Haunted School

This seems like it might be tempting the forces of Hades:

• A 15-year effort to build a school in the city’s Dunning neighborhood is underway with an unusual complication: Construction workers are taking careful steps to avoid disturbing human remains that may lie beneath the soil.
  
  The $70 million school is to be built on the grounds of a former Cook County Poor House where an estimated 38,000 people were buried in unmarked graves. Among the dead are residents who were too poor to afford funeral costs, unclaimed bodies and patients from the county’s insane asylum.
  
  “There can be and there have been bodies found all over the place,” said Barry Fleig, a genealogist and cemetery researcher who began investigating the site in 1989. “It’s a spooky, scary place.”
  
  Workers have until April 27 to excavate and clear the site, remediate the soil and relocate an existing sewer line. The school is scheduled to open in time for the 2019-20 academic year, though a spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools would not say what type of school it will be.

The voting rolls show a HUGE number of Machine votes coming from this burial site, so perhaps Rahm might want to rethink uprooting (pun intended) such a strong voting bloc.

Special Ed - Human Shield

Special Ed taking some heat - just like Rahm planned:

• Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson got an earful from community stakeholders Wednesday about his decision to rule that Police Officer Robert Rialmo was “justified and within department policy” when he shot Quintonio LeGrier and bystander neighbor Bettie Jones.
  
  During an invitation-only meeting at the South Side Community Arts Center, roughly 30 black ministers, elected officials and community leaders confronted Johnson about his decision to contradict the Civilian Office of Police Accountability and COPA’s recommendation that Rialmo be fired.
  
  “They feel frustrated. They feel angry. They feel like there has not been much difference in what we’re seeing in the past as it pertains to the shooting and killing of unarmed black men and youth and people in the community,” said Chicago Urban League President and CEO Shari Runner.

We wish the media would stop being such whores and including Bettie Jones in the "justified" statement. There hasn't been a single finding that her death was anything except a tragic accident. A bullet passing through the offender's body and striking an unintended person is not criminal by any stretch of the imagination.

We also wish Fran would stop publishing bullshit like this Runner character's statement about "unarmed black men."

LeGrier had a bat, therefore he was armed. We will make the same offer to Runner that we've made to assorted media morons:

• We will give you a pistol, Taser, baton and handcuffs along with a short course on Illinois law and CPD policy;
• we will arm ourselves with a blunt instrument - probably a bat;
• you will get us into handcuffs by any means possible - but if you resort to stick, Taser or gun, you lose and must commit ritual suicide;
• by the way, we get to yell, scream, resist passively, then actively and finally, we get the first swing of the blunt instrument for free. Otherwise you lose and have to commit suicide on camera

What say you Runner?

Continuing Investigation

Great way for Kim Foxxx to avoid charging known felons with weapons:

• Chicago police said they found a loaded handgun lying in the grass along Recreation Drive near the car where two gangbangers were hanging out late Friday night. But prosecutors refused to file weapons charges in the case because the gun couldn't be tested for fingerprints on the weekend, police said.
  
  Instead, Alfonso Fierro and two friends are charged with being on park property after hours and other minor offenses.
  
  Fierro, known as “Little A,” is currently awaiting trial for allegedly possessing a loaded handgun in a car this winter. And one of his other arrestees is a felony gun offender.

What are the chances this wasn't actually his gun? Zero? Next-to-zero? So Kim is using either CPD non-staffing or ISP Crime Lab hours to not charge these goofs.

Wait a minute - where was the ATF NIBIN van? That super van that's supposed to be available weekends to print guns, shell casings, recovered evidence in order to charge gun offenders promptly? Or is that just another reelection ploy that doesn't really mean holding gu offenders accountable?

U of C Shooting

Are metal poles like bats - not weapons?

• A University of Chicago police officer shot and seriously wounded a 21-year-old student who charged an officer with a metal pipe near the South Side campus late Tuesday, authorities said.
  
  The shooting happened off campus just before 10:15 p.m. in the Hyde Park neighborhood, an area patrolled by both U. of C. and Chicago police officers.
  
  Three U. of C. police officers responding to a call of a burglary in the 5300 block of South Kimbark Avenue encountered a man — later identified as a student — breaking car and apartment windows with a long metal pipe, university officials said in an email to students.
  
  The officers ordered the student to drop the pipe, but he refused and charged at the officer in an alley, university President Robert Zimmer and Provost Daniel Diermeier said in the email.
  
  One of the officers fired his weapon, hitting the student in the shoulder, according to the university. The student was initially taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition, authorities said.

Officer is fine physically. Can't wait to see how the overly libtarded Hyde Park populace handles this one .... non-CPD protecting them shoots a student assailant.

Credit Union Change (UPDATE)

From the comments:

• OT but important if you have a CPFCU credit union checking account. They are now charging $4 a month for checking. They snuck this in and call it premium checking but the few little things they give you amount to nothing. Of course they couldn't offer this as an optional upgrade because no one would take it so they are forcing everyone to opt out. If you don't opt out by April 16 they will start taking $4 a month from your account. I don't recall getting anything in the mail about this. The only reason I found out is because I went into the credit union for something else.

It's actually getting more economical to store our money under the mattress again.

UPDATE:From a long time reader:

• Thank you for the info about CPFCU switching our checking accounts to premium checking without our consent. As I live overseas, I didn’t want to waste time on the phone, so I emailed them.
  
  I received a response and was sent a form to opt from premium checking and revert back to free checking. I had to fill out the form, scan it, and email back to the credit union. I just checked my account, and my checking has been reverted to standard checking. Just thought the members should know.
  
  Thanks for keeping me updated on the current Department Situations!

Good to know you can opt out.

COPA Investigator Tweets

Do you think COPA Investigator Daniel Kobel might have an agenda?

After Trump won, he sure seems stable:

Wishing death upon a sheriff:

Making fun of a cop getting killed:

Remember, this is the person railroading investigating you. Supposedly there was a shitload more tweets that our source wasn't able to capture regarding anti-police, anti-republican, anti-NRA stuff before he took the account private. Isn't transparency grand?

Save the Date

Got to get all the possible voters eligible as soon as possible:

So who are they going to vote for?

What's This Crap?

True? BS?

• Is this a first? Recruit class has star ceremony, gets sworn in and receives their starts. Next day, yes, the very next day, IAD comes to the academy and strips the entire class. Something about stealing keys and having a party at the troop street building a few Saturdays ago.
  
  #bethechange?

"be the change" indeed.

Missing Comments

We seem to be missing a block of comments covering a largish portion of this morning and afternoon. Blogger has been acting funny and hanging up for some reason today. As soon as we get the comments back, they'll be up, but who knows how long it might take - last outage lasted almost a week.

(comments closed here - informational post only)

Crime is.....What Now?

A bunch of the news shows yesterday were quoting the CPD stat people, praising the drop in shootings and homicides across the city. Here's the numbers they quoted for the first quarter:

• 2018 - 108 killings, which was lower than....
• 2017 - 140 killings, and even lower than....
• 2016 - 144 killings

Numbers to be proud of, right? Well sure, if you don't know history:

• 2015 - 83 expired
• 2014 - 63 deceased
• 2013 - 72 gone
• 2012 - 119 assuming room temperature
• 2011 - 72 lifeless
• 2010 - 75 blown away

Heck, let's just cover the entire millennium:

• 2009 - 67 executed
• 2008 - 85 dispatched
• 2007 - 87 eliminated
• 2006 - 76 butchered
• 2005 - 79 massacred
• 2004 - 105 iced
• 2003 - 120 smoked
• 2002 - 116 wasted
• 2001 - 103 slain
• 2000 - 125 bumped off

Six times the total has been over 108. A dozen times it's been under 108. The average is almost 97 dead a year, so 2018 is above that benchmark and no one is calling Rahm, Special Ed or the stat-spinners on it.

Meanwhile, carjackings are up, robberies are up. Anyone have the stats for property crimes and CSA?

Nice CTA Rahm

Cut all the mental health care, spend the money somewhere else:

• A woman on a Chicago Transit Authority bus traveling in the heart of the Magnificent Mile downtown was stabbed in the head by a woman she’d never seen before, officials said Monday.
  
  About 10:15 p.m. on Easter Sunday, police were called to the 600 block of North Michigan Avenue in the Near North neighborhood for a report that a woman had been stabbed.
  
  Police quickly learned the 30-year-old woman was seated on toward the rear of the bus and another woman was sitting behind her. In a statement, police said the 30-year-old did not speak with the woman sitting behind her and there was no interaction between the women before the woman behind her stabbed the 30-year-old in the back of the head with an “unknown object inside of a glove,” officials said.

The woman is described as "homeless." That's it. Nothing else.

So there's one homeless guy out there stabbing software execs in the neck and his girlfriend stabbing strangers in the head. What a wonderful city Rahm has here.

Weed Kills!

Can't wait for legal weed - so here's some synthetic stuff:

• State health officials have now linked two deaths and dozens of illnesses to synthetic marijuana known as K2, while federal prosecutors on Monday said they found a large amount of synthetic pot laced with a toxic substance often used in rat poison being sold at a West Side convenience store.
  
  Fouad Masoud, owner of King Mini Mart at 1303 S. Kedzie Ave. in Lawndale, and two of his employees, Jamil Abdelrahman Jad Allah and Adil Khan Mohammed, could face 20 years in prison after an undercover officer bought K2 branded with names that included “Blue Giant,” “Crazy Monkey” and “Matrix” from the workers, according to a federal complaint.
  
  The investigation leading to the arrests began last week after Illinois State Police gave Chicago police information about someone who had experienced adverse side effects after using synthetic pot purchased at King Mini Mart. An undercover officer was sent into the store and bought synthetic pot.

Rat poison in the fake weed?

What's the problem?

Interesting Site

Monitoring some of Rahm's corrupt practices that the regular media won't:

• Documents uncovered by Project Six—along with limited and opaque answers from City Hall—raise serious questions over whether political clout allowed a veteran senior-level Chicago city employee to stay in his position for more than two weeks and collect thousands in salary after being terminated for cause.
  
  The employee, Jonathan Friend, has held multiple positions for both the city and state, but most recently was senior advisor to Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia. Friend is also husband to one of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s top political operatives, Becky Carroll.
  
  The investigation into the end of Jonathan Friend’s tenure with the city was the result of an anonymous tip to Project Six that alleged Friend was terminated for misconduct. Despite multiple city officials, offices and agencies refusing to answer any questions surrounding this case, communications obtained through Freedom of Information requests between City Clerk’s Office employees and multiple city vendors show how potential conflicts of interest, inappropriate procurements for city contracts worth millions and tax dollar waste was possibly ignored to benefit political insiders with connections to Mayor Emanuel.

Rahm's newest pet, Anna Valencia, is hip deep in this one. How long before she ends up under the Rahm bus?

Fifteen Cars

This would seem to be a big deal:

• Hey SCC,
  
  Haven't seen much in the press about Hertz getting ripped off for 15 vehicles in a single incident. The cars have been surfacing on the west side all weekend with 8 or 10 being recovered already. No info if they're being used in shootings, but most have out of state plates.

Haven't heard much about this either, but we found a quick mention in the Tribune:

• Oak Park police are investigating the overnight theft of 15 cars from a local rental business.
  
  According to police, an employee at Hertz, 629 Madison St., arrived to work Thursday morning at about 7:30 a.m., and found the front glass window of the front door broken. Inside the business, the employee discovered the key storage box had been forced open and the keys taken, police said.
  
  The lock to the rear security gate of the parking lot had also been cut, and 15 cars were reportedly missing, the employee told police.

It's so generous of the fine Oak Park businesses to supply Chicago yutes with wheels for school, job interviews, felonious assaults and smash-and-grabs.

COPA Actively Hunting?

An interesting e-mail the other day - true or not we have no idea:

• An old partner who works at 35th Street sent this to me. Can’t verify but I’ve worked with the man and consider him an excellent cop and a trustworthy friend. Take it for what it is. Just passing it along.
  
  “FYI, allegedly COPA is employing some street inspectors. They were out there driving around, observed a "tac car" pull someone over, not go over the air, go through them, and then let them go.
  
  COPA followed up, found no ISR was done, and pulled a CR number.”

COPA is looking to hang anyone they can and this is a slam-dunk. The days of stopping cars off-the-air and tossing it without any sort of documentation are long gone. Don't be the test case for COPA.

Anti-Violence "Advocate" Arrested

Hypocrisy, thy name is Sharpton:

• Rev. Al Sharpton’s half-brother was charged with murder in a Sunday shooting death in Alabama after participating in Saturday’s anti-gun “March For Our Lives,” according to a report.
  
  Kenneth Glasgow, 52, was arrested along with another man after Breunia Jennings, 23,was shot in the head in Dothan, Ala. Authorities said Glasgow, an ex-convict, was the driver of the car linked to Jennings death. The passenger of the car Jamie Townes, 26, was also arrested and is reportedly the alleged shooter, the Dothan Eagle reported.

Why is it so many these "civil rights" leaders seem to have relatives with easy access to guns and no compunction about using them in crimes?

London Slashes Past NY

All those anti-gun libs saying everyone has to be disarmed, and London, which has something like no guns anywhere, passes New York City using only knives:

• London's monthly murder rate has overtaken that of New York Cityfor the first time, after the worrying surge of stabbings continued across the capital.
  
  The death of a 20-year-old man in Wandsworth yesterday (Sun) took to 30, the number of people stabbed to death in the London since the start of 2018.
  
  Soaring levels of knife crime has helped the UK capital outstrip New York in terms of murders for the last two months running.

Perhaps if Garry loses the mayoral election, he can re-apply for the London job and import CompStat.

Another Defensive Gun Use?

From a few days ago, but by golly, it sure seems like Chicago is out of control:

• An armed suburban man with a concealed-carry license intervened in a 3-on-1 beating and robbery in River North yesterday evening, according to a witness and police.
  
  The victim was in the 700 block of North Clark around 8:30 p.m. when three offenders wearing white surgical masks attacked him and began taking his property, police said.
  
  A passing motorist who saw the robbery unfold pulled over, unholstered his concealed firearm and intervened in the attack. The three offenders fled westbound on Chicago Avenue as the concealed-carry holder protected the victim, according to a witness.
  
  The driver, who lives in Mt. Prospect, returned to his vehicle and drove away after stabilizing the situation, a witness reported.
  
  The victim lost his phone to the robbers who were described as two black men and one black woman wearing surgical masks. One of the offenders wore a red jacket and the others wore dark clothing.

Sorry about including the description - it's the CWB blog and those guys don't know any better.

Interesting Concept

Seeing as how social media is collecting every bit of information they can on people to sell to various companies and political operations, it's not surprising to see this effort being tested:

• Police in Raleigh, North Carolina, have presented Google with warrants to obtain data from mobile phones from not just specific suspects who were in a crime scene area, but from the mobile phones of all people in the area, reports Raleigh television affiliate WRAL. The request will trouble Fourth Amendment advocates as it could be seen that police are carrying out unreasonable searches on people who just happened to be in the area at the time the crimes were committed. And the area sizes the police requesting the data on are not small. In one instance, police requested user data from Google for anyone within a 17-acre area. For its part, Google has not revealed whether it has complied with the police request.

Cameras are already everywhere. Can blanket data requests like this be far behind?

Nice Arrest

Team effort:

• Chicago police said a search of a Skokie man’s house turned up an estimated 423 pounds of marijuana with a street value of more than $3 million.
  
  In a release, police said David S. Gutierrez, 31, of the 4800 block of North Kirk Street in Skokie, has been charged with manufacturing or delivery of cannabis, a felony, as well as misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
  
  Gutierrez appeared before Judge Michael Clancy on Saturday afternoon for a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, where he was ordered held on $100,000 bond. He must pay $10,000 to be released.
  
  Police said tactical officers executing a search warrant at Gutierrez’s home on March 29 found the drugs, four handguns, a shotgun and an unspecified “large amount” of cash.

Too bad he couldn't have waited until weed is legalized across the Midwest. Might have saved himself a stay in County.

NYPD Contract Protest

Maybe the FOP could pick up a few pointers?

• What a crumby way to start the week! About 100 protesting cops chanted outside Mayor de Blasio’s favorite Brooklyn bakery Monday as Hizzoner chowed on a flaky pastry ahead of his usual morning workout.
  
  The angry mob screamed at de Blasio through the windows of Colson Patisserie in Park Slope as he, Chirlane McCray and a City Hall spokesman dined inside. De Blasio enjoyed his pastry so much he poured the crumbs off his plate and ate them out of the palm of his hand.
  
  The protest in Park Slope came after the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association announced it had opted for arbitration upon reaching an impasse in contract negotiations with the city. When de Blasio ventured across 9th St. to the YMCA gym at around 8:20 a.m., the rowdy cops surrounded him on all sides — hurling insults and blowing whistles.

The FOP is coming up on a year without a Contract - and a suspicious uptick in media hit pieces. The PBPA is closing on two years without a Contract. Maybe some NYPD-type action would bear some amusing Rahm reaction.

Number Games

Shootings are down, and there are a few readers who point out that's the only stat Rahm cares about. The trouble is the folks (or people) affected, aren't likely to vote for Rahm this time around. So who's left?

That would be the people who don't experience homicides on a regular basis - but they might notice a triple-digit increase in things that DO affect them:

• While gun violence continues to decline throughout Chicago in 2018 — homicides have dropped by 17 percent since last year and shooting victims have decreased by nearly 30 percent — some of the city’s more touristy, trendy and affluent areas, particularly downtown, have seen an alarming spike in robberies.
  
  Through nearly the first three months of 2018, 86 robberies were reported in the Loop, the highest first-quarter tally in at least 15 years, according to city crime data through March 21. Through the same period last year, 49 robberies were reported in the Loop compared with 52 in 2016, 33 in 2015 and 20 in 2014.
  
  [...]
  
  What’s more, the Near North Side — which includes downtown areas like the Magnificent Mile, Gold Coast and River North — has also seen a spike in robberies, with 73 through March 21. That’s the most robberies in Near North since it recorded 75 during the same period in 2011, data show. In Lincoln Park, a well-to-do community that includes the Old Town Triangle, 25 robberies were reported through March 21 compared with 13 last year.

Rahm is walking a tightrope and failing miserably. He strips the police protection from "quiet" areas to tamp down the usual trouble spots - 011 and 007 have something like 400-450 cops each. So where do you think the thug population goes to? Maybe somewhere like....019?

• Calls for police service in the 19th (Town Hall) Police District grew into “backlogs” 239 times last year, according to newly-released city data. By comparison, in the 56 months between January 2011 and August 2015, the district had just 167 backlogs. The district is the 10th largest in the city by square mileage and ranks #2 for population, according to the Chicago Office of the Inspector General.
  
  [...]
  
  After failing to fulfill a promise to maintain a manpower level of at least 376 cops in the 19th District, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is now saying that he will return the district to manpower levels seen in 2011. Doing that will require the addition of 98 officers to the district with more officers brought in to replace every current cop who retires, quits, or transfers. It’s a tall order for a mayor who has broken a much easier manpower promise.

Hiring still isn't keeping pace with attrition. The CWB article linked above has a couple of graphs showing exactly how badly Rahm is failing. Go read it all.

Fugitive Illegal Arrives

What makes illegals think they can run and hide in Chicago? Oh yeah - Sanctuary!

• A Senegalese man who escaped Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in New York has been arrested in Chicago by the agency's fugitive operations team.
  
  Mohamadou Lamine Mbacke was in the custody of ICE agents at New York's Kennedy International Airport late Tuesday when he escaped. ICE agents were preparing to place Mbacke on a commercial flight when he escaped custody.
  
  Surveillance cameras show him later getting into a cab. The 31-year-old Mbacke was arrested Friday at a coffee shop near Chicago's Union station.
  
  The agency says Mbacke entered the country lawfully in 2005, but violated the terms of his status. Mbacke was ordered deported in September 2015.

Sources say he applied for a "Chicago CityKey" card upon arrival. Five bucks says he votes in the midterms in November.

Nice City (Again) Rahm

A productive citizen killed by a non-productive one:

• Chicago police are asking for the public's help as they investigate the stabbing death of a software company CEO in the River North neighborhood last week.
  
  Miguel Beedle, founder and CEO of Enterprise Scrum from Park Ridge, stumbled out of an alley in the 400 block of North State Street about 2:30 a.m. Friday, stabbed in the neck, according to police. A trail of blood led from the alley to the street and sidewalk on Hubbard, just north of State.
  
  Police have reviewed video footage and were looking for a homeless person believed to have stabbed Beedle, 55, during a robbery attempt...

The father of six was killed by a homeless person.....that Google-me can't even bother to provide a description of, so if you see a homeless person, we guess it's safe to assume that they killed this guy.

Numbers Against Rahm?

Hopefully true - but there's no way to actually tell:

• The Democratic pollster to whom Rahm Emanuel once famously sent a dead fish on Thursday delivered the political version of a dead fish to the mayor’s doorstep: a poll that, Alan Secrest claims, shows Emanuel is unelectable.
  
  The poll of 800 registered and likely Chicago voters—with a 3.5 percent margin of error — was conducted Jan. 23-through-Feb. 1 for former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy. The limited results Secrest shared suggest why McCarthy jumped into the race against the mayor who fired him.
  
  In a “one-on-one trial heat pairing,” Emanuel and McCarthy are in a “statistical tie,” Secrest said, refusing to reveal the specific numbers.
  
  Emanuel and McCarthy were the only candidates to reach double-digits in a seven-way race that includes: former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas; County Commissioner Bridget Gainer; fired Chicago principal Troy LaRaviere, tech entrepreneur Neal Sales-Griffin and businessman Willie Wilson, the poll showed, according to Secrest.

Anyone know who Chewy Garcia is pushing into the race? Rumors of a female Hispanic being pushed by the "progressive" wing of the party. Rahm needs a few more major "identity politics" fractures in the party to finish in the top two.

Great Use of Money

Didn't some "insignificant" blog site predict this something like six or eight years ago?

• After serving 24 years in prison for the murder of a gang rival, Francisco “Smokey” Sanchez claimed to have found a new purpose in life as a violence interrupter with CeaseFire.
  
  But federal prosecutors say his job with the controversial anti-violence group was just a facade. Instead of trying to stop the unrelenting bloodshed on the city’s streets, Sanchez had actually resumed his old role as a leader of the notorious Gangster Two-Six Nation, prosecutors alleged in a court filing this week.
  
  In fact, a sprawling federal investigation into the gang’s activities captured Sanchez on undercover wiretaps encouraging the very kind of violence he was supposedly working to prevent, according to the 35-page filing.

And this isn't the first time:

• Sanchez is hardly the first CeaseFire employee to be accused of a crime. Since its inception in 2000, the group has been controversial, especially in the eyes of Chicago police officers who don’t trust the CeaseFire workers because many have criminal backgrounds. More than a dozen have faced charges ranging from drug sales to domestic violence.

Guess who's defending this piece of shit?

• Sanchez’s attorney, Scott Lassar, said prosecutors completely misinterpreted what’s on the wiretaps. He said the conversations reflect Sanchez’s necessary efforts to maintain a rapport with the gang in order to save lives.
  
  “Mr. Sanchez is trying to relate to the gang members so that they will come to him to mediate deadly disputes,” Lassar, the former U.S. Attorney in Chicago, wrote in a 17-page filing that asks the judge to sentence Sanchez to time served. “He intentionally talks like a gang member to gain their trust.”

How much taxpayer money was steered to these "interrupters" while they ran gangs? By whom? And why aren't all of them in jail alongside their creations?

Defensive Gun Use

Look Lib-tards - a gun stopped a crime:

• A man exchanged gunfire with an armed robber Wednesday evening inside a West Garfield Park neighborhood church, leaving both men wounded.
  
  A 57-year-old man was sitting in a the church at 8:09 p.m. in the 4400 block of West Maypole when a 27-year-old man walked in and announced a robbery, according to Chicago Police.
  
  Maypole Avenue Church of Christ is located at 4400 W. Maypole.
  
  The two men then started shooting at each other, police said. The older man was struck in the left arm and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition. The robber was shot multiple times in the chest and was in critical condition at Stroger Hospital.
  
  The 57-year-old legally owned his gun, police said.

We're betting the 27-year-old has an extensive record, a high SSL score and didn't own his gun legally. But hey, let's ban guns from the law abiding.

Hypocrites

The Slum Times has it on full display on the Editorial page:

• Why do so many Chicagoans distrust the Chicago police?
  
  At least one reason stands out with yesterday’s news related to the 2015 shooting deaths of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones:
  
  The city sought to keep secret Supt. Eddie Johnson’s letter detailing his rationale against firing Officer Robert Rialmo, who fatally shot LeGrier and Jones while responding to a 911 call.
  
  [...]
  
  Surely the public deserved better than a leaked letter to learn of Johnson’s decision and rationale in a high-profile, controversial case like this. And with two civilians dead, openness would have better served the department, too. Secrecy breeds more suspicion, and the department’s reputation for honesty and professionalism already is in tatters, especially in the African-American community. Better to face the music if police ever hope to repair that breach.

And who was keeping that letter secret again? The beat cop? The tact officer? maybe an overworked detective? Oh wait, it was "The city...." It says so right in the editorial. And the Slum Times says they obtained it via a leak.

So what is the Slum Times doing about the "secrecy" of COPA? Paying for outside consultants and refusing to release the findings, even though they spent over $130,000 in taxpayer funds? And that's only one of the two reports.

Is COPA's credibility "in tatters, especially in the African-American community" or is that only reserved for the cops - who have exactly zero input into whether or not Rahm's legal department releases (or leaks) a letter ghost written for Special Ed by Corporation Counsel?

And how about that "Memorandum of Agreement" we covered yesterday? The entire document outlines over a dozen instances of keeping things "confidential" and eliminating the City's ability to appeal anything. That type of "secrecy" is okay because .... why again?

Mayoral Field Filling Up

Willie Wilson jumped in the other day:

• Willie Wilson made his announcement Tuesday at Chicago State University. This is his second run for City Hall.
  
  "Chicago is bleeding jobs, citizens and hope. The present administration doesn't know how to stop this but I do and will as the next mayor of our great city of Chicago," Wilson said in a press release.

And the guy who probably worries Rahm most is up next:

• After talking for months about taking on Mayor Rahm Emanuel in next year’s election, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas soon will make it clear he’s running, his election attorney said Wednesday.
  
  Attorney Burt Odelson said he plans to file state paperwork Monday to set up a “Paul Vallas for Chicago” campaign committee. Vallas is “150 percent” committed to running, Odelson said.
  
  “It’s full speed ahead,” he said.

So three white guys and a black guy. Rahm needs another black guy to siphon away options and a Hispanic to give him a better feel for how his "outreach" is fairing in the neighborhoods.

CPS Inspections

CPS schools are filthy cesspools!

• The discovery of rats and rodent droppings throughout the building at Mollison Elementary School in Bronzeville and two failed health inspections there last fall prompted Chicago Public Schools officials to declare they were ordering an all-hands-on-deck series of inspections citywide.
  
  That “blitz” was supposed to inspect 220 schools to start, CPS said. But despite initially finding that problems such as rodent droppings, pest infestations, filthy food-preparation equipment, and bathrooms that were dirty, smelly and lacked hot water, CPS quietly halted the inspections before completing them all, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show — shortly after the newspaper requested information on the early results.
  
  CPS provided blitz reports from 125 facilities that show only 34 of those schools passed inspection by inspectors from the district’s facilities department and Aramark, the private company that manages the custodians and oversees food service. And not all of the schools that were re-inspected passed the second time around, according to hundreds of documents and photos taken at nine schools that were provided under the state’s public records act.

CPS cancelled the inspections halfway through because it was obvious that Aramark and whatever is left of the janitor's union weren't really doing their jobs with a 27% pass rate.

So, when can we expect a facilities inspection of police department buildings? Long time readers will recall a numerous photos we've posted over the years of leaky bathrooms, collapsing structures, broken plumbing, etc. There's enough there to keep Bonnie Amato and her crew of ghost payrollers busy for the next two elections.

UPDATE: By the way, Rahm is "outraged," probably because this might cost him votes.

Special Ed Countdown

It just got that much harder for Rahm to keep Mr. Wheezie around:

• African-American aldermen who are among Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson’s staunchest supporters were stunned and outraged by the superintendent’s decision to back a Chicago police officer who fatally shot two people in 2015.
  
  Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, branded it a “bad shooting” and said he can see no way to justify Johnson’s decision to argue Officer Robert Rialmo was within department guidelines when he fired the shots that killed Quintonio LeGrier and innocent bystander Bettie Jones in December 2015.

The usual crew of hacks and weasels express all sorts of politically appropriate noises to their voting base and that will translate into non-votes for Rahm. So this is likely the death knell for Special Ed and the announcement for a "nationwide search" for a new police superintendent. They'll drag it out for months of course, but in the end, Rahm will do what benefits Rahm's vote totals.

We'll put the over/under for Special Ed's career at 01 September. Sooner if the summer killing season opens quickly.

Transparency?

Here's an interesting passage from the "Memorandum of Agreement" between Lisa Madigan's Office, the City, the ACLU and assorted bad actors including #blm regarding the CPD:

• The OAG and the City agree to meet with counsel for the Coalition Founders to discuss the Coalition Founders’ proposed consent decree provisions, if any, as the consent decree is being drafted.
  
  To the extent the OAG or the City disagree with terms proposed by the Coalition Founders, the City or the OAG will, where feasible and appropriate, discuss with the Coalition Founders alternative terms for consideration.
  
  In the event the City or the OAG has a conceptual disagreement with a proposal from the Coalition Founders, the City or the OAG will explain the basis of the disagreement.
  
  The Parties agree that these discussions and any documents or information exchanged by the Parties will be kept confidential unless otherwise agreed to by the Parties, and be governed by Federal Rule of Evidence 408. The terms of this paragraph shall survive the termination of this Agreement

What happened to Rahm's protestations of "transparency?" Have they all disappeared?

There are also about 10 different paragraphs where the city surrenders any right to object to procedures, time constraints, and counter litigation, effectively hamstringing themselves, and by extension, the taxpayers.

Go read it all. It's eyeopening.

Plea Deal Rejected

The Facebook torture crew:

• Jordan Hill, one of four people charged in the 2017 Facebook Live torture case, rejected a plea deal from Cook County prosecutors Tuesday that would have sent him to prison for eight years.
  
  Under the deal, Hill, 19, was to plead guilty to aggravated kidnapping and a hate crime.
  
  At the conclusion of Tuesday’s brief hearing Judge William Hooks asked Hill, “To be clear, the offer’s rejected?”
  
  “Yes, sir,” Hill replied before being lead out of the courtroom.

Is Judge Hooks setting the stage for a bad verdict?

• Hooks had previously noted that it may be difficult to empanel and impartial jury, given the case’s international exposure.
  
  Hooks said he will want an extra-large jury pool of 200 to 300 people in hopes of finding people who haven’t made up their minds about a case about which millions of people have stated an opinion.

One of the females pled out and got time served (11 months) and probation - for a major league felony. It will certainly be interesting to see what Kim and Hooks come up with as adequate in terms of punishment.

Stolen Ambulance

Whoops:

• A man crashed a Chicago Fire Department ambulance that he stole early Tuesday after being kicked out of a South Side Englewood neighborhood hospital.
  
  The 34-year-old was waiting to be treated for an injury just before 4 a.m. at St. Bernard Hospital at 326 W. 64th St. when he became impatient and disruptive, leading security to throw him out of the hospital, according to Chicago Police.
  
  After being kicked out, he stole an ambulance and crashed it into a light pole a block away from the hospital before officers pulled him over, police said. He was still in the driver’s seat when officers arrested him.

How big of an asshole do you have to be to get thrown out of a hospital? Without being treated.

And the ironic part?

• He was taken back to St. Bernard Hospital for treatment, police said. Charges are pending.

Except this time, he was chained to a gurney and couldn't leave.

Dogs Dogs Dogs

So another Slam job by the Slum Times:

• Across the city, 700 dogs have been shot or shot at since 2008 by police officers who later said they feared for the safety of themselves or others. And even in cases in which the courts have found the dogs were wrongly killed and the city was ordered to pay damages to their owners, not one of those shootings has resulted in a recommendation of discipline against an officer, city records reviewed by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
  
  Animal-rights activists say too many dogs are shot by the police. They say that, with proper training, officers can learn how to approach a seemingly aggressive dog safely and not have to resort to deadly force.
  
  Juries have been sending a similar message to City Hall, with hefty judgments like the award given Lady’s owners in the lawsuit they filed against the city.

So instead of increasing the number of Animal Care and Control trucks on the street, ticketing irresponsible pet owners and confiscating unlicensed dogs, the City sends coppers out untrained and then acts surprised when the only tool at Officers disposal to stop a dog is....a gun.

Do you know there is seldom more than a single ACC van on the streets at any given time? And 90% of the time, it's on the west or south side? Try asking for an ETA on ACC personnel when you have a stray cornered that's been chasing kids in the neighborhood.

And now they want us to do this?

• How many times have you seen a dog yelping to get out of a parked car with the doors locked and the windows closed on a hot or sub-zero day and felt helpless to do anything about it?
  
  Dog-loving Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) has seen too much of it – and he has finally done something about it.
  
  On Monday, Villegas convinced the City Council’s Finance Committee to approve a watered-down ordinance that would empower animal control officers or police officers to “enter a motor vehicle by any reasonable means under the circumstances” when a dog is locked inside.

And when the dog leaps out of the car, we certainly hope no one shoots it.

Clean Up Our Constituents Mess!

This is representative of a sizable portion of the neighborhood that the Dan Ryan runs though:

• A pair of South Side aldermen demanded Monday that the Illinois Department of Transportation clean up the embarassing mess left behind on the shoulder of the Dan Ryan Expy. by motorists who cavalierly toss their trash out the window.
  
  Ald. Mike Zalewski (23rd) and Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said the southbound Ryan in particular is a pigpen that provides an ugly impression of Chicago, even though the city is powerless to stop it. That’s because the expressway is IDOT’s jurisdiction and the state’s responsibility to keep clean.
  
  “Southbound all the way from the Loop to 95th Street, there is just an excess amount of debris on the road,” Zalewski said.
  
  “It’s not the Department of Streets and Sanitation’s or the city’s responsibility. It’s more the (Illinois) Department of Transportation’s responsibility. But the perception is you’re in the city and there’s garbage out there. People don’t know the difference.”

They should have seen it ten and twenty years ago. You would have to run a couple of snowplows down the Ryan to clean up around Taylor and Stateway stretches were rocking.

And when the aldercreatures attempted to address it years ago?

• Five years ago, South Side Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) proposed stiff fines and vehicle impoundment for Chicago motorists who open their car and SUV windows, dump their trash and turn Chicago streets into a dumping ground.
  
  Brookins was promptly accused of giving police “another tool to demonize, imprison and punish black men.”
  
  Mayor Rahm Emanuel subsequently got behind the crackdown, but only after Brookins watered it down considerably.

You don't say?

Many More Billions There

Somehow, promised health care for retirees and widows is cut off. But for a shitload of connected contracts?

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $8.5 billion O’Hare Airport expansion plan — and the $4 billion borrowing needed to get it started — are now cleared for take-off at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
  
  There’s nothing a Chicago mayor loves more heading into a difficult re-election campaign than to have a massive public works project under way that provides thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in contracts to dole out to allies and campaign contributors.
  
  Emanuel will have that marquee project, thanks to Monday’s vote by the City Council’s Finance Committee.
  
  Aldermen authorized $4 billion in so-called “general airport revenue bonds and passenger facility charge bonds” retired by the increased landing fees and terminal rents baked into new airline lease agreements. South Side Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th) cast the only “no” vote because she’s holding out for a list of minority law firms tied to the deal.

At least Hairston isn't shy about why she's selling her vote - gotta keep those connected campaign contributions flowing. We can't believe there isn't at least one federal law violation taking place with all this "free money" floating around.

Another Billion Here

CPS school pensions drive deeper into insolvency:

• Less aggressive investment return estimates have carved an additional $1 billion hole in the severely underfunded pension system for Chicago teachers, reviving questions about how a retirement plan for tens of thousands of public workers can survive without additional money from taxpayers.
  
  Consultants for the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund now conclude the system is about $11 billion in the red and faces an even steeper climb to comply with a state law that requires it to be 90 percent funded by 2059, financial documents show.
  
  Schools and households won’t feel the worst pain of the impending pension payment spike for several years. Experts say that’s because the state-mandated payment plan pushes an enormous and growing burden onto future taxpayers.

So you still have a few years to escape before the bill comes due. And that last line about "future taxpayers"? There aren't going to be any left soon.

Officer Cleared

Appearing on the FOP blog as the weekend began:

• An attorney representing an officer accused of an unjustified fatal shooting in 2015 says Superintendent Eddie Johnson has ruled the shooting justified.
  
  Joel Brodsky, attorney for Robert Rialmo, who shot a bat-wielding youth after responding to a domestic disturbance call, said Johnson “totally rejected COPA’s findings and has stated that Officer Rialmo was justified in shooting Quintonio LeGrier in self-defense.”

Seeing as how COPA paid for one, possibly two outside consultants with taxpayer money, then refused to release the findings to the public or the Superintendent, an intelligent person can only conclude that their "finding" was a railroad job from start to finish.

The FOP ought to be looking into legal options to reduce or eliminate cooperation with COPA as it has proven itself to be a thoroughly corrupt organization.

Command Changes

From last week:

• Brendan Deenihan - Deputy Chief Bureau of Detectives
  Ed Wodnicki, Commander of Area Central,
  Dan O’Shea Commander of 018th Dist
  Keith Milmine, Executive Officer of 006th Dist.

We saw barely a mention of these moves.

Cancel the Library!

Obviously, this is a site of archeological significance and ought to be preserved:

• Archaeologists turned up remnants of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, the fabled White City that drew millions of visitors to Chicago’s Jackson Park, as they scoured the site of the Obama Presidential Center and nearby parkland as part of the federal review of plans for the proposed complex.
  
  Among the artifacts are pieces of fair buildings — including red fragments that could be from one of the fair’s most notable structures, the multicolored Transportation Building by architect Louis Sullivan — and shards of cups and saucers that bear the mark of Chase and Sanborn, the fair’s official coffee supplier.
  
  The archaeologists also discovered animal bones, most of which they identified as waste associated with food eaten at the fair. But they dangled the possibility that some of the bones might belong to camels and reindeer that were part of the exotic attractions that lined the fair’s Midway. The creatures are said to have died during the event.

And it's a crime scene. Best bet is to cancel the Sparklefarts Library and leave the open parkland alone.

Crime is Down!

Except where it's up.....300%:

• The Old Town neighborhood saw another mugging this week—at least the 24th robbery of the year for that neighborhood, where hold-ups have increased nearly 300% compared to last year.
  
  Around 9:45 p.m. on Thursday, a woman was attacked and robbed of her purse in the 100 block of West Eugenie, about a block west of the Clark-LaSalle intersection.
  
  [...] According to city data, the Old Town neighborhood recorded 23 robberies through March 6 this year. During the same time last year, the area had reported only six cases.

And guess who the aldercreature blames?

• Alderman Michele Smith (43), whose ward includes most of Old Town, said earlier this year that the neighborhood’s increase in violent crime was due in part to the fact that juvenile offenders rarely experience meaningful consequences for their actions.

Wait....what? "rarely experience meaningful consequences for their actions." Is this some sort of Stepford aldercreature?

• On January 25, Smith wrote an email to constituents about the subject: “I have spoken with many of you when crimes occur near your homes or places of work. These conversations prompted me to research and question recent changes to the laws concerning juvenile offenders, sanitizing juvenile criminal records and new protocols for setting bail that seem to favor defendants' rights over public safety."
  
  Smith revisited the topic on February 5: “more proof that crime must have consequences. A teen quickly becomes a repeat offender within days.” She linked to a Sun-Times report headlined “Teenage boy charged with attempted carjacking of retired cop arrested again.”

That's the sort of talk that doesn't earn you any happy calls from City Hall. In fact, it's downright hostile to the image and fantasy that Rahm and the Machine are attempting to sell. Especially in light of the mass-expungement rumored to be going on in the juvenile system. Records deleted, pictures erased, detectives unable to find rap sheets or run actual photo arrays due to no existing records.

It's a real mystery all right.

Un-touchable

So this happened the other day:

• Lamon Reccord was TVB'd in 005 yesterday 23MAR18. He was I-bonded and came back to grab his car which was awaiting impound and had a orange sticker on it. A couple PO's saw this and approached. Tried to arrest him and he began to struggle with officers. They lock him up and big Ed called the WOL and said to let him go now! He was RWOC. CB#019619680. I didn't read the arrest report because I wasn't sure if they look at who reads it.
  
  
• At roll call today 24MAR18, the arresting officers asked what happened with it and the WOL and SGT said to drop it and forget about it.

So if you have Special Ed on speed-dial, you can drive illegally AND avoid an impound AND resist/obstruct police officers when you attempt to liberate your impounded ride. Good to know.

Good to know the Sgt and Lt in 005 have no balls to stick up for their watch - where is Ed going to send you? You're in 005 for god's sake.

Time to resign Ed - you're becoming a political liability to Rahm.

Near Darwin Award

Bad choice:

• An 18-year-old man was critically injured Friday night after he stuck his head out of a moving CTA Red Line train and hit a pole on the South Side.
  
  The man was on a southbound train at 9:37 p.m. when he hit his head on a pole near the Sox-35th stop at 142 W. 35th St., according to Chicago Police.
  
  Paramedics took him to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was being treated for a fractured skull, police said. He was in critical condition.

Any bets on whether someone sues the CTA for having unattended conductor windows?

Nine Lieutenants?

That's it? Nine?

And in light of the two recently filed sex "discrimination" allegations, not a single female among them. Seems light on Hispanics, too. Rahm must be tone deaf.

Of course, that one guy has (allegedly) touched numerous unwilling females, so maybe they were counting "two-degrees-of-separation" as actual promotees? We don't think it works that way.

Only the best.

(UPDATE - thanks to the reader who caught this): And only two from Districts? But we thought Patrol was the "backbone" of the Department and future "merit" promotions would reflect that. Special Ed is so full of shit on every single level of his existence.

This Can't Be Code

The city that works:

Note the extension cord running from the building to the sign.

Rocks?

We've heard some weird ones before, but this might take the cake:

• There’s a rocky controversy when it comes to school safety in Schuylkill County.
  
  The superintendent of the Blue Mountain School District is in the spotlight after telling lawmakers in Harrisburg his students protect themselves against potential school shooters with rocks.
  
  “Every classroom has been equipped with a five-gallon bucket of river stone. If an armed intruder attempts to gain entrance into any of our classrooms, they will face a classroom full students armed with rocks and they will be stoned,” said Dr. David Helsel.

How very.....biblical. Perhaps the principal ought to include a sling? He does realize that to get any sort of heft behind a stone, you have to pretty much expose your entire upper body to get arm clearance - just the sort of silhouette that appears on a target.

And what if these turn out to be high capacity assault rocks? And they fall into the wrong hands? They're storing these things in a closet - is there a lock? Is the closet fire rated? So many questions.

Reading the whole article reveals that the school has supplied door locks and locking devices that immobilize the doors in the event of an intrusion, which is more than we've heard of at any CPS school. But relying on the aim of panicked grade school kids?

And They're Off!

And both morons immediately start to campaign against....Trump?

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel and fired Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy got the 2019 mayoral campaign off to a roaring start Thursday — with each man attempting to tie the other to President Donald Trump.
  
  “Washington is in a world of hurt. We’re in a place where our government is completely ineffective. And I think [Trump] is an incredibly polarizing figure — just like Rahm Emanuel,” McCarthy told the Chicago Sun-Times.

McCompStat lands the first haymaker though:

• He even has a one-liner ready if Emanuel tries to portray him as a carpet-bagger.
  
  “Somebody show me that 78th neighborhood in Chicago called Wilmette. I haven’t seen it,” McCarthy said of the north suburb where the mayor spent most of his childhood.

So two outsiders fighting over the rotting corpse of a once great midwestern city. Should be a great time. And there are plenty of character flaws, missteps and behaviors bordering on misconduct in both camps. Quite frankly, we're hoping for a "scorched-earth" campaign.

Ramble On

Anyone else getting the feeling that Rahm gave a free stadium to the wrong Catholic University?

Shrinkage

For the third straight year, Chicago and Cook County are losing population - and the trend is accelerating:

What could possibly be the reason? High taxes? Crushing debt? Corrupt politicians? Out-of-control crime? No accountability for any of it?

You know what city grew by almost 7,000 residents? Detroit. We are't sure if that 7,000 included fugitive Eddie Hicks though...it might only be 6,999.

Nice Criminal Justice System Toni

These are the two misguided yutes from the dozen-robbery-spree the other night:

• The 15yo in custody has 25 arrests and the 16yo has 32 arrests. 50% or so are felonies. No worries though. All those arrests will be expunged in a couple of years. Don't you just love it when the system works?

And what exactly is the deterrent here?

There is none. No punishment means the only thing learned is the State permits them to get away with any misbehavior their deviant mind can come up with. And this gives them all sorts of practical experience, too.

AlderAsshole At It Again

This is an adult? An adult male - allegedly?

• A Chicago Police Officer filed a police report against Alderman John Arena today, claiming the Alderman committed cyberstalking in social media messages sent to the officer.
  CPD officer [...] is part of a group of City employees who claim that Alderman Arena and his staff have attempted to silence them because they oppose a building project in Arena’s 45st Ward. Arena reportedly filed complaints against officers with the police civilian oversight agency, COPA, as well as complaints against firemen who opposed a building project at 5150 N. Northwest Highway.
  Arena staff members alleged in their complaints that the officers’ opposition to the project were “racially motivated.”

There's more at the link, actual screen shots that seem like they might be legally actionable by a competent Civil Rights attorney, if police officers weren't assumed to be second class citizens without Rights in the Workers Paradise of the 45th Ward.

This guy obviously stopped developing around the age of twelve.

Once Again, Crap on the Police

SEE-B-S news provides cover for Pritzker already. Here's what appeared on their site early this morning:

• “Let’s fight to protect our labor unions, because they fight to protect all workers. Whether it’s firefighters, or teachers, or nurses, or carpenters, or any number of the everyday Americans who work hard to make our lives easier; we owe them a good wage,” he said.

Anyone notice a certain someones missing from that list of professions? We're feeling a little left out.

But don't worry! SEE-B-S News fixed it - by removing the entire quote from the story. You can find it in a web search, but the entire paragraph is gone from the actual story, down the rabbit hole. That way no one feels slighted....unless they read the original story and managed to copy/paste it.

Soccer Club Event

Honoring Paul Bauer:

• The Chicago Police Soccer Club is hosting a tournament in Chicago May 3-4 and all CPD players will be wearing uniforms with the number 29 in honor of Commander Paul Bauer. We will also be selling these shirts at  https://cpdsoccer.itemorder.com/sale  The shirts are $20 and all profits made will be donated to the Bauer family. The online store will stay open until March 26 at which time all orders will be printed and shipped. We’re trying to get the word out to raise as much money as we can for the family. Thank you!

Jerseys at the embedded link above. Mark the date.

(informational post - comments closed here)

Unarmed "Ambassadors"

Trying to do it on the cheap:

• Businesses in the Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods are forgoing the idea of hiring private security officers and instead will rely on their own employees to act as unarmed “ambassadors” patrolling neighborhood streets.
  
  The program, to be administered by the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, comes despite a gradual decline in neighborhood crime. It also follows a decision by the Chicago Loop Alliance to hire armed security guards for part of downtown Chicago.

We suppose more eyes on the street might help in some ways, but we see a lot more potential victims, too. The criminals stalking the easy picking up north aren't deterred by extra witnesses. They aren't deterred by cameras either. Without an effective Criminal Justice system to put them away for violent offenses, they aren't deterred by anything.

Charges

We're going to have to start questioning the entire hiring process:

• A Chicago Police officer was ordered held on $200,000 bail Tuesday after he was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and official misconduct.
  
  The alleged victim was a man suspected in a misdemeanor whom Carlyle Calhoun and another officer were assigned to guard at St. Bernard Hospital on Feb. 3.
  
  Prosecutors said that, as the victim was shackled to a bed, the officer sucked the man’s toes, grabbed his penis and took a photo of the victim as he tried to use a portable urinal. Once the two were in a bathroom, Calhoun forcibly performed a sex act on the man, prosecutors said.

If you want an actual play-by-play, go read the link up top. It's stomach turning, and even the Keesing Bandit would have trouble believing the entire episode, even after half-a-dozen of his famous white wine spritzers.

This goof made it though psychological screening? And background checks? And field training? But then we remember who dear old dad (uncle?) was and how he skated on some pretty heavy accusations for years. The media could have a field day with those IAD files.

It's Still Over

Great fucking idea - give terrorists a seat at the table:

• A coalition of community groups, including Black Lives Matter, now has a legal voice in negotiations over proposed federal court oversight of the Chicago Police Department, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois announced Tuesday.
  
  The city and Illinois attorney general’s office have been negotiating a consent decree that would give a federal judge power to enforce police reforms recommended in a scathing report by the Obama administration’s Justice Department.

If this doesn't tell you exactly whose side everyone is on - including politicians, you're delusional.

Another Bat?

Baseball bats are really getting a bad reputation in this country nowadays:

• A Florida teenager allegedly beat a 15-year-old boy to death with a baseball bat Monday afternoon, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
  
  During a news conference, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Dillen Murray, 16, was angry and jealous that the victim had relations with a girl he liked. Deputies said they were called at about 2:45 p.m. to a wooded area near Lake Wales.
  
  Investigators said Murray asked Giovanni Diaz to play with him in the woods, where he beat the boy.

Maybe he ran him over with a car, too....you never know.

Another Lawsuit

It's almost like in order to advance, you have to be connected or something:

• After acing an aptitude test three years ago, veteran Chicago police Officer Maureen Bresnahan thought she was well-positioned for a promotion to the department’s elite Bomb Squad, even though the 11-member unit hadn’t included a woman for years.
  
  But her superiors had other ideas, a federal lawsuit alleged. After a round of interviews, they rejected Bresnahan’s application, writing in an evaluation form that she was “best suited for clerical” work, according to the suit, filed Monday.
  
  Meanwhile, two male officers who had the same score on the written test were put on the promotions list, even though one had been accused of beating his fiance and another received only tepid reviews in the in-person interviews, the suit said.

And if this part is true....:

• In his interview, one of the male officers who’d scored the same as Bresnahan on the written exam — identified only as Candidate 53 — was asked to describe a time when he “had to make a quick decision based on information available at the moment” — a key criterion of the bomb technician position, the suit alleged.
  
  The officer, who had spent the previous five years in a desk job with the police News Affairs office, cited his arrest for domestic violence against his then-fiance, saying that “in hindsight, (he) would have reacted in a different direction and had ‘learned from the incident,’ ” the lawsuit said, quoting from the interviewer's notes.

You're in a do-nothing clout position at News Affairs, and you're asked about a time you had to make a "quick decision" and you bring up a domestic violence arrest? Are you fucking insane? And then the bosses recommend this Einstein for promotion?? Are they fucking insane? You might as well write the check right now.

de Blasio Logic

So this time, a school officer actually confronted a shooter and killed him:

• A teenager armed with a handgun shot and critically wounded a girl inside a Maryland school on Tuesday and the shooter was killed when a school resource officer confronted him moments after the gunfire erupted. A third student was in good condition after he was shot.

Big difference from the Parkland, Florida shooting where the sheriff hid outside. But get a load of what the mayor of New York did last week:

• Police officers were pulled from New York City public schools after the massacre in Florida, prompting outrage from some parents and teachers.
  
  The NYPD officer assignments were eliminated by Mayor Bill de Blasio because he said the new community policing units will go into schools instead, while patrolling neighborhoods.

These "community policing units" are, of course, unarmed. Because taking every single gun out of a school makes it safer and a pile of dead kids is easier to campaign on.

Nice Crime Spree Rahm

You'd almost think that there weren't any police on the north side after dark:

• Police recovered a car Monday afternoon in the Rogers Park neighborhood that was wanted in connection with 15 armed robberies overnight across the North and Northwest sides, according to Chicago police.
  
  Officers from the Rogers Park district recovered the car Monday afternoon in the 7600 block of North Rogers Avenue. Two juvenile suspects are in custody, according to Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department.
  
  In a community alert issued Monday afternoon, police tied the string of robberies in the Albany Park, Magnolia Glen, Rogers Park and other neighborhoods to one in the Old Irving Park neighborhood the day before.

Thankfully, detailed descriptions were available for immediate release:

• The robbers were last seen driving a 2005 dark-colored Nissan Sentra with a spoiler on the back. Its license plate was Q817490, police said. The Sentra was reported stolen this past Friday in the 6100 block of North Broadway in the Edgewater Glen neighborhood, Chicago police said.
  
  The robbers were described as males in their late teens or early 20s; police did not release detailed descriptions of any of them.

Seriously, there was a better description of the car rather than the robbers.

And technology pitched in!

• Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said officers on patrol were using devices that automatically read license plates to try to find the robbers. The robbers appear to be targeting random victims, and it was unclear to police why the incidents took place in Albany Park, Johnson said.

Um, because there aren't any police around up there? And the plate reader technology is great if your driving around and have no idea what might be stolen. How about you look out the window and look for a dark-colored Nissan for starters? If you happen to run across a few vanilla steals in the meantime, recover them as you go. Your eyes should be looking for a Nissan with guys with guns. Don't rely on the computer.

And Special Ed wants to be an FTO?

Federal Judiciary Infected

One of the more heinous executions in history brings a lot of heat - Federal heat. And that means Federal charges:

• Federal authorities have accused a Chicago man of helping bring to the city the weapon used in the execution-style killing of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee.
  
  Anthony Morgan, 31, faces four gun charges in a federal indictment filed last week.
  
  He appeared Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole, where a prosecutor revealed the connection to the child’s killing.
  
  Authorities said Morgan paid for seven illegally obtained firearms that were shipped through the mail by an unnamed associate in New Mexico. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Durkin said one of those, a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol, was used to kill Tyshawn — an act he called “one of the most heinous crimes we’ve seen in this city in years.”

No argument there. But then why this?

• The prosecutor tried to convince Cole to keep Anthony Morgan locked up Monday, but [Judge] Cole put him on home detention. He also agreed to let Anthony Morgan go back to his job at the U.S. Postal Service, where his mother also works. The judge assigned Morgan’s mother to act as a third-party custodian.

This jagoff is a gun-runner who brought at least two murder weapons into the city, probably more. And he's on "home detention." Does this home have concrete walls? Bulletproof glass? Underground parking? Because we wouldn't give a nickel for his life expectancy right about now, and the gangs have long memories.

Streets and San Workers Killed

Two separate incidents:

• Two workers for the city of Chicago were shot dead and a third was wounded during a violent weekend that pushed the number of homicide victims in the city this year to 100, according to police.
  
  “These are the types of incidents that keep all of us up at night,” Chicago Police superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a news conference Monday. “And I promise you, we’ll do everything that we can to bring these individuals responsible to justice.”
  
  Darnell Simmons, a laborer for the Streets and Sanitation Department, was shot around 6:30 p.m. Sunday in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side, police said. He was coming out of a store in the 300 block of North Central Avenue when he was hit in the chest by gunfire not intended for him, Johnson said.
  
  The night before, another Streets and Sanitation laborer was killed in an apparently road rage incident in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

And the media is back on "violence watch" for 2018:

• Chicago recorded its 100th homicide this year a month later than in 2016 and 2017, but a month earlier than other recent years, according to data kept by the Tribune.
  
  At least 454 people have been shot in Chicago this year, again lower than 2016 and 2017 but higher than 2015, 2014 and 2013, according to Tribune data.

All downtown cares about this year is the number 500.

499 dead = success. 501 dead = failure.

Blame Suburbanites

Whatever floats your boat Brendan:

• While most of his City Council colleagues play it safe (and dull) on social media, the 42nd Ward alderman lets it all hang out, often going after the president himself.
  
  But Reilly took a break from his criticism of Trump on Sunday to pick on a new target: “suburban kids” who can’t handle their booze.
  
  “My thanks to Streets & Sanitation for cleaning-up the disgusting mess St. Patrick's Day brought to downtown Chicago,” he tweeted Sunday morning. “No thanks to the thousands of drunk suburban kids who used our neighborhoods like a giant toilet bowl. Never ending cab horns from 1A-5A were a nice touch as well.”

Simple answer Brendan - cancel it all like the Southside did when it got too stupid to control.

One pressing question though:

• On Monday, Reilly was busy campaigning for Chris Kennedy, among the Democrats hoping to win his party’s nod in the Democratic primary, and did not respond to requests for comment, meaning we do not know how he identified the downtown drunkards, or their excretions, as suburban.
  
  We suspect the explanation would be amusing, if not entirely reliable.

As reliable as any other number coming out of City Hall we suspect.

No One Paid the Bill?

Another great job by Lewin and his IT people (click for larger version):

This is what many people got Sunday across various platforms when they attempted to access the Department web page. Someone else bought or picked up the domain name Chicagopolice.org. Well done.

UPDATE: And speaking of bills, some Department car wash locations are refusing service because once again, the City hasn't paid the bill.

This "Affordable Bail" Thing

It isn't really working as the CrimeInWrigleyvilleAndBoystown blog is reporting:

• Just under a month ago, 20-year-old David Phipps starred in our weekly “Monday Gunday” feature. Now, he’s back in jail. When last we heard from Phipps, he had been released on a recognizance bond after cops arrested him in Uptown. He had stolen credit cards in his possession and a 9-millimeter handgun and ammunition in his car, police said. Prosecutors charged him with possession of ammunition without a Firearms Owner ID card, felony identity theft of two or more persons, two felony counts of unlawful possession of a credit card, and burglary.
  
  Judge Sophia Atcherson, carrying the torch of "affordable bail" in Cook County, released him on a recognizance bond.
  
  So, what’s the Hazel Crest resident been up to since his CWBChicago debut? Well, it looks like he got his hair done. Everything else is pretty much the same. Police arrested him on Sunday after a Lincoln Park resident reported seeing Phipps breaking into a car in the 1400 block of West Shakespeare.

And this guy:

• It’s probably just a coincidence, but three days after a man charged with possessing a stack of skimmed debit cards skipped bail, police today recovered a skimming device from an ATM in Lincoln Square.
  
  According to police records, today’s was the first skimming device recovered by police on the North Side since suspected skimming guru Marius Manolache was arrested February 11.
  
  The skimmer was found around 1 o’clock this afternoon on an ATM at Walgreens, 4801 North Lincoln, police said. An evidence technician was seen retrieving the device a couple of hours later.

This particular individual was caught with 17 fraudulent debit cars and over $3,000 in new twenties. He paid his $500 bail with the cash and subsequently disappeared - imagine that.

And just for kicks, here's their annual report on the St Patrick's Day parade mayhem in their neck of the words. Always entertaining.

Messy Weekend

Nothing to see here - move along:

• Four people were killed and at least 12 others have been wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday afternoon.

As Chicago closes in on 100 homicides for the year....whoops, passed it already.

Forced to be FTO?

Is there an actual order or AdMin Fax Message about this?

• Message is out. Each watch, each district, is to "nominate" at least 3 officers for the act-up FTO.
  
  Put another way, at least 3 officers are about to get strongarmed into the job.
  
  If the city is allowed to do this, then they will have no reason to make any Permanent FTO's from this point on.

So the unwilling are going to be "nominated" to train the unknowing to do the impossible for the ungrateful?

Should be a wonderful experiment for everyone.

Did We Miss It?

Was there a promotional class of lieutenants announced this Friday?