St # 2900
  Chicago, IL 60602
  (312) 346-5525

What the Hell?

From Channel 2:

• A proposal to give Illinois driving privileges to undocumented immigrants drew heated debate Monday night at a public hearing in Carpentersville.
  
  The crowd of 60 people mostly opposed the bill that has passed the Illinois House and moved to the Senate.
  
  The legislation would make undocumented drivers eligible for a driving certificate and insurance.

Good for Carpentersville. Way to stay involved. Now the worrying part:

• Earlier Monday immigration rights activists in Chicago made passage of the bill a high priority. They unveiled stacks of new voter registration papers to show politicians they can wield their power at the polls.

Um, we're pretty sure illegals can't vote. And did anyone actually check these "stacks of new voter registration papers" to see if they were filled out legally by persons eligible to vote? Or is this another one of those stunts where "activists" bring in a stack of paper with no actually information on them or filled out fraudulently in an effort to intimidate politicians? How about this follow up from Newsradio 780:

• Chicago immigrant rights groups have a warning for republicans - and one republican in particular: support a special driver's certificate for undocumented immigrants -- or else Latinos won't vote for your candidates.
• Radogno had voted for the concept of a special driver's certificate for undocumented immigrants.
• But then, she says, her constituents sounded off against it and therefore she changed her mind.

Immigrant activists (or defenders of illegal aliens) are in the midst of a massive backlash against their efforts and they're just a little bit too shortsighted to see it. We're betting on a few more rude surprises in the coming months.

Put Away the Helmets?

Bulls pasted again by Detroit. We thought the Bulls owned the Pistons this year in regular season play. What's happened?

Heads up Warning

Beware suspicious objects:

• LAS VEGAS - A backpack exploded in a parking garage attached to a Las Vegas hotel early Monday, killing a man who had picked it up and injuring another person, authorities said.

  The man had removed the backpack from atop his car when it exploded shortly after 4 a.m. on the second floor of a parking behind the Luxor hotel-casino, said Officer Bill Cassell, a police spokesman.

  The second person was taken to an area hospital.

Steve Chapman Gets It...

...why can't anyone else?

• We've all heard of the offense of "driving while black." But not everyone has heard the good news: It doesn't exist anymore. According to an authoritative report, black motorists are no more likely than whites to be pulled over by police. So how has that study been greeted? As proof that police racism is still a powerful force.
  
  It's a widely accepted article of faith that cops systematically engage in racial profiling against dark-complexioned folks. Yet this is the second consecutive survey from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics—using information supplied not by police but by citizens—that finds law enforcement to be admirably colorblind when it comes to routine traffic enforcement. Not a puny achievement, but one that was overlooked by people straining to find lingering discrimination.
• Whatever they do, the cops can't win. Blacks don't get stopped more often? Big deal. Blacks have higher arrest rates? Proof of racism. More blacks are let off without a warning? More proof of racism.
  
  And if fewer blacks were let off without a warning? I'll let you guess how that would be interpreted.

Go read the entire article. It's an amazing piece of writing and we're surprised it ever saw the light of day. Seriously.

Helicopter Up and Running?

Helicopter story out of Markham. We remember someone telling us that the CPD chopper was going to be utilized in "sharing agreements" county wide because County put up some of the operating cash. And this article quotes a CPD sergeant:

• Chicago Police, with help from the Cook County sheriff's office, used a helicopter equipped with thermal imaging to find a suspect in an early-morning police shooting in Markham.

  It was the first of two helicopter busts Saturday.

  The man, who had fled after the shooting, was hiding in a heavily wooded area when he was found and arrested after 1 a.m. Saturday.

  Spotting the suspect in the dark without the chopper "would have been very hard," said Chicago Police Sgt. Raul Moreno, with the department's helicopter task force. "There were [officers] right by him, and they couldn't find him."

Don't get us wrong, we're happy to have a helicopter. But we heard that for every hour of air time, this thing needs 8 hours of down time for maintenance. Is this typical of helicopters? Anyone from the military care to comment? It seems a bit over the top. Even Paris Hilton isn't this high maintenance.

St. Jude Coverage

And once again, the media doesn't disappoint our low expectations.

Channel 7 has a three line story. Three lines. They can run billions of electrons worth for the Abbate crap, but dead cops? Three lines and one picture. Wow.

Channel 2 does a decent story and video.

As of post time, the Sun Times, Tribune and Channel 5 had nothing up. So thanks for nothing Chicago media - perhaps you could run the Abbate video over some St. Jude high lights tonight some time?

St. Jude March

Followed by a football game. What's not to love?

Anyway, best wishes for a decent bit a weather and a safe march. Good luck to the Enforcers for the game right afterwards.

We'll be at most of the events today, so posting is going to be light.

Hekyll and Jeckyl

Channel 2 continues it's schizophrenic ways, bashing the police and running the Abbate video three times a night minimum and then they do a nice piece on the "Run to Remember"

• More than 2,000 people took to the lakefront Saturday to honor Chicago�s fallen police officers as part of the Run to Remember.
• The third annual 5K event stepped off at 8 a.m. Saturday. An estimated 2,200 people participated in the race and other events, which are centered at the new Gold Star Memorial Park near the Museum Campus.
• The third annual 5K event stepped off at 8 a.m. Saturday. An estimated 2,200 people participated in the race and other events, which are centered at the new Gold Star Memorial Park near the Museum Campus.

Cinco de Mayo

Happy Fifth of Mayonnaise!

More Scandal

As broken here in the comments sections about 3 days ago:

• A Chicago police officer was relieved of his duties Friday after being implicated in a debit card scheme. Three other men have been charged with withdrawing money from ATMs using stolen cards.

Channel 2, 5 and 7 cover. When will some people ever learn?

More Red Light Cameras

Anyone got the lawsuit together for these things? They've been found unconstitutional everywhere a suit has been filed. Let's get the ball rolling people.

• Six more cameras will be put in place Monday to nab drivers who blow through red lights in Chicago, officials announced Friday, adding that crashes have fallen 23 percent since the first cameras were installed several years ago.
• The six new locations where cameras will be activated Monday are 79th Street and Western Avenue; 79th and Cottage Grove Avenue/Stony Island Avenue; 79th and South Chicago Avenue; Chicago and Western Avenues; 51st Street and South Western Boulevard; and Belmont and Austin Avenues, officials said.

Watch out 79th Street drivers.

OPS Stands Alone

Coverage at Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times and the Tribune.

• Mayor Richard Daley today announced plans for a "total restructuring" of the office that investigates police officers, removing it from control of the Chicago Police Department.
  
  The office would report directly to the mayor and have subpoena power, something the current office does not have, Daley said.

We have a question about this proposal. And it pains us to have to ask it because it will most likely have to be answered by a lawyer - and as a matter of policy, we greatly dislike lawyers and have advocated that they be drowned at birth. Failing that, we recommend drowning upon graduation. Anyway here it goes:

• If this "new" entity has subpoena powers, at what point do 5th Amendment protections kick in?

Under current Department rules, you can be ordered to answer questions. Being ordered to answer will subject you to administrative discipline, but what you say supposedly cannot be used against you criminally. Being subject to subpoena would seem to negate Department discipline being a factor and even the Department rule compelling you to answer.

Any lawyers not currently learning to breathe underwater care to answer?

Homicide Rate Climbs by 80

It's amazing they got anyone to admit anything at all:

• Changes are taking place at the Chicago Police Department, thanks to an exclusive 2 Investigators story last year.
  
  CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman questioned if the police department was fudging the murder rate by hiding homicides. Now several cases are getting a second look.
  
  A raging fire killed three people and a woman's body was found in a South Side swamp.
  
  Those are just four of about 80 cases CBS 2 wanted reviewed by the police department. That's because they were apparently not classified properly as homicides despite recommendations by the medical examiner.

Ok, so they're reclassifying 4, not 80. But we're sure they're giving their full attention to the other 76 cases, right? As pointed out in a previous comment section, this quote is priceless:

• As for police officers who confided to us that there is pressure to hide homicides, Grau said "The people that are talking to you, I wish they'd talk to me, because I would certainly rectify that."

Rectify that by pulling their tongues out through their rectums no doubt. Remember, a scandal isn't a scandal until the press hears about it. Of course, if the press is a bunch of panty waisted candy asses in the mayor's pocket, a scandal isn't a scandal even then.

Emil - You Unmitigated Whore

Hilarious hi jinks:

• At the same time Senate President Emil Jones went to unusual lengths to block a Commonwealth Edison rate freeze, his stepson's computer-consulting firm was on the payroll of the utility's corporate parent.

  Late Wednesday, a top Jones aide said the Senate leader was unaware of his stepson's utility deal until being told of it by the Chicago Sun-Times.

At least we know why he fought so hard and used a parliamentary maneuver that had been used maybe once in the past 125 years to undercut his own party members.

Brown's Chicken Trial

We followed some of the defense arguments with an amused eye:

• Even if the lab tech admitted to not wearing gloves while handling the half eaten chicken dinner that ties Juan Luna to the crime scene, we didn't hear anyone from the defense explain how the lab tech managed to get a hold of Luna's DNA with which to contaminate a food sample saved for over 10 years.

Frankly, Luna's confession ought to sink his entire defense. The only question that should be asked now is how high do they set the amperage on Ol' Sparky?

(Yes, we know that Illinois uses lethal injection - it's a joke people)

Fran Downplays Scandal

Once again, one of our favorite Sun Times reporters carries water for the mayor, his people, and a completely corrupt testing process:

• The oral portion of a 2006 Chicago Police lieutenant's exam will be offered for a second time in response to "a number of complaints" from test-takers about equipment malfunctions.

  "While the number of applicants who expressed concern is relatively small in comparison to the total number of applicants who participated in the oral portion of the exam, our goal is to ensure that the overall exam is administered in a fair and consistent manner," Human Resources Commissioner Jacqueline King said in a press release.

  The oral exam uses a CD, a laptop computer and a tape recorder. Some lieutenant hopefuls complained that the CD started or stopped at the wrong time, adversely affecting their performance.

That isn't a portion of the article - that 's the whole damn article. From what we've been publishing here, we must be light years ahead of any truly investigative journalism in this town. Nothing about how proctors screwed up, nothing about how it's taken months upon months to come up with this BS solution, nothing about how no one is going to find out where they stand before deciding whether or not to re-take the test, and nothing about how everyone has the questions in hand and the supposed "spontaneity" and thinking on your feet has completely gone out the window.

Un-freaking-believable.

Out of Town Events

For all you folks headed to DC:

A Night Out in Washington D.C.
with Illinois Law Enforcement

Who: All Law Enforcement Officers, Friends and Family

Where: Cantina Marina; 600 Water St. S/W
Washington DC **Accessible by public transportation

When: Monday May 14, 2007
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

What: A Social Evening Including: Build your own Tacos, Quesadillas, Chips and Queso and Beer Wine Coffee, Iced Tea and Soda

$50 per person

A limited amount of space is available so ensure a spot quickly.
NO TICKETS WILL BE SOLD IN D.C.

A portion of the proceeds will go to surviving families.

For more information, contact "PoliceWeek2007@aol.com

Nice Job by SWAT

No one hurt. At least, no one besides the victim of the original shooting:

• A four-hour standoff ended early Wednesday morning when a suspect in a deadly shooting surrendered to police. Officials said the suspect barricaded himself inside the building in the 6200-block of N. Claremont early Wednesday morning after fatally shooting another man outside. He was taken into custody just before 5:30 a.m.

  Police said he was holed up in an apartment with a woman for more than four hours. It is not clear if the woman knew the gunman or was taken hostage. The building's landlord said the suspect rented an apartment in the building. A SWAT team used a debilitating agent similar to pepper spray to force the suspect out.

Good job.

Nanny State Antics

What's the purpose of going to a bar if you can't smoke?

Oh yeah, the alcohol. But still, this would seem to be a little bit overboard:

• Get ready to snuff out those cigarettes. Illinois lawmakers have voted to ban smoking in bars, restaurants and other public workplaces.
• The legislation passed the House 73-42 Tuesday and now goes to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who supports the ban "enthusiastically." If he signs the measure, the smoking restrictions would take effect Jan. 1 and make Illinois the 19th state the country to impose such a ban.

Why can't the market place decide this? Why do we need to have decisions that ought to be left up to business owners and the public at large be legislated by busybodies who end up wasting more taxpayer dollars through BS like this?

If we want to hang out at a bar, we know there might be smokers there. And that's our choice to go in, order a beer and hang out in a certain atmosphere. It's also a choice made by those who work there. If a business owner can't hire waitstaff because of smoking, then the business owner will adjust to the economic realities of a situation. If patrons stop going to a certain joint because they don't like the way their clothes smell, a business will adapt. It's called economic reality and a free market will regulate itself into balance. Blanket legislation like this has and will continue to do more harm than good.

How is the governor proposing to enforce all these new bans anyway?

Tax and Spend Again

It's amazing that the main stream media hasn't covered this story in it's entirety. Good thing Captain's Quarters does:

• Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said yesterday raising taxes for higher-income families back to their levels under the Clinton administration is a floor, not a ceiling, and he would consider even higher tax increases.

  "What I believe is the starting place is to go back to the Clinton levels," Mr. Edwards told reporters after addressing the 2,000 delegates to California's state Democratic Party convention. ...

So even though at current tax levels, the deficit will disappear around the time Bush leaves office, Edwards is campaigning on a platform of raising taxes and increasing spending which, as Carter, Bush Sr. and Clinton proved, devastates the economy. We guess that the media remembers how well Mondale did after promising to raise taxes and is keeping a lid on Edwards' brush with insanity.

Fucked Up Lieutenants Test

This is ridiculous. Someone just burned a $4 million dollar test. Here's how we heard it went down - someone closer to the investigation can fill in the finer points:

• Part 2 of the exam consisted of an "Oral Board." Test takers were shown a short clip and then asked to respond to the clip within a set time limit. A dozen or so clips were shown with time to answer the scenarios between each clip
• Some proctor misunderstood the directions and told test takers that they had to watch the entire series of video clips one after the other and then answer all the questions one after the other at the end of the entire run
• Sergeants who protested were told they could either perform the test as administered (whether wrong or not) or they could leave the testing area and receive ZERO credit for Part 2 of the exam. Needless to say, they took the test, and we heard at least one lawsuit has been filed as of this evening.

Today, this FAX came out:

• Fax Message # 071913 01 May 07
  
  POLICE LIEUTENANT EXAMINATION ANNOUNCEMENT ***ASSESSMENT EXERCISE RE-TEST**
  
  
  Note: The re-test will consist of the same questions administered on Jan. 6,2007. For those taking the re-test on June 23, 2007, the evaluation of the oral portion of Assessment Exercise will be based on your June 23, 2007 performance; your Jan. 6, 2007 performance will not be evaluated. For those that choose not to re-test on June 23, 2007, the evaluation of the oral portion of the Assessment Exercise will be based on your Jan. 6, 2007 performance.

A re-test. Consisting of the EXACT same questions that were already given. Hell, if we had the questions 7 weeks in advance to every promotional test we've ever been eligible for, we'd be Captains at least a year ago.

How is this not going to be a HUGE federal lawsuit? How is it that Noelle Brennan, the Federal oversight person in charge of all manner of promotions and hiring NOT blasting the City and it's testing firm (was it Ernst & Young again?) First up, anyone who has any doubts whatsoever that they may have missed a certain question or two damn well better sign up for this "do-over." And anyone who thinks they might be able to "tweak" an answer or two for a few extra bonus points better do so.

This is a fuck up of monumental proportions. How anyone can even consider this anything resembling a legit test is beyond us. Does this feed into the rumors we heard a few years ago that the Department was seriously looking into making all Lieutenant promotions by "merit" and resumes like Captain promotions?

The mind boggles. Hello? Investigative media? $4 million dollars and who knows how many lawyers fees will be eaten up by this one. Anyone?

UPDATE: Who wants to bet on the possibility that there might be a copy of a certain DVD containing, oh let's just say, SEVEN scenarios, that somehow made it out of the control of the testing firm and is currently circulating amongst test takers? After all, this is Chicago.

Biased Headline of the Day

This is nothing short of craven liberal bullshit.

• Cops unleashed in high-speed chases
  D.C. | Court lets police put suspects in danger of death -- but departments may not change practices

This headline is from the Associated Press and published in the Sun Times.

We haven't been unleashed. We don't "put suspects in danger of death." We've just been granted protection from frivolous lawsuits filed by persons who were injured while breaking the law themselves. We'd like to see the Sun Times print a clarification or retraction of this crap, but we'd be howling at the moon. Thank god we don't spend a dime on their rag.

Traffic Stop Study BS

Guess what? No one profiles!

• Black, Hispanic and white drivers are equally likely to be pulled over by police, but blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched and arrested, a federal study found.

Imagine that - everyone gets pulled over at equal rates - just not equal to their percentage of the population, which is where the liberals make their arguments.

• Police were much more likely to threaten or use force against blacks and Hispanics than against whites in any encounter, whether at a traffic stop or elsewhere, according to the Justice Department.

Hmmm, why would that be? Why would a police officer have to threaten to use force against certain groups? Let's hop over to the "incarceration rates" webpage and see what we find.

My my my. RightWingNews summarizes the entire argument thus:

• Put another way, if the police stop 100 blacks, 100 whites, and 100 Hispanics, it's highly likely that there will be more criminals amongst the 100 blacks or 100 Hispanics than the 100 whites. And if there are more people breaking the law in a particular group, there will be more searches, more arrests, and more threats of force against that group by the police.

Can we finally stop with those stupid TSSS stickers (courtesy of the Obama race baiting machine)?

OPS Out of the Loop

First Sneed hints at it:

• Watch for Mayor Daley to announce a dramatic twist on the way cops are investigated.

  Outraged by police brutality scandals, Daley plans to permanently sever the Office of Professional Standards -- which probes reports of police abuse -- from the Chicago Police Department!

  • • Background: Daley had already appointed an expert panel, which included Police Supt. Terry Hillard, to help select the next head of OPS and offer advice on how to resolve OPS distrust.

  • • The kicker: But Sneed hears Daley ran up against a stumbling block in finding someone with credibility to reform OPS: "There is stiff competition out there and applicants want assurances the agency is independent of politics and the Police Department," a City Hall source said.

  • • One side: Monique Bond, a police spokeswoman, stated in April that OPS comprises civilian investigators and was a separate entity.

  • • The flip side: However, the OPS budget is part of the Chicago Police Department -- and the head of OPS reports to the Chicago Police Department.

Then the Sun Times publishes an article on it:

• The Office of Professional Standards would be a separate agency no longer under the jurisdiction of the Chicago Police Department under a mayoral plan in the works to restore confidence in reviews of police wrongdoing.

  Details of the ordinance -- which Mayor Daley plans to introduce at next week's City Council meeting -- are still being finalized. It was not clear whether the new agency would rise to the level of independent civilian review that community activists want.

  But one thing is certain: The Police Department and OPS are getting divorced.

Opinions? We don't have one yet. On one hand, getting OPS out of the Department orbit might be a good thing - especially if they don't have subpoena power and are as incompetent as usual. On the other hand, anything Pfleger touches is obviously suspect and tainted by his agenda. We'll be carrying water pistols and feather dusters if he's involved.

Local Police Memorial Events

Got a bunch of things coming up, here and elsewhere, to kick off Police Memorial Week.

• On 02 May in Springfield the night before the Memorial. The Chicago Police Soccer Team are playing the St. Louis Police Soccer Team in a charity match at the University of Illinois at Springfield Kiwanis Stadium to benefit C.O.P.S. Concerns for Police survivors of Illinois. The game features both collegiate and professionally experienced players on both sides which should make for a interesting game. For directions to the stadium and further details please check www.cpdsoccer.com
• The Run to Remember on 05 May - hop over to their website to see an amusing little video starring the Superintendent - the out takes at the end are humorous as a horse from the Mounted Unit hits the Medical Roll
  
• Following the St. Jude March on 06 May, CPD Enforcers vs Philadelphia Blue Flame. Game at Soldier Field, kickoff at 1030 hours. $10.00 admission, all proceeds go to Chicago Police Memorial, Gold Star families, and Mercy Home for Boys and Girls. Make a day of it and stay by the lakefront for the game

Any other events? Post them in the comments section.

Supreme Court Ruling

Interesting:

• The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a police officer cannot be held liable for ramming a fleeing car during a high-speed chase, forcing the vehicle off the road and resulting in severe injury or even death for the driver.

  By an 8-1 vote, the high court ruled the officer's conduct reasonable because the car chase initiated by the suspect posed a substantial and immediate risk of serious physical injury to others.

Not quite a blanket endorsement of chases and not full immunization from the consequences of a chase, but interesting none the less.

The ruling appears to immunize police officers from the liability of injuries suffered by the offender during the course of his unlawful actions to avoid apprehension and prosecution. It would appear to leave in place the punitive damages being leveled against the officer and the municipality for injuries suffered by bystanders to the chase events.

Don't expect any changes in policy from this one. You're still on the hook if the jagoff plows into a car full of nuns. You just don't have to pay for his busted up ass.

Hints of Bigger Things

The Rezko scandal may yet bring the Obama campaign to its knees. The national media is getting whiffs that all isn't on the up-and-up in Illinois politics and Obama is just another cog in the Chicago Machine. But this article in the Sun Times regarding the latest in Rezko's shady dealings really ought to get bigger play:

• Four years after a company with ties to indicted political insider Tony Rezko landed a lucrative no-bid Cook County contract, there's no evidence the firm has done any work for the millions of dollars it has made.

  Crucial Communications is a minority-owned subcontractor on AT&T's pact to provide phone services at the county jail. But a recent audit shows the company has not submitted any documents showing what it has done for the more than $2 million it has received, other than help AT&T meet its minority contracting requirement.

Any investigative reporter worth their salt could dig up hundreds, of not thousands, of contracts like this that add untold MILLIONS of dollars to public works contracts, fleece taxpayers and serve only to feather the nests of connected political families and friends.

Example: You run a city Department. You need hundreds of widgets to keep something running. You do the research and find out that the ACME Company can supply you widgets for $1 apiece. Can you go out and buy 500 widgets at $1 per?

Hell no. The company doesn't kick in to the correct politicians or they might not even be based in the state. You have to go to a city approved "vendor" who will order the widgets for $1 per, but then re-sell them to the City at a significant markup - maybe $1.50 apiece or more. Then the vendor will make a "contribution" of some sort to various political entities, maybe $.25 per widget in order to continue being an approved vendor.

It's legalized bribery and it costs the taxpayers millions, maybe even billions over the years. And it isn't over widgets. It's over salt contracts, paper contracts, business equipment leasing, everything that keeps the bureaucracy running. The Hired Truck scandal is merely the most visible face of the hidden cost of doing business with the City.

It's unfortunate that a significant number of these companies, usually based out of a storefront office with an answering machine and no inventory, no supplies and no stock is used simply to increase "minority contracting requirements." Because the number of actual minorities who benefit from any of this sleight-of-hand is pretty much near zero.

Department Reveals Plans!

No, not the plans in the event of a terrorist attack. Everyone knows that plan doesn't really exist, because otherwise they'd train the first responders, right?

No, this is the plan for the immigration march today.

• Police revealed on Monday their plans on handling the crowds for an immigration rally that will be held on Tuesday.
• "Our No. 1 goal is public safety, and we encourage everyone while exercising their First Amendment rights to be respectful of others without interfering with their rights of movement," said Chicago Police Deputy Superintendent Charles Williams.
• According to a Chicago Police Department news release, the rally will begin at Union Park and then proceed eastbound on Washington Street from Union Park to Des Plaines Street, head southbound to Jackson Street, then eastbound to Columbus Drive. The march will then turn south and proceed to Grant Park's Hutchinson Field at Balboa Drive.

No word yet on where they'll be parking the deportation buses and trucks. It never ceases to amaze, amuse and appall us that persons in violation of any number of national, state and local laws are assumed to have rights granted to them by the First Amendment. Wouldn't one think that those who disregard and disobey the laws of this country wouldn't actually be covered by the protections of the Constitution?

Another Beating?

But this time, Cook County starting the incident and CPD allegedly joining in:

• Chicago photographer Dolores Robare claims she was beaten by two Chicago police officers and two Cook County Sheriff's deputies last August. Monday, she announced she is filing a civil lawsuit against the officers.
• The alleged beating took place on the city's North Side. Robare's attorney claims the pictures tell the story. Her bruised and swollen face reveal the affects of what she claims is a case of police brutality.
• Lawyer Lawrence Jackowiak says ... says the lawsuit is being filed eight months after the incident, because it took a long time to learn the names of the officers, not because he is trying to take advantage of public opinion following the two high-profile bar beating cases involving police officers in Chicago.

We'll call BS on the last statement - the publicity is EXACTLY why they're coming forward now. It's too bad that Cook County couldn't be bothered to complete some sort of arrest report for this incident and they're going to end up sticking some CPD people in a barrel over this. Watch yourselves on the scenes of some other Department's incidents people. Don't get stuck in the middle.

Where's That Damn Helmet?

Everyone got their riot helmets somewhere? We might need them again:

• The Chicago Bulls swept the defending NBA champion Miami Heat out of the playoffs, winning a postseason series for the first time since the Michael Jordan era.
  
  Ben Gordon scored 24 points, Luol Deng had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Chicago beat Miami 92-79 Sunday in Game 4 to finish off their first-round Eastern Conference series. The Bulls, who will face Detroit in the second round, became the first team to oust a defending champion in the opening playoff series since Phoenix did it to San Antonio in 2000.

The Bulls played a pretty decent season this past year, mostly under the national radar. National stories concentrated on their last 3 or 4 games where they fell from the #2 seed to the #5. But their dismantling of the Heat hints at a deep run in the playoffs.

Someone better make sure the Gas Teams are prepped.

Immigrant March

Tuesday, hundreds, if not thousands of law breakers will be marching downtown in an attempt to bully the law abiding citizenry, law enforcement and the political powers into giving them all sorts of stuff - amnesty, driver's licenses, free health care, free schooling, etc.

And nothing will be done about it.

The media (the Sun Times in particular) attempts to blur the lines between people who live by the law and those who chose to ignore it by publishing a liberal guilt-ridden piece about a family whose matriarch will probably die of terminal colon cancer if she stops getting treatment at an unnamed university hospital. The article takes pains to note that the family has worked out a payment plan with the hospital, but that is unique - most illegals don't even bother to make the effort and that's where the largest problems lie.

Someone in past comments sections accused us of being nazis and racists for advocating that immigrants arrive in this country legally and through proper channels. We'd just like to say, "Huh?" Either argue facts or don't comment. Illegal means ILLEGAL. Laws have been broken, consequences must follow. Otherwise, what's the point of having any laws?

Nice Seizure at O'Hare

By US Customs.

• U.S. Customs agents at O'Hare International Airport said they made one of the biggest drug busts in Chicago aviation history. Late Saturday night, officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said they found more than 700 pounds of cocaine inside the cargo compartment of an AeroMexico flight from Guadalajara, Mexico.

Does anyone have any idea how much coke and heroin is estimated to run through Chicago? Truck, car and airplane traffic? Has there ever been a realistic study? The totals have to be huge because even after a good size seizure like this one the street price remains steady, meaning the cartel doesn't really feel the hit. And it's only going to get worse when the trucks from Mexico are allowed to travel within the US borders.

Anyone from Narcotics have any idea?

What's Up With Sergeants?

Seems a bunch of Sergeants from the west side are making headlines:

• Wednesday from the Tribune: Two people were injured Wednesday afternoon after a fire at an apartment building on Chicago's Lower West Side, authorities said.
  
  The blaze broke out about 12:30 p.m. in a three-story brick building in the 1600 block of West 21st Street in the city's Pilsen neighborhood, Fire Department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez said. A CPD Sergeant on viewed the fire and rescued two people from the flames
• Friday in the Sun Times: A Sergeant and 5 PO's credited with pulling a crash victim out of his burning car seconds before it was completely engulfed by flames
• Saturday morning from Channel 5: A uniformed police sergeant driving in a marked car saw two armed men forcing another man to lay on the hood of a car in the gas station's parking lot, police said. The alleged victim yelled for help and said the two men were trying to rob him (more coverage at Channel 7 and the Sun Times.) Sergeant shoots the subject twice.

Nice to see some good news making headlines.

Kill All the Lawyers

Seriously.

• The family of a 17-year-old north suburban girl who fell to her death through a warehouse skylight last weekend has won a court order to preserve the accident scene.
• Attorney Daniel Kotin is representing the family. He says they want to know who was with the girl the night of the accident, who owns the warehouse and who provided alcohol to the girl and her friends.

All well and good if they want to find out who served this girl alcohol and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. Bravo. But you know that even if someone is prosecuted criminally, that isn't going to provide any amount of "blood money" to replace a lost daughter.

• Kotin says he wants to determine whether the skylight met city building code standards.

Ah yes, sue the entity with the deepest pockets - the City. Meaning you and us. Great. A minor child can come to town, get drunk on private property, trespass on someone else's private property, get killed WHILE TRESPASSING on private property and now the taxpayers of the City of Chicago (of which we are members) can be on the hook for potential damages because a skylight of a warehouse that might be decades old might not be up to code?

We really need to see stacks and stacks of dead lawyers around here.

Howard Dean is a Turd

And he's running the democratic party:

• Democratic party chairman Howard Dean said on Thursday that Rudy Giuliani "personal life is a serious problem."
  
  Dean sent the warning on CNN's SITUATION ROOM with host Wolf Blitzer.
  
  BLITZER: Well, describe those character issues...
  
  DEAN: No, I'm not going to get into that stuff. I don't like attacking people on their personal lives, but I can assure you that in the Republican primary, given what went on in the 2000 Republican primary in South Carolina between George Bush and John McCain, those attacks will be made in the Republican Party.

He won't get into it, but he'll throw it out there regardless and hope someone else picks up on it. What a stroke.

More to the Story?

Channel 2 continues to try to blood out of a stone:

• Chicago police officer Catherine Doubek is under investigation for her role in Joe Rossi�s beating.
  
  As CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini reports, Doubek was stripped of her police powers Thursday night pending the investigation into the incident, but it took five months and the publicity of a CBS 2 videotape before that happened.
  
  Rossi says Doubek grilled him while the man she lives with, Jose Garcia, threw punches.

But do a number of comments by our readers point to other problems?

• HEY IAD ROSSI WANTED ON A INVESTIGATIVE ALERT YOU MAY WANT TO MAKE AN ARREST IF U INTERVIEW AGAIN HIM AGAIN. TAKING A CR NUMBER FROM WANTED FELONS WHAT A JOKE. ITS ALL MOB RELATED......
• From what I know about this incident, that prick got what he deserves then Maher has the nerve to say a search warrant should have been obtained to look for evidence of the crime. Well that couldn't happen because the prick never made himself available to the police to ascertain the location of occurrance but he sure made himself available to the media. When the fucker give the police a bad address in the begining then changes his phone number to make himself unavailable

So can anyone confirm an Investigative Alert on the "victim"? Or the lack of availability of the witness for a possible Search Warrant? And should this entire investigation fall apart, what kind of can of worms if the City opening up for officers to sue over wrongful suspension time and damage to reputations? Has anyone from Legal even ventured an opinion as to the rights of the accused? this is still America, right? Presumption of innocence and all that?

Hero Cops

Nice to see some good news finally. Good job guys:

• A Chicago police sergeant and two officers, with the assistance of some passersby, pulled a man who had been in an auto accident out of the car he was trapped in, seconds before it was consumed by flames early Friday in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Coverage at the Sun Times and Channel 7.

Hilarious Paragraph

This is just too funny:

• About 775 probationary teachers in Chicago public schools learned Friday they are losing their jobs in a purge that district leaders say could improve the quality of instruction in the system's most challenged schools.

The only thing that might improve Chicago Public Schools is a mass conflagration that happens to burn down 80% of the schools and 100% of the administrative staff. CPS is broken. We won't even mention the piles of brand new text books that we've seen sitting in warehouses or the unopened boxes of computers stashed at various locations around the city, while teachers with overcrowded classrooms struggle to get paper for kids to write on.

Just about the only place that can kill morale as fast as the CPD is the CPS.

Channel 2's Big Story

Kind of a dud actually.

• Rossi says he was repeatedly beaten inside a Bridgeport building by a group of thugs and he says Chicago police officer Catherine Doubek, did nothing to stop it.
  
  Records show Doubek lives with one of the alleged attackers, who accused Rossi of knowing about heavy equipment stolen from this business.
  
  "She sat there and said the beatings will stop when you tell us what we want to know,� Rossi said.

So the officer isn't accused of kidnapping, beating, or pretty much anything except sitting around while some unnamed offenders beat Rossi. Let's see - a kidnapping, construction equipment, duct taped to a chair, beaten, Bridgeport ... does anyone see any clues we could string together here? Anyone who isn't blind and ignorant of Chicago politics?

This was an Outfit job, plain and simple.

But of course, Channel 2 isn't going to say that. Some reporter might start getting calls in the middle of the night. Should Doubek's allegedly poor judgement in friends be overlooked? Of course not - give her the Rodriguez treatment the whole way if you can prove she was there, hanging with felons or Organized Crime figures. But to use her to slam the entire Department and entire investigative process? Give us a freaking break. No wonder Channel 2 had to drag the Abbate video back into the limelight. This is some shallow, dumb and weak investigating.

We did like how they demoted the Chief of Detectives though:

• Detective Maher confirmed Thursday that Catherine Doubek was stripped of her police powers and there is an investigation into the beating.

Wow - from Chief to D-2A in a single report. No wonder Zekman didn't have her name all over this crap - it's half assed at best.

Beating a Dead Horse

Or a live bartender. The story that just won't die:

• ABC7 news has learned that suspended Chicago police officer Anthony Abbate is about to face more criminal charges. Sources say Abbate will be named Friday in a 15 count indictment in connection with the beating of a female bartender caught on a tavern surveillance camera.

  Officer Abbate was stripped of his police powers and was initially charged with aggravated battery. The additional charges, sources say, will include official misconduct, conspiracy, intimidation and improper communication with a witness.

Wow. From a case that barely made "Simple Battery" to a 15 count indictment to be announced Friday. My, my, my. They must really really want to send a message to someone. Who though?

Did everyone catch the fact that Channel 2 didn't waste an opportunity to run this piece of tape over their "huge" story Thursday night? Media jackals tearing at a the bleeding reputation of the Department.

Justified Display of Force

Why bring out the long guns?

• The raid took place Tuesday because the feds said they thought Leija-Sanchez had conspired to murder one competitor a few weeks ago and was planning to kill another.

  That made authorities come armed, the feds said.

  "If this organization was operating on State Street, we would have done the same thing," said Elissa A. Brown, who runs the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations office in Chicago.

Nice comment by Ms. Brown to stomp on the allegations by "activists" that the Feds wouldn't have used an overwhelming display of force if it hadn't been in Little Village. The fact that someone made threats and phone calls regarding killing rival gangsters is exactly the reason the rifles were on scene. Too bad feeling got hurt. But always better to be safe than sorry.

Sergeant Class Coming

Evidently, calls are going out again for a Monday start. No word on class size. Whoever sees the list first, get some names up here.

Good luck.

UPDATE: Detective familiarization names

• Brian Hauser, Matthew Price, Andrew Block, Edward Delao, Robert Burrell, Christi Ford, Michelle Wilson, Rich Dowling, Michael Poppish, Roderick Gardner, Angel Novalez, Miguel De La Torre, Antoinette Ursitti, Patrick Haran, Tim Weiglein, Thomas Stack, Paul Sedlacek, Pat Donahue, Norman Kwong, Fran Vergara, Brian Callaghan, Dan Bartoli, Yvette Wooten, Mark Sedevic, Mike Nowacki, Steven Dziak, Sharon Huffman, Dan McGuire, Eric Cato, Alex Sanchez, Tom Horton, Greg Whitmore, William Gentile, Andre Hasan, Mike Saladino, Joe Schuler, Sheamus Mannion, Sam Dickerson Jr.

Actualy Detectives will be added to the list when the Sergeant positions are to be filled in about 10 to 12 weeks.

Channel 2 Tonight

They're promising some blockbuster stuff. Anyone have insight? Is it this Reader article revisited? Or is there something else brewing?

Hurt Feelings

Now the "undocumented" migrant worker advocates are bitching about the Feds carried out their raid, with rifles and black armor and lots of loud shouted orders (Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7).

Bullshit.

This forgery ring stands accused of conspiring to kill at least two people, not to mention that fact that they use the latin kings as security - and one only has to look at the trail of bodies laid at the doorstep of the kings to realize that an overpowering show of force is EXACTLY what is needed in a raid like this.

Plus, the Feds have always gone overboard on raids anyway. Why stop now?

Poll Results

In 24 hours of voting, a little over 600 people cast their ballots and Hiram Grau ran away with it - 242 votes accounting for 37% of the total.

So we guess we can rule out Hiram as the next Superintendent.

Why do anything that might make a segment of the Department happy?

Anyone got any rumors about the Sergeant class?

A Poll

Just for shits and giggles:

The next Superintendent will be ...
	Maher
	Kirby
	Skahill
	an as yet unnamed female
	Grau
	Keating
	some other political hack
	an outsider or civilian
pollcode.com free polls

No Mas?

Run this one by us again:

• Fake IDs are being sold with impunity up and down 26th Street in the 010th District. Even Pam Zekman is bragging about how her team was able to purchase ID's a year ago from the "mica men" in Little Village.
• The selling seems to be centered around Foto Estudio Munoz. We aren't sure if this is associated with the Foto Estudio Munoz that was owned and operated by Aldercreature Munoz mother back in the late 1990's that mysteriously burned to the ground around 2 years ago. One wouldn't be hard pressed to make that logistical leap as the aldercreature's mother was arrested on at least one occasion for producing fake IDs (charges were dropped that evening following certain phone calls.)
• Gang members make hundreds of thousands of dollars with the protection racket associated with selling these IDs.

This would seem to make this a criminal enterprise of rather large proportions. As American citizens and police officers, we would have to encourage this sort of behavior on the part of the Federal authorities. If we recall correctly, nineteen arab terrorists with something like seventy-six separate forged identification documents among them, crashed 4 civilian aircraft into buildings in New York, Washington DC and a field in Pennsylvania. That would seem to make the prosecution of forged IDs and related documents something of a national obligation of sorts, wouldn't it?

So why are these people protesting? (Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7)

• Anger, frustration and, ultimately, solidarity spilled into the streets of Little Village Tuesday afternoon. Chicago police only showed up after residents flooded 26th Stree and Albany Avenue. Participants held signs that said things like "no one is illegal." [No one is illegal? Then why are they selling these documents everywhere? - SCC]
• "Selling illegal papers to immigrants so we can work, basically. That's all we buy them for, is to work," said Little Village resident Luz Nolasco. "But apparently that's against the law and God forbid we help America!" [Um, exactly - IT'S AGAINST THE LAW! Dumbass. - SCC]
• "This is discrimination. This is unfair because the United States Of America is made out of immigrants," said area resident Carlota Trevino. "If they dont want Hispanics here, then everbody who has Mexican, German , Irish Swedish and Dutch, we all need to leave the country because this is the Indians' country that was stolen from them." [Discrimination by going against people who are here ILLEGALLY? Why does the lame-stream media even give these people a forum? Why expel people who went through the process legally? - SCC]
• "We are not here to stop anybody from enforcing the law. But there is common sense into this thing. Why do it in such a public way as to intimidate the people here in this community?" said Alderman George Cardenas, 12th Ward. [Aldercreature, this is common sense enforcement. Just because certain people decide to treat the entire expanse of 26th Street like some barrio flea market doesn't mean the laws of this country don't apply there. - SCC]
  

This should have been done years ago - and it was being done by a very small team of 010 District coppers - until rather large political feet were dropped on their efforts. And in the meantime, persons seeking illegal documentation to facilitate movement within this country, continued (and still continue) to acquire their fake IDs and plan to do us harm.

This is Rhetorical, Right?

The Sun Times article begins with this headline:

• Why Didn't City Hall Stop Him?

Reporter Tim Novak knows the answer to this question - it was he and Steve Warmbir who broke the Hired Truck scandal - but we'll answer it anyway:

• Because No One Wanted To!

Part One of the story is here. Too bad the national media is focusing on the "Obamessiah" coming to save the democratic party from the certain doom of Shrillary - there's a real story here that just might derail a presidential contender.

Burge Again

This is getting nutty:

• Legal and activist groups claim that a special prosecutor's probe into allegations of police torture under former police Commander Jon Burge was insufficient.
  
  As CBS 2's Kristyn Hartman reports, a highly critical report endorsed by more than 200 groups was released on Tuesday morning. The groups are petitioning for a federal investigation, and believe it's a very real possibility the U.S. Attorney could act where special prosecutors did not.

So this "activist group" can just march in with a completely separate report and demand investigations continue until someone somewhere comes up with a result they like? And that's hardly the most ridiculous point:

• Bowman said the major problems included:
• A lack of criminal indictments of anyone in the case;
• The failure to examine responsibility of the Cook County state's attorney's office that was then run by Mayor Richard M. Daley;
• And not acknowleding the systemic and racist nature of the torture.

Um...didn't the report find that the statute of limitations had expired? Therefore the criminal indictment point is moot. The mayor is on record denying over and over again that he knew anything about torture in Area 2. So be it on that count - more lawsuits aren't going to shake that tree. And acknowledging the torture was systemic and racist? Please. Systemic? Maybe. Racist? That would imply that Burge targeted members of a certain ethnic minority based simply on the color of their skin. Call us naive, but we're pretty sure that Burge targeted people who were probably described in the case reports. Racism is a stretch in this case.

Officer Down - Indiana

Out of South Bend:

• A police officer was killed and another wounded early Tuesday in a shootout with a gunman near a motel, authorities said.
  
  The officers were investigating a report of gunshots near the Wooden Indian Motel at 1:37 a.m., Police Chief Tom Fautz said.
  
  The gunman shot at the officers when they tried to apprehend him.
  
  The officers returned fire, fatally wounding the gunman, Fautz said.
  
  Cpl. Nick Polizzotto, 34, a nine-year veteran of the force, also died in the shooting, Fautz said.

Prayers for the fallen - especially this close to Police Memorial Month

Another Home Run

Mark Steyn writes what is probably the greatest argument for responsible gun ownership in a single paragraph in this past Sunday's Sun Times:

• I live in northern New England, which has a very low crime rate, in part because it has a high rate of gun ownership. We do have the occasional murder, however. A few years back, a couple of alienated loser teens from a small Vermont town decided they were going to kill somebody, steal his ATM cards, and go to Australia. So they went to a remote house in the woods a couple of towns away, knocked on the door, and said their car had broken down. The guy thought their story smelled funny so he picked up his Glock and told 'em to get lost. So they concocted a better story, and pretended to be students doing an environmental survey. Unfortunately, the next old coot in the woods was sick of environmentalists and chased 'em away. Eventually they figured they could spend months knocking on doors in rural Vermont and New Hampshire and seeing nothing for their pains but cranky guys in plaid leveling both barrels through the screen door. So even these idiots worked it out: Where's the nearest place around here where you're most likely to encounter gullible defenseless types who have foresworn all means of resistance? Answer: Dartmouth College. So they drove over the Connecticut River, rang the doorbell, and brutally murdered a couple of well-meaning liberal professors. Two depraved misfits of crushing stupidity (to judge from their diaries) had nevertheless identified precisely the easiest murder victims in the twin-state area. To promote vulnerability as a moral virtue is not merely foolish. Like the new Yale props department policy, it signals to everyone that you're not in the real world.

Go read the whole thing. Steyn hits another home run for the Right.

Move Along - Nothing to See Here

You have to love when the guy in charge gets to set all the rules and make all the hiring decisions. We thought the mayor didn't handle the day-to-day stuff like this?

• Mayor Daley today turned down a request from his corruption-fighting inspector general for 10 more investigators to police hiring abuses in the wake of the city hiring scandal.
• Two weeks ago, Hoffman brought his New York City counterpart to Chicago to address the mayor’s cabinet in an effort to bolster his case for 10 more investigators.
• Today, the inspector general got his answer, but it was not the one he was looking for. The answer was no.

Imagine that. Why have any additional bodies poking around in the hiring process when Daley claims its all clean now? Would the mayor lie?

Exploding Mannequin

Safety Alert from Streamwood Illinois:

Probably just kids screwing around. But still, kids screwing around with potentially explosive materials that aren't always readily identifiable. Be careful until you know what you're dealing with.