HQ to Police - "Fuck You" (UPDATE)

A shocking display of how little the brass thinks of the boys and girls in Blue:

• 016 Commander was just told to remove all flyers and delete all Twitter/Facebook postings regarding this event.

And what was the offensive material that HQ is so desperate to quash?

The only two consistently pro-police aldermen are supporting a rally in their Wards to advocate for the police....and HQ demands flyers be taken down and social media be scrubbed? Fuck each and every gold star at 35th Street. We hope everyone shares this on whatever platform they can - blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, wherever, so that everyone can see exactly how little support we have from the brass.

The buck stops with you Special Ed. All your sycophants and ass-kissers might be closer to the blame, but they're doing it in your name and that makes you accountable. Resign you miserable corrupt fuck.

And someone drop a line to Sposato and Napolitano - they deserve to be in the loop.

UPDATE: E-mails from numerous sources in 016 and from HQ that whoever stopped the flyer from being published was appropriately slapped around and the event is now posted. These e-mails are from people we know and trust - the kids might not understand that, but the dinosaurs on the job know what we mean.

And There's the ACLU

You knew this was coming:

• “I know there were some questions about us forcing people to get on CTA buses and what I can tell you is this: We didn't force anybody," Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Tuesday. "We directed people to different stops — it’s simply a public safety issue."
  
  But Edwin Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said reports of police funneling groups en masse to express trains were “incredibly troubling.”
  
  “Who made that decision?” he said. “How were decisions made about who was going to be put on that train?”

Channel 2 also had coverage of the little angels.

But here's the usual moron attempting to create a controversy:

• Such tactics are preferable to making mass arrests but they still raise red flags, particularly because the teens involved were all black, said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who works on civil rights and police accountability issues. “I don’t know what ‘borderline criminal’ means. It is or it isn’t.”
  
  The police strategy may make sense in isolation, but against the backdrop of the city’s long history of discriminatory police tactics, it becomes troubling, he said. “(Police should not) pick on or single out groups on the basis of race for selective treatment or discriminatory treatment. That’s a problem.”

You see here Craig, they weren't singled out because of their race - they were singled out because they were assholes. See the pictures and videos? Just a wee bit uncivilized, certainly disorderly and much of it criminal. If you have actual concrete evidence of gangs of brown, white and Asian teens acting in a comparable manner, we'd love to see it. The media might even run it, especially the white and Asian variety.

Now, if you'd like to work on a way of arresting and processing a few hundred assholes without stripping the city of manpower that falls within your scope of "ACLU -Certified Arresting," well, we're all ears.

Ta-Da!!! More Money

That Rahm just pulls it out of his ass:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday dangled a $175 million pre-election perk that could provide a substantial savings for Chicago families with young children, but the scripted roll-out offered more questions than answers. [There's a lot of that going around Chicago lately - SCC]
  
  The mayor who endured a 2012 teachers strike so he could implement his longer school day and school year is promising to provide universal full-day pre-school for 24,000 four-year-olds by 2021. That is, if he’s still mayor by then.
  
  During a campaign-style fireside chat at Truman College, Emanuel said the phase-in would cost $175 million annually by the fourth year.

$175 million, but hey, cut that health care for retirees and widows!

Foot Pursuit Order

Here you go:

Read. Learn. Enjoy.

Proof

In case you were wondering, here's the CFD memo telling everyone to run the apparatus up and down the streets without purpose to give the impression of ..... something.

From 1330 to 1600 - just as we were told...during shift overlap. And they pass it off as some sort of "training" and familiarization exercise. It's actually kind of cute. Any bets if they do the same thing on Independence Day?

The Path of True Love.....

Either something is going on in the recent wedding of CPD royalty...or someone has too much time on their hands:

• OT COPA Mole says Rumor is CR obtained on Superintendent Johnson by Lieutenant Fenner. Rumors saying it’s some kind of harassment or discrimination. Could it be #metoo stuff? I bet Lori wishes she could sit through that police board trial.
• Just asking are there more than one lieutenant named Fenner? Would she be getting a number for sex harassment on her man? She in 9?
• Weeeeeezzzzy,,,You got some splainin to do! CONFIRMED that wifey got a CR from 009 on Stripper Ed. Short honeymoon when you got game like Ed do.
• I have an inside guy/girl at COPA. Can’t say to much but “rumor” that N Fenner put a number on E Johnson for discrimination based on sex/race. Its the funniest CR they seen. Its got to be a play by EJ and NF to get a excuse to promote Fenner to exempt because superintendent isn’t supposed to promote family while still in office. These two have no shame. You used to be respectable Eddie.
• Rumors of Lieutenant Fenner CR against Superintendent Johnson: Fenner and Johnson thought she would get a gold star in several months. Johnson was denied by City Hall HR and is furious. City HR says the exam cheating scandal is too fresh and nepotism allegations would be hard for the Mayor to deflect close to election. Johnson told Fenner to file an EEOC complaint so he would get leverage to promote her in an effort to settle the EEOC complaint. Respect: This is the first original idea Johnson has had since becoming superintendent.

Here's an e-mail from someone we've had regular dealings with - there might be something to this after all:

• A certain Lie-tenant (N.F.) has filed an EEOC complaint against the Chicago Police Department & specifically the Superintendent (her husband) claiming racial discrimination in the promotional process. The claim...”she’s being discriminated against by the department in that she has not been promoted to Commander because she is an African American woman.” Isn’t that how she’s made it to Lie-Tenant...via a merit bump to Sgt & the answers to the Lts test??

Not enough to steal a promotion, but now to steal another exempt spot? Time to cut your losses Rahm - someone is becoming a political liability.

CPS Brainwashing

Wildwood is a forested outpost in Chicago's Forest Glen neighborhood, far north, isolated, full of city workers including many police bosses. We're told it's like being in the suburbs and is actually bordering a few. The school is top rate - except for this:

• Hey SCC, This guy was paid to speak to students on Friday at Wildwood elementary school. A student confirmed his message was the police are racist.  A lot of anti police rhetoric on his Facebook and YouTube posts including CPDK and FUCK 12. This [principal] should be held accountable for using school funds to hire this guy. We can’t let the snowflakes bring these assholes into our schools.
  
  
  

And the parents just let this happen? We had no idea the north side was still allowed to keep slaves to the extent that an actual "abolitionist" was required to speak at schools, not to mention advocating/supporting police killers. What the actual fuck?

Offical Totals

We set the bar at 50 total shot and 9 dying of their wounds. The comments ran decidedly higher, believing that we greatly underestimated the carnage. Per HeyJackass.com (and using our parameters of 1700 hours Friday until 2359 hours Monday, the numbers are as follows:

• 37 total shot, 8 dead of their wounds

There were a few earlier and a couple later that fell outside the times so even our conservative estimate overshot the mark a bit. What seemed to surprise some people (who must have been under a rock these past few years) was the mayhem downtown - three or four shootings, but also beatings, robberies and looting of stores.

We have no idea where Rahm and Special Ed hid those 1,000 extra coppers, but it wasn't in 001 or 018.

Reward Offered

Anyone think there were some pissed off cops calling FOP?:

• Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) President Kevin Graham announced today that the FOP is offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of an individual observed on video spitting on a police officer. The video, taken at a demonstration in City Hall last Wednesday where police officers and the FOP were peacefully and legally protesting policies imposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, captured a woman approaching an off-duty officer and spitting on him. The woman was apparently part of a group protesting the police.
  
  Graham said anyone with information should call the FOP at (312) 733-7776.

Cash and carry? See our post down a few for the picture of the wanted subject.

Curious

Anyone notice anything about this Slum Times story?

• A man is being sought by police in two home invasions that happened within 20 minutes of each other early Sunday in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the North Side. About 2:20 a.m., a man entered a home in the 500 block of West Grant Place and made sexual contact with a girl while she was asleep, Chicago Police said.
  
  About 20 minutes earlier in the 400 block of West Belden, a man entered a home and attempted to make inappropriate sexual advances toward a girl while she was sleeping in her bedroom, police said. The incidents occurred about two blocks apart.
  
  The man was described as between 20 and 30 years old, white, with a light complexion, about 5-foot-7 and 160 pounds, police said. He had short brown or strawberry blond hair and was believed to be a cigarette smoker.

Oh, sorry. We underlined the curious part. Every incident published in the papers (and most broadcast media) is provided a top-to-bottom description of suspects, including the most obvious one. Why they choose to print one and not the other is a constant source of bemusement to CPD personnel. We think it was the Tribune editor who said they don't include descriptions unless it was "necessary" to the apprehension of the subject, which is of course, bullshit, and allows the media to pretend they aren't licking the hand (and other body parts) of the Machine.

CFD Diver Perishes

During a rescue attempt:

• A Chicago Fire Department diver died and two other divers were injured during a rescue attempt on the Chicago River Monday evening, officials said.
  
  Juan Bucio, 46, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 10:02 p.m. He became separated from his partner while trying to rescue someone from the Chicago River near where it crosses Ashland Avenue on Monday night.
  
  Two other divers were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition, according to the Fire Department. They have been released.
  
  The fire department received a call around 7:50 p.m. after boaters saw a person jump into the water, according to José A. Santiago, the Fire Commissioner of the Chicago Fire Department.
  
  During the search, Bucio became separated from his partner, Santiago said, and the team sent out a Mayday call.

Prayers for the fallen, his family and the whole CFD family.

Wilding Videos

Once again, the only people reporting (complete with pictures and a bunch of video) about what has been going on downtown this weekend is the Crime in Wrigleyville and Boystown blog:

• It's been a wild holiday weekend in Chicago, especially in River North and the Magnificent Mile. CWBChicago estimates a minimum of 18 arrests between noon on Saturday and 4 p.m. on Sunday related to mob activity, battery, and weapons possession.
  
  A number of Mag Mile fight videos from the weekend were sent to CWBChicago. We've included them in this report.
  
  Our team has identified four confirmed cases of shots fired in the Near North area this weekend—in the 500 block of North Wells; at LaSalle and Erie, and in the 800 block of North Lake Shore Drive. Police are still working to determine exactly where the fourth incident occurred. In a low-water mark, an on-duty undercover cop lost his phone to a pickpocket on Michigan Avenue Sunday.
  
  Police grappled with large groups of teenagers in the Water Tower area on Saturday and Sunday nights. Their efforts were snarled when the CTA apparently fumbled plans to send trainloads of kids out of downtown on express runs.

They have even typed up a transcript of scanner traffic, including:

• Saturday 8:39PM — 70 or 80 teens coming off the Chicago Red Line. “Tell Water Tower to close their doors; otherwise, they gotta let ‘em in.”
• Saturday 10:05PM — “Hundreds” running wild in the streets near Roosevelt Red Line station. The train from Chicago and State—which was supposed to run express to 47th Street—stopped at Roosevelt by mistake, an officer says.
• Saturday 10:11PM — “I got a group of about 150 running into the Target” store on Roosevelt. "Start blocking these little assholes off!" Three arrests at Roosevelt and State. (the store was extensively trashed)
• Sunday 5:30PM — “They're at Water Tower. Open arms, guys." "You got K9 that can come out here?"
• Sunday 7:14PM — At Zara on the Magnificent Mile, a mob of female shoplifters just broke the door as they stormed out with merchandise.
• Sunday 7:19PM — “Shut Water Tower down! They’re all comin’ in!” “I need Water Tower shut down. I got a bunch running toward Water Tower.” “Fun time’s over. Time to round ‘em up. Get ‘em all down to the Red Line.”

All in all, there's probably three full pages of transcripts which show a downtown completely out of control and a police department hopelessly outnumbered and undermanned.

A-Fucking-Mazing

Remember this asshole back in February?

• A Chicago man with only a misdemeanor supervision in his past was ordered held without bail Tuesday after Cook County prosecutors said he shattered a window at a judge’s home a day after he had cursed her out from his car.
  
  Michael Laureto, 36, of the Logan Square neighborhood, faces felony charges of criminal damage to property and threatening a public official for the incident Sunday at the home of Judge Stephanie Miller.
  
  Judge David Navarro, who was hearing the regular bond court call Tuesday, recused himself from deciding Laureto’s bail because Miller is his colleague in the Pretrial Division. Instead, Judge Ursula Walowski, who regularly sits in the Criminal Division, stepped in and ordered Laureto held without bail, saying he poses “a real and present danger” to the public.

Miller? Didn't we just hear that name? Oh yeah:

• When Daryl Williams stepped in front of Cook County Judge Stephanie Miller on Wednesday, it wasn’t the first time the two had seen each other. Back in November, Miller—a champion of the county’s “affordable bail” movement—let Williams go free on a recognizance bond after he was charged with possessing a stolen handgun on the South Side.
  
  While free awaiting trial on the handgun charge, Williams obtained another gun and fatally shot a man in the back of the head, police say. Arrested this week, Williams just happened to find himself in front of Judge Miller again.

So a judge's window is more important than a felony weapon charge, so much so that other judges will hold an (allegedly) mentally ill dumbass without bail and stand by while she releases people with a penchant for acquiring and using guns.

When is the media going to pick up on this judge who lost a primary, yet still managed to get an associate appointment to loose a killer on the community?

(to the unpublished moron: loose - verb: set free; release. Try to learn the language before you attempt to criticize something as obvious as "loose / lose" Asshat.)

Pfather Phleger Security?

Reports out of 006:

• So pfleger's security is arrested with a gun outside of St. Sabina on 27 May 18 2nd watch! No credentials to carry the gun on his person & was arrested. So pfleger & his minions call the 006th dist nonstop to try to get the guy out of arrest!! Arrest made by the self professed "commanders guy" gee I wonder how that played out!

But remember, you have to disarm yourself, your family, friends and neighborhood and McCarpetbagger can appear at the church and kiss this dumbfuck's ass.

As Reported Here First

First and only as far as we can tell:

• CFD being ordered to cruise the hood for up to three hours each shift in their fire trucks!!
  Rahm is Nuts!

We've heard from a few firefighters up north. Maybe if the CFD rolled through the west side and cooled everyone off with the deck gun, it'd further cut down on heat related homicides.

Wilding Weekend

Reports abound.....but not in the media for some reason:

• Time for FOP to come out with no go zones for the public. Downtown and Michigan ace were up for grabs last night(Sat). Packs of black youths fighting and damaging property. CTA even shut down northbound red line trains and CPD herded them to the l stops and sent them packing. Target store at Clark and Roosevelt overwhelmed . Stay the fuck out of downtown. FOP take it to Rahm and the other enablers. Wake up  
• 300 plus animals downtown last night and not one single mention in the media. Ridiculously corrupt reporting. 

So what happens during a 90 degree weekend when there aren't "1,000 extra cops" on patrol, especially after school lets out? Many many reports of CPD merely "escorting" the ne'er-do-wells to the Red Line out of downtown - that's some deterrent.

Better advise everyone you know who might be coming downtown to come loaded for bear.

Off Duty Shooting

Cop is fine, no gunshot wounds showing up at area hospitals:

• An off-duty officer returned gunfire to a group of people early Sunday in the Gage Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side, according to police.
  
  About 3:10 a.m., the officer was approached by multiple people shouting gang slogans in the 5200 block of South Fairfield Avenue, Chicago Police said.
  
  They fired shots at the officer, who then returned fire, police said. The officer wasn’t hit by gunfire, and it was not known if anyone from the group was shot.

Be careful.

Charges Denied?

Are you getting the message yet?

• Ghetto party in 007 Friday night, coppers get called one gets attacked and struck by the offender with her shoe ON BODY CAMERA. CHARGES DENIED FOR AGG BATT TO P.O. WTF This is so much BULLSHIT. Why fucking bother anymore??? Nobody cares about actions against us. That bullshit press conference where Kimmy claimed she is working with law enforcement. This is working with us??? One of us gets battered on camera and charges get denied?!?!?!

Why deny charges? Did the police put that shoe on her foot? Was there some "continuing investigation" bullshit going on? Perhaps the ASA wanted to be sure that the show wasn't cushioned with a Dr. Scholl's insert or something so they could claim a shoe isn't a weapon.

Remember, the problem is you and only you.

Bright Ghetto Idea

Let's shoot ambulances!

• Charges are pending against a woman who is said to have attacked Chicago Fire Department paramedics in the back of an ambulance that was shot during the episode in Englewood early Sunday, police said.
  
  A bullet lodged in the passenger side door of the ambulance as medics were treating a patient whose family became irate when they weren’t allowed in the ambulance. The woman herself later was arrested on suspicion of attacking the paramedics inside, according to police.

CFD spokesman gives the company line that the gunfire may have been directed at someone else, but what else are you going to say to keep paramedics from outright refusing to go into Englewood? Rahm can't have that.

Wasn't it just last year that CFD attempted to ban bulletproof vests for their personnel? Perhaps they ought to be issuing them instead....and armoring up some ambulances.

Police Caught in the Crossfire

Wrong place, wrong time, but luck prevailed:

• A Chicago Police Department patrol sergeant was grazed in her ballistic vest Saturday night as someone in one SUV shot toward another in the West Town neighborhood, according to police.
  
  The shooting happened about 11:55 p.m. near the intersection of Chicago and Noble avenues. Someone in a black SUV fired shots at a gold SUV, which had bullet holes and remained on Noble Avenue just south of Chicago Avenue after the attack.
  
  The sergeant’s car and vest were hit by gunfire. She was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition, police said. Police closed Noble Avenue south of Chicago Avenue.

Be very aware boys and girls - the don't care who is in between them and the target.

I-Bonded to Kill

Once again, it's the system that's broken, not the cops:

• When Daryl Williams stepped in front of Cook County Judge Stephanie Miller on Wednesday, it wasn’t the first time the two had seen each other. Back in November, Miller—a champion of the county’s “affordable bail” movement—let Williams go free on a recognizance bond after he was charged with possessing a stolen handgun on the South Side.
  
  While free awaiting trial on the handgun charge, Williams obtained another gun and fatally shot a man in the back of the head, police say. Arrested this week, Williams just happened to find himself in front of Judge Miller again.

So...double secret probation this time?

The Crime in Wrigleyville and Boystown blog outlines exactly what charges this repeat felon was facing and exactly how he was granted a free pass - a recognizance bond - which didn't restricted him at all from acquiring an additional gun and killing someone.

They also point out that no media outlet dared to report that he was out on an I-bond when he committed murder. No one except them.

Not Surprising

Support from the highest office in the land:

• President Trump tweeted in defense of the Chicago police on Friday, saying they had “every right to legally protest,” days after a police union in the city planned a demonstration against Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who it claims is “anti-police.”
  
  [...]
  
  Trump's comment came two days after “Blue Wednesday” in Chicago, during which members of the city’s Fraternal Order of Police showed up at a City Council meeting to address their grievances against the mayor. They claim that Mayor Emanuel has “turned his back” on them.

The media plays typical media games - if you can't attack the messenger, attack the message, and vice versa. IF you watch video of hte City Council meeting, Rahm doesn't really "turn his back." He kind of turns sideways while talking to someone else and is snacking on food, paying no attention to the FOP message. It just proves (again) how little he cares for CPD.

Police Shootings x2

Two officer involved shootings this weekend...so far:

• A Chicago police officer shot a man during an “armed encounter” in the Austin neighborhood early Saturday morning, according to authorities. The shooting happened in the 5200 block of West Ohio Street, in an alley south of Ohio Street and east of Lockwood Avenue just before 3 a.m.
  
  Chicago Police Department Spokesman Anthony [Google-me] said a weapon was recovered at the scene. Police closed off Lockwood Avenue east to about Laramie Avenue and Ohio Street east of Lockwood.
  
  It was the second shooting by Chicago police this weekend. Friday afternoon, police in the Woodlawn neighborhood fired shots while they “engaged an offender” near 67th Street and Ellis Avenue, [Google-me] said.
  
  A weapon was recovered from that scene, he said.

To keep any snowflakes reading up to date the percentage of people shot by the police has LEAPT from:

• .0051706308169597 all the way up to .0070778564206269 

Almost TWO-TENTHS of ONE PERCENT!!!!!!! (remember to multiply by 100 boys and girls) Someone alert the media! Someone else better make some signs!!! You gotta march on City Hall and .... and........we dunno, scream some dumbass ill-informed opinion about non-existent racist something something something.

Family? Where?

Alderasshole told everyone he needed to park in 019 because of his family:

We're not seeing dear ol' mom anywhere in the picture.

Did Alderass Arena lie again?

Story here.

Identify

Seek and charge:

This snowflake spit on an officer, retired or active, we don't know, but it's still Battery. And any boss who didn't/doesn't advocate charging this bitch appropriately, up to and including Special Ed himself, and who isn't willing to go toe-to-toe with Foxx isn't worthy of even a modicum of respect.

Incompetent Coroner

This will keep the homicide count down:

• The Cook County medical examiner's office is taking the unusual step of reviewing the entire caseload of a pathologist who was fired the end of last year, so far changing eight findings with nearly 200 cases still to be re-examined.
  
  “They were clerical errors and then there were some errors with his medical findings,’’ medical examiner spokeswoman Becky Schlikerman said of the work by John E. Cavanaugh.
  
  In one case, Cavanaugh's finding of a suicide was changed to undetermined because of questions over how the victim suffered a gunshot wound to the head. In another, his finding of undetermined was changed to homicide after the review found evidence of an assault.
  
  In all, the office plans to review all 219 cases handled by Cavanaugh from the time he was hired in January 2017, at an annual salary of $250,000, to when he was fired last November. So far, the office has examined 23 cases and changed findings in eight of them.

One-third of the reviewed cases so far were reclassified. Just who exactly was he connected to? And at a quarter million per year, how many more incompetent coroners remain on staff?

Civil Depositions to be Revealed

Rahm and Special Ed's depositions will be made public shortly:

• The depositions given by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson in the wrongful death lawsuits brought by the estates of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones will be made available to the public, a Cook County judge ruled Wednesday.
  
  Judge James O’Hara ordered the two depositions, which were given last March and were closed to the public, would no longer be subject to a protective order “at the time the jury is impaneled.”
  
  The case is set to go to trial on June 6, and jurors would be sworn in within a few weeks.
  
  Johnson’s and Emanuel’s videotaped testimony have remained under a protective order that bars any public disclosure. Both men testified behind closed doors for several hours.

Hopefully, we find out once and for all what model of bus it was that Rahm was driving and if Special Ed was his co-pilot.

Rahm Emails

You want to see what absolute scumbags Rahm Emanuel and Arne Duncan are?

• According to emails obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, first reported by The Baltimore Post, advisors to then-President Barack Obama immediately strategized how to exploit the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary school to push their gun control agenda. "Tap peoples [sic] emotions," Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel advised then-Education Secretary Arne Duncan on December 16, 2012, just two days after the massacre that left 26 dead. The victims' bodies were yet to be laid to rest.
  
  The two discussed how they could exploit the tragedy to bring about their anti-gun agenda. "What are your thoughts?" Duncan asked Emanuel on an email with the subject line, "CT shooting."
  
  "Go for a vote this week asap before it fades," replied Emanuel. "Tap peoples [sic] emotion. Make it simple assault weapons."

The Sun Times runs a fluff piece by Chief Fluffer Fran Spielman about how some other Rahm e-mails expressed a "concern" about crime, but miss how he advised exploitation of dead children with a false and misleading narrative manufactured out of whole cloth. You aren't going to see those in the local press.

Over / Under

With an alleged 1,000 extra officers from everywhere all over the place, we're going to set the year's first holiday weekend over/under a bit on the low side:

• 50 total shot with 9 expiring

Our parameters are a bit tighter than HeyJackass.com (the only trusted source of Chicago mayhem numbers.) The range of bloodletting will be from 1700 hours Friday evening until 2359 hours Monday.

Shrinking Chicago

Feels like there's more elbow room around here:

• The Chicago area has lost residents for a third consecutive year while the country’s Southern and Western areas saw population gains.
  
  An estimated 13,286 residents left the Chicago metropolitan area — which extends from the city to its suburbs and into parts of Indiana and Wisconsin — according to 2017 data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. It translates to a decrease of less than 1 percent.
  
  The metropolitan area has seen gradual declines in population, losing 11,177 residents in 2016 and 3,371 in 2015, according to the Census Bureau.
  
  That doesn’t mean all of the areas within the metropolitan area are losing residents. Suburban counties such as Will, Kane, McHenry and Kendall saw population increases in 2017. In fact, the population of Kendall County, west of the city, increased by 1 percent, or 1,645 residents, census data show.
  
  In contrast, Cook County saw a loss of 20,093 residents in 2017, according to the Census Bureau. Still, it maintained its spot as the second-most-populous county in the nation while also experiencing the largest numerical decrease in population compared with the nation’s other top 10 counties. It adds up to less than a 1 percent population change.

What could possibly be causing this desertion?

U of C Bypass?

Supposedly last weekend, the brand new trauma center at University of Chicago was on full bypass pretty regularly. Anyone know how often and for how long? Because we're sensing another busy weekend coming up - see above for the predictions.

Protest Coverage

Upwards of two-hundred cops showed up at City Hall:

• Emotions flared at City Hall Wednesday as members of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, who were there to protest Mayor Rahm Emanuel, met with counterprotesters on their way into the City Council chambers.
  
  About 40 FOP members stood behind a dozen uniformed officers in City Hall’s second floor lobby. Their path into the council chamber was blocked by nearly three times as many protesters shouting “16 shots and a cover-up,” a reference to the Laquan McDonald case in which a white police officer shot the black teenager 16 times.

You mean the supposed cover-up by Rahm hiding the video? And the supposed cover-up by the entire exempt chain-of-command who found the shooting justified? That one? If the officer is currently facing charges, then there isn't really a cover-up, is there? The snowflakes don't seem to understand this, as demonstrated by their ignorance of basic facts:

• As police arrived to protest Emanuel, the crowd of dozens chanted in unison “Stop killing our youth!” When Wells’ great grandson, Dan Duster, spoke about her legacy, a woman shouted, “Whatever!” at him, in an apparent anti-authority gesture.

Hoping over to HeyJackass.com, we see that there have been 967 people (or folks) shot in Chicago this year with 157 dying as a result. And how many were shot by the Chicago Police?

• Six

 As in barely sixth-tenths of one percent shot. Killed?

• Zero

This explains COPA's desperation to re-open every single shooting and hang any copper they can to give the progressive cause some sort of legitimacy. It also explains the "stay fetal" movement perfectly.

Bean Bag Shotguns (UPDATES)

Supposedly, the Department has started up a training class for the re-purposed "riot guns" that seldom, if ever, saw service in the last thirty years. An e-mailer tells us this though:

• To sign up for the use of the shotgun, you have to have taken (1) Force Mitigation, (2) be CPR certified, (3) LEMART trained and (4) Shield and Tactical Entry. Failure to have any of these classes will eliminate you from consideration.

Seeing that list, does anyone seriously think that the Department will ever actually authorize the use of a beanbag shotgun? We're going to go out on a limb and say the chances are pretty much zero.

UPDATE: An e-mailer says it isn't CPR....it's CIT, which would make more sense.

UPDATE: Only carbine qualified officers? Where are they going to put the rifle if they're carrying a shotgun?

Car? Repeat Offender?

This story out of Baltimore sounds like a contradiction of everything the liberals have been spouting for a few years now:

• The West Baltimore teen’s crime spree began in December, prosecutors say, and, over the subsequent months, he stole four cars, skipped court dates and escaped from a juvenile center.
  
  When a Baltimore County police officer confronted him Monday, 16-year-old Dawnta Harris ducked down and accelerated a stolen Jeep, running over Officer Amy Caprio as she opened fire, prosecutors say.
  
  Caprio, 29, became the first Baltimore County policewoman killed in the line of duty. Condolences poured in Tuesday from across Maryland. Grieving officers crowded a courtroom in Towson for the first appearance of her alleged killer.

Gee, stealing cars, juvenile detention.

Escape, stealing other cars, house arrest and a monitoring bracelet.

Next stop, burglary and murdering a police officer.

But cars can't be weapons.....and there's no such thing as a bad boy, right? They just need love and understanding and a gentle re-direction of their misdirected exuberance, right?

Rest in Peace Officer Caprio.

Hey Alderasshole?

These people (or folks) don't want a police academy in their neighborhood that might adequately change the way cops are trained and raise the level of professionalism so many in the "community" seem to want:

• The $95 million police and fire training academy in West Garfield Park that has drawn opposition from Chance the Rapper and college students around the nation triggered yet another raucous City Hall protest on Tuesday.
  
  A small, but determined handful of protesters — chanting, “Shame on y’all,” “This is wrong” and “How do you look yourselves in the mirror? You are killing us” — disrupted a meeting of the City Council’s Budget Committee.
  
  They were promptly escorted out of the Council chambers. Before they left, aldermen approved an ordinance appropriating $20 million from the sale of a valuable North Side fleet maintenance facility for the new police academy.

And we know there's a group of concerned taxpayers who don't want a massive Section 8 building imported into their already overcrowded neighborhood, bringing with it congestion, crime and lowered property values.

How about a swap?

We imagine the north side would welcome a Police Academy with open arms. It wouldn't impact the area since it would only be in use during the day. All those recruits in their shiny new uniforms would probably have a positive effect on the neighborhood. It'd would be convenient to mass transit, so they don't have to build a parking structure.

Besides, the Section 8 building world probably be a better fit in West Garfield Park. Win Win.

Still Leaving?

Yes, still leaving Illinois for less taxing pastures:

• That’s how many residents left Illinois last year.
  
  People leave the state for a variety of reasons from weather to career opportunities.
  
  But experts say Illinois’ population loss bucks national trends and is the opposite of what surrounding states are seeing.
  
  WGN Investigates traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to catch up with Chicagoans who made the move for financial reasons. How did they know it made sense? Do they have any regrets?

You can see the whole report at the link up top. We all know plenty of cops (and other city workers) that have joined the exodus.

One Thousand "Extra"

Where have they been hiding you ask? Well, they aren't really "extra."

• Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson announced Tuesday that the department will be ramping up officer deployment over Memorial Day weekend in an effort to curb shootings over the historically violent holiday.
  
  More than 1,000 additional officers will be deployed citywide over the weekend, Johnson said at a press conference at CPD headquarters. There will also be an influx in officer deployment throughout the summer as well.
  
  “You’ll see a significant presence, obviously, on the lakefront, downtown areas, but they’ll also be in the communities, so we’re not leaving any area of the city untouched,” Johnson said.
  
  Johnson was joined by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Chicago Fire Dept. Commissioner Jose Santiago, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch, Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz, DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian McKnight and ATF Special Agent in Charge Celinez Nunez.

So a bunch of these 1,000 aren't actually CPD. And a reporter actually asked an intelligent question:

• Johnson deflected when asked how the influx in officers would be paid for, but department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said officers’ “elective time off was canceled” and “days off were adjusted for the weekend.”
  
  Only some teams assigned to work the weekend would be paid through overtime, he added.

Well that's bullshit. Anyone who wants to work their day off is being allowed to work it, on their regular shift in their regular Districts.

Ed mouths the party line, directly from Rahm's scriptwriters:

• “You can’t put a price on safety, you just can’t,” Johnson said. “And so I just want to thank the mayor and City Council for giving CPD the resources we need to help keep this city safe.”
  
  As it did last year, the department will also execute arrest warrants of for those who are likely to engage in weekend violence, Johnson said.
  
  “Anything that we can do to prevent violence in the city, we’re going to do,” he said.

Sure you can put a price on it Ed - that's why there's a Special Event number being generated that appears on each and every OT slip...so Finance can track it. But don't count on someone FOIA-ing the totals. And if Special Ed knows where these subjects of existing Arrest Warrants are hiding, why haven't they been picked up prior to this weekend?

We realize most reporters aren't intelligent enough to do the leg work and ask the right questions, but you'd think they could find people to point them in the general direction.

Funny Idea

Someone had the great idea of sending every homeless stink bum you can find to Starbucks with a promise of no hassling since Starbucks has now become a corporate homeless shelter.

Someone else suggested perhaps an address or flyer with a $5 gift card.

And building on that, someone else suggested a gift card, but only with a remaining dollar or so on the card.

We have some of the funniest readers around. Be certain you check the written Starbucks Corporate Policy before taking any police action that might violate the Civil Rights of the homeless campers who just want a warm seat and a bathroom to bathe in.

False Report

No wonder there was no description:

• A 49-year-old woman who claimed she was beaten in the West Loop early Sunday was likely injured in a fall while she was intoxicated, police said Tuesday.
  
  The still-unnamed woman made news after she told police she was assaulted by a group of women while walking near the Boeing building at 100 north Riverside Plaza around 5 a.m. Sunday. After she was found by a passerby, police were dispatched to the area for a possible criminal sexual assault, but when they arrived the woman said she was not sexually assaulted.
  
  Police said Tuesday it appears the woman was intoxicated at the time of the incident, removed her own pants, and injured herself after stumbling and falling into a planter, knocking out a tooth.

She's currently facing charges.

Alderasshole

We've decided to double Fran's contribution to the Chaplains' Fund since she steals so many stories:

• Parking around Wrigley Field is notoriously hard to find on Cubs game days. Fans lucky enough to find space in the precious few surface lots pay a premium for it.
  
  That is, unless they happen to be Chicago aldermen.
  
  Northwest Side Ald. John Arena (45th) is under fire for walking into the Chicago Police Department’s Town Hall District on May 11 — two blocks away from Wrigley — and demanding that he be allowed to park there so he and his family could attend the Cubs game against the White Sox.
  
  “The alderman did approach the 19th District desk and asked if he could park in the police lot during the Cubs game,” Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony [Google-me] said Monday.

Alderasshole denied it all at first....then claimed Google-me was lying:

• Asked Monday whether he had demanded the parking perk, Arena initially said, “No. That didn’t happen.”
  
  Two hours later, he changed his story and said it did happen, but not the way Guglielmi said it did.
  
  “On May 11, I did not talk to anybody at the desk. There was no controversy. I was allowed to park there,” Arena said.

Because he lied to the idiot at the entrance and then parked in a spot reserved for someone else.

And Fran, you haven't mailed the Chaplains any money, you deadbeat.

Messy Weekend - and More on Tap

HeyJackass commented the other day that it looks like Chicago might see an entire month (spring training) without a weekend that wasn't either below 70 degrees or raining. This coming weekend looks like we'll be at 80 degrees, but possibly rainy.

It hasn't stopped the carnage much:

• It's been another violent weekend in Chicago, with at least 6 people killed and 32 others hurt in shootings across the city.

Maybe Arne Duncan can have people boycott Chicago until Rahm, Toni, Kimmy, Tim and Tom do something about crime.

Nice River Rahm

Even the water isn't safe:

• Police are investigating after the marine unit discovered a body part in the Chicago River on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
  
  The marine unit responded to the 2200 block of West Diversey Avenue in the Avondale neighborhood on the North Side just after 3 p.m., said [...], a police spokesman.
  
  Police will send the remains to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine whether it is human.

Hopefully, it wasn't anyone important...like another Olympic investor.

Great Idea Arne!

With big thinking like this, here's a guy who will be going places:

• Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan pushed a radical idea on Twitter: Parents should pull their children out of school until elected officials pass stricter gun control laws.
  
  His tweet came hours after a shooting rampage at a Houston-area high school Friday killed 10 people - a mass shooting that came just three months after 17 students and staffers were slain at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
  
  When Peter Cunningham, a former education department employee, tweeted that it may be time for parents to pull their children out of school until gun laws are changed, Duncan, the education secretary under former President Barack Obama, responded that his family "is in."
  
  "This is brilliant, and tragically necessary," Duncan tweeted. "What if no children went to school until gun laws changed to keep them safe? My family is all in if we can do this at scale. Parents, will you please join us?"

So you do it first, then Arne will have his kids join in.....if it's big enough. And gets enough attention. And might be politically expedient for him to claim, "I was for this all along."

Any word on how big a property tax rebate we might expect with schools closed, teachers off, facility staff laid off? And any bets on how many children, unoccupied with learning, might be making trips downtown those days?

Ethics Time

Everyone's favorite time of year when you have to sit in front of the computer, read unrealistic ethics scenarios, and be amazed that YOU have to follow all the rules all the time, but you keep remembering those politicians and connected people who don't.

So to make things easier, here are the answers for all four sections:

• No, Yes, Yes, No, Yes
• Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
• No, No, Yes, No
• No, No, No, No

It feels like taking the Lieutenants Exam with Mrs. Johnson!

Good Luck, and thanks to the e-mailers who sent it in again this year.

Great Descriptions.....Again

Chicago media is awesome, especially Channel 7:

• A woman was attacked and found pantless on a downtown street Sunday morning. Police said the 49-year-old was followed and beaten by four other women in the 100-block of North Riverside Plaza.
  
  The victim told officers she left a house in the area and was then followed by the group. The group pushed her to the ground, knocking out some of her teeth and leaving her with cuts and bruises. The woman managed to break away and find help.
  
  No arrests have been made and Area Central Detectives are investigating.

No word if any of the brass is taking this one personally.

Two a Day

Per HeyJackass.com:

• Shot & Killed: 27
  Shot & Wounded: 156
  Total Shot: 183
  Total Homicides: 32

Not boding well for June.

Chaplain Fundraiser

More info available at the Chaplain's Ministry website. These are the people looking out for us, rain, shine, spring, summer, winter, thick and thin.....unreservedly. Swing by and show we appreciate their efforts.

Gun Education

This is going to be worrying to the anti-gun crowd:

• As hip hop artist Maj Toure toured the country, he kept hearing the same stories of African-Americans facing gun charges because they didn't know they were supposed to, for example, have a concealed carry permit.
  
  Those stories and others about convicted felons having gun rights revoked prompted Toure, of Philadelphia, to create the grass-roots organization Black Guns Matter and take his message of gun rights and firearms education to African-American communities all over. That includes Chicago, where he’s spending a month doing outreach and a training session this weekend.
  
  In two years, the group has raised thousands of dollars to host training sessions across the country, even getting a helping hand from members of the National Rifle Association.

Law abiding, self-reliant, educated and informed armed citizens? And they're in Chicago this month? Sounds like a type of "community outreach" that will give Rahm nightmares.

Slum Times to FOP - Shut Up

This rag can't go under fast enough:

• A sea of blue converging on City Hall is not what Chicago needs right now.
  
  That’s what the Fraternal Order of Police is calling for, though, with its plan to have rank-and-file officers show up, in force, and confront Mayor Emanuel at next week’s City Council meeting.
  
  This is nothing but political theater.

It's all political theater you dumbasses, including your bullshit editorial telling cops to sit down, shut up, and take the ass-reaming that's on-tap if Rahm gets his way (abetted by the media).

Read the rest at the link for free - don't give these pricks a dime...and you can save a tree while you're at it.

Cradle to Grave

We can't see how this is a good idea:

• Despite an order last year by Cook County’s chief judge to make it easier for those held at city police stations to talk to an attorney, less than 2 percent of arrestees actually saw one in 2017.
  
  That’s according to First Defense Legal Aid, a volunteer lawyer group that’s planning what they’re calling a first-of-its-kind event this weekend.
  
  Lawyers will be stationed at all of the city’s 22 police districts Saturday, offering free legal services to arrestees.

So since criminals are too dumb to read, know and exercise their Rights, these lawyers will be infesting every station this weekend. And don't imagine for a minute that they'll be minding their own business until called upon to provide legal counsel.

Interstate Commerce?

This seems like a stretch of the imagination:

• Plenty of crimes have a technical element that allows prosecutors to pursue charges at the federal level, from using a phone to conduct illegal business across state lines to firing a gun manufactured in a different state.
  
  In the case of former Chicago police officer William Whitley, it wasn’t guns. It was condoms.
  
  Whitley’s use of Trojan and LifeStyles brand condoms when he paid for sex acts with a 14-year-old girl, federal prosecutors say, meant he illegally affected interstate commerce. Because the condoms are made outside Illinois, using them in the act of a potential sex crime contributed to the ability to charge Whitley in U.S. District Court instead of the state level.

Don't get us wrong - this guy should be castrated and his genitals fed to rabid weasels, but is there a condom factory in Illinois? If all condoms are made in China or Mexico, then there's no way to avoid a federal charge.

What if some unlucky soul from Chicago is attempting to woo another with tulips from Holland? Chocolate from Switzerland? Fine cheeses from Wisconsin? All of those products are the result of interstate commerce. If the relationship goes south and accusations are made, federal charges are possible? Seems like a lot of overreach.

Killing Property Values

This would definitely increase the death spiral of Illinois:

• An audible gasp went out in the breakout room I was in at last month’s pension event cosponsored by The Civic Federation and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. That was when a speaker from the Chicago Fed proposed levying, across the state and in addition to current property taxes, a special property assessment they estimate would be about 1% of actual property value each year for 30 years.
  
  Evidently, that wasn’t reality-shock enough. This week the Chicago Fed published that proposal formally. It’s linked here.
  
  It surely ranks among the most blatantly inhumane and foolish ideas we’ve seen yet.
  
  Homeowners with houses worth $250,000 would pay an additional $2,500 per year in property taxes, those with homes worth $500,000 would pay an additional $5,000, and those with homes worth $1 million would pay an additional $10,000.
  
  Is the Chicago Fed blind to human consequences? Confiscatory property tax rates have already robbed hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of Illinois families of their home equity — probably the lion’s share of whatever wealth they had.

The article makes a lot of assumptions, many of which will be hard pressed to pass in any event. And the website is a bit out-there, but in Illinois, anything bad is completely possible with the current crop of assholes in government.

Do You Know Who I Am?

Yeah, you're an asshole:

• On May 11, 2018 Alderman Arena walked into the 19th District Police Station at Addison and Halsted. He identified himself as Alderman Arena and stated he would like to park his personal car in the police parking lot so he and his family could go to the Cubs game. He was told the lot was full. He then responded, "I apparently didn't make myself clear, I AM ALDERMAN Arena!" He then went on to demand that they find room for him to park.
  
  Once the officers realized this was the Alderman who makes complaints against officers, they allowed him to park in the area of the lot reserved for police officers and federal law enforcement.
  
  CITY OF CHICAGO OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL, WAKE UP!!!
  
  This is clearly an abuse of power. This should be an easy one for you. There is a paper trail. We are told the district keeps a sign in sheet that will have the name Alderman John Arena along with his vehicle information on May 11, 2018. We are told this was the 2nd date he parked there within a week.
  
  Apparently it's difficult for the alderman to scrape together the funds to park like everyone else on his 6 figure taxpayer paid salary.
  
  ​Isn't this the same Alderman who paid top dollar for tickets during the world series to go see the Cubs in Cleveland. It appears as though he has money to pay top dollar and road trip to a game, but too cheap to pay for parking in his "hometown". (New Jersey is his real hometown).

You can tell how hated this jackass is since he has an entire website dedicated to his misdeeds.

Prickwrinkle Sticks it to Rahm

Rahm is getting it from all sides lately:

• Chicago never did get the mayoral matchup that tons of voters and certainly the media have yearned for. That was Rahm Emanuel against the more liberal Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board. It's not going to be. Too bad.
  
  But that doesn't mean that Preckwinkle is meekly watching as a big cast of lesser pols tries to bell the cat in the upcoming election. The county boss has launched a haymaker aimed right at Emanuel's jaw on one of the toughest issues around: soaring crime rates and what to do about it, a subject that is becoming a major factor in this election cycle.
  
  The haymaker has come on the subject of what to do about a spurt of carjackings, something that is beginning to cause the mayor real problems in his upper-middle-income base, concentrated downtown and on the North Side, but also an offense that all too often tends to involve young men of color who Preckwinkle believes have been singled out for punishment when what they really need is a hand up.
  
  Specifically, the question is what to do about a bill in Springfield that would make it easier to prosecute "passengers" in a vehicle that's been stolen and allow juvenile carjacking suspects to be held for psychological evaluation and potentially placed in a shelter, rather than released to their parents or guardian.

This is quite frankly, hilarious. Rahm has spent his career dividing and conquering. Prickwrinkle has done as much or more than anyone else to drive up the crime rate in the city with Foxxx and Dart as her evil henchmen. And now she's blaming.....the police!

• As currently written, the bill "will not have a significant impact on preserving public safety," Preckwinkle said. "Rather, it will perpetuate Illinois' longstanding trend of unnecessarily incarcerating young black and brown youth for nonviolent acts."
  
  The real problem is with police, she went on to add. "This bill doesn't hold police accountable for their lack of arrests for violent crimes. Similar to the low clearance rate in Chicago for shootings, 9 out of 10 carjacking offenses in Chicago do not result in an arrest," she said. "Incarceration, even for a short period of time, is extremely harmful to young people and increases the likelihood that they will reoffend in the future and be incarcerated as adults."

Carjacking is a "nonviolent act?" Who knew?

That she is able to turn this onto Rahm is twisted genius.

Trib Forces "Transparency"

Rahm loses a round in court:

• A Cook County judge has found that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his office violated state law by withholding for nearly a year and a half emails sent and received from his personal accounts that related to city business, including emails about the scandal-plagued red light camera program.
  
  Circuit Judge Kathleen Pantle agreed with the Chicago Tribune that Emanuel and his office violated the state’s open records act by belatedly releasing the emails, handing the newspaper a victory in its ongoing court battle over the mayor’s use of personal devices and accounts to conduct the public’s business.
  
  In addition, the judge opened the door to having Emanuel testify about whether he and his office failed to preserve texts and emails on his personal phones and accounts in violation of another state law relating to the preservation of government records.

Much is suspected of having been deleted and destroyed already. Anyone else wondering what the correspondence between Rahm and the Streetlight Assassin might reveal in the midst of a heated mayoral race?

Riverwalk Patrols

Looks like that hiring "spree" is paying dividends:

• A team of Chicago police officers will be among the new sights greeting visitors at the downtown riverwalk this summer as the city tries to make sure tourists feel safe in the increasingly popular waterfront party zone.
  
  Six cops will be added to patrol from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily. The increased police presence comes almost a year after two men were shot during an early morning argument on the riverwalk. The June 2017 shooting happened after 2 a.m., so it’s not clear whether these new police patrols would have helped in that case.
  
  But city Fleet and Facilities Management Commissioner David Reynolds said the changes are about making people feel comfortable when the businesses are open and helping clear out the riverwalk after the bars and restaurants close for the day at 11 p.m.

So Fleet and Facilities Management is now running the Department.

Kimm Foxxx - Lawyer for the Defendant

A few months ago, this comment appeared in a post titled "17 vs. 50" regarding 17 County Commissioners governing 5.2 million people as opposed to 50 aldercreatures governing 2.7 million:

• Civilian here.
  
  Way off topic, but you, SCC, and your fellow officers need to look into this. It appears that the State's Attorney has issued a directive to her assistants that if a judge makes a finding in open court that a police officer's testimony is incredible (not credible), they are to notify their supervisor, obtain a transcript of that ruling and, along with copies of the police reports and other relevant material, give that material to the superivisor. Apparently, the State's Attorney will be maintaining a bank of such rulings and then when that officer has to testify in other cases, a copy of such (a) transcript(s) is (are) to be tendered to the defendant's attorney in each subsequent case(s).
  
  I would suggest that you and the FOP look into this ASAP. The consequences in such a narrative are dire and immense.

We remembered it because this caught our attention - this one appeared in a post Tuesday:

• OT: SCC, what is know for the new questions to be asked of LEOs at 26th street by ASAs? ASA said officers will be asked a series of questions. I don’t remember all of them but some are as follows:
  
  To the best of your knowledge:
  
  - have you ever been named in civil or criminal proceedings
  - have you ever been accused of excessive force, past or present
  - have you ever been involved in divorce proceedings
  - have you ever been arrested and, if so, did you plea guilty, found guilty or found innocent
  - have you ever been considered untrustworthy in court.
  
  Supposedly this is new and will happen in the jury room. FOP??? Will we be able to refuse to answer these ridiculous questions? If you are doing any form of proactive police work, you’re crazy. If this is true and comes to fruition, you’d have to be reckless to do anything other than show up and drive around aimlessly.

So the State's Attorney is now acting as defense counsel? Because just about all of that is irrelevant, and on the off chance it gets admitted, it's in any number of databases that Corp Counsel maintains. In fact, Corp Counsel has been sanctioned for keeping it secret in a few civil suits recently.

Anyone want to clue in the readers? It certainly looks like they want to Rule 14 as many cops as they can for whatever they can dredge up.

Everyone Wants a Say

Rahm opened the door for this crap, and every Tom, Dick and Harry are charging through:

• A coalition of community groups on Tuesday issued a series of demands to the offices of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan as they negotiate federal judicial oversight of the Chicago Police Department.
  
  The 10 groups — which include Black Lives Matter Chicago, the Chicago Urban League and the NAACP — outlined their recommendations for the consent decree in a 127-page document addressing CPD operations from hiring and firing to training and use-of-force policies.

And not an iota of responsibility is placed upon the "community," just the evil police. The only part we saw that we can get behind is pulling personnel out of the schools. Leave them to their own devices and put the cops back on the beats where they belong.

Go to arbitration FOP. Cut these groups out of the process entirely.

Thanks Again Shortshanks

He's like a venereal disease - the gift that keeps on giving:

• Chicago’s parking meter system raked in $134.2 million last year, putting private investors on pace to recoup their entire $1.16 billion investment by 2021 with 62 years to go in the lease, the latest annual audit shows.
  
  Four underground, city-owned parking garages took in $34 million in 2017, while the privatized Chicago Skyway generated $99.9 million in cash, separate audits of those assets show.
  
  Not a penny of those revenues, once a mainstay for city government, went to ease the avalanche of tax increases imposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to solve the city’s $36 billion pension crisis.
  
  That’s because all three of those assets were unloaded by former Mayor Richard M. Daley, who used the money to avoid raising property taxes while city employee pension funds sunk deeper in the hole.

Of course, there were 40+ others assholes complicit in the "deal," though we don't the exact vote records. But it would have been far better to sell some sort of lease up front and take a portion of the proceeds generated than the wholesale giveaway engineered by Shanks.

Earned? THIS is EARNED???

What's different about this list of "merit" sergeants? (click for larger version)

That column on the far right? "Within Nominator's Command." That's a new one - is this some sort of end-around for the "merit" board that seems to violate its own rules every time a new list comes out?

And that third column - holy shit! "Places Skipped in Line." They had to skip over 2,000 more qualified candidates for Gorman, Johnson, Knezevich and Vargas and nearly 3,000 more knowledgeable people to promote Darko. Under 4,300 took the test and passing was something like 58%. Was this guy dead last on the list? He spelled his name correctly on the scantron sheet and then bombed the test? We hope everyone who took the test notices how badly you can do, and still be deemed "meritorious" by a Board completely made up of "merit" supervisors.

How the fuck is Dana Alexander going to justify this "merit" person handling (God forbid) a police shooting? Yeah yeah, he'll be inside somewhere safe from harming any street copper - unless he ends up in the chain of command someday making an actual decision. What actual skill set does this, or ANY of these FOUR-DIGIT line skippers have that the Department can't possibly do without? Why even have a fucking test?

"Earned, Not Given....Unless your name is Darko and you can have Deputy Chief Dana hand you a spot."

FOP Protest

At the next City Council meeting:

• The Fraternal Order of Police is urging the rank-and-file police officers it represents to show up in force at the May 23 City Council meeting to underscore the union’s claim that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has “turned his back on the police.”
  
  “Emanuel has turned his back on the police. He has put police officers and public in danger. Now, it’s time to confront him at the City Council meeting,” the union said.
  
  In a flier distributed to its members, the union said buses will be leaving at 8:30 a.m. — from 51st and Wentworth, FOP headquarters at 1412 W. Washington and from Belmont and Western — to transport police officers en masse to City Hall.
  
  “The Fraternal Order of Police is calling on all members to attend the Chicago City Council meeting on Wednesday, May 23, to demand that Mayor Rahm Emanuel back the police,” the flier states.
  
  “This move by the FOP comes in response to the Chicago Police Board’s decision to put Officer Robert Rialmo in a no-pay status for a 2015 fatal shooting that was deemed ‘unjustified’ by COPA. Superintendent Eddie Johnson, experts and the FOP said the shooting was clearly justified,” the union flier states.

There should be fliers up on the FOP bulletin board already. Pack the buses, pack the Hall. We encourage retirees to show up, too. Let's make this happen.

More Gun Runners

This time, three individuals charged:

• Three men have been charged in federal court in Chicago in a firearms trafficking scheme involving dozens of weapons purchased in Kentucky through a controversial website before being resold to gang members and drug dealers in the city and suburbs.
  
  The charges alleged that as many as 90 guns purchased through Armslist.com in 2016 and 2017 wound up on the streets in the Chicago area, including one that was recovered during an armed carjacking in Westchester and others found during narcotics and gang investigations.

Now let's see how the gun-running / straw purchaser charges go under a friendly administration in Washington, unlike recent years when people under multiple felony charges were allowed to plead to no-jail time sentences.

Nice Hospital Toni

Pissing away millions:

• The Cook County Health and Hospitals System lost an estimated $165 million or more in potential revenue over the past three years due to lax clerical procedures and employee errors, records and interviews show.
  
  Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard attributed the hospitals’ losses to widespread issues in the system’s bureaucracy — from mistakes during patient scheduling and registration to billing lapses. In a 10-page report, Blanchard said his office interviewed hospital staffers who suggested there are “a significant number of registration clerks, coders, and billers who do not possess adequate self-motivation or the required skill sets and knowledge base” to do their jobs.

Unmotivated and un-knowledgeable employees in Cook County? Just how far up the ladder does this incompetence go?

And that $165 million? That is far more than the soda tax would have brought in making us wonder (once again) why there was ever a need for it in the first place.

Detectives and Lieutenants (UPDATE)

As was promised, 100+ Detectives and a couple of Lieutenants late yesterday.

If you have the list, send it.

UPDATE: Lieutenants (click for larger versions):

Detectives:

Lazy Lazy Lazy

Not that long time readers need to be reminded, but here's a perfect example of the laziness of today's Chicago media:

• On Sunday night, the Chicago Police Department announced that it will be promoting 100 new detectives by the end of the week as part of a new plan to grow the size of the police force in the city.
  
  The promotions, part of a citywide plan to add 1000 police officers to the department, will bring the total number of CPD detectives to 1200, according to officials.
  
  “These added detectives will ultimately help in solving crimes and will help the citizens of Chicago,” Sgt. Al Stinites said in a press availability Sunday.

"a press availability"? Is that a fancy name for a press release? In any event, this is a heaping pile of bullshit, being part of a plan to "add 1000 police officers." Where pray tell, do the Detectives get promoted from?

• HINT: They aren't new hires off the street.

In fact, this will directly impact the dwindling number of beat cops outlined a week or so ago, but Heaven forbid that a reporter check other writings. And here's another amusing error. If you know where to look, you can run the title codes for Detective (9165). Guess how many CPD has employed at this very moment?

• 983

And if you run the numbers for Areas North, Central and South, guess how many detectives you have actually assigned to a street unit?

• 776

Last time we checked, adding 100 to either of those numbers doesn't make them equal 1,200. In fact, checking the Sergeant list from a few days ago, those numbers are a bit high since the promoted Detectives maintain their title code until graduation.

But Rahm is going to run on his previous lie promise that he'd hire 1,000, even if he has to claim the 100 Detectives (and 50 Sergeants), drawn from existing officers, are part of that hiring "wave."

Pfleger the Asshat

Rauner wants to bring back the death penalty in certain instances:

• Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday proposed reinstating the death penalty in Illinois for mass killers and people who slay law enforcement officers, injecting the idea into his re-election campaign by rewriting a gun control bill and sending it back to lawmakers.

Of course, some asshole has to chime in - Michael, you ignorant slut:

Perhaps he'd like to tell the families of Cliff Lewis, Michael Bailey, Thomas Wortham, Joe Airhart, Alex Valadez, Nate Taylor, Eric Solorio and so many others that their service and deaths didn't matter because of the color of their skin.

And perhaps someone in authority might remind this douche-noozle, wanna-be gangster, false priest of this tiny bit of scripture:

• Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. -- John 15:13

Go fuck yourself sideways Mike. We're going to start a bus tour of politician and general assholes whose graves we're going to piss on.

14,000?

A pipe dream most likely, but one that might gain Vallas some traction:

• Mayoral challenger Paul Vallas vowed Monday to rebuild the Chicago Police Department to 14,000 officers — with 1,200 detectives and one sergeant for every 10 officers — to erase years of “bad decisions” by Mayor Rahm Emanuel that, Vallas claims, contributed heavily to a surge in violent crime.
  
  Four months after questioning the sustainability of Emanuel’s two-year plan to hire 970 additional police officers over and above attrition, Vallas upped the ante by 500 officers.
  
  He also outlined additional spending — on everything from equipment, incentives and a new leadership academy for police supervisors to a return to five detective areas and the hiring of retired detectives to boost a 17 percent homicide clearance rate. The price tag for all that is well over $100 million.

We don't know that city revenues can support Vallas' extravagance, but getting close to the 13,500 of yesteryear might have an actual impact on crime, clearances, and morale.

That's Her!

The CWB blog runs across some incidents that most working coppers have heard once or twice:

• A man charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a Loop elevator last weekend made an unusual move when police brought his victim to identify him: He identified her.
  
  No, to tread a well-worn path, this is not The Onion.
  
  [...]
  
  After getting away, the woman called 911 and provided a description of the offender. Police said two other women had reported being battered or sexually abused by a man with a similar description earlier in the day—one near Pritzker Park and the other in an unspecified Loop location.
  
  Cops who stopped Skipper near State and Washington shortly after the attack asked other officers to bring the victim to their location to see if they had the right guy. When the woman arrived, Skipper made eye contact and “excitedly” announced “That’s her! That’s her! That’s the one I got! I stalk my prey," police said in an arrest report. Officers said Skipper’s statement was captured on their body cameras.

This isn't exactly a rare occurrence - a criminal identifying their victim. We've heard about it from a number of detectives. It should make court a slam dunk. In Cook County, though?

Fire Everyone?

Sure seems that way according to the FOP blog. Two different cases that will continue to destroy the ability (and desire) to do actual police work.

Case number one:

• A move to separate two of the city’s best officers on baseless allegations that they lied about an arrest could have drastic fallout for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s relationship with Chicago Police Officers. The possible move by the mayor’s Corporation Counsel to fire Officers John Wrigley and Jack O’Keefe for a 2013 arrest that netted a submachine gun, a pistol and a cache of dope from a career gang member comes in the wake of other decisions that have framed officers for doing legitimate police work.
  
  In their trial testimony, Wrigley and O’Keefe may have confused the location of two items only a few feet apart at the crime scene. That’s it. That is apparently enough to now get an officer fired from the CPD.
  
  For the FOP, the firing of these two officers would be crossing a line. Indeed, the Fraternal Order of Police Board voted several months ago to make a complaint against a sergeant from the Internal Affairs Department who recommended that the officers be fired, claiming his report was itself full of false allegations clearly contradicted by trial testimony. The FOP filed the complaint with the Inspector General.

Someone from IAD attempting to make a name for themselves - they must have been left off the mailing list for the answers that so many other cheating IAD sergeants had - making a mountain out of a simple error, mixing up where a single piece of evidence was located...an error that had exactly zero bearing on the case and that was raised by no one on the defense. It was a simple mistake. No one was framed or railroaded - except for the officers currently fighting for their jobs.

Case number two:

• During opening statements at a Chicago Police Board hearing Friday, attorneys for a Chicago Police officer who has been stripped and placed in a no-pay status for a fatal 2012 police shooting asked a central question.
  
  How is it that an officer can win a departmental commendation as well as the praise of all his supervisors and co-workers for his actions in a shooting, then be stripped and potentially fired for the same event? How can this officer be awarded the medal of valor from another incident, then have that very same incident brought up in an investigation against him?

We stated months ago, COPA is re-opening every single police shooting that they can and attempting to fire officers for procedural "errors," regardless of previous findings and regardless of the totality of the incidents...even if it was ruled justified by the entire command staff and garnered awards and praise.

Act accordingly and be aware, nothing is ever "closed" under this administration. Ever.

CFD Patrols?

What idiot came up with this?

• Hey SCC Huge Fan of your insignificant Blog!
  
  I'm a fireman up North and last night we had a surprise visit from the Commander of [XXX]. The purpose of his visit was to plot out with our Chief the routes the CFD would be "patrolling" in [XXX]. Were hearing from all over the City the CPD Brass is pushing for the use of CFD personnel to have a presence on the street during shift changes and in times when CPD is overloaded (which I suppose is all the time).
  
  I'm not sure what our duties will be because, of course, we have heard nothing about this from our bosses. I guess we'll find out soon. Keep up the Good Work.

So unarmed firefighters, driving rigs that cost many hundreds of dollars per hour to operate, are going to pick up the "slack" during shift change? Wow. Why not garbage trucks? Or how about the street light crews up in their cherry-pickers? Good sight lines up high.

All of these parties are going to be deputized? Given handcuffs? Trained in the Use of Force? Indemnified?