Another Slum Times "Expert"

Still catering to the low information readers:

• Two newly released police reports in the controversial fatal shooting of 18-year-old Paul O’Neal differ in what they say about the teen’s actions while fleeing police.
  
  Several police reports pertaining to the July 28 incident were released Friday to the Chicago Sun-Times. One officer in his report wrote that O’Neal “reached into his waistband” as he ran from officers.
  
  That could indicate the officer believed O’Neal was reaching for a weapon. And yet, it is not repeated in any other officer’s report released Friday. The most detailed narrative in the documents released Friday is a major incident report that describes the pursuit of the stolen vehicle and the foot chase, but makes no mention of O’Neal reaching into his waistband.

Um, did you see the videos lady? The first two cops were up close and personal, almost getting hit by the Jaguar, flinging lead downrange, running to catch up to the wrecked cars. That's what their body-cam videos show - what else would it show? And the reports are reflective of that.

The third cop, the one involved in the head-on collision, his viewpoint is entirely different. He's attacked by a car flying at him, he can probably hear [police] bullets whizzing by, the driver flees between houses, over fences.His report is going to be completely different from the first two guys. Additionally, these cameras don't see through walls, and there doesn't seem to be a zoom feature.

Congratulations Sun Times, you proven that different people in different positions see different things from different viewpoints!

• A police tactical response report states: “Subject intentionally rammed his vehicle into RO’s vehicle while numerous shots were simultaneously heard coming from the direction of the offenders vehicle. During pursuit offender failed to comply to verbal commands while reaching into his waist band.”
  
  However, a major incident notification omits any mention of the teen reaching into a waistband, which could have led police to fear a potential gun.

And? The Major Incident Notification Log is simply a summary of information known at the time so some boss can answer general media questions if there's a press conference somewhere. It isn't a TRR, it isn't a summary of an interview, it isn't even a Detective Supp.

Here's a small clue - complete information is seldom on a preliminary report.

And evidently, it's seldom found in media reports either - not when there's an agenda to be pushed.

Milwaukee Burns

Over yet another justified shooting. The Wisconsin National Guard has been placed on standby:

• Wisconsin’s governor put the National Guard on standby Sunday in case of another outbreak of violence in Milwaukee, after a deadly police shooting touched off a night of arson and rock-throwing in a mostly black neighborhood.
  
  At least four businesses were burned and an officer was hurt by a thrown brick in the unrest that erupted on the city’s north side Saturday night a few hours after the killing of a black man who authorities say was armed and fleeing a traffic stop.

So the cops killed another altar boy?

• Online court records showed a range of criminal charges against Smith, many of them misdemeanors, but also a 2015 felony charge of witness intimidation that was eventually dropped by prosecutors.

Witness intimidation for another shooting case. At least he was unarmed, right?

• Mayor Tom Barrett said police stopped the motorist for what the mayor described only as “suspicious activity.” Police said the man was carrying a gun that had been stolen in a burglary in March.
  
  “There were 23 rounds in that gun that that officer was staring at,” the mayor said. “I want to make sure we don’t lose any police officers in this community, either.”

Thank goodness the officer was white, correct?

• Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said the officer who fatally shot Smith is also black.

Well, no doubt the politicians are standing behind the MPD and not throwing gasoline on the fire?

• A Milwaukee alderman called the melee a warning from black residents that they are “tired of living under this oppression.”

So let us get this straight.....

• black felon...
• history of violence against black people...
• armed with stolen gun...
• shot in the chest and arm (in the front of the body)...
• by a black cop...

This is oppression how exactly?

So the "community" is burning the city and attacking white people. Oh, you didn't see that part? Imagine that. And they're attacking reporters, too.

Promising Life Cut Short

Son of a cop:

• The 19-year-old son of a Chicago police officer was shot and killed Sunday morning, hours before he was due to return to college in New York, police and family members said.
  
  The shooting took place in the Wrightwood neighborhood on the Southwest Side just after midnight, according to police.
  
  Neighbors in the 2900 block of West 82nd Street reported hearing several gunshots. Police arrived to find 19-year-old Arshell Dennis and another man, age 20, wounded by gunfire.

Reports in the media are saying it was a case of mistaken identity, which is of absolutely no comfort to the family we're sure. Deepest condolences to Officer Dennis and the entire Dennis family on their tragic loss.

Rahm Losing His Mind

Well, not really. He's playing a game, trying to look sympathetic...like he cares:

• After three recent shootings that injured young children, Mayor Emanuel unloaded today on gang members.
  
  Emanuel was marking the end of the One Summer Chicago Program that put 30,000 young people to work, and after the ceremony his anger and frustration was palpable.
  
  “I will guarantee you whatever gang-banger that pulled that trigger, he hasn’t visited one of those children in the hospital,” said Emanuel, his voice rising. “Have they called the mother? Have they called the grandmother. Have they checked on the health of these young kids?”
  
  “They have, not once, shown remorse, accountability, said they were sorry. What shoulder have they provided that mother? What comfort?”
  
  He also questioned how gang-bangers with long criminal records are back on the street.

Um, why would a gang banger visit a victim? Wouldn't that be an admission of guilt? We mean, they're stupid and have pretty much no moral compass, but we don't think they're going to run in and put themselves up for a lengthy prison sentence.

And the lack of remorse and accountability? Are you joking? The Cook County Democrats have been teaching "no accountability" for years now, decades even. Prickwrinkle and Dart are emptying the jail. Chief Judge Evans can't even get his courts to follow and sentence according to actual law. Rahm is giving away money hand over fist. Obama is pardoning people a few hundred at a time, and his "Justice" Department and other federal agencies are on political witch hunts, not looking for justice.

How about Rahm make some efforts on his front to sort of "lead by example." Open a gun range in the city so gang bangers don't hit innocent bystanders. And stop visiting people who supply guns / incite murder in the neighborhood and then play like a victim when their ten-year-old catches a few rounds from the dead guy's family in retaliation.

#plm

We'll just leave this here:

#PigeonLivesMatter

This Was a Good Idea?

We hope this is just an unsubstantiated rumor:

• Whoever made the command decision to put 77 recruits in long sleeve shirts a tie, blue baseball caps, day glow green safety vests NO duty belts, NO ballistic vests, NO radios on the irons at the parade needs to be fired immediately.
  
  Ultimately Escalante and Johnson signed off on the order.

Amazing.

Rain Delay

The guys are HeyJackass.com have a great sense of humor:

From 1430 to 2100 hours - Rain Delay.

We chuckled at that one.

Timely Warning - Not

Glad to see the word is getting out promptly:

• Friday, August 12, 2016 10:25PM
  
  CHICAGO (WLS) -- Dozens of pickpocket thefts have been reported around popular lakefront Maggie Daley Park in downtown Chicago recently, and police are warning visitors to be vigilant. Police said they are investigating what may have been a spree of thefts.
  
  Chicago police said on July 30, pickpockets pulled off 32 thefts throughout the heart of the city, most inside Maggie Daley Park.

So did CPIC put out this warning as the thefts were happening on 30 July and the media is finally reporting it? Or did the warning come out Friday when no one is going to notice it and the media dutifully reported something from almost two weeks ago after Lolla has already wrapped up and left town?

We're Confused...Again

We're getting so many confusing and contradictory messages lately:

• Today on WVON the theory is that police are not stopping these shooters because the police are .... Wait for it... Racist. OMG so now the low life thug [killings] and shootings of innocents are the police fault because "if they are [willing] to kill [young] blacks, then they must be [allowing] violence too".

So if we stop members of the "community," we're racist.

If we don't stop members of the "community" we're...racist?

And if we don't prevent shootings that used to be prevented by stopping gun-toting thugs, we're allowing violence to occur....probably because we're racist again.

You know, it's probably safer to stay at home today and ingest large amounts of whiskey while attempting to make sense of this convoluted reasoning....or just enjoy the buzz.

Water Balloon = Gunfire

Even a summer day in broad daylight isn't safe:

• A 6-year-old girl who was shot in the head in Chicago's Park Manor neighborhood as she played outside with friends Thursday afternoon is now out of surgery.
  
  [...] Zariah and some friends were playing with water balloons near East 68th Street and South Calumet Avenue around 2:30 p.m. Thursday when someone walked up and opened fire, police said.
  
  The child was wounded in the back of her head. She was transported to Comer, where her condition stabilized. She was listed in fair condition Friday morning.

Anyone wonder if the "community" thinks the police have "abandoned" this neighborhood, too?

Another "Delayed"

So who's going to get the number along with the CompStat interrogation?

• A man beaten last week after a confrontation with people who blocked the car he was in on the West Side has died, authorities said Thursday.
  
  Andre Jackson, 23, was injured in an attack in the 4500 block of West Gladys Avenue, and pronounced dead at 5:51 a.m. Tuesday at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to authorities. Jackson died of complications from multiple blunt force injuries in a homicide, the Cook County medical examiner’s office determined Wednesday following an autopsy.
  
  Jackson and a 20-year-old man were in a vehicle near Gladys and Kolmar avenues about 9:30 p.m. Aug. 4 when a group of people blocked their path, resulting in a verbal dispute, said [...], a police spokesman.
  
  The two men were hit with bats and fists, but they managed to get away to the 4800 block of West Quincy Street, where they called 911.

So beaten in 011, transported from 015, died in 010. Spread the credit around.

Boo Hoo

The neighborhood is noticing something:

• Delores Coleman watched 22-year-old Irell Mitchell's life come to an abrupt end around the corner from her home Monday evening and, she said, the police came and went in 90 minutes.
  
  "They didn't talk to anyone ... they just picked up his body and left," Coleman said. "Didn't do no investigation or nothing."

90 minutes to tag, bag and wrap up a crime scene? Well done! There should be a lot more scenes like that.

• Hours later, gunmen returned to her block, firing a volley of shots that hit 10-year-old Tavon Tanner in his back while he sat with his family on their front porch. The next day he was in critical condition, with a bullet lodged in his chest.
  
  The 3900 block of West Polk Street has been choked by violence all year, but for her part, Coleman said the twin tragedies Monday made her feel abandoned.
  
  "It's clear the police don't give a f--- about us," she said. "They don't care. We call them, and they just ride right past us."

Well grandma, it's pretty clear that the neighborhood doesn't give a fuck about....well, pretty much anything.

Is anyone in the media asking why the 10-year-old got shot? The neighborhood knows, the detectives know, the coppers know. We've gotten a bunch of e-mail about it, and it gives lie to everything the "community" has been protesting the past few months. This wasn't a kid caught in the crossfire. But god forbid the media actually does its job, interview people, and report what is actually going on in the 'hood, especially if it runs contrary to a "police don't care" narrative.

The trouble is, it was a police sergeant who enabled that kid to even get to the hospital.

Traffic Missions?

We asked, "Is anyone even listening out there?"

And the answer:

• Anonymous said...
  
  Apparently not. That's why HQ is now ordering traffic missions be done 24/7 every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday starting this week.

This one was verified to us by a certain gold star who was himself amazed at the tone-deafness emanating from downtown. The DOJ just laid out Baltimore. They're here, lining up Chicago for a ten count. And you still have the brain trust at HQ demanding numbers to justify their CompStat nonsense, like certain No-Goode bosses demanding number based activity or you get dumped from their Area team, among others.

Remember, when you get called in by the DOJ, that boss isn't going to be anywhere nearby to verify they gave you direction to perform quota-based policing in order to keep your "spot."

One Hundred Shot in a Week

We thought the lead content in the air was heavier than normal - we were right:

• Nearly 100 people have been shot in Chicago in less than a week, pushing the number of shooting victims so far this year to more than 2,500 — about 800 more than this time last year, according to data kept by the Tribune.
  
  Between last Friday afternoon and early Thursday, at least 99 people were shot in the city, 24 of them fatally. At least nine people were killed on Monday alone, the deadliest day in Chicago in 13 years, according to Tribune data. Among the wounded that day was a 10-year-old boy shot in the back as he played on his front porch in Lawndale.
  
  The number of shooting victims in Chicago stood at 2,514 Thursday morning. At this time last year, 1,725 people had been shot. The city has not seen this level of gun violence since the 1990s, a trend the Police Department has blamed on lax gun laws and feuding gang factions.

Lax gun laws? Hahahahahahahaha. Oh lord, still with that tired old saw?

How about lax sentencing? Perhaps the ongoing war on police? The complete lack of political support or department support? Perhaps the complete dissolution of the family unit (mom, dad, affordable number of children, dog, job, food, roof, etc.)? Or would that be too introspective?

We wouldn't worry much though - we heard the writers at HeyJackass.com just got back from a Sam's Club shopping trip. They've been stocking up on calculator batteries.

Wait....There are Rules?

And people (or folks) have to follow them?

• In an effort to set the record straight, organizers of the Bud Billiken Parade held a press conference to address concerns about limits to the number of parade participants.
  
  The event turned chaotic when parade organizers sought to clear the air over restrictions on the number of marchers organizations could have in this year's edition of the Chicago classic.
  
  Multiple people attending the press conference took the podium from parade organizers to voice their opinions.

Next thing you know, there will be rules about driving or not selling dope or shooting 2,500 people in eight months time. Who knew such a racist system existed??!?

Charmingly Naive

We know it isn't just the police reading and writing to the blog. We have fans among friends and family of officers, other bloggers, assorted writers and authors, countless media members and countless visits from IP addresses traceable to both City Hall and HQ. And it's almost charming when an outsider comes in with something this silly:

• Anonymous said...
  
  I find it hard to believe that the academy is at fault. I am sure that there are minimum training standards. I am sure that the instructors are qualified. If you blame the people at the academy, then also, blame yourself.
  
  What are you doing to improve the situation? What are you doing to improve the training?
  
  If you like to blame other people, then you are part of the problem.
  
  Not a Cop

Here's someone who obviously has never lived in the city, worked for the city, or had anything to do with the city, aside from voting for Obama. Someone who doesn't know the meaning of the word "clout" and thinks politicians are their betters. In other words, a "useful idiot."

Blast From the Past

You want to read something interesting? It's about ten years old, but it's actually kind of timely.

• We are tentatively planning a series of articles, written by us and our vast staff, outlining what we see as systemic problems throughout the Department.
  
  These problems are not small ones. Some have been around for years. Some are recent. Many are the result of political pressures put upon the Department. Some are self inflicted. All of them though, deserve some airing out. We know some of what we're planning to write, but welcome suggestions for others.
  
  In any case, we aren't kidding ourselves that we can change the Department. We aren't in any position to do that. But somewhere along the line, maybe someone somewhere will recall what was posted on an anonymous internet blog years ago and adjust their own behaviors to maybe inflict less damage on the Department, their careers and everyone else they come in contact with.
  
  What else can we hope for?

That was posted right here on the SCC blog on 25 September 2006. It's linked, along with the promised series of articles on the right hand side of the main page, under the cute pictures and Rules of the Blog. Go read a few, especially the FTO Program one. Go ahead. We'll wait.

....

Are you back? Kind of spooky, wasn't it? Almost like we had a crystal ball or something. Memories are short, nowadays more than ever, but institutional knowledge? That's forever.

Quick Action

May have saved the life of that 10-year-old:

• The end of a busy shift approached.
  
  Three people had been killed in two hours in the Harrison District on the West Side on Monday night. Sgt. Bryan Topczewski left the scene of the second homicide and was headed back to the station, an easy ride down Jackson Boulevard east toward Kedzie Avenue.
  
  [...] As he approached Independence Boulevard shortly after 10 p.m., a dispatcher calmly read out a new job: “All right units in 011 ... now getting a person shot at 39-45 Polk, 3-9-4-5 Polk, cellphone caller says her child’s been shot with no further information, 11th District.”

The sergeant was able to slow the bleeding until paramedics arrived and got the kid to the hospital. Quick thinking and quicker action. Excellent job.

Coming Soon

Baltimore consent decree:

• The Justice Department and Baltimore police agreed to negotiate court-enforceable reforms after a scathing federal report released Wednesday criticized officers for using excessive force and routinely discriminating against blacks.
  
  The report, the culmination of a yearlong investigation into one of the country's largest police forces, found that officers make a large number of stops -- mostly in poor, black neighborhoods -- with dubious justification and unlawfully arrest citizens when officers "did not like what those individuals said."

The report is long on generalizations and short on specifics, claiming people who got stopped excessively were "profiled" instead of asking what they were doing to attract attention to themselves. The report blames everyone from the top on down for poor training, failure to correct deficiencies, "code of silence" type stuff - pretty much everything we're seeing here in Chicago...including the drive for "numbers," regardless of the Reasonableness of the stop, a la McCompStat and his New York cronies, and still being pushed by a largish number of Chiefs, Deputy Chiefs and Command staff.

We can only assume the end result is going to be the same, too.

Superseded by Indictment

Taking it out of the hands of a senile judge long past his expiration date:

• A Chicago activist arrested last month during downtown protests of fatal shootings by police has been indicted on charges that he physically assaulted officers.
  
  Ja'Mal Green, 20, was surrounded by 11 supporters at the Branch 42 courthouse at Belmont and Western avenues Wednesday as Judge Marvin Luckman told Green he had been indicted on seven counts.
  
  Court records of those charges were not immediately available.

Pfleger was there spouting his usual crap. His lawyer is the same asshole who was throwing around words like "execution" and "murder" the other day. Has the FOP looked into filing an ARDC complaint against a supposed officer-of-the-court who uses loaded (and very legally specific) terms like that in an effort to influence the process?

Bad Monday? How About Half a Tuesday

This is going to go down as a hell of a bad week:

• At least 16 people were shot, three of them fatally, in shootings across Chicago over 12 hours Tuesday afternoon and evening, according to police.

Why won't somebody DOOOOOOO something?????

Oh wait, sorry, forgot, police bad, criminals wonderful, fetal, #bl(don't)m, etc.

Um....

Is anyone even listening out there?

• A 72-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man were struck by a car fleeing police in the Fifth City neighborhood on the West Side Tuesday evening, authorities said.
  
  The car struck the two pedestrians in the 3400 block of West Fifth Avenue at 6:45 p.m., according to [...] a Chicago police spokesman.
  
  The woman suffered an injury to her ankle and a cut to the head. The man suffered bruising on his lower left leg and shoulder. Both were taken to Stroger Hospital, where they were listed in good condition.....

What is it going to take? More stripping? More firing? More judgments against your financial assets?

Video Review - Wrapping it Up

If you've been reading the past few days, you have seen the State Law and Department Policy addressed in what we think is a straightforward and direct manner. You may have been enlightened, bored, noncommittal, thankful. We're glad to have helped in any way we did.

You might not like this part as much.

While the most serious violations are Departmental in nature and not criminal, that isn't going to save certain members from administrative action. What we have seen here, we consider a monumental failure in training and preparing officers for street duty. Leaving aside the violation of General Orders we outlined in the past few days, in what world is this tactically sound?

Gun out in the car? Pointing where exactly? If the driver brakes hard, if you wreck, does anyone even teach "startle response"? How about "sympathetic muscle response"? What if you lose the gun during a collision?

This was tactically unsound:

Getting out of the car into the path on an onrushing automobile? We think everyone can agree, why are you placing yourself in harms way, when you have a perfectly suitable 4,000 pound safe spot to take shielding inside of - your squad car. Taking a day or three along with driving school for something some boss thinks is preventable is a better option that not having a job.

Then these:

Crossfire!

See that squad in the distance? Beyond a distance we might fire three shots a year at qualification time?

This one chilled us to the bone:

Boosting another copper over the fence....with his gun in his hand. We can't see where his finger was, but What the Fuck? You perform as you train, and we're sorry, this appears to be an absolute failure of training.

Some people aren't going to happy we did this last post. The Department is getting it from all sides, politically at all levels, in the media, from the community. We're going to be accused of piling on, or pitting old against new, cops against cops, siding with them against us. You couldn't be more wrong. These videos are all out there. The politicians are already against us, beholden to the mob. Those who support the police will continue to do so, those who don't probably never did. We didn't put any of this out there, so don't blame us. Comments that do so will be deleted and forgotten in short order.

But these videos, believe it or not, can help, even if it's not the way we'd prefer - showing exactly where the shortfalls in training are, the things cameras record (visual and audio), where mistakes are made (and yes, mistakes were made). We're guessing that two guys are going to lose their jobs, and a third is going to carry around a burden no one wants.

FOP to Endorse....

This should have a very direct and visible impact on the left:

• During the Democrat’s national convention, it took until the third day before anyone got around to mentioning support for law enforcement. Police officials sharply criticized the Democratic Party for giving time for speeches to the Mothers of the Movement from Black Lives Matter, but failing to offer any time at all for the families of law-enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, especially those in Dallas who died protecting a BLM rally. According to the president of the largest police union, that’s no accident — and Hillary Clinton wants nothing to do with police...

And everything to do with the lawless.

What A Monday

So ten dead and forty-two wounded over the weekend.

Monday, Chicago racked up nine dead in a single 24-hour period:

• A 10-year-old boy was critically hurt after being shot and at least 16 others were wounded, seven of them fatally, in shootings since late Monday morning across the city.
  
  The boy was standing on the sidewalk in front of a home in the 3900 block of West Polk Street in the Lawndale neighborhood when he heard gunshots and realized he was struck at 10:18 p.m., according to police.

The Tribune article says "since late Monday morning," conveniently skipping the early morning hours that HeyJackass.com usually titles "weekend overtime." That accounted for two dead and two other wounded, making the 24-hour total in the neighborhood of 9 dead, 18 wounded in a single day. Again, demonstrating why HeyJackass is the only reliable source of numbers.

Six Figures

Andy Shaw's group is good for one thing - minutiae:

• The number of people making $100,000 or more from the city of Chicago almost doubled since 2013 with 4,813 employees collecting six-figure paychecks as of last March, a review of payroll data show.
  
  The total is a 13 percent increase from last year when 4,262 workers made at least $100,000 a year and a 92 percent increase from 2013 when 2,502 people reached that threshold, according to a Better Government Association analysis of city records.
  
  The data represents base salary rates and does not include overtime or other forms of pay. The number of city workers taking home at least $100,000 in total compensation is even higher.

We just read another report where there are less city employees total, but more breaking the $100,000 barrier.

There are a bunch of interactive graphs and such that show police have the highest number of six-figure salaries (and highest number of employees), but a lower percentage than other segments of the city. Factor in the overtime pay (which this report doesn't), you'll see how short-handed certain departments are.

Video Review - The Department

Yesterday, we covered State Law. You may or may not agree, but we think we laid out a very good case that no sustainable criminal charges would be filed against the involved officers. That isn't to say some political attempt might not be made by an incompetent ambitious prosecutor, such as in Baltimore. But the likelihood is less than average.

Department policy though, is a different animal altogether. First is the prohibition on chasing hot cars:

• General Order 03-03-01
  
  Section III - Prohibitions
  
  Subsection C: The continuation of a motor vehicle pursuit is prohibited whenever
  
  Item 2a: the most serious offense for which the pursued vehicle is wanted is [...] a theft

And if you go to the Glossary, the definition of a Theft is as follows:

• Theft - Any violation of any subsection of 625 ILCS 5/4, including Possession of a Stolen Motor Vehicle, or 720 ILCS 5/16.
  

We haven't heard the complete audio tape, so we have no idea if the chase was terminated at any point, but the moment that it was determined the car was stolen, without some sort of extenuating circumstance, termination is a given, including self-termination by the officers. That item has been in effect for many years now.

However, there is a bigger order in play here. The Department's Use of Force is deliberately written as a "preservation of life" policy and has been taught for years as being "more restrictive than state law." The Department is going to hang one or both officers on the following violation:

• General Order 03-02-02 - Deadly Force
  
  Section III - Department Prohibitions for Use of Deadly Force
  
  Use of firearms in the following way is prohibited:
  
  (E) Firing at or into a moving vehicle when the vehicle is the only force being used against the sworn member or another person.

As we pointed out a few days ago, this policy, as written, would allow the Truck Terrorist in Nice, France free rein to drive up and down a venue like Michigan Avenue, or Navy Pier or the lakefront bike paths running over anything in his path and the Chicago Police Department would not be able to do a procedurally correct thing to stop him.

In reality, would we? We can't tell you what to do, but we (and 99.9% of other coppers) would be out of ammo long before we considered turning our backs on fellow citizens in that situation. Hopefully, the public acclaim would be enough to protect us from the politics, but who knows in Rahm's Chicago.

But why have a policy that is as narrow as this one is if we can cite even one example where it's just not based in reality? The fact is, sometimes cops are going to make tactical mistakes and get caught where they shouldn't be (in the line of travel). That's a training issue. It's already illegal to deliberately place yourself in harm's way to provoke a Deadly Force situation, but we're supposed to let an unfortunate cop pay for a mistake with their body? Or their lives?

That seems counter-productive, but given the political climate at the moment, we don't see a good outcome Administratively for the involved parties.

Tomorrow - wrapping it up.

Specific Threats

011 and 015:

• Leaders from three West Side gang factions allegedly met last week to discuss plans to shoot members of the Chicago Police Department in response to the fatal police shooting of Paul O’Neal.
  
  The meeting took place Thursday between higher ups from the Vice Lords, Black Disciples and Four Corner Hustlers, according to an alert issued to department members the day after the meeting.
  
  The Four Corner Hustlers “provided guns” and have “a sniper in place” though authorities do not know where, according to the alert. The Four Corner Hustlers are also supplying the other two gangs with automatic weapons, which all three factions have also agreed to use against police, the alert states.
  
  The three gangs are located primarily in the Austin and Harrison districts, which cover much of the West Side.

And guess what the Department is advising:

• According to police sources, department members have also been advised to “limit interactions and visibility.”

We read that as "Stay Fetal and in the Hole."

Welcome to policing 2016 style.

Court Date

Anyone know if the District Court Advocacy people are attending this?

• Ja'Mal D Green court date has been change to this coming Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. at Belmont and Western. Please Share thanks for your support!

Remember, multiple felonies, most on video.

Did the Pensions Get Hosed?

This guy thinks so, and he makes a good argument to support his contention:

• In picking which [deception] to write about in the City of Chicago’s PR offensive last week about the its finances, I’m suffering from  the “paradox of choice.” That’s what occurs when you’re overloaded with too many choices, making it difficult to decide.
  
  I’ll go with this one for now — the numbers for Chicago’s police and firefighter pensions. Had it been honest, the city would have prefaced its pension numbers by saying, “Let’s assume we didn’t kick the can and that an old law is in effect.”
  
  The pension numbers the city used are built on the assumption that it will make far faster, higher pension contributions than in fact it will make under a new law. Its numbers, in other words, ignore a huge can-kick the General Assembly recently passed. The numbers the city peddled therefore are worthless.
  
  [...]
  
  The problem is that the actuarial reports recently completed, on which the city bases its published numbers, assume the old law is still in place! They clearly state that. You can see for yourself in the report for the police report linked here. (You have to look at the “GASB 67 and 68 reports,” in which the all-important Net Pension Liability is calculated, which are the numbers the city used in its financial report widely reported last week. You may also recall that these are reports I had to get through a Freedom of Information Act request. The police pension finally posted theirs last week. The firefighter pension still has not.)

If we understand this, the city is using the old numbers to calculate the new liability. We'll confess to being less than mathematically inclined in this matter. Is this guy on the level? We know the can got kicked down the road, but did we get royally screwed in the process?

Fifty-two Shot

Ten dead and forty-two maimed, per HeyJackass.com this weekend.

Just thought everyone would like to know what doesn't matter....unless someone thinks there's some money to be made.

By the way, Chicago blew past 2,500 shot for the year like it was going out of style this weekend. 3,500 is easily within reach.

Video Review - The Law

Lots of ignorant comments going on. The family and their "spokes-asshole" who is facing numerous felony counts himself, along with their bottom-feeding lawyer, who is looking to pollute a potential jury pool and provoke some sort of racial incident to scare the city into settling, are throwing a lot of brickbats around without any regard for actual law.

So let's read the actual relevant portion of the Illinois Compiled Statute:

• (720 ILCS 5/7-5)(from Ch. 38, par. 7-5)
  
  Sec. 7-5. Peace officer's use of force in making arrest.
  
  (a) A peace officer, or any person whom he has summoned or directed to assist him, need not retreat or desist from efforts to make a lawful arrest because of resistance or threatened resistance to the arrest. He is justified in the use of any force which he reasonably believes to be necessary to effect the arrest and of any force which he reasonably believes to be necessary to defend himself or another from bodily harm while making the arrest. However, he is justified in using force likely to cause death or great bodily harm only when he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or such other person, or when he reasonably believes both that:
  
  (1) Such force is necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by resistance or escape; and
  
  (2) The person to be arrested has committed or attempted a forcible felony which involves the infliction or threatened infliction of great bodily harm or is attempting to escape by use of a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict great bodily harm unless arrested without delay.

Notice, there are two parts to the law. This is an important distinction. They are separated by the word "or." The first part is pretty straightforward:

• he is justified in using force likely to cause death or great bodily harm only when he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or such other person

This is what we would refer to as "defense of self or another." Someone points a gun at you, you can shoot them. Someone points a gun at someone else, you can shoot them, regardless (and this is important) of where you are standing. This part alone justifies the initial shots. He was defending his partner in the path of danger (we're discussing State Law)

The second part of the law is a bit more complicated, because the situation has to fulfill two separate distinctions (we have highlighted the words "both" and "and"):

• he reasonably believes both that:
  
  (1) Such force is necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by resistance or escape; and
  
  (2) The person to be arrested has committed or attempted a forcible felony which involves the infliction or threatened infliction of great bodily harm or is attempting to escape by use of a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict great bodily harm unless arrested without delay.

This is a freeze frame of what the first two officers saw (driver body camera):

So the question becomes, "Does this fulfill the requirements of State Law?"

• Is the car thief attempting to defeat the arrest by resistance or escape?

Sure looks like it. He's in a 3,000 pound hunk of metal, plastic and rubber moving at a speed that will defeat any attempt at arrest.

• Is the person committing or attempting to commit a forcible felony which involves the infliction or threatened infliction of great bodily harm or attempting to escape by use of a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict great bodily harm unless arrested without delay?

That's a big "yes." A car is a deadly weapon. He's using it as a ram. He just missed hitting the driver. That's Aggravated Assault. See all that underlining we did there? That's where the actions of the car thief meet or exceed the threshold for the use of deadly force per State Law to a reasonable person. The thief had already been taunting the officers in Area South by pulling over, fleeing, then returning to be chased again. There's no reason to think he'd stop before he ran into someone - maybe a cyclist riding a Divvy bike, a grandmother walking home from grocery shopping, a child crossing the street.

Again, it was his actions that provoked the response.

Tomorrow, we'll go over Department Policy.

Numbers Keep Rising

Four dead, seventeen wounded Friday into Saturday.

Two dead, twenty-four wounded Saturday into Sunday - including a couple in 012:

• Bystanders at the birthday party saw the panic before they heard the gunshots.
  
  “I saw running, screaming, hollering,” said a woman who had walked away from the crowd just moments before the chaos.
  
  She heard someone scream: “They’re going to shoot.”
  
  Then she heard three separate volleys of gunfire.

And guess how many witnesses came forward?

• ....said she didn’t know anything about who fired shots at the birthday party, but she was sure someone did.“Somebody’s seen something,” she said.
  
  She was just as sure that nobody would say anything.
  
  “With everything that’s going on in the community, with the police, the violence in general, they don’t trust anyone,” she said.

The descriptions from the scene speak volumes. Hundreds of people clogging up the streets for hours, coppers outnumbered ten-to-one, the usual piles of garbage left behind when a ghetto party erupts in gunfire.

Who Gets Killed in Chicago?

The Sun Times "watchdogs" had this article up:

• Among the Sun-Times’ findings, based on a review of police and Cook County medical examiner’s reports, court files and interviews:
  
  • The vast majority of those killed in Chicago in the first half of this year — 90 percent —died from a gunshot wound.
  • Seventy-two percent were African-American men, their average age 29.
  • Four out of five had faced criminal charges in Cook County at some point, mostly for drug offenses; the leading cause of arrest in Chicago.
  • Two out of five had drug convictions.
  • More than a quarter had been convicted of a violent offense or illegal gun possession.
  • Domestic conflicts, many involving mental illness, were involved in at least 24 of the deaths.
  • At least four were killed by stray bullets. Others were shot while in the company of people who were targeted.
  • The reasons behind other killings remain a mystery to the police.

We don't know why they think this is original reporting - HeyJackass.com has been doing it better for a few years now, and they have all sorts of eye-catching graphs and breakdowns. They have sections for gender, race, and neighborhood. They track clearance rates, self-shot, shot-in-the-ass, and shot-in-the-junk.

One of our favorites is the "shot clock" tracking the average amount of time it takes for someone else to get shot - currently at just over two hours. But you aren't going to see that in the paper.

Video Review (UPDATE)

We've been seeing a bit of criticism in the comment sections, ripping coppers for "Monday morning quarterbacking" and "you weren't there..." and everything in between. This isn't 1970 any more. This isn't the 80's or the 90's. This isn't even the 00's when personal cell phone cameras were just coming into widespread usage. This is 2016, and in-car cameras along with body-worn cameras are fast becoming the norm along with every single person on the street with a digital photo studio at their fingertips.

Policing is under a harsh spotlight and police work, especial hands-on police work, isn't pretty. But a even-handed, unemotional critique of the actions captured on video can be a benefit. It can educate the public, media and our critics. If the only voice being heard is the voice of the assholes shutting down reasoned discourse, then we are going to be backed into a corner that there is no coming out from. Some here feel we're already at that point. Reasonable men and women can disagree as to how far gone it is. And sometimes that involves taking a look inward.

That being said, we have a series of posts to address the videos over the next few days. And the first one is to rebut some of the more outrageous "sanctification" promulgated by the media and the protestors. We want to take you back in time to 03 August, to the Naperville Sun newspaper:

• Naperville and Bolingbrook police are investigating a possible link between two incidents of multiple vehicle thefts that occurred within two days of one another, and in which one suspect was later shot to death by Chicago police.
  
  Five vehicles were stolen during the early-morning hours of July 26 in Naperville, while four were taken around 3 a.m. July 28 in Bolingbrook, authorities in both communities confirmed. Additionally, more than 30 vehicles were burglarized that same morning in Naperville.
  
  A suspect in the Bolingbrook thefts, 18-year-old Paul O'Neal, of Chicago, was fatally shot by police around 7:30 p.m. July 28 behind a house in the 7300 block of South Merrill Avenue in Chicago.
  
  Bolingbrook police Lt. Carter Larry on Wednesday said O'Neal was "clearly seen on video" at a service station where six suspects regrouped following the thefts in that village.

This is the "hero" of the media and "community" narrative - a car thief and a credit card thief. Does anyone know what his record looks like? And why is it all of these "heroes" seem to have social media pages with them holding guns?

And the early onset arthritis - we forgot about that.

Then there's the family, weeping, saying "He had goals." Um, what goals? Stealing a Bugatti maybe? Ferrari? How about a Lamborghini? Unfortunately, he'll always be remembered as only achieving a Jaguar. How sad.

Here's the thing - all of this, every single bit of it, could have been avoided if he didn't take something that didn't belong to him. Blame is on the parent(s), family, whomever - someone didn't install a moral compass on this thief and in the process, set him on the road to destruction, taking who knows how many others with him.

And there were plenty of opportunities to stop him - his first arrest, his second, the judge(s) who gave him how many additional chances, the parent who didn't better monitor his associations, maybe a clergy person, a social worker, the list is endless. But the cops are going to take the final hit because all of these other misses led to:

• Theft of Auto
• PSMV
• Aggravated Assault (with the auto)
• Aggravated Battery (with the same auto)

If he had survived, how many felonies is that right there? All committed in the span of sixteen hours? Let's not lose sight of that, even though the media and story-tellers already have. He began, continued and ended with bad decisions he made, all on his own.

More tomorrow.

UPDATE: More today actually - we're finally hearing reports that this wasn't the first time 004 saw and called out this vehicle. In fact, 004 had stopped and approached the vehicle on other occasions during the day and the car thief waited, and then accelerated away from them each time. He was playing a stupid ghetto game because (we assume) he knew CPD wouldn't chase for more than a block or two before being called off. And he returned to the general area where he was spotted, knowing that the police were looking for the specific car he was driving to do it again. And again.

Guess what? Every time you do something stupid, the odds shorten. Ask any insurance company. Ask an actuary. Ask any gambler. Eventually, the odds approach 1-to-1....and you are going to hit something, hit someone, get caught.

And this just reinforces everything we posted above - the person initially and solely responsible for everything that followed, is the car thief.

Meanwhile.....

The "other" stuff keeps piling up numbers:

• Four people were killed, including a 16-year-old boy, and at least 17 other people were wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday morning, police said.
  
  A 6-year-old boy was playing with a friend in his Park Manor neighborhood when the gunfire that fatally wounded the 16-year-old boy started around the corner.
  
  Standing with his father Friday afternoon, Zackariah Reed wore a Batman T-shirt and used his fingers to count out how many gunshots he heard.
  
  “That’s eight of them,” he said. “I don’t like gunshots.”

The Count says "Very good little guy!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 8 gunshots! Ha ha ha ha" (lightning, thunder sound effects)

You get your education where you can.

Safety Warning

From assorted sources:

• Intel is out that numerous gang factions have met and discussed shooting Police using snipers and high powered weapons.
  
  It is imperative that we always know where we are and who's around us.
  
  Commanders, Lt's and Sgt's should ONLY be concerned with the safety of their Officers and ZERO concerns of activity!
  
  Everyone's #1 priority NEEDS to be going home after their tour, backing each other up and Officer Safety!
  
  Stay Safe, God Help us and watch over us.

Watch yourselves and your partners.

The Videos - Day 2

The previous comment section is getting overly crowded, so we're opening this second thread.

Opinions are running hot and heavy. Opinions are also like assholes - everyone has one, and we here are no exception to that. We don't like a lot of what we saw, but we're processing it, discussing it, and we'll post some stuff in time for Monday.

What we will say for now, and what a lot of people are saying, falls under the heading of "safety."

That is a freeze-frame of one of the body cams. You can see the shell case exiting the ejection port. You can also see the tail end of the vehicle driving (scraping?) the squad. It's nothing that hasn't been in the media, so spare us any faux outrage.

That's also a cop within the arc of muzzle travel....fractions of a degree. Tenths of seconds, split second decisions, tunnel vision, etc. We've heard it. And if you have any experience on the job, you've heard it, too.

And you ought to admit, seeing it in this form is a sobering and valuable lesson to everyone.

Special Ed Punked Out

Remember, these are the same people who have his phone number, who call him at all hours, who get invited and escorted into Police Headquarters to meet with Special Ed.....and they punked him on live TV:

• A small group of protesters prevented Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson from speaking Friday following the release of graphic video in the fatal police shooting of a teen car theft suspect.
  
  As Johnson approached the podium to speak on the video’s release, one protester stood in front of him with his hands in the air.

And when they kept talking over him, Special Ed went back inside and released a paper statement instead.

And he complains about the hard time he gets on the blog?

It's obvious Rahm is holding the cheating scandal over Special Ed's noggin. We can't think of any other reason he'd sit there and eat the shit sandwich he's being served. But at some point, it's just better to reclaim your balls and walk away.

Time to resign Ed - take your six-figure pension, let the cheaters take their hits. You and the O.G can live comfortably far from Chicago on that money.

You'll thank us for the advice later.

Timely

Can we make this retroactive a few years?

• Students enrolled in driver's education courses will be required to learn how to respond if they're pulled over by police under a measure Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law Friday.
  
  The change is aimed at preventing teens from panicking or doing anything that may be interpreted as a red flag by police, which could lead to a standard traffic stop escalating into a more serious situation.

If we could just bring this program to the "community" over the past.....oh, let's just say 50 years, we might see a significant dent in the crime numbers.

Product Placement

You know the Divvy people have got to be loving this publicity...right?

• Two people were shot at a laundromat on the city's South Side Friday morning and surveillance video captured two men opening fire.
  
  A man and woman were struck by gunfire in the 6800-block of South Stony Island. At least one shot went into the laundromat through the front door window.
  
  By 9:30 a.m. surveillance footage showed two people on bikes, at least one was armed and ready to fire. They circled the parking lost at 68th and Stoney Island. It becomes clear they had a target in mind. The pair, one on a Divvy bike, rode up to the front of a laundromat, dropped the bikes and strolled in. Within a matter of seconds, they spotted someone and immediately the target took off.

Not just for getting around the touristy parts of town - now available for all your drive-by or bike-by needs!

Hospital Fight?

Anyone hear about this?

• Speaking of videos, did anybody see the gang fight that broke out at northwestern memorial hospital? Supposedly there were two gsw victims in at the same time that were rival gang members. And there families thought they would fight in the lobby.

Not an uncommon occurrence at County or various other trauma centers as we recall, but we hadn't heard about this one.

Video Release (UPDATE)

Weeks earlier than originally promised:

• The Independent Police Review Authority plans to make public this Friday videos related to the fatal police involved shooting of Paul O’Neal last week on the South Side, authorities said.
  
  Though the fatal shooting itself was not captured on video because the officer’s body camera failed to record it, the video materials are related to the shooting that occurred in the 7400 block of South Merrill Avenue on July 28.
  
  IPRA made the decision to make it available on their online case portal, www.portal.iprachicago.org, at 11 a.m. Friday, according to [...] a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department.

We suppose there isn't anything overly inflammatory. The "conspiracy!!!" nuts have ensured the pump is primed by their baiting, but this is the safe political play - if there's nothing on the tape, Rahm can safely release it without provoking an over-the-top response from the "community." Don't doubt for a second he's playing all sides.

We'll see this afternoon.

UPDATE: Well, we can say we were mistaken - this is not "nothing."

It is something and that something is a mess.

Supt Butthurt

Anyone know how old Special Ed is? Because he sounds like a Hair Gel:

• 004, 3rd Watch said...Supe was in 004 a few days ago. Berating everyone and all ranks in attendance. Very butthurt about the blog and what others are saying about him.

Well, when you get a job you didn't even apply for....

When you are beholden to a political actor who could doom your fiance to the unemployment line for her cheating on a crooked test along with other high-ranking members wives, bed-mates and side pieces....

When the criminal element has your direct line, visits HQ and brags knowledgeably about internal disciplinary issues before the involved parties have any clue about what's going on....

When every visit to the trenches is an apology tour for having no spine and being utterly unable to stand up for the people you are leading....

We'd say you have waaaay bigger issues than what is said about you (justifiably) on a blog.

"Day of Action" Coming Early?

A few comments popping up here and there hinting at something:

• Sounds like even the TMA's might be on board for Bud Billiken a lot of them are on CPD list and they now realize there needs to be a mass hiring. Thanks so much for what once was a small grassroots movement and is now getting a full head of steam. To the Tact Lt and Sgt in 7 threatening everyone, you can't fire us. Without CPD and TMA'S Bud could be beyond chaotic. I hope our exempts and White Shirts have their yellow vests and traffic whistles because the parade is all yours now.

007 coppers are being threatened by supervisors? TMA's looking for an out? Rumblings of people leaving Tact and the mandatory overtime.

Is this why Dean-o is being quiet? This isn't what the FOP had in mind - they wanted it in September after the big events are already done.

Privatization?

And the bad idea begins to take shape:

• The business district in Wicker Park and Bucktown will spend $50,000 on initiatives that could include private security patrols, security cameras and partnerships with local businesses to boost the area's safety.
  
  The sum is more than the $20,000 budgeted in July but less than the $100,000 Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, and Ald. Proco "Joe" Moreno, 1st, wanted set aside from a special tax fund. They sought to hire firms, staffed mostly by off-duty and retired police officers who have arrest powers and sometimes carry guns, using $100,000 from a $1.2 million budget that comes from property taxes and is managed by businesspeople in the neighborhoods. Hopkins cited an increase in crime as the reason for the outlay.

This also popped up in the comment section:

• Hey SCC off topic but, while having lunch yesterday in Greek town I saw numerous people security/police going business to business getting owners to signup for the alderman"s new security force. WTF is this shit??? Most of the people had guns and vests some said police others said tactical, is there something we need to know about???
  
  8/04/2016 03:44:00 AM
  
  At Damen and Chicago while having lunch at the Subway, I saw four guys in with a duty belt, a gun, handcuffs, baton, etc. Just like what we have. They had a vest and it said "Officer" on the back. It looked so damn official. At first I thought they were Cook County guys. Then I see on their shoulder it said "Central Investigative Services". I then asked who they were and the guy just said we are officers. I asked officers as in police officers? Then he gives me a hard look and an attitude. He says, did I not just tell you I am an officer? I asked once again and then another said "we are security officers for the company central investigative services, have a nice day sir". To an average Joe, they look just like police officers.

So who's the connected individuals who have a hand in this?

Incompetence on Display

Is this sloppy record keeping or what?

• The agency responsible for reviewing all shootings by Chicago police officers has no record of having investigated six shootings in recent years, according to a critical report from the city's inspector general.
  
  Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found that the Independent Police Review Authority had no record of looking into six shootings in which officers fired their guns but didn't hit anyone, according to the report obtained by the Tribune through a Freedom of Information Act request.
  
  The inspector general wrote that it was unclear if the Police Department failed to notify IPRA of the shootings or IPRA's recordkeeping was to blame.

Well, since OEMC keeps tapes of everything AND they have a checklist of notifications that are required every time an officer uses a Taser, OC Spray, or a gun AND they call IPRA as a matter of course regularly on every single shooting scene, we're going to say it's IPRA's sloppiness coming to the forefront. Again.

IPRA immediately blamed the Department. Obviously. Might as well kick the Department while it's down - you might never get another opportunity, and besides, IPRA is reopening long closed cases in a desperate attempt to find any procedural error to hang on coppers. Toss half-a-dozen shootings in there, too.

When they discover that their investigators responded to scenes, interrogated arrestees, interviewed coppers and took statements, we're sure they'll apologize.

Missing the Point....Again

The message is getting lost because the FOP is following the Obama-model of "leading from behind:"

• A coalition of community organizers are asking residents to help protect their own neighborhoods on Labor Day in response to the police union’s call for officers to refuse overtime work during the historically deadly weekend.
  
  They’re encouraging individuals and groups to ramp up safety measures and criticized a directive from the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police urging its members to protest the “disrespect” and “killing of officers” by not volunteering to work overtime
  
  The effort, called the Community Peace Surge, is aimed at 10 high-crime areas on Chicago’s South Side and West Side. In those areas, organizers will organize a variety of activities — picnics, educational activities, cleanup events — to offer plenty of non-violent options.
  
  “What the police won’t do on Labor Day weekend … we’ll do ourselves,” Keith Harris, a representative of the People Educated Against Crime community center in Englewood, said at gathering outside the Chicago Police Department headquarters earlier this week.

This isn't about the police not working Labor Day. This is about police not working voluntary overtime that masks police shortages that Rahm has engineered, leaving the Department dangerously shorthand - over 2,000 officers worth.

But that's not the message the "community" and the media are presenting. Instead, we get this (unintentionally) humorous take on things:

• “We’re calling on the men in the city of Chicago to stand up and do what men do, and that’s protect and provide,” Harris said. “You live on these blocks, protect your block. Protect your community and protect your neighborhood. Protect your family.”

We must have missed something these past few decades. Who exactly has been maiming, wounding, killing in these so-called communities? Oh yeah, minority males, to the tune of well over 16,000 since 1990. And if the percentages held steady over the years (which they didn't, but we won't mention that), something like 13,600 dead black males can be laid at the feet of the "community."

This part has to have Rahm and Special Ed shitting bricks though:

• The Community Peace Surge is “actively recruiting” people with concealed-carry licenses and FOID cards, Harris said.
  
  “If nothing else, you can stand in your yard,” he said. “It’s lawful for you to stand on your property and protect your property and patrol your property.”

Should be a great time.

And in closing, the ignorant activists repeat the message that isn't being conveyed by anyone involved:

• “The signal that the FOP sent with that flier and with those remarks are reverberating through communities across Chicago,” Jackson said. “The intention, the spirit of those words were, ‘Until you respect us, we are not going to serve you,’ and that is what we are rejecting.”

That's years of "plantation politics" in a nutshell right there. No one said that, except the "community" leading their ignorant followers right off the cliff.

Classy Move Chelios

Wednesday, at the Cubs game, the singer for the 7th Inning Stretch was former Blackhawk defenseman Chris Chelios.

Before he sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," he took a moment to thank "the people who keep us safe every day - The Chicago Police."

And he got a very rousing cheer from the crowd.

Thanks Cheli

Nice Job PBA

The New York Police Union has the right idea:

• The city’s largest police union ruined Mayor de Blasio’s first cup of morning java, staging multiple protests Tuesday — including outside his favorite Park Slope coffee shop — calling on Hizzoner to give cops a hefty 34 percent pay hike to offset ever-rising cost of living expenses in the Big Apple.
  
  “We want him to support NYC police officers, pay us as professionals, staff us properly and equip us so we can equip ourselves and protect the public as well. He’s refused to do that,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President, Pat Lynch, told a gaggle of reporters outside Gracie Mansion.
  
  Lynch vowed that his members would be showing up at all of the mayor’s favorite morning haunts.

Dean, you watching? A few "no confidence" votes would be a giant leap forward.

Uptown Shooting Kills Senior

Nice undermanned District you got there Rahm:

• Uptown logged its fourth homicide of the year when two people were shot in the 4500 block of N. Sheridan this afternoon.
  
  A 58-year-old woman was shot in the chest and later died at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, police said. A 58-year-old man also suffered at least one gunshot wound to the leg. He is expected to recover. The pair are the 22nd and 23rd persons shot in Uptown this year.
  
  The woman listed a home address in the 4500 block of N. Broadway when she was arrested for shoplifting earlier this year, according to court records secured by CWBChicago.  She is not believed to have been the intended target.

We're going to go out on a limb and agree with the CWBChicago blog assessment that a 58-year-old homeless woman and her companion weren't the intended targets. August is already averaging more than a homicide a day.

More Criminals Getting Out

Remember which party is soft on crime:

• President Obama on Wednesday cut short the sentences of 214 federal inmates, including 67 life sentences, in what the White House called the largest batch of commutations on a single day in more than a century.
  
  Almost all the prisoners were serving time for nonviolent crimes related to cocaine, methamphetamine or other drugs, although a few were charged with firearms violations related to their drug activities. Almost all are men, though they represent a diverse cross-section of America geographically.

So remember, gun violence is bad, but if it's combined with a supposedly "non-violent" drug offense, then you might fit the role in a certain political agenda. Never mind the decades of misery inflicted on certain segments of society by the supposedly "non-violent" actors in the trade.

Learning Curve

Evidently, we are again expected to be perfect, all times, every time. The only humans expected to be so:

• A body camera worn by the Chicago police officer who fatally shot an 18-year-old man in the back last week was not recording at the time of the shooting, police said Monday.
  
  It’s not clear why the camera was not recording, police spokesman [...] said Monday.
  
  Moments before Paul O’Neal, 18, was shot and killed in the South Shore neighborhood Thursday night, he’d rammed the Jaguar he was driving into one police car and sideswiped another.
  
  Two officers fired at O’Neal while he was still in the car. [...] said their body cameras were working and captured the discharge of their weapons.
  
  A third officer — who police say fired the fatal shot — opened fire on O’Neal, who was unarmed, after he’d exited the car, hitting him in the back....

It is a well known fact that you function under pressure as you have been trained. You revert to habit. That includes bad habits as well as good ones.

Body cameras haven't been around long enough to be an ingrained habit. If you pull up on a hot scene, knowing that someone just tried to maim/kill police officers with a 3,000 pound vehicle, your first thought isn't to click a button, and certainly not to click it twice as we've been told that is what activates the camera. So it shouldn't be surprising that someone didn't do it perfectly the first time. That doesn't make it any sort of "conspiracy" as some bottom-feeding lawyer is already suggesting. But you know, they have to taint the jury pool as quickly as possible.

It sure would be nice to hear that sort of explanation from a spineless superintendent.

And it would be even nicer if he could get out there and correct the perception that the deceased car thief was "unarmed," He was behind the wheel of a automobile weighing a ton-and-one-half that he had already used it to destroy other cars in an attempt to escape. "Unarmed" is a loaded term meant to inflame, not inform. If he and his buddies hadn't gotten the idea they could steal four cars from Bolingbrook, a lot of this could have been avoided - but that would mean taking responsibility for their actions and you can't have that of the entitled ones.

The investigation should proceed according to the law and established rules.

Blackhawks Assist

One more reason to support our favorite Chicago team:

• The Blackhawks and the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation are using some “star power” as they ask the public to help buy bullet-proof vests for police officers.
  
  Their pitch has two stars: Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford and Officer Alejandro Lagunas, one of three officers wounded in an incident March 14.
  
  Crawford says his protective gear stops shots on goal. Lagunas says has vest stopped a bullet and saved his life.
  
  Crawford finishes the plea, saying that the department issues new officers a vest, but after that it’s up to them to buy the replacement body armor, which can cost $500 or more.

The donation site is here.

No Kidding?

Anyone with half-a-brain figured this out almost 8 years ago:

• One of the most demonstrative reactions to defeat I ever witnessed in Chicago occurred when we learned the city lost its bid to host the 2016 Olympics.
  
  It was Oct. 2, 2009, and thousands of us gathered at Daley Plaza to await the big announcement from the International Olympic Committee's vote in Copenhagen. Satellite trucks from 15 news organizations parked on Clark Street. October optimism — the rarest of things in Chicago — reigned. Anticipation filled the autumn air. One mother pulled her son out of elementary school to experience what she expected to be historic event. And it was.
  
  It was the day the IOC saved Chicago from itself.

And it also (in our opinion) pushed Shortshanks out the door, leading to a lot of unpleasant "discoveries" regarding the financial mismanagement so prevalent during his reign. No one, not even Rahm, will blame him by name (Rahm always says "previous administrations" rather than name Daley), but without the No-lympic failure around his neck, Shanks might have tried to stick around for one final looting of the corpse.

Look Who's Unemployed

Someone finally got tired of working for a jagoff mayor:

• New York City's Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is expected to resign today.

Now, CPD has had plenty of bad experience with former NYPD personnel. And we've got a jagoff for a mayor, too. So the chances of him actually landing in Chicago are less than zero.

But it would be interesting to see McCompStat leave town.

This is Brilliant!

This is exactly why we will never be a boss on this job - we can't think at this level:

• On 1st watch in 19 we down on avg 4 beat cars per night. Why yo may ask?????? To put up 2 cars to drive up and down LSD from Lawrenve to Fullerton all night with their lights activated for visibility and deterrence . 2 Frikin two man cars to do absolutely nothing but that. Who comes up with this bullshit. If the Commander and Captain had any balls whatsoever they'd tell downtown how stupid this is, but they don't . They're too worried about getting that next jump up the ladder

Two cars, burning city gas, running up and down Lake Shore Drive with lights activated....and there is NO emergency situation.

That. Is. Awesome! We never, in a million years, would have thought of something like this. We guess we just don't have what it takes....thank god.

The liability factor alone has got to be monstrous, but that isn't stopping anyone. In fact, we have an e-mail that says 020 is doing the EXACT SAME THING! Their reasoning is that the blue lights will scare away the ne'er-do-wells from the south and west sides who have driven north side shooting, homicide and general crime to levels unseen in years, decades even. If it's true, we have some bad news for the brains at 35th Street - it ain't working.

Can anyone tell us if this is an entire lake front initiative? Maybe someone from the media would like to follow the blue lights for a night or two, then ask Special Ed why cars are rushing from one end of the drive to another with no call and no destination?

Deadliest July in a Decade

July started slow, but it certainly finished off with a rush:

• Trinyce L. Sanders-Wilson was a member of the Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church for more than 20 years.  She was in the choir and worked with the children at the West Side church.
  
  As she left Sunday services and crossed the street to her car over the weekend, her estranged husband walked up and shot her dead, authorities said. Then he killed himself.
  
  Sanders-Wilson was among the last of the 65 people killed in Chicago in July, a toll that pushed the number of homicides in the city this year to nearly 400. The total for all of last year was 490.

HeyJackass.com has the city at 402, but that includes six that died in police related shootings. July averaged just over two-a-day killed, and the sweltering days of August are upon us. Gotta get that killing in before school starts.

Baltimore Prosecution Side Effect

We hadn't heard of this, but it seems like there was an ulterior motive to the railroad job in Maryland:

• The Baltimore Sun reports that the cost of defending the six Baltimore police officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray emptied the coffers of the city’s police union. The union was able to stay afloat only because its members voted to double the dues.
  
  The vote was unanimous, according to the Sun’s sources.
  
  Marilyn Mosby has finally dropped all charges in these cases. However, the dues will remain where they are so the union can replenish its treasury and be able to defend against future Mosby prosecutions.
  
  The city’s demoralized police officers will think of Mosby every time they pay their dues.

One would hope that there is a way to recoup these monies via a civil action - you don't want your representation having to decide which cases to defend based on monetary need.

IPRA Attorney

No wonder Evans is suing everyone he can connect with his case. Have you seen what's investigating?

• A Chicago agency that looks into police misconduct has booted one of its staff attorneys over social-media use, WBEZ has learned.
  
  The Independent Police Review Authority forced chief investigative law officer Lindsay Wilson Gowin to resign after she exchanged dozens of private Twitter messages with a user of that network who claimed to be part of a drug-dealing gang on the city’s South Side.

The story goes on to explore her misrepresentations as head of investigations and an alleged shakedown of a dope dealer that seems to have no basis in reality, except some bragging on social media posts.

One District, Two Cars?

Word coming in from 016 that on First Watch for Saturday, 31 July, there were a grand total of five cars answering calls.

And when the early cars checked off, there were exactly two.

Our e-mailer writes that while this was happening on 016, there were 40 cars assigned to 015. We have no idea if this is beat cars, rapids, wagons, tact teams along with the VRI zone cars, Saturation and Summer Mobile, but seriously? Two cars? In one of the larger Districts in the city?

Leaving aside the crime issue, what about as a safety issue? Who the hell is running this shit show? Has anyone called the aldercreatures?

"Do Something!" They Shouted

One of our regular commentators writes:

• 011 2nd Watch DOG said...
  
  Well it seems Deputy Jones from 011 has his finger on the pulse of the community and it was stated that the fine citizens of 011 want the police to be more aggressive. Hahahaha the eyes all fell to the floor and the smirks were a sight to see. This administration needs to realize that policing is dead, it can't be revived and nothing will change that. Just smile, wave, code out job and repeat.

Make up your damn minds people (and folks).

Cops are doing their jobs - they just aren't doing anything else.

Be careful of what you wish for...you might just get it.

Different Discipline

Can anyone explain?

• Can someone please explain why the department can't go after Evans for a previous misconduct allegation because the five year statue ended but they can fire the officer that was in a photo with Finnegan and an offender who was wearing antlers that was taken fifteen years ago.

We'd say the double-standard is on full display here, but maybe there's another explanation?

Dope Game Changes

This about finishes the decriminalization of weed:

• Possession of small amounts of marijuana is now a civil offense across Illinois, punishable only by fines — not jail time.
  
  Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation decriminalizing small amounts of pot on Friday, after vetoing a bill last year that sought to allow slightly larger amounts.
  
  Chicago has already joined more than 100 Illinois local governments in removing some criminal penalties for people caught with lesser amounts of marijuana. But the new law extends decriminalization to the entire state.

Ten grams of less is now statewide. Not only that, but the Courts are required to expunge the civil violations at the end of each year, so everyone gets a "do-over." And DUI writers aren't exempt either - the law sets a floor for THC intoxication where it used to be zero.

Another Reason for "Day of Action"

This is directly undercutting our jobs:

• Bucktown and Wicker Park are two of Chicago's trendiest neighborhoods, filled with people flocking to independent boutiques, national retail chains and vibrant dining and nightlife options.
  
  But their popularity also has led to an uptick in crime, an alderman says, and put the communities at the center of a debate over whether private security officers should help patrol busy streets, using funds typically reserved for purchases like bike racks and sidewalk planters.
  
  Two aldermen, Brian Hopkins, 2nd, and Joe Moreno, 1st, want to hire firms, staffed mostly by off-duty and retired police officers who have arrest powers and sometimes carry guns, using $100,000 from a special $1.2 million budget that comes from property taxes and is managed by business people in the neighborhoods.

Taxpayers pay for police. That's taxpayer money they're talking about spending on private businesses. Businesses should pay for their own security, not aldercreature slush funds. And using our own members and retirees to undercut and mask the police shortages is unacceptable.