Second City Cop

• Why is revenue writing tickets to church goers in 016? Saw them out today on Touhy writing cars and it looked like they were in a hurry to get it done before church let out.
  Is this getting done on west side and south side?

Labels: from the comments

• Police are looking for suspects after a man was beaten to death on Chicago's South Side.

  The victim was found unresponsive at about 3 a.m. Sunday in the 7900-block of South Greenwood Ave.

  He died shortly thereafter.

  Chicago police say a group of four to five men attacked the man.

• A 19-year-old man has been charged with a shooting in Bronzeville and pointing his gun at police as they responded to the scene on Friday, according to police.

  Anthony Robinson faces one count of aggravated assault on a police officer and one count of unlawful use of a weapon, both felonies, Chicago Police News Affairs

• A man burst into two different Wicker Park apartments to demand beer about 4 a.m. Saturday morning, and he tussled with a man in the second apartment before stabbing him with a corkscrew and sending him to the hospital for 22 stitches, prosecutors said.

  Timothy Snyder, 36, spat on a police officer after he was arrested, and he was charged with two counts of home invasion, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and aggravated battery to a police officer. Cook County Judge James Brown set his bond at 250,000ドル Sunday morning.

Labels: open posts

• A 6-year-old is dead, and a teenage girl was injured when a car hit them in an Englewood street Saturday night.

  The 6-year-old girl -- identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office as Diamond Robinson -- and a 16-year-old girl were crossing the street in the 7000 block of South Loomis Boulevard when a car hit them around 8:20 p.m. Saturday, police said.

  Vantaysia Chism, the 16-year-old who was with Diamond, said the driver was speeding, and hit them even though they were in a crosswalk.

Labels: we got nothing

Labels: department issues

• At least 15 people were wounded, one fatally, in separate shootings between 5 p.m. and midnight on Friday on the city's South and West sides, police said.

Labels: crime

• Motorola Mobility, the smartphone maker based in Libertyville, will cut 800 jobs worldwide — but a company spokeswoman said the downsizing has nothing to do with the company’s planned 12ドル.5 billion takeover by search giant Google.

  The cuts, which also involve consolidating office spaces and reducing "discretionary" spending, are "intended to improve operating efficiency and financial performance and are not related to Google’s proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility," spokeswoman Jennifer Weyrauch-Erickson said late Friday.

  About 185 of the job cuts will occur at Motorola Mobility offices in downtown Chicago and in Libertyville, but none of the office closings will occur in Illinois, said a source close to the situation.

  The company, which announced in May a deal to accept 100ドル million over 10 years to keep its headquarters and 3,500 jobs in Libertyville, is taking pre-tax costs of 27ドル million to pay severance costs and 4ドル million for the office closings. Motorola is expected to keep the tax incentives as long as it maintains at least 2,500 jobs in Illinois.

Labels: money questions

• A reputed gang member was sentenced to 125 years in prison today for the 2009 murder of Chicago police Officer Alejandro "Alex" Valadez in June 2009.
  
  Shawn Gaston, 22, sat expressionless as the maximum sentence was imposed on him at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building.
  
  "There is no sentence that can undo what Mr. Gaston has done," Judge Jorge Alonso said in a courtroom packed with members of the Valadez and Gaston families and Chicago police officers.

Labels: officer down

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday made it clear he plans take a hard line in contract talks with Chicago firefighters — even though his own fire commissioner is "deathly against" closing fire houses or reducing the minimum staffing requirement on fire apparatus.

  Emanuel said he made Commissioner Robert Hoff one of only a handful of holdovers from the Daley administration because Hoff "does a great job."

  But, that doesn’t mean the two men agree on the cost-cutting changes the city will seek when the firefighters contract expires on June 30.

Labels: fire fighters

• CPD JIBJABS

Labels: silly people

• Chicago aldermen are wading into the controversy over drug enforcement with a proposal to decriminalize possessing small amounts of marijuana in the city.

  Supporters say the ordinance — which Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th, plans to introduce at next week's City Council meeting — will raise revenue for the city and free up police to chase more serious criminals.

• Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, said people arrested for marijuana possession are disproportionately minorities, who now end up with arrests on their criminal records even though the vast majority of the cases are eventually dismissed.

  "I had the opportunity to go to Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, and I think I got contact high being at all those events," Burnett said. "Police there, everything. It wasn't predominantly African-American, and guess what? No one got arrested at those events. If that was an African-American event, the jails would probably be filled up. I think it's almost a discrimination issue."

• Roger Waters is expected to bring his massive tour of Pink Floyd’s "The Wall" to Wrigley Field next summer.

  Live Nation has scheduled an announcement for Tuesday at the venerable North Side park, which has hosted a series of concerts in recent years

Labels: we got nothing

Labels: officer down

• Chicago is a city of haves and have-nots when it comes to police protection, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

  The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois sued in Cook County Circuit Court, saying the city is failing to deploy cops equitably across the city’s neighborhoods.

  The number of backlogged 911 calls is unevenly large in neighborhoods with the biggest minority populations, the lawsuit said.

  "Disproportionate numbers of delays in 911 calls have a devastating effect on a neighborhood," said Harvey Grossman, an ACLU attorney.

Labels: department issues

• A man trying to steal copper wire in a Lockport park was killed when a power line fell on him, authorities said this morning.

  Emergency personnel called to Dellwood Park at about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday found the man on fire and trapped by power lines, according to Lockport Township Fire Chief David Skoryi.

  "No rescue attempt was possible," he said. "Electricity had charged the ground. You could feel the electricity. You couldn’t get near."

Labels: silly people

• The wildly-popular Jumping Jack program salvaged by Chicago aldermen just three years ago is back on the chopping block — sort of.

  Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration plans to maintain the longstanding Chicago tradition of providing free moonwalks to neighborhood festivals and quadruple — to four hours — the time kids at each event get to bounce.

  But, to shave 300,000ドル from the 500,000ドル annual cost, the perk will be reserved for block parties and other "public events on Chicago streets."

  Private events will be bounced.

Labels: money questions

• A lone gunman quietly approached three men walking down a West Side street and opened fire, killing two of them and critically injuring the third, Chicago police said this morning.
  
  The broad daylight shooting happened just after 10 a.m. Tuesday in the 200 block of South Laramie Avenue in the South Austin neighborhood, according to police.
  
  The three victims, two 20-year-olds and a 24-year-old, were walking down Laramie when the gunman attacked, spraying all three victims with gunfire before vanishing, police said.

Labels: crime, department issues

• About 150 protesters with Occupy Chicago marched on City Hall this afternoon aiming to speak with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and "assert our First Amendment rights."
  
  But the mayor did not come out during a one-hour demonstration, and the protesters ended up handing over petitions to an aide demanding that they be allowed to occupy Grant Park.
  
  The demonstrators said the march was sparked by two weekends of arrests by people who sought to set up camp in the park. They were joined today by groups who plan to protest during next spring's NATO/G8 summit in Chicago.

Labels: protests

• Bigger swathes of Chicago could wind up on video cameras under anti-speeding legislation that passed the Illinois Senate on Wednesday.

  The proposal, which passed 32-24 and now moves to the House, is being sought by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to help nab speeders around city schools and parks. The measure applies only to Chicago.

  "We have in Chicago a pedestrian fatality rate that’s 68 percent higher than in New York City, and we do lose a number of young children in these crashes in the city of Chicago," said Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), the bill’s chief Senate sponsor.

• ...approximately 84 percent of all pedestrian accidents in Chicago happen within a quarter mile of parks and schools.

• "We routinely see hundreds of kids a year hit by cars," said Dr. Sally Reynolds, director of the emergency department at Children’s Memorial Hospital.

• unattended children -
• crossing away from designated crosswalks -
  
• out of sight of crossing guards -
  
• darting out from between parked vehicles -
  
• or negligent parents running over kids while backing up

Labels: we got nothing

• House Bill 3827 Update
  
  State Representative Cross initially introduced HB3827 which would have had a negative impact on the makeup of our Pension Board in that it would have put the Board in the hands of the Mayor and his appointed members while placing our elected members in the minority. Today, Representative Cross pulled the bill out of committee. While this is a victory for the moment, the Lodge and our lobbyists will continue to monitor this particular bill. We will be diligent in protecting our members pension.
  
  The Lodge would like to extend a hearty thank you to all of our members who called or emailed their State Representatives prior to the Personnel and Pension Committee meeting that was held this afternoon. [...]
  
  FOP UPDATE:
  
  Please do not let this victory stop you from coming down to Springfield to sound your voice in the battle that has been waged against our pensions. The Lodge has confirmed 180 officers will proudly be on the buses to Springfield tomorrow. We must let our voices be heard.

Labels: pension

• Despite Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s highly promoted efforts at concentrating additional police patrols in the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods, many crime-ridden police districts still have fewer officers patrolling their streets than far safer areas of the city have, according to recent data obtained by The Chicago News Cooperative.

  The data included officer-assignment data for all 9,400 Chicago police officers, as well as almost 1,000 detectives — information that the city has steadfastly declined to make public.

  The analysis found that the distribution of patrol officers among the city’s 25 police districts does not correlate to the places where crime rates are highest.

• Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday warned that financially strained police forces around the country likely will shrink for the first time in the quarter century in which statistics have been tallied.

  Holder said that by the end of this year, 12,000 police officers and sheriff's deputies probably will lose their jobs amid government budget shortfalls and cuts in a sluggish economy, citing a new Justice Department report.

  "The findings included in this new report show that law enforcement agencies nationwide have nearly 30,000 unfilled vacancies," he said in prepared remarks to U.S. police chiefs.

• The number of law enforcement officers who were killed nationwide has jumped nearly 17 percent.

  Newly released statistics from the FBI show that 56 officers were murdered in the line of duty last year. That is a jump from 48 in the previous year.

Labels: info for the police

• Chicago Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff today said fire deaths would increase if the city lowers the number of firefighters on a truck to save money, an idea mentioned as one potential cost-saving option in a recent report by the city’s inspector general.

  Hoff said he is "adamant" in his opposition to the idea of lowering the minimum staffing on all trucks to four, instead of the five-person minimum now in place on most trucks and engines.

  "Number one, it affects our performance," Hoff said, explaining his opposition to the change. "And number two, it (affects) the lives of firefighters and paramedics and the people that we serve. Our fire deaths will go up."

  Inspector General Joseph Ferguson said lowering the standard would save about 57ドル million a year — while also noting such a reduction could pose a safety hazard in an urban area like Chicago.

Labels: fire fighters

Labels: silly people

• McCarthy is the first high level city official to feel the wrath of Rahm.
  
  Just before McCarthy went to a dinner for the National Chiefs of Police he got a major in person ass reaming from Tiny Dancer. He had already irked Rahm with his constant careless talk in front of the media and his never ending love of being in front of the camera.
  
  Rahm was informed by a partner at a big downtown firm currently contracted for a lawsuit involving numerous 8th District police that the Superintendent is now a defense witness in any and all lawsuits involving this officer. The Superintendent is an expert in Police Management and he has now publicly stated that the city was negligent. Rahm was told that these comments virtually guarantee an eight figure settlement on the Farmer lawsuit.
  
  The anger from Rahm's advisors is so real that rumors around City Hall are that McCarthy could be fired before 2012. The thinking is Rahm will wait for one thing to go wrong, one scandal, one bad car chase, one anything, and he will drop the hammer on McCarthy.
  
  First, you can guarantee that McCarthy will do absolutely no more press conferences. City Hall is sending a new spokesman to handle police affairs who will be installed by the end of this week. The McCarthy media tour is over.
  
  Second, you can expect McCarthy to tone down his Compstat beatdowns. His only friend in Chicago just called him out on the carpet and basically told him he fucked up and if he fucks up again he's gone. Aldermen had already begun beating the drums that McCarthy is an asshole who doesn't treat them or their cronies with the respect they deserve.
  
  The general consensus is that McCarthy better start looking for a new police department to screw up.

Labels: rumors

• The bill authored by Rep. Cross from Oswego is nothing more than an attempt to circumvent the law that was passed by the legislature in Springfield forcing the city to live up to its obligations and bring the Chicago Police Pension Fund up to 90% in 30 years. Since its passage the city has introduced several bills attempting to water the bill down by extending the 90% target date to 50 years and failing in that attempt 40 years. Some of the city's legal minds have found a loophole that renders the law ineffective if the pension board does not request that the city's sales tax revenue be withheld if the city does not provide the funding that an appointed pension actuary says is necessary to reach that 90% funding level.
  
  Rep. Cross who's district is in Kendall and Will County has no Fire and Police agencies in his district that will be effected by this bill (HB 3827), yet he had chosen to champion this cause. He claims that it would be in the best interest of the Police Pension to have the Mayor of Chicago be in control of how our funds are invested.... Has he never heard of the former Mayor's Nephew by the Name of Vaneko. All the Mayor's appointed Trustee's voted to give the Mayor's Nephew over 15 million which is now lost.
  Over all the city pension fund I believe the mayor's Nephew got over 62 million which again was soon lost. Is Rep. too young to remember former Mayor Harold Washington's attempt to use the Police and Fire Pension funds to fund low income housing. Does anyone doubt what a financial disaster that would have been ?
  
  If the Mayor had a permanent 4-3 majority that would have been passed and our fund would be in even more trouble. Rep. Cross wants you to give control he says to the Mayor who will better invest our funds, this being the same Mayor who has such a short memory that he can't even remember his involvement, as President O'Bama's Chief of Staff, in the disastrous Cylindra scandal that cost the American Taxpayers over 500 million ! yes Rep. Cross this is the man that needs to be in charge of our Pension Funds.
  
  Who are you kidding Rep. Cross from Oswego. I am sure down the road we will find out what kind of deal has been struck between you the republican House Leader and our new Mayor, O'Bama's former Chief of staff. How does the republican National committee feel about your cozy deal with Rahm ?
  
  FOP members politicians only fear our votes. We must show them that we are a force (voting Block) to be reckoned with. I can not stress the importance of defeating this bill. This bill will influence many things including future cost of living increases. If there is any way that you can get on these buses down to Springfield to show our strength I urge you to do so, even if you have to miss a day of work on your side job or a Dr. appointment etc. If not instead of showing these politicians our strength we show them our weakness.
  
  To make it as convenient as we can to get you to come out and stand with us, we have arranged to have a bus leave from the 22nd District at 8:00 am. Please call FOP at 312 733-7776 and say you will stand with us down in Springfield, We need to put on a show of strength. Your Pension hangs in the balance.
  Rick King
  FOP Trustee

Labels: FOP

• Effective immediately, all field patrol personal [sic] that receive any calls for service assignments via OEMC dispatch or PDT, will notify the OEMC dispatcher of their arrival to the assignment and the completion and departure from the assignment. Sergeants will monitor pending RAPS and perform assignments [sic] status checks to ensure that pending RAPS are cleared. The Sergeant will also ensure that when a unit has come clear that the RAP is cleared by notifying OEMC.

Labels: silly people

Labels: events

• Four people were killed and 22 others were wounded in acts of violence across the city this past weekend.

  At least nine people were wounded in shootings Friday afternoon and evening alone.

• It was supposed to be a surprise birthday party — complete with friends, family, music and a hired stripper.

  But 23-year-old fork lift truck driver Harry Rodriguez’s special day ended instead in blood and gunfire when a masked gunman burst into the party and fatally shot him in the early hours of Sunday.

  Shouting "Cobra lovers!" as he opened fire in an apparent reference to the Spanish Cobras street gang, the gunman fired three shots from a rear porch at Rodriguez’s home on the 2000 block of North Leclaire shortly before 2 a.m., relatives said.

Labels: crime

• Despite the video, the Police Department ruled Farmer's June 7 death justified, just as it had Sierra's other two shootings this year. But police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said he considers the Farmer case "a big problem" and told the Tribune that the officer involved should not have been on the street given his history of shootings.
  
  The shooting is under investigation by the FBI, the Tribune has learned.

• McCarthy told the Tribune the previous administration failed to recognize a pattern in police shootings and had no mechanism to track if officers were repeatedly involved in shootings. He also said the department did not have a system in place to monitor the emotional and psychological state of officers involved in shootings, suggesting they could be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and should be kept off the streets until they are better.
  
  Without naming Sierra, he said the first two shootings were justified but that the officer should have been assigned to desk duty before Farmer was shot.
  
  "He shouldn't have been where he was," McCarthy said during a recent meeting with the Tribune editorial board. "We should've had him off the street so that he was not in that particular environment and that problematic type of scenario."

• McCarthy told the Tribune that the officer could face criminal charges.
  
  "One of the big questions I got when I got here was are you going to have our backs," McCarthy said. "I said, 'Absolutely ... but I'm not going to defend indefensible behavior and don't expect me to.'"

• THIS IS AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION AND IT WOULDN'T BE PRUDENT TO COMMENT ON SUCH A MATTER AT THIS TIME LEST I INTERFERE WITH THE OFFICER'S CONSTITUTIONALLY AND CONTRACTUALLY PROTECTED RIGHTS.

Labels: scc responds

Labels: shooting

• Mass arrest kits seemed to be in plentiful supply;
• Sheriff buses on scene instead of using CTA buses;
• Holding those who were in violation of their Bail Bond restrictions from last week.

• Again, why are we waiting until 0100 AM to arrest people? The park closes at what? 1100? One announcement and then arrests. Pretty straightforward, it sends the message we mean business, and establishes precedent for future events like G-8 and NATO.
  
• Provide the protesters with an out - an "escape route." Once we start arresting people, the people wavering will realize they really don't want to spend a night in jail and they'll leave. This frees up manpower for the dedicated protesters and empties the park anyway. Rahm obviously doesn't want arrests because then he becomes the focal point. We ended up doing 40 fewer arrests this time. Anyone want to bet there's even less next week?
• One working printer in 001? For processing 130 arrests? Of this doesn't say worlds about the state of this Department, we don't know what does. How about either getting us the equipment we need or going to a truly paperless Department as we were promised 20 years ago?

• Wow! What a clusterfuck here at Grant Park. The Gold Stars decided to start arresting protesters at 0100 hrs after warning them at 2300 hrs. Then two Stars Stars were approaching the protesters, one at a time and politely asked them if they were sure that they wanted to go to jail. Then 2 PO's locked them up, escorted them by a Cook County prisoner bus, where they waited in line for 15-20 minutes! It has been 3 hours and they are still making arrest! There were less then 100 people! These bosses are so fucked up, it's ridiculous! This is totally humiliating and shameful, we are in trouble come May with these brainiacs!

Labels: department issues, events

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel's first-ever city budget seeks sacrifice from nearly every corner of Chicago, but he's not making cuts to the one group that has to vote for his plan.
  
  The Chicago City Council is getting a slight budget increase.
  
  The new mayor's belt tightening also leaves untouched two controversial accounts aldermen have tapped to hire relatives, pay political consultants and lease expensive cars. And he is renewing a multimillion-dollar program that lets council members order up neighborhood improvement projects.

• Mayoral Chief of Staff Theresa Mintle helped enact a special early-retirement plan at her former employer—the Chicago Transit Authority—that entitled her to a 65,000ドル annual pension she wouldn't have qualified for otherwise.

  Official records obtained in a joint probe by Crain's and the Better Government Assn. indicate Ms. Mintle, left, is eligible for a pension of 64,908ドル.53 at age 65, based on just eight years of service at the agency. The early-retirement sweetener passed in 2008, when she was chief of staff to then-CTA board Chairman Carole Brown. Ms. Mintle resigned from that job last spring to assume similar duties for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

  Ordinarily, Ms. Mintle, 47, would have needed 11 years of service to qualify for a pension at the CTA, a milestone she wouldn't have reached until 2014. But in 2008, she was involved in the approval and possibly the design of an early-retirement sweetener for agency executives containing two separate clauses that, together, allowed her to buy extra service credits and lock in her pension in exchange for leaving her job by mid-2011.

Labels: corruption

• Politicians hate yielding power. But in recession-hit Greece, more governing Socialists are choosing to do so rather than back Prime Minister George Papandreou's deeply hated austerity measures.
  
  In growing numbers, Socialist lawmakers are calling for an end to their single-party government, unable to face their angry constituents after two years of punishing tax hikes and slashed pensions, jobs and salaries.
  
  
• Greeks are heading into a fourth year of recession with 16.5 percent unemployment and a rapidly expanding class of poor. Now they face yet more emergency tax hikes, pension cuts, and steep levies on their homes.

Labels: we got nothing

• Occupy Chicago protesters were back in Grant Park tonight after marching from Federal Plaza, and police appeared to be making ready to arrest scores of them after Grant Park's official closing time.

  Initial police estimates put the crowd at about 1,500, but it had swelled by the time the marchers arrived at Michigan Avenue and Congress Parkway.

  In the Plaza, protesters made speeches talking up the cause and declared their event peaceful. As the 11 p.m. park closing approached, several hundred decided to stay in Grant Park as a few hundred more moved across Michigan Avenue, off Park District property. A little before closing time, police began making announcements that anyone in the park after 11 p.m. would be in violation of municipal ordinance.

Labels: department issues

Labels: sports

• An organizer of a downtown protest against police brutality Saturday said Flint Farmer’s death in June was "just another case of a young black man shot to death by police for no reason."

  Farmer, 29, was fatally shot by police June 7 in the 6200 block of South Wolcott. Police have defended the shooting, saying he "aggressively came at" an officer responding to a domestic battery call.

  But protest organizer Grant Neuberger, reading from a letter from Farmer’s father, said the younger Farmer carried a cell phone, not a weapon, when he was shot.

Labels: silly people

Labels: department issues

• SCC:
  
  The FOP says to get the word out on the 3 buses they have available going to Springfield at 8:00am next Wednesday.
  
  Only a few people have signed up so far.
  
  Perhaps you can put up a new topic for this!!
  
  Our pensions are under attack!!!!!

• Protect your pensions! Pension Bill day in Springfield IL, 26 Oct 11.
  
  I just signed up to go with the FOP to Springfield by bus. The FOP has chartered three buses, as of 1530 hours on Friday only 17 PO's have signed up to go! ONLY 17!
  
  Don't go cussing out Shields and the FOP if you don't get on that bus, be at FOP Hall at 0730 hours on Wednesday, 26 Oct 2011

Labels: from the comments, pension

• When Chicago police officer Nial Funchion swam across the Straits of Gibraltar recently, he was joined by some unexpected guests: a family of killer whales.

  "I was so focused on making it through that I never even noticed the whales were there. I knew everybody was looking at something else, but I figured it was a boat," Funchion said.

  "I didn’t find out until after I finished that a family of whales had been following me. They were only about a hundred yards behind me, and the pictures my team took look really cool, but I’m glad nobody told me at the time."

  Funchion, who has been swimming all his life, made the 12-mile swim Oct. 6 from Tarifa, Spain to Morocco in an impressive 3 hours, 50 minutes, to raise awareness for the non-profit police organization, The Brotherhood of the Fallen.

Labels: good news

• Can a camera pull a car over for this traffic offense?
  Can a camera check for a valid d.l. and insurance?
  Can a camera see if there are any other infractions?
  Can a camera take a suspended/revoked/unlicensed driver off of the streets?
  Can a camera detect whether or not the driver is driving through said school zone under the influence of alcohol or drugs?
  Can a camera detect whether said driver or occupants are wanted on warrants or registered sex offenders?
  Can a camera see contraband in plain view in the passenger compartment?
  Can a camera search the vehicle and recover contraband?
  Can a camera testify at court as to the probable cause for the vehicle stop and subsequent charges?
  Can a camera observe gunshots in the school zone and respond?
  The answer to all these questions is NO.
  What can a camera do?
  Generate cash flow for the city. Generate cash flow for the company.
  Give the impression of a safer city for those who drink the kool aid.
  Not collect a salary or a pension.
  
  Rahm, hire more police. Consult the courts and nail them down on what they will find a legitimate tool for fining and convicting speeders. Buy said equipment. Encourage your police and back them up. Now you have a marked squad car stopping speeders and potentially worse lawbreakers generating your beloved income and most importantly providing legitimate safety to those in and around schools.
  There is no greater deterrent to crime than the presence of a uniformed police officer. This will you make you much more popular with the public than a camera program.

Labels: from the comments

Labels: we got nothing

Labels: shooting

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday he wants to use red-light cameras and vans with hidden cameras to catch motorists speeding near schools and parks to protect children.

  Speeding motorists would be slapped with 100ドル tickets, but it’s not about the revenue, the mayor said, even though red-light cameras have turned into a cash cow for the city.

Labels: silly people

• Eight people were injured, four seriously, in three-vehicle crash that injured an officer in his police vehicle in the Chatham neighborhood this evening, officials said.

  The crash near 80th Street and Indiana Avenue left a Pontiac sport-utility vehicle on its roof and also involved a Ford Fusion and a Dodge Intrepid, said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford, who was at the scene of the crash this evening. Video from the scene showed the Fusion was an unmarked police car.

  Initial reports indicated the SUV may have been fleeing police, run a red light and struck the Dodge, and that the officer's car may have also struck the Dodge after the SUV hit it.

Labels: officer injured

• Not too surprisingly Department Notice D11-14 was issued by the Department today without the Lodge being informed by the Management and Labor Affairs Section. This notice eliminates full 5th period and split 5B furlough selections for 2012.
  
  A class action grievance was immediately filed by the Lodge on behalf of any and all members affected by the Department's arbitrary actions.
  
  Any member who wishes to take a full 5th period furlough or split 5B furlough should indicate this on their 2012 furlough selection form.

• A state labor relations board sided with the Chicago Teachers Union today, asking the state attorney general’s office to seek an injunction to keep more of Chicago public schools from lengthening their days.
  
  [...] The union’s legal victory, while not unexpected, seemed to rankle attorneys for CPS, who said the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board already had decided the case before the two sides presented oral arguments at a public hearing Thursday.
  
  "It appears to me that the labor board had made up its mind before we came here. I think that’s extremely distressing," said James Franczek, lead attorney for CPS’ Board of Education.

Labels: contract stuff

• There is a memo floating around out there from the ever flamboyant JL outlining the pending changes. 19 and 23 merging but the building is staying open. 21 split between 2 and 1, and 13 combining with 12. The areas will be south - 4,5,6,7, and 22. Central will be 2,3,8,9,10,11,and 18. The remainder will be North. North patrol area offices will be in 25, Central in 10 and south in 5. Det will come out of Belmont and Western - North (no they are not closing the bldg), 51st - Central and 111th st - South. Not rumor, fact. Saw it in writing, just not sure how to upload the file or I would. Also, Capt's have agreed to become XO's. One XO per commander and 5 inspectors. Lt.'s to become watch co-ordinators, not watch commanders. No extra pay, just more responsibility. The rest is yet to be seen. Hang on with both hands, it is going to be a wild ride.

Labels: department issues

• OT - new reorganization of the dicks will have a citywide units called major crimes/homicide of about 40 dicks working days and afternoons. All other dicks will be in uniform and assigned to the districts and do follow-ups in uniform as it will give the impression of more cops on the streets. 019 will close completely except for the annex building maintained by the courts. Homan square will close and those units will be filtered into dicks offices at the other areas. This should be good!

Labels: rumors

• High winds and waves buffeted the lakefront this evening, hours after the bike and jogging path was closed following National Weather Service warnings of severe weather and lakeshore flooding.
  
  A high wind warning is in effect for the Chicago area from 3 p.m. this afternoon to 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Labels: we got nothing

• [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel] A Journal Sentinel report in August found average police response time to calls for service was slower last year than before Police Chief Edward Flynn took charge in 2008.

  Department records showed police response lagged in 13 of 15 major call categories last year compared with 2007 figures.

  New records obtained this month by the newspaper show the department's overall response time was 3.5 minutes longer on average during the three full years since Flynn's arrival compared with the three years prior. That's more than 10% longer.

Labels: department issues

• OT why would Cross from oswego be so interested in chicago pension reform, could there be a link between his law firms relation with Brigeview bank and that banks link to chicago politicians.

Labels: from the comments

• A gang member shot by a DuPage County homeowner during a bungled, bloody break-in that left two other people seriously wounded was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in prison.

  Alejandro Roman of Chicago was wounded as he searched for drugs and money in 2009 after breaking into a townhouse near Glen Ellyn with two gang associates, authorities said.

  After Roman was shot through a closed bedroom door by the homeowner, his accomplices opened fire on two other residents they already had tied up in another room of the house, DuPage County prosecutors said.

  A 20-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man were shot in the head during the melee, but both survived.

Labels: gun issues

• The Department has apparently discovered that there is a problem with the helmets that were issued to all Deparmtment members. The helmet shield cannot be lowered while wearing a gas mask. How does the Department intend on fixing the problem?
  
  Those officers in voluntary units (tactical teams, etc) may be required to purchase a new helmet or be reassigned. The cost of the new helmet is upwards of 200ドル.00.
  
  The Lodge's position is that these new helmets would be the subject of a first issue item. Any member who is told that he is required to purchase a new helmet as a condition of remaining in his current assignment should contact the Lodge immediately.

Labels: department issues

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel said today he consulted with Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy late Saturday night before police arrested about 175 protesters who refused to leave Grant Park.
  
  Emanuel also said his administration has reached out to organizers of the Occupy Chicago demonstrations, but a spokesman for the group said they have refused a meeting.
  
  
• "As it relates to Grant Park, there's a very specific law as it relates to closing down the park," Emanuel said. "There was conversation between the police department and the protesters about respecting that -- and it starts at 11 o'clock -- about vacating Grant Park. Those conversations went all the way to -- I'm doing this by memory -- 12:30 or 1 o'clock-ish.
  
  "And at that point -- Garry and I had a couple conversations throughout the night -- we have to respect the laws and we have to enforce them."
  
  Asked if he directed McCarthy to arrest the protesters, the mayor said "I was in -- not 'direct,' I wouldn't characterize it that way. I was in consultation and conversation with the police superintendent."

Labels: city politics

• Link cards are supposed to help families across the country that are out of work or struggling financially to put food on the table.

  It’s the modern-day version of food stamp, and it’s all funded by taxpayers. But local convenience store operators are getting their hands on the cards and profiting without selling any food, [...].

  Nationwide, the problem is so bad, it is estimated there is 330ドル million in Link Card fraud each year.

Labels: we got nothing

• A former CTA bus driver was acquitted Tuesday on charges that he lied about being beaten up by an off-duty Chicago Police sergeant.

  But although 43-year Ricardo Mendoza was cleared of disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice, Cook County Judge James Linn lambasted him and called him "selfish and greedy" for filing a federal lawsuit against the city.

  "None of this needs to be in court," Linn said, referencing Mendoza’s criminal case and apparently the 1ドル million he was seeking in his pending civil suit tied to the Sept. 12, 2009 incident.

Labels: silly people

• Chicago firefighter-turned-alderman Nick Sposato (36th) and the union representing fire dispatchers maneuvered Monday to kill Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to reduce the ranks of police and fire dispatchers at the city’s 911 emergency center.

  Fire and EMS dispatcher Jeff Johnson , union steward for IBEW Local 9, said the mayor’s plan to eliminate the jobs of 17 fire dispatchers, lay off nine others and shrink the supervisory ranks from 13 to 8 could send response times and employee burn-out rates through the roof.

  The jobs of 45 police dispatchers would also be eliminated. So would four of 22 radio repair technicians at a time when radio and data frequencies need to be reprogrammed to comply with a Federal Communications Commission mandate.

Labels: department issues

• Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy took to the road Monday to sell Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to close police stations.
  
  At a packed community meeting in Kenwood, McCarthy said the decision to shutter stations and "right size" police districts was based on the geographic size of the area, reported crime and staffing. Closing stations puts about 20 more cops on the street, he said.
  
  "I know everybody loves having a building," McCarthy said. "It's not the building that matters. Instead of taking something away, we're getting more cops on the street."

• "I'm hoping your department is taking into consideration the peculiarities of each district," said Anita Newsome, who lives in North Kenwood. "We are home to the president of the United States. I want you to be aware that we are combining districts that have different cultures."

Labels: department issues

• STOP THE PRESSES.
  
  An interesting rumor has just surfaced...anyone hear anything more? It's being bantered about at CPS.
  
  RON HUBERMAN is rumored to be making a comeback to Chicago...and guess why?
  We all know that the CPD and the CFD are going to be merged at CPD headquarters....well, guess who Rahm is bringing in to 'facilitate' this monumental merge?
  
  You guessed it...the same man who left OEMC with a major scandal involving a contract for police radios. The same man who left the CTA in shambles. The same man who left the public schools in shambles...oh, wait...they STILL are. The man quoted by former Mayor mumbles as the reason why he (shortshanks) 'slept good at night, knowing Ron Huberman was in charge of things.' Ladies & gents, strap in and hang on, it's gonna be a real interesting and bumpy ride if this comes to fruition,
  
  And just HOW is Tiny Dancer 9.5 going to justify bringing this well educated bureaucratic destroyer back into the fold? What kind of salary will he command? How can Rahm justify paying this well educated non-boss a princely sum? I guess we'll see soon enough!

Labels: rumors

Labels: rumors

Labels: events

• "Occupy Englewood" is now recruiting

Labels: sarcasm AND silliness

• North Aurora police today released a sketch of one of two men who bound a woman in a home invasion Friday and stole a gold necklace from her.

  A patrol officer was flagged down by a passerby about 9:15 a.m. and told that a woman was injured near Lincolnway Street and Elm Avenue, police said.

  Officers found the 44-year-old woman with her hands bound behind her back with duct tape.

  She had been in her home on the 100 block of Elm Avenue when two male suspects -- at least one with a gun -- entered through an unlocked door and struck her several times before taping her hands and eyes, police said in a release.

Labels: sarcasm AND silliness

• Chicago Police arrested about 175 Occupy Chicago protesters who refused to leave Grant Park early Sunday following a march from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to the Downtown park.

  More than 2,000 people marched and set up two-dozen tents in Grant Park near East Congress Parkway and South Michigan Avenue with the goal of staying the night to draw attention to corporate abuse and express solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

  Police said about 175 protesters were arrested and charged with a misdemeanor violation of city ordinance for not leaving the park after it closed at 11 p.m. Police said the protesters were told to leave numerous times before making the arrests.

Labels: department issues

Labels: department issues

Labels: department issues

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is asking county unions to agree to eight unpaid days off of work next year to help save 500 jobs.

  Preckwinkle’s offer came in a letter sent out to union leaders this week as she looks to finalize her executive budget recommendation by month's end. In the letter, Preckwinkle asks union workers to give up pay for six holidays, including Labor Day, and to take two other unpaid days off.

  Unions, which have been meeting regularly with Preckwinkle as she puts together next year's budget, say they’ve been blindsided.

Labels: county