Passing the Time

The guys over at TheExpiredMeter.com had a bit of fun with this picture:

Channel 2 picked up on the story. It seems that most of the tickets were written by Streets and Sanitation supervisors for street cleaning violations and the Department of Revenue who ordered a tow from the wrong address and then forgot about it. The district wrote a few tickets, too, but seeing the tow numbers written on the car, probably assumed the tow had been ordered.

We're pretty sure most cops have a certain area, a certain block, maybe even a certain car they zero in on for a short time and just tag it for days on end to pass the time.

Pardon our laughter, but this is funny as hell.

Unlucky #3

What is it about the number 3 that seems to be so unlucky as of late?

• Aunt Bea was the #3 in the Department when her property was the target of a search warrant that turned up guns, drugs and her daughter;
• Steve Peterson carried the label of #3 in media reports when his house was broken into and his property was stolen;
• the 003 District has been posting 30 or more openings (40 last police period) for over half-a-year and can't fill a single on of them;
• J-Fed has a 3-year contract;
• J-Fed makes three-hundred thousand a year;
• FBI has three letters;

We're sure there are more instances of "3" having a bad connotation, at least as far as the Department is concerned. Have fun with it.

Zekman Investigation

Well, this explains what she was doing in 006:

• There's a huge shortage of police officers in Chicago. The city is down by as many as 2,000 every day.
  
  But just what impact is that having on the streets? [...]
  
  Officially, the department refuses to disclose how many officers are actually patrolling the streets, saying that would be like giving troop strengths to the enemy. But apparently there aren't enough.

Duh. Thanks for catching up Pam. Evidently, she read Fran Spielman's article a few weeks ago about manpower shortages, something we've been pointing out for over two years now. And how bad is the shortage? People are waiting 30 to 90 minutes for reports following calls of an incidents "in progress" or "just occurred." While the immediacy of the situation may be past, you can't really explain that to a citizen who just had a gun stuck in their faces.

• Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis said he's aware of the issue.
  
  "Well, I'm not losing sleep at night, but I say I'm nervous because we track it every day," he said.

Way to look concerned and in touch with the issue J-Fed! Your concern is a tribute to your mercenary ways of breezing into town, grabbing almost a cool million over 3 years, and riding out of town in a flurry of statistical reports, policy groups and broken promises.

A BIG Part of the Problem

But the City Council just can't help themselves:

• After an emotional appeal from a straight-A student facing deportation in 33 days, a City Council committee agreed Friday to champion the cause of Rigo Padilla and others caught in the switches while awaiting immigration reform.

• On Jan. 18, Padilla was driving home from watching a football playoff game on TV after having a few beers with friends when he was arrested. He was charged with driving under the influence after being accused of rolling through a stop sign.

  There was a designated driver that night, but Padilla said he had dropped the friend off before getting behind the wheel for the eight-block drive to his own home.

So again, how are this illegal alien's bad choices worthy of even a second of the City Council's time? Isn't the City almost bankrupt? Isn't the mayor laying off workers left and right? Isn't industry fleeing the City and conventioneers abandoning Chicago at record levels? Hasn't Chicago's unemployment rate topped 12 or 13%? Yet our City Council is going to "champion" this cause? And (wonder of wonders), this illegal wants to become a lawyer?

Just what we need.

Parallel Universe

Honestly, Shortshanks must have discovered a wormhole in the space-time continuum and he's spending time between both worlds:

• Mayor Richard Daley said today that his administration has taken sufficient steps to reform its hiring to end federal court oversight of its personnel practices.
  
  City Hall's top lawyer told aldermen this week that she planned to tell a federal judge the city is now in "substantial compliance" with the decades-old Shakman decree, the legal threshold for ending court control.
  
  Speaking today after the city's annual Landscape Awards ceremony at the Garfield Park Conservatory, the mayor said his administration has done enough to overhaul the hiring process to warrant stopping the federal involvement.

He'll probably get the feds off his back since his guy is in the White House.

Rule #1 - Don't Attract Attention

Thank god they're stupid:

• A Maywood, Ill., man was taken to Jasper County Jail on Friday after a State Police canine officer discovered 30 pounds of suspected marijuana in his car.

  Indiana State Police Master Trooper Rick Hudson stopped Brian K. Fortner, 37, at the DeMotte/Roselawn exit on northbound Interstate 65 Friday afternoon for driving 94 mph in a 55 mph zone.

Rule #2 - have your shit in order:

• Fortner did not have a valid driver's license and the car, which was a rental, was not rented in his name, police said. Further investigation gave Hudson an "indication of illegal activity," according to a press release.

Dude, where's your lawyer?

New York Terror Trials (UPDATED)

Another bad idea in a litany of bad ideas:

• The move to put the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind on trial just blocks from ground zero raises a host of legal, political and security questions, chief among them: Can a fair-minded jury be found in a city still nursing deep wounds from the attack on the World Trade Center?

  Some also worry that the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will make New York an even bigger terrorist target, and that he will use the proceedings to incite more violence against Americans.

  The loudest protests Friday came from relatives of the victims, many of whom oppose any civilian trial for terror suspects - especially at the federal courthouse 1,000 yards from the spot where nearly 3,000 people died.

Democrats continue to treat terrorism as a "police" issue and not as a form of asymmetrical warfare. These people declared war against the United States. Civil courts are ill-prepared to deal with this type of enemy combatant and bringing them into the United States, let alone New York City, will just give the extremists another reason to target a city that has borne the brunt of terror so far in this country.

And just imagine if one of these jagoffs gets off on a technicality.

UPDATE: The Illinois connection:

• A near-empty prison in rural Illinois has emerged as "a leading option" to house suspected terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an Obama administration official said Friday.

  As they work to shutter the controversial detention center, federal officials are talking to Illinois officials about buying the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison about 150 miles west of Chicago.

  With Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and other key officials warm to the idea of a federal purchase of the prison, federal officials have stepped up investigations into turning Thomson into a super-maximum facility with a unit for former Guantanamo detainees.

The Sun Times also has an article up.

Fantasy Lawsuit

Where do they come up with these stories?

• The estate of a convicted felon fatally shot by police in March filed suit Friday against the city and the individual police officers.

Whoa whoa whoa...the estate? Of a convicted felon? Red flags all over the place to begin with. It gets more unbelievable as you read on:

• The lawsuit claims officers [#1] and [#88] entered the home of Matthias Mayhorn without permission on March 10, threatened him with injury and/or death by hanging him by his legs out of a second-floor window, fired a weapon at him while he was hanging out of the window, dropped him onto the pavement below and delayed in summoning medical assistance.

Uh, yeah, right, sure. It happened exactly like that. The other side of the story:

• According to a police news release, Mayhorn, 28, a convicted felon wanted on an investigative alert, was attempting to escape via the window when he aimed a gun at the officers, who then fired multiple shots. The shots knocked Mayhorn to the pavement below his window.

  A gun was recovered from the scene, and the incident is under investigation...

Call us slightly biased, but we kind of believe the second version there. Hanging people out of windows? Shot at him while he was hanging out the window? In a Hollywood script maybe.

The trouble is, of course, Cook County juries.

Silly Aldercreature

Another reason to cut these idiots down to 25...or less:

• At 11:18 a.m. on Nov. 3, 2009, a call came over the Chicago police radio that Helen Shiller's aldermanic ward (46th) office called to report a homeless man causing trouble. The staff keeps a baseball bat at the reception desk - just in case. The police radio indicated that it may be an assault in progress. Several squads responded by radio that they would respond. I arrived at Shiller's office at 11:28 a.m.
  
  A police car was still on the street, in front of the office, as I walked in and asked why the police had been called. Shiller's staff was evasive, refusing at first to even acknowledge that the officers had been there even as they were still visible through the front window.
  

This writer got confirmation from an unnamed 023 District copper later and shortly thereafter at a CAPS meeting:

• Later, I attended the 7:00 p.m. CAPS meeting for Beat 2311 in Uptown, just around the corner from Shiller's office. During the questions portion of the meeting, I asked the police officers if they knew what happened at Ald. Shiller's office this morning. Shiller's chief of staff, Denice Davis, interrupted me by loudly shouting "You don't have to answer that!" I responded back to her, "The officers have the right to not answer, but I have the right to ask the question, and you have no right to stop me from asking it."

What a goof, surrounded by goofs.

Pipe Band Award

A few commentators and a couple of e-mailers accuse us of picking on the Pipe bands for the creation of the "Pipe Band Award."

First of all, we appreciate all the bands do. They've always been impressive and dedicated and professional when called upon. We've posted their fund raising event info when asked on a few occasions. Their being carried on the sheets when performing at official Department functions is only proper.

But a ribbon bar award? Wouldn't it be more practical and more utilitarian to have something similar to the Fitness Award medal they could wear on their field uniforms? Something worn opposite the star like the Memorial Pin is worn? Maybe a miniature pipe or drum or tartan, renewed annually and surrendered should the member leave the band?

The intent of the post was to point out the cheapening of the Department Commendation award and the silliness of giving out BS awards for just showing up.

Last Chance for Petitions

Get them to a mailbox ASAP. If you can get them to a Post Office, all the better for quicker sorting and delivery. After Saturday's mail delivery, Sgt, Northen will have totals for us. We'll let everyone know by Monday morning how we did.

Food Fight Arrests

And although ABC tries to paint it as the fault of the police, it seems to actually say more about the lack of parenting:

• Eighth-graders Cassandra and Aliyah Russell of Chicago never imagined they'd be arrested in their school cafeteria, much less for throwing food.

  But that's just what happened following lunchtime mayhem last Thursday at the Perspectives Charter Middle School, south of Chicago. More than two dozen students, ages 11 to 15, were rounded up by police, arrested and charged with misdemeanor reckless conduct.

  "They took us to jail, fingerprinted us, mugshotted us, or whatever, all because of a food fight...I was arrested. Handcuffs on," 13-year-old Cassandra told ABC News.

  "We were suspended, went to jail and now have to go to court," said 14-year-old Aliyah.

  The sisters' mother, Erica, told ABC News she's stunned.

  "Who does that? Lock children up for throwing a carrot, a biscuit, milk, Jello," she said. "Who does that?"

Oh, we don't know. Maybe the Police do that? It's still a battery as far as we can tell. And many of these little princes and princesses talk their dumb asses into a trip to the station rather than a 3 day in-school suspension. If the school doesn't want to handle it internally, it falls on the police to be the bad guys.

And what does it say about the lack of parenting that these kids think they were wronged for being involved in school mayhem? Mama sticks up for them the whole way, so they're learning to manipulate the system already.

So next year, when they're over at Fenger, Manley, Crane, Farragut, Curie, Bogan, or any other of a dozen crap-tacular CPS high schools beating a fellow student to death with a railroad tie, lock-on-a-shoelace, or sock full of rocks, the media can wonder aloud why the police didn't do anything when the opportunity presented itself.

Exporting Crime

It's what Chicago seems to be good at and by golly, we're going to spread it everywhere:

• Three Chicagoans arrested with two children for shoplifting outside Cleveland could be connected to other thefts there and in Chicago, authorities say.
  

  Diana Burton, 64, her son Donald Burton, 37 and Amina Frye, 34 -- along with her two children ages 8 and 10 --- were captured on video Wednesday robbing a Macy's department store in Parma, a western suburb of Cleveland, police said.

  The children entered the store with Frye, who is believed to be Burton's girlfriend, and could be seen shoplifting merchandise, police said. When confronted by store security, "a physical altercation ensued while attempting to detain them inside the store," authorities said.

"Oliver Twist 2009."

And this one:

• Police departments across the western suburbs hope a series of arrests -- including two rings busted on the same day -- will put an end to a spike in residential burglaries that resulted in a tripling of break-ins in one town.
  
  The burglaries occurred mostly over the last month in towns like Berwyn, La Grange Park, Lyons, Riverside, Western Springs, River Forest, Forest Park and Downers Grove.
  
  [...] On Nov. 2, police from several towns working with Cook County's Major Case Assistance Team apprehended three alleged gang members in Forest Park. Police say they belonged to the Sin City Boys, a gang that operates out of Chicago and the near western suburbs.
  
  Riverside police Chief Tom Weitzel said one of the men revealed in a written statement that the gang was flooding the western suburbs with up to 25 youths to commit the burglaries.

We wonder if this isn't happening in formerly "quiet" areas of the city, too. Drop of 25 or more shorties and let them wreak havoc in quiet neighborhoods.

Technology to Remove Snow

Microwave beams to be transmitted from City Hall to melt snow before it even hits the ground?

No.

Secret chemical to be sprayed on city streets that will prevent sticking and freezing ice patches?

No.

Cameras and GPS?

You bet!

• How do you avoid a blizzard of budget-busting overtime and still remove the snow from Chicago streets?

  By using technology to measure and improve productivity.

  Today, Mayor Daley unveiled plans to put GPS, high-tech sensors and the city's vast network of surveillance cameras to work to get the snow off Chicago streets.

  Sensors on the trucks will tell camera-monitoring supervisors how much salt is being spread, how many tons are still in the truck and whether the blade on a plow is up or down on the street clearing snow.

  And by using safety cameras, the city will be able to track the movement of snow plows without putting nearly as many supervisors on the street.

Is there anything GPS and cameras can't do? Besides actually make sure that enough plows and drivers are on the streets when the snow hits?

Cheapening the Awards

Someone please tell us that the Policy Group isn't getting Department Commendations for setting up the Superintendent's "Speaker Series"?

If they can create a "Perfect Attendance Award," an "Appearance Award," and even a "Pipe Band Award," can't they create some "House Mouse Award" or a "Party Organizer with a Gun Award?"

Why cheapen an award that is actually supposed to recognize excellence in Police work? Yes, we know it's been done before, but it was wrong then and it's wrong now.

$30 per Dozen Donuts?

No wonder conventions are fleeing (or have fled) the city - did you catch these prices? Someone posted the McCormick Place Catering Menu in our comment section.

• Quaker Chewy Granola Bars (10) - $18
• Breakfast Bagels - $38.70 per dozen
• Assorted Miniature Hershey Chocolates - $24 per pound

Even a half-pint of milk (tiny carton) is $2.25, which as a helpful reader pointed out, equals $36 per gallon.

And the truly amazing part? At the bottom of just about every page, those words that make you just want to run out and reserve next years convention spot far away from here:

• Prices do not include 21% service charge and applicable sales taxes

21% plus something like an 11% sales tax. Someone better have plans for all that empty space.

Bears Thursday Night

How bad will it be?

UPDATE: Bears suck.

Citywide Focus Group

Once again, when in doubt, hold a meeting.

We have received a memo, signed by Aunt Bea, that calls for one member (below the rank of sergeant) from every unit to meet at 1100 hours on 16 November, on-duty, in the 4th floor conference room (4120 NW).

We can't figure out if this is an open call to Districts or just units at 35th Street. Anyone have any insight? It obviously not going to be a "town-hall" type meeting like J-Fed had when he first arrived - officers might be uncouth enough to point out the promises that haven't been kept, the lies that have been told and the missteps occurring on an almost weekly basis. Someone might even make eye contact with Masters playing dress-up and sent him into a tizzy.

We can't think of a more pointless waste of time than pulling 25 or more cars off the street to attend a meeting where the sole aim is to... (and we quote):

• "compile a list of the top ten obstacles and move towards improving our Department member's work environment through workable solutions."

That there is some Grade A Bullshit, don't you think?

Conventions Flee Chicago

The trickle has become a torrent of convention business fleeing the city:

• A premier medical trade show is dropping Chicago for its 2012 gathering and heading to Las Vegas instead, citing the high cost of labor at McCormick Place, a source familiar with the decision told the Tribune.
  
  The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society meeting, which held its first show at McCormick Place in April, is a choice piece of business for the city. It draws 24,000 delegates and generates about $52 million in spending locally.
  
  The annual show rotates between several cities, and 2012 had been the next time it was scheduled for Chicago.

So not only are they canceling, they're canceling three years in advance. And this is one of the good sized ones - smaller conventions have been gone for years now.

We saw a media piece just the other day - the cost for a 24-pack of Pepsi at McCormick Place? $100. That isn't a typo. They're charging conventioneers one-hundred-bucks for a case of soda you can get at Jewel for $7 on an off day. Tie that into the ridiculous work rules and sky high tax rates and it's amazing there are any shows still willing to come here. Vegas is reducing the cost of square footage at their convention centers just to get people into town and then raking in mountains of cash at the casinos and shows.

The wheels are coming off the city's economic engines, Shortshanks is fiddling and Chicago is burning.

Daley Sabotages Brazil

Shortshanks moves in mysterious ways:

• Brazil's president denied on Wednesday that underinvestment was to blame for the worst power outage in a decade, which left a huge swath of the country in the dark for more than five hours and raised doubts about the reliability of its energy infrastructure.

  The blackout on Tuesday night left tens of millions of people without power across most of the country's wealthy southeastern region, halting subways and snarling traffic in major cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

So far, Shortshanks has had a police helicopter shot down in the Rio slums and now he's cut power to 60 million people, just to show that he can. We can't decide if he's hoping for a "do-over" or what. In an effort to stay ahead of things, we're throwing our full support behind Rio's continued preparations for the 2016 Games:


Hey?!? Who turned out the lights?