Hung Jury

Why is this news coming out on a Sunday? Did the jury meet Saturday?

• After deliberating two days, a jury couldn't reach a verdict in the trial of Howard Morgan, a railroad police officer accused of the attempted murder of four Chicago cops during a traffic stop in which Morgan suffered more than two dozen police-inflicted bullet wounds.

  The jury, which began deliberations Wednesday, acquitted Morgan of two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm and one count of aggravated discharge of a firearm at a peace officer.

  But the jury said it was deadlocked on four counts of attempted murder of a police officer and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm. The judge declared a mistrial.

Now that we're being re-familiarized with the case, we do recall that Morgan was fired a number of years ago due to testing positive for drugs. This was in all the papers immediately following the shooting. We also seem to recall a chase being involved and a fight with arresting officers before assist units arrived and the gun battle ensued. But to read the recent coverage, one would think that the coppers just pulled up on this goof, dragged him out of his car and shot him 25 times for no apparent reason.

Washington DC Memorial

Anyone out east have reports? Or pictures suitable for posting? Keep us in mind.

Tank Johnson Free at Last!

Sun Times coverage.Anyone else think that after Tank serves his NFL suspension (probably 4 or more games), the Bears are going to be lucky to be an 8 and 8 team this year? The draft was middle of the road, Rex is never going to lead this team anywhere, the book on the Bears defense has been written over the past 3 years - there is no way this team surprises anyone this year. Combine that with the "Pete Rozelle" schedule the Bears are facing this year, 8 and 8 might be generous.

Nothing Like a Little Publicity

Very little publicity. From the Sun Times:

• Two more city inspectors were charged in an ongoing investigation into corruption in the city's Buildings Department.

  To date, 10 city inspectors have been charged in various corruption cases on state and federal levels.

Anyone know how many inspectors there are in the Buildings Department? We're betting it isn't many - probably under 200. Can anyone figure out the corruption percentage of Building Inspectors as opposed to ... oh, let's just say the Police Department? Double digits as compared to fractions maybe?

And this is the coverage they get in a Saturday paper? Media bias anyone?

4 Million Page Views

You like us! You really really like us! We'd like to thank the Academy and members of the... oh wait. Wrong speech. Oh well.

Somewhere around 0800 hours Saturday, we had our 4 MILLIONTH page view.

4,000,000

Anyone know how many visitors or page views Camden and Henry have had? Yeah, that's what we thought, too.

Anyway, thanks people. Here's hoping for another 4 million.

Shooter in Custody?

We expect that the State will charge this offender as an adult shortly. If they don't ...

• Police are talking to a "person of interest" in connection with a fatal shooting on a packed CTA bus Thursday afternoon on the South Side.According to police News Affairs Officer Tom Polick, detectives with the Calumet Area were talking Saturday afternoon to an individual related to the shooting that killed a 16-year-old high school student.

Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7 coverage.

Bringing a gun onto a crowded bus with the intent to commit a battery - this ought to be a slam dunk for Felony Review, right?

School Shooting - Guess Who's Fault?

Why, it's all the fault of ... the POLICE!!!

• Another parent said police should have taken action sooner.
  
  "My concern is if the police knew that all this activity was going on, why did they wait until after the shooting to step up the patrols?" said Lawrence Bosley. "I mean, if they knew all of this was going on, they should've been out here long ago, and when it's over, how long are they going to be here?"

Yup. So you better start feeling guilty about this one. Start feeling shame.

And that's not all:

• Alderman Carrie Austin said, "There needs to be some things put in place where our kids can feel safe in their own neighborhood. I believe our police department are doing a good job, but there needs to be some more things done," Austin added.

More things done. Hmmm. We have an idea! This will be the greatest idea in the history of Chicago policing - let's outlaw all the guns! If we outlaw guns, then there won't be any more guns around to ... what's that? Already done? But then how did a criminal get a gun to shoot these people? Hmmm. Maybe we could put cameras in buses. That'd make everyone feel safer even if they weren't actually... what's that? Already done? Damnit. No guns allowed, cameras everywhere, how is it that there is crime anywhere in Chicago anymore?

And this ends up being a tragedy on a number of levels:

• Bond said Holt did not belong to a gang and that his mother is a member of the Chicago Fire Department and his father is a Chicago police officer.
• Harris told the Chicago Tribune that Holt was a good student with a "bright future" who was taking physics and other college preparatory classes.
• Students said Holt died trying to protect a female student.

So we have a smart kid, from all reports raised correctly, headed for college, dying while trying to protect another student. Dying while doing the right thing at the cost of his own life. Mother CFD, Father CPD - who do you think he learned it all from?

When they catch the shooter (and they will), let's see how his family life compares to Blair Holt's. Hey aldercreature Austin? That is EXACTLY where you ought to be looking to do "something more" and trust us, it isn't the job of the police.

Partial Verdict

And it isn't good:

• There are partial verdicts is the trial of Howard Morgan, a man charged with firing a barrage of shots at Chicago police officers. Morgan was found not guilty of three felony counts Friday afternoon. These actually, are some of the lesser charges in this eight-count indictment: not guilty on two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, and one count of discharge of a firearm within the city limits. The jury remains deadlocked on attempted murder of a police officer.

Whatever happened to the days when if you shot a police officer, you were pretty much guaranteed jail time? Didn't two officers get shot during this incident?

Does a jury seriously swallow the BS that just because there were no prints on the jagoff's gun that officers must have planted it and shot themselves? Would you like to know how many times we've ever seen prints recovered from a gun? Once. It just doesn't happen.

And his excuse that he didn't know there guys were the police? Weren't some of them TRU? Don't they always wear uniforms? Weren't they all in marked CPD cars and actually had to chase the offender for a few blocks before he pulled over?

We aren't looking forward to the rest of this verdict. We just have no faith in the system anymore. This isn't all scandal fatigue on the part of Cook County juries - this is pretty much a declaration that police cannot be victims, no matter the circumstance.

Blago Slapped Around

Amusing:

• Gov. Blagojevich suffered a resounding and stunning defeat [107-0] Thursday when the Illinois House overwhelmingly rejected his proposed $7.6 billion business tax.

But wait! All isn't lost:

• Before the ink had dried on the 107-0 vote, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) signaled possible interest in launching a different tax-increase proposal.
• At least one member was asked by the speaker within the past week about raising the state income tax. But a Madigan spokesman said the speaker has not settled on a particular tax increase.

Well, gee Mr. Madigan. Thanks for not deciding on a particular tax increase just yet. Isn't your daughter up for governor at some point? Aren't you going to end up being a campaign issue at some point?

Technical Difficulties

We will return to regularly scheduled blogging this afternoon or evening. Sorry about that. Open post for now.

New Weapon Order

We have people all over the Department, PO's, Sergeants, Lieutenants, even a Captain or two who read the site regularly. We've been told in strictest confidence that any number of exempts don't have filters on their computers and check us out daily. For some, it's almost required reading.

A number of recent comments have been asking about the new Weapon order. And coincidentally, we've been in contact with some people who actually know things, so we thought we'd help fan the flames of Rumorville:

• First up, the order has been approved by the chain of command and awaits the final signature - the lame duck Superintendent. Who knows what the hold up is at that end, but that's the rumor we've got. Bet on or about 01 June
  
• Approved weapons include the Glock, the Springfield XD and the S&W M&P's in multiple calibers (9mm, .40 and .45)
• From what we've heard, this is the first time in history anyone wishing to switch to one of these guns as their primary weapon will be permitted to do so. Instead of qualifying with the wheel gun you came on with and then the semi auto you carry most days, you can switch to this gun and declare it your primary forever.
• HOWEVER, anyone who declares this as their primary weapon, you will be required to attend some sort of re-training or transition course on your own time and at your own expense. No word how it will be run and we heard the Ranges are completely in the dark on it, too.

Run with it. Start saving money - these guns ain't cheap.

Heroes Honored

From Channel 7, coverage of the Police Recognition Ceremony:

• Chicago police honored dozens of their own Wednesday for their bravery in the line of duty. The top honor, the Distinguished Medal of Honor, was presented to an officer who ended a gunman's deadly rampage last year inside a Chicago law office.

  "You can always carry your head high at all times in the city of Chicago. We will not allow one or two or three instances deter the respect that we should have from the public for every member of the Chicago police department and their families," Mayor Richard Daley said.

  One by one, some sixty-five men and women crossed the stage to receive the police superintendent's award of valor, each with a different story of heroism.

We received a couple of first hand reports about the mayor's speech. Evidently, it was quite a rip job on the media, taking numerous outlets to task for their one sided coverage of recent months, concentrating solely on single issue stories like the played-to-death Abbate video and studiously ignoring the heroism displayed almost daily by the police.

We have a question - who stole the mayor and what have they done with his body? The mayor sticking up for the Police Department? He hates us. Always has. He's got to be laughing at how the media has taken a few manufactured scandals and completely given his corrupt administration a free pass in looting hundreds of millions in contracts and land sales to other corrupt individuals and companies. Is this some sort of ploy to screw us at contract time? Probably not, as we're going to get screwed anyway. But we figure we have to ask, "What the heck is up?"

In the meantime, go read the Channel 7 story. Nice to see some good news for a change.

And Another Thing...

Why is Carol Marin, police hater and Daley apologist, always invited back to host the Police Recognition Ceremony? Is it because she's buddies with Ron Magers? We can't recall Magers ever deliberately skewing coverage to put the Department in a bad light, but Marin does it on a regular basis - more so since she was given a column in the Sun Times with which to continue her moribund media career. Explanations?

Good Riddance

This makes our day:

• Wednesday was the last meeting in City Council for a number of long-time Chicago aldermen who lost in last month�s runoff elections.

Ah yes, Tillman, Coleman, Haithcock, Natarus, and about 5 others. One other aldercreature declined to seek reelection, so fully 20% of the City Council will be new next month.

What does it mean in the great scheme of things? Nothing, really. Daley still controls enough votes to pass what he wants and enforce his own rules. But perhaps the shake up can force some other issues to the fore. We shall see.

What a Mope

Daley has GOT to love having this goof around to take all the heat off him and his shenanigans:

• Facing criticism from both parties, Gov. Blagojevich went before skeptical House members today to make a last-ditch appeal for his proposed $7.6 billion gross receipts business tax and warned of “devastating” budget cuts if the plan isn't passed.

  “We can do this and do big things for the people of our state, or we can sit back and do nothing,” Blagojevich told the full Illinois House.

$7.6 billion in new taxes on businesses that businesses are just going to pass along. And where will all this new tax money go?

• “Schoolteachers will have to be laid off because school districts won’t have the money they need to be able to fund our schools. New textbooks won’t come because the school districts won’t have the money they need. Football teams might not get the uniforms at their high school football games because we don’t have the money we ought to have for our schools.”

Oh yes, the schools. Rod? Successive governors have been throwing money at the teacher unions for years and we still haven't seen commensurate increases in test scores, graduation rates, literacy achievement, etc. Paraphrasing Reagan, this state isn't in trouble because taxes are too low - it's in trouble because it spends too much on fixed political games, crooked contracts, insane golden parachutes for certain political animals and an entire litany of failed social programs. This ought to fail, and fail badly.

News Everywhere

Note: For Tribune links requiring a password, use the name "garbagegoeshere@gmail.com" and password "123456" That way you aren't on any mailing lists.

You can't turn on any media outlet tonight without finding 3 or 4 stories about the Police Department. We'll cover a bunch of them here.

• First up, the bank robbery standoff. No one killed, no one wounded despite a large number of shots fired by the subject. Schools had to be locked down, streets closed, etc., and it all seems to have gone reasonably well. Coverage at Channel 2, Channel 5, Channel 7, Sun Times, Tribune. Great job people
• Corey Flagg flipping left and right on the hook in an effort to get his sentence reduced to 10 years or so. This one has the potential of embarrassing some highly placed people - again.
• Hanhardt wants a new trial
• OPS investigating another off duty "beating," this time involving an 11 year old boy
• The Jefferson Tap businessmen file suit
  
• The off duty railroad guy who had a gun and was shot some 25 times by CPD and who still managed to live has a jury deliberating his fate. We seem to recall someone saying that this guy had been fired by CPD years ago? Regardless, this trial seems to be about whether or not CPD had a right to shoot him.
• And the mayor is set to introduce his OPS overhaul proposal to the City Council today. We're still trying to get definitive answers on whether or not any of this falls within contract provisions and where 5th Amendment Rights might surface.

A lot of news.

Volunteers?

From the Comments Section:

• D/C T.S. came up with the new plan for ALL of Area 2, and it is for ALL the teams, gang and tact. When you are on relief, you will do three 2000-0430's, then three 1000-1830's. That is set in stone.
  
  She also came up with the set DOG, so no weekends, and they change the set day off each period, and again, with no weekends.
  
  When she was confronted by ALL 5 of the District D/C's - she told them "tuff". It is a done deal.
  
  Allegedly, two tact teams from within the area put in their par forms/to-froms to leave...She said that is fine, she will man her plan if it takes doing it with PPO's and 1 year wonders.
  
  She just went up a spot in the running for Cline's job....

Who's got the inside info on this one? Sounds like a bunch of unhappy people down south all of the sudden. Anything that used to be a good deal on this job keeps getting burned by the bosses for some reason.

Bad Warrants

We've noticed a bunch of stories like this one at FOX News surfacing at the District levels:

• Doors were broken off their hinges. Furniture was tossed upside down. A woman says Chicago police did all this when they raided her home by mistake.

Seems plainclothes officers are either hitting the wrong houses or the number of negative Search Warrants are skyrocketing. We're wondering how many of these "negative" warrants are the result of pressure being placed on plainclothes teams to serve a so-called "quota" of warrants. We all know that certain teams are required via word of mouth to maintain certain minimal activity numbers to keep their spots. Anyone with insight?

Finally, Somewhere to Send Applications

We thought this day would never arrive:

• The Chicago Police board has hired a search firm to help find a replacement for Superintendent Phil Cline, who announced his retirement amid questions over how the department handled police misconduct allegations.
  
  Chicago-based David Gomez & Associates, Inc. will conduct a national search and help the board choose three candidates, board President Demetrius Carney said Monday in a statement. Mayor Richard M. Daley is required by law to pick Cline's replacement from that group.

And of course, the obligatory Abbate beating gets a mention in the article:

• In one incident, a bar camera allegedly caught 12-year police veteran Anthony Abbate beating a female bartender after she refused to continue serving him drinks. Abbate faces felony charges stemming from the February incident.
  
  Police faced intense criticism because Abbate originally was charged with a misdemeanor, until the videotape became public.

Even in the St. Jude articles we located, the Abbate video was mentioned in passing:

• During the parade for Chicago's forgotten heroes, it's easy to recall the seedier underside of the Department as seen in this bar room beating by 12 year veteran Anthony Abbate lumping on a woman barely half his size.

Ok, we made up that last paragraph.

But at least we know where to send applications and resumes for Superintendent now:

• 20 N Clark St # 2900
  Chicago, IL 60602
  (312) 346-5525

What the Hell?

From Channel 2:

• A proposal to give Illinois driving privileges to undocumented immigrants drew heated debate Monday night at a public hearing in Carpentersville.
  
  The crowd of 60 people mostly opposed the bill that has passed the Illinois House and moved to the Senate.
  
  The legislation would make undocumented drivers eligible for a driving certificate and insurance.

Good for Carpentersville. Way to stay involved. Now the worrying part:

• Earlier Monday immigration rights activists in Chicago made passage of the bill a high priority. They unveiled stacks of new voter registration papers to show politicians they can wield their power at the polls.

Um, we're pretty sure illegals can't vote. And did anyone actually check these "stacks of new voter registration papers" to see if they were filled out legally by persons eligible to vote? Or is this another one of those stunts where "activists" bring in a stack of paper with no actually information on them or filled out fraudulently in an effort to intimidate politicians? How about this follow up from Newsradio 780:

• Chicago immigrant rights groups have a warning for republicans - and one republican in particular: support a special driver's certificate for undocumented immigrants -- or else Latinos won't vote for your candidates.
• Radogno had voted for the concept of a special driver's certificate for undocumented immigrants.
• But then, she says, her constituents sounded off against it and therefore she changed her mind.

Immigrant activists (or defenders of illegal aliens) are in the midst of a massive backlash against their efforts and they're just a little bit too shortsighted to see it. We're betting on a few more rude surprises in the coming months.