History Repeats

Who saw this one coming? (ok, ok, put your hands down... we all saw this one a mile away)

• In 1975, Mayor Richard J. Daley quoted his mother as he unapologetically defended his decision to give $1 million in city insurance business to an Evanston firm that included his son.
• Thirty-two years later, Richard M. Daley is struggling to come to grips with a similar conflict involving his son and city business. Only this time, the mayor is not defending it and claims to have had no involvement in or prior knowledge of the deal.

For a notorious micro-manager, the mayor sure misses a lot of the finer details concerning city contracting and friends, relatives, and political contributors being closely involved in making thousands, even millions, of dollars.

And as a wag pointed out in the comments section, since the Department of Ethics has been having the Police Department hand out one and two day suspensions for simply being late in filing ethics disclosures, what would be the penalty to the mayor and his son for failing to file and reveal these conflicts?

Perhaps a bit of a refund is in order?

Along with a monetary penalty to make sure that this never ever happens again in the City of Chicago. Hahahahahahahahaha.

Slow Posting

It's snowing don't you know? We'd like to take the kids to a toboggan slide, but Stroger (Sr and Jr) pissed away all the county money that used to provide cheap wintertime thrills.

Open post in the meantime.

Phony "reverend" Victory

This is just dumb:

• Abiding by the wishes of religious leaders, CTA unions on Friday called off plans for a one-day walkout to protest the impasse on funding Chicago-area mass transit.
  
  The agreement, announced at a South Side church, spares more than a million commuters from a 24-hour work stoppage late Sunday through Monday that would have brought traffic in the Loop and elsewhere to a halt.

A halt? It might have increased the gridlock and made the taxi guys and the parking lot owners rich, but...hey?! Wait a minute! This is all a plot to make people actually use the Millennium Park Parking garage so that it might actually be able to pay off it's own bond issue!

Seriously though, the "reverends" averted this work stoppage? Did anyone notice that there is a "reverend" on the CTA Board? A "reverend" who was confirmed to have gone to Area 4 to interfere in the investigation of a CTA employee stealing identities? Anyone else think he's trying to regain a little of his tarnished halo?

"Duh" Moment

Where do they come up with these story ideas?

• For every dollar the city of Chicago collects in property taxes, about 47 cents goes toward pensions -- for police officers, firefighters, garbage collectors and other city workers.

  The amount of money in those funds is growing, but not as fast as the amount needed for current and future pensions.

  These pension funds are invested in a variety of ways. How well those investments perform matters to taxpayers, as well as future retirees: If the investments fare poorly, taxpayers could end up paying more in taxes.

Now, let's see if they can put 2 and 2 together and point out again how the mayor's nephew is borrowing this pension money and investing it in risky schemes that have a high probability of "cratering," but the mayor's nephew (and other connected people) stand to lose no money because they get paid by commission rather than by performance.

This is exactly how most municipal pensions are going to go under in the next 25t years.

This is More Like It!

The spotlight firmly back where it belongs:

• Mayor Daley’s son Patrick had a hidden interest in a sewer-inspection company whose business with the City of Chicago rose sharply while he was an owner, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.

  Patrick Daley invested in Municipal Sewer Services in June 2003, along with Robert Vanecko, a nephew of the mayor. The pair cashed out their small investment about a year later, as federal investigators were swarming City Hall in the early days of the Hired Truck scandal.

And it looks like the Daley dynasty might end with this mayor. Scandal scandal scandal at City Hall where it always was, is, and shall ever be if the media would just open their eyes and be watchdogs for the citizenry rather than water carriers for the political class. An excellent bit of research by Tim Novak of Hired Truck fame.

And it's not just local:

• Suburban businessman Chris Kelly, a former fundraising chief for Gov. Blagojevich and the governor’s one-time emissary on state gaming issues, was indicted today on charges he ripped off the tax man by allegedly concealing his use of his company’s money to pay debts to bookmakers and Las Vegas casinos — where he gambled millions of dollars.

  Kelly’s indictment was one of three announced today by the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago as it continued its widening probe of the governor’s inner circle.

How soon until the indictments reach the governor's residence? Could this be Mrs. Blago's last Christmas at home for a few years? Or at least the beginnings of the revocation of her real estate license? We can only hope. This report written by the other half of the Hired Truck team, Steve Warmbir.

Pulitzer's anyone? Multiple awards perhaps?

That NASTY Four Letter Word

You know what it is. WORK (eeeeek!!!!):

• Adult public housing residents would eventually be required to work at least 20 hours a week or face eviction, under an unprecedented sweeping policy the Chicago Housing Authority is poised to approve.

  "I feel all these things are in place for the betterment of the residents," said Mary Wiggins, a member of the CHA board and its Tenant Services Committee.

  Wiggins, also a public housing resident, continued: "If there's no good reason for them [residents] not to work, they shouldn't be there."
  

We think if this could be worked into the proposal posted here a few days ago by a reader that all recipients of Public Aid be drug-tested every time we cut them a check, we would consider voting for this Mary Wiggins for mayor, governor and president all at once.

Anything to end the generations of leeches that currently suck up so much tax money and produce nothing except votes for the Daley Machine.

Not Really Accountability

From the Comments (can anyone confirm?):

• Intresting word from the LT'S class in the academy . ADS kirby, and other came in and really shook things up. It looks as if the recent audits of search warrants will result in CR#s being filed on all members on the warrant including LT. Any officer who has three court absences in a period will be investigated as rogue, even if the absesces are excused. The rational is that the officer must be avoiding the court case. Any officer who recovers 12 guns or more in a period without at least 4 search warrants being executed, will be investigated, because statastics show 4 warrants must be executed to get 12 guns. If you make an arrest, but the offender agrees to show you places of intrest before you bring him into the station, this is considered kidnapping because your holding the person against thier will. Any officers who get an offender to turn in a weapon is guilty of cooersion, and will be investigated, and last but not least, an IAD LT stated that they will continue to investigate CR#'S regardless if a sworn affidavit was obtained or not

Kirby doesn't have much room to stand in judgment seeing as how her people missed a number of large scandals for years and signed off on a huge number of investigations that abetted the cover up. And the statistical bean counting shows a propensity to rush to judgment based on a computer reading rather than, oh we don't know, an actual INVESTIGATION maybe?

The last sentence seems like a contract violation (and a violation of State Law) of rather large proportions and anyone with knowledge of there being investigations of themselves or other officers without a sworn affidavit should bring evidence of such to the FOP for action (the exception being investigations criminal in nature derived from evidence collected by IAD which do not require an affidavit).

A Couple of Questions "Rev"

Those tax laws can be a bitch:

• Federal authorities have subpoenaed financial records and employees in an apparent probe of the Rev. Al Sharpton's 2004 presidential bid, nonprofit civil rights group, and for-profit businesses, a newspaper reported Thursday.

  As many as 10 Sharpton associates were subpoenaed Wednesday to testify before a federal grand jury in Brooklyn Dec. 26, his lawyer told the Daily News.

  They were told to provide investigators with financial records from the campaign and roughly six Sharpton-related businesses, as well as personal financial documents of Sharpton and his wife, the newspaper said.

Maybe this will keep Al busy for the next few months. And after that, maybe for a few years, say 3 to 5 in the federal pen.

That Time of Year

Suicides and attempts at suicide:

• An off-duty police officer was in very serious condition Wednesday night after shooting himself earlier in the day on the city's Northwest Side, according to the Chicago Police Department.
  
  The unnamed officer shot himself about 4 p.m. Wednesday...

Seriously, if you or anyone you know is feeling down, depressed, on the verge of making a very bad decision regarding their lives, get them help.

If that person is you, seek help.

There are so many services available through the Department and referrals outside of the Department if need be. Don't become a statistic.

NOTE: Sympathy and prayers for the unnamed officer ONLY. All other comments will be deleted. We have other posts below that you can spout off in.

State Corruption

We can hardly wait to hear these excuses:

• Al Chaib owes the state $359,639 in unpaid business taxes that date back five years.

  But that hasn't kept the longtime associate of indicted ex-gubernatorial adviser Tony Rezko from being part of an exclusive Illinois Tollway deal, despite a law that bars tax deadbeats from getting state business, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.

• In September 2003, the governor gave Chaib's wife a part-time job in a state agency charged with collecting more than half of her husband's tax debt -- a decision a government watchdog said "does nothing but increase suspicion of how the Blagojevich administration does business."

Imagine that. People and companies in violation of the law continuing to get state contracts and state money. It'd be amazing if it didn't happen constantly.

And now, more whispers. Heard over beers in a bar, another current occupant of the governor's mansion may be indicted shortly (yes, we realize Blago doesn't actually use the governor's mansion - it's a figure of speech).

The to-be-indicted isn't Blago though. Hmmm.

Deal Falls Apart?

Or just delayed:

• [Stanley] Howard signed the agreement but penciled in a condition that he could file further legal claims against the city.
  
  The city's chief lawyer ran it past the federal judge handling the case.
  
  "Judge Aspen agrees with us and has said, putting in that language makes it different than what we had agreed to," Corporation Counsel Mara Georges said.

Switching the agreement in the middle of signing? Hahaha. And Wallace Bradley interrupting and shouting at the lawyers? Wonder how much he and the boys have already lined up as some kind of racket money to keep Patterson's people ...um... safe and secure? Everyone has their hands out and still, no one asks what the State's Attorney at the time knew and when did he know it.

$20 million buys a lot of silence.

Another Scandal?

Fuck it. We're tired of opening the paper, turning on the TV or surfing the web and finding nothing but anti police stories or efforts to make the police look bad.

We're going to post a happy picture today and make this an open post:


Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts.

Mette Address

Some people have said that Christmas cards they sent to Mike Mette were returned. This is the latest known address that we have:

• Michael A. Mette #6520284
  North Central Correctional Facility
  313 Lanedale Rd.
  Rockwell City, IA 50579

Although we find it hard to believe that based on the 7-digit number following Mike's name that Iowa authorities couldn't locate what facility they stuck him in, we wish they would stop fucking around with people who just want to send Mike a card.

Supervisors Charged?

There has to be more to this story out of California:

• The arraignment of a former Eureka police chief and a current lieutenant indicted by a criminal grand jury for involuntary manslaughter in the April 2006 shooting death of Cheri Lyn Moore was postponed Monday at the defense's request.

• Police have said they believed Moore had put down the flare gun when the decision was made to storm her apartment. Upon entering, officers said they came face to face with Moore, who was pointing a flare gun at them. Officers shot Moore multiple times.

  While former EPD officer Rocky Harpham and Sgt. Michael Johnson fired the fatal shots, Zanotti and Douglas were the commanding officers at the scene. Legal experts said what makes this case highly unusual is that Zanotti and Douglas are facing charges, while those who fired the fatal shots are not.

Something either went terribly wrong on the command side or this is a complete miscarriage of justice. Who's to say there weren't multiple guns in the apartment? And why are police expected to take fire before returning fire? And how the heck does a grand jury get empaneled in such a manner as to indict the supervisors and not the shooters? If it's a conspiracy, it's a top to bottom conspiracy, right? That "I was just following orders" thing went out of style in the 1940s if we recall.

Easy Pickings

Surprise surprise surprise. The media hasn't covered this one again for obvious reasons. The Omaha mall shooting which claimed 8 innocents and the perpetrator? A "gun-free zone."

FoxNews noted that of the thousands of news articles printed, not one mentions that although the State of Nebraska allows concealed carry for its citizens, property owners are permitted to ban guns if they so choose.

Instapundit speculates that this could possibly open up private property owners to liability claims. The argument that by removing the ability for citizens to protect themselves AND failing to provide adequate security to replace the personal firearms carried by otherwise law abiding citizens bears close watching, especially in light of the case about to be heard by the US Supreme Court.

Letters! We Get Letters

Can this be true?

• On Zone 10 on Friday, 07 December, 20 sector car was told by dispatch that the pod watchers had spotted a number of parking violators in the vicinity of Marshall High School. We're using tens of million of dollars to place cameras that can spot parking violations in the ghetto.

How much was that tax hike again?

We guess if you need the money that badly, the pod watchers could use their "eye-in-the-sky" powers to write a parking ticket and mail it to the offender. The city that works.

Get a Load of Sharpton's Latest

This is some hilarious crap:

• But if the Rev. Al Sharpton has his way, the political fallout for Daley is only beginning.

  As the City Council’s Finance Committee was approving the Burge settlement, Sharpton was threatening to go on a world tour with police brutality victims to sabotage Chicago’s chances of hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games unless the mayor agrees to 10 demands by Dec. 29.

  They include: removing Daley as the final authority to suspend and fire wayward police officers; releasing the names of 662 officers most frequently accused of excessive force; allowing brutality complaints to be filed anonymously and without a statute of limitations; realigning police beats and appointing a community representative to sit in on police roundtables immediately after police shootings.

This entire year has been spent making sure that Daley is the ONLY power the Department answers to. His old man gave it away to outsiders under political pressure. The son is taking it back under political pressure. Full circle.

Daley has no power to allow complaints to be filed anonymously as in years past. That is a STATE law that the FOP pushed for and got after years of trying. It was probably one of the most significant victories for the FOP in recent years. And no statute of limitations? Hahaha. Al has no idea how the law actually works, does he?

We figure the realigning of police beats is either going to happen under Weis where Daley has someone to blame, preferably an outsider, or it will happen right after Daley announces he won't be running for office again in 2011. Either way, Daley is in the clear politically.

As for civilians sitting in on roundtables, we already have OPS/IPRA. Roundtables are not trials, are not investigations, and everyone is COMPELLED to answer - you cannot use compelled testimony in criminal investigations. Why is this so hard for liberals to understand? And "reverends?"

Go Back to Sleep Al

Who woke up Sharpton and put a nickel in him?

• The Rev. Al Sharpton is giving Chicago officials an ultimatum: Do something about what he calls pervasive police brutality and misconduct or he will lobby the International Olympic Committee to reject Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Games.

  ''Chicago does not symbolize a place that can hold an international event when it can't deal with its local problems,'' Sharpton told the Associated Press Sunday. ''They can't say to the world, 'Come to Chicago. We are an example; we are a beacon of light,' when you've got systematic abuse (by police).''

Well "reverend," we've gotten a brand spanking new investigatory body (IPRA) that answers directly to the mayor. We've gotten brand new superintendent who used to be a federal agent. Seems like the mayor is making "efforts" even if the efforts aren't really substantive.

We can hardly wait for this though:

• The civil rights leader said the Chicago Police Department needs to be held more accountable and he will propose forming a police community review group and employ a special prosecutor who reports directly to the justice system.

  Sharpton said he would lay out a complete proposal at a news conference Monday.

Al is going to show us the way! A racist New York preacher found personally liable for tens of thousands in libel judgments. Words fail us.

More Sneed Droppings

A day late and a dollar short?

• Sneed hears rumblings that the Justice Department was eyeing the possibility of seeking a consent decree to take over the administration of the Chicago Police Department months ago.

  • • The idea stemmed from disclosures of police torture, wrongful convictions and police misconduct that grabbed national and international headlines and were an embarrassment to the hardworking men in blue.

Um, "eyeing the possibility"? We'd say that the wheels were in full motion for a takeover and this naming of a feeb to take the helm is a last ditch effort by the mayor to avoid having the Police Department under a consent decree. The political fallout in the midst of an Olympic bid would be almost certainly fatal to the effort.

Sneed part two:

• Watch for Ald. Ed Burke and Ike Carothers, chairman of the City Council's Police Committee, to introduce an ordinance mandating that any Chicago cop who discharges his or her weapon on or off duty must submit to a Breathalyzer test within two hours.

  • • To wit: This action stems from the reported number of police shootings over 10 years marked by continuing financial settlements the city pays out.

  • • Upshot: It comes on the heels of a $20 million payout in the Jon Burge torture case which has members of the City Council agitated over the cost to taxpayers.

First of all, the ordinance runs squarely against the existing contract (expired, but still currently in effect) - labor agreements trump City Ordinance if we aren't mistaken. FOP would have to negotiate this.

Second, we don't know where she gets that this action is in any way related to the number of police shootings and city payouts. This is an asinine comparison. Has there been any accusation in the past 10 years, let alone 20 years, that an officer was intoxicated and it somehow led to or affected a shooting? We aren't talking about when a drunk cop waves his gun around - that has happened and people have been fired for it. We're talking about actually shooting someone - we can't recall one off the tops of our heads. Anyone?

And of course, to tie it into Burge is stupid. The city is the one who refused to go to court and defend these allegations. A city run by someone who was the state's attorney at the time everything allegedly happened.

What Scandal is This?

This sounds like a bit of overreach on the part of the City, Department, and supervisors. From the comments:

• What is the story about a 10th District cop being forced to give his personal cell phone to I.A.D. who then downloaded all the info on it.
• WHAT HAPPENED IN 010 WITH THE PO WHO WAS ORDERED TO TURN OVER HIS PHONE BY IAD. HEY ZAVALLA HOW ABOUT LETTING YOUR OFFICERS HAVE CONTACT WITH AN FOP LAWYER. NICE TECH IAD BORROWED TO SEARCH WITHOUT A WARRANT THE OFFICERS CELL PHONE. IAD REMOVED ALL THE TEXT PICTURES AND CONTACT INFO ON SCENE. THEY MIGHT WANT TO HELP WITH HOMICIDES SOMEDAY THOSE LAZY GEEK PRICKS. CUELLO DISTRICT SEEMS UP FOR GRABS. NICE GOING ON CANCELING A WATCH PARTY BECAUSE NO ONE SHOWED UP TO THE OVERPRICED OFFICIAL XMAS PART.
  

We realize that you cannot transport or be in possession of contraband in a CPD vehicle, aside from seized items to be inventoried. We also understand why the order about lockers being subject to unannounced searches was put into place (hey, it's the Department's locker in a Department facility...they can look in it). We still wonder whether IAD had a right to order a certain 010 District copper to open his personal briefcase without a search warrant when they suspected him of wrong doing (seems there should have been a warrant in hand and the item to be searched should have been seized in accordance with the warrant).

We definitely wonder about seizing someone's personal cell phone that they pay for with their own money - unless the phone was used to facilitate some unlawful conduct on the part of an officer or there is some question about whether an officer was on the phone during a traffic accident. And even then, to search electronic devices, we're pretty sure a warrant needs to be involved. And if there is going to be a search, officers are entitled to legal protections and legal advice.

It's funny to see no one going to the District Christmas party though and bosses canceling watch parties in revenge. Seems the watch parties are still a better time than the "official" parties after all these years. Nice to see some things never change.

Goose - Gander

From the proposal:

• Under fire for the way police shootings are investigated, the Daley administration wants the right to test Chicago Police officers who discharge their weapons -- on duty or off -- for alcohol and drugs.

  In the wake of barroom brawls involving off-duty officers, City Hall is also proposing random testing for alcohol as well as drugs; stepped-up drug testing that uses hair samples instead of just urine; testing for Ecstasy and steroids, and drug and alcohol testing of officers in specialized units.

  In addition, the city wants to retain disciplinary records related to sustained complaints for the "duration of an officer's employment" and require officers under investigation to make "electronically recorded statements" to the Internal Affairs Division and the Independent Police Review Authority.

And we'd like welfare recipients to be tested for booze and dope, too. As someone posted in the comments:

• I HAVE TO PASS A URINE TEST FOR MY JOB... AND I HAVE TO AGREE 100%
  
  Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test With which I have no problem.
  
  What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I
  have to pass one to earn it for them?
  
  Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their ASS, doing drugs, while I work. . . .
  
  Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check ?

And add in the aldercreatures, too. If they want to carry a gun, they ought ot be able to pass the same dope testing and yearly qualifying that we do.

Don't Do It Jody

Ridiculous:

• Chicago's new $310,000-a-year police superintendent might have to take a test or go back to school if he wants to wear the uniform of the men and women in blue, as an influential alderman says he should.

• Asked whether Weis was prepared to take a test or go to the Police Academy if that's what it takes to wear the uniform of the people he leads, Bond said, "That will be a decision he will make, and he'll certainly seek input from the appropriate individuals."

Weis is an outsider. It gives him the freedom to do a bunch of things an insider won't do or can't do. What he is allowed to do is another matter entirely, but we figure that's going to be taken out of everyone's hands in a year or so.

But don't pretend to have earned the right to wear a Chicago Police uniform because some aldercreature or useless spokes-ignoramus says you ought to go through the Academy and wear it. There's way too many people wearing white shirts and gold stars now that don't deserve it and never earned it. Weis shouldn't be one of them. We'd respect him more in a suit than a uniform.

City Proposal

Gee, we had to wait for a new Superintendent to be named (but not confirmed) for this piece of trash from the City regarding discipline?

• Click here for City Proposals

Just about every proposal erodes what came before.

This is bad.

Political Settlement

That's all this is:

• The city will pay $19.8 million to settle with four African-American men who allegedly were tortured for their confessions by former police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
  
  The settlement total, which is expected to be considered by the City Council next week, exceeds the amount paid to the family of LaTanya Haggerty, who mistakenly was fatally shot by police in 1999. They received a record $18 million in 2001.
  
  In typical City Hall fashion, the news of the big payout came on a Friday afternoon, and also while Mayor Richard Daley was out of town and unavailable for comment. The Daley administration insisted the timing was coincidental.

Bwahahaha. That last paragraph is such a pile of horseshit, it's a wonder anyone continues to print it - certainly, no one believes it anymore, right?

Anyway, this is a clearing of the decks so the new Superintendent can come on board with a reasonable clean slate and not have to deal with the baggage of previous Department administrations. The right move? We think not. But will it shut some people up? Probably. And it'll protect a whole bunch of people, too, starting with the garden gnome on the 5th floor of City Hall.

Happy Anniversary

And if you want to see them all again, click this link here for the complete list.

Once Again, Tiny Brains

From the comments:

• SCC,

Yes?

• Be careful who you hitch your wagon to. Herman is a certified creep.

Um...duh? Anyone who worked down south or with anyone who knew this guy heard the stories. His extracurricular activities were the subject of many stories that began with, "You ain't gonna believe this shit..."

• You are acting just like the fools who sent money to the Jena 6 because they were "one of their own," only to see the money turned into Grammy appearances and gold teeth. Herman is not one of us. He is a disgrace. He should have been fired for this. He should have been fired long ago for any one of a host of other creepy complaints.

Huh? We aren't asking anyone for money. We aren't asking for anyone to defend this guy. We aren't even claiming he's been wronged. We are using his case to point out the atrocious double standard that race baiters like Mope-rah expect everyone else to adhere to while tossing around casual racially charged brickbats of their own. And if you're wondering why he wasn't fired long ago, look to the political connections of the sergeant and 30 other people we could name who weren't fired for creepy, illegal or out and out stupid behavior.

• Mitchell is a racist and she is paid to publish her racist views, but her soap box is getting larger because there are some fools on this department who should be fired. In ten years, I have come across at least ten coppers that I wouldn't trust with a dog. The department had many opportunities to fire the fools that I know of, and all of them are still on the job. Now I am painted with the same brush as these fools.

Actually, her soap box is getting smaller and that's one reason she's screeching the way she does. The Sun Times has a shrinking readership and has been accused of inflating numbers so as to charge advertisers more. They lose money at an amazing clip. Their only hope is tabloid journalism and, bad news for them, that's an increasingly bad proposition, especially when so much of their bluster is exposed as hot air. As for the other criticism of people not fired, again, politics.

• The police haters and black racists are blowing this FACT all out of proportion and the public is listening to them. And now SCC is giving them more ammo.
  
  "Due Process" has nothing to do with the fact that Herman should have been FIRED! You don't have a constitutional right to be a policeman and you don't have to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to get fired.

You stopped making sense for a moment there. Try again. And actually, "due process" has everything to do with being fired. You might not have a constitutional right to be a police officer, but you do have contractual protections in effect. The contract and Department policy delineate the process by which you may be stripped and fired. If that process isn't followed, "creepy" people have a chance to get their job back with past wages. Of course, all too often in this Department, due process and proper procedure is circumvented for political considerations.

Read what we wrote. The piece was a criticism of Mope-rah and the double standard, not in support of the sergeant. Even he deserves his day in court, though if procedures had been followed and politics had not come into play years ago, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

The Lieutenants List

LIEUTENANT's LIST is out.
They report to the academy on Monday.
Duane De Vries
Mark Adduci
James Lavoy
Brent Fidler
Sean Loughran
William Looney
Karen Konow
Barbara West
Anthony Carothers
Linda Flores
Daniel Godsel
Osvaldo Valdez
Maureen Biggane
Kevin Hannigan
Errol Davis
Anthony Wojick
Carol McLaurin
Patricia casey
John Garrido III
Kevin Chambers

Kass Column

We wonder if Kass was told to throw this line in his Thursday article:

• Daley's excellent instincts rightly tell him there is more trouble ahead with a department clotted with clout. The Tribune's series this week on sham internal investigations of police shootings of civilians underscores this.

...or perhaps John is drinking from the same Kool-aid that Roe, Heinzmann and Mills are making with the water from Loevy and other ambulance chasers. Round tables aren't investigations - never have been. And this mischaracterization of them as "investigations" is fueling the conspiracy epidemic among certain lunatics that cops run around with spare guns and drugs in their cars looking for altar boys and brain surgeons to plant this crap on.

Other than that paragraph however, John rightly points out that the new Superintendent has quite a bit of built in resistance to his upcoming regime. Clout, reverends, connections, interference, and of course, being a feeb never helps.

It's going to be a very interesting spring.

Mope-rah Starting to Crack

The pressure must be getting to her and her true colors are coming to the fore:

• Even with a shortage of eligible black men, it's unlikely that a crackhead from Englewood had consensual sex with police Sgt. John Herman.

Why would it be unlikely? She is approached for a relationship based on money - money she needs for a crack habit. Does Mope-rah have any idea what people who need a fix that badly will do? Would Mope-rah like a list?

• Let's start with the beady eyes, Nazi mustache and double chin.

Beady eyes? Nazi mustache? My, what a wordsmith Mope-rah is. Imagine the howls of outrage from Mope-rah's should a white columnist describe the aforementioned crackhead as "big lipped" or "flat nosed" or "giant booty" or any other body stereotypes that assorted narrow-minded fools use to generalize and dehumanize an entire race of people. But Mope-rah can use beady eyes (common criminal feature in most classic crime writing), Nazi (Germanic/Aryan ancestry - therefore racist) or double chin (anti-fat people).

• What crack addict would agree to have sex with an unattractive Chicago Police officer unless some drugs were involved? And if Herman was having consensual sex with the woman, he darn sure was helping her with her $100-a-day habit.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder Mope-rah. And a crack addict isn't looking at how pretty someone is - they're looking at how much money they can get out of the encounter.

• Obviously, a person is innocent until proven guilty, and Herman hasn't been convicted of rape.

  Still, how in the heck does a married police sergeant have consensual sex with a crack addict -- while on duty, no less -- and not get booted off the force?

Um...due process? Presumption of innocence? Trial by jury? Any of this ring a bell Mopey? We mean, you state "a person is innocent until proven guilty," and then you expect him to be fired absent a court finding of guilt? Good gracious, has the ACLU heard of this new "Law of Mope-rah-land"? Didn't you just encourage the State Police to throw Drew Peterson in jail even though he hasn't been charged with any crimes whatsoever? We're sure there are hundreds, if not thousands, of black men and women in Cook County Jail who'd be overly surprised that you've unilaterally done away with the judicial system in the State of Illinois.

Oh wait. You've only done away with it for white people. A racist by any other name...

(As per a new policy here, we'll quote from Mope-rah, but we won't be linking to her articles lest she derive some sort of benefit from the increased traffic. You want it, you can find it. And we continue to encourage everyone to cancel newspaper subscriptions to both daily papers.)

Holiday Poem

Twas The Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the day
All the clout babies were crying
They had nothing to say

A new boss was coming
And promised a change
Their days were all numbered
They found it quite strange

They’d be forced to work
How dare he’d do that
Put back in the field
This they all must combat

I’ll call in I’m sick
I have nothing to fear
I can milk this for months
Or even a year

To give up my car
How mean and how cruel
Or my 3 hr lunch
It’s against all my rules

I need my computer
I need my blue jeans
I can’t be replaced
Who’ll count all the beans?

The streets are to scary
With crazies and jerks
My gun is all rusty
Patrol has no perks

I’ll be forced to write tickets
I’ll be forced to be there
I can’t do my shopping
Time for a prayer

Holy Mother of details
Please come to my aid
Please save me from police work
I’m scared, and afraid

Help them all see
I was never a cop
I’d rather wash dishes
Or be a bellhop

Thanks to a reader who wrote it and sent it in

Here's a Stunning Thought

A stunning thought for tiny minded liberals:

• Maybe the reason that police are cleared in almost 100% of the shootings is because they broke no law, violated no policy and actually are trained professionals with guns who shoot better than those shooting at them.

The round table is a preliminary investigation. Always has been. And it's sole purpose is to determine if rules were followed. It attributes no guilt or innocence as that is the purview of the courts. It's a purely Administrative hearing and as all questions are compelled to be answered, none of it is admissible in any court of law.

The Tribune article is full of lies, half truths, deliberate distortions and one sided bullshit. If we hadn't already canceled our newspaper subscriptions months ago, we'd be canceling them yesterday. As it is, we encourage everyone to express their displeasure by having friends, family and acquaintances to cancel their subscriptions.

Battle of the 5 and 7's

If they lose tonight, our prediction of 8 and 8 or worse is a lock and the Bears are just playing for draft position. Kind of a let down from last year's Superbowl appearance.

Anyone want to predict the Cubs and Sox seasons coming up?

Mayor Opens the Door?

Could this be a mistake? A mistake that the FOP and a smart lawyer could take advantage of? From the Sun Times 04 December:

• Mayor Daley today defended his decision to pay a record-high $300,000 — $83,790 more than the mayor’s salary — to the career FBI agent he has chosen to clean up the Chicago Police Department.

• Today, the mayor came to an unrelated City Hall news conference armed with the salaries of suburban and other big-city police chiefs. Asked about Weis, Daley pulled the list out of his pocket and read the salaries aloud to justify his claim that the police superintendent’s current salary is too low.

  “Highland Park: $126,00 for a police chief. How many people live there? [31,365]. Lake Forest: $119,000. Barrington: $113,000. Los Angeles: $300,000,” the mayor said.

So the mayor is comparing what different Chiefs make from around the suburbs and around the country? Wonderful. Since the mayor has opened the door, now let's compare what the officers make. Step raises. Pension contributions and health care costs.

Residency.

Hey, don't blame us. The mayor brought it up. And if he can compare salaries around the city, county, state and nation, it'd be irresponsible for us to not compare the rules and regulations governing officers in those same jurisdictions and why a state law that only applies to Chicago police officers removes one of the most basic freedoms - the freedom to choose where to live.

The Offending Article

Click Here.

Tribune Smear Job

Its coming Wednesday! Slightly less than halfway down their main page in the video box, a 39 second video preview of their latest expose - "The rush to clear cops who kill." The even have an audio clip of an exchange with a cop who just fired his weapon and the dispatcher.

One problem - OPS got the transcript wrong and so does the Tribune. Listen to the video/audio closely.

The "official" typed transcript that plays along with the audio says "...he just ran so I took a shot at him." Sounds bad.

If you actually listen to the tape, the officer is yelling, "he just rammed us, I took a shot at him." A completely different meaning AND most likely, a justifiable shooting.

Further details as they become available on this bullshit.

Anyone tired of being a punching bag yet?

UPDATE: The Tribune has moved the video out of sight. We don't know if this is standard procedure or what, but if you want to view the 39 second trailer, type in "rush to clear cops" in the video search box. They've also added a 6 minute WGN radio report that uses the word "allegedly" a lot.

We're moving this post from it's original post time of 6:55 PM on 04 December to 12:05 AM on 05 December to keep it at the top for this latest batch of media "reporting."

Funny Stuff

Hmmmm. Could this be a clue?

More Bad News

Sex harassment claims buried in a huge lawsuit:

• Claiming sex discrimination, a female Chicago police officer is taking her former supervisor to trial for allegedly sending her on dangerous assignments, resulting in her getting injured on the job.
  
  The lawsuit centers on the allegation that Donna Lewis, a Grand Crossing tactical officer, was wrongly denied a special assignment in Washington to assist with crowd control during street demonstrations at an International Monetary Fund conference in 2002.

Here's the bizarre part of the suit:

• On March 13, 2003, Lewis was on her way to a robbery call when a male voice over the dispatch radio called for her to be reassigned to a narcotics case, she said. She was injured when another officer unintentionally struck her with a sledge hammer while forcing their way into a residence. She fractured her neck, damaged nerves and injured her lower back, she said. She has since been on police disability.
  
  Lewis said she believes Williams made the call that day to reassign her. But his attorneys said in filings that Williams was not working that day and accused Lewis of hatching a "farfetched conspiracy" to hold Williams responsible for her injuries for financial gain.

Huh? Is this sloppy reporting or a goofy lawsuit? We know of Lt TW and seem to recall he was tapped to be an exempt at some point but couldn't keep his mouth shut and Cline stepped on him. Stepped on him hard if we remember correctly. In any case, more bad publicity we really don't need.

Ticketing Media Drivers

Well. We seem to have hit a nerve. And a nerve that proves you can't get two coppers to agree on anything - even where to eat lunch. Comments are running slightly in favor of NOT writing tickets to newspaper truck drivers. The only trouble is the reasons being given not to write them. A sampling:

1. I say write them until they give us a break on something.
2. correct me if im wrong but dont they have CDL's?
3. If you are that big of a jagoff that you cant find someone better to lock up, then you should think about a different line of work.
4. The drivers are doing their job, they don't write articles, Jesus you guys are brutal,
5. but they give us free papers without question

And then someone accuses us of hitting an all time low with this "absurd idea" and then goes off on a rave about how "I took an oath to uphold the law of this city without regard to race,sex,class or whatever" conveniently forgetting that someone has just broken the law in front of him. Way to sabotage your own argument, dude. Responding to the sampling of quotes though:

1. This smells like extortion, no matter how unintentional
2. This waives the inherent higher level of responsibility that comes with a CDL (George Ryan's office selling CDL's notwithstanding).
   
3. We didn't say "do it to be a jagoff." We said we'd do it to send a message to the media. And like it or not, traffic is part of our job.
4. Their job doesn't involve breaking traffic law. As someone else countered, on the way to the generals, many soldiers will go down.
5. The most popular excuse by far, free papers.

A lot of it was tongue-in-cheek swipes at other comments, at us, at the system in general. But stripped down to its bare bones, you are selling out your badge, your oath and your job for a fifty-cent piece of recycled newsprint. You think that driver is giving you a paper because he likes you? Hell no, he's doing it so you DON'T write him that ticket at 0300 hours when he blows two lights, makes an illegal turn in the intersection and blocks traffic while delivering a rag that makes money painting you with the same mud as the bar beaters, SOS cops, and every other jagoff who sullied the badge we wear. If that driver gives away 20 papers (he'll probably give away less than that) in a shift and commits 20 traffic violations along the way (and he'll do WAY more than 20 violations), he's gotten a free ride for $10. Quite the deal, eh?

We don't expect everyone do what we'd do. We don't expect everyone to agree with our reasoning for how we do the job. Some guys do traffic. Some guys do dope. Some guys sleep all night. But if we had 100 guys write 100 tickets over the course of a week (state charges only), we're going to have an impact because the Teamsters are going to go to the Sun Times and bitch.

And maybe next week, we start writing to some advertisers.

Get Rid of Jury Duty

Back on Sunday we published an article about the "second guessing" that's about to go on concerning police shootings. We also included this throw away line:

• Civilians, especially civilians who have anything to do with the reverends, have no business anywhere near a round table discussion. In our opinion, most civilians have no business even being near a jury box, but that's a different argument.

That comment provoked a number of responses:

• Now, you don't really mean that you, a sworn peace officer, don't believe in the jury system, do you? Do you?
  
  
• No jury of your peers? WTF. Sounds like SCC wants to be the judge and jury now?
  
  
• SCC, I know you are a right wing nut. But do you REALLY BELIEVE that most citizens "have no business in a jury box". What, only people like you should serve on a jury? What makes you qualified to decide who should sit on a jury or not?

To address these comments in order:

• We think the jury system is broken. Badly broken. And to fix such a system, radical measures ought to be considered and debated.
• If you read the 6th and 7th Amendments to the US Constitution, you'll find guarantees to a "speedy" trial, a "public" trial, a trial by an "impartial" jury, and the right to trial by jury. You will find NO reference whatsoever to a "jury of your peers." We'd love to be judge and jury, but that doesn't seem legal. Yet.
• After seeing hundreds or more out of control jury awards in civil trials for the most insanely stupid reasons or murderers go free because certain ethnic groups wanted to "send a message" to the world, do you really think most citizens have any business near a court room? The fact that we've participated in the legal system in hundreds of instances as plaintiff, defendant, witness and observer makes us uniquely qualified to have an opinion as to who should sit on juries. Oh, and the fact that we're American citizens with a right to an opinion, too.

Its been said here and other places, "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6." We've also seen it here that people ought to be worried when they place their fates in the 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty. Let's look at the whole thing though.

Jury duty is onerous at times. Locked in a room with strangers, listening to heated arguments on points of law and procedure that don't interest most people, bombarded with minutiae over and over. It's boring. And then you have the lawyers and their consultants who have potential jurors fill out surveys about all sorts of trivia that will enable them to bump off jurors they don't like. Who gets bumped more often than not? People with the ability to reason, follow logic, people with experience in a given field (ever see a cop on a criminal jury? a doctor on a medical malpractice suit? almost never).

The people who end up on juries are more often than not big television watchers who expect some big "CSI" moment where someone spontaneously confesses on the stand or some fingerprint miraculously appears to exonerate a suddenly innocent accused. You get people who will award a dope dealer millions based on zero DNA evidence and zero attributable damage to a claim of sodomy with a screwdriver. Or who will ignore expert testimony that in less than 2% of all firearms is there a recoverable fingerprint and give millions to a dead felon's family claiming a lack of prints means police planted a weapon.

Professional jurors, made up of learned citizens with a basic understanding of law, science and statistical analysis would make trial lawyers (pardon our language) shit bricks. Even if it never came to be, it would provoke such a wave of reform in the system that we'd get closer to what the Founding Fathers envisioned as trial by jury. At the very least, it deserves debate.

The Anti-Mope-rah

This is a fantastic column:

• The Black KKK claimed another victim, a high-profile professional football player with a checkered past this time.

  No, we don't know for certain the circumstances surrounding Taylor's death. I could very well be proven wrong for engaging in this sort of aggressive speculation. But it's no different than if you saw a fat man fall to the ground clutching his chest. You'd assume a heart attack, and you'd know, no matter the cause, the man needed to lose weight.

  Well, when shots are fired and a black man hits the pavement, there's every statistical reason to believe another black man pulled the trigger. That's not some negative, unfair stereotype. It's a reality we've been living with, tolerating and rationalizing for far too long.

• Let's cut through the bull(manure) and deal with reality. Black men are targets of black men. Period. Go check the coroner's office and talk with a police detective. These bullets aren't checking W-2s.

  Rather than whine about white folks' insensitivity or reserve a special place of sorrow for rich athletes, we'd be better served mustering the kind of outrage and courage it took in the 1950s and 1960s to stop the white KKK from hanging black men from trees.

  But we don't want to deal with ourselves. We take great joy in prescribing medicine to cure the hate in other people's hearts. Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant.

Go read the entire article. Now.

Jason Whitlock is an award winning columnist for the Kansas City Star. Oh yeah, and he's black. Read the last two paragraphs we quoted above. Can you imagine Mope-rah ever preaching to the masses like that? Espousing responsibility? Demanding people take back their community? Hell no. Go read any of her last five columns and we'll bet you a shiny dime that she takes the complete opposite view of Mr. Whitlock.

If this is how Jason Whitlock lives his life and not just writes his columns, we'd vote for him no matter the office he ran for. If the Sun Times or the Tribune had half a brain, they'd hire this guy away from Kansas City and see if he would write op-ed pieces, because he's wasted on the sports beat. He gives us hope that a turnaround is coming to this country one day soon.

Snow Tows

We were reading in the comments about how a number of coppers refused to write "Snow Tow" tickets and tow reports as their own protest against the blatant money maker that snow tows represent.

If we aren't mistaken, Streets and Sanitation supervisors carry ticket books and write parkers not only for street sweeping days, but various temporary "No Parking" zones near construction sites also. Do the Traffic Management Authority tow trucks in the Central Business district have the same authorization to ticket and tow cars downtown? Then there was the proposal to outfit automated parking ticket cameras in CTA buses to ticket bus stop violators.

It would seem that police are being further phased out of some of the more "money intensive" ticket writing violations. After all, the old timers remember the meter maids and the hue-and-cry raised when they were allowed to do something that had been previously permitted only to the police.

Thank You for Your Patronage

From the Channel 5 Newsroom:

• Nearly 150 cars were towed from city streets Saturday morning on the first day of Chicago's winter overnight parking ban.
  
  The winter parking ban went into effect 3 a.m. Saturday. From 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. every night until April 1, parking is banned on 107 miles of critical arterial streets, in the event that snow needs to be cleared from these streets.
  
  On Saturday, the first day of the ban, 149 cars were towed, according to a release from the Department of Streets and Sanitation.
  
  Automobile owners who have their cars towed from these locations face a $150 minimum towing fee, in addition to a $50 ticket and an initial $10 daily storage fee.

So here we have it:

• Towing fee: $150.00
• Ticket: $50.00
• Storage Fee: $10.00

One-hundred forty-nine cars equals $31,290. On behalf of the mayor (who just raised taxes about $200 million) thank you for your support.

Alternate Weapon Qualification - Take 2

A reader who provoked the initial discussion about alternate weapon qualifications said the FOP was intending to fight a losing battle. A commentator countered that the FOP was actually fighting to get the City to pay for the ammunition expended in qualifying if they were in fact, going to make qualifying with an identical firing system weapon an issue.

If anyone has accurate info, that would be helpful to the discussion at hand.

If you've been following the debate in the comments section, a number of interesting points are being raised which would fill a week or more worth of posting by SCC:

• Why can't you carry it if you can qualify with it? (conventional firing systems)
  
• Why limit the calibers and choice of ammo?
• Why only qualify once a year?
• Why not have the ranges open 24/7?
• Why not have additional in-service training days as part of a contract agreement (yes, we know the City refuses to train us on their dime - fight for it)

The City recently agreed to allow everyone 100 rounds of ammo to shoot at the ranges once a year. Let's face it, if you aren't putting 100 rounds through your gun every month in some sort of a tactical scenario environment, you are letting your skills deteriorate - badly. Even we admit to being lax with our service weapon, but we like firing stuff we can't carry on the streets.

In any case, more qualification isn't a bad thing. A gun is a tool and the only way you get better at it, is using it. Safely. Properly. Regularly.

Flabbergasted

Did anyone get a load of Mope-rah's latest wagon load of horse manure?

• Why isn't Drew Peterson in jail? Given that Peterson has been named a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Stacy Peterson, why is he still walking around enjoying his notoriety?

Um, a presumption of innocence? A lack of evidence with which to charge him for the crime? Maybe not actually committing any crime in the meantime? Any of these things ringing a bell in that empty head Mopey?

• ...I've never reported on a case in which someone deemed a suspect is free to come and go as he or she pleases. Unless that person has fled, usually the police find a way to get the person off the street.

Well, that speaks more to your inadequacies as a reporter than any failing on the part of the legal process. We have this thing called a Constitution, Mopey. And police have to follow it. We can't just throw it out the window on a whim, though you'd like to.

• I find that ironic, when comparing Peterson's case with the recent case of another man whose name has been linked with the disappearance and homicide of another Chicago area woman.

Irony is incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs. Let's see what you find ironic in this situation (we'll summarize here):

• Potts had a criminal background
  
• escaped FBI custody
• stopped for a malfunctioning taillight
• arrested/charged with misdemeanor battery
  
• arrested for violating an order of protection when he sent a fax to the child's mother
• resisted arrest and "struck a sheriff's deputy with his elbow"
• violated a different order of protection filed by his estranged wife
• missed court (because he was in jail) so the judge issued a no-bond warrant for Potts
• arrested by Maywood Police after posting $50,000 bail in DuPage County

So because Drew Peterson was a member of the community with no criminal history (but a rather creepy social life), he should be treated the same as some jagoff who...

• can't maintain a properly working automobile as required by state law;
• threatens and hits people;
• can't read or comprehend what "no contact" means in a court order not once, but TWICE;
• batters the police IN A COURTROOM during his hearing;
• can't behave between court dates (violation of bail bond restrictions).

It must be truly painful to go through life with as many self inflicted blind spots as Mope-rah seems to do. Either that or the lobotomy they performed to sever all the logic circuits in her head got most of the pain receptors, too.

Sun Times Drivers

Someone said in the comments that they started ticketing Sun Times drivers for traffic violations in the wee hours. Immediately, someone else said that the drivers are just working stiffs who didn't deserve a ticket and wouldn't it be better to write Mope-rah and Sun Times bosses. Ex-squeeze us, but didn't they just break the law?

We're going to say that everyone should write Sun Times drivers and Tribune drivers and any media truck committing a moving or parking violation. How many times have we, the police, taken a beating in the media for the sins of the bosses, the connected, the politically heavy? A few times? Many times? And isn't one of the favorite comebacks of the liberal establishment that we ought to "police our own"? Shouldn't the media do the same?

Isn't a Sun Times or Tribune driver part and parcel of the media establishment? You think after a few rounds of "Ticket, no I-bond, send a representative out to get your truck" and maybe the bean counters that run these rags might notice pissing off the police is going to affect their already razor thin profit margins. Trust us, we'd love to get Mope-rah or Dope-rah or any media anchor dirty and string them up for their hypocrisy. We aren't saying stop reporting when cops are caught dirty - we're saying stop piling on when the only purpose is to inflame the populace for a political agenda.

Are we not "working stiffs," too? Working stiffs with ticket books. Discretion is a wonderful thing to have when you're the one writing the tickets. Maybe the media needs to be taught to use a little discretion, too.

About the Comments...

We going to make a request or three here:

• Whomever is typing in all CAPITAL LETTERS ALL THE TIME, please knock it off. We know there are a couple people doing it. It's difficult to read and we can barely see the sentence breaks and such. We aren't irritated enough with it yet, but there will come a day that we simple delete all comments written in CAPITAL letters just to avoid straining our eyes.
  
• Lay off the grammar and spelling and sentence construct criticisms. It detracts from the flow of the thread. No one here is impressed that you know the difference between "there," "their," and "they're." Just chuckle quietly to yourself when you see some person claiming to be "college educated" and then they massacre the King's English. We aren't perfect with the typing and we don't really expect anyone else to be.
  
• A bunch of people have been cutting and pasting entire articles from various online publications. These are deleted out of hand as soon as we see them. Learn to link the article in the comments using "href" tags, copy/paste the link from your address bar (but break it up...e-blogger doesn't like long tags and will cut them off), or quote a paragraph (fair use) and then tell people where to find it.
• When quoting someone else's previous comment, especially super long comments, you don't have to copy the entire comment to rip or compliment them. Because then the next guys quotes the original comment AND yours and proceeds to rip on both of you and then the next guy... you get the idea? Either copy/paste the comment date and time so if people care enough, they'll go find the original comment OR copy just the text that you want to critique OR just the opening line of a huge manifesto. Again, we aren't irritated enough to delete long criticisms out of hand, but it could happen.

And the banned list of words and phrases continues to be in effect. Read through our previous archives to find them all. But we're sure everyone here has the gist of it all.

Da Bears

Can they win two in a row for the first time all season?

We wouldn't bet money on it.

Second Guessing Gets Intense

It's coming:

• Chicago Police Department officials testifying Friday at a public hearing said they were adjusting how officer-involved shootings are investigated.
• What the roundtable process really needs is civilians who could sit in on the process, said the Rev. Robin Hood, of Redeemed Outreach Ministries. "It will be somebody that is not biased toward the police [or] the mayor," he said.

You really have to be some kind of an ass (like a west or south side reverend) to think that you can walk into the round table process and pass judgment on officers for something that takes place in the blink of an eye. Civilians, especially civilians who have anything to do with the reverends, have no business anywhere near a round table discussion. In our opinion, most civilians have no business even being near a jury box, but that's a different argument.

Monday morning quarterbacking.

Alternate Weapon Qualifications

From a reader (we're going to summarize so as to protect analysis of their writing style in efforts to unmask them):

• Under the old order, if your gun was of the same maker, caliber and firing system, you didn't have to qualify with each gun (.38 S&W carriers didn't have to shoot both the 4" barrel and 2" barrel guns)
• Under the new order, anything you carry has to be qualified with annually for legal and safety reasons.
• According to our reader, the FOP Board has announced an intention to fight this provision.

The reader is of the opinion that this is a waste of FOP resources. We'd tend to agree in principle. If you carry it, you ought to be able to demonstrate proficiency in the use of the weapon at least once a year. And our reader makes the point that the secondary weapon is (by definition) an OPTIONAL piece of equipment, not required by the City or the Department.

Besides, if you killed someone with the backup weapon, would you really want to have to testify that you have never qualified with it solely on the basis it was of a similar construction as your primary weapon? A smart plaintiff lawyer could make that look really bad. Readers?

Best Suggestion So Far

From a sharp wit:

• Hee Hee... Welcome aboard Mr. New Superintendent, Sir!
  
  May I suggest that you move quickly and send locksmiths and computer analyst to 35th St. immediately for obvious reasons. Retrieve take home cars immediately from every exempt member along with other department electronic device... Blackberry, radio, cell phone... have them report to HQ in the seasonal field uniform with helmet, raincoat & baton... assemble them in rank formation at attention and cite for any uniform deficiency in addition to irregularities regarding D/L's, FOID cards and city weapon registrations... inform them that they are now detailed to loop traffic for 60 days at their career service rank of lieutenant and that they will assemble in the HQ parking lot at 0600 and given their posts. All recruits will return to the academy for additional training. That is all...

If undertaken, the new Supe would be a hero for the ages. They'd write epics about this guy.

Hey, Liberals?

Read this:

• The second teen charged in last week's robberies and shootings at and near the University of Chicago campus apparently went to that neighborhood because he believed people there would have money.

  Warren, 17, allegedly told Eric Walker, 16, who is already charged in the attacks, that they should commit robberies in Hyde Park because "people have money there,'' Cook County prosecutor Maria McCarthy said today in court.

  Warren was also allegedly there when one of the unnamed accomplices fired a gun at a 28-year-old university employee at about 12:30 a.m. in the 6000 block of South Woodlawn. Warren, of the 5800 block of South Michigan, was found delinquent for aggravated battery and theft in 2005 and for robbery and aggravated battery in 2007, according to court records. He was sentenced to probation in both cases.

So these serial predators, one of whom a university official referred to as a "tragedy" for committing murder at age 16, preyed on U of C students and workers because "people have money there." And, we're sure, a propensity to decline to press charges, an ability to emulate sheep when the wolf comes knocking, and of course, no guns.

Another generation of victims ignores the call to open its eyes.

Mope-rah Says What?

This is what passes for journalism in Chicago today. First up, we have Mope-rah on Fox, ripping on the new superintendent, claiming that he was a failure in "Philly" because the streets are running with blood and he hasn't made an impact there.

So we did a little checking around and guess what? The FBI doesn't handle local issues like guns, gangs and drugs unless it is part of some larger event. In fact, the streets of Philadelphia fall under the jurisdiction of the Philadelphia Police Department which is currently run by (wait for it....) a black man! Sylvester Johnson, a 41 year vet of the PPD. So wouldn't the blame (or credit) go to him and not the FBI? Guess who's taking over there shortly? Ramsey - another black man. Strike one Mope-rah!

Then Mope-rah says Daley went outside the process to find this new superintendent who nobody knows anything about.

So we did a little more checking around and guess what? Daley followed the city ordinances to the letter. He had the Police Board do a search, they submitted three names and Daley exercised his prerogative of turning down all three finalists and asking for more. Mope-rah is just pissed because Daley went outside of "reverend-land" and shot down their choices. And as for only finding one article on Google about Weis, she's a straight up liar on that one. Our readers have found dozens, many of which could use a little further explanation by the mayor and the Superintendent-to-be. Strike two for Mope-rah.

And finally, Mope-rah completely loses it, claiming that the only person who could bridge the gap between the minority community and police is a black police chief. The FOX anchor pretty much hands her her lunch over this issue and makes her look petty and racist - which is exactly what she is. Strike three for Mope-rah.

And that's just the TV appearances. Reading her column Friday (so that you don't have to), we get the following great quotes:

• "I don't know anything about this guy," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "I don't know who does. But given the depth of the crisis within the Police Department, not to choose an African American is astounding."

Of course, what Jesse means is that this "someone" wasn't run through the reverend's grist mill and made to kow-tow to the church of racial politics. This astounds Jesse. And Meeks. And Jakes. And probably "Big Hog Balls" Beavers, too, even though he isn't a reverend.

Hopeully, Grau gets the number two spot and the reverends can really start whining in earnest.

Our Favorite Time of Year

Overnight parking ban takes effect...TONIGHT!

• The ban, for key arterial streets, begins Saturday Dec. 1st at 3 a.m. It remains in effect until April 1, according to a city Department of Streets and Sanitation release.

  Cars parked on critical arterial streets with a posted seasonal overnight restriction will be ticketed and towed between the hours of 3 a.m. and 7 a.m., whether or not there's snow on the ground, the release said.

Just thought we'd give everyone 3 hours notice to move their cars.

Quick Hits (post #3,000!!!)

Three thousand posts. Nine hundred and fourteen days. 1.8 million visitors viewing pages 5.6 million times. Goddamn, that's impressive. Thank you. On to the Quick Hits!

Good News to start! Cops, once again, are heroes. From the Sun Times:

• A woman became trapped in a burning vehicle at West Fillmore Street and South Central Park Avenue about 3:25 p.m. An officer rescued the woman when he pulled her from the vehicle

It was actually 3 in the morning and our good news spotters say there were two cops, not just one. But hey, why be accurate? It's only the Sun Times. Channel 5 has better coverage and reveals that the car was allegedly stolen.

Better News to continue!

• Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) faces eviction from his law office and campaign headquarters because he's failed to pay the rent for six months.
  
  This marks the second time this year that Brookins has been accused in a lawsuit of failing to pay office bills on time.

Hopefully, this will take him out of the race for State's Attorney, even though if you elect him he PROMISES that he'll indict one police officer a month. You heard right - that's his campaign pledge on Channel 2 a few weeks back. One officer a month. Perhaps we could indict one aldercreature a month for theft of services?

A sad note:

• Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.

Another touchstone of childhood passes into history.

And we think that laughs at the expense of true Blackhawks fans are just a tiny bit out of line. After all, our team has been the laughingstock of the league for a decade.

• Illinois Republicans have come up with a creative way to protest the governor's decision to attend a hockey game in Chicago instead of staying down in Springfield this week. It's an attempt at a little fun. The Illinois G.O.P. is raffling off a chance to be governor for a day, which means no work, a lot of play, including tickets to a hockey game and a stylish haircut.

But if it fills the UC, we guess Rocky Wirtz doesn't mind selling extra tickets.

UPDATE: post corrected for Wirtz brother

From the Comments

Not that dissimilar if you squint hard enough.