Stay Fetal

Officers are supposed to do their jobs in the face of this crap? Why would we put our families in jeopardy at all?

Unfortunately, this attitude in the "community" isn't unique or rare at all. It is the prevailing mindset across vast swaths of the west and south sides.

Anyone want to take a guess if this individual will be held accountable for anything? Or ever has been held to task for anything? Ever?

UPDATE: The Tribune covered this for some reason:

• Just after 6 p.m. Friday, Van Dyke’s wife, father and young daughters left the courthouse as a large group of bystanders in the lobby jeered in their direction, shouting “16 shots” as sheriff’s deputies escorted them down the courthouse steps and into a waiting vehicle on California Avenue.

But not the part where they shouted, "I hope you die" and "I hope hope you get raped" numerous times at the wife and daughters - three people who had exactly NOTHING to do with any of this. They were dragged into this against their will. They didn't volunteer.

And the "community" wants what exactly? Beatings and violence and death? They've got plenty of that already, at the hands of their own. Look around.

Judge Gets it Correct

Good news out of 26th Street:

• In a stunning decision, a Cook County judge on Thursday acquitted three Chicago police officers of all charges alleging they lied in police reports and conspired to cover up the controversial 2014 police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
  
  The case has been seen as a referendum on a so-called code of silence within the Chicago Police Department designed to protect fellow officers from accountability for wrongdoing.
  
  In her hourlong ruling, Associate Judge Domenica Stephenson blasted the evidence presented by prosecutors as weak, speculative and totally lacking proof of any crime.

Detectives document what they are told by witnesses. Witnesses - especially in a dynamic, fast moving, widespread scene - have different perspectives (they weren't all standing behind the same camera), and documenting those different perspectives is neither a conspiracy nor a code of anything.

• Attorney Todd Pugh, who also represented Walsh, slammed the prosecution evidence.
  
  “They say a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich, and that’s what happened in this case,” he said.
  
  “This case is about perspective,” Pugh said. “It wasn’t about a video that was shot and reviewed hundreds and hundreds of times days later. It was about what people saw on the scene at that moment, and no video captured the perspective of the police officers in this case.”

Somewhere between five and ten exempt members reviewed all of the same evidence this judge did and ruled the shooting justified...before political pressure turned it into a football.

Spectacular Move Ed

And Special Ed officially torches his reputation backing Escamerit:

• Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson is explaining why he suspended and did not fire a senior police official for having officers regularly pick up the commander's child from school and returned to the police station.
  
  The city’s Inspector General recommended the high-ranking police official be fired for having officers pick up his child from school on most Wednesdays for several months and have the child brought to the police station. The school was also outside that police district.
  
  Supt. Eddie Johnson gave the official a 7-day suspension because the official is the single parent of a special needs child. He said he looked at the totality of the incident.

Is Special Ed unaware of exactly why Escamerit is a single parent? Would Special Ed like to review our archives as to a tiny hint? Of course, when you have a significant portion of your exempt staff trolling the Academy for impressionable female recruits and partying with them at no-tell motels on the south end of 012, we suppose banging the CAPS girl in the 025 office is small potatoes.

• "Is what he did wrong? Yeah. But, I will say this too. He’s a single parent having to care for a special needs child," Johnson said.
  
  Supt. Johnson said he was once a single parent and also has had personal experience with a special needs child.

Would Mr. Fenner like a list of single parents currently on the job making countless sacrifices for their kids while NOT pulling down over $160K?

But remember, Ed was a "great guy" back in the day.

Suzie Suzie Suzie

First, she releases a poll that purportedly shows Prickwrinkle taking a big hit from the Burke scandal:

• Toni Preckwinkle has seen a “significant drop in favorability and a clear drop in vote share” since being dragged into the federal corruption scandal that threatens to bring down Ald. Edward Burke (14th) — and Susana Mendoza is the chief beneficiary.
  
  That’s the bottom line of a new poll of 600 likely Chicago voters conducted during a five-day period that ended Tuesday. The poll, by the Global Strategy Group, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s pollster, was taken for Mendoza’s campaign.
  
  It shows Preckwinkle’s “net favorability has dropped by 26 points” over the last month and that she is “now underwater at minus 10,” according to a memo of “key findings” prepared by Mendoza’s pollster and released by the state comptroller’s mayoral campaign.

But then she goes into full pander mode, tossing the police under the bus once again:

• [Mendoza Facebook Page] While today’s verdicts are disappointing and heartbreaking, they’re not surprising. This is something we’ve seen happen time and again throughout our country. It’s another tragic reminder of the broken culture within the police department and the work we have to do to fix it. To keep our neighborhoods safe, we must end the code of silence that for too long has allowed police officers to escape accountability, no matter the evidence at hand. To truly rebuild the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, we must make clear that nobody is above the law. While today’s verdict is a major setback, I am committed to working with every community throughout Chicago to move our city forward from Laquan McDonald’s senseless murder and build a true system of justice that works for all of our families

Nothing about Crimesha running with a half-assed political case that the judge tore to shreds - the evidence was made up procedural crap that the judge agreed was paper thin. The supposed "lack of accountability" is a lie seeing as how there's a sentencing date set for today. And it certainly isn't the police killing an average of 500-plus black and brown people every year. And speaking of a "lack of accountability," what's Suzie's position on assorted exempt members using and abusing their positions for personal gain over the years?

Citywide Day Care On Tap

This is a fantastic program and we're wondering why we didn't hear about it earlier:

• Chicago’s government watchdog recommended that a high-ranking Chicago police official face possible firing for directing officers under his supervision for nearly a year to drive his child from school to his Northwest Side police station in a squad car and babysit the kid on the city’s dime.
  
  But in the end, the Police Department gave the undisclosed official — identified by sources as Grand Central District Cmdr. Anthony Escamilla — only a seven-day suspension despite his claims that it was all part of a “test case” for a new community policing study, according to a report released Wednesday by the watchdog.
  
  The report by the city’s Office of Inspector General said that “the Supervisor’s continued attempts to justify the conduct in question raised serious questions about the Supervisor’s judgment and ability to serve in a supervisory position.”

People in the know had way more "questions than answers" when Tony made it past patrolman without spending any time in prison. You can read the IG report here - page 10 is where it starts and covers almost two full pages.

So it's not a citywide pilot program? Escamerit lied to attempt to cover his own misconduct? Isn't that some sort of Rule Violation...like a Rule numbered as "14"? Was this testimony to the Inspector General's office under oath? Are there not annual Ethics Tests with this idiot's electronic signature all over them?

Of course, ethical people wouldn't be using officers as chauffeurs and babysitters and another officer as a pin cushion in the 025 District. Ethical people wouldn't have been taken out of a District by IAD when un-inventoried gun(s) were located in his locker. Ethical people wouldn't be bragging about how he put one over on Deputy Chief EW, snaring a "merit" spot in spite of his shadier-than-shady career track. Stupidity should be painful, and this ass ought to be fired.

But Special Ed will pretend the seven day suspension is punishment enough and so much for "building trust" with either the community or the rank-and-file. The political optics outweigh the effort to have an actually competent, capable and clean supervisory staff.

Sun Times coverage here.

• While the inspector general’s office says the supervisor admitted to ordering officers to care for the child, the supervisor “disingenuously and implausibly” claimed it was all part of a community policing study.
  
  There was no evidence of a secret study, the report says.
  
  In suspending the supervisor for seven days, CPD agreed only that some department rules were broken but disputed other possible violations, according to the report.

Laughable.

Beware Gallows Crew

A warning from a reader:

• Heads up. He’s contacted FSS [Field Services Section - SCC] to see what can be done to lift prints from any copies found in the building. You folks WILL be seeing copies of that inventoried as well as blanket CR #s coming down the pipe. Once it’s narrowed down and a few sacrificial lamb are identified, you will see them get hammered. This directly from someone at IAD. You have been warned. That said, keep the good work, just be smart about it. The Gallows are the bomb.

So if you see a copy lying around, make sure you handle it so you can add your name to the list of, "Yeah, I saw it. I thought it was a lost piece of paper and I picked it up."

Is this really a good use of Department resources....and taxpayer dollars? It's satirical and sarcastic in the extreme. Do taxpayers want to have to payout more money because another over-promoted dumbass thinks they're above criticism?

Stand in the Corner!

Are things really this out of hand in 014?

• Lt. S McD and KS recently made a PPO stand in the corner, facing the wall, over some imagined error in procedure

Having been subjected to the disciplinary process on a fair number of occasions, we're pretty sure this punishment doesn't fall in the SPAR matrix anywhere, nor the CL/CR process. In fact, actually subjecting a member (regardless of status) to this type of unofficial made-up punishment is grounds for an EEOC lawsuit and a CR of their very own.

The number of comments regarding these two psycho lieutenants we end up weeding out is pretty extensive, but it looks like we'll be letting more through.

UPDATE: Shit like this:

• Lieutenants talking to PPOs and well as POs like dogshit.
  
  The always drunk female Sarah McD (who is supposed to make captain?!?) Locked a PPO in a processing room after screaming at her. Hopefully she'll get fired for it however she will probably get promoted.
  
  On one occasion, she tried taking out 3 PPOs in a squad car while she was stinking drunk one morning. Luckily, a desk officer stopped her and told her she was too "fucked up". She then went to the watch commander's office and locked herself in WC's bathroom and went to sleep on the bathroom floor for about 5 hours.

Back in the day, the officers in 012 (we think) got Lt. Olson stripped by the on-duty Street Deputy for destroying evidence and attempting to release a police impersonator on midnights because "he promised her he wouldn't do it again."

Really John?

Alderasshole Arena must be worried:

Streets and Sanitation are among the most politically connected of jobs. They do what they're told, double as ward heelers, work polls on election day, etc. If they're taking down signs, they've been told to.

Undercharging Again?

Question from a suburban copper:

• Are city officers being told by ASA to initially only charge 1 felony, with other felony charges added when offender shows up to court? This is going on now in the 4th dist, Maywood Courthouse. We are guessing its so the offender wont seem that bad in bond court and get a lower bond if any at all.
  
  Suburban Cop

Anyone?

Gallows 2.0

The situation has gotten so out of hand in 025 that officers have resurrected an old favorite:

Somewhere the ghost of Joe Curtain is seething.

And anyone trying to make something out of their choice of logos, it's a stick figure chosen by disgruntled cops of all stripes to vent their disgust with the current pathetic leadership. Why is this bozo still in command of anything?

• ...on the 11th of January Escamerit was subpoenaed to an arbitration at 30 N lasalle on the 2nd floor at 10 AM. Basically the commander was defending his actions for once again trampling on the rights of a PO after failing to get an accurate story from sgt S. M. of area north whose about as arrogant and unrespected as they come. I was told he was in there for almost an hour and each question he was asked became more and more embarrassing for him. The stresses of lies, deceit, and failure are chipping away at him little by little. If you want a good read maybe someone can FOIA the transcripts because as it was told to me a court reporter was present.

Escamerit is about to cost taxpayers a bunch of money and still, he remains in a position he isn't remotely qualified for and has only used to abuse, harass and demean officers.

Parental Guidance? Hahahaha

Not a verifiable claim - it's still January and school is in session:

• The new “parental guidance required” policy at Water Tower Place has been so smoothly implemented and so successful in eliminating “disruptive behavior,” it should be expanded to seven-days-a-week during summer months, the local alderman said Monday.
  
  Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said the proposed summer expansion would go a long way toward discouraging what has become a perennial problem when school is out: marauding groups of young people harassing, intimidating, robbing and attacking Michigan Avenue shoppers. The new policy took effect Jan. 4.

So why stop with teens? Why not require everyone to have an "escort" to go shopping at Water Tower? Supplied by Water Tower Place of course if you can't afford your own.

Take it All!

Here's some pretty big disconnect:

• Chicago Teachers Union members lodged their first demands for a new contract Tuesday — including pay hikes and a host of topics state law bars the labor group from striking over — months before negotiations will likely accelerate with a new administration.
  
  [...] “Where will the money come from? Rich people,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said Tuesday, as she repeated the union’s call for Illinois to tax its wealthiest residents at higher rates and pointed to revenue-generating ideas that need support from Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
  
  “We have a governor who has committed to legalizing recreational marijuana and putting a tax on it, we can take that as well,” Davis Gates said. “They are also talking about sports betting. We can take that. They’re talking about opening a new casino here in the city of Chicago. We can take that.”

Notice everything that the teachers union says they can "take." Nothing about reducing costs, making classrooms more efficient, cutting out bloated management, maybe contributing what every other civil servant contributes to the dwindling pension funds. No, just "take, take, take."

Rich people have an out though - they're rich enough to move, declare a different primary residence, shift money overseas, create tax shelters, remove all the toilets from their houses, etc. The exodus of millionaires from Illinois will dwarf that from other high tax states.

And that will leave you-know-who holding the bag. Again.

Threats

A sergeant was followed home the other day and a note left on his car in 022 (in 014? Someone to verify):

Be aware of what's going on during your ride home. Vary it up, circle a block somewhere away from your abode before heading home.

Earned, Not Given (Bullshit)

(posted 2101 hours, 14 January - will be moved to 0005 hours, 15 January )

Fifty sergeants made and we're speechless (click for larger versions):

First of all, how is Kenny (the skinny one) Johnson, currently under Federal indictment and singing to the feds allowed to nominate anyone? And someone who didn't even work for him (according to numerous e-mailers)?

Second of all, Barb "Pillow" West nominates (and promotes) someone who is currently living with indicted former Commander Kenny (the Skinny one) Johnson.

Are you fucking kidding us?

Is anyone as fucking disgusted with the current "leadership" as we happen to be? We can';t believe that Rahm, being the micromanaging control freak that he is, is actually allowing this bullshit to tarnish his already disastrous legacy.

If this doesn't show you exactly what the DoJ report was all about, we don't know what would. The Machine is alive and well and ignoring any real effort at "reform" by putting morons and idiots in charge, nominated by thieves and corrupt-a-crats.

ACLU Unhappy Again

In other news, water is wet, fire is hot. Did anyone not see this coming? Anyone? Bueller?

• Pedestrian stops by Chicago police officers plummeted in number beginning in 2016 after a new state law and an agreement between the ACLU and the Police Department required officers to more thoroughly document and justify the encounters to ease concerns about racial profiling and constitutional violations.
  
  Some even believe the impact contributed to homicides hitting levels in 2016 that had been unseen in two decades.
  
  But a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois says that at the same time pedestrian stops fell so sharply, Chicago police dramatically increased how often they pulled over motorists.

We don't have a copy of what a TSSSSSSS Blue Card looks like handy, but this is the version of the ISR we made fun of two years ago (click for larger picture):

 

The Traffic Stop Statistical Study card (aka the Obama Card) is smaller than a 3" x 5" index card, and the bosses love it because they can count it and apply it to CompStat bullshit.

What would you rather fill out? And the ACLU isn't happy about it, so they lie through their teeth:

• The latest report also found that Chicago police stopped African-American motorists at a disproportionately higher rate than whites, Hispanics and Asians.
  
  The findings have raised alarms for civil libertarians at a time when the Police Department is attempting to improve trust with minority communities as it nears a federal court agreement meant to ensure widespread reforms are carried out.
  
  “The problem has been consistent, but now it’s, yet again, a point of data that shows how desperately we need holistic reform of the Police Department,” said Karen Sheley, director of the police practices project for the ACLU of Illinois.

Perhaps the morons over at the ACLU could tell us exactly how the police "racially profile" an automobile? Cops see vehicle violations and pull over violators. Why doesn't the ACLU wonder why certain "communities" are incapable of properly maintaining and licensing their vehicles, thereby attracting the attention of cops? Or is that too obvious?

Great Idea Toni

Prickwrinkle is determined to take the Department backwards:

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says she’ll halt plans to build a new police academy, dismantle the city’s contentious gang database and create an office of criminal justice as part of her plan to create a safer Chicago if elected.
  
  The plan to freeze the proposed construction of a new $95 million police and fire academy “until further review” would allow the department to focus on overhauling police training because “our highest priority is curriculum and content, not buildings and amenities.”

So we need tons of training and all sorts of reform.....but we're going to continue to use a building that is so outdated, it's incapable of meeting the needs of a 21st century police department. Hell, it barely met the needs of a 20th century department, and that was when it opened in 1976.

Prickwrinkle is determined to deny the Department even the ability to improve - it's too convenient a whipping boy.

Which is the Higher Charge

This tragedy on Lower Wacker the other day:

• A catastrophic U-turn on Lower Wacker Drive left a baby girl dead and two adults fighting for their lives early Friday. At 1:09 a.m., a Mazda 3 was heading west in the first block of West Lower Wacker Drive and made a U-turn at an intersection, according to Chicago police. It struck an Acura MDX driving east on a green light and then careened into a wall.
  
  Amaria Glenn, a 1-year-old baby, was ejected from the Mazda, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital in critical condition before dying within the hour.

Mom was high, driving like an asshole without a license and without insurance, and didn't bother to secure the child in a car seat. Charges?

• A woman has been charged with causing a Friday crash on Lower Wacker Drive that ejected and killed her 1-year-old passenger.
  
  Adreannia Donaldson, 29, was charged with felony aggravated DUI and several misdemeanors following the early morning crash when she failed to yield to traffic while making a U-turn on Lower Wacker at Garvey Court, Chicago police said.

Maybe a couple of higher charge?

One Way to Downgrade Crime

How soon until this comes to Chicago?

• NBC New York described a January 9, 2019, alleged home invasion suspect whom a resident had to shoot as an “unwanted house visitor.”
  
  Breitbart News reported that the home invasion suspect was allegedly armed when he attempted to enter the home and the resident wrestled away his gun and shot him with it. The suspect, 29-year-old Terrence Coulanges, died after being transported to a hospital.

It was only a matter of time:

• illegal alien = undocumented worker
• drug dealer = unlicensed pharmacist
• bank robbery = improper withdrawal

Add your own in the comments!

Whose Bright Idea is This?

We've seen some dumb shit before. And this has already been proven not to work in at least two districts over the course of our careers:

• Basically 025 will be split into “Dispatch Coordination Areas”. 5 in all consisting if 3 beats each. Each area will have a District coordination officer (Sgt). And get this, now the entire district won’t go down on a rap, just the affected DCA. So theoretically 025 could have 5 raps in place.

We used to have something like this - they were called "Sectors."  And there was someone covering these all the time - they were called "Rapid Response Cars" or "Sector Response Cars."

And it worked fine - when we were at an actual manpower strength of nearly 12,500 during the glory years of the Clinton Administration when Bill was shoveling money at the cities for neighborhood policing initiatives.

But those days passed and Rahm cut some 1,200 spots from the manpower numbers at declared the CPD "at strength" with the new normal. Now calls go unanswered constantly or answered in hours instead of minutes, and some jokers decide it's time to rehash an idea that never worked with the lower numbers of personnel.

Escamerit must really need that Deputy spot for the upcoming alimony/child support/day care expenses, and this time, he can't trick Washington into giving him the bump.

UPDATE: A couple days in and it's already off the rails:

• I was told by numerous LT’s that there are to be no missions with this new strategy. This was brought up several times during the staff meeting in 025. Escamerit is still running missions and the kicker is that the missions are taking cars out of their assigned areas. Some cars were even told to stay off the radio with the missions and just get activity in a certain area.
  
  Escamerit is not following the instructions that came from 35th street. He’s more concerned about his numbers and doing what HE wants. And he still has the wagon sitting at North and Luna it’s been going on for 2.5 years now. Even the dispatcher said the first day of this pilot program “Why isn’t the wagon taking jobs”!!
  
  A Sgt has to get on the air and tell the dispatcher they don’t leave North and Luna. The dispatcher replied “That’s not what we were told, we were instructed everyone takes jobs”

Watch the PAR forms start flying out of 025 again. The old Indian Burial Ground curse raises once again.

What's This?

Someone is putting this on personal cars in a District somewhere:

So who is doing this and where? What makes some inside house mouse suck ass deserving of a certain parking spot rather than the people doing actual work at the position they were hired for? Asking for a friend.