Rahm's Nonsense

In his Op-Ed piece, this nugget of bullshit:

• ....we will create a new Public Safety Inspector General to audit and monitor policing in Chicago. It will have authority to conduct regular audits of the Chicago Police Department as well as investigations completed by the new civilian oversight agency. The IG’s goal will be to identify and address emerging problems and trends in order to prevent acts of abuse from occurring in the first place. The office will be led by someone with impeccable credentials and credibility.

You mean like what's his name....Brizard? He resigned after becoming an "impediment" to reform.

Or Barbara Byrd-Bennett? She pled guilty to a kickback scheme worth north of $20 million, on top of a scandal-plagued past and other investigations in other jurisdictions.

Or maybe that Pakistani guy, Amer Ahmad, who got 15 years for a Federal conviction in Ohio that was ongoing when he ended up as Rahm's pick for Chicago.

Or that Supernintendo, what was his name? McCompost? He had a checkered past of racial animus, a misdemeanor charge for an incident on the New Jersey turnpike involving another agency, a past department under federal oversight.

What about that other guy...Eddie "Look Over There!", who's fiance scored #2, while her bestest buddy, Mrs Wysinger scored #1, and four of their closest friends all got promoted along with them.

Does anyone actually trust Rahm to pick his nose, let alone someone with "impeccable credentials"?

Police Stabbing People Now

Or are they stabbing folks?

• A 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death Saturday evening during a fight in Parkway Gardens on the South Side, and two people are in custody, the police said.
  
  The girl was stabbed in the chest when a fight broke out around 7:30 p.m. near East 64th Street and South King Drive, according to the police, who said she was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital.

Darn police.

Moving Right Along

Guess what?

• A suspect in a triple homicide who later barricaded himself for about 11 hours Thursday died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and his death was ruled a suicide, according to an autopsy.

Anyone up for suing the family for slandering the police? Anyone?

R.I.P Police Work

IPRA is done:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel, under fire for months over how the city investigates excessive force allegations against Chicago police, plans to propose abolishing the city's beleaguered Independent Police Review Authority.
  
  The city would replace the agency — known for sluggish investigations that rarely led to discipline — with a civilian agency "that has more independence and more resources to do its work," Emanuel wrote in an essay released Friday. The essay offered few specifics about the new agency, though the mayor wrote that the details will be worked out in the coming weeks and presented at a City Council meeting June 22.

And to be replaced by a "civilian board:"

• In an op-ed piece that’s expected to appear in Sunday’s Sun-Times, the mayor says the city would replace the agency with a civilian agency that has more independence and more resources to do its work.

There are assorted legal and procedural hurdles to overcome. As we understand it, police shootings are required by state law to be investigated by sworn law enforcement. Then there's the training, or lack of, that the "community" has, the conflicts of interest, the chain-of-command, the legal protections afforded police, the list goes on.

It needs to be said again, but anyone doing more than the barest minimum nowadays is looking for a world of hurt.

"Ferguson Effect" in Full Bloom

From our e-mail, an article by Jack Dunphy:

• We turn our attention now to the city of Chicago, where both Northsiders and Southsiders are reveling to see that their respective baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox, are comfortably in first place. Yes, it’s only May, but in Chicago one must revel when one can. And when Chicagoans check their morning newspapers to see how their teams fared the previous evening – the batting averages, the home runs, the strikeouts, and all the rest – there is another set of statistics they consult, one that appears as regularly as the box scores but calls for no celebration: They look to see how many people in Chicago were shot overnight.
  
  And they most often find the answer is quite a few, as reflected in this May 7 story from the Chicago Tribune. “A 58-year-old man was pronounced dead,” the story begins, “after a bullet ripped through a front door of his home and struck him in the head as he was eating dinner. The man was one of five people shot Saturday, police said.” The story was posted to the paper’s website at 9:55 p.m., Central Time, which left more than two hours of prime crime time for Saturday’s total to run even higher. But if the number of shooting victims held at five with only one of them killed, Chicagoans would label the day a modest success. So far this year the city has averaged more than nine people shot and 1.5 homicide victims per day.

And the head of the feebs agrees with this finding:

• Last year FBI Director James Comey took heavy incoming fire over his remark that a “chill wind” was blowing through law enforcement in the aftermath of Ferguson, Baltimore, and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement. Yesterday, he doubled down:
  
  The director of the F.B.I. reignited the factious debate over a so-called “Ferguson effect” on Wednesday, saying that he believed less aggressive policing was driving an alarming spike in murders in many cities.
  
  James Comey, the director, said that while he could offer no statistical proof, he believed after speaking with a number of police officials that a “viral video effect” — with officers wary of confronting suspects for fear of ending up on a video — “could well be at the heart” of a spike in violent crime in some cities.
  
  “There’s a perception that police are less likely to do the marginal additional policing that suppresses crime — the getting out of your car at 2 in the morning and saying to a group of guys, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’” he told reporters.
  
  While Comey may not have offered statistical proof, there’s ample evidence from Chicago — for example — that reduced arrests, stops, and gun seizures correlate with a dramatic increase in murders.

"dramatic increase" might be an understatement.

FOP Prediction

Dean gets this one right:

• Disrespect for the Chicago police is at an all time high and as the weather turns warmer this summer, the city’s already high level of violence is ready to explode, especially if new proposed policies are adopted. So warns an official with Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).
  
  In a new interview, Dean Angelo, Sr., President of Chicago Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7, expressed foreboding about the summer months as gang violence in the city ramps up to a fever pitch as it usually does in the warmer weather. But the climate of violence isn’t just because of the temperature.
  
  Angelo criticized as “ridiculous” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s pubic pronouncements that the Chicago PD is fraught with systemic racism and warned that the disrespect Emanuel’s words fostered toward police, and possible changes being proposed in the state legislature, will cause the city to “light up” this summer.

You can see it in the stats over the past few years:

• May 2013 - 44 homicides
  May 2014 - 41 homicides
  May 2015 - 48 homicides
  May 2016 - 30 homicides - and not even halfway through

The Dean interview is over at this link.

Triple Killer Dead

The body isn't even cold, hell, his victims aren't even cold, and his family has already sought counsel to sue the Department:

• Jonathan Ford had few words for the man suspected of killing three members of his family. "Turn yourself in. Let it go.
  
  "As he spoke Thursday, the suspect was holed up in a home on the Far South Side, surrounded by police SWAT teams. He was not letting go.
  
  He leaned out a window and exchanged gunfire with officers around 9:30 a.m., five hours into the standoff, according to police. Around noon, the voice of the suspect's mother blared from a bullhorn: "I'm outside. Please come out. I love you. I love you, son."
  
  No response.
  
  Police lobbed tear gas canisters into the home and, still not seeing or hearing anything, fired stun grenades. They entered the home shortly after 3 p.m. and found the 31-year-old suspect dead of a gunshot wound, according to [...] Chicago police spokesman.

And the family, who weren't anywhere near the actual shooting scene, have brilliant insight into what went down:

• Robinson's sister claimed her brother was trying to surrender when police shot him.
  
  "That boy didn't do nothing to deserve (it)," the sister said. "He tried to surrender and they shot at him like seven times when he put his hands in the air and told them he surrendered and they still killed him."
  
  Eric Russell, a Robinson family spokesman, said Thursday afternoon the family "doesn't buy the narrative" and have already sought legal counsel.
  
  "The family is of the opinion that every avenue was not given for a peaceful surrender."

He didn't do nothing - except execute three people and fire nearly a dozen shots at police. That sure sounds like someone bent on a "peaceful surrender."

By the way, nice job to everyone involved in solving this one and bringing it to a conclusion without further loss of life.

Don't Touch the Gun

Wow, a jury looked at the evidence and got it correct:

• A federal jury rejected an Austin beauty store owner’s claim that he was wrongfully shot by three Chicago police officers in March 2012 after he was robbed at gunpoint.
  
  Jurors sided Thursday with Officers Miguel Torres, Rolando Ruiz and Thomas Petrenko on claims of excessive force, false arrest, assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress, awarding no damages to store owner Bassil Abdelal. The officers’ lawyers said Abdelal pointed a shiny chrome handgun at the officers when they responded to the robbery. Abdelal denied it.
  
  The federal civil trial had previously been set to begin in December 2015, weeks after a Cook County judge ordered release of video depicting the fatal shooting by police of 17­-year­-old Laquan McDonald. Fearing the officers would not get a fair trial amid the swirling controversy, city lawyers convinced U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer to delay the case until this month.
  
  But in the end, it took jurors roughly four hours to vindicate the officers at the end of a four-day trial. Abdelal’s attorney, Justin London, refused to acknowledge a reporter as he left the courtroom.

This guy picked up the gun dropped during the robbery and exited his store as police arrived. A mistake on his part, but completely preventable. Good to see a decent case put together and won.

No Grace Period

City sticker time - if you stayed on the old schedule:

• Chicago City Clerk Susana A. Mendoza is urging Chicago motorists to be aware of a change in grace period rules regarding deadlines for purchasing and displaying their Chicago City Vehicle Sticker.
  
  Beginning July 1, 2016, changes to the Chicago Municipal Code regarding the grace period will make motorists eligible to be ticketed immediately following their vehicle sticker's expiration.
  
  For example, if your vehicle sticker expires on June 30, you are eligible to be ticketed on July 1. The $200.00 ticket can be issued daily.
  
  The grace period for late fees will be extended from 15 to 30 days effective July 1. A motorist with a vehicle sticker expiring June 30 will have until July 30 to purchase a sticker without paying an additional $60.00 late fee

So another fee/fine stacked upon an already extravagant tax burden. And another moving van pulls up in a middle class neighborhood.

Off Duty Hurt

Motorcycle crash on the Kennedy last night.

Only word is "critical condition."

Best wishes to the injured PO.

Reminder - Cake and Coffee

For anyone who missed the original announcement, the Information Services Division put out an additional fax message Wednesday (#224030)

• On Thursday, 12 May 2016 at 1200 hours, a retirement cake and coffee will be held to celebrate the 35 year career of Chief Eugene E. Williams. Please join us in the Chicago Public Safety Headquarters Multi-Purpose Room, to honor Chief Williams's career and to wish him well. Overflow parking is located at the Indiana Avenue Pentecostal Church of God 3520 S. Indiana.

As people paying attention know, Gene is currently under investigation by the Inspector General of the City of Chicago regarding an allegation of blatant cheating in a special group run by Gene on company time, in Headquarters, with a copy of the actual test used as a "study guide." But hey, as long as it isn't an IAD investigation (that tipped off Gene that someone had filed a complaint) then he can retire to evade questions with all the bells and whistles.

And the fact that he leaves behind a legacy of cheating, dishonor, and unqualified supervisors (further hastening the demise of the Department) is expected to fade into memory.

At least, that's Rahm's intent...and Eddie's, seeing as how he's neck deep in the stink of this one. At least Al left town to avoid the uncomfortable questions when his wife scored number one.

Feeling the Pinch

Anyone else noticing a lot less taxpayers around?

• If the middle class seems like it's under siege, well, that's because it is.
  
  Across the Chicago metropolitan area, 51 percent of households are maintaining their foothold in the coveted class long associated with home ownership and financial security, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data released Wednesday. That's down from 56 percent in 2000.
  
  For those who have exited the middle class, the trajectory hasn't been good: More Chicago-area households slipped into the ranks of the lower income than the upper income from 2000 to 2014, the analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data found. Wages in all earning groups have fallen during that time.
  
  If the trend continues, local households led by middle-income earners could soon lose the majority.

Detroit II is a lot closer than anyone is noticing - as the middle class can't afford Chicago, they leave. As they leave, revenues fall. As revenues fall....you getting the picture yet Rahm?

Weekend Mayhem Continues

A dozen shot on a Wednesday:

• At least 12 people have been shot in Chicago since early Wednesday afternoon, including at least four shot in the evening in the Park Manor neighborhood and a pregnant woman shot on the Southwest Side, officials said.
  
  The Chicago Fire Department took four adults to local hospitals, all in serious-to-critical condition, following the shooting at 8:04 in the 7100 block of South State Street.....

Waiting for the announcement of some summer-time initiative any day now.....

UPDATE: Sun Times has it at 3 killed and 17 wounded for Wednesday.

The Tribune has 4 deceased and 14 maimed.

Englewood with a triple.

Guilty Plea

Here's some crap-tacular reporting:

• Paris Sadler’s attorneys spent days arguing why his arrest for shooting a Chicago Police officer should be thrown out, and why the .38-caliber handgun found in his South Side home should not be allowed at trial because the weapon was recovered in an illegal search.
  
  Through the arduous pretrial stages, which exposed controversial tactics used by authorities, a veteran prosecutor was fired for allegedly lying in an evidentiary hearing against Sadler.
  
  But before Sadler, 24, was given the chance to prove his innocence to a jury, he decided on Wednesday to plead guilty to shooting and seriously injuring Officer Del Pearson.

"arduous pretrial stages"? Arduous to whom exactly?

"prove his innocence"? If it was so overwhelming, why take a twenty-five year plea?

Half-assed reporting by police-haters again.

More Visits?

Anyone care to confirm this one?

• Did you know that the district commanders were ordered to go and visit the mother of a slain individual in their respective districts on Mother's Day weekend? 100% true. They were basically supposed to tell them how sorry they are for their loss. What the hell has become if this department????

So now the Commanders have to warn the little scamps if they're too involved with gangs and flirting with disaster, now they have to comfort the mothers of the dead if junior manages to catch lead?

If true, we certainly hoped they screened the "victims" and ran their IR Numbers, criminal histories and those of Mom, too.

Detectives Assaulted

Anyone have any reports on this incident?

• SCC this incident isn't widely known because it ended as well as it could have I suppose.
  But last week in 010, two detectives were patrolling the district in an Ford Fusion looking to identify a car in one of their cases. A Latin King gang member throws up a gang sign at them, and as the detectives car stops, the Latin King runs up to the drivers door and puts a gun in the drivers face. Luckily as things turned out he recognized they weren't rivals and fled on foot. He was taken into custody and was found to have TWO guns on him. The incident is verified because it was captured on surveillance video.
  
  But here's the kicker. He was 46 years old. In 1986 he was sentenced to 45 years for a murder. While in custody, he stabbed a corrections liutenant and did 10 years of solitary in Tamms for it. After stabbing the liutenant, why not let him out after only 25 years for his "good behavior." And then after his release he took a burglary pinch and hit probation.
  
  The system is broken. And we are lucky that this particular incident didn't end up much worse. Luckily he was "old school" enough that he wanted to verify his target first instead of spraying at their car at the hint of a challenge like these younger kids. Plus, the heads up actions of the detectives probably saved their lives. Glad it all worked out, but our good luck can only extend so far, and in a system like this the deck seems stacked against us.
  
  Pay attention and stay safe brothers and sisters.
  
  010 Tact

Seems like there should be some "zero tolerance" going on around the Marquette District, but we suppose being 3,000 officers short has kind of put a damper on things like that, along with actually having the stones to sweep the corners like the old days.

Amusing Statistic

We don't know where they dug this stat up, but we laughed out loud at it:

• The war on drugs may not be over in Chicago, but it’s in retreat.
  
  In 2015, total drug-related arrests dropped to the lowest level in three decades, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of city crime data found.
  
  And the rate of drug busts plunged more sharply in the first four months of 2016. Chicago Police are on pace to make 13,000 narcotics arrests by year’s end. That would be the smallest annual tally since 1973, two years after President Richard Nixon declared a national war on drugs.

And of course, there is blame and credit. First, the Cannabis ANOV's are performing spectacularly well, to there's the credit. And the police are being fetal, so there's the blame. Then you have that "diversion" thingie where addicts are offered a shot at rehab. So how many hundreds of addicts have been placed in this program?

• He also said police have recently joined the city’s efforts to get drug users into treatment instead of locking them up.
  
  Last month, the first two people were diverted into treatment programs after they were swept up in a sting on a heroin operation on the West Side. Another sting is planned this month and police hope to place a larger number of addicts in treatment.

Two? Wow. Thank goodness this is taking hold so aggressively.

How about this theory? Cops are fed up with a system that releases first time offenders, repeat felons, doubts their word, has absolutely nothing resembling "truth in sentencing" and combined with the all out war on law and order, have backed off the entire dope trade.

11%?

How much money is being wasted here?

• Already reeling from a financial crisis and mass layoffs, Chicago State University acknowledged Friday that its graduation rate had dropped to 11 percent.
  
  The public university, which has long been criticized for its strikingly low graduation rate, could now face increased scrutiny from lawmakers and accreditors. In recent years, the graduation rate ranged from 13 to 21 percent.

Maybe Greg Bella and the FOP could run an audit of the City Colleges and find places to cut spending, from the top heavy staff, to the unnecessary capital projects, to all sorts of fraudulent (and criminal) mismanagement.

You gotta start somewhere.

UPDATE: Evidently, Chicago State is not one of the city colleges. Our bad. However, that shouldn't stop anyone in an area of responsibility from running regular audits to make sure taxpayer money is being spent properly. We'd bet there are millions wasted at the City Colleges, Streets and San, Navy Pier, McCormick Place, the schools, maybe even the Police and Fire sides?

Unacceptable vs Acceptable

Eddie is angry! Very angry it seems:

• Confronted with the bloodiest weekend in Chicago since being named police superintendent six weeks ago, Eddie Johnson on Monday called the gun violence "completely unacceptable" and said the dozens of shootings highlight "the uphill battle" confronting police.
  
  More than 50 people were shot, eight fatally, between Friday afternoon and early Monday, the city's most violent weekend since the end of September, according to a Tribune analysis.
  
  The tally included a 3 1/2-hour period early Saturday when one man was killed and 14 others were wounded — the equivalent of someone being shot every 14 minutes.
  
  Chicago is already closing in on 200 homicides as the city endures its worst violence since the late 1990s. At this rate, the city is on pace to top 500 homicides for the year for only the second time since 2008.

According to HeyJackass.com, Chicago blew by the 200 mark in style, passing 210 by the close of business yesterday.

This on the heels of Eddie's Op-Ed piece in the weekend Sun Times lamenting the systemic failure of the Courts to keep criminals behind bars:

• Eighty.
  
  That’s the combined number of arrests between two men – one an alleged offender, Raul Martinez, and one a victim, Robert Rosenau – involved in a homicide that occurred in Chicago this past Monday. The long and violent histories of these men demonstrate the challenges that Chicago police officers face every day in making our city safer.
  
  Chicagoans depend on the brave men and women of the police department to patrol the streets each day with professionalism and with respect for the people we serve. Lately, we have seen how much damage a small number of repeat offenders with violent criminal records can cause in our communities.
  
  Police cannot respond to this alone. The sad arrest histories of these men is the latest illustration of how judges and the rest of the criminal justice system need to join parents, clergy, activists and Chicago’s residents as our partners to create a culture of responsibility and accountability in neighborhoods across the city. For years, repeat offenders with violent criminal records have been able to continually cause harm in our communities with minimum consequences.

Two jagoffs with eighty arrests between them walking free - the word "concerning" would be an apt description, but you won't hear that used as long as Prickwrinkle and Dart want the jail empty, and Evans allows political hacks to sit on the benches. It would seem that the CPD and Cook County Courts are working at cross-purposes.

And when the "brave men and women" Eddie sings the praises of, are under siege by the media, the community, the politicians, and completely demoralized to the point that they are unable to do their jobs, well, it would be nice to have bosses who don't just say the words, but walk the walk as it were.

That isn't happening. In fact, history is repeating....and repeating:

That is from the thoroughly corrupted promotional exam of the late 1980's in which the phrase "Notify the Watch Commander" was utilized to clue-in the moderators that this person was on the "connected" list. Retired Sgt John Northen jousted with the windmills that time, proving beyond any doubt that the exam had been fixed from the get go.

In the early 2000's, another fixed promotional exam was exposed, partially by Mark Konkol, currently of DNAInfo.com but then, working for the now-defunct Red Streak. He reminisces last week about how little has changed in 13 years, and he is still, just about the only one keeping an eye on the current scandal.

Eddie is talking a good game, correctly blaming the Courts for the lax sentencing that releases eighty-time losers onto the streets. But praising the working cops, while ignoring the scandal of piss-poor leadership because it happens to lead to the bedrooms of himself, his nearest rival, his recently retired superior and lord knows how many other people connected by political contributions, ethnic clubs, and bedroom antics....

Well, you don't have to imagine what that leads to. You can live it, right now.

Bank Robbery Offender Killed

Good guys go home safe afterwards:

• A Chicago cop fatally shot a bank robbery suspect after a chase that ended in the backyard of a Southwest Side home Monday morning in the Archer Heights neighborhood.
  
  The man allegedly robbed a branch of Byline Bank at 4970 S. Archer Ave. at about 10:30 a.m.
  
  “Eighth district officers responded to a holdup alarm,” Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said at a news conference near the scene of the shooting.
  
  “As they responded a security officer from the bank was in pursuit of a suspect to a just-committed armed robbery at the Byline Bank. A short foot pursuit ensued. The officers chased the subject down a gangway at which time the subject turned towards the officers with a weapon. One of the officers discharged his weapon, striking the offender.”
  
  The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
  
  FBI agents are investigating the robbery, and IPRA is investigating whether the use of deadly force was justified, Johnson said. Police said they recovered a gun at the scene.
  
  Johnson added that the man is suspected of robbing a different branch of the same bank on Saturday at 63rd and Austin. Johnson said the suspect matched the description of the previous bank robber, including a pair of “distinctive shoes.”

So it seems he was a habitual bank robber? A very good job then.

Best wishes to the involved Officer(s).

Waste of Space

You want to see the Tribune perform fellatio on a dead gang banger?

• Pierre Loury talked about going to college and becoming an engineer, yet he skipped classes for nearly a year in high school.
  
  He encouraged his little brother to stay in sports and out of gangs, yet he claimed to have joined the New Breeds around the age of 10.
  
  He spent hours recording rap music in a converted bedroom closet, but toward the end of his short life his Facebook postings show him posing with guns, cash and drugs and talking of chasing rival dealers off his block.
  
  Still, his family and friends never imagined he would die in an alley not far from his home at age 16, shot and killed by a Chicago police officer last month after allegedly threatening him with a gun.

This isn't so much journalism as the groundwork for a hagiography of a dead gang banger who never would have amounted to a hill of beans.

• "He was becoming a man," said his stepfather, Vantrease Frazier, who disputes the police account. "You know every teenage boy made mistakes and did stuff they ain't supposed to do, but you got to learn from that."

"mistakes." Right.

• Loury, a flashy dresser who liked to impress girls, smoked marijuana every day, bounced around from school to school and often didn't go to class, according to friends and court records.
  
  He argued with his mother and ran away from home, staying with friends for extended periods on a block that police once closed down for weeks because of its rampant drug trade.
  
  He had his first court case when he was 14 and within a year was busted on a heroin charge.
  
  By 16 he had a tattoo across his throat in honor of a friend who was slain.
  
  At the time of his death, Loury was serving a sentence of five years of probation for his involvement in the robbing and beating of a woman on a CTA train.

Sounds like just the type of individual that Judge Hooks would release on his own recognizance regularly.

If you want to read the rest of this crap-tacular article, click at the link up top. The comments at the bottom of the article (some 300-plus at last count) convey our disgust as well as anything we could have written - this is a spectacular waste of writing, newsprint and bandwidth. The Trib ought to be ashamed of it.

Fix the Police!

For all of you keeping score at home, this little bit of math someone sent us, updated for the weekend:

• To date, 6 of the 1,245 individuals shot in Chicago have been by police, for a percentage of 0.0048192771 - four-tenths of one percent
  
  The number killed is 4 out of 212, for a percentage of 0.0188679245 - just under 2%
  
  This shows that when the police are fixed, everything else will fall into place.

Good luck with that Chicago.

What a Weekend Mom!

From Friday through dinnertime Sunday, we counted 50 shot, 8 of whom left this mortal world. By the time we post tonight, it might have gone up even more.

It includes a fatality on Lake Shore Drive, something that people should find "concerning."

Fifty shot on the first weekend May.

Eddie, maybe a few of these new whiz-kid lieutenants can come up with a comprehensive strategy?

Another Hit Piece

Amazing how these articles just pop up in a timely manner - it's almost like the media is trying to distract people from other scandals:

• Late last year, Judge William Hooks heard the kind of case that occurs at Cook County's main courthouse every day and that, in most instances, ends with a guilty verdict and the defendant headed off to prison. This time, though, the case came to a different conclusion.
  
  At the center was a veteran Chicago police narcotics officer who testified that he and his partner had abandoned an undercover drug surveillance to stop a minivan for failing to signal for a right turn — and discovered about 2 1/2 pounds of cocaine in the vehicle.
  
  Lawyers for the two men arrested in the case said the story did not ring true and asked the judge to throw out the charges before trial. There was no way, they said, that officers from a specialized narcotics unit would break away from their surveillance for a traffic stop.
  
  Hooks agreed.

And guess who is going to get involved now?

• The issue so erodes trust in the criminal justice system that the U.S. Department of Justice, as part of its civil rights investigation into the Police Department, has asked the Cook County public defender's office to refer cases with evidence that officers testified falsely, the Tribune has learned.

And these are slam-dunk cases?

• Determining whether an officer lied on the witness stand or was simply mistaken can be difficult; a judge's ruling does not necessarily mean an officer intentionally testified falsely. Nonetheless, top police officials and prosecutors make little effort to get to the bottom of what some lawyers have come to call "testilying."

Called that by Hollywood, defense attorneys and "defendant judges." Like Hooks maybe?

In any event, officers testify to the best of their recollection. We aren't machines. That's why you're allowed to look at Case Reports and Arrest Reports - to refresh your memory, especially if you're one of those coppers who is doing two, three or more arrests a night at the local dope spot, picking off buyers, chasing the pack, hoping to identify "security" and luck into a gun every so often. That used to be considered good police work and the bosses encouraged it.

Officers err. It happens. If officers deliberately lie, there should be penalties. But now, if you aren't a robot with instant recall and perfect playback ability, you are going to be hung out to dry.

But cheat on a promotional exam, the Tribune will gently push that into the background lest Rahm have to explain away yet another personal choice running afoul of policy....or the law.

Exam Announcement

Here's how we are going to fix the Detective test!

• When the second part of the test was about to begin the lady who was reading the rules and do's and dont's during the exam started the second part of the exam by stating " Everyone! ...I have an important announcement to make"
  
  Everyone picked their head up and she starting reading on what people had to fill out to qualify for the merit process.
  
  Everyone in the facility was shocked!
  People were yelling, laughing and throwing things
  It was a complete joke and a slap in the face to everyone taking the test (not including the clout babies of course )
  
  I'm not 100% sure on the info regarding the company that administers the test goes. I was under the impression that their company was hired by the city to organize the candidates and passing out test material.
  
  If I'm wrong please correct me however if I'm right and that is their only function who the hell gave them that information and told them to read it??!!!
  
  And please again correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the city under federal investigation for the last promotional test administered?
  
  This lady then continued to say once you fill out what's required to qualify for the merit process "raise your hand and a Procter will collect your exam and quietly exit the building"
  
  You want to talk about being discouraged after hearing that. It was like she was saying " don't bother the fix is in"
  
  Maybe this should go public and give the Feds or whoever is investigating the last test something else to look into

It used to be that if you knew you were going to be "merit," we mean ABSOLUTELY 100% Money-in-the-bank POSITIVE, then you just didn't show up to part 2 - you know, the part that actually ranked you by number and mostly consisted of applying the study material to scenarios. Because that would be a bit difficult for people to memorize evidently.

So they make this announcement.

Hopefully, people took note of who did instructed and exited without completing the exam. We grabbed a couple names and we're sure we'll be seeing more once a promotional list is published. Remember, these are people who are going to be (hopefully) "investigating" crime, putting together cases, assisting in putting people into prison, But they haven't demonstrated a grasp of the material, just a grasp of politics.

County Job Action?

Word trickling in that this isn't by accident:

• The Cook County Jail was placed on lockdown Sunday morning due to low staffing levels.
  
  The lockdown is “for officer safety,” allowing inmates to move only for medical reasons, emergencies and visitation, according to an alert on the Cook County sheriff’s office website.
  
  Inmates scheduled for discharge will also be processed.
  
  “Regular divisional movement, programs and operations will be restored as soon as staffing levels reach the normal level,” the alert said.

Supposedly, this is tied into the recent Dart release of video he claims is "controversial," when in reality, even Anita Alvarez won't touch these videos because they show inmates attacking corrections officers and the resultant mayhem. Also, there have been numerous controversial firings by Dart's board - all reversed and reinstated with back pay. And this ties into the unfortunately high suicide rate of Cook County corrections officers that we touched on months ago. All in all, a very unhappy workplace and the officers are responding the only way they can.

This Isn't a "Museum"

We had a thought earlier today, right in the middle of the Detective Exam. No idea where it came from, but it went something like this:

• George Lucas, Rahm, Mrs. Lucas, "phather" Pfleger are all pushing for this Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Now Lucas sold LucasFilm to the Walt Disney Company for a little more than $4 billion. Disney is, shall we say, very firm, in protecting what is theirs. Litigious-ly firm. Aggressively so in many cases. Disney isn't going to spend $4 Billion (with a "B") on something and then let Lucas run around and make money off of it. Does anyone in their right mind think that Disney is going to sit back and let there be a "Star Wars" museum outside of California or Florida more than a thirty minute ride from Disney World, Disneyland, somewhere a Disney cruise ship can dock, or anywhere that Disney has a very large, corporate presence? We certainly don't. And without the "Star Wars" hook, what does Lucas have?

We looked this whole thing up - it's an art collection. Stuff by Rockwell, Degas, Renoir, plus other stuff that "tells a story." Don't we already have an Art Institute? And countless galleries? Aren't there traveling exhibits that make stops across the country annually with all sorts of art collections? We recall many hundreds of them over the years.

Narrative Art? Isn't there a Museum of Broadcast Communications? A Columbia School of Broadcasting?? Any number of universities with media programs who'd be happy to host a monstrous Lucas collection?

But Chicago is supposed to bend over backwards to accommodate a billionaire and his hedge-fund managing wife who is saying, "Won't someone think of the black and brown children?!!??!" to anyone who will listen.

Ain't buying it. We've seen the type of art the younger generation embraces (all colors, not just black and brown) and quite frankly, they wouldn't appreciate Norman Rockwell, nor Degas and certainly not Renoir. This is crap and taxpayers are going to be saddled with a white elephant in short order should it come to pass.

And Speaking of May

A nice warm spring night and....:

• Two men were killed and at least 28 other people, including a 16-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, have been wounded in shootings since late Friday morning across the city, according to Chicago police.

Thirty shot. Wow. You know the brass was thanking any deity they could think of that temperatures dropped Saturday morning and laying the groundwork for another Department Commendation for Tommy Skilling.

You know what would be inspirational at a point like this?

• Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson was just another officer on the street Friday night, out patrolling in the West Side Austin district.
  
  And he was wearing a body camera.
  
  So was First Deputy John Escalante, as the two responded to “routine’ calls including a burglary, a “man down,” and various traffic incidents.
  
  That was his haul before meeting reporters at the busy corner of Cicero Avenue and Madison Street to give a report on his night out in solidarity with officers in a district where all officers soon will wear the cameras.

Because street cops in 015 always meet a bevy of reporters partway through their shift.

Did any of the media ask to see the footage Eddie and Johnny recorded? Was policy followed? Officer safety? ISR's completed? Test answers excha...oh wait, that's a question no one seems to be asking.

May Numbers

Remember that "mere" 3% increase in the April 2016 from April 2015 murders? Someone ran the May numbers for us so far:

• The first five days of May 2013 - 4 homicides
• The first five days of May 2014 - 6 homicides
• The first five days of May 2015 - 7 homicides
• The first five days of May 2016 - 10 homicides

Oops.

And how did May end?

• May 2013 - 44 homicides
• May 2014 - 41 homicides
• May 2015 - 48 homicides
• May 2016 - in progress

That the trouble with running around claiming "trends" based on a snapshot - one bad month, or one bad weekend, can make you look like a moron.

Hey Greg?

Add this to the list of "How to save money" that you're going to propose to Rahm and the aldercreatures:

• NORTHERLY ISLAND — That didn't take long.
  
  It's been less than a year since its heralded opening, but a popular section of Northerly Island's new park is already closed for repairs after high winds and crashing waves eroded parts of the bike path and scattered debris.
  
  Opened to the public in September, the $9.5 million project turned the former home of Meigs Field into a sprawling natural habitat with a milelong bike path, man-made lagoon, native plantings and tons of wildlife.
  
  Eight months after it opened, the area between the lagoon and walking path has eroded, forcing the Chicago Park District to close the eastern-most section of the park while repairs and a solution to the problem are contemplated.

So once again, nearly $10 million thrown away on a piss-poor construction project that will cost how many millions more to repair lest someone fall into a hole and cost the city millions more in a lawsuit settlement? We're sure the FOP will be bringing this up along with all the other suggestions we've been making.

Detective Exam Day

For the first time in what? Eleven years?

About f#$%ing time.

We'll leave this spot open for horror stories about the 12-hour test encompassing what used to be two separate testing dates - we're sure there will be a couple.

Good luck to everyone, insofar as you score below us.

What's this envelope from Eugene Williams that was left on our doorstep last night?

Shooting - South Side

Cops are okay:

• A suspected robber was shot Friday morning on the South Side after a Chicago Police fugitive task force tracked him down, officials said.
  
  The man was wanted for a holdup and a parole violation, [...].
  
  Officers set up surveillance near 119th and Sangamon; when the man left a house, he spotted them and ran about 9:30 a.m., police said.
  
  Chicago police investigate the scene near 118th and Sangamon Friday morning where a Chicago cop shot an armed suspected robber.
  
  After a foot chase, the man pulled a gun, and an officer fired at him several times, striking the man in the lower abdomen. The suspect dropped the gun and tried to run again but collapsed.
  
  He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center where he was listed in stable condition after surgery, police said. The Independent Police Review Authority is investigating, which it does in every police-involved shooting, he said.

The community is already lining up behind the robber though:

• Police warned her not to leave the house and told her that the fugitive had thrown his gun onto her driveway after trying to climb a fence separating her side yard from a weedy patch of a vacant lot. Blood spattered trash and weeds lay at the base of the eight-foot fencing on the side opposite Michael’s house. Police also asked to see video from security cameras Michael had mounted on the side of her house.
  
  “I didn’t see anything (on the tape) because it was on the other side of the fence,” Michael said, regarding the 30 feet or so between the fence and her driveway. “How he could be on the other side of the fence, and the gun could be over here, I’m still trying to puzzle out, but that’s what the police said.”

Um, they told you, he tossed the gun over the fence. You know, to avoid having the cops find it and charge him with it, along with the Attempted Murder/Aggravated Assault felonies that should put him behind bars for another day or two under the Prickwrinkle system. But you keep "puzzl[ing] out" that one Sherlock.

Kira's Horse

A donation to a suburban hospital that took care of a dying child:

• It was a sunny May morning in 2013 when two horses from the Chicago Police Department's Mounted Unit paid 9-year-old Kira Mammoser a visit outside the Park Ridge hospital she had called home for the last four months.
  
  It would be one of the last outings of her short life.
  
  Nearly three years later to the date, the horses were back at Advocate Children's Hospital, joined by a vibrantly colored, life-size horse statue that will serve as a memorial to the little girl who loved animals.
  
  A dedication of the statue, which was donated to the hospital by Kira's parents, Cindy and Chuck Mammoser, took place Wednesday behind the Children's Outpatient Center, with family — including Kira's twin bother, Christian — friends, hospital staff and several Chicago police personnel present. The Rev. Daniel Brandt, the Chicago police chaplain and Park Ridge native who helped arrange for Kira to meet and pet the live horses three years ago, blessed the memorial statue and those gathered around it.

A fitting gesture and a wonderful remembrance.

Alvarez Folds

A special prosecutor is requested:

• In a stunning reversal, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez on Thursday recused herself from prosecuting Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke and asked a Cook County judge to appoint a special prosecutor to handle the high-profile murder of teenager Laquan McDonald.
  
  Alvarez held firm in her motion filed Thursday that her office did not have a conflict of interest in the case as critics have charged. But she noted that she would still recuse herself and ask for a special prosecutor “to obtain justice for Laquan McDonald, and to ensure continuity in the handling of this important and complicated case . . . ”
  
  During the Democratic primary election, Alvarez repeatedly rejected calls for a special prosecutor in the Van Dyke case, a key issue during the campaign that ended in her getting trounced.

Anyone else think this is a political move to protect Foxx? As the first-degree murder charge falls apart, Foxx is going to need cover for herself and Prickwrinkle's County machine. Better to blame an outsider.

Suburban Chase Through City

Rahm pretty much says, "Don't chase killers - ever"

• A suspect in a death investigation led police on a chase that started in west suburban Lombard and resulted in two crashes involving law enforcement vehicles in Chicago on Wednesday night before the suspect eluded authorities.
  
  On Thursday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel questioned whether the chase was worth the risk.
  
  “There’s a question there. At the end of the day, the [suspect in] the homicide in Lombard, driving through Chicago, I think, to the airport, still got away,” Emanuel said.

See? So if they get away, then there was no purpose in chasing in the first place. We certainly hope everyone is getting the message here.

• “One of the apartments that were hit was not far from where I live. So, there’s a real question. This always gets evaluated when there’s a police chase, which is about both getting and capturing a person who committed a violent crime and then, obviously, the risk to everybody else.”
  
  Emanuel said he’s not about to “second-guess” Lombard police. But, he said, “There will be people that look at that."

Rahm said as he second-guessed. Are you getting all this?

At least one CPD squad ended up wrecking with one the officers involved suffering broken vertebrae - a life altering injury, even if it's called "non-life threatening."

FOP Speaks

So the misinformation train got up a full head of steam based on a report in the Retired Chicago Police Association newsletter. The FOP responded in an official manner thus:

• There is misinformation that originated in the Retired Chicago Police Association newsletter and also on Facebook regarding Senate Bill 777. Individuals that are completely misinformed and who have had no participation in the development of or the language contained within Senate Bill 777 are suggesting that members contact the Governor’s Office in an attempt to get the Bill vetoed. The threat of the $515 million that is being circulated is completely inaccurate.
  
  Lodge 7, Firefighter Union Local 2, a team of accountants and lobbyists worked tirelessly to ensure that Senate Bill 777 would contribute to benefiting the future solvency of our pension funds. Representatives from the Nationally recognized Center for Tax and Budget Accountability who are proficient in securing retiree benefits and annuities participated in, reviewed, and assisted with drafting the language prior to the bill being submitted to the legislature.
  
  If vetoed any funding that is currently dedicated as part of Senate Bill 777 could be rewritten to allow those funds to be reallocated into a different city pension system and not into the Police and Fire Funds as presently guaranteed.
  
  I have addressed these erroneous claims with the President of Retired Chicago Police Association who will be printing a retraction. In the mean time we strongly suggest everyone refrain from contacting the Governor’s Office in regard to vetoing Senate Bill 777. As always, if you have any questions or need clarification please call the Lodge.

Unofficially, we had this comment from a Board member:

• To the webmaster.
  
  Now that you have everyone's attention this is the time to post a topic. Without a property tax increase what are your ideas to find funding for our pension? We are at the crossroads, this problem has been in the making for the past 50 years and going back to then is not an answer. You can point fingers and assign blame but that is not an answer. Passing a Bill to increase the funding ratio without legislating where the funds will come from is not an answer. Just post comments that have actual ideas and block the nonsense make our officers think this through. I hope we get 1,000 comments but the over and under is set at 38.
  
  Greg Bella

Some of our readers retorted:

• Raising property tax is no different than just asking us to pay more because WE are the ones that own property. It is NOT YOUR PLACE to suggest HOW rahm funds our pensions.... it is your place to simply make sure that he does it. Property tax? really? That would be the last place I would suggest. I'd suggest cutting services to the leeches that don't pay in to anything in the first place. CPS kids get breakfast. and lunch. and a snack. Start there maybe. The savings per kid ought to more than pay for what is owed. Cut back on festivals. Hell, unscrew every other light bulb in the street light. Do anything but raise the tax on the city worker.  
• How Rahm comes up with the money is not the FOPs or our problem. He is trying to squeeze blood from a stone. He can make a contribution right now, if he has to. Last thing the city should do is raise taxes, on the people who already pay a large some of the city's taxes. 
• There is no reason for 50 alderman, make it one alderman per police district which will slice that budget in half and lead to more continuity. No money on Lucas Museum, no more money on DePaul Stadium, go after Nabisco/Mondalez for all the TIF monies paid for their expansion since they are moving half of the 600 jobs to Mexico. No more free fests, charge admittance fees just as Milwaukee does, that is double bubble as it will keep problem people out. Cut the CPD and CFD brass to proper levels. No money to hotel at Navy Pier and gondola rides over the Chicago River. Just a few ways to save and make money. 

We've been suggesting these ideas and more for years now. We've advocated a full scale financial accounting with the City regarding all sorts of crooked contracts, overpriced material, connected "minority" firms adding their portion of the skim to all sorts of financial transactions. How many of those has the FOP brought up to the mayor? the aldercreatures? the media? the membership? Zero?

Under how many FOP administrations now? And we've been doing this for almost eleven years now. In case anyone forgot, the FOP's job is to hold the politicians feet to the fire, to ensure the contractual promises made to the membership are carried out, and not kicked down the road. And if that means suing the city, embarrassing politicians or fronting out the connected people making a crooked living at the expense of promises made to us, then do the fucking job. Don't write to an "insignificant blog" demanding ideas that we've already been giving for a decade now, especially on the eve of your paying the ex-president many tens of thousands of dollars for past misbehavior.

We're sensing another "Dougherty" moment approaching.

McCarthy was Wrong?

So much of the anti-police bias nowadays ends up being based on a half-assed reading of data, reports and an almost purposeful misreading of results:

• The one chance for Chicago City Council members to question Eddie Johnson before approving him as police superintendent was an April 12 council hearing.
  
  The city’s murder numbers were way up. But the police department was still staggering from the fallout of a video that showed an officer fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
  
  The number of police stops had fallen off a cliff.
  
  Some council members wanted Johnson to tell how he would increase that number. “How do we get the officers to do it?” Alderman Patrick Daley Thompson asked.
  
  Johnson answered that the department had taken one step already. It had trimmed back the length of a report that officers had to fill out for each stop. “Every week we’re seeing [an] uptick in terms of the utilization of those forms,” he said. “So we’ll get there.”
  
  Unquestioned at the hearing was an assumption: Police stops make the community safer.

The story goes on to correlate stops to gun seizures to clearance rates to crimes reported to all sorts of stuff. It seems in-depth, but we sense a shallowness to it behind all the charts and graphs.

Opinions?

Eddie's "Listening Tour"

Seems like every superintendent has to go through this rigamarole:

• A news helicopter hovered overhead as Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson entered Hope Community Church on Wednesday, but the chief himself made little news.
  
  The copter was circling the scene of a shooting at a convenience store about three blocks from the Austin church. A teenage boy was wounded, according to witnesses.
  
  Johnson was on hand at Hope Community for a townhall meeting with Austin residents hosted by Rev. Steve Epting Sr. and County Board Member Richard Boykin.
  
  Media members were not allowed inside the church for the two-hour meeting, which included a question-and-answer session that several residents said featured pointed questions for Johnson. His ascent to the head of the department comes after months of turmoil for the Chicago Police Department in the wake of the release of video of the Laquan McDonald shooting last November.

Seems like Eddie has a lot of answers....for certain questions that is. Still no word on how so many people who couldn't score in the top 25% of a sergeant test could suddenly score in the top 1% of a lieutenant test, unless they were part of a secret group that had access to information no one else did. Someone should look into that.

In any event, we hope the FOP was paying attention to this comment:

• Walter Gray said the rising violence and the issues of police accountability that have come to a head in the aftermath of the McDonald shooting leaves Johnson with much work to do. Gray, who has lived in Austin for 25 years, left Wednesday’s meeting unsure whether the new chief was up to the task.
  
  “You can’t expect things to change just because they put a new cat in there,” Gray said. “I asked him about the officers that shot [McDonald], that lied about what was on the video, and the [police union] contract. “I told him you’re going to need to have the community involved when they negotiate a new union contract.”

So a whole bunch of busybodies are going to have their noses in business that they have zero ability and zero background in - kind of like they have in running their community.

Nice Job Dart

First, Dart releases a couple of videos of attacks on guards in the jail so he can be "transparent." Then he refers a video to Anita for prosecution. Anita, actually doing her job at this point, watches the entire video, which shows the inmate attacking the guard, and correctly refuses to prosecute the guard for defending himself.

Now, a law firm is suing on behalf of the inmate, who it should be noted, suffered no injuries and refused all medical assistance, for an incident that occurred two-and-one-half years ago:

• A former Cook County inmate has filed a lawsuit over a beating he suffered on July 4, 2013, which appears to show him not resisting an officer while he is punched and kicked repeatedly in the head.The lawsuit claims the conduct of the officer's actions against inmate Randall Brown were "unnecessary and an unreasonable use of force."
  
  The lawsuit lists Cook County Correctional Officer Branden Norise, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Cook County as the defendants.
  
  "Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart referred the incident to State's Attorney Anita Alvarez's office for criminal prosecution. Anita Alvarez, like she has so often done in the past, refused to prosecute a member of law enforcement that blatantly committed acts of criminal and civil misconduct against a resident of Cook County," a statement from The Blake Horwitz Law Firm read.

Quoted extensively in the lawsuit? Sheriff Tom Dart.

Footing the bill? Cook County taxpayers.

Anyone wondering what sort of percentage Dart is gong to get as a "finders fee"?

Black Lives Matter To Whom?

Believe it or not, cops:

• In the most sweeping study of its kind, police were more reluctant to shoot black suspects than their white counterparts, contradicting the widely accepted “racist cop” narrative driving movements such as Black Lives Matter.
  
  Instead, the Washington State University research, which was conducted before the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, lends support to previous studies pointing to a “reverse racism” phenomenon in policing.
  
  “We need to move beyond the post-Ferguson atmosphere where all use of force against a racial/ethnic minority person is considered biased and unreasonable until proven otherwise,” concluded the study, published in the May edition of the academic journal Criminology & Public Policy.
  
  “We need to move beyond this atmosphere that leads officers to put their lives in danger to avoid the significant-to-dire consequences of using force even when it is justified,” the report said.

So cops base their actions on....criminal indicators and societal behavior? Golly, can you imagine that. An entire movement based on non-existent "facts," bald-faced lies and media hype.

The line for apologies will start over at 35th Street and can run south down Michigan Avenue, probably ending in the vicinity of New Orleans.

Rahm, Mrs Lucas Switch Tactics

Rahm is going the Federal lawsuit route:

• With Los Angeles and San Francisco breathing down Chicago’s neck, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday made one last stab at keeping movie mogul George Lucas’ museum in Chicago: an end-run around a federal judge that experts called a legal long-shot.
  
  Emanuel asked the federal appeals court to issue a writ of mandamus — ordering U.S. District Judge John Darrah to dismiss a Friends of the Parks lawsuit that Darrah kept alive. The lawsuit challenges the mayor’s original plan to give Lucas 17 acres of lakefront land near Soldier Field.

Rahm, being a ballerina and not a lawyer, is intent on wasting more taxpayer dollars on an Ego Monument, not just for George, but for himself, and his inability to actually run something successfully. Legal experts have already declared this a "long shot" and pretty much dead on arrival.

Mrs Lucas is trying for the guilt trip approach:

• Hobson said the museum would bring more than $2 billion in economic benefit to the city, thousands of jobs and education opportunities for children.
  
  "As an African-American who has spent my entire life in this city I love, it saddens me that young black and brown children will be denied the chance to benefit from what this museum will offer," she said.

Wow. We had no idea that the only black and brown children interested in Star Wars lived in Chicago! Did you know that? Man, do we feel guilty that a billionaire won't be able to buy himself a massive ego boost by dumping a building that looks like a giant albatross dropping on the lakefront.

George should look at this as being better off anyway. Anything built in Chicago in the past two or three decades is falling apart, collapsing, leaking, polluted, and generally crappy in design and function.

Plus, the amount of payoffs due to Chicago pols would make Obi-Wan have to reevaluate his pointed criticism of Mos Eisley Spaceport.

Eddie Gets This...Sort Of

Once again, it's the system failing:

• A 24-year-old man was charged Wednesday in a Northwest Side murder that police Supt. Eddie Johnson has pointed to as a glaring example of the need for the justice system to hold gun offenders with extensive felony records more accountable for their crimes.
  
  [...]
  
  Court records show Martinez has gone in and out of prison and violated his parole conditions over and over between 2011 and 2016. He served about half of his three-year prison term in 2014 for being a felon in possession of a gun.
  
  [...]
  
  “CPD will continue to use tools like our Strategic Subject List to identify and work with the less than 1 percent of residents who are driving the violence in Chicago, while at the same time demanding more from the criminal justice system to hold these individuals accountable, so they cannot continue to torment our communities,” Johnson said.
  
  Several pieces of legislation are pending in the General Assembly to get tougher on gun offenders. For years, the mayor’s office, the Chicago Police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office have pushed for tougher gun laws, only to get rejected in Springfield.

We'll repeat this again as we preach to the choir - it isn't the so-called "lax" gun laws. Criminals have proven time and time again that they don't care about how much paperwork gets filled out for a gun purchase, because they don't purchase guns legally. They steal them and buy them from others who steal them.

But we have a feeling they'd care if they ended up on the right end of a "Project Exile" type sentence - a five year sentence served at a federal facility far from home and we'll guarantee a measurable drop in gun violence within six months. Read the link.

A drop big enough to win elections.

Someone to Verify?

FOP? Weren't you staking your futures on this?

• Seriously Need your help. Senate Bill ( SB-777), was passed last May 2015, and it extends Chicago’s payment (of 515 million dollars) into the Police and Fire Pension for another 10 to 15 years. The money is presently due by 31 Dec 2016.
  
  The police and fire accepted this bill because there was to be a bill providing for a casino in Chicago, and all the profits from that casino would go into the police and fire pension for 5 years or until both were 90% funded.
  
  This bill, (SB-777) was sent to the governor on the 31st of March this year. THERE IS NO CASINO BILL ATTACHED NOR IS THERE ANY RECORD OF ONE BEING PROPOSED. The governor can sign the bill, or leave in on his desk and in 60 days it will automatically become law.
  
  We need you and your friends to call Governor Rauner in Springfield at 217-782-0244 and request that he VETO SB-777. Please do this as soon as possible. All you are required to do is to tell the person who you are and that you want the governor to veto SB-777.
  
  You can also contact your elected state official and asked them to also contact the governor with this request.

Someone want to tell the class what the heck is going on? We certainly hope that the FOP wasn't sold a bill of goods for a decade-plus grace period for a "casino" that isn't going to happen?

May Heats Up

So is this the alleged "will of the people" that Rahm's buddies have been claiming the police are thwarting?

• A 13- and a 16-year-old boy were killed in two separate shootings that occurred only three hours apart in Chicago Monday night. Both victims were identified Tuesday.
  
  Karina Betancourt can't comprehend that her little brother is dead.
  
  "He would have turned 14 in September. Yes. But did they let him? No," she said.

We're assuming that the "they" who didn't let him reach fourteen are the police - that's the media spin lately, right?

• Leo's family said the seventh grader earned As and Bs in school and was a good soccer player.
  
  His family said they have wanted to leave the neighborhood because of gang violence, but now it is too late. Alderman Raymond Lopez of the 15th Ward said he has asked for help.
  
  "A month or so ago, we asked Sheriff Tom Dart to come down and assist police officers with stabilizing the community and bringing some security. We've had some good reports so far. We've had a lot of positive feedback from the community. Obviously the events of last night show us we have a long way to go in changing the culture of violence in these neighborhoods," Lopez said.

Oh, the aldercreature is blaming Dart. And it looks like this might be an actually decent kid who got killed by the hood rats infesting the 15th Ward.

And while certain media types were singing the praises of the "declining" homicide rate increase in April and pointing out that May began with 25-homicide-free hours, Chicago didn't disappoint as a string of four ended up getting killed in the next day, bringing the month into line with previous years.

So, Who Was Legally Correct?

What happens when a couple of known criminals, armed in violation of the law, decide to hash it out in the parking lot?

• An 18-year-old man was denied bail Tuesday after prosecutors said he fired the first shot in a shootout on the South Side that left a 36-year-old man fatally wounded.
  
  Kashai Jones, of the 1700 block of East 70th Street, was charged earlier with first-degree murder in the death of Deitrick Stogner, of the 4600 block of South Prairie Avenue, officials said. The fatal attack happened about 1:20 p.m. Saturday, in the 100 block of West Garfield Boulevard.
  
  According to court documents, Stogner and three of his friends drove to a Currency Exchange at 148 W. Garfield Blvd. Stogner and two of the friends went inside and afterward, began walking  to the car that was parked in a lot.
  
  Jones and three of his friends who were in a vehicle, pulled into the same parking lot. Jones got out of the passenger seat and started firing a Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun at Stogner and his friends, prosecutors said.
  
  Stogner and his friends tried to flee unscathed, but one of the bullets struck Stogner in the abdomen. Before falling to the ground, Stogner grabbed his 9 mm handgun and fired back at Jones, prosecutors said.

Stogner died, Jones was wounded. Both guns recovered, one transported to the morgue and one in custody. So who should suffer the consequences for this blatant and obvious violation of the gun laws of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois?

If you answered, "Why, law abiding gun owners SCC!" then you might be a long time resident of this backwater.

Page May Arrested

Did everyone see the NFL Draft this weekend? Yeah, neither did we.

Did anyone see any of that supposed $100 million supposedly generated during the event? Maybe in the form of a property tax rebate or a waived garbage collection fee or maybe even a pension payment?

We did see the coverage of the protests on the last day though:

• Seventeen women who were protesting and blocking Lake Shore Drive near Jackson Drive have been arrested and the street has been reopened Saturday afternoon in the Loop, city officials said.
  
  Traffic is being allowed through that intersection as of about 1:05 p.m., according to the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications spokeswoman Melissa Stratton.
  
  At 12:42 p.m. police were notified that people who were protesting near the NFL draft were obstructing traffic, said [...], a spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department.
  
  The demonstrators caused Lake Shore Drive at Jackson Drive to be closed....
  
  Seventeen women were arrested and charges are pending, according to [...] a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department.

And among the seventeen? Karen Lewis's follow-up act, Page "Fuck the Police" May. So Karen's hench-weasels are making enemies all over the place, among the cops and among the citizenry who just wanted to see the future of the NFL.

Investigation Expanding Again

Word from a few places that now, a few sergeants have been or are being served with papers regarding the IG's investigation into the cheating scandal.

Curiously, at least one of the sergeants being served is from :::GASP!!!::: the Internal Affairs Division, the very people the Department "trusts" to investigate the original allegation of a secret study group....the ones who closed the first investigation without finding anything.

So who's going to talk first? Is someone wired? Are the phones tapped? Are promises being made to ensure silence? Or cooperation?

Media Picks up on Doubts

That "Chief Resilience Officer" spot is raising eyebrows among the press:

• What the heck is a “chief resilience officer” anyway? And how in the world did Chicago ever get along without one?
  
  After announcing and filling the new job bankrolled by the Rockefeller Foundation, Mayor Rahm Emanuel struggled to explain just what it is that former Deputy Water Management Commissioner Aaron Koch would be doing in the newly created job.
  
  The only thing we know for sure is that somebody other than Chicago taxpayers is paying Koch’s salary.
  
  “When we used to make investments as a city — we’re making ’em in the water and sewer area or paving or playgrounds — we would see that playground” in an isolated fashion, Emanuel said.

Um....ok. Glad to see he's wasting someone else's money, but what was that crap that just exited Rahms mouth? It made no sense at all. And it gets better:

• “When we used to make investments as a city — we’re making ’em in the water and sewer area or paving or playgrounds — we would see that playground” in an isolated fashion, Emanuel said.
  
  “Now, thinking about how you make those investments . . . in a way that’s also an environmentally smart way to retain water and do it in a way where you’re not just creating runoff. [It’s] a way to see things in a more kind of integrated way,” he said. “Holistic would be another way to put it. From environmental to social policies to educational policies.”
  
  Resilience is defined as the ability to bounce back from major setbacks.
  
  That means the new chief resilience officer will focus on helping Chicago recover more quickly from “shocks like flooding or blizzards” and better planning development projects to minimize the environmental impact.
  
  “The foundation is supporting this individual to help us think . . . from a holistic, more of a global approach. Rather than addressing that issue, seeing it in the context of a set of other both opportunities and challenges,” the mayor said.
  
  If that sounds as clear as mud, Emanuel tried again to explain his marching orders to Aaron Koch.

Mud is an understatement. And we can only imagine that at some point, wheelbarrows full of taxpayer money are going to be wasted maintaining or expanding this "program."

But then Fran Spielman lets slip something that, while not surprising, ought to piss off taxpayers:

• He pointed to his newly created task force on homelessness. It brought together the 13 agencies that deal with the problem “so we have a more thoughtful, integrative approach” and “nobody’s falling through [cracks because of] the siloed wall approach.”

Thirteen agencies? For dealing with homelessness? Thirteen? How about you point that fancy "resilience officer" over at that direction and see if you can't "resilient" some of our tax money back, you twit.

A "Decrease" in the Increase

Here we go again with the word games:

• There was one more murder in Chicago in April than the same month last year.
  
  Sunday, the Chicago Police Department released the overall crime statistics for April 2016. Overall for the month, there were 36 murders, 253 shootings and 311 shooting victims.
  
  That’s a 3 percent increase in murders from April 2015.   The police department says the homicide rate is in a downward trend for the year, with an increase of 75 percent in January, 126 percent in February and 29 percent in March.

So, for the learning impaired (yes media, we're looking at you):

• Apr 2016 +3%
• Mar 2016 +29%
• Feb 2016 +126%
• Jan 2016 +75%

So the rate is still going up, but since it's going up "slower," that's a win? In what world? And what happens when it finally warms up in May?

And the media just publishes this without questions like, "What's the yearly increase in homicides?" or "What's the total increase in homicides?" or "What is the mayor doing to stop all this bloodshed?"

Nope, they just move on to the "feel good" stats in the next paragraphs:

• CPD reports an increase in police activity compared to this time last year, including an increase of murder arrests by nearly 10%, an increase of gun recoveries by 30%, and an increase of investigative stops by roughly 10% compared to the month of March.
  
  Officers have taken more than 2,800 guns off the streets since the start of this year.

That's it. Nothing for comparison. Murder arrests are up 10%! Well golly, the clearance rate for all of last year was something like 26%. With more murders this year, if CPD kept the same clearance rate, then there's your 10% increase, but the needle hasn't budged from the "3-out-of-4 murders walk" statistic.

More smoke, more mirrors.

Note: The Sun Times has a much better breakdown than WGN did. They must have hired someone with a calculator.

Assphincter Says What Now?

An article in the Tribune tells of a new technology initiative that will make Chicago the most wired-in city in North America:

• Come late June, city electricians are expected to start strapping beehive-shaped sensor boxes to municipal light poles — environmental Fitbits for neighborhoods, essentially.
  
  How's the air quality? Where does rainwater pool? Where do air temperatures spike?
  
  The 14-inch-high cylinders filled with sensors and cameras — developed by computer scientists and designers at Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago — should shed light on stubborn urban problems — everything from asthma clusters and flood-prone intersections to so-called "heat islands," densely developed corners of the city that trap heat. Ultimately, the data should lead to affordable, energy-efficient solutions to those problems and others.

And this will miraculously enable the tinkerers to fix crooked contracts that provide Chicagoans with substandard roads, corrupt parking meters and promotional exam cheaters.

Hooray!

But as we read further, this paragraph stands out - hell, it leaps out and hits you in the head with a two-by-four:

• But already the city's nascent efforts to collect environmental data are sparking concerns about further erosion of individual privacy in a city already outfitted with police cameras, red light cameras, in-store cameras and public transit cameras. And, perhaps most critically, some observers question whether the collection and analysis of data will lead to meaningful improvements to urban life, as advocates suggest, or just enrich big tech vendors.
  
  "How do we connect these abstract, big-picture, big-data initiatives to the needs of the residents of Chicago who are struggling under a failure to fund education and under a police force that thwarts the will of the people?" asked Daniel X. O'Neil, executive director of Smart Chicago Collaborative, a civic group that aims to improve residents' lives through technology.

Well, firstly, of course the purpose is to enrich vendors. This is Chicago, duh.

Second of all....what the hell was that bullshit? A police force that thwarts the will of the people? We missed that memo somewhere. Was there a training class? A General Order? Something? Because we're all about thwarting. We wake up every morning wondering, "Who can we Thwart today?" We want to be that old-timer who used to come into to Roll Call half in the bag and regale us with war stories about all the Thwarting he had done in years past. Someone got out of line? Thwart! Some lead foot speeding in a School Zone? Oh, someone was getting a Thwarting. Some piss-ant gangbanger giving you the fish eye? You just knew, some Thwart was dished out to everyone wearing colors that night.

Who the hell stuck a quarter in Poindexter over there with all his "thwart" talking?

Those Files are Still Around

All those disciplinary files that aren't supposed to exist? They got a stay of execution:

• The federal investigation into the Chicago Police Department has slowed a push by police unions to destroy decades of disciplinary files on officers, a labor arbitrator ruled on Friday.
  
  Unions representing rank-and-file officers, as well as sergeants, lieutenants and captains each filed labor grievances after a 2012 court ruling that would have turned over to activists and journalists files on police officer misconduct cases dating back to 1967. The unions complained that their contracts with the city stipulate that records should be “purged” or destroyed outright, a stance a pair of labor arbitrators initially had backed.
  
  But the landscape changed when the U.S. Department of Justice began a probe of the police department earlier this year, and issued a “document preservation notice” to the department, arbitrator George Roumell Jr. wrote in a letter handed down Friday. Roumell in January had ordered the city and union to set a timeline for destroying those same files.

How about, at the minimum, a career destruction date? You retire and there are no open investigations and the statute of limitations has passed, everything with your name on it from OPS, IPRA, IAD, whatever, all gets incinerated. There's nothing from 1967 that should even exist right now. Everyone is retired, pensioned or dead. What possible purpose is served by these files?

It was a different time, under different rules, evaluated by different standards and morals. By different people, too, in most cases, a bit more intelligent than the morons currently in government.

Call Someone.....Please

Another day, and we hear of another suicide.

We post this every so often and we'll post it again. Boys and girls, if you are so far down that dark and disturbing path that you can't see any direction, exit, sunlight, call EAP (Employee Assistance Program).

They do good work - we've seen it first hand for a few coppers in trouble. It's confidential, it's 24-hours, it will not affect your job and might just save your life.

And officers, if you know someone looking into that abyss, intervene somehow. Get a friend, get someone to help. Make the call and see what EAP can do in terms of guiding you to a resolution that doesn't involve you second-guessing and wondering, "What else could I have done?"

Please.

Nice Timing

When confronted by a scandal, watch the rats flee:

• There's a fax message released today announcing the cake and coffee retirement reception for Gene Williams. Good riddance, Gene, and may your legacy be that of a stupid and incompetent cheater. Maryet, Davina, and Nakia will keep the memory of you alive on the CPD.

This serves to bolster the truth behind the DNAInfo.com story and the information coming to us from assorted sources.

IAD should be gutted over this, top to bottom, given that they deep-sixed this investigation and promoted people for covering things up.

Here's an amusing game to play at the retirement "Cake and Coffee" - who's wearing the wire? Because with an actual complaint signed and Gene running away, you know someone needs a seat before the music stops playing.

Rumor II Gets Addressed

We should post rumors more often:

• The former president of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police has obtained a $100,000 legal settlement from the state FOP in a lawsuit he filed accusing the union of removing him from office in retaliation for exposing corruption, a source told the Chicago Sun-Times.
  
  Michael Shields was suspended as the head of Chicago’s police union in December 2013 after he sent a letter to City Hall Inspector General Joseph Ferguson charging that two prior police contracts and a sergeants’ contract were fixed.
  
  The Sun-Times first reported on the explosive letter, which said the former FOP president engaged in “backroom-deal” arbitrations with the city.
  
  The next day, the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police suspended Shields, barring him from negotiating with the city, accusing him of violating his oath of office and calling him a “dictator.”
  
  Shields sued both the Chicago and state FOP lodges, claiming retaliation and demanding pay for the remainder of his three-year term as well as for the term of his successor, Dean Angelo, elected Chicago FOP president in April 2014.
  
  The state FOP settled with Shields in December, after former state union president Ted Street was deposed, said Shields’ attorney Michael Leonard.

So Street was deposed and a settle offered forthwith? Sounds like the State Lodge did something very wrong and paid a hefty price. It also looks like Lodge 7 will be paying the piper shortly and then claiming the settlement is "confidential" to cover up the smell of it all.

Sneed Plays Catch-Up....Again

Someone posted about this on 22 April......oh yeah, our readers. We spread the word on 23 April. Sneed catches up a week later:

• Sneed hears a recent recall of cop ammunition is causing concern amongst the Chicago Police Department rank and file.
  
  Word is the recall is for ammunition which was distributed to police officers after they had gone through their annual firearms inspection, which is required once a year.
  
  The department supplies 50 rounds of ammunition a year to each police officer after they qualify on the range.
  
  [...]
  
  “The Academy is currently doing an ammo swap. A few weeks ago CPD received ammunition and a small amount of rounds within the shipment didn’t meet our minimum quality assurance standards. The range staff brought this up to the manufacturer and they offered to swap the entire 100,000 round shipment with new ammunition. Per the range staff, there was never any safety risks for officers or academy staff and CPD only found a small amount that didn’t meet our specifications.”

So Sneed is a week behind getting clearance to publish information that's been out there for a while now.

100,000 rounds? At 50 per, that's.....2,000 officers.

The Department is shorter than we suspected.