A Gun, A Crime and A Paroled Criminal

What is the same old story, the same old song and dance?

• Two West Side men including a parolee are facing charges after police said shots were fired in a car causing state police to close two West Loop ramps of the Kennedy Expressway early Saturday, police said.
  
  Martez Staples, 25, of the 1200 block of South St. Louis Avenue, and Cordero P. Locke, 24, of the 100 block of North Lamon Avenue, were both charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, police said.
  
  Locke was ordered held on $150,000 bail at his bond hearing today.
  
  Staples is on parole for an armed robbery conviction and Locke was also charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, police said.

Golly, a parolee, with a gun, committing yet another crime. Who would have thunk it? It's not like that has ever happened in Chicago before. What is this world coming to? We better pass some laws to take guns away from the law abiding citizens who aren't out there lighting up expressways, right?

Where is all the screaming from the politicians and "reverends" over this?

Police Limit

This sounds familiar:

Of course, if you have the media in the bag, you don't even have to spend pennies on the political image.

An Amazing Admission

We never thought we'd see anyone admit this publicly, but there it is:

• On Sunday, appearing on ABC’s This Week with fill-in host Martha Raddatz, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) admitted that Democrats knew full well that Americans would be booted from their health insurance plans as an effect of Obamacare implementation.
  
  When asked whether Democrats were misled by President Obama about whether Americans would be able to keep their plans in the individual insurance market, Gillibrand answered: “He should’ve just been specific. No, we all knew.”
  
  She added that the whole point of Obamacare was to “covering things people need, like preventive care, birth control, pregnancy.” The redistributive nature of Obamacare, Gillibrand stated, was the point of the program; anyone claiming ignorance, therefore, is not telling the truth.

Amazing. And she'll probably get reelected at some point.

15 Shot Overnight

Windy, rainy, chilly - perfect shooting weather evidently:

• At least 15 people were shot across the city during a roughly seven-hour stretch starting Saturday night, including 11 shot within three hours early this morning, according to police.

 Including a triple on the Dan Ryan:

• Three people suffered what were believed to be non-life threatening injuries when they were shot this evening on the Dan Ryan Expressway, police said.
  
  The three were shot on Interstate 94 northbound near 59th Street about 8:53 p.m., according to Illinois State Police.

59th Street? Where have we read about 59th Street recently? Oh yeah, in the list of places NOT to go according to foreign governments to their citizens visiting this country:

• Planning a trip abroad? It’s probably best to check out the State Department’s list of travel warnings for countries with unsafe political situations. At the moment, the State Department has issued travel warnings for 34 countries, from the Central African Republic and El Salvador to Iraq and North Korea.
  
  Well, just as State warns Americans about dangerous places to travel, so too do foreign ministries in other countries — and some countries warn their citizens to avoid heading to certain cities in the U.S. France, in particular, warns travelers to be careful in a large number of specific cities.
  
  Here’s what other countries, mostly France, say about American cities:
  
  
• Chicago: Stay away from the West Side and anywhere south of 59th Street.

The governments could just save themselves some time and tell their citizens not to go anywhere democrats are in charge.

More Exempts Leaving?

They can't stand McGoof or what?

• The supt is livid that Goreman and OGrady both dropped tier papers for the end of Nov. Goreman to Amtrak and ogrady to Harwood Hts as the chief. 10 other exempts interviewed for various local Chief jobs. I guess everyone is getting tired of The Supe listening to that egg head Wysinger.
  
  This is what I do appreciate about SCC. Though a lot of nonsense gets posted, you also get some credible info. As well. An example, the post above. If you follow up and go to Harwood Heights website, click on November 14th board meeting agendas, you will find that the agenda includes a vote to approve O'Grady to the position of chief. Harwood heights has a population of about 8,700 people and a police force of 24. Not an error, 24. That explains why he was shipped out of narcotics to 011. Not a bad guy, he was a working cop in 013, heavy of course though. 

So will the West Side "revrunds" push for their commander choice again, even though McJersey told them to go pound sand a month ago?

Bears Favored by 3

Of course, if Cutler touches the ball, all odds are out the window.

UPDATE: Bears favored by three, Bears win by three. Vegas really has their shit down, don't they? Even with a two-hour weather delay, they still call it right.

Another Two Parolees

Hello? Media? Anyone home?

• A 20-year-old man on parole in a 2009 carjacking is the second person charged in the slaying of a veteran UPS employee who was gunned down in a robbery as he walked to a West Garfield Park "L" stop on his way to work late Tuesday, Cook County prosecutors said.
  
  Charged Friday afternoon was Derrick Williams, 20, who police said was the gunman who fatally shot Michael Sullivan, 53, as he walked to the Pulaski Green Line "L" stop on his way to work. Earlier Friday, Rayshon Williams, 16, was ordered held on $1 million bond after being charged as an adult with murder Sullivan's slaying.

And thanks to Governor Potatohead, the democratic run state prisons and parole board, a violent criminal is out in near record time:

• Derrick Williams was paroled from prison in May in connection with an aggravated vehicular hijacking that took place about 8:40 p.m. on Nov. 18, 2009, in the 200 block of North Karlov Avenue, according to court and police records. He had been sentenced to serve 7 years. Rayshon Williams is on parole in a juvenile possession of a controlled substance case from 2012 when he was arrested, prosecutors said.

And according to a number of e-mails, this is a west side rarity - a legit victim, set to retire and enjoy his golden years with the grandkids, now nothing but a memory.

Preckwinkle claims there are too many black and brown persons behind bars and the democratic pols eat this crap up and waive years of sentences at the drop of a hat. Then tey have the audacity to claim they're "saving money" by emptying prisons. Does anyone really give a shit as long as it's the right black and brown people serving time? You know, the predators killing grandfathers just trying to get to the finish line of life.

Hire Me!

Another burden on society who will continue to be a burden to society as long as he breathes air:

• A South Side man has been charged in an August shooting that killed one man and injured four others who were gathered near a church in the city's Uptown neighborhood.
  
  Kelsky Patterson, 20, of the 4600 block of South Drexel Boulevard has been charged with first degree murder, two counts of attempted first degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm, said police this morning.
  
  Patterson is accused of being the gunman who shot five people the evening of Aug. 19 on the 1100 block of West Wilson Avenue, said police.

And here's the asshole's mugshot:

Nice tattoo. Even if he wasn't looking at life in prison, who in their right mind would even think about hiring this to be a representative of their company? Thugs-R-Us? He wouldn't even be hired as a short order cook in an Arkansas backwater truck stop. But now taxpayers can continue to support him the rest of his miserable existence as a resident of the Department of Corrections.

Thanks Rahm....and Mike

What a pair of assholes - Rahm for his offer, Mike for his incompetence:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel is offering Chicago Police officers a 5 percent pay raise over three years — with no retroactive pay raise — and demanding that active officers double their health-care contributions while new retirees pay 4 percent of annuities for coverage now provided for free.
  
  The mayor also is demanding that rank-and-file police officers join a wellness program they have shunned to control skyrocketing health-care costs.
  
  Even after two years of nowhere bargaining tied to his contentious relationship with Emanuel, Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields was stunned by the mayor’s plan.

Thanks President One-Term. You're "stunned?" You should be run out of town on a rail. In fact, every single Board member of the FOP should lose their jobs over this for starters. Every. Single. One.

And fuck you Rahm for pissing all over our service, our sacrifice, and our families. There's a special place in hell for people like you who steal their way to prosperity behind the scenes while the rest of us are just trying to get by.

Here's a hint FOP - stop negotiating right now. Throw the whole thing to an arbitrator. Rahm obviously isn't negotiating in good faith, so stop the charade. Maybe we'll at least get the 10% we got last time.

One Bullet = Lockdown

Anyone else think they're giving kids ideas?

• A northwest suburban middle school was locked down for more than four hours today after a student found a bullet on a hallway floor, according to an email sent out to parents.
  
  Dan Coles, superintendent of Wauconda Community Unit School District 118, said in the email that Matthews Middle School in Island Lake was under a “cautionary lock-down” from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. after the bullet was found as students were arriving.
  
  Thye [sic] investigation that followed included a canine unit, a locker-by-locker search, and review of security footage, according to the email. Police determined it was safe to resume a normal schedule, the email said.

You know why you never hear about this on the south and west sides? Because if someone found a bullet on the floor, they'd keep it in case someone had a gun that fit it later.

Gun Turn-In Audit

The good news?

• The Chicago Police Department’s Gun Turn-In Program gives participants a gift card in exchange for turning in a gun. It is one of many initiatives to reduce crime in Chicago and has the stated intention of removing guns from the city’s streets.
  
  The OIG’s audit of CPD’s 2012 Gun Turn-In Event found that CPD accurately and appropriately accounted for all the gift cards distributed to event participants.

The bad news? Someone doesn't recognize guns:

• However, the department misclassified up to 6.52% of the replicas as firearms, which could have resulted in up to $4,680 in overpayments.

And the end result - well, not clear at all:

• The audit was unable to determine how effective the program is at removing guns from the streets of Chicago due to CPD’s “no questions asked” policy, under which CPD neither requests nor records identifying information, including proof of residency, from the individuals turning in guns. The risks of this policy came to light in a publicly reported incident in which people from outside the Chicago area turned in ‘non-firing junk’ and used the program gift cards to buy new guns and ammunition. 

As for the "effectiveness" of the program, numerous studies have shown that gun buy-backs do nothing but waste taxpayer money, so we're happy that non-functioning guns worth maybe $5 as scrap metal can be turned in for $50 or $100 and used to buy fully functional guns. Deal of the century as far as we're concerned.

Donut Discount

Aren't there better reasons to impersonate the police?

• He really wanted a donut.
  
  Florida authorities have arrested a man who they say was flashing a fake police badge and a firearm to get discounts at Dunkin Donuts.
  
  Pasco County police say Charles Barry made two stops at a store in Trinity on Nov. 6 and 7 before he was busted, Fox 13 reports. After the first stop, an employee told their manager about Barry and they were able to get his license plate number on surveillance video when he stopped the next day.
  
  Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said Barry told him he got the badge from his father, who is a police officer in Morris County in New Jersey.

And it wasn't even like a gourmet donut shop. At least our impersonators are doing stick-ups or writing tickets for the Rahm money machine.

Study Material (II)

Another glaring error - the scenario and solution. You can click the pic for a larger image (we combined the pages into one):

Pretty straightforward scenario and the correct answer is listed as D.

Except.....there is no Officer Redmond anywhere in the scenario. Minor oversight? Sure, but enough to open up untold horrors should lawyers get involved - and they always are in City promotional exams. And it just hints at a whole bunch of incompetence on the part of the test constructors.

Sanctuary!!!!

Oh wait. We mean "Immunity!!!"

• Ten people — including two Daley family friends and some Chicago police officers — were granted immunity from prosecution after they initially refused to testify before the grand jury investigating the death of David Koschman, which led to a manslaughter charge against former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s nephew, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
  
  The two Daley family friends — Kevin McCarthy and his wife Bridget Higgins McCarthy — were with Daley nephew Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko at the time he allegedly punched Koschman during a drunken confrontation on April 25, 2004, at Division and Dearborn.
  
  Vanecko and another companion, Craig Denham, took off in a cab. The police stopped and questioned the McCarthys, who at first denied knowing the two men who fled as Koschman lay in the street with brain injuries.
  
  Kevin McCarthy repeated that story when detectives showed up at his home a few hours later. His wife eventually identified Vanecko to detectives during an interview on May 13, 2004 — a week after Koschman died.
  
  Bridget McCarthy, 35, is the daughter of developer Jack Higgins, a longtime friend of the mayor who was chosen to build the city’s police headquarters. He recently was picked by the Illinois Medical District to redevelop part of its West Side campus.
  
  The McCarthys and an unknown number of police officers testified before the grand jury with a grant of immunity from prosecution after first invoking their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, the Sun-Times has learned.

So could someone explain why anyone needed to invoke the Fifth Amendment and receive a grant of immunity from prosecution if this was just a pair of drunks fighting and the investigation was completely on the up-and-up with absolutely no influence or late night phone calls from high ranking bosses and Shortshanks' people?

Report Corruption or Else!

Rahm the crime fighter:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed a measure Wednesday that would require city contractors to immediately report knowledge of corruption to Chicago's inspector general or risk losing their contract.
  
  The mayor lauded the one-page ordinance as a "key reform" recommended by Inspector General Joseph Ferguson — the city's top watchdog whom the mayor has blocked from accessing City Hall records.
  
  It's unclear how much impact Emanuel's proposal would have because corrupt contractors are unlikely to tattle on themselves given the potential legal and financial repercussions.

Tattle on themselves? Has anyone at the Tribune noticed where most corruption begins in this town?

What happens when contractors start snitching on aldercreatures and connected politicos who solicit "contributions" and kickbacks for contracts? Or form shadow companies fronted by connected minorities that funnel dollars to Outfit members and nephews of mayors?

We're sure Rahm ran right to federal regulators when he scored an $18 million payday without having any background whatsoever in high finance - right after his check cleared.

15,000 Free Rides

Evidently, Ventra uses the same computer people as Obamacare:

• An outage on the Ventra Card system that shut down at least some Ventra readers at 60 of the CTA's 145 "L" stations this afternoon and evening resulted in 15,000 free rides for commuters before the problem was fixed, according to the CTA.
  
  A "back-office server" failed about 4:30 p.m., causing Ventra readers to go out in a ripple effect that shut readers down from anywhere from 15 to 90 minutes, said CTA spokeswoman Tammy Chase.
  
  The card readers affected were rebooted, with customer service employees at CTA stations waving through riders in the interim. In total, 165 card readers were affected, out of about 800 Ventra readers at rail stations, Chase said. Buses and other Ventra machines were not affected, she said.

Anyone losing their job over this? No? Exactly the same as Obamacare.

Cook County as Bail Bondsman

Why do we think this has problems written all over it?

• A Cook County commissioner wants to alleviate crowding at the Cook County jail by lending bail money to some nonviolent offenders charged with minor crimes.
  
  If adopted, the “revolving bail-bond fund” would require tax dollars to get up and running. But the program should pay for itself by reducing the number of prisoners housed at the jail at an estimated cost of $143 per day per inmate, said Commissioner Larry Suffredin, a Democrat who represents parts of northern Cook County.

We're sure they've looked at every option for reducing that $143 per day, right? Maybe get it down to under $100 somehow? There are limits being proposed for who gets a bond:

• There are several stipulations about who could get a bail bond loan under the proposal, which was first heard by the County Board on Wednesday.
  
  For example, only nonviolent offenders who do not pose a flight risk could be eligible. And only inmates who were given small bail amounts would be allowed to participate.
  
  Also, loans could not be issued to those facing additional charges that may land them right back in jail.

Ok, we can see that....but then there's this:

• Another requirement would mandate that those who are released have health insurance or sign up for subsidized coverage offered through the county, according to the resolution.

Huh? Health insurance? Is this another scheme to drive up Obamacare numbers? Someone want to explain?

Study Material (I)

Here's a glaring error spotted in our study group. First, the scenario (click to enlarge):

Next, the ANOV:

Finally, the answer:

It seems that they're going to try to trip you up by specifying whether something is an "error" or an "omission," when in our humble opinion, an omission is an error by definition. We spotted the 14-day mistake and the missing check box. Someone else noticed the missing event number - that's the advantage of studying with a few other people - multiple eyeballs.

But the most glaring error that we all spotted, and the study guide doesn't even touch upon, is the address of occurrence and of the respondent are transposed. Now, we read the study guide and they cover their asses by saying that you may find other errors not noted, but wouldn't prudence dictate that you are given a complete set of answers for different scenarios just so you can have a basic idea of what they're looking for?

Whoever put this together and edited it are obviously morons.

Hey Rahm....How About This?

Maybe this will kick start the Cannabis ANOV program everyone is whining about:

• It’s similar in size to a radar gun — and it too is meant to hunt down offenders. This telescopic-shaped device in the hands of investigators isn’t held at eye level though, but at their noses.
  
  The “Nasal Ranger,” as it’s called, is being used by authorities in Denver to investigate odor complaints, including marijuana-related scents.
  
  According to the Denver Post, Ben Siller, an investigator with the Denver Department of Environmental Health, uses the device to help track down odor law violators.
  
  In a city where backyard marijuana smoking is now legal and state where pot stores and legal growing will be allowed by 2014, such devices might come in handy. But Siller said its unlikely pot will result in any official code violations.
  

And a picture of the device in action:

Tact Teams everywhere can't wait!

Boo-Freakin'-Hoo

This is important why?

• The ABC7 I-Team looked into former Chicago Bears receiver Sam Hurd, who faces life in prison without parole on federal drug charges.
  
  The ABC7 I-Team finds that former Chicago Bears receiver Sam Hurd faces life in prison without parole at his sentencing Wednesday on federal drug charges.
  
  There is video of the fallen-NFL star from the night he was arrested in northwest suburban Rosemont.
  
  On December 14, 2011, video shows Chicago Bear wide receiver Sam Hurd walking out of Morton's Steakhouse in Rosemont to his car in a dark parking lot. He was carrying a gift bag containing a brick of cocaine. Moments later, federal agents and police moved in.

They're wasting time on a dope dealer who happened to be in the NFL. He was making a deal to move 50 kilos a week into Chicago, poison that's killing how many people and leading to how much gunfire, maimings and murder?

We guess the pension mess must be fixed, Chicago, Cook County and Illinois budgets must be balanced, constitutional pension fixes must have passed and local politicos must have swept the decks clean of any pending matters.

Part II Study Material Problems

Like many of you, some of our number have started studying for Part II of the Sergeant Exam, even though scores won't be issued for another five weeks or so.

It has been brought to the attention of the group here that the study materials appear to be rife with bad data - incorrect info, partial answers, errors in construction and grammatical mistakes that would make Sister Mary Margaret rap our knuckles with a ruler if we ever turned in a paper like this.

All of this makes us and others question the credibility of the test anew and wonder at the possibility of invalidation again. Is anyone else, either in the study groups or on their own, discovering what had been brought to our notice?

Police Work Made Easy

This is great:

• As a former bouncer and martial arts master, Jason Chan has an eye out for people who look like trouble.
  
  So on Thursday, when a man who seemed nervous walked into Juno, the restaurant he co-owns, Chan kept his eye on him. The man seemed too disheveled to be trying to get a table at the Michelin-recognized restaurant at 2638 N. Lincoln Ave.
  
  “He had his jacket in his hand, and it was kind of cold out,” Chan said.
  
  The man asked the bartender for a piece of paper and a pen, then he placed his jacket on the bar. He quickly grabbed it back and ran out of the restaurant as Chan watched.
  
  Chan asked the customer closest to where the man had stood if he had his phone, which had been on the bar. Gary Wolske, a Juno regular, told Chan his iPhone 5 was missing.

What happened next is just jaw droppingly hilarous:

• He saw him walk into Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria at Wrightwood and Lincoln.
  
  Chan pulled up in front of the pizzeria and confronted him as he tried to repeat his jacket ploy at the bar.
  
  “We engaged with each other, and he tried to push me out of the way and run out,” Chan said. “I grabbed him and threw him into the door.”
  
  While people watching the incident called police, Chan, who teaches a type of martial art called Shidokan, fought the man on the sidewalk.
  
  “He was adversarial, [so I used] hand-to-hand combat techniques to make sure he was unconscious,” Chan said.
  
  “I put him in a maneuver called an arm bar and told him I would break his arm if he tried to get away,” Chan said. The man kept fighting, so Chan knocked him out with a kick to the face and neutralized him until the police arrived a few minutes later.
  
  When the man came to, Chan made him admit what he had done — and where the phone was — to the crowd that had gathered.
  

Citizens arrest, then a citizen beating and confession. Where's the citizen IPRA when you need it?

C'mon Sinkhole!

Who knows how much it could clean up?

• A sinkhole swallowed part of a road in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side this morning, officials said.
  
  City crews have closed off the area around the hole near 124th Street and Wentworth Avenue.
  
  According to an e-mail from Shannon Breymaier of the Mayor's Press Office, the city Department of Water Management is still investigating, but based on what is known now, a leaking water line running from the water main to a home breached a sewer main and washed away the soil underlying the street. The street caved in, breaking an 8-inch water main, resulting in a hole that is about 30 feet deep and 14 feet wide.

We hoping another one opens up around Clark/Washington and Randolph/LaSalle and then a third at 35th and Michigan.

Another Downgrade

Doomsday inches closer:

• A second bond rating agency has downgraded the city of Chicago's debt worthiness by three notches, citing recently failed efforts to shore up financially ailing government worker pension systems.
  
  The downgrade by Fitch Ratings came after the General Assembly adjourned its fall session without addressing problems in the city's four pension funds, which are about $19.5 billion short of what's needed.
  
  "The city has been unsuccessful in its attempts to negotiate a solution with labor unions and lobby the state legislature, which ultimately controls the benefit formula," Fitch analysts noted in its report issued late Friday.

Eliminate the "gold braid" provision that grants political hacks giant kicks in their pension payouts and cap it at civil service ranks - yeah, that doesn't stop the "meri-clout-orious" from scamming undeserved money, but it's a start. Let's see what that does to start.

Part One "Estimated" Scores

Curiosity driving this post. We've seen the supposed answer key floating around here and there and at least one version made it's way into our comment section in the post titled "Exam Results Coming 20 December."

Assuming it's mostly accurate, what did everyone get? We're hearing a lot of scores running from 77 to 85 or so. We're going to take a wild guess and say that based on our unscientific sampling, passing is going to be in the mid-to-high 50's....call it 57 or 58. Again, this is a guess on our part.

So what has everyone else been hearing? Post your estimated score anonymously and we'll see if the sampling holds up. We've got nothing else to look forward to until January on the testing front anyway.

Tourist Shot Story Falls Apart

That didn't take long:

• At least seven people have been wounded citywide during six shootings from Saturday night through early Sunday, officials said.
  
  Police had earlier said that a 48-year-old man was shot in the back as he sat in his vehicle in the 100 block of East Superior Street about 11 p.m., but police later said that did not happen.
  
  Chicago Police News Affairs [...] said Sunday that an investigation determined that the man's story was false and that he had been shot elsewhere in the city in a drug deal.

Did this story even sound remotely real?

• Police had earlier said the man was a guest in a hotel in the 200 block East Walton Street, told officers he was driving a rented 2014 Jeep Patriot at Superior Street and Michigan Avenue when he heard his driver's side rear window shatter.
  
  The hotel valet parked the vehicle and once the man got into his room, he found his T-shirt was "wet and full of blood" and realized he was shot on the left side of his chest and his left rear shoulder, police said. He notified the front desk clerk and police and an ambulance came to the hotel.

Rear window shot out, yet wounded in the chest and back? And having the valet park the car? They ought to charge this guy with just being an asshole for starters.

This is Normal

Or at least what passes for normal in some parts of the city:

• A 28-year-old Chicago woman is being held on $2 million bail after being accused of dragging an 82-year-old man out of his car and beating him after a traffic accident Thursday night on the South Side, police said.
  
  Sophia Body, of the 8100 block of South Maryland Avenue, was charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery of a senior citizen, police said. Body was ordered held on $2 million bail in court Sunday morning.
  
  
• A police investigation determined that after the victim accidentally bumped one of the women with his vehicle, Body said on the scene: "Yeah, I pulled his a-- out of the car and beat the f--- out of him," according to a police report.

With that confession, she'll probably do what? 100 hours of community service?

This is Stupid

There must not have been any other garbage to clean up on the west side?

• Whose bright idea was it to have SWAP come to Homan Square the other day(Thursday) to clean the parking lot grounds? This department never ceases to amaze me. Undercover officers told to stay away until SWAP was done cleaning up. Truly fucking amazing. Seems like Rahm was looking to save money and utilize felons to clean our facilities for free instead of hiring actual contractors. WTF?

Amazing.

Parole Still Not A Good Idea

Full sentences seem to actually keep bad people from committing crime - at least while they're behind bars that is. Let em out and they're all about committing crime:

• A paroled felon accused in a September homicide was ordered held without bail Saturday.
  
  Ramone Palmer, 23, is accused of fatally shooting Brian Rollins on Sept. 12. Prosecutors said Palmer, whose name is also listed in court documents as Ramone Riley-Palmer, broke into a home in the 10400 block of South Perry Avenue in the Fernwood neighborhood on the Far South Side, threatened its occupants with a gun and then chased Rollins out of the house and shot him four times.

And get this - he went back to prison in the time between the killing and being arrested for the killing:

• Palmer, of the 5900 block of South Justine Street, was on parole for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon when Rollins was killed. A week after the shooting, he was ordered back to prison but was paroled again last month.

On an AggUUW charge no less. Why does no one from the IDOC ever get dragged over the coals for letting the wrong people loose?

Pick Em

Detroit in town, no points either way.

But the over/under is 52-and-a-half.

Letter From Bill

Early yesterday morning, we received this - as we don't check e-mail except once a day and never from a Department computer, it sat for a while, but we thought we'd share it:

• Hi SCC,
  
  I'm asking you to remove the letter that you placed up today. I have done nothing but go out of my way to help this officer. I have been working with him for months to help him. Rules are being bent in order to help him and this being up could very well keep that from happening. My part is done in this. It is clear that the people who sent you this letter are more concerned with damaging me then with this officer being taken care of. I assure you that there was no threat on my part to this officer and that I again have done nothing but help him.
  
  Sincerely,
  Bill Dougherty

The address indicates that it came from the FOP mailing server, so we conclude it's genuine. We reply thus:

• Bill,
  
  It may be that you helped this officer up to a certain point. Even the officer admits it. But what he alleges happened afterward is what concerns us. We notice that you don't deny the veracity of the letter, that any of the extraneous actions occurred, nor do you deny that the FOP attorney was present. We also notice that you are attempting to "guilt" us into removing the posting by implying we have any sort of power to influence a decision by the Department and political powers-that-be. We don't, and we also recognize you are attempting to cushion your own possible failing by having a scapegoat handy. How very political of you.
  
  We, and our readership, would appreciate a full accounting of your conversation with the concerned Officer. We'd also like to have a full accounting by the lawyer as we doubt this falls anywhere near attorney-client privilege territory. We don't expect to get any satisfaction from either because we're us and you're you.
  
  In closing, the post isn't coming down. You have no standing here. The Officer's words indict you and the attorney's behavior as unacceptable. Refute it or don't. We don't intend to chase you for an answer. The election is coming and the rank-and-file will make a decision shortly.
  
  SCC

The letter is genuine if the First VP is trying to make us take it down, so all the conspiracy folks can go back under their rocks. And the "blame SCC" people can go shit in their hats, too.

Koschman Ruling 13 November

Some people just don't want this report to see the light of day:

• A Cook County judge said Friday he’ll rule next week whether to unseal a special prosecutor’s report in the David Koschman case.
  
  Judge Michael P. Toomin scheduled a hearing Wednesday to rule on the motion by the Chicago Sun-Times and WMAQ-Channel 5 to make the report public.
  
  Toomin had sealed the report at the request of Dan K. Webb, the special prosecutor he appointed last year to reinvestigate the 21-year-old Mount Prospect man’s 2004 death and also to determine whether police and prosecutors should be charged over their handling of the case.

And here's an odd bit of info:

• Lawyers for Daley’s nephew don’t want the report made public before Vanecko stands trial in February, saying that could prejudice potential jurors.
  
  Adding its objections Friday was the Fraternal Order of Police, which said the report could harm the reputation of police officers.

Really? How? We mean....how, more than already? This entire event has exposed the sordid underbelly of the connected being covered up for their actions. Why shouldn't taxpayers and everyone else see exactly who was doing the jumping when Daley pulled the strings? Just our opinion here, but the FOP should stay out of the way here and let the chips fall where they may. The ones calling the shots weren't any people in blue shirts and probably weren't even D-2A people. They were D-3 and upwards.

Vallas?

Quinn must be more scared than we thought if he's bringing back someone that the Machine banished for actually being successful:

• Gov. Pat Quinn named former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas as his running mate Friday in a political stunner that mystified African-American politicians and angered union leaders who derided Vallas as the “wrong” choice for the job.
  
  Vallas, a $1,200-a-day state consultant until last summer who ran the city’s schools from 1995 to 2001 and narrowly lost the 2002 Democratic primary for governor, was a little-known finalist on Quinn’s short list of running-mate possibilities.

Interesting to say the least.

"Voluntary" Changes on Hold

In case anyone was wondering, Bureau of Patrol Order #13-0278 now has a .01 attached to it stating that:

• The previous directive outlining the Day Off Group change for the Bureau of Patrol Squad Schedule Pilot Program has been rescinded.

It is addressed to the Deputy Chiefs of Areas Central and North along with the Commanders of 003, 012 and 024. Someone must have smelled the coffee and realized what a clusterfuck they were walking into.

Did you know that the FOP hasn't been invited to one single meeting about this entire Pilot Program? It's true, not a single meeting. You'd think that the Department brass and political structure would want a willing partner in all of the change and alterations of "doing more with less" and working with the rank-and-file, wouldn't you?

But then you wake up and realize this is Chicago and working to make things move smoothly isn't really in the vocabulary here.

FOP Intimidation?

We're imagining that it's time to vote every single member of the current Board out of office. If it isn't the President screwing everyone over and lying about it for month, or the hand-picked jury clearing the President of wrongdoing, then it's the First VP allegedly intimidating anyone who dares to even think about running against his ticket (thanks to the unnamed board member who sent this over):

We removed the heading as it contains personal information of the Officer and the signature line for the same reasons. But this is a damning letter and shows the obvious disconnect between a Board member that is supposed to represent Officers and someone who is concerned only about his reelection. We noticed the allegation that he had the lawyer-who-shall-not-be-named as part of the conference call - that says to us right away that First VP was on shaky and shady ground even bringing this crap up.

Clout Prevails - and Taxpayers Might Pay

Seriously? This jagoff sergeant pops up again?

• Sexual harassment is at the center of a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Thursday by a female Chicago Police officer who’s accusing a male police sergeant of demanding sex acts and nude pictures from her and tormenting her when she didn’t comply.
  
  Sgt. Gerald Breimon allegedly demanded sex acts from Officer Kelly Hespe in the 14th District police station, 2140 N. California, and in police squad cars, according to the lawsuit, which names the city for failing to act when notified of the abuse, as well a female police lieutenant who allegedly intimidated Hespe to keep her mouth shut.

A previous allegation that should have cost this ass his job ten years ago, was buried after a payoff was made to the plaintiff and she subsequently left town, refusing to come back for the criminal trial. Rather than compel her testimony, charges were dropped and the CR investigation died along with it. Lo and behold, his mother was a high ranking Deputy Superintendent who almost certainly didn't have any influence on any of the events.

• Completely unrelated matter - One bridge, slightly used, for sale. Contact us at our Brooklyn address

This left the sergeant free to prowl, stalk and harass again.

We aren't saying the copper is blameless by any means, but this guy should have been fired years ago. The trail of bad paper and stories read like a EEOC textbook. But there he is, making headlines for the same old crap once again.

Here's the complaint filed. Yeah yeah yeah, we know plaintiffs exaggerate for effect in these things. But we have been around the block more than once and we know of the sergeant and the clouted system that protected him over and over.

Spine Removal

Sometimes, it just gets in the way of what Rahm wants him to do:

• Cop shop . . .
  
  Sneed hears that Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, the Bronx bulldog, is having back surgery Thursday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
  
  Best wishes for one tough cop.

"Bronx Bulldog?" Gag. McStreetlightMarksman fits so much better along with many hundreds of other names appearing here.

After the City Council meeting where he wouldn't shut up when the aldercreatures told him exactly how racist he was for not putting black commanders in charge of black districts because entitlement is the name of the game played here in Chicago, the aldercreatures insisted that Rahm have Garry checked for remnants of a backbone. The tests came back positive and Rahm scheduled the surgery for Thursday, CompStat meeting be damned.

Unbelievable Video?

Only if you've been living in a cave that past few years. Very believable to anyone who pays attention:

• Unbelievable surveillance video captured flash mobs dashing into store after store and running out with armloads and sometimes entire racks of sporting goods.
  
  It has happened at three different Sports Authority stores in the Chicago area.
  
  This past Monday in Burbank at just before 1 p.m., five individuals entered a Sports Authority and soon after they were off. Video shows them running out the door with rack after rack of apparel and an employee giving chase.

How far do these jagoffs actually get with a full rack of clothes? Take the wheels off and that part of the crime stops immediately.

And the amusing piece of tape:

Evidently, Channel 2 is a new station here in town and unaware about how things actually run in the big bad city.

Quick Hits

All sorts of stuff today covering all sorts of stories we've spotlighted here and there:

• The man who famously dressed as a Chicago Police officer when he was 14 and fooled cops into letting him patrol the streets for several hours was sentenced to prison Thursday for impersonating a cop in July.
  
  Vincent Richardson pleaded guilty Thursday to false impersonation of a peace officer, and Judge Lauren Gottainer Edidin sentenced him to 18 months in prison and issued a $454 fine, said Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokesman Stephen Campbell.
  
  On July 23, Richardson posed as an Englewood District police officer while trying to buy police clothing, which constitutes felony impersonation of an officer, authorities said.
  

We heard he's hoping to make make parole in time for the next entrance exam - he'll have the felony expunged by one of those church events we get flyers for every years or so.

Rahm's and Zalewski's mandatory prison time proposal died before a vote:

• The Illinois House adjourned Thursday without voting on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s controversial priority gun legislation — stiffer mandatory minimum sentences for some gun crimes.
  
  The legislation was amended Wednesday to remove mandatory minimums for first time offenders. But that didn’t leave enough time for the Illinois Department of Corrections to estimate the fiscal impact of the revised legislation. IDOC had estimated the earlier version would cost $866 million over 10 years.

Jess Jackson, fresh from seeing his son into the federal pokey, arrived to actually lobby against this bill. Yeah, we had a hard time believing that one, too.

And Rahm hires more cigarette inspectors to crack down on illegal sales:

• As he tries to win approval for a higher cigarette tax, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Thursday that he is stepping up city efforts to crack down on black-market smoke sales.
  With some aldermen balking at Mayor Rahm Emanuel's 75-cents-a-pack cigarette tax increase, the mayor pushed back at one of their main complaints by announcing Thursday that he'll hire two more inspectors next year to go after black-market smoke sales.

Someone showed the aldercreatures an Econ 101 book though:

• Many aldermen believe that would lead to more black-market sales and send smokers across city borders to find cheaper smokes in the suburbs or Indiana. The stepped-up enforcement announcement came just two days after the city's top health official said the tax hike would reduce and prevent smoking.

Evidently, they didn't share it with the Health Department though.  And they're counting that imaginary money again, too:

• With some level of increased enforcement in partnership with Cook County authorities already underway, 1,280 citations have been issued since April 2012. The fines for selling unstamped cigarettes are $1,000 for the first 40 packs and $40 for each pack above that number.
  
  Police, meanwhile, have arrested 781 people for selling loosies and issued 490 citations so far this year at $1,000 a pop.

Amount actually collected? ::crickets::

October Numbers Down

But strong finish kept them in line with last year:

• Eleven people were murdered throughout the city last week, and a 12th person died after being shot last August on the South Side.
  
  Despite the violent end to the month, there were fewer murders this October than in October 2011 and 2012. The month also had an eight-day period with only one killing.
  
  
• Despite the bloody end to October, murders and shootings were down for the month, police said. There were 33 murders in October 2013, compared to 36 last year and 44 in 2011.

We can't wait to see all the headlines that Rahm is going to be basking in come January about murders going from 500+ to just under 400, completely glossing over the fact that his and McJersey's bungling of police manpower and deployment led to the giant spike of 2012. And it only cost how many millions in OT to fix?

It's Not Fair!

We wonder what momma would have considered "fair" in this case:

• Family members of the two masked men shot to death after allegedly robbing a store in Reading spoke out Tuesday.
  
  "It's not fair," said Virginia Medina, mother of 24-year-old William Medina, who police said robbed Krick's Korner store alongside 18-year-old Robert De Carr on Monday.
  
  The two men were shot and killed by a private citizen while leaving the store, and family members want to see charges pressed.
  
  "[William] had no right to lose his life over something that man could have called the police for," said Medina. "He took the law into his own hands and walked away scot-free."
  
  "How about if people just start running around here, policing the city on their own? How much worse is it going to get?" said Peter Ratel, Medina's cousin.
  
  The family members said they are hurt by comments suggesting the alleged robbers were "thugs."
  
  According to Medina, William was "no big hard criminal" and was rather a family-man who loved his young daughter.
  
  Robert De Carr was described similarly by his sister, Taylor De Carr.
  
  "My brother was a good kid," she told 69 News.

Excuse us for a moment:

• Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

That made our night - in fact, we're going to go back and read it again so we can have another laugh.

Detroit Cop on His Pension

A preview of things to come?

• I am a retired Detroit Police Officer and this is my story. I hope this will not happen to you.
  I joined the Detroit Police Department in 1986. At that time the city had an agreement with the federal government that made Detroit Police officers ineligible for social security and Medicare. We were led to believe that this was to our benefit. We were told that we would be taken care of upon retirement with a pension and health care.
  Today, this is no longer true.  Because of the bankruptcy filing by the city of Detroit, the Emergency Manager has stripped me and my fellow officers of our health-care coverage and is trying to void our pension income.
  I spent more than 23 years with the Detroit Police Department as a patrol officer. I patrolled the streets of Detroit. I answered calls for service. I did not have an administrative job, nor was I an executive. I have seen some really horrific scenes and fought against the worst violent acts that most people cannot even imagine.

Go read the entire thing, and pray it doesn't happen here.

No Doubt, an Obama Voter

Some spectacular ignorance on display in the CFD Overtime Issues post:

• lets talk about how insignificant your union is? There is one union that represents the bargaining unit of the Chicago Fire Dept its called local 2.It covers all ranks up to and including Battalion Chief.WE have a manning and No acting clause.That means these fire apparatus must be properly manned at all times and no acting out of rank.If these is a gap in manpower OT must occur to fill those spots.You people found it productive to have an FOP a sergeants a lieutenant and a captains union all bargaining for theor own personal shit seeling each other down the drain.You also have NOBODY in charge of a squad car and when ther eis time due they just down a car and nobody replaces them.There was also a thing called a labor strike in 1980 when the CPD was asked to join with the firefighters but it didnt happen because nobody wanted to put their kickbacks on the street to an end or they didnt have the intestinal fortitude to join in and put this city to a screaching halt.So whatever kind of llabor contract you have you can thank the fireman because through their sacrifice you got the me too clause f simply getting a contract by default.....so go cry me a river...

We don't even know where to start on this one, but they obviously have no idea about CPD operations, FOP history and probably CFD history either. But still running a computer from his mom's basement and commenting where ever his ignorant internet surfing takes him.

Usually, we'd just flush these comments, but this one was just too good to pass up

"Voluntary" Changes for Squad Policing

A letter from downtown telling everyone in 003, 012 and 024 that their day off groups choices are about to go from 6 down to 3:

The Department is rolling out this change in an effort to do more with less. But springing it on everyone this coming Sunday, without what we assumed was the required seven days notice before Change Day is a horseshit move, especially for those with 12th and 13th period furloughs and family plans for the holidays that were planned far in advance.  If this stands, anyone who had Christmas off in Day Off Group (D.O.G.) 66 is out of luck unless they get to 65.

Channel 5 had a story on this, but the video doesn't seem to be up yet (it's up now). McCarthy seemed happy to be screwing with the rank and file and called the FOP's position obstructionist.

Everyone saw what happened when McCarthy and Rahm ignored the plain language of the Contract regarding the sixth day working in a seven day week. Past practice would seem to dictate seven days notice for switching day off groups or else the City has to pay overtime following the violation. Rahm is trying to violate the Contract purposefully, thereby establishing precedent to violate it whenever he wants. Affected Officers in the Districts need to follow this very closely and hammer the FOP with calls.

The FOP has already said that when filling out the form for a Day Off Group Change, cross out the word "voluntarily," as this is obviously being done under duress.

Squad Policing Doesn't Work

This was attempted here about two decades ago, and it gave rise to the Rapid Response (or Sector Cars) that we have today. It was determined to be manpower-intensive, which wasn't that big a problem during the hiring waves of those years. That isn't really possible in these leaner times of doing more-with-less. What happens is we end up doing less-with-less.

But don't take our word for it. Here's an article from May of this year in Denver where they tried the same thing:

• The Denver Police union says staffing levels are "dangerously low" and people are waiting hours for an officer to respond to some calls.
  
  The Police Protective Association sent a letter expressing their concerns to the Chief Monday. The union is concerned about the new concept called "team policing."
  
  The team policing concept means that people work in groups, they have the same days off, and work the same area.
  
  The benefits of this approach, police officers say, is they get to know the area they work, the people, their problems.
  
  The disadvantages, the union says, is there are not enough officers on the streets on some days. They claim there are plenty of officers one day, then the next, when the teams don't overlap, there may not be enough people to respond to calls.
  
  The letter points to a drop in the number of officers patrolling a district. It claims the area suffered a nearly 50 percent reduction in patrols.

Gee, dangerously low manpower (check). Waiting hours to even see a police officer (check). Any of this sound vaguely familiar yet?

A 50% reduction in patrols? Does anyone think citizens are going to stand for that - oh wait, they already are in the affluent "low-crime" districts where McCompStat, Rahm and the various aldercreatures lie constantly to the citizens, who just seem to lap it up.

If any enterprising reporter wants to do a little research, call NYPD. They tried this, too and shitcanned the whole operation a few years ago BECAUSE IT DIDN'T WORK. But here, we're going to make it fail even more spectacularly, just because we can.

Bedbugs?

Rumor that 35th Street is seeing some extermination crews lately to deal with an infestation of bedbugs? We didn't know there were beds there, but then we realized that when it became the "Public Safety HQ" that the firefighters probably moved a bunch of beds in there.

Any truth to the rumor?

Remember Those Contact Cards?

Guess who's looking at them closely? The lawyers:

• For decades, Chicago police officers have filled out a “contact card” after making a street stop, listing the individual’s name, age, race and reason for the stop.
  
  Under pressure to reduce violence, police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has been prodding commanders in recent months to increase the use of contact cards, putting “our hands on people,” as he put in at a meeting earlier this year.
  
  The result: through the first 10 months of the year, officers had filled out more than 600,000 contact cards, already more than last year and far ahead of 2011 when McCarthy took office.
  
  Civil libertarians and crime experts are raising concerns that the number of unconstitutional stop-and-frisks are also on the rise as a result.

You have to be a Tribune "digital plus" member to read the entire story. The usual suspects pop up, including Craig Futterman, U of Chicago professor and the ACLU's Grossman. However, new to the scene is John Eterno, a retired NYPD captain, and author of the anti-CompStat book, "The Crime Numbers Game: Management by Manipulation."

• John Eterno, who rose to captain during a 21-year career with the New York City Police Department, called the sharp rise in contact cards by Chicago police over the past two years "a major red flag."
  
  "I'd be very concerned if I was a Chicago resident," said Eterno, now a criminal justice professor at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, N.Y.

If this guy is pointing out red flags, we'd think that there just might be a problem. Get a hold of the entire article if you can.

Coppers Hurt in Crash

Four taken to the hospital:

• Nine people – including four police officers – were injured in a three-vehicle crash early Monday on the Far South Side.
  
  A male southbound in a Nissan Altima in the 10200 block of South Indianapolis struck an unmarked police vehicle parked during a traffic stop about 12:05 a.m., causing a chain reaction, police News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada said.
  
  The Nissan hit the squad car from behind, pushing the police vehicle into a Chevy Tahoe, Estrada said. An additional squad car assisting during the traffic stop was also struck during the crash.
  
  Police said Monday morning four police officers were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

Speedy recovery wished to all involved.

Another Dope Dealer Gets Paid

Look for some sort of policy change from this one, too:

• The Chicago Police Department’s practice of denying arrestees medical treatment for up to 48 hours is unconstitutional, according to a federal jury which Monday awarded $1 million in damages to the family of a seriously ill woman who died in police custody.
  
  Lawyers for the family of May Molina hailed the verdict as a landmark ruling that will force the City of Chicago to change the way it handles suspects who are held for up to two days in police cells.
  
  “This is a strong statement that they’ll have to change,” attorney John Loevy said Monday evening after the city and all seven Chicago cops who were accused of failing to care for Molina were found liable at the end of a three-week civil trial.
  
  “Chicago is going to have to come into line with the way the rest of the nation provides medical care to detainees,” Loevy said.
  
  Molina, an asthmatic, diabetic and obese 55-year-old community activist, died in the North Side Town Hall district police station in 2004 after officers repeatedly ignored warnings that she needed medical help.

We had no idea there was a policy of denying medical assistance - we'll have to review that one. Perhaps Rahm should look into assigning a paramedic to each and every lockup who can make a qualified medical judgement as to who needs a band-aid and who needs a hospital bed.

As to the changes, there's a perfectly good hospital for prisoners available right now - Cermak Hospital on the grounds of the jail. But you'll never see County Intake accepting prisoners 24-hours a day. Nor will you ever see County accepting prisoners who complain of so much as a hangnail during the morning deliveries. Tie that into the "48-hour Rule" for detentions and Preckwinkle's and Dart's people not wanting to do their jobs with anything even resembling efficiency, and you are going to see a clusterfuck that rivals the Obamacare roll out.

And let's completely gloss over the fact that the deceased was a dope dealing piece of garbage who swallowed her own work to avoid charges and then died from it, all the while refusing treatment. You can't fix stupid, but evidently, you can score a million bucks from it.

CFD Overtime Issues

Blame the lawyers:

• The Chicago Fire Department will spend $43 million on overtime this year — more than double the amount authorized — because of “legal issues” tied to past discrimination lawsuits that prevented the department from hiring firefighters, a top mayoral aide said Monday.
  
  The Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday that Chicago will hold its first firefighters entrance exam in eight years in 2014 amid runaway overtime that has gone from $13.5 million in 2011 to a projected $35.3 million in 2014.
  
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2013 budget includes $20 million for Fire Department overtime. But Chicago Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago acknowledged Monday that actual overtime spending will be $43 million.
  
  “There was a series of legal issues that the Fire Department had to work through with the Law Department that actually effectively stopped us from hiring. The city of Chicago could not hire firefighters,” said Santiago, on the hot seat at City Council budget hearings.

Not only does their brass blame the lawyers, they pretty much point out that Rahm is engaged in union busting:

• In marathon contract talks, Emanuel has insisted that “double houses” that include both engines and trucks be staffed by nine firefighters instead of 10. The Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 has strongly resisted the change.
  
  “When you were having discussions with the Law Department, did anybody bring up the fact that you might have to do more overtime to make up for the loss of manpower? . . . Did anybody do a calculation of what that effect might be?” Waguespack said.
  
  First Deputy Fire Commissioner Charles Stewart said no such calculation was done. But Santiago stressed that the alarm was sounded during “many meetings” with the Law Department and the Office of Budget and Management. “We constantly brought up the fact that we have a problem here. We can’t hire. We have people retiring. You’ve got to help us out. We have a hiring plan we put together and we could not implement it,” Santiago said. “Many meetings were conducted. It was always brought up to them [that], ‘We need help somehow. We need to hire people or the overtime is going to go right through the ceiling,’ which it has.”
  
  Waguespack persisted, wondering whether it was “mandatory not to hire” or optional.
  
  Stewart replied, “It was strongly recommended that, until the legal issues are resolved, that we not hire a class. We made sure they were aware of manning needs. But that was their recommendation we had to follow.”

So pretty much, Rahm was gambling with citizens' lives while playing accounting politics. You know, like the spike in murders during 2012, resulting in the CPD burning through the entire overtime budget in 5 months and then adding some $40-to-50 million to it in 2013.

Green Bay Favored by 10.5 (Bears Win?)

And we think that might be on the light side. The holes the Bears have to fill are just too many and too large. Barring a miracle, this one could be ugly.

UPDATE: And this is why we don't make a living predicting football games. Miracles do happen.

Besides, we took the 10.5 points on a few small wagers - purely in the interest of making the game interesting - and came away with a few more dolla....matchsticks....more matchsticks than we started the night with.

Search Prisoners

Every so often, something gets by us. Most times, it's something mostly harmless, but still a reminder that we need to be paying attention all the time:

• A 20-year-old woman was critically injured after being taken into custody by Chicago police.
  
  Investigators say the woman was being held in the back of a squad car in the 33 hundred block of South Wentworth while they waited for a female officer to assist them.
  
  Chicago police officials say the woman had a gun on her in the squad car and was attempting to hide it when it went off.
  
  She was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

Luckily, no police were injured.

Radio Traffic

Here's something we were aware of, but not thinking it out to its logical conclusion:

• OT: Radio scanners. SCC et al: I spent 20+ years monitoring communications, incl a tour@ the NSA. Some habits die hard; these days I listen to public safety radio traffic...via an app or the web. Guess the most popular channels in the world? Yep, CPD. Aside fm 24x7 acty, it's b/c there is a lot of intel on the unsecure comms...particularly traffic stops.
  
  With 1000+ listeners (some nights), how many are noting the name, address, DL, and SSN of your tfc stop? Argghhh. That is a much more effective deterrent to speeding than those commie fking cameras. And how many of the listeners are monitoring your whereabouts & activity? Where u r taking ur 30?....im thinking gang bangers, burglars, crazies w/a grudge. And BTW, jackie is my favorite dispatcher... I should not know her name .... and none of this should be news to you but it is a real threat.
  
  City needs to upgrade comms and fix pdts, for your safety and that of the citizens u protect...
  
  BE SAFE OUT THERE AND GOD BLESS

Some name checks are quite literally an identity thief's dream. No stealing mail, purse snatching, pocket picking. Just sitting at home with a pencil, paper and scanner. Some citywides or busy districts probably run a few name checks every hour with everything needed to commit all sorts of fraudulent activity.

And knowing the city and the department, we'll bet they never fix a thing. Until the taxpayers get soaked for a few civil court judgements.

Shooting Event

Just in time for Christmas:

Should be a good time.

Captains....No Captains?

What the hell is this?

Another brilliant move by the Ladner - McCarthy connection with Executive Producer Rahm.

Does Watson remain commander?

Do the Inspectors still exist?

Is Ryan headed back to 019?

Questions that need answering.

Even More OT

This time, they're getting the money from the Park District:

• The Chicago Police Department is launching a new overtime program to put off-duty cops in the city’s most dangerous parks, even as overtime becomes a hot-button issue at City Hall.
  
  Two officers will patrol each of 20 parks, which were chosen based on three years of crime. The officers will work four-hour shifts, mostly at night.
  
  The initiative, which starts this month, will cost about $250,000 through the end of the year. Another $4 million is budgeted for next year, officials said. The money will come out of the Chicago Park District budget.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul?  Or Officer Paul we suppose. These accounting tricks can't be completely on the up-and-up.

Daylight Saving Ends

Extra hour of sleep! Or carousing.

Don't show up to work an hour early.

Open post for Sunday.

Answer Key Rumor

A couple of comments have popped up and we actually received an e-mail or twenty about an answer key being floated around to the recent Sergeant Exam. The letters are full of conspiracy theories that this was floating around prior to the test.

In reality, this "key" was produced by a copper going to one of the challenge sessions and painstakingly taking notes as to correct answers and questionable calls by the testing company.

Don't believe the stories attached to this one.

On the other hand, 35th Street is looking into a bombshell allegation of some shenanigans that took place prior to the test - we're in the process of tracking down the rumor. It may affect a largish portion of the test taking pool in some manner. We'll let you know.

Stop and Frisk Returns to New York

A liberal judge being overturned?

• A federal appeals court Thursday blocked a ruling curtailing the New York Police Department's "stop-and-frisk" program, an order that could rattle the New York City political landscape and reverberate in law-enforcement agencies nationwide.
  
  The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 3-0 order, halted a U.S. District Court ruling that ordered a monitor to oversee the stop-and-frisk policy and alter a related training program. The city had appealed the ruling and asked the circuit court to stay any immediate effects of the lower-court ruling pending the appeal.
  
  Under the stop-and-frisk program, the NYPD routinely stopped passersby, especially in high-crime neighborhoods, to pat them down for weapons even when there was limited reason to suspect wrongdoing. The technique has been criticized for disproportionately targeting blacks and Hispanics in poor areas.
  
  In practical terms, Thursday's order means the NYPD can continue the stop-and-frisk practice until the higher court rules on the appeal.
  
  In an unusual move, the court also offered a withering assessment of the judge who gave the ruling—U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin—and removed her from the case, saying she ran afoul of U.S. judges' code of conduct. The appeals court wrote that her appearance of impartiality had been "compromised."

Newsflash - this particular judge never had an appearance of "impartiality." The 3-0 vote and the removal from the case pretty much verified she was way out of line. Should be an interesting few months in New York with the mayoral election coming up shortly.

Firefighter Test

First test in 8 years:

• Amid skyrocketing overtime in the Chicago Fire Department, the city will hold its first firefighters entrance exam in eight years in 2014, but not the way a former-firefighter-turned-alderman would like it.
  
  Ald. Nick Sposato (36th) said being a firefighter is a physical job, and candidates should be hired in the order of how they perform on the test of physical abilities, so long as they clear a pass-fail written test.
  
  That’s the way it was done in 1978 and again in 1985, when Sposato took the exam, with no lawsuit filed after either one of those tests.
  
  Chicago’s first firefighters entrance exam since 2006 will be conducted differently.
  
  The written test will be pass-fail with passing candidates assigned a random number and called in that order as manpower is needed.

No guarantees of 10 years back seniority this time though.

Nice Insight

From reader Cuthbert J Twillie regarding the "celebration" of the anniversary of the Chicago Fire:

• >>>>'The city is in the process of planning a celebration (Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Michelle Boone) ..a “Great Chicago Fire Festival” along the Chicago River that will culminate in floats being set on fire...<<<<
  
  What..the..fuck ?!? Somebody needs their head examined: --- The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about 3.3 square miles ... ---
  
  People died, dammit. It's nothing to fucking 'Celebrate'.
  
  What's goddamn next from these dimwits?...'Invasion of Poland Celebration', 'Blitzkrieg Beer Bash', 'Firebombing of Dresden Festival'. Or best of all and just for Rahm, he can be the Grand Marshal of the *parade*: 'Happy Holocaust'.

As long as Rahm is celebrating death and destruction....and Mr. Twillie has supplied us with a few WWII anniversaries Chicago could celebrate....we'll open up the comments to other tasteless suggestions.  Here are a few:

• A reader - A lot of people died in the Great Chicago Fire, and we are going to set floats on fire to celebrate? While we're at it, why don't we implode downtown buildings to celebrate 911?
• County Building Conflagration Day
• A reader - E-2 Stampede Anniversary
• The Gallipoli Gathering
• The Taste of Antietam

What? Too soon?

Exam Results Coming 20 December

Hey media types? Why is it taking the testing company almost two full months to grade a 100 question Scantron test? That's the information thousands received in an e-mail Thursday:

• Results of the written exam will be sent to all candidates on or about December 20, 2013. Only those candidates that receive a passing score on the written exam will be invited to the assessment exercise on Saturday January 11, 2014.

No word on what the passing score is, but two months?

So if you like, you can spend another few hundred (thousand) dollars on one of the study groups, and then find out that you didn't even pass part one? That's going to be a great motivator if you have any sort of question as to how good or bad you did.

In other news, someone posted that although almost 5,000 people signed up, only 2,700 showed up. While that improves our odds, it speaks to the morale death spiral gripping the Department that so many don't even want to try out for a promotion. Can anyone confirm?

McCarthy Clashes with Aldercreatures

These are always entertaining exchanges:

• Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Thursday he’s using his “discretionary” promotions to ease a shortage of African-Americans among police brass, but it’s not happening fast enough to satisfy at lest one black alderman.
  
  In a heated exchange, West Side Ald. Jason Ervin (28th) complained about a decline in the number of blacks in the police department’s exempt ranks during McCarthy’s tenure.
  
  Ervin was equally unhappy about the paltry number of black sergeants, detectives and captains and about McCarthy’s decision to bypass black candidates for the job of Harrison District commander.

Ervin, the son of former 011 District Commander Claudelle, got his job completely through political connections, but he's going to bitch about someone else getting a job the same way? And it isn't really O'Grady's fault he was assigned to 011 - it's a step down from Narcotics we imagine. But McCarthy has made no bones about putting the wrong color Commander in the districts: Ric Flair (white guy) is the Deputy Chief of 007, Jones (black) got 020, O'Grady (white) got 011. It's actually entertaining to see the aldercreatures fall back on skin color, contrary to everything MLK Jr fought for (content of character vs color of skin, etc.) Way to hold your people back and keep them in political chains! One trick ponies.

Keep up the theater boys.

Pontiac Officer and K-9 Killed

Traffic crash takes the lives of an officer and his dog:

• A Pontiac police officer and his K-9 partner Draco were killed when the officer's patrol car collided with another car on Interstate 55 just north of the downstate town, officials said.
  
  Casey Kohlmeier, 29, was in his patrol car when he was struck in a median turnaround at Illinois Route 23 around 9:30 p.m., according to police.
  
  Kohlmeier joined the Pontiac Police Department in January 2007.
  
  The accident is being investigated by the Illinois State Police.

Deepest sympathies to the Officer,his family and his Department.

$93 Million in OT

Where do they keep getting this money?

• Chicago police officials said at a City Council budget hearing today that the city will spend $93 million in police overtime this year but Superintendent Garry McCarthy defended Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision not to expand the force against aldermen who said the huge OT bill means there are not enough police officers.
  
  The overtime estimate is well beyond the $70 million in overtime Emanuel has included in his 2014 budget proposal, which would keep the number of cops steady at about 12,500.
  
  “We’ve got adequate resources, and we’re making a difference,” McCarthy told Ald. Willie Cochran, 20th, a former police officer who asked if the city needed to work more closely with Illinois State Police.

McCarthy touted "lower" crime numbers...in certain selected categories. And he pushed for longer sentences for gun crimes, but guess who's objecting to that?

• McCarthy also plugged the mayor’s effort to get the General Assembly to enact mandatory minimum sentences, which has been controversial among African American aldermen.

That is a large part of their voting base, but at the same time, the aldercreatures are making their other voters victims of those who don't obey the law anyway.