It's Grau

From the Sun Times:

• For the second time in four years, an outsider will vie against two police insiders to become Chicago’s next police superintendent.

  The Chicago Police Board identified the insiders as Deputy Supt. Hiram Grau and Chief of Patrol Charles Williams. Grau is Hispanic. Williams is black.

  The third finalist is Thomas Belfiore, a 20-year veteran of the New York City Police Department.

Our favorite columnist (Hi Fran!) gives a little too much credence to the third finalist - Daley has never considered an outsider - at least not an outsider he can't control. We don't think the current crop of scandals are enough to drive him to this extreme. And a big thanks to Fran for pointing out that Grau is Hispanic and Williams is black - can't let qualifications get in the way of keeping that "balance."

Williams still has to answer for his speech to the supervisors undergoing Ethics Training when he allegedly told everyone that if he could have sent the Sergeant of "Jefferson Tap" fame any farther away from home after the dump (from 016 to 005), he would have. This allowed the entire incident to fester for months before the Abbate incident, which then directly led to Cline's resignation.

It would be hilarious if Williams actually won the top spot after causing the downfall of his predecessor through inaction concerning alleged misconduct - especially after Channel 7 is touting his IAD credentials in their report. The smart money is on Grau at this point.

This Could Be Interesting

They can't strike, but they can all call in a day off:

• There could be a lot of empty desks of Cook County prosecutors Tuesday. Hundreds of the attorneys planned a sick-out protesting a proposed pay freeze. Hundreds of the nearly 900 Cook County prosecutors could call in sick Tuesday. Instead of going to work, they will go to the Cook County Board meeting. They say it is a show of solidarity against a planned pay freeze.

  The states attorneys' office has already absorbed large budget cuts and massive layoffs. Meantime, they say they were promised cost of living pay raises, which they are still waiting on. Their counterparts in the public defender's office already got them, so they plan to protest directly to the county board Tuesday.

Maybe if they disbanded Felony Review and all the useless baggage that goes with it, there'd be money for all sorts of extravagant raises.

SCC Dating Service

This is the ONLY time we are doing this, mostly because we need something to fill the space tonight. From Craigslist, this little gem:

• Ok, this is my zillionth and last message to the hot looking male officer, who had the most captivating eyes I've ever seen. Do CPD officers not look on craigslist? Cause I've been really trying to get hold of you and dude, I do not spend time on craigslist but I do not know where else to look - I'm sure stopping by one of the police station is not a good idea or dialing an emegency number for that matter.
  
  You were dining at Morseland (In Rogers Park)- I was in the table next to you sipping martini. This happened little over a month ago(I might search for the receipt if you need the exact date), it was friday - a gorgous friday. You had a company of another officer - wish i could describe him but, my eyes were all fixated on you. I do not know if its appropriate to write down officer's name on craigslist - but I do have the other officer's name if you'd like.
  
  If there's any possibility it was you, and you'd like to know me, please drop me a line. Like I said, your eyes, I can't forget them. Hope I can look into those eyes and say what I want to say. I've never regreted not talking to someone so badly - please make me feel better by getting back asap.
  
  And dear other CPD officers or friends of officers, if you come across this message, will you be kind enough to pass the word around. I'm sure all of us know what a missed connection is like - this one is really bad.

We figure she's describing Seiser, because we know that no one ever poaches in Seiser's territory.

SCC Plays Carnac

We will now predict an upcoming memo, directive, AdMin FAX, all call message or General Order to be read at all roll calls for the next week or so:

• Fire Hydrant enforcement

After all - it's money in the bank:

• A 4-year-old boy died Sunday afternoon after being struck by an SUV while playing in an open fire hydrant in the Englewood neighborhood.

  The driver of the SUV did not flee the scene, and received two driving citations.

  The child was playing in the 6000 block of South May Street when an SUV struck him about 2:50 p.m., according to Fire Media Affairs Spokesman

The quaint and dangerous neighborhood tradition of tossing a few tires over a fire plug, propping a 2-by-6 against one of the uncapped outlets, finding a monkey wrench and a magnet (or a sledge hammer) have once again resulted in a death. The hell with the property damage to surrounding residences, the lack of water pressure to the rest of the neighborhood in case of a fire, the fine tradition of parental supervision and complete disregard for the law. Anyone think Jesse and Meeks are going to march?

Englewood must be so proud.

UPDATE: Read the Channel 7 article we linked to:

• Mathis admits she is the one who opened the hydrant and gathered all the kids to play in it. Englewood residents say on hot days it's the only option for kids.

  "We've been doing it for years and no child has ever gotten hit," said neighbor Kita Weathers. "Kids have nothing to do. They play in fire hydrant."

So this woman is complicit in an involuntary homicide along with the Criminal Damage to the hydrant. As to the kids having nothing to do, what the hell is Daley spending all our tax money on if he isn't buying votes with parks and pools and day camps and all sorts of crap. Sounds more like the parents are too damn lazy to actually find something for the kids to do.

Homicide Rate

Steady, but...

• Six months into the year, homicides in the city are holding even with last year, but the number of shootings decreased sharply.

  Homicides are at 211 this year, compared with 212 last year, but officials say the number of shootings has dropped from 834 at this time last year to 694 this year.

  Chicago Police Supt. Phil Cline credits this to the department's strategic approach over the last several years of analyzing crime daily and immediately deploying resources to trouble spots.

Homicide rate steady, but shootings down almost 150 incidents. We aren't math wizards, but we figure this means one of two things:

• either the hospitals aren't saving as many as they used to, or
• shooters are getting more accurate.

Whatever the correlation, it would appear that we have reached the point of diminishing returns - that is to say that the Department (and the political administration) has reached the point where they've cut manpower as far as they can on the front lines and are able to maintain a steady homicide rate over the course of three years (2005 and 2006 were within 2 homicides of each other and this year we are within 1 of last year's rate.) At some point, the City is going to have to accept that 3 million people cannot live in close proximity with one another without 450 or so homicides occurring during any given year.

How about this for a tin foil hat conspiracy theory - someday, the Chicago Machine will be able to manipulate the homicide rate up or down depending if they want to instill unease in the populace or show the voters how tough they can actually be on crime.

UPDATE: Someone in the comments section is calling our statements ignorant:

• What a ignorant statement. Check out all the cities around the world with more than 3 million people and you find that all of them, including shitholes in South America and Mexico, CAN support more thatn 3 million people WITHOUT having anywhere near 450 murders a year. Tokyo has over 12 million people. The number of murders that occured there last year: 64.
  
  It the stupid gun laws in this country that enables thugs to quickly, easily and cheaply kill people.

Ok, maybe our statement was overly broad. Perhaps we should have refined it slightly - "3 million people cannot live in close proximity with one another under current conditions without 450 or so homicides occurring during any given year." But if you want to see a prime example of cherry-picking facts to fit an anti-gun argument, look no further than our critic. For example:

• Johannesburg - Population 3 million - 1000 homicides per year
• Moscow - Population 12 million - 1015 homicides in 2006
  
• Rio de Janeiro - Population 6 million - between 29,000 and 35,000 every year this century

We can cherry pick statistics too. Do we really need to go on? Some of these cities have the army or the equivalent of our national guard patrolling the streets.

BINGO!

From an anonymous poster:

• Nothing new about the cameras, they are worthless. Put up a camera in the ghetto and the only thing you accomplish is driving the dealers deeper into the neighborhood, away from the prying eye. Put cameras up in the urban areas and you get sensational video of things getting blown up. Remember the videos of the bombings in Spain and London? Great footage, not an ounce of prevention. You think a suicide bomber cares that he is caught on tape blowing himself up? No, the footage actually promotes his cause. You think we need cameras for a successful prosecution? The odds that anyone can be positively ID'ed by one of these camera images is slim at best. Cameras do not prevent shit. The public has been bamboozled into thinking these things actually do anything but make for great news clips. The same clown who fleeced the CPD is now the same clown that brought his act to CTA. Smoke and mirrors on the taxpayers dime.

This writer nails just about everything we've been trying to say about video surveillance for a while now. These cameras only provide the illusion of security and supply the nightly news with spectacular footage of the failures of actually having trained police on the ground.

Poor Huberman

Ron is having a bad couple of days with his trains:

• A man threatening to jump from a CTA viaduct onto Archer Avenue on Saturday night caused a shutdown on the Red Line, and the delay aboard two sweltering trains eventually sent 16 people to four area hospitals, fire officials said.
  
  Four of the ill passengers, including a pregnant woman, were taken to hospitals in serious condition, but neither fire nor CTA officials knew their conditions on Sunday, or whether they had been released.

A long time ago, CTA evacuation procedures were explained to us. Obviously, the third rail is dangerous place to be. When the people running the system are ordered to shut down a section, they usually take down a few miles of track just to be sure. But one would think that perhaps a CTA supervisor with some basic knowledge of the rail system might be able to contact the main switching stations and power up unaffected portions of the electrified rail and get the trains full of stranded passengers back to the nearest station at the very least so as to avoid sending dozens of people to the hospital suffering from the heat or, even worse, having someone fall off the elevated sections. And if that isn't feasible, some form of non electrical power to get the trains to a platform? Gasoline engines? Natural gas so as not to offend the mayor? Batteries?

A truck bomb goes off under the El in the Loop and the CTA, CFD and CPD can't get people off the trains promptly and safely? Talk about compounding a tragedy.

Something Fishy Going On?

OK, we know this place is like Rumor Central on steroids. BS flies fast and thick. A prime example in the comments about the new gun order:

• Anonymous said... The range training fee is to be about $100. The training will take place at Area 2. Your watch commander must sign off on it.

We can understand the training for an optional new weapon should be done off duty. This isn't a required change of equipment so no expectation of Department funded training is forthcoming. But what's this about a $100 range fee? We already have to give up two days off for training - now they want $100 too? Something smells about this one.

Everyone is jumping to conclusions on this event already and there isn't even an official published order yet. Let's everyone step back, take a deep breath, and wait for the signed order and training schedules to be published and see if this $100 fee is even part of the equation.

Cameras Fail to Prevent Crime

This story out of Vegas:

• A ''distressed'' gunman on a balcony at the New York-New York casino opened fire on gamblers below early Friday, wounding four people before he was tackled by off-duty military reservists. A fifth person was hurt in a crush of people fleeing the casino.
• The gunfire, which erupted around 12:45 a.m., touched off a human stampede as tourists and gamblers tried to get out of the line of bullets. As they ran from the building, they jumped over slot machines and knocked over chairs.

Las Vegas casino floors probably have more cameras per square inch than any place outside of various government intelligence agencies. You can't walk through a casino without being caught on video something like 50 times, probably a lot more. And yet somehow, a person was able to get a gun into a balcony over the floor, squeeze off 16 shots and wound 4 people before being tackled by 4 civilians.

This mope will be convicted of numerous counts and end up doing life in a Nevada prison thanks to the video footage taken during his spree, but the cameras didn't do a thing to prevent this. The only thing that would truly work is more security bodies out there on the scene.

Why do we bring this up? A letter we received from a reader:

• Dear SCC, Could you please keep harping on the manpower shortages still being experienced in the Districts? I work in the (deleted reference) and we are actually running the day watch with zero rapids every day and zero rapids on afternoons 3 or 4 times a week. This is unconscionable and someone is going to get badly hurt one of these days because there just isn't the manpower on the streets. And it isn't because too many people are taking the day off or the furlough percentages are out of whack. We just don't have the bodies in district - maybe it's the 67 people detailed out? We need bodies, not cameras and the softball camera watchers calling in drinkers in nearby alleys - this BS is killing us. Thanks.

This complaint isn't unique. It's a common story city wide and we're really surprised it hasn't ended up with some copper getting sent to the hospital because backup was a long way off. Beat integrity has gone out the window in a big way because there are no rapids to pick up the in progress jobs. We're hearing a lot of citizens complaining about never seeing the beat car around - and they aren't being told it's because the beat car is covering someone else's jobs or assisting somewhere far away.

Comments?

And Yet Another Shooting

At least we keep sending them to the hospital, instead of the other way around:

• Two Chicago Police officers who stopped to buy water at a gas station Friday morning allegedly witnessed a man firing shots at a passing car and eventually had to shoot the suspect, who was not seriously injured.

  The officers stopped at the station about 11 a.m., located at East 83rd Street and South Exchange Avenue, to buy water when they heard several rounds being fired, according to police News Affairs Assistant Director Pat Camden.

Once again, excellent job officers.

Finally

New Weapons Approved!

Via SecondCitySarge:

• I found this on the departments website.
  

  Striker-fired pistols manufactured by Smith and Wesson, Springfield Armory, and Glock have been approved
  
  The calibers of 9mm Luger (Parabellum), .40 S&W, and .45 ACP have been approved
  
  Department members will be allowed to transition to striker-fired pistols as their primary weapon after they have completed a voluntary transition course during off-duty hours
  
  Transition courses will consist of either 24 hours of instruction for revolver officers or 16 hours of instruction for semi-automatic officers
  
  Transition Courses are being planned for the last three months of 2007; a schedule of courses has not yet been posted
  
  Department members will not be allowed to carry a striker-fired pistol until they have either completed their basic recruit training with a striker-fired pistol or completed the required transition course
  
  Department members will not be required to transition to a new firing system
  
  Department members will be allowed to transition to a semi-automatic pistol as their primary weapon in lieu of their prescribed revolver

Anyone know what the hold up was? One of our Range persons have any insight?

Delay (Delay fixed!)

Having some technical issues with Blogger - posting may be delayed until the morning. Sorry about this.

NOTE: Technical issue resolved.

Swiping for Real?

From the Comments:

• OFF TOPIC: It is official, order to come out shortly. All CPD employees in ALL units are to swipe in AND out everyday. Order comes out either tomorrow or early next week.
  
  You knew it was coming...let the games begin

Can anyone verify?

If true, we foresee a bunch of issues:

• The lunch on the end has now become problematic. If you have to swipe out, will you have to justify missing your assigned lunch?
• Parade details, festival details, auto show details, Taste details, all sorts of details - if you are swiping in and out at the "Command Post," are these now a full 8 hour tour? Say goodbye to all the volunteers they used to get for these events - say hello to reverse seniority.
  
• The "early out" in special units has just ceased to exist. Teams cannot carry people on the sheets as being there if it isn't reflected on the swipe machine. Gun day? Gone. Award Ceremony as a tour? Gone? We won't even go into the old "double team days" that fell by the wayside years ago.

Let's at the most basic benefit that has just gone bye-bye. You do a favor for a supervisor, maybe volunteer for a late paper job, grab a couple movers, maybe write a curfew or three when the watch is down numbers. Your reward? Drop a slip for an hour on the end later that week and if nothing comes up, that's all she wrote.

Swiping out has just eliminated that little joy. If you swipe out early, that slip better be in to justify it. If you don't swipe out at all, there are bound to be repercussions at some point. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. There's only a few ways for this to play out:

• If you swipe out even 8 minutes late, somebody or a number of somebodies are going to file a large grievance for unpaid overtime, which they will probably win after 4 or 5 years.
• There will be a very large scandal of ID cards being traded/passed around for specialized units or teams attempting to keep the good old days around. The weak link here is that the one sucker who has to stick around and swipe out everyone else will end up losing his job for fraud.

Anyone have any facts? Any ideas? The most annoying thing about this whole situation is that the bosses implementing it are the ones who benefited from it for years and years. Now, we doubt they ever reach for that ID card when they walk in and out. Of course, this could all be bullshit.

Eek! A Gun!!!

This story is all over the news today:

• Channel 2 - A tourist was arrested today after trying to carry a loaded gun to the top of the Sears Tower. The woman, who lives in Tennessee, was stopped by security after she tried to pass through metal detectors. Security personel [sic] found a .38 caliber revolver in her purse.
• Channel 5 - Security stopped the 56-year-old woman as she went through a metal detector with a .38-caliber revolver in her purse, said Chicago police spokeswoman Monique Bond.
• Channel 7 - A tourist from Tennessee is under arrest after she tried to enter the Sears Tower with a loaded revolver. The 56-year-old woman wanted to visit the Skydeck, but security stopped her when she went through a metal detector with a 38-caliber revolver in her purse.

And every story has some variation on this statement:

• Tennessee allows its citizens to carry a handgun as long as they have a permit, and the woman, who was traveling with her husband, was unaware that she wasn't allowed to carry a handgun in the state of Illinois

It's not just a permit - it's an actual training course and live fire qualification to be allowed to carry in Tennessee. In fact, in something like 40 of 50 states, citizens are allowed to carry firearms. Not only that, Tennessee has reciprocity agreements with 29 other states that recognize each other's permits. Illinois isn't one of them however.

We realize that ignorance of the law isn't an excuse. But the efforts to charge this 56 year old woman who actually qualified with her weapon are shameful at the very least. Furthermore, as something like 40 of the 50 states have some sort of procedure to allow their citizens to carry firearms, we can only imagine that tens of millions of tourist dollars are being or will be lost in the future by killing the desire of a vast majority of people to visit Illinois and Chicago.

We don't expect everyone reading to agree with our position. But the vast majority of studies prove that guns in the hands of trained and licensed citizens do not end up killing people, do not end up being used in crimes and do not end up in accidental shootings. Sometimes they even end up saving lives where the police response is minutes or tens of minutes away. We know that many citizens of the "big city" look down on the "small town rubes" who like to be responsible for their own safety. And many small towners look with more than a little apprehension at the dangers of the big city. Let this woman go home, mail her the gun, and let her tell all her friends that Chicago isn't really a place they ought to visit. As more and more states allow some form of concealed or open carry, states like Illinois will notice a drop off of tourist dollars.

Problems at Taste

Someone stated in a previous comment section that the Department had to shut down the Taste a bit earlier than normal this past week because of a situation that nearly got out of control. Now we're reading in the comments about the unruly crowds, the gang bangers throwing up signs, the stupidity that always seems to surface when you get a million plus people in a small area.

Now we get this little item:

• An 18-year-old Southwest Side man has been charged Wednesday after a Chicago Police Deputy Superintendent made a dramatic arrest late Tuesday near the Taste of Chicago with the help of a Deputy Chief and other police officers.
• Chicago Police Dep. Supt. John Risley and Dep. Chief Michael McCotter were visiting police officers posted near 1 E. Jackson Blvd. at about 10:25 p.m. Risley saw a man "shifting and fidgeting" around his waistband and told the other officers the man might have a gun, according to police news affairs Officer Amina Greer.
• Risley, McCotter and the other officers approached the man for questioning, but the men attempted to run. One of the officers grabbed the man’s shirt and Risley grabbed a .380 caliber, semiautomatic gun from the man’s waistband, Greer said.

Didn't someone get shot right outside the Taste last year? Or was it the year before? More and more, it seems that the Taste is turning into a crappy place to go. How about some other stories the media isn't going to cover regarding the Taste since it's the mayor's baby.

Accountability?

Haven't we heard the mayor and his lackeys tossing around the word "responsibility" lately? Isn't the mayor quoted in the press lambasting parents to take responsibility for raising their kids properly, steering them away from gangs, stop shooting each other?

So, just out of curiosity, who ends up holding the bag for the 3rd of July fiasco brought to everyone by the CTA?

• Electrical problems on CTA tracks left thousands of elevated train riders -- the majority attending Taste of Chicago and pre-Fourth of July fireworks at Grant Park -- either trapped on cars or standing on platforms waiting for trains that were not moving.

  The elevated trains in the Loop stopped moving about 10:45 p.m. and didn't start again until nearly midnight, Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman Sheila Gregory said.

Who to blame. Who to blame. Aha!

• Newly appointed CTA President Ron Huberman was out working the scene. It took more than an hour to get the trains moving again, a difficult time for those waiting on board -- and for those waiting to board.

So why wasn't Huberman out there pushing the trains? Or pulling them? We guess you can't really blame Ron though - he has absolutely no experience actually running a transit system. He has almost no experience being a police officer either, but he still made exempt. This would be a fine example of what happens when you tend to neglect the infrastructure of a massive entity like the CTA and expect it to run anywhere near reliably when you need it to move a million people. Perhaps the mayor is to blame?

Silly Scotsmen

They love their soccer:

• A HERO cabbie who took on the Glasgow Airport terror suspects told yesterday how he booted one of them in the privates.

  Alex McIlveen, 45, kicked the man, whose body was in flames, so hard that he tore a tendon in his foot.

  But he said last night: "He didn't even flinch. I couldn't believe he didn't go down.

We don't know that we'd call him a hero for kicking a guy in the nads, but we aren't surprised the terrorist didn't go down as he's got third degree burns over something like 80% of his body - he's in a bit of pain right now and hopefully infection will set in and kill him shortly. Still, nice story.

Happy Fourth of July

Have a happy and safe celebration. Watch out for Commanders hiding in the bushes. We'll check in this evening after the smoke clears.

Attendence Ribbon Fallout

From the comments section:

• RE: SSC ATTENDANCE RIBBON
  
  RESPONSES FROM CFE TAGMEN
  July 2007
  
  Unfortunately, my input is not involved in the CPD ribbons. When a new one is issued I scramble to make/find it to sell aftermarket. Also, unfortunately, when I realized the similarity it crossed my mind that may not be a good idea, but I didn't say anything. Not that I would even have been able to, really. Reaching the person who makes these decisions is next to impossible. Perhaps, had we a better rapport, I might have mentioned this similarity and they might have changed it.
  
  Hindsight, you know. The first "uprising" I received was an email yesterday. Then later an officer had called to order nametags and I asked him about this and he said to look on Second City.
  
  I left a message for the person in the department that I sometimes have contact with, although he's out until July 23rd or so. I could try to contact someone above him, for what it's worth. In fact I will just send a fax and see what happens.
  
  Also, for the record, I have not sold any of these. I just put it on the site when it was approved but do not have stock of them. I don't think the department has issued them yet either so there's a good possibility this can be changed.
  
  Again, we never intended to insult or disrespect any Veteran, we're just one of the "little guys" trying to make a living, the Department, so far, does not buy these from us either, we sell them aftermarket. Please accept our apologies for unintended disrespect.
  
  Sincerely, Dona & Mike, CFE-Tagman.com

Hats off to Dona and Mike from CFE-Tagman.com for realizing what R&D hasn't realized so far.

Checkerboard Chic Gone?

When we started this site a couple of years ago, we thought we might happen to inspire some other astute individuals to kind of coalesce into an informal network of bloggers to keep everyone informed, amused and in the loop.

Unfortunately, we've now outlasted SecondCityRookie, SecondCityDick and now Checkerboard Chic. The dispatcher blogs post infrequently. Only our friend Rue St Michel and retired copper Paul Huebl (CrimeFile) maintain anything resembling a regular blogging schedule and the crookcountyasa blog is attempting to keep a schedule too.

Anyone know what happened to the Chic? Or any of the others? Pressure to shut down? No time? Lack of interest?

Biased Headline

Another winner from the supposedly unbiased press:

• Elderly man hurt in police shooting
  July 3, 2007
  BY NORMAN PARISH Staff Reporter
  A 75-year-old Chicago man was shot by police following a dispute with another man on the Southeast Side Monday.

  Jose Nava was in stable condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after being shot in the abdomen, police said.

  Police officers went to Nava's house about 4:19 p.m. on the 8900 block of South Baltimore and found a man inside sitting at a table pointing a gun at another man, a police spokeswoman said.

  Officers then told the man to "drop your weapon," but the man responded, "I'll kill you," the spokeswoman said. At least one police officer fired a shot at the man.

  But some of Nava's relatives dispute the police.

Guy holding a gun, pointing the gun at another individual and a verbal threat. Didn't they just give the Superintendent's Award of Valor to a SWAT going to killing a guy doing this exact same thing?

Another Shooting

And again, bad guy to hospital, cops home safe:

• A Chicago police officer shot and wounded a man who threatened to shoot the officer in a South Side apartment Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
  
  At about 4:19 p.m., police responded to a call about shots fired in the 8900 block of South Baltimore Avenue, said police spokeswoman Monique Bond.

Good job guys. Does anyone have the totals for the year? Is it just us or do officer involved shootings seem to be getting a little more play this year? Are they up?

Cooley Cameo

Connected mob lawyer and Cook County Court fixer Robert Cooley made a cameo appearance at the "Family Secrets" mob trial. He was asked to leave the courtroom by the judge who noticed the stir Cooley created by just walking in:

• Robert Cooley was a crooked lawyer with mob connections. Almost 20 years ago, he turned informant and helped send judges, aldermen and mobsters to prison. He showed up Monday at Chicago's current mob trial and was asked to leave. The judge did not explain why he asked Cooley to leave the courtroom but clearly given Cooley's role in past outfit trials he might be a distraction for some witnesses as well as the five defendants.

We're not big fans of lawyers in general, but we did read Cooley's book and it wasn't shy about naming names, including a number of people still active in the political scene. Ed Burke in particular didn't come off looking very well and the fact that Burke didn't sue leads one to conclude that everything Cooley said was probably true. Cooley ripped off another quotable one today too:

• He said the men on trial are not -- as alleged -- the outfit's modern day bosses. That person, he says, remains in the background, but still pulling the strings in Chicago.

  "There's somebody right now who has been run the city for a long time and I'm not talking about Mayor Daley but hopefully his day will come," Cooley said.

Hmmm. Interesting to say the least.

NOTE - post amended to reflect Cooley's non conviction

Warning! Beware 016

From one of our regular readers we get this little note:

• We were told at Roll Call today that the Commander will be riding around on the 4th of July. He will be paying special attention to parks and schools. Any police officer caught doing fireworks by him and a CR # will be obtained. I guess he said Fireman too. Better do your fireworks in front of your houses. He will be paying special attention to Hiawatha Park and Norwood Park

Is the Commander still that humorless guy from IAD? If so, it figures.

Guess What Time It Is?

Time to start calculating that retro check!

Seriously though. Every single City union contract expired at midnight on 30 June. CTA, CPD, CPS, Fire, various trade unions, all of them - somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty or more labor agreements.

We can only assume this is some sort of ploy by the City. Here's how we see it - everything expires at once, the City makes one blanket offer to one of the lesser unions and then uses that as a negotiating point (Well, this is what the pipe fitters settled for, so that's all you're going to get.)

This is exactly why a "me too" clause is sometimes a bad thing to have. As soon as a weak negotiator steps up, they drag everyone else down with them. If the FOP plays this the way they ought to, they'll disregard what anyone else settles for and only negotiate what has been granted in the past. It'll all end up in front of an arbitrator anyway since the City is under no pressure to negotiate - we cannot strike. That'll mean a 4% annual raise over the life of the contract and increases in health care costs. Figure 18 months minimum.

Support Gun Rights

Nice little essay that deserves front page coverage:

• by Marko @ munchkinwrangler
  Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.
  
  In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
  
  When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger,
  and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
  
  There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed. People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.
  
  Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.
  
  When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation...and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.
  
  "Quemadmoeum gladuis neminem occidit, occidentis telum est." (A sword is never a killer, it is a tool in the killer's hands.) - Lucius Annaeus Seneca, circa 45 AD

Note - post corrected for attribution

Perfect Attendence Ribbon

This would be very funny if it weren't a slap in the face of every single vet who served in Vietnam. From the "CFE Tagman" website, a site that sells CPD award ribbons and other supplies, we were directed to the newly created Perfect Attendance Ribbon:

We haven't read up on what the qualifications are to wear this thing, but if you head over to Google and type in "Vietnam Service Ribbon," you get this image displayed:

Amazing likeness, isn't it? A "Perfect Attendance" award is bad enough - what is this, grade school? But to make it look EXACTLY like the Vietnam Service Ribbon, especially when there are still a few hundred coppers who actually earned this military decoration still on the job, is just stupid.

Excuse Me Momma?

This has got to be among the most asinine comments we've ever heard uttered or seen published:

• The mother of a murdered Evanston Township High School football star Friday mourned a child who she said was taught to do the right thing, and called on other parents to do the same.
• Bell-Pickett said her son had been raised well, observing that, ironically, if she had raised her son to be a "thug" and "gang-banger," he might be still alive today.
• "He probably would have had a gun to shoot back," the mother said. "But I didn't raise him like that."

Wow. Talk about your really over-the-top anger displacement. Why not just say something even more completely off the wall?

• If I had raised my son to be a thug and a gangbanger, maybe he could have fathered half a dozen illegitimate kids to comfort me;
• If I had raised my son to be a thug and a gangbanger, maybe he could have published a few million albums to provide me with a comfortable old age;
• If I had raised my son to be a thug and a gangbanger, maybe he could have gotten a gun, shot at the police and been killed by them so I could sue the town of Evanston;

But to think that gangbanging would have given your son any type of future besides a few stints in County and maybe prison time is just bizarre. Sorry for your loss ma'am, but damn, what the hell?

Join the NRA

It can't hurt anything. And it might actually help if the mayor ever comes knocking at your door looking for various "arsenals" that are legal everywhere else but the People's Republic of Chicago.

Register here. $35 for the year.

And remember, there is no First Amendment without the Second.

And here's a site to register for the Illinois State Rifle Association.

More members, more voices to effect changes.

Violation of Bail Restrictions?

Isn't there something about not repeating the same behavior or is that only a city thing that reverends don't have to abide by?

• Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Michael Pfleger staged another protest outside a suburban gun shop Friday, less than one week after both were arrested for a similar demonstration.

  Now, Jackson and Pfleger have gained a high-powered supporter of their efforts outside Chuck's Gun Shop in Riverdale: Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline says the demonstrations bring much-needed attention to the firearms debate.

  There were no arrests in Thursday afternoon as marchers announced an expansion of their anti-gun shot crusade.

Great, now Phil feels the need to sound off on what is a completely LEGAL business enterprise outside of City limits.

And if in fact, the citizen up in 016 was "renting" out guns to gangsters, throw the book at him. But we've known too many stories about non existent C/I's and "J. Doe's" to completely believe anything coming out in the media or anywhere else for that matter. In fact, didn't the Department just revamp the entire Search Warrant/Consent to Search orders because a number of corroborating witnesses couldn't be located for a large number of Search Warrants? Isn't that why a supervisor has to meet, interview, and verify the existence of an informant?

Foiled Terrorist Plot

In London:

• Police in London's bustling nightclub and theater district on Friday defused a car bomb that could have killed hundreds after an ambulance crew spotted smoke coming from a Mercedes filled with a lethal mix of gasoline, propane and nails. Hours later, police confirmed a second explosives-rigged car was found nearby.

  The first car bomb, found near Piccadilly Circus, was powerful enough to have caused ''significant injury or loss of life'' at a time when hundreds were in the area, British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said.

• Clarke said Friday evening that the second car -- another Mercedes -- was originally parked illegally on nearby Cockspur Street, but had been towed from the West End to an impound lot near Hyde Park.

But don't worry - we're perfectly safe:

• Some you see and some you don't, but if you don't think security was tightened after word of the car bombs discovered in London reached Chicago, think again.
  
  "We have what we think is an excellent camera system that we're using out at the Taste," said Chicago Police Department First Deputy Supt. Dana Starks. "We're able to see all over the area that comprises the Taste of Chicago and we believe with that, the extra vigilance, the vigilance of the community and people who attend the taste, we're on top of it."
• "We're keeping in touch with Homeland Security and we have a police officer assigned to Washington," Cline said.

Anyone have the turn around time on how long it takes a suspicious vehicle to be towed once it's called in? Minutes? Tens of minutes? And who is this lucky police officer assigned to Washington? What are their qualifications? Or is it just another glorified clout child taking messages from the feebs?

Another One Bites the Dust

Good job:

• A Calumet City man fleeing Chicago police was killed late Thursday during an exchange of gunfire with an officer on the city's Far South Side, police said.
  
  Police determined this afternoon that the "officer was within department guidelines in use of force with [a] service weapon," according to Chicago Police Department spokeswoman Monique Bond.

And everyone who is supposed to go home safe, went home safe.

Guns

We've been noticing a bit of static in the comments of one of our previous posts concerning the gun "seizure" on the northwest side. Some people are saying they agree with us. Some are taking the Gun Team to task for their actions. Some are saying that these are the rules and we enforce them regardless. Here's a little thought on the subject:

How many of these guns (and we can go back to the other Area gun team seizures of recent months) were ever used in a crime? How many were used in drive-bys? How many killed 13 year old girls or 15 year old boys? Probably none.

And don't try the tired old arguments that each of these guns represented a "potential" shooting or mass murder. Every automobile out there represents a potential hit and run and we aren't confiscating every single car off the street.

Last time we checked, the 011th District was leading the City in homicides and 51st Street had the Area title well in hand. Wouldn't that lead one to believe that there are TONS of unregistered guns somewhere nearby? Maybe resources ought to be directed that way? Misdemeanor "Failure to Register" arrests do nothing to alleviate the homicide rate.

Just our opinion.

Robocop, Meet Cyberdyne Systems

Every single day, there are brave men and women, working tirelessly to bring us killer robots who will one day replace police officers:

• RoboCops and robot soldiers got a little closer to reality Thursday as a maker of floor-cleaning automatons teamed up with a stun-gun manufacturer to arm track-wheeled 'bots for police and the Pentagon.

  By adding Tasers to robots it already makes for the military, iRobot Corp. says it hopes to give soldiers and law enforcement a defensive, non-lethal tool.

  But some observers fear such developments could ultimately lead to robots capable of deciding on their own when to shoot and kill.

Sweet. Progress is looking better all the time.

Responsibility!!!

Evidently, the mayor has found religion - and it appears to be the Cult of Responsibility. But it appears to be a fleeting phenomenon. Tuesday, we are treated to this:

• "Who's responsible for that? The family better stand up. That young man ... belonged to [a] family. Who is he? Where's the family? Aren't they outraged that their son just killed a 13-year-old girl? It's unbelievable. They should be outraged. Parents have to go into the bedrooms. Find out whether their sons or daughters have guns in their room. Find out whether their sons or daughters are palling around with gangbangers on a block or in a community ... Parents have to do this. They should prevent crime.

But two years ago, we got this:

• Thirteen died in the collapse of the porch June 29, 2003. Within days it was learned that the porch was built without a permit, was bigger than code allows and was poorly constructed, even though city inspectors had looked at it. Much of that was confirmed in a preliminary report prepared for the city by architecture professor Elliott Dudnik.

• A year-and-a-half after it had Dudnik's preliminary findings, the city filed a legal complaint against John Koranda, a party host, suggesting that he and others were intentionally rocking the porch back and forth, and that that contributed to the collapse.

  "Everybody has to take responsibility in this world, in life. No one wants to take responsibility," said Mayor Richard Daley in February 2005.

So Daley's definition of responsibility two years ago was to ignore his own commissioned report that found an illegally built porch, shoddy material, improper fastenings, missing hangers and the fact that he had a Department full of building inspectors regularly taking bribes, logging non existent visits to work sites and hiring unqualified kids under 21 as fully certified inspectors and instead sued the brother of a dead victim for "shaking" the structure.

Who knows what today might bring?

• Summer storms have flooded hundreds of basements on the Chicago's North Side, and many residents are blaming the city.
• The city's Office of Emergency Management addressed the problem Thursday afternoon, saying the problems are not their fault. They say there's plenty that homeowners can do to prevent flooded basements.

Things that make you go "Hmmm."

Are You Missing $231,000?

You might be if you're a taxpayer:

• According to the list of earmarks in the Committee Report for the Financial Services Appropriations Bill, the very first request listed is for the ”Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission." Sounds noble – until you realize that it's for an airport that doesn't exist run by a congressional staffer on Rep. Jackson's payroll.
• According to its website, the Airport Commission “has a mandate from its members to plan, develop, finance, construct and operate a commercial airport with passenger and cargo facilities near University Park. In short, the Commission is dedicated to developing a third airport in the Chicago area.
• Specifically, this earmark would direct $231,000 – taken from taxpayers’ pockets across America – for “Minority and Small Business Development and Procurement Opportunities.” It seems rather curious that an airport that doesn't yet exist would need to develop opportunities for minorities & small businesses.

Who needs a Budweiser distributorship when you can steal hundreds of thousands for a non existent airport?

Crook County ASA Blog

The blog run by "The Asshat" is gathering steam.

Hop over and lend your support. He's on the lookout for good stories. Evidently, the ASA's are fighting back, but aren't doing too well.

Gun Story Changes

We cant find the WBBM AM 780 story at the moment, but it seems to have changed from earlier this morning compared to this Channel 7 report:

• Police officers seized several guns and arrested one man during a raid of a Northwest Side home.
• The arsenal included more than two dozens rifles, shotguns and handguns. A task force that included the department's gun team and agents from the Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms discovered the weapons in a home on the 7000-block of North Ozark.

Reports earlier had a large quantity of Cannabis being confiscated along with the "arsenal." Let's just say if this is an "arsenal," then we know a whole bunch of people who might be in trouble for owning "weapons depots." But if there was no Cannabis and the entire seizure is based on someone "failing to register," then this is just wrong.

Trickle Becomes a Flood?

Chicago is losing population again (still?):

• For the third consecutive year, Joliet was the fastest-growing city in Illinois and remained one of the fastest-growing in the country, while Chicago continued to lose population, according to new U.S. census estimates set to be released Thursday.
• Meanwhile, Chicago lost around 63,000 residents from 2000 to 2006. The city's estimated population was 2,833,321 for 2006.
• According to many demographers, older urban centers like Chicago continue to lose population as people of childbearing age leave the city for the suburbs and as immigrants chase jobs that are rapidly flowing away from the inner cities.

No wonder the democrats want to grant an amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens so quickly - they'll pick up maybe a million or so living in the city alone - all potential democratic voters. Or at least someone in the Machine can use their forged identity cards to create another "voting bloc."

Clout Promotions?

Yes. we know this was on Fox News a day or so ago. And it's been bandied about in various comments sections. We were having some computer difficulties actually getting the video to load up. Here it is in its entirety.

We hope the officer has gone as far as she hoped to go on the job unless she can do it by score alone. And even if she makes it by score, there's always midnights in the 005 District to worry about.

Still, a fairly gutsy move to accuse the entire Department of something that it cannot or will not ever reveal the criteria for. It bears watching.

What is the Mayor Smoking?

From Tuesday's Sun Times:

• "This young girl who was killed ... at 6:45 p.m. — she was with her grandmother in a park sitting there. A 19-year-old punk jumps out of the car with guns and starts firing ... We lost a young girl. Went to Ames School. Basketball team, honor society, wonderful family. Gunned down by a punk," Daley told a news conference at Lloyd Elementary School, 4834 W. Dickens, called to announce more gains in reading and math test scores.

  "Who's responsible for that? The family better stand up. That young man ... belonged to [a] family. Who is he? Where's the family? Aren't they outraged that their son just killed a 13-year-old girl? It's unbelievable. They should be outraged. Parents have to go into the bedrooms. Find out whether their sons or daughters have guns in their room. Find out whether their sons or daughters are palling around with gangbangers on a block or in a community ... Parents have to do this. They should prevent crime."

Noble sentiments, to be sure. But this is a mayor who has spent his entire life running away from responsibility and throwing other people under the bus when corruption comes knocking at his door. A micro manager who can't remember diddly shit when called for depositions. The entire continuation of the Chicago phenomenon of business getting done on a wink and a nod can be laid at his doorstep.

The Commander's Story

Closing the book on a rumor:

• "I jumped down from the porch and yelled, 'Police! Freeze!'" Wysinger, 44, said Monday. The man turned toward him and fired one shot, Wysinger said. Wysinger grabbed his gun from his holster, returned fire and chased the man down the street.
  
  The man shot again, then tripped. The man fell again, and Wysinger apprehended him.

Mayor Protests the Protestors

No, not Richie:

• A suburban mayor is speaking out against a protest in her village last weekend. That demonstration ended with the arrests of Reverend Jesse Jackson and Father Michael Pfleger. They have led two protests at Chuck's Gun Shop in Riverdale. The mayor there says the demonstrations have cost the village thousands of dollars.
• The mayor says resources spent on protecting protesters' rights and safety will be better spent elsewhere, in particular, trying to prevent gun violence. This was all sparked by an incident over the weekend, a protest of a gun shop in Riverdale.

Of course, until Jesse gets some sort of payoff, he'll keep protesting. The payoff can be in the form of beer distributorships or even corporate donations to his "charities." The fact that he's sucking up city resources in already resource-poor Riverdale means nothing.

Once Again, From the Comments

SCC Disclaimer: This comment was not created by us. We had nothing to do with it other than making sure it complied with our "no naughty words" policy. We know nothing about the situation that gave rise to the comment, nor do we know any of the truth or rumor behind it. We are looking for INFORMATION regarding the situation. Is this clear enough for the tiny brains who are going to slam us anyway? And if you think we're going to post this disclaimer every single time we quote one of our own readers, think again.

From the comments section:

• The Keesing Bandit says----
  
  Four P.O.s and a Sergeant working Special are going to be sparred for "inattention to duty". Supposedly they allowed a party to continue in 1230 N. Larrabee and a shooting occurred at least an hour after they got off work.
  
  The Commander in 018 demanded that the Watch Commander spar the third watch officers for a shooting that happened on the first watch!!!
  
  WTF??????
  
  Parties are not illegal. It may be a CHA lease violation but that is a civil matter, not a criminal one.
  
  Where is Seiser when you need him?
  
  Now, kees me you fool!!!

This looks like a completely winnable grievance to us if the time line works out. How can guys who were already off for a couple of hours be held responsible for a shooting that occurred after they were miles away? If we are going that route, the citizenry has an open door on civil suits against the police for every single shooting that takes place after we turn the corner or any crime that takes place under a camera. The afternoon guys could get sparred by midnight sergeants for every crime that happens near a disturbance they handled. Or anyone doing a contact card or dispersal prior to an Aggravated Battery that takes place on the corner could be tracked down and reprimanded for not doing MORE to alleviate the condition that led to the shooting.

If any of this is spar nonsense is true, someone better step on it before it really starts to affect morale.

Cameras Get One

Finally:

• For the first time, detectives may have solved a killing using video from a police blue-light surveillance camera, the department announced Sunday.

But not because the camera captured the shooting:

• About 470 of the cameras have been installed atop utility poles in high-crime neighborhoods across the city since 2003. Their flashing blue lights are intended to scare off drug dealers and gang members.
• A camera at Keeler Avenue and Cermak Road recorded two men running from a car used in the June 11 shooting of 14-year-old Roberto Duran, police said. A school surveillance camera showed the same car in the 4200 block of West 25th Street minutes earlier when Duran was killed, according to Harrison Area Cmdr. Steve Peterson.

Hopefully, there won't be too many loose ends in this one. The only thing a camera is (as stated previously), is a witness who won't change its story.

8 and 8 or Better?

By removing this distraction early enough before training camp and the season, we feel the Bears have moved up from 7 and 9 territory to an even .500, maybe even 9 and 7 team. If the Bears even win the division, it'll be because everyone else in it sucks pretty badly.

We of course, will be cheering on a Blackhawks team that has made the playoffs something like once in the past decade and doesn't look to improve on that performance any time soon.

Such is our cross to bear.

Jesse Complains

Typical:

• Reverend Jesse Jackson is saying a gun shop owner has a "chokehold" on suburban Riverdale police, after he was arrested Saturday.

  Father Pfleger and Reverend Jackson were charged with criminal trespassing for allegedly blocking the entrance to Chuck's Gun Shop along with other protesters. But Reverend Jackson and Father Pfleger say the owner of the shop, John Riggio, pushed him and that police wouldn't let him file a complaint against Riggio.

  "John Riggio says, 'Arrest these two.' They arrested us for trespassing in a place we never went into," Pfleger said.

  "The power of a gun shop owner to have a chokehold on the police is intimidating," Jackson said.

Evidently, Jackson got his law degree from the same cereal box that he got his "Divinity" sheepskin. For extensive details, we recommend the book "Shakedown" by Ken Timmerman.

Seiser Branches Out

Not content with running just about everything, Seiser has decided to expand:


Sent to us by someone in the 025th District who says this sign is posted in a storefront at the corner of Harlem and Grand. Seiser KNOWS pizza. Unfortunately, Seiser might not know the pizza business:

• [P]izza makers nationwide -- from family run pizzerias to national delivery chains -- are feeling the pinch of escalating costs for an essential ingredient in a hotly competitive, $30 billion-plus industry.

  Block cheddar cheese reached $2.08 a pound Thursday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, up 78 percent from $1.17 a pound a year ago. At the end of 2006, the price was $1.33. Cheddar is the benchmark for mozzarella. Industry observers attribute the price surge to strong demand coupled with higher milk prices.

Good luck!

We Feel Safer Already

Thank goodness for useless bureaucracies:

• Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Sunday the launch of a Methamphetamine Manufacturing Registry now operating on the Illinois State Police Web site.The registry, similar to the state's sex offender registry, lists the names of those convicted of manufacturing meth, according to a release from the governor’s office.The registry lists the name, date of birth, offense, conviction date and county where the meth manufacturing took place, the release said. It is set to be updated daily.

Sex Offender Registry? Great idea - very useful along with pictures and addresses and offenses arrested for. But a Meth Offender Registry? We think we recognize the odor of tax dollars being wasted.

What???

From the comments:

• Why is there no mention of the 015th District commander getting involved in a shooting last night. He fired at the bad guy and hit a civilian. If that was one of us ti would be plastered on the front page

Verification please.

Is the Death Penalty an Option?

Please, let it be so:

• The Rev. Jesse Jackson was arrested Saturday at a demonstration outside a south suburban gun shop.

  Prompted by the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old honor student on a Chicago Transit Authority bus, Jackson and other community activists have held several protests at Chuck's Gun Shop in Riverdale in recent weeks. Jackson says the gun shop's proximity to Chicago provides gang members and criminals easy access to firearms.

  At a protest Saturday, Jackson and the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest who oversees a South Side congregation, were arrested when they refused to move away from the gun shop's entrance, police said in a statement. Both were charged with one count of criminal trespass to property.

Now as far as we know and as far as we've heard, none of the guns used to kill Blair Holt or any of the other 30 or so Chicago Public School students was traced to any transactions at Chuck's Gun Shop. If even a single one had been, we're sure the media whores Jackson and Pfleger would have been trumpeting it from the rooftops. That hasn't happened.

And as far as we know, although accusations have been made in the media about Chuck's Gun Shop being a source for illegal firearms, the fact remains that Chuck's Gun Shop hasn't had a license revocation at any governmental level, local, state or Federal.

We'll just bet Chuck's just happens to be the closest gun shop to Jesse's house.

LIDAR Working?

Stolen from the Johnny Law Chronicles:

So what's up with the LIDAR devices in every district? Are they pulling their weight? Or is it another pointless mission keeping cars down and contributing to the near constant backlog in the busy zones?

8 and 8?

A few weeks ago, we predicted that the Bears would be lucky to go 8 and 8 with a giant hole in the front line and facing a Superbowl runner-up schedule.

We will now amend that prediction to 7 and 9 because someone is going to be serving all 8 games of his suspension shortly:

• Arizona police pulled over Chicago Bears Defensive Tackle Tank Johnson early Friday morning and took him to a police station under suspicion of driving while impaired

Paris Hilton has nothing on Tank Johnson.

New Initiative

The Department is willing to try anything to raise the anemic clearance rate:

And we mean anything.

Does Anyone Believe This?

Count us among the doubters:

• Chicago police will soon be able to see what is happening on a Chicago Transit Authority bus without getting on board, NBC5 reported on Thursday.
• New computer upgrades will allow officers to electronically tap into video cameras already installed on city buses.
• Video images viewed in real time will let police dispatchers issue immediate alerts about criminal activity.

First up, who the heck is watching all these cameras? We have a suspicion that the answer is "no one." These things are meant to give the impression of safety and the illusion of deterring crime, but anyone who works the street knows the reality of it - the camera, if it is pointing in the right direction, is merely a witness that doesn't change its story. And more than 99% the time, it isn't catching anything at all.

Second, see as how the PDT's are out of range more often than not and the pool rides so prevalent in Fleet don't even have mounts for the new computers, we're going to bet that actual camera time is overly limited.

But someone somewhere is making some major coin selling these things to the City.

Great Idea for a Website

Run by a regular reader of ours who has claimed the moniker "The Asshat," he has opened up the "crookcountyasa" blog. His aim is to bring to light cases that were denied felony approval for whatever excuse the on duty ASA's could come up with.

Hopefully, he can bring a few of the more egregious incidents to light and highlight the uselessness of the so called "Felony Review," which more and more often just seems to be a place to put connected political lawyers who couldn't make it in the private sector.

Sergeants Lawsuit

We don't often cover issues exclusive to bosses. We know that bosses read this site, but for the most part, we cover stuff of interest to the guys and gals on the front lines. But this kind of affects everyone who hopes to be promoted one day. The Sergeants Association lost their initial appeal in court this week to stop the Lieutenant "re-test" as it utilizes the exact same questions/scenarios as the earlier version, meaning every single person has the questions in advance, undermining the theory of test being an evaluation of "thinking on one's feet."

We don't know who this judge is (Bernetta D. Bush) that ruled for the City, but it's obvious she has no grasp of reality. Here's part of the City's lawyers reasoning to deny the suit that she bought hook, line and sinker (from Second City Sarge):

• 51 of the original tests had technical problems.
  None of the tests had been scored.
  The City’s Attorneys stated this is a fair process. Additionally, there is the 30% meritorious process available to every eligible candidate.

Two of these statements appear to be mutually exclusive. If the City knows there were 51 original tests with "technical problems" how can they say none of the test were graded? The City had these tests for 6 months and nothing got graded? Sorry, but we're calling bullshit on that one. And the 30% meritorious "available" to every eligible candidate? Excuse us while we laugh. And laugh. And laugh some more. A "mericloutorius" position is only available to a certain select few of proper blood lineage and political sponsors.

Here's our theory, based on years of experience and observation of the City promotional processes:

• The tests were graded. And the results didn't turn out anything like what the City had planned. We're talking light years from the City's expectations.
  
• The City dreamed up this "re-test" to provide connected persons with a second opportunity to take what is now a known test - known so well that even Sun Times columnist Mark Brown has the questions and has published them in the newspaper.
• This time, the City has changed the answers instead of the questions. And certain people will have the key words or phrases that will get them that extra point or two since everyone is going to score better this time since they know the test. Certain key words like "notify the Watch Commander" or "a writing instrument" or even "a large pepperoni pizza" will carry the day for connected persons, leaving more "mericloutorious" positions available to the real morons.

And if the City gets away with this for Lieutenant's promotions, who knows what they are going to do for Sergeants and even Detectives? We are so doomed.

Where's the Money?

Two stories, one involving the schools:

• The feds want the Chicago Public Schools to repay at least $16.8 million in federal money earmarked for poor schools because CPS failed to fully staff those schools.
• State education officials have appealed, asking to pay just $1.6 million. They say CPS tried to find applicants but there were few takers.

That money is already spent. Good luck with the feds getting an accurate accounting.

The other incident involves the continued shenanigans of former aldercreature Troutman:

• The alderman who took over indicted former Ald. Arenda Troutman's landmarks committee accused her Wednesday of mysteriously draining the panel's budget before she left office in May.

  Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) said he was amazed when he became chairman of the Committee on Historical Landmark Preservation to learn only $30,000 was left in the committee's $110,000 budget for 2007

The Chicago way continues. Mr. Fitzgerald? Faster please.

Good News

Another set of coppers doing exactly what they are supposed to do - and the media actually covers it:

• Two Chicago police officers from the 6th District were in the area responding to another call when they noticed smoke coming from the building. They called it in and then ran into the building to get people out.

  "As we went up, the smoke got thicker and thicker," said Officer Steven Sanders. "It was hard to breathe but we still kept knocking on doors to get people out of their apartments."

• Officer Sanders graduated from the Chicago Police Academy in May while Officer Griffin has been with the force for six years. Residents from the building have similar messages for the brave officers.

  "Thank you, God bless you, we love you," said resident Priscilla Johnson. "They did a real good job."

They certainly did ma'am.

What the ?!!?

Goofy:

• Barry Cooper sells a DVD on how to stash pot in your car without getting caught. This fall he will release a second one on how to keep police from raiding your home for marijuana.

  Now for the kicker: Cooper is a former narcotics officer once considered among the top cops in Texas, where more marijuana is seized each year than in any other state.

• 'I'm not helping them to break the law. It's clear the law is already being broken,'' said Cooper, 38, who left law enforcement a decade ago. ''I will do anything legal to frustrate law enforcement's efforts to place American citizens in jail for nonviolent drug offenses.''

How about advocating alternative punishment then? ANOV's or tickets for misdemeanor weed - that proposal has already been studied and rejected in Chicago. More boot camps for non-violent offenders? At some point, are marijuana laws going to have to be changed? we're pretty sure that most of the "nonviolent" drug offenders are in for crimes like "trafficking" and similar. No one goes to jail for years for weed unless its heavy weight or a violation.

Post Time!

The horses are approaching the starting gate. The field:

• Sources said the list includes at least five insiders: Chief of Patrol Charles Williams; Deputy Supt. Hiram Grau; Assistant Deputy Supt. Eugene Williams; Chief of Detectives Maria Maher and Assistant Deputy Supt. Deb Kirby, head of the Internal Affairs Division.

  A third woman, Assistant Deputy Supt. Anne Egan, also has a chance of making the final cut.

  Assistant Deputy Supt. Matt Tobias and Frank Limon, chief of the Organized Crime Division, are longer-shot possibilities. First Deputy Police Supt. Dana Starks, who had a strained relationship with Cline, did not apply for the superintendent's job, sources said.

We can eliminate the outsiders automatically. Smart money is moving to Grau with Maher as a close second. Why? Three words:

• Rodriguez, Hillard, Cline

Plain and simple, it's LAPA's turn.

Note: Spelling police appeased - correction made

Shots Fired at Police

Initial report:

• One person was reportedly killed in a police-involved shooting in Rogers Park on the North Side Tuesday night.
• A Chicago Fire Department dispatcher said paramedics are on the scene of 1321 W. Pratt Ave., as of about 8:15 p.m., responding to reports of a gunshot victim. Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said there was one victim on the scene, reportedly dead, and reportedly shot by police. There were no other injuries reported from the scene, Langford said.
• Just prior to the reported shooting victim, police had issued a 10-1 call -- for an officer needing assistance, for shots reportedly being fired at police.
  

Double Standard

If there was any doubt (which there never was in our minds) that the Office of the State's Attorney is a completely political entity, this ought to dispel it for everyone:

• Chicago Police officials are angry that prosecutors refused last week to pursue a felony battery charge against a man accused of beating an off-duty suburban cop and his girlfriend.

  Des Plaines Officer John Bueno and girlfriend Sheila Inserra were attacked May 13 outside a Northwest Side bar, police said. The Cook County state's attorney's office is pursuing a misdemeanor battery charge against Edward Miller, 21, of the 6800 block of North Osceloa.

• Miller was not charged with felony aggravated battery, a separate offense, because the couple were not injured severely enough, O'Brien said. Bueno required three stitches to his nose, and Inserra needed four stitches to the corner of her eye. Bueno may have suffered broken ribs, too, police said.

Not that we'd ever expect someone to use the Office of the State's Attorney as a springboard to further political ambitions, eh?