Time for a Change (long post)

This past Friday. following the funeral of Officer Rivera, the Slum Times posted an article regarding the disciplinary record of her partner who tragically killed her. 

We'll link it, but we aren't going to quote it or cite it. We can't say we're surprised by the number of Log Numbers in his short career. If you work certain places, you're going to catch complaints. If you're young, you're going to do stupid things, especially if you're out drinking. If you're minimally aware of how hiring standards have fallen, you're going to suspect that certain red-flags that would have prevented hiring in the past aren't going to be as rigorously applied when no one wants the job. And the habit of this generation to record everything and the social media fixation continues to baffle us.

It's a perfect storm of crap.

We don't know what the final investigation will conclude, but we'll almost guarantee they won't address the most glaring deficiencies that led to this unspeakable disaster.

We will say this however:

• It is far past time to reinstate the Ceriale Rule and update it for the modern era.

For those who weren't around, Michael Ceriale was a CPD Officer who was on Tact, doing a narcotics surveillance in 002, when he was killed by a teen who fired a round at the location Ceriale was concealed striking him below his vest. He died six days later. Ceriale was only 26 and had a grand total of one year, three months and sixteen days on the job. Considering six months in the Academy, his street time was under ten months....and he was on Tact. While that was probably indicative of his drive, ability and skill, the brass belatedly realized that these admirable qualities didn't provide the greatest single attribute to a successful police career:

• experience

So downtown instituted a "probation plus three year" rule for any plain clothes assignment which back then meant Tact or Gangs. Anything past that usually required Tact or Gang experience anyway, so the other spots were covered automatically (barring phone calls - which still existed because why wouldn't they?) And it mostly worked. There was even a time where a separate training course was required before you worked plain clothes. It wasn't much of a course, but it was on paper.

Somewhere, it all went away. By the later stages of our careers, they were filling Tact teams via reverse seniority because no one with time wanted to voluntarily give up Contractual Rights and surrender days off to get sent all over the city for crappy parades in crappier neighborhoods that you had the seniority to avoid. But the Department didn't care - they had plenty of "volunteers" who would do anything to avoid midnights. If we're doing the math correctly, Rivera's partner had just hit three years on the street.

And here the Department is - the youngest and least experienced organization in over three decades, with lowered standards, overlooked red-flags, and a Personnel Department desperate for any warm body to fill a uniform. It's a recipe for disaster as evidenced in early June.

As we said above, it's past time to reinstate the Ceriale Rule with major updates:

• we'd suggest a five year minimum, with at least some of that time on midnights. First Watch is not natural, it damages the mind, body and soul, it takes a toll on families. But it provides experience in excess;
• a full week of training regarding plain clothes. This would include an emphasis on tactics. Tactics for traffic stops especially after that shooting in 011 where everything learned at the Academy seems to have fallen by the wayside. Approaching suspects, citizen interactions, proper equipment, etc. We'd even go so far as to suggest an actual tact "uniform" of utility pants and polo-type shirt with CPD insignia. The skinny jeans, ripped t-shirt, baseball cap look isn't professional and - valid or not - provides defense attorneys with far too many opportunities to claim "no one knew you were the police."
• supervisor recommendations on paper. Let's face it - Tact has devolved into a favor-based assignment. There have always been goofs, but it used to be cops with some significant drive who made the teams. Cops who could smell guns, spot hot rides, knew the players, could puzzle out the dope operation, things that come with experience. The really good Tact supervisors spotted these cops and recruited them. Nowadays, sergeants don't get to pick their teams, they get told who is coming over. Hell, the lieutenants don't even get to pick their sergeants. If the Department went back to actual supervisory input, then the white shirts (who talk among themselves) would know who the dedicated and smart workers are, and who's getting Court Deviations for missing Traffic Court or Log Numbers for verbally abusing citizens, and they wouldn't be on Tact. And then, make the supervisor responsible for the recommendations.

Unfortunately, there will be objections to these reasonable suggestions. We've made them before in one form or another, here and elsewhere. Our point, however clumsily we try to make it, is that experience is the greatest teacher in the police profession, and when combined with decent training is the only smart way forward to recover from this tragedy.

No one wants to be where where the Department is at today. 

Well Look at That

Two cops were ambushed up in Milwaukee the other day. One died:

• The 32-year-old Milwaukee police officer critically injured in a shooting Thursday has died, the Milwaukee Police Department announced Sunday.

  According to the Milwaukee Police Association, Kendall Corder was shot several times in his arm and chest, causing severe internal injuries. He had served on the force for the past six years.

  Officer Corder was one of two officers shot while responding to a 911 call near 24^th and Garfield on the city’s north side that came in shortly after 9 p.m. on Thursday. MPD said the officers were unexpectedly ambushed and shot in an alley along North 24th Place.

The suspect was apprehended shortly thereafter, and that's where the story takes a horrendous turn.

Guess where the suspect should have been? Guess who cut him loose?

• Just two months ago, the suspect was given a deferred prosecution agreement on charges of vehicle theft and obstructing an officer from 2021, meaning said charges were dismissed and the suspect would only be punished if he violated the terms of that agreement. He obviously did.

  Notably, the suspect was given this deal even after he failed to show up even after not one but TWO bench warrants for failing to show up for court appearances during the nearly four years the case was in the court system.

  Oh, and the judge who originally signed off on a deferred prosecution agreement in 2023? Hannah Dugan, who now faces federal charges for helping a violent illegal alien evade ICE by sneaking him out of her courtroom through the jury exit.

Even after this asshole missed not one but TWO court dates in violation of the "sentencing agreement," the judge still let him skate on his continued law breaking. And instead of this criminal being behind bars, he was free to ambush Milwaukee cops....and the judge was free to later aid and abet a violent ILLEGAL ALIEN avoid an ICE arrest and certain deportation.

It is certain that democrats love all criminals. 

This Just Looks Funny

But it's what "police work" has been reduced to:

• One of the stranger videos to go viral in Chicago this week featured one of the slowest police pursuits of all time. The footage showed the driver of a hoopty minivan creeping along a four-lane street, weaving in and out of construction cones and driving the wrong way — all at about 2 mph — while a swarm of Chicago police patrol cars zigged and zagged in an attempt to contain him.

  After seeing the footage, we had to find out what that was all about.

And CWB did find out what it was all about. There's video linked here.

And the truly sad part is there will probably be a bunch of suspension time handed out for paint scratches, uniform violations and something to so with Use of Force just to screw with the cops. 

But they got it done, so good job everyone. 

This Just Looks Worse

Wasn't Navy Pier the #1 tourist attraction in Illinois for a number of years running?

What happened?

• A man was killed in a stabbing Sunday at Navy Pier, and the suspect was seriously wounded. The incident happened around 5:30 p.m. in the 600 block of East Grand Avenue, Chicago police said.

  A 56-year-old man and a 64-year-old man were in an argument at the location when the older man allegedly stabbed the victim multiple times with a sharp object, police said. The victim was taken to a hospital for multiple stab wounds to his upper body, where he was later pronounced dead.

  The suspect was also taken to a hospital in serious condition with a stab wound to his chest. He is in custody, police said.

"Mutual Combatants!" Right Crimesha?

Oh wait, she's not here any more. 

Nice tourist attraction though Conehead. 

This Just Looks Bad

Even the video is hinky:

• A Chicago Park District lifeguard who killed one teenager and badly injured another at the Douglass Park swimming pool on Thursday also tried to shoot a third teenage boy, but missed, prosecutors said Sunday.

  The revelation came during a detention hearing for Charles Leto, the 55-year-old concealed carry holder now charged with multiple felonies, including first-degree murder.

The usual suspects are leaping to conclusions before any evidence has been presented aside from the bail hearing, and that is rarely ever the final word. 

Giant Brawl

We're told this was in 015? This is disgusting in the extreme:

• link here

Officers being manhandled, punched, dragged and thrown to the ground as the neighborhood frees a bunch of people who were obviously about to be arrested.

There used to be time when there would be an overwhelming response and the hood would get shut down for a couple weeks. 

Now? Might as well post the "No-Go" signs around the block and leave them to their own devices. 

School Layoffs

About damn time, but far too few:

• Chicago Public Schools’ crossing guard staff were cut by 15% Friday as the district announced sweeping layoffs in an effort to fill a projected $734 million budget shortfall. District officials said 161 employees in various positions were laid off and 209 vacant jobs would not be filled in what they described as a “careful and strategic approach to reduce spending while minimizing the impact on classrooms.”

  Nearly all of the 87 members of SEIU Local 73 who were let go were crossing guards, officials said. Another 24 vacant crossing guard positions were closed. Seven Chicago Teachers Union members were also laid off, with 19 open jobs eliminated. And 67 central office and network offices employees were laid off, with 166 positions across those offices closed, officials said.

  The reductions come a day after interim CPS CEO Macquline King pegged the district’s budget shortfall at nearly $730 million, hundreds of millions of more than what was acknowledged by her predecessor, Pedro Martinez, who left last week after being terminated.

"hundreds of millions more." So CPS lied. Again. And Conehead wants CPS to float a bond issue or some such nonsense, saddling taxpayers with even more debt, just so connected banks can make money on the junk bonds.

How about closing some schools? Remember this from WirePoints? (click for larger version)

That was 2022.

Here's 2023:

It didn't get any better in 2024 either. 

How about closing these twenty schools? Even closing ten would eliminate around 100% of the shortfall.

So Who's Getting it Worse?

These are red light camera tickets:

• Red-light cameras on Chicago’s South Side issued more than triple the number of tickets per intersection as on the North Side between June 2024 and May 2025. Fines citywide dropped over $12 million from the previous 12 months.

  Red-light cameras on Chicago’s South Side issued the most tickets per intersection during the 12 months through May, ticketing 2.6 times more drivers than the citywide average and over triple the number as monitored intersections on the North Side.

  Drivers citywide were fined nearly $56.5 million, without accounting for late fees, through 564,708 tickets from June last year through May. That’s 120,709 fewer tickets than during the previous 12 months and a more than $12 million drop in revenue. The drop was $15.4 million from the peak 12 months before that.

So fines are down tens of millions - money you know that Conehead has already spent in his "budget."

But although the rate of ticketing is higher on the south side, total fines are higher north:

• Red-light cameras on the South Side issued an average of 9,692 tickets, or about 6,623 more tickets than each camera intersection on the North Side.

  Despite the high volume of tickets per intersection on the South Side, drivers on the North Side received 73,309 more tickets, costing North Side drivers $7.3 million more in total than those on the South Side.

Of course, none of this means a damn thing unless the fines are paid promptly on time. The money is spent as if it was there, but it never is and the so-called media watchdogs never seem to ask that question.

No Fireworks?

Again?

• With the Fourth of July falling on a Friday, there will once again be no fireworks show downtown to mark the holiday.

  The city has confirmed that there will be no fireworks display in Chicago this year. Navy Pier will still hold its twice-a-week fireworks display on Wednesday, July 2, at 9 p.m. and Saturday, July 5, at 10 p.m.

  Madeline Long, director of communication for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, told WGN News last year that “as has been the case for several years, the City does not host fireworks for the July 4th holiday.”

Not sure how many years in a row this is, but we remember working for the 3rd of July and it was an amazing shit show. 

 Every. Single. Time.

And we can't imagine the Department being able to handle anything like it nowadays. It would be broken windows, mass looting, multiple OC and Taser deployments, fights on every corner....you know, like it is all summer anyway.

And no arrests, just endless lawsuits until the next one.

Besides, the firework displays in the hood are almost better these days. 

We Laughed Way too Hard

Nearly thirty years certainly contributed to our dark sense of humor:

• A suspected shoplifter trying to escape Houston police made a wild and painful decision inside the Galleria Mall on Sunday afternoon—jumping from the second story and crashing onto the ice skating rink below.

  According to local news outlets, police officers were working a security shift inside the Galleria when they were alerted to a theft in progress. They quickly located the suspect, who bolted through the mall and jumped over a second-floor railing in an attempt to escape. He landed hard on the ice below, and let’s just say…he didn’t get far.

  Video captured by witness Ken Gilliard shows the man sprawled on the rink, screaming in pain. “As soon as he fell, he tried to get up. And I guess he noticed that his legs were broken. He screamed, ‘My legs are broken,’” Gilliard told Click2Houston. In the video, officers can be seen stepping onto the ice to reach him.

No video of the actual leap and fall, but the aftermath is still amusing.

So is this part:

• .... the suspect shouted, “Come get me,” right before jumping.

No problem moron. You probably won't ever be running again.

Dems Luv Criminals

In case you needed reminding:

Drunk drivers - one of the single largest populations of killers of the innocent - and dems support them.

And how about this out of Denver:

• The Denver City Council has voted unanimously to shutter a highly successful anti-theft auto license plate tracking system. The system was not closed due to concerns about privacy or finances. It was shut down because Democratic members believed that ICE could use the data to deport illegals.

  In May, the council refused to renew the $666,000 contract with Flock for camera monitors around 70 Denver intersections to screen for car theft. That system resulted in the recovery of 170 stolen cars and 300 arrests. It is also credited with key evidence in the investigation of hit-and-run and murder cases.

  However, it could also be used to assist ICE, and that is all that matters. Councilman Kevin Flynn explained it is all about Trump’s election: “We know that it can help solve crime. But I think since maybe Jan. 20 of this year, those concerns are greatly heightened and have a new reality about them.”

So screw recovering your stolen car. If the successful program inconveniences even a single ILLEGAL alien, then it must be stopped even when it benefits actual taxpaying citizens.

Who's This A$$hole?

Can't even wear the proper insignia of his rank at an Honors Funeral:

 

It's our old nemesis "commander" Tate who evidently couldn't schedule a vacation quick enough to skip another funeral.

Larritorious is all hyped up on uniforms and sending out the Inspectors to look for the 5-11 pants, but doesn't seem to notice the exempt staff looking like trash while honoring a fallen Officer.

Protect it from What?

Because we know who ain't misbehaving:

• Chicago Police Department leaders announced their safety plan Thursday ahead of the city’s 54th Pride Parade this weekend.

  The parade, which kicks off at 11 a.m. Sunday, is expected to draw roughly a million people to the North Side neighborhoods of Northalsted, Lake View, Uptown and Lincoln Park.

  Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling said the department’s goal is to prevent any outbreaks of violence after the parade ends, which he said have occurred in previous years.

Oh, just the aftermath? Wwe haven't seen anything like actual barricades capable of stopping cars and / or truck driving down sidewalks or streets. For that, you'd have to profile certain individuals, and we all know who has a habit of driving cars through crowded parade routes.

The after-party is a completely different type of profiling....and no one wants to say that one out loud either.

All the more reason to put every parade down in Grant Park, use salt trucks, steel bollards, and tire shredding devices to secure the route from terror-types, and get the rowdy morons out of the neighborhoods where they plunder the residents and attack the party-goers.

Trust the Government!

That thing that never happened? It happened again:

• In a study covering 1.3 million women of childbearing age, published in the International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, a simple analysis was done comparing the rate of conception between women who were vaccinated and those who were not, and there is a dramatic difference in the results. 

  This should come as no surprise by now--early on in the vaccination program, women experienced serious changes in their menstrual cycles, and subsequent studies showed that other changes to fertility were likely. The menstrual changes were a red flag that the public health officials ignored, reassuring everyone that they were of no concern. 

  They made those assurances based on nothing but hope--or indifference. Their commitment wasn't to the health of the women but to the viability of their vaccine program, regardless of the actual costs and benefits. Their view of "informed consent" was simple: if people are informed, they might not consent. So don't inform. Just lie. 

In the first full scale study of it's kind, the Czech Republic found that "vaccinated" women had successful pregnancies reduced by over one-third compared to the unvaccinated. It wasn't a vaccine - it was a population killer. 

Anyone know when the show trial and executions are going to start? Start with the US governors who locked down states while they and their families flew around ignoring all the "rules."

Out-of-Grade Slips Ready?

We highly doubt this is going to work out well: 

• Chicago police officers were relieved of one of their most grisly responsibilities 25 years ago: hauling dead bodies to the medical examiner’s office.

  Cook County initially took over the job, then handed it off to a series of private companies with mixed results — and a few scandals along the way.

  Now, the city’s decision to award a five-year, nearly $4.5 million contract for body removal to a single Northwest Side funeral home is raising questions — one police supervisor wondered whether “a funeral home is equipped to handle the city’s volume.”

  Wallace Harrison Funeral Home was the lowest of three bids for the lucrative contract.

And  just how did they get this Contract?

• At one point, GSSP was charging Chicago $915-per-body, the largest removal fee paid by any big city in the nation. Wallace Harrison Funeral Home will charge the city $172-per-body.  

Talk about your "low ball" bid. 

And the manpower in place to fulfill the Contract? 

• Wallace-Harrison told the Sun-Times that she has 20 transport vehicles and 20 employees. But the affidavit she filed with the city last fall indicates that her funeral home has just five full-time employees, including herself.

  The affidavit lists only one employee by name: Nakia Wallace-Harrison. A second manager is listed, but not identified. The three remaining employees are listed as “TBD.” 

As in, "No one has been hired for the position yet." 

This has disaster written all over it, but suddenly, the wagon just might be a financially attractive job. One body moved is D-3 pay for the tour.

Another Surrender

Enabling crime every single day:

• Chicago Police Department officials agreed to revise proposed new rules and prohibit officers from searching vehicles based on the smell of raw cannabis, a coalition of reform groups told the federal judge overseeing efforts to reform the Chicago Police Department.

  The coalition of police reform groups behind the consent decree — the six-year-old federal court order requiring the CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers — told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer they had dropped their request that she order CPD leaders to revise a proposed policy designed to set new limits on when Chicago police officers can stop and search Chicagoans.

  The coalition, led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, “applauds” CPD for amending the policy in late May, calling the latest version “an improvement” that reflects an agreement reached in August 2023 that prohibits officers from “conducting an investigatory stop or search of an individual based solely on an officer smelling cannabis/marijuana without any other specific and articulable facts of criminal activity,” in a court filing made Monday.

Hooray!!! You just made cops jobs that much easier.

Of course, the Illinois Supreme Court has been a beacon of consistency, too:

• The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in December that the scent of raw cannabis is enough for a police officer to search a vehicle, even though marijuana is legal in the state. Three months before that decision, the Supreme Court found that the smell of burnt cannabis was not probable cause for a search.

So "raw" cannabis is enough for a search, but "burnt" cannabis isn't, even if the "burnt" cannabis is initially indicative of someone driving while high.

To top it all off, CPD pretty much ceased doing traffic stops for weed years ago:

• ...CPD officers rarely stop Chicagoans on suspicion of unlawfully possessing cannabis or violating the law regulating the possession or use of medical marijuana, according to CPD data.

  In the seven months between December 2024 and June 2025, just 70 traffic stops were conducted on the basis of suspected violations of laws governing the use and possession of cannabis, according to CPD data.

  In 2024, CPD officials reported officers made 295,846 traffic stops to the Illinois Department of Transportation, which is required by state law to track all stops made by police officers throughout the state.

That means that 0.0002% of traffic stops are for smelling marijuana in any form. Two-ten-thousandths. Cops saw the writing on the wall long before the ACLU got involved in de-criminalizing crime.

Arrest in Animal Killing

Guess where they found him:

• A 15-year-old boy was charged after allegedly killing two animals in the yard of a Northwest Side residence.

  Police arrested the boy Tuesday in the 3000 block of West Harrison on two felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and misdemeanor criminal trespass.

  He’s accused of unlawfully entering a yard in the 5200 block of West Newport on May 22 and killing two animals.

So much of the truly twisted crap seems to begin, end or pass through two locations - 007 and 011. No surprise either that both of these locations have led Chicago in violent crimes in something like eighteen of the past twenty years. Must be something in the water. 

The countdown to his first arrest as a serial killer has begun. 

Kenny, Is That You?

Why is this reminding us of something?

• A Maywood man was been charged in federal court with fraudulently obtaining Social Security benefits in the name of his deceased father.

  The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said 61-year-old Richard Young Jr. was indicted on four counts of band fraud and one count of embezzlement of government funds.

  According to an indictment, Young’s father died in 2006. Seven years later, Young filed an application with the Social Security Administration for benefits in the name of his deceased father.
  

Perhaps he can pretend to be a connected Chicago Police commander. That criminal only got probation for over two decades of Social Security fraud.

Wake Last Night

A somber evening:

• The line to get into Montclair-Lucania Funeral Home, 6901 W. Belmont Ave., stretched down the street before the visitation began at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

  Uniformed officers from Rockford, Hanover Park, Bloomingdale and Milwaukee were among the many who came to pay their respects.

  Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Police Supt. Larry Snelling arrived about 7 p.m. through a side entrance.

The funeral is later today. 

Interment was listed as "private" so we assume the procession to the cemetery will end at the gates?

Quick Hits

The Tribune tried to save NYC from itself:

• The Chicago Tribune issued a grim warning to New Yorkers about electing a socialist mayoral candidate like Zohran Mamdani in a bombshell op-ed Monday, the day before the Empire State’s primary elections.

  The paper’s editorial board paints a bleak image of Mamdani, the 33-year-old Democratic socialist Queens assemblyman who leapfrogged the longtime front-runner, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in a stunning new poll released earlier in the day.

  “A familiar dilemma: a moderate, business-friendly Democrat versus a democratic socialist. New Yorkers, take it from Chicago — we’ve seen this movie before, and the ending isn’t pretty,” the board of one of the last remaining big-city daily newspapers cautioned. 

They failed....and New York City will see an exodus rivaling that of the COVID years, with multiple corporations moving to Texas, Florida and New Jersey. 

==========

If this is true, can we get some reimbursement?

• Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Stacy Davis Gates said that children belong to them while delivering a speech at the City Club of Chicago.

  "Baldwin says the children are always ours. Every single one of them, all over the globe. And what comes next is 'CTU thinks your children are its children.' Yes, we do. We do. We do," Davis Gates said on Monday.

  [...] Davis Gates went on to say, "'CTU thinks all children belong to it. And they’re a socialist conspiracy ideology.' Well, I don't know about all that, but we like children. We educate them, we nurture them, we protect them, we support them, we negotiate for them, we create space for them. We even have them in our homes."

Is that before or after grooming and molesting them?

==========

Good riddance finally:

• Chester Weger, the man convicted of killing one of three women found dead at Starved Rock State Park in 1960, has died at the age of 86.

  He died Sunday, June 22, in Kansas City, according to his attorney Andy Hale of Hale and Monico.

  “Chester fought until the end to clear his name. He was innocent of the horrific murders but died just days after a LaSalle County judge denied his request to overturn his conviction. We are deeply saddened that Chester’s legacy is marred by this unjust conviction.

Fuck him and his attorney. He died a convicted murderer. They can put it on his tombstone. And if we happen to be in the vicinity of his grave, we'll piss on it, too.

Fata$$ Staying Put?

Bad news for Illinois:

• Gov. JB Pritzker will announce his campaign for a third term as Illinois governor on Thursday, sources told the Sun-Times.

  The billionaire Democrat who has dominated Illinois politics since supplanting Republican former Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2019 had long been expected to try to extend his tenure as he mulls a 2028 presidential bid.

  Pritzker will make his third consecutive statewide campaign official with reelection campaign kickoff events in Chicago and Springfield. Invitations went out to supporters early this week.

  But it’s still unknown whom Pritzker will tap to join him on the top of the ticket as lieutenant governor. His current second-in-command, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, is vying for the U.S. Senate seat that Sen. Dick Durbin will give up next year.

It takes a lot of energy to put that tub of lard in motion.

And so far, the republicans haven't fielded a viable candidate, but that's to be expected when they're just part of the theater of Illinois politics.

The Inevitable Lawsuit

Reason #2,412 not to chase cars:

• The mother of a woman killed in a car crash last November is suing the city of Chicago and unnamed police officers.

  According to the lawsuit, police were pursuing a car they thought was stolen near East 60th Street and South State Street on the city's South Side.

  That car hit one driven by 61-year-old Karen Henry. A CTA bus was also hit.

It's over, it's been over, it's never coming back. 

This is what Chicago voted for.

Weekend Numbers

We had speculated at six dead and fifteen maimed for the weekend - a combined twenty-one count.

In actuality (all stats via HeyJackass.com):

• three dead, twenty-four wounded

Twenty-seven, so not too far off, but the second number was kind of surprising. We thought crime was down what with Conehead bragging a few weeks ago.

Crime is....Funny?

Or is it just the "training" that's being pushed by people looking to grift some money?

• Three dozen police captains pair off in a Chicago conference room to play a game: They must start a sentence with the last word their partner used.

  Many exchanges are nonsensical, full of one-upmanship using difficult words and laughter. But the improvisation game eventually makes sense.

  “What we are trying to do, is get you to listen to the end of the sentence,” says Kelly Leonard, wrapping up the improvisational exercise. “If my arm was a sentence, when do most people stop listening? Always the elbow! But then you’re missing everything that goes after… and sometimes that’s critical information.”

  The police captains who have flown in from departments across the country nod. “I definitely do that,” some call out.

  Officials at the University of Chicago Crime Lab’s Policing Leadership Academy brought members of The Second City, Chicago’s storied improv theater, to teach police leaders the more diverse skills found in improv exercises — like thinking on your feet, reserving judgment and fully listening.

So how much is this costing taxpayers? Especially the part about flying in captains from "across the country." Which jurisdictions are paying for this nonsense?

Go read it all, if only to be disgusted by what passes as "training" for all the wrong reasons. 

Interesting Application of the Law

Remember on 10 June, that red Kia that disobeyed police and ended up driving through a protest? The media wasted no time claiming the driver "plowed through" the crowd, in spite of all sorts of video that didn't show anyone hit nor bodies flying through the air the way we've seen in assorted terror attacks across Europe.

Here's the Slum Times just yesterday:

• A woman who allegedly drove into a crowd of protesters with her kids in the car this month in the Loop and injuring a 66-year-old has been arrested and is facing charges.

  Deirdre Kemp, 30, surrendered to police Thursday and is accused of plowing through thousands of protesters June 10 near State and Monroe streets, Chicago police said.

Loaded language throughout the article. But if you bother to read down a few extra paragraphs, you find this:

• One officer tried to get Kemp to stop and pulled on her driver’s-side door handle, but authorities say Kemp sped off.

  Another officer continued chasing after Kemp but lost his balance and ran into 66-year-old Heather Blair, who suffered a broken arm. She was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition and released the same day.

So the Officer ran into the senior citizen and caused her to fall and break her arm?

Fine, glad to see the driver got charged for her illegal actions that caused someone else harm.

But that sounds like the "felony murder" rule, just on a smaller scale. Something that was discontinued with the SAFE-T Act regarding homicides and other violent crimes, but now being used over a hit-and-run?

Things that make you go, "Hmmmm." 

Tax Increases Inbound

From a friend (click for larger version):

And if that wasn't bad enough, there's a bill in Springfield that is purportedly going to cost the average family in Illinois an EXTRA $3,700 per vehicle, per year in "road usage fees:"

• IL SB1938 is still alive and could come up for vote in October. If passed it could tax you up to 30 cents per mile driven. Avg. $3,750 per IL household annually!

As far as we can tell, this is starting out as a "pilot program" to see how easily Illinois lawmakers can steal more money from everyone. They claim it is a possible replacement for the gas tax, but when has Illinois ever revoked an existing tax? We'll give you a hint - never.

The text of the Bill can be read here.

Next up, registering all of our cars somewhere else.

Body Snatchers Contract Up?

Rumor time:

• Pretty soon, Chicago will be phasing out its body-removal contract with Allied Services and switching to contracting with a specific funeral home. Is nepotism afoot? Being Chicago, I wouldn't be surprised. 

Allied was always a scam operation. It used to take hours for them to show up until it was pointed out that keeping cops off the streets for four hours and sometime more was not the best use of manpower. That was when the 45 minute rule (75?) was instituted.

And before that, it was discovered that Allied was charging the City over $800 per removal. Comparable contracts in other cities were under $300.....and in a pinch, a wagon crew could do it for out-of-grade pay from D1 to D3, payable for the entire tour, but amounting to under $100.

And we're old enough to have met and worked with some wagon guys who were investigated (and cleared) of steering bodies to connected funeral homes for $50 per stiff. 

Are we about to return to the bad old days of certain establishments getting bodies for a "fee" with associated kickbacks to Conehead's reelection campaign?

Reinsdorf v Waller

Story late last week:

• A Cook County judge on Friday ordered Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to be deposed as part of a lawsuit against the team stemming from the August 2023 shooting in the Rate Field bleachers.

  Reinsdorf — who’s in the midst of a deal to sell the team he’s owned for more than 40 years — must give sworn testimony by July 31.

  An attorney for the White Sox, Robert Shannon, told Judge Sarah Brunson on Friday that the questions for Reinsdorf will likely center around comments he made to the media in the days after the shooting, as well as the team’s decision to not call off the rest of the game after the shooting occurred.

And what would those comments be?

• “They haven’t come to a final conclusion, but have done a lot of investigation,” Reinsdorf previously said. “We have gathered a lot of facts, and, without getting into the detail because I don’t want to influence the police’s decision, but the fact is based upon the information available to us, I see virtually no possibility that the gunshots came from within the ballpark.”

Of course not. because then he's have to admit that security sucked, he was hiring connected individuals and skimping on actual security measures. Not a good look.

But let's see what an actual Police official said, someone (allegedly) trained in investigative techniques and familiar with the rules of evidence:

• However, that same week, [interim Superintendent] Waller told reporters:

  “We’re dispelling a lot of things … (A shot) coming from outside is something we’ve almost completely dispelled. We’re still looking at every avenue. It’s still under investigation. Something from inside, it could’ve happened that way. We’re looking at every avenue, exploring every lead and everything that we can get.”

So either someone misunderstood what they were being told (Reinsdorf) or someone is selling Waller down the river (Reinsdorf). Either way, Fred doesn't look good.

And you'll recall some of the posts we made - the physics involved, the imaginary ShotSpotter readings from miles away, the scorch mark on the weapon smuggler's belly, etc. Did anyone ever see if the CPS employee had a gun purchase in her background? 

Odd Connections

So this was reported way back in April:

• A high-profile lobbyist who is a former top aide to Gov. JB Pritzker is cooperating with investigators, her lawyer says, in a case involving a man facing federal charges that accuse him of extorting a Lincoln Park restaurant owner.

  Will County treasurer’s office records show Lisa Duarte, the former Pritzker aide, had paid $19,947 in property taxes for a Lemont estate that comprised three adjacent properties that were raided by the FBI in connection with the federal investigation of Jawad Fakroune, records show.

  The tax bills for the $2.5 million estate, where Fakroune lived, went to Duarte at her Lincoln Park condo. They covered one year of property taxes on each of the three properties, which are owned by a trust whose beneficiaries aren’t public.

  She said in a brief interview that she did nothing wrong and that she was a victim of Fakroune, declining to explain more, including how she knows Fakroune or why she was paying the property taxes on the Lemont home, saying of the taxes: “I can’t talk to you about that.

Not only was Duarte connected to Fata$$ (first assistant deputy governor - which is obviously a totally made up ghost payrolling spot), she was an aide to the ol' 9.5 Digit Midget. Her lobbying history includes the Bears, White Sox, Wirtz Corp., United Center and CTA.

But the truly interesting part is who she was paying the property taxes for - Jawad Fakroune - and his connection to a CPD member:

• A Chicago cop is under investigation by police officials over his ties to accused extortionist Jawad Fakroune, a convicted felon and Moroccan national who authorities say posed as a relative of the drug lord Pablo Escobar.

  Fakroune was arrested in January, charged with using threats and violence to shake down the owner of a Lincoln Park restaurant for $1.5 million he said he was owed.

  This month, the officer’s connection to Fakroune surfaced in a court filing in which federal prosecutors asked a judge to keep Fakroune in jail until his trial because they say he’s dangerous and a flight risk.

  According to prosecutors, the officer told the FBI he left guns at a home of Fakroune in the Chicago area. The officer said Fakroune failed to return the guns, which prosecutors said were later seized on Dec. 18 in an FBI raid of a home where Fakroune was staying in Manhattan.

  They said the officer reported the guns stolen, but some information in his report was false.

"False" meaning he lied in an official report and probably to the fbi, too. He hasn't been charged yet, but it certainly looks like the hook is set deep and he'll likely be "un-indicted co-conspirator X" at some point.

If we were cynical observers of Chicago politics, we'd wonder about gun-running, CPD corruption, lobbyists working for Fata$$, Rahm, Chicago spots teams and Moroccan extortionists all being connected somehow, but we're sure it's just a strange set of a dozen coincidences.

It looks like the Slum Times has discovered some long neglected investigative reporter skills.

Coming Soon to Chicago?

Denver is having budget problems - $50 million short last fiscal year, $200 million short next year. Most of this is due to spending on ILLEGAL aliens and falling tax revenues. 

You'll recall that Chicago was staring down the barrel of a $1 billion shortfall and Cook County an additional $200 million, mostly due to the same ILLEGAL alien handouts and falling tax revenues.

Guess how Denver is looking at balancing their budget?

• Denver city leaders are preparing to make "substantial" layoffs in order to deal with a massive budget deficit.

  In May, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston announced the city was projecting a $50 million budget deficit this year and a $200 million budget deficit next year. Johnston said his administration must consider layoffs to help the city balance next year’s budget.

  “We will have to look at layoffs,” Johnston said. “We do not envision a scenario where it's possible to right-size this budget without that impact on personnel.”

And how is this blue-city $hithole going to accomplish these layoffs?

• City officials said it’s still too early to know how many workers will be laid off. It could depend on whether a proposed personnel rule change is adopted. The city wants to move away from a system that protects workers who have been employed by the city for a long time to a merit-based system.

  Under the current rule, senior employees can “bump” less-tenured employees to avoid being laid off. Kathy Nesbitt, executive director of Denver’s Office of Human Resources, said the current rule causes significant delays in the layoff process. “It also fails to ensure that we have the very best talent,” Nesbitt said.

  The proposed new rule aims to evaluate employees based on four key criteria: performance ratings, skills, abilities, and length of service. Nesbitt said this approach will help the city retain the most talented and capable employees while meeting budget reduction goals. It would also make it easier to lay off senior employees.

"Senior employees" are the ones at the top of the pay scale.

"Merit" means who can suck ass (or other sexual organs) the hardest.

So Contracts and seniority might mean very little - in Denver at least - very shortly. 

And you can bet Conehead and Prickwrinkle will be watching the situation very closely.

Second Offender Charged

He was on parole for another gun charge - his THIRD???

• A man sporting a tattoo across his throat reading “SLIME,” on parole for his third adult gun case, has been charged with possessing yet another firearm in the moments before Chicago Police Officer Krystal Rivera was unintentionally shot and killed by her partner on June 5.

  Jaylin Arnold, 27, was arrested for a parole violation on Thursday by officers from the Chicago Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, CPD said. Arnold had narcotics when he was arrested, according to CPD.

  Further investigation by CPD’s Investigative Response Team revealed that Arnold was armed with a firearm when Chicago cops, including Officer Krystal Rivera, encountered him in the 8200 block of South Drexel around 9:50 p.m. on June 5, police said.

It's far past time to bring a version of Project Exile to Illinois where gun offenders serve hard time in the federal system far from home.

No More Rescues?

One part of us says it's logical. (link from Illinois Review fixed)

The other part wonders, especially as the population ages, more people live alone and not everyone knows their neighbors:

• In a dazzling display of bureaucratic brilliance, the City of Chicago has rolled out a new policy for the Chicago Fire Department that essentially boils down to this: Unless you’re visibly on fire, you’re on your own.
  
  The new general order, effective June 28, 2025, sets a brave new standard for how Chicago responds to residential fires under seven stories tall. Under this policy, firefighters are prohibited from entering a burning building unless there is visual confirmation of someone inside—or if someone radios in to say there might be.
  
  This isn’t satire. This is Chicago.
  
  The directive uses a lot of fancy words like “Defensive Operations,” “incident command,” and “scene size-up,” but the bottom line is crystal clear: if you’re unconscious from smoke inhalation (which, incidentally, is how most people actually die in fires), you better hope you’re unconscious in a window.

Obviously, we don't want firefighters risking their lives needlessly. 

But how do they (or anyone) know what is and isn't needless without first person information gathered on scene directly, promptly and fully?

It's a weird tightrope to walk.

Nine Years, but Zero Time

Ain't Illinois "justice" great?

• A 30-year-old Chicago man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for possessing child pornography after his parole agent caught him engaging in a sexual video call with a 14-year-old girl, court records show.

  In 2022, Julio Rodriguez faced a 20-count child pornography indictment but pleaded guilty to a single count on August 16, 2024, receiving a three-year sentence from Judge Michael Clancy. With a 50% sentence reduction and credit for time on an ankle monitor, Rodriguez served no prison time, entering and exiting Stateville Correctional Center on August 20, 2024.

And then, you'll never guess what happened:

• Less than three months later, on December 5, a parole agent visited Rodriguez’s halfway house in the 8100 block of South Cottage Grove after he failed to report his living arrangements as required. The agent found Rodriguez with his pants down, performing a sex act while on a video call with a young girl, prosecutors claimed. Rodriguez dropped his phone, revealing the girl’s screen name to the agent before she ended the call.

This time, he caught a nine-year sentence. But if he had been inside on the previous sentence instead of "serving" ankle monitor time, he wouldn't have been able to commit further crimes.

Don't Confront

Instead, snipe from cover:

• Car burglars fired at least 30 shots at a 27-year-old man who confronted them during a vehicle break-in in the South Loop early Friday morning. This marks the third time this week that an auto break-in in the city has escalated to gunfire.

  At approximately 3:13 a.m., the man confronted four suspects breaking into his car in the 2000 block of South Wabash, according to Chicago police. At least two of the burglars drew firearms and opened fire, striking the man in the back as he fled toward his home. A nearby storefront’s glass was also damaged by a bullet.

  The victim was reported in good condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The suspects escaped and remain at large.

  Armed burglary teams are a growing problem in Chicago, where thefts that are often considered “nuisance crimes” are increasingly turning violent.

  On Saturday night, a 57-year-old man was shot in the leg by a car burglar he confronted in the 5800 block of West Cornelia in Portage Park, police said.

  Then, on Monday morning, thieves fired at a contractor who attempted to stop them from stealing tools from his work vehicle in the 6800 block of North Seeley. The contractor was unharmed. Last week, a social media video showed a crew of masked and armed thieves targeting a work truck in Portage Park.

If at all possible, people should clear out their garages and park one of their cars in a secure, locked location.

If you discover a theft in progress, do not exit the house to confront an offender. Instead, fire your home defense weapon out a barely opened window while crouched down low. A rifle would work best in terms of accuracy, but a shotgun loaded with slugs would be as good. Handguns are an iffy proposition in these types of events. In any cases, the spent brass would land in your house, leaving less to investigate.

If it's a catalytic converter thief, try for the lookout first....or the getaway driver. Those are the ones who might shoot back. The one with the sawzall can then be dispatched at your leisure. Note: a sawzall can be easily mistaken for a short barreled rifle.

Don't answer the door if police arrive. Make sure the lights are off and you close the window you were firing out of. Collect any brass or shotgun hulls that should have landed inside your house and hide them well. Dispose of them far from home after a few days. Don't worry about ShotSpotter - Conehead turned it off.

Be sure to file a police report for any damage to your vehicle and advise neighbors to do the same. Express amazement that crime could happen in your neighborhood and isn't it a shame that things have devolved this badly under one hundred years of democrats. You didn't hear anything or see anything and exercise that Right to remain completely silent. 

Word will get around eventually that your block is a dangerous location for thefts. Someone shot will make it get around faster. 

UPDATE: oh yeah, beware of ring doorbell cams. 

What Did We Tell You?

This is why you don't hang your hat on a single weekend of statistics:

• Several investigations are underway on Friday morning as officers look to piece together what led up to eight separate shootings that unfolded around the city overnight.

  Chicago police say between 7 p.m. Thursday and 3 a.m. Friday, nine people were injured and oner person was killed in eight separate incidents.

  Authorities said while investigations are ongoing, no arrests have been made in connection with any of the incidents.

And that was a single warm Thursday night.

Any bets on the weekend? 1700 hours Friday through 0500 Sunday (60 hours):

• daylight temps of 90+
• heat indexes of 100+
• warm nights of 75+ 
• no rain
• no days off cancelled, so regular staffing

Six and fifteen doesn't sound out of the realm of possibility. 

Don't Forget the Body Cams

A post in The Contrarian the other day and it mostly convinces us that Vallas is running for something despite his continued denials:

• It’s time for the U.S. Department of Justice to place the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) under a federal consent decree. Only through a consent decree can the barriers erected by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and its political allies — barriers that systematically deny poor children, overwhelmingly Black and Latino, their right to a quality education, be dismantled. The objective of a consent decree is clear: To ensure that education funding follows the student, families have meaningful school choices, and local leaders have the freedom to adopt the best models for their communities.

  CPS has devolved into a government-sanctioned system of educational apartheid in which poor children, overwhelmingly Black and Latino are, a deliberately and consciously denied a quality education. The CTU’s opposition to reforms that might threaten its power or reduce its membership has had devastating effects. The CTU’s efforts to block poor families from accessing better-performing, publicly funded alternatives to failing schools are discriminatory — if not in intent, then unquestionably in outcome.

He makes all the arguments we have been making for years now, along with many of our readers and anyone who has dealt with the CPS in any capacity. They aren't here to educate children (if they ever were), they're here to launder money for the Machine and the national party. 

You should read it all regardless, so you recognize it at a later date.

We suppose the guy has to make a living somehow, but we have a difficult time believing that if he was actually in charge of anything here, he'd agree to any form of oversight from a Republican administration in Washington DC.

And don't forget, any "consent decree" should involve body cameras and classroom cameras so that (A) parents can observe the indoctrination being drilled into tiny skulls and (B) the constant grooming and sex assaulting can be documented and prosecuted by someone someday.