Even Less Money

Why not just forgive everything?

• The city of Chicago will ease up on its debt collection practices to give people a break on certain ticket violations as part of an effort to help residents amid the coronavirus outbreak, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Wednesday.
  
  Through at least April 30, Lightfoot said the city will suspend booting, late fees and defaults on payment plans for all city debts, and is suspending city debt checks for ride-share and taxi drivers, she said. The city also will be limiting ticketing, towing and impounding solely to what she said are public safety-related issues.

Does anyone realize that all this money will have to be made up somewhere, somehow, some way? Layoffs, wage freezes, service cuts, un-payable bonds, maybe even defaults.

Police Memorial Cancelled

Late yesterday afternoon, the FOP announced that the annual remembrance in Washington DC was cancelled:

We expect other cancellations, including the Memorial in Springfield to be forthcoming, if not already announced.

Please Stop Shooting

So Baltimore is discovering that if you don't enforce the law, more people break the law. Also, if you make enemies of the police, they tend to enter what is known as self-preservation-mode AKA "disengagement."

Now the mayor is resorting to begging the thugs to stop shooting each other:

• Baltimore Mayor Jack Young urged residents to put down their guns and heed orders to stay home after multiple people were shot Tuesday night amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
  
  Young said hospital beds are needed to treat positive COVID-19 patients and not for senseless violence. Seven people were shot Tuesday night in the Madison Park neighborhood, as Baltimore reported its fifth positive coronavirus case Wednesday.
  
  “I want to reiterate how completely unacceptable the level of violence is that we have seen recently,” Young said. “We will not stand for mass shootings and an increase in crime.”

That ship already sailed mayor. Baltimore made their bed, and now the politicians don't like that they have to sleep in the pile of shit they created.

Baltimore was one of the first cities to embrace "progressive" social justice. We aren't that far behind.

Fuxxx-ed Up

It was the longest of long shots.

We were hoping that we could point to Crimesha winning with something like 48% of the vote, thereby bolstering our idea that if the protest vote had been united behind a single candidate, then she would have lost. But we can't even claim that at the moment as she's hovering at 51% or so. Maybe if they count the absentee ballots. Gooferetti and More did their jobs well.

But with what might turn out to be the lowest turnout in history, the Machine did what the Machine does - turned out the base and split the anti-incumbent votes. Madigan has been doing it for years with his phantom candidates and it helps him in two ways - (1) keeping power and (2) keeping track of the opposition.

There were also a few other indications that the general area has taken a very hard left turn with alderasshole's progressive anti-police candidate winning and Lipinski being outed by another Occassional-Cortex type loon. Illinois is only accelerating it's descent into madness.

The City That Cares

You can tell exactly who the people-in-charge think are important:

• SCC.
  
  Just an example of the incompetence going on here. We work in the Detective Division. Yes, we re out there doing our scenes, interviewing people, etc. just like Patrol. We go down to Equipment and Supply to pick up paper yesterday, and they re handing out soap and hand sanitizer. The Detective said, oh, I ll pick up for my unit.
  
  Nope, sorry, you’re not on the list. You know who was on the list, all of HQ!! Is that a fcking joke or what!! None for us, but let’s make sure the idiots that deal with the public the least are taken care of. Absolute joke!
  
  Even all of LAPD Officers have been given kits, Isn’t this guy from LA?!? No direction at all from anyone on this job.

Someone checked the dates stamped on the bottles of sanitizer that were supplied.

They expired in 2018.

Which, in the City's defense, is a year or so better than the Contract.

Sick Paramedic

The City seems quick to deny it was job related:

• A Chicago Fire Department paramedic has tested positive for coronavirus and has now been quarantined, City Hall disclosed Tuesday.
  
  The first confirmed case to any of the city’s first-responders was disclosed by Dr. Allison Arwady, the city’s health commissioner, during a conference call with reporters that included Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
  
  “CDPH has already done an investigation [to] ensure the safety of fellow employees. There’s no indication that the member contracted the virus during a service call. The case is doing well in isolation at home,” Arwady said.

And the conflicting information about who's at risk:

• What happens to the ambulance or the firehouse where the paramedic worked? Will it be taken out of service? Are any other firefighters and paramedics being quarantined? If so, are other fire and ambulance companies filling the void?
  
  “Certainly, the firehouse has had a cleaning. We worked to identify close contacts. For example, the individual’s partner, who will be quarantined. The individual will be in isolation at home. And others who were not close contacts, we’ll be doing monitoring. For example, temperature checks to ensure people are not symptomatic,” Arwady said, describing those as “standard precautions and follow-up that we would do in any case.”

No one is "at risk," but the house has had a "cleaning." The partner gets a 14-day quarant-cation.

Obviously the City doesn't want to shut down an entire firehouse and paramedics do (and will continue to) have closer contact than most people with illnesses. But because of the nature of the job, more illnesses are inevitable.

Announcement Soon?

There's still a superintendent to pick:

• It’s not official yet, but all the signals emanating from City Hall indicate Mayor Lori Lightfoot is prepared to announce three candidates under consideration by her office to become the next superintendent of police for the City of Chicago. An announcement expected to come on March 18, the situation is far bleaker than many had previously imagined. A vacancy created by Ms. Lightfoot’s abrupt decision to dismiss former superintendent Eddie Johnson in early December 2019, although the mayor specifically cited the former superintendent’s “false statements,” ethical lapses,” and “flawed decision-making,” Lightfoot insisted a “culture change” was necessary within the Chicago Police Department (CPD).

The three candidates are rumored to be:

• Ernest Cato III, Deputy Chief, Area North Patrol; 
• Kristen Ziman, the chief of Aurora, Illinois;
• David Brown, the former Dallas chief of police

And the description of Cato is hilarious:

• A long-time detective, Ernest Cato III is recognized for achieving an unexceptional score on the sergeant exam. A merit promotee, Cato rebounded with a spectacular score on a lieutenant exam. Miraculously, Cato’s class of newly promoted lieutenants included the leading scorer, who, as it happens, is betrothed to the Department’s former-First Deputy Superintendent. A fortuity which can only be satisfactorily explained through a FOIA request, records obtained hinted Cato was tethered to one of the Department’s biggest scandals: Eugene William’s shadowy study groups. Dark-of-the-night seminars at which “connected” officers received complete copies of the rank-promotion exam, the disgrace forced Williams from consideration to succeed Garry McCarthy. Equally worrisome, Mr. Cato has some personal flaws. While we would be overjoyed to see a list of unflawed people, Mr. Cato’s failing is the sort which is certain to furrow a few brows at 121 North LaSalle.

Go read the rest of it at the top link. We've heard that Brown hasn't impressed Groot at all, so it's a two horse race.

Academy Closed for Classes

Lurching from one crisis to the next without a coherent plan in sight:

• SCC,
  
  Academy closed, recruits headed to the Districts. Promotional classes put on hold and everyone headed back to the assignments. Academy Staff told to be prepared to head to the streets. Not sure where though.
  
  Stay safe.

What new and exciting unplanned reactions will the rest of the day hold?

Well, a few birdies have told us that 12-hour days are here shortly along with cancelled days off. Lots of cancelled days off.

And an e-mailer tells us this:

• If civilian employees run out of sick time or personal days, the Department is advancing them additional time to take off. In other words, they don't have to have the time earned on the books - they can take it and bank it later to "pay back" the city.

That seems ripe for abuse.

The "C" in CIT (UPDATE)

The "C" stands for "coronavirus" if you work on the west side:

• in 11th district they are trying to mandate CIT officers to be the coronavirus response team officers

We thought CIT stood for Crisis Intervention Team. We apologize for this misunderstanding

We're told Commander HUD Fraud is trying to change the day off groups of CIT trained officers so there are imaginary "teams" that have some sort of magical powers to respond to coronavirus incidents, all while having no gloves, no respirators, no Haz-Mat suits, no sanitizer and (most importantly) no training in biological contamination mitigation.

UPDATE: This is citywide? What brain trust came up with this shit?

Hey FOP, how about a 5% differential for CIT people like the Fire Department gets for specialized training?

Crime is Up

The eggheads at the U of C say so:

• Citywide, the number of people who have been shot — killed or wounded — has risen by 36 percent, according to the police department.
  
  Mayor Lori Lightfoot and interim police Supt. Charlie Beck have been scrambling for answers. Last month, Lightfoot met with Beck and his commanders after Chicago experienced its deadliest weekend in 18 years. They talked about strategies to ease the violence, but the murder rate has kept rising.
  
  No one knows why for certain. The police department is asking the University of Chicago Crime Lab to analyze the rise in violent crime.

Guess what they decided?

• Roseanna Ander, director of the U. of C. Crime Lab, said the three-month rise in violence compared to last year needs to be seen in light of last year’s especially cold winter, an anomaly in which people tended to stay inside more often.

Which runs counter to what McCompStat and Rahm were pushing for years - that weather had no effect on crime. We blasted them a number of times over that bullshit and we even pointed out the folly of basing their "crime is down" statements on year-over-year comparisons where a couple bad weeks or weekends could skew statistics into something easily (and politically) manipulable.

Of course, that's what CompStat was based on - statistical manipulation - and Rahm was a quick study in what lying meant to reelection chances.

Arrest Less?

We don't know where this Public Defender has been the past few years, but she's obviously a bit slow on the uptake:

• The top public defender in Cook County has an idea that she thinks will help fight the COVID-19 outbreak: Stop arresting people.
  
  Chicago police should “refrain from arresting anyone for low-level, victimless, or economic-related offenses,” Amy Campanelli said in a letter to her staff. She said she shared her idea with CPD.
  
  “The fewer people arrested, the less chance there is of them being placed in close quarters with others where the virus can spread,” Campanelli continued. “We have a public health crisis that requires the cooperation of officers on the street.”
  
  She didn’t define “low-level,” “victimless,” or “economic-related” crimes, but she also didn’t say how police should handle drug dealers, shoplifters, identity thieves, and other criminals who might fall under her proposed no-arrest umbrella.

That other Public Defender - Crimesha Foxxx - she's hasn't only been saying the same thing on the other side other aisle, she's been doing it, rejecting charges, altering the laws and making deals with Hollywood actors behind everyone's backs.

Credit Union Info

Just FYI:

• In light of recent recommendations made by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), beginning tomorrow, 3/17, all Chicago Patrolmen’s locations will be closed to members. However, the Credit Union remains fully prepared to handle all of your financial needs:
  
  All three drive-up window locations will remain open during regular business hours and available for all teller transactions. All ATM machines owned and operated by the Credit Union, including those located at our facilities and in every Chicago police district throughout the city, will be operational.
  
  We will continue to accept loan applications over the phone and via our Website www.cpdfcu.com. We will continue to complete and disburse all loans via our eDocument and eSignature services. Our Call Center (312-726-8814) will continue to operate during normal business hours.
  
  Our full-service Website, Mobile App and Online Banking capabilities will continue to be at your service 24/7.
  
  If you have any questions, feel free to call me directly at 312-252-9433 or my mobile number. Thank you for your service, and thank you for being a valued member of Chicago Patrolmen’s FCU. Stay safe!
  
  Best Regards,
  John E. Gordon
  Director of Sales, Chicago Patrolmen's Federal Credit Union

Comments closed here. Informational post only.

Piss Poor Planning

As has been pointed out here and elsewhere, the Department is failing to address even the most basic of concerns, including educating the public about the unique challenges faced by the police.

At training recently, we used:

• the same dry erase boards, markers and eraser rags
• blue training pistols, training OC, cuffs and batons
• safety glasses - worn on faces over the eyes

At no time were we offered wipes or sanitizer to clean these items and they were placed in the same bins to be distributed to the next class without being cleaned.

In the Districts, we use:

• radios from the previous watches, carried in close proximity to faces
• Department phones - again, used near your face
• Tasers (and rifles) from the previous watch
• squad cars and squadrols - among the filthiest contraptions on four wheels

And for this, Districts were given a couple of boxes of rubber gloves and perhaps two dozen PPE suits dating back to last century and carried in sergeants cars. There are no wipes in the radio room to clean anything. Some wise officers buy their own out of an abundance of caution.

We're told by some people in-the-know that the brass is completely at sea - "merit" has doomed the Department to inaction. The consensus is that there is no plan. They cannot even agree on closing the Academy because they don't want to put 450 recruits in a no-pay status and they don't want the liability of sending them to Districts to help the desks or front offices because the rumor of COVID-19 being at the Academy seems true, and they are terrified of infecting a District with recruits to the point that they'd have to shut it down.

They don't even know what to do with the recent promotees...who ALL might be infected right now.

Update on That Car

An update to the car parked at the out-of-state casino a couple of times a week:

• The degenerate scamming 2nd District XO was walking around the station bragging that he, “ain’t going anywhere! Waller said I’m good!” Shameful what this job has become. With all the impressionable new PO’s coming through the district, what does taking care of a jerk like Moore say? Clout hacks can do whatever they fucking want. But god help you if you forget to swipe.

And to everyone who was whining about the picture:

• Did you really think we posted that photo without knowing EXACTLY who that car was assigned to?

There was no plausible reason for a city vehicle assigned to a multiple "merit" putz to be parked on the sixth floor of an out-of-state casino. And as you can see from our commentator, this moron is telling everyone that Waller is protecting him, bragging about it, despite his making every single Chicago Police Officers job that much harder in this supposed era of "accountability."

Accountability for some. Obviously, not for others.

Well done Lori. Remember, this is YOUR Department now. All of it.

Fire Refused

Remind us again, who has all the fancy HazMat equipment? Biosuits, respirators, oxygen tanks, decontamination training, etc (click for larger version):

We understand if it's some sort of active shooter type scenario that the CPD is equipped to handle. But we are far far from able to handle a medical-biological event that obviously is going to end in an ambulance transport by CFD.

The current situation is being handled badly enough by governor fat-ass and the politicians. Send the appropriate first responder to the appropriate emergency.

Retiree Lawsuit

This is a revisiting of an old issue. Rahm bragged about fucking over retirees, so we aren't sure why WGN finally figured out this was a pretty big deal:

• It was a cost-cutting move that saved Chicago taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. But the former city workers who were affected say there’s an untold human cost — one that can’t and shouldn’t be ignored.
  
  Among the perks promised to older city workers — affordable health insurance in retirement. But in 2013, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced he was ending the benefit to save cash. Retirees who started working before 1986 were hit the hardest.
  
  They never contributed to Medicare during their employment — the city’s choice, not theirs. As a result, many now don’t qualify for government health insurance, even at age 65. “It’s a kick in the gut but I have to deal with it,” said former city worker Dan Sheehan.
  
  The retirees can buy health insurance through the city. But they pay the full freight because Emanuel cut the subsidy. For a single retiree, the annual cost is now more than $33,000, whereas before it cost a few thousand dollars.

You shouldn't think for a minute the City gives two-shits-and-change about you once you're gone. Hell, they don't care that much about you when you're working either. It's a job, not like it used to be.

In any event, go read it all. It's a very basic overview of the lawsuit that Clint Krislov has been working on for years.

Philadelphia Unity

Philly PD lost an Officer Friday serving an arrest warrant:

• Authorities say a Philadelphia police corporal was shot and killed as he served a homicide warrant at a home in Frankford.
  
  Shortly before 6 a.m. Friday, officers were attempting to serve a warrant on the 1600 block of Bridge Street when they were met with gunfire. Officials say the corporal was shot in the shoulder above his bulletproof vest when officers entered the home. Two people in the home were shot and wounded by police, but they are expected to survive.
  
  Corporal James O'Connor, 46, was a member of the SWAT team of the Philadelphia Police Department. He was a 23-year veteran of the police department and had spent 15 years in SWAT.

And when a particular politician showed up at the hospital, he was met by a solid wall of Officers who refused him entry to see their dying comrade:

• Officers were seen blocking Philly’s top prosecutor Larry Krasner from entering the hospital before leaving, Fox29 reported. Krasner, who has sued the police department more than 75 times, according to the Wall Street Journal, has a tense relationship with officers, who accuse him of coddling criminals, being soft on crime and demoralizing the police department.
  
  "The reason I am here is that we've had a very serious incident involving a police officer. I'm not going to get in front of the police commissioner and talk about details." Krasner told the station. "I'm here for the victim, for the victim's family, for any survivors, and also just to show how much we care about our law enforcement officers."
  
  Last year, after six cops were shot, Philadelphia’s top federal prosecutor William McSwain issued a statement charging Krasner with promoting and championing a “new culture of disrespect for law enforcement" in Philly. "I am fed up with it,” McSwain said.

Krasner is another social justice warrior piece of shit funded by the Soros cabal that gave $2 million to our disaster of a States Attorney here in Chicago and the "prosecutors" in a bunch of other states. If you can find the video, it is truly a sight to behold as he runs away from about fifty or sixty cops who weren't about to let him make a photo-op out of a dead cop.

Anyone know if we can get that McSwain guy to run for office somewhere?

What If....

Has anyone thought about what happens if/when OEMC goes down to the corona-scare?

They're already doing mandatory OT most days, and god knows the employees there aren't shy about calling off regualrly. They almost can't be fired and if you've ever visited the dispatching floor, the place is filthy beyond belief. We can totally see it as an ideal virus-breeding ground. If we aren't mistaken, it's been shut down before for infestations of critters on at least one occasion, maybe more.

If there's no one taking the calls, response times to up. Way up. And that isn't even taking into consideration if the Districts get infected, either via the Academy (see yesterday's post) or via an infected member of the public.

UPDATE: an interesting comment:

• Any1 know why LarryLitefoot was @ 311 today for all of about 3 mins. Dip’d in spoke 2’Desk Sgt n dip’d out.
  
  Also..... 911 Tech guys/gals were @ 311 other day auditing workstations. They said it was in preparation of when (NOT if) 911 (OEMC) is quarantined

Not many people know, but the 311 / Callback / Alternate Response Section is kind of an OEMC mini site. Every workstation can be adapted to dispatch on regular zone frequencies and Citywide. Amazingly, someone is thinking ahead.

Why is VRI Moving?

Supposedly, moving from the basement of 011 to HQ.

Are any of the CTA stations being patrolled near 3510?

Where are officers supposed to park? Last we checked, the lot there was packed.

And the bosses are okay with giving up ten or more parking spots to the VRI cans that drop off the officers to their posts? Which dollies are going to have to park out in the hood?

Guilty

Again, Illinois really needs a death penalty:

• A Cook County jury Friday found four-time felon Shomari Legghette guilty of the 2018 murder of Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer.
  
  Seated in the front-row courtroom seat she had occupied for most of the trial, Bauer’s widow, Erin Bauer, showed little reaction as a clerk read off guilty verdicts on each of the six counts against 46-year-old Legghette.
  
  Legghette, standing several feet from from Bauer’s family and rows of CPD officers, showed no emotion when the verdicts were read. He faces 45 years to life in prison.
  
  Bauer’s family issued a statement, thanking the prosecution team, witnesses to the crime and the jury.
  
  “Today is a bittersweet day for everyone who loved Paul,” the statement from the family read. “We are so happy and relieved with the verdict, but we are overwhelmed with sadness that he is no longer with us.”

It only took the jury three hours to convict.

RIP Commander