Second City Cop

• A Chicago police officer was injured when her police car flipped over on the North Side Monday afternoon.
  
  The accident happened about 1:20 p.m. at the intersection of Montrose and Ashland avenues, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
  
  The officer was pinned in and paramedics got her out, said Langford.
  
  Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada said the officer was taken in serious condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

Labels: officer injured

• Hey SCC - Since the honor students wouldn't stop shooting on a school night, it took a little longer than usual to compile the final numbers.
  
  Weekend: 8 killed (5 shot, 3 stabbed), 44 wounded
  Last year: 1 killed, 15 wounded
  
  September now stands at 42 killed and 197 wounded. Last September tallied 42 killed (inc 2 PO involved) and 154 wounded.
  
  Expect the month end press release to focus on year to date homicide numbers and to ignore September and the increase in shootings.
  
  Illustrating Chicago Crime, Murder and Mayhem at heyjackass.com

Labels: crime

• In the beginning was the notebook, and the notebook was filled with dreams, and those dreams, against all sorts of odds and in the face of red tape, carping, money-hunting and alterations, will come to fruition Saturday with an event that will become either an annual enrichment of our lives or an expensive one-time-only experiment in bread and circuses.
  
  It is called the Great Chicago Fire Festival, and it is the doing of Redmoon Theater and the city of Chicago, supported by 350,000ドル from city coffers and more than 1ドル.5 million from the wallets of a couple of dozen sponsors and donors such as the Pritzker Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Allstate, WMAQ-Ch. 5, Boeing, the Chicago Fire soccer team and Wendella Boats.
  
  That's a lot of money, and there are some who would tell you that there are better uses for it: public schools, potholes, more police officers ... the list is long.

• So, judge for yourself Saturday. It all starts at 3 p.m. with a bazaar along the riverfront featuring crafts, food and entertainment from some of Redmoon's neighborhood partners. At 8 p.m. the real action begins, as "fire caldrons" will be lowered from bridges onto boats waiting below in a river filled with kayakers pulling flaming buoys and prairie gardens. The boats will take the fire to three floating sculptures meant to evoke 1871 homes. These will be set ablaze, burning to reveal symbolic interiors. It all will take place on the water between the State Street and Columbus Drive bridges, and will involve a couple of hundred performers, singers and volunteers. It will culminate with a fireworks display. It's all free.

Labels: money questions

• Two drunken men got "superficial" cuts after fighting each other Saturday night near Buckingham Fountain in the Loop, police said.
  
  The incident happened around 10:15 p.m. in the 500 block of South Columbus Drive, according to Chicago Police Department's Office of News Affairs.
  
  The men, whose ages were not immediately available, were both intoxicated, police said. One of the men refused medical attention, and the second man walked away from the incident.
  
  Both did not file a police report, and no one was taken into custody as a result, police said.

Labels: crime

• Three men were killed and at least 30 other people have been wounded in shootings across the city since 2 p.m. Friday.
  
  The most recent fatal shooting happened about 6:15 a.m. Saturday in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

Labels: crime, stats

• A shooting sent terrified patrons scrambling from a Miami nightclub early Sunday and left 15 people wounded, including an 11-year-old child, authorities said.
  
  When Miami police and rescue crews arrived at a club called The Spot around 1 a.m., they said they found chaos among the large throng of adults and teenagers gathered there. Rescuers found wounded people inside and outside the club, some too hurt to flee, Miami Fire Rescue Capt. Ignatius Carroll said.
  
  [...] One male was found unresponsive and not breathing when emergency responders arrived. Five girls between 11 and 17 years old also suffered gunshot wounds, Carroll said.

Labels: out-of-state

Labels: sports

Labels: elections

Labels: stats

• You vote, you seal your vote in a Secrecy Envelope, you mail it in the included envelope. You do not mark the either envelope or deface it in any way - this may void your ballot.
• The ballots are collected at a PO Box or a firm that specializes in elections. They are held there until the counting day.
• In recent years, the Lodge has allowed in-person voting the morning of the count. There is a process in place to ensure you aren't able to double vote - probably scanning the bar codes on the secrecy envelopes (hence the "don't mark anything" rule).
• The company running the election brings the ballots and machines to the Hall. The envelopes are counted and oriented. A machine counts and slices the tops of the envelopes and the secrecy ballots are extracted and scanned. Hopefully, this eliminates the ineligible voters (sergeants, retirees, etc). These envelopes are then sliced open by machine, the ballots are stacked and counted by machine in view of any interested parties.

Labels: contract stuff

• Brian Howard, 36, of Naperville has been charged with one count of Destruction of Aircraft or Aircraft Facilities after he allegedly set a fire in the basement of an Aurora FAA facility, cut the feeds to the radar and damaged the communications system, forcing a ground stop at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway international airports, ABC7 sources said.
  
  "This is a local issue with a contract employee," Aurora Police Chief Greg Thomas said. "There is no terrorist act."

• A fired Oklahoma food processing plant worker who had tried to convert some of his co-workers to Islam beheaded one co-worker and seriously injured another before the owner of the plant shot him, police said Friday. After he was terminated from Vaughan Foods in Moore, Alton Nolen, 30, drove to another part of the facility where he attacked Colleen Hufford, 54, police said. He used a "standard" knife to behead her, police said. He then allegedly used the same knife to repeatedly stab Traci Johnson, 43. Some co-workers told police that he had recently converted to Islam and had been trying to convert them.

Labels: terrorism

• An attorney for a Chicago man charged with illegally lobbying on behalf of the Zimbabwe government alleged in federal court today that Roland Burris, while a U.S. senator, was involved in a shakedown of a businessman seeking military contracts.
  
  Burris is scheduled to be a key prosecution witness at the trial beginning next week of C. Gregory Turner, who is charged with trying to persuade U.S. government officials to push for the lifting of sanctions imposed on top Zimbabwe government officials.
  
  The allegations against Burris were contained in court papers turned over by the government on Thursday to Turner’s legal team.
  
  Turner’s attorneys did not lay out specifics of the alleged shakedown in court, but one of the lawyers, James Tunick, later told reporters following the hearing this afternoon that the businessman alleged Burris offered to promote military contracts for his business in return for being paid 250,000ドル a year as a financial adviser once he left the Senate.
  
  The businessman, who lives in Illinois, made the allegations against Burris in 2012, Tunick said. According to the information turned over by prosecutors, at least one other witness corroborated the allegations, according to Tunick.

Labels: corruption

• No doubt, you've heard City Hall, certain aldermen, and the police department itself issue endless statements about Chicago having "more police on the beat" than when Rahm Emanuel took office in 2011.
  
  Well, that's not true and the police department’s own documents prove it.
  
  

Labels: department issues

• Chicago’s 28,000 retired city workers and their dependents are asking a federal judge to block Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to save 27ドル million in 2015 by raising monthly health insurance premiums by anywhere from 30 percent to 79 percent.
  
  Arguing that the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision to preserve health benefits for state retirees "substantially increased" their chances of prevailing on the merits, retirees want to compel the city to roll back monthly payments to 2013 levels.
  
  That’s when Emanuel announced plans to save 108ドル.7 million a year by phasing out the city's 55 percent subsidy for retiree health care and forcing retirees to make the switch to Obamacare.

Labels: pension

• No one was seriously injured in a massive fire at commercial building in Lawndale that sent heavy plumes of black smoke over the Eisenhower Expressway just before the afternoon rush, Chicago fire officials said.
  
  Huge flames shot out of the roof, where the fire is believed to have begun around 3:30 p.m., CFD spokesman Larry Langford said. Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Will Knight says the cause of the first is under investigation, but no foul play is suspected.

Labels: fire fighters

Labels: crime

• The Contract passes;
• the city decides (along with Springfield) to raise the pension contribution from 9+% to 12%
• the FOP exercises the clause in the Contract to request reopening of the wage schedule;
• the city, of course, says "No."

• the Lodge files for arbitration or whatever;
• the city lawyers turn to Springfield with the argument that as the FOP has exercised a Contractual Clause in regard to the Pension, the Pension has now ceased to be regulated by State Law and is now in the realm of a Contractual Agreement. Oops.

Labels: contract stuff

• (HILLSIDE) A west suburban high school was temporarily placed on lockdown Wednesday afternoon after a bullet was found on the floor of the cafeteria.
  
  Police initiated the precautionary lockdown at Proviso West High School at 4701 Harrison St. in Hillside about 2:15 p.m. Tuesday, according to an alert on the School District 209 website.
  
  A single bullet was found on the floor in the cafeteria during lunch, the alert said.
  
  The lockdown has been lifted as of about 4 p.m., and one juvenile is in custody for possessing ammunition, Hillside police said.
  
  School buses have arrived and students are being dismissed.
  
  The school district said during the lockdown that no students or staff members were in any danger.

• DURHAM — An upperclassman who forgot he had ammunition in his pocket caused quite a stir at Oyster River High School Thursday morning.
  
  According to Superintendent Dr. James Morse, the student was in a classroom when the bullets fell from his jacket pockets and onto the floor. He had been at a firing range practice shooting with his father Wednesday night, Morse said.
  
  The classroom teacher acted quickly and a school resource officer from the Police Department was called in, Deputy Chief Rene Kelley said.
  
  The resource officer worked with administrative staff from the school to determine there was no ill intent on the behalf of the student. Kelley said no charges will be brought against him.
  
  Morse said it is against school policy to bring ammunition onto the property, but given the nature of the case, the student will not face severe punishment.
  
  "It was truly just an accident," Morse said.

Labels: silly people

• At the general meeting Dean was asked if the Unit Rep's had voted on the agreement. He said he didn't know. Several Unit Rep's in attendance shouted out that they hadn't. I have now learned from talking to several reps that no vote was taken. Per our By-Laws(Article 5 Section 3 -page 8)the Unit Rep's are to vote on this before the Board of Director's does. That didn't happen. Also there was no quorum at the Board meeting when the directors voted on this. How could this go out for a vote?

• Section 3. It shall be a duty of the Unit Representatives to review any negotiated agreement and to vote for or against the adoption of said agreement, this vote shall be advisory only to the Board of Directors to assist the Board of Directors in their decision to recommend the ratification of said collective bargaining agreement to the membership or a return of the negotiated agreement to the bargaining committee for further negotiation.

Labels: from the comments, rumors

• Sergeants are getting ballots - so are retirees?

• "Propaganda" included with the ballot?

• ...the letter included in the ballot package. It seems as though our representatives at FOP are in a "rush" to get this done and over with. Furthermore, the writer does not hide their support for this contract and even attempts to steer the members to vote yes. That is inappropriate and points should be made stating the positives and the negatives for the members to understand so that we may be able to make a informed decision.

• The "propaganda" has a glaring error?

• How come the ballots are in the mail and we are supposed to vote and the last word the FOP President said about Tier 1 and Tier 2 hospitals is "We will get the information regarding which hospital is on which list to the membership as soon as we (FOP) get it?" How do they recommend a contract for vote and neither they nor we have the complete list of Tier 1 and 2 hospitals?

Labels: contract stuff

• Sneed has learned that the feds plan to dispatch 65 FBI agents to the streets in high-crime areas on the South and West Sides in an all-out battle against gang crime.
  
  The 65 feds are part of a group of 100 Chicago agents already assigned to curb gang and violent crimes.
  
  "This is a new tactic the FBI is using in fighting crime," an FBI spokeswoman said, "by working in a concentrated area and a concentrated time on the street — although the FBI has been working hand in hand and day in and day out with the police department."
  
  A top police source tells Sneed the FBI agents, who will be working in tandem with the Chicago Police Department, will be assigned to do gang suppression missions on Thursdays and Fridays for at least the next three to four weeks.
  
  "It’s mind-boggling," the top police source said. "It’s almost unheard of."
  
  "I thought the mayor and the police superintendent had said they don’t need more police on the streets," the source added.

• Forty state troopers — dressed in plainclothes and riding alongside Chicago Police officers in unmarked Chicago Police Department vehicles — will start serving fugitive warrants Thursday, under a partnership that could last for 60 days, twice as long as originally planned.
  
  The troopers will be assigned to overlapping, ten-hour shifts — starting at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. — in four high crime Chicago Police districts: Englewood, Austin, Calumet and Gresham.
  
  Sources said the troopers will be housed in an undisclosed suburban motel during a 30-day deployment that could double if the partnership succeeds in getting known criminals off the street.

Labels: info for the police

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel today called on the General Assembly to decriminalize marijuana possession statewide and to reduce the penalty to a misdemeanor for those caught with 1 gram or less of any controlled substance.
  
  During 90 minutes of testimony before the House-Senate Joint Criminal Reform Committee in Chicago, Emanuel encouraged lawmakers to challenge the "assumptions that are embedded in the criminal justice system." The mayor argued that reducing the penalties for minor drug possession would allow the city and state to focus their efforts on more violent crime.
  
  "It’s time, in my view, to free up our criminal justice system to address our real public safety challenges and build on the progress that has been made," Emanuel said.

Labels: dumb ideas

• FLOP getting pissed said...
  
  Dean Jr. was running his mouth and let the cat out of the bag tonight after the Northside town hall meeting. Said ballots for the vote on the contract were ready to go out last week but the labor attorneys strongly urged Dean Sr. to hold off on mailing them out after they saw how much members are ripping it to shreds on "that G-d damned blog". Also, they werent happy with how members reacted at yesterday's FOP meeting and especially after the cold reception they got tonight trying to sell this stinker of a contract. They're very nervous and scrambling because no one is buying the story they're selling us. That's why they picked the Southside location that they did. It's a small joint and won't hold too many angry coppers. Dean Jr. also got visibly angry and said how 'that fuckin' SCC is fucking things up for my Pops'.

Labels: contract stuff

Labels: silly people

• When Gawker’s Adam Weinstein wrote of his desire to imprison people who disagree with him politically, publishing an essay under the very straightforward headline "Arrest Climate-Change Deniers," I noted that this was part of the Left’s ongoing, worrisome drift toward authoritarianism. The response was nearly unanimous: that it was unfair to tar the entire Left with the views of one knucklehead writing for Gawker, a man who should not be taken seriously writing for an outlet that should not be taken seriously. While I am sympathetic to that line of argument, the fact is that as a practical matter we do have to take all sorts of foolish and backward people and institutions seriously.
  
  Now that the would-be gulag warden is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaking to what everybody loudly assures me was a cheering throng of historic proportions, what will they say? That the world’s largest climate-change march, and those who participated in it, are insignificant? Mr. Kennedy, who has been kept out of one of New York’s Senate seats only by happy circumstance, says that he believes his opponents to be guilty of "treason" — his word — and wants them convicted of crimes — "They ought to be serving time," he says.

Labels: we got nothing

• Two-thirds of Chicago-area residents would stay in the Chicagoland area, even if money were no object, according to a new poll from Charles Schwab.
  
  That’s despite the fact that about three-quarters of Chicagoans rate the metropolitan area as "one of the worst" in the country in terms of crime and tax rates.
  
  >The Charles Schwab poll, "The View from Chicago," was conducted with a representative sample of 1,000 Chicago-area residents, ages 21-75.
  
  Chicagoans rated their city highest on diversity, innovation, and opportunities for young professionals. They rated the region lowest as a place to raise a family, get an education, and retire.

Labels: we got nothing

• The 42-year-old Army veteran who scaled the White House fence Friday and got through the presidential residence's front doors had 800 rounds of ammunition in his car, prosecutors said in court Monday.
  
  Omar J. Gonzalez was ordered held without bond Monday, pending an Oct. 1 detention hearing, after prosecutors argued he was a flight risk -- he is facing felony weapons charges in Wythe County, Virginia.
  
  Federal prosecutor said Monday in court that Gonzalez had had a map with the White House circled during that incident.

Labels: media

• Exhibit #1 - there hasn't been a CompStat meeting for a month now.

• Exhibit #2 - Candlelight Vigil. McCarthy sat by himself and none of the regular sycophants approached him at all, instead congregating in their own little herd and studiously ignoring the Supe.

• Exhibit #3 - Election time. Rahm needs votes. Shaking things up will produce the illusion of change and Rahm can say, "Look what I'm doing!" and there are enough stupid people that will believe he's actually changing things.

Labels: department issues

Labels: silly people

• Two people have been killed and at least 29 others wounded in weekend Chicago shootings on the last weekend of summer.
  
  The weekend’s first homicide took place around 4:10 a.m. Saturday in the city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood, in the same block where three others, including a 12-year-old boy, had been shot late Friday night.
  
  
• Just before 7 p.m. Saturday, a 21-year-old man was fatally shot while driving on the city’s Northwest Side.
  
  Police were flagged down in the 3300 block of West Chicago Avenue and discovered a 21-year-old man had been shot in the chest in the 3900 block of West Ferdinand Street. The man was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition but was later pronounced dead.

Labels: crime, stats

• A Chicago man has died after he was stabbed by a man who he and several others tried to rob on Friday, officials said.
  
  Dimitre Beck, of the 7300 block of South Peoria Street, was pronounced dead at 2:46 a.m. Saturday, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. An autopsy conducted today determined that Beck died of multiple stab wounds at Advocate Christ Medical Center and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the office. The office said he was 21, while police said he was 22.
  
  According to police, Beck was with a group of people at about 10 p.m. when they approached a male on the 7300 block of South Halsted Street and attempted to rob him, said Chicago Police News Affairs [...]. As Beck and the others began beating the victim who attempted to resist the robbery, Sweeney said. The victim fell to the ground and at that point the victim took out an "edged instrument, possibly a knife" and stabbed Beck before running off, police said.
  
  The others fled when they saw the weapon, police said.
  
  Police continue to investigate.

Labels: crime

• Two people were shot to death and at least 16 other people have been wounded in weekend shootings across the city, police said.
  
  The most recent fatal shooting happened Saturday evening in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Labels: crime, stats

Labels: sports

Labels: contract stuff

• 004 - 10 openings
• 005 - 5
• 006 - 5
• 008 - 8
• 009 - 3
• 016 - 5
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• 019 - 8
• 024 - 2
• 050 - 7 openings
• 051 - 3 openings

Labels: info for the police

• Four reputed gang members have been charged in the fatal shooting of an innocent 9-year-old boy, apparently gunned down because they thought he was shouting a warning to two rival gang members, police said.
  
  "This didn't have to happen," Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said at a news conference Friday afternoon to announce charges in last month's slaying of Antonio Smith, the youngest victim killed in gun violence in Chicago this year.

• McCarthy said the gun used to kill Antonio had been used in other shootings. "Chicago's murder problem is a gun problem," he said. "It's too easy to get a firearm."

• Allmon had just gotten out of jail in August after serving 18 months of a 3 1/2-year sentence on a weapons charge, according to McCarthy.
  
  "He should not have been on the street to commit this murder," McCarthy said. "The real kicker to this entire case is that it didn’t have to happen."

Labels: crime

• A veteran Chicago cop has been fired, after a run-in with a cab driver five years ago.
  
  Karl Clermont recalls the booze-fueled encounter he had with an off-duty Chicago police detective in April 2009. He drove the man he says was obviously drunk to Armitage and Damen.
  
  The passenger left the cab and refused to pay the eight dollar fare.
  
  "So he goes like he’s going in his pocket and I think now he’s going to pay me," Clermont says. "He pulls out a weapon and draws it at me directly and says to me, ‘You choose. Either I don’t owe you (expletive) or you get out of the car and see what happens."

• Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said Friday Grand Crossing residents want him to reinstate their indicted former district Cmdr. Glenn Evans and he would consider it if Evans is exonerated.
  
  One day after Evans was formally indicted on aggravated battery and official misconduct charges, McCarthy talked about the impressive show of support that one of his most trusted commanders received at Thursday night’s Police Board hearing.
  
  "There was 20 or 30 people who came. They presented a petition in support of Commander Evans while at the same time saying, 'Look, we’re not even addressing the allegation. We’re just talking to you about the character' " of the man, the superintendent said during a taping of, "Connected to Chicago," to be broadcast at 2 p.m. Saturday on WLS-AM Radio (890).
  
  "That was really telling because it’s the same group of people that, when I moved him from the 3^rd District to the 11^th District, came out to the Police Board meeting and protested....I complimented them. It’s easy for people to come and complain. When people come in support of somebody, it’s really telling. Commander Evans does have widespread support in the community because he’s one of the hardest-working people we have."

• McCarthy stressed that, if true, the charges against Evans are "obviously reprehensible and intolerable in a police agency." But he also condemned the rush to judgment by the news media.
  
  "Everybody has Glenn Evans as guilty right now," McCarthy said.

Labels: we got nothing

• Jason "J. Rock" Austin thought he got away with murder, authorities said.
  
  But six years after prosecutors dropped state charges that he’d gunned down an off-duty Chicago cop and his female friend, the 32-year-old drug dealer was finally held to account Thursday in federal court.
  
  Saying it was "very likely" Austin had killed Det. Robert Soto and social worker Kathryn Romberg on the West Side in 2008, U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow sentenced the high ranking Travelling Vice Lord to 35 years in prison.
  
  "You destroyed two innocent lives and deprived their families of their loved ones, deprived children of their parents, friends of their friends," Lefkow told Austin in front of a courtroom packed with police officers and relatives of Soto and Romberg.
  
  Though they’d had asked for a life sentence, the 35-year term was a triumph for authorities. They in 2008 had failed to convict Austin of the murders after multiple witnesses recanted, but over the course of a week long hearing earlier this month, convinced Lefkow to take the slayings into account when she sentenced Austin for a drug conspiracy.

Labels: good news

• Gene Lee, a onetime top aide to former Mayor Richard Daley, has been a fixture in the civic life of Chicago’s Chinatown for more than four decades.
  
  He organized the bustling neighborhood’s annual summer fair, marshaled resources for Chinese culture and the arts, and founded the Chicago Dragons Athletic Association, a sponsor of youth and adult basketball and traditional dancing and music credited with keeping underprivileged children off the streets.
  
  But while Lee, 65, was busy promoting Chinatown, he was also stealing from the charities that were supposed to help the community, federal prosecutors say.
  
  On Thursday, Lee was sentenced to five years of probation for stealing more than 90,000ドル from 2007 to 2010 and using much of it to pay for personal expenses such as suits, ties, travel and meals at fancy restaurants. The conviction -- Lee pleaded guilty in April to theft and filing a false tax return -- had nothing to do with his duties as a deputy chief of staff to Daley.

Labels: corruption

• On Tuesday, September 30th, you have the right to remain laughing AGAIN! After the success of last year’s competition, Laugh Factory is once again inviting the police officers of The City of Chicago to try their hands at standup comedy! They may be known for their service and bravery, but how will these civil servants stack up this year at Laugh Patrol - a competition to find the funniest police officer in the Windy City!
  
  Laugh Patrol is a night of "all-cop comedy" which will be open to Chicago's finest in all 23 districts, and is hosted by comedy legend Tom Dreesen (The Tonight Show).
  
  During the evening, a dozen Chicago police officers--along with Fr. Dan Brandt and Rabbi Moshe Wolf from the CPD Chaplains Unit--will have 3-5 minutes on Laugh Factory’s world famous stage to serve up some laughs for the community. All of the night's proceeds will go towards the 100 Club of Chicago, providing for the families of law enforcement officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Contestants will be judged by a panel of professionals, and prizes will be awarded.
  
  To see last year's show again, click here, then on the link: www.ChicagoPCM.org

Labels: events

• A 16-year-old Indiana boy was ordered held without bond Wednesday for his alleged role in the murder of an elderly retired Chicago Police sergeant.
  
  While his mother sat next to him, Jeremy Mendez admitted to detectives that he forced himself into 73-year-old Elmer Brown’s home the night of the incident last spring, Cook County prosecutors said.
  
  Jesse Kazmierski, of Hammond, Ind., was charged with the deadly home invasion earlier this month. He also is being held without bond and is awaiting trial at Cook County Jail.

• Chicago Police officials said Wednesday they are waiting to extradite the third suspect from Indiana.

Labels: good news

Labels: contract stuff

Labels: info for the police

• It boasts President Obama as its son, features a swaggering mayor in former Obama aide Rahm Emanuel and cheers for the 2013 Stanley Cup winners, the Blackhawks.
  
  But America views Chicago as something different — America’s most dangerous city.
  
  In the latest YouGov.com poll, Chicago tops Los Angeles and New York, with 53 percent of Americans saying that the city is "unsafe" to 33 percent who call it "safe."
  
  New York was called "the second most dangerous," followed by Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
  
  Texas' major cities of Dallas and Houston were called the safest.

Labels: crime

• The suspect in the shooting of two Pennsylvania state troopers is a sharpshooting survivalist who specifically targeted cops and was out for mass murder, authorities said.
  
  He's a skilled shooter who "doesn't miss," his father, a retired U.S. Army Major, told police. The father also told police that he was missing two weapons, a .308 rifle with a scope and an AK-47, according to court documents released today.
  
  Suspect Eric Matthew Frein, 31, from Canadensis, Pa., practices survivalism -- the ability to survive without the help of government or society, and often storing food and guns, Pennsylvania police said today. Police who searched his home found a copy of a book entitled Sniper Training and Employment, according to the court documents.

Labels: officer down, out-of-state

• A fatal shooting in Uptown this week is fueling concerns about gang violence in the North Side neighborhood, with the alderman calling on police to step up patrols.
  
  Christopher McGee, 22, was shot in the chest around 11 a.m. Monday a block north of his home in the 4400 block of North Magnolia Avenue, authorities said. McGee was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition, where he was later pronounced dead, according to officials.
  
  The shooting marks Uptown's third homicide of the year, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.

• A high-end fashion boutique in the Gold Coast neighborhood was the scene of a dramatic burglary early Monday morning.
  
  Police say the burglary occurred around 3:45 a.m. and they believe three vehicles were involved, with one being used to drive into the storefront. The team of thieves then grabbed three to four racks of expensive clothing and left in less than a minute.
  
  In video shot soon after the heist some fur products that apparently were dropped and left behind could be seen on the floor of the Milan based high-end boutique.
  
  [...] It’s not the first time there have been smash and grab burglaries around the Mag Mile recently.
  
  Just three weeks ago, a batch of cell phones was taken from the Best Buy at the John Hancock Center after windows were smashed to get inside and in in April, thieves used a similar m.o. to hit the Saint Laurent Paris store on Walton getting away with hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Labels: crime

• SPRINGFIELD -- A new subpoena seeking records about Gov. Pat Quinn's botched 2010 anti-violence program has been issued, this time from a federal grand jury based in Chicago.
  
  The request marks the first subpoena issued by Chicago-based federal authorities in the probe into Quinn's 54ドル.5 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. Numerous prior subpoenas had come from federal authorities in Springfield.
  
  The federal grand jury in Springfield has subpoenaed emails from the governor's former chief of staff, Jack Lavin, and several others heavily involved in implementing the program.

• The next time you complain about taxes in Illinois, take some comfort in knowing your complaining is justified — at least according to a new report on the fairness of tax systems across the U.S.
  
  The study from Wallethub focused on federal tax policy and analyzed and ranked each state based on the fairness of its state and local tax system, which included income taxes, property taxes and sales and excise taxes.
  
  Where does Illinois fall? No. 47. Arkansas, Hawaii and Washington are the only states with more unfair tax structures.
  

• Among the many metrics that show Obama's home state is struggling to break the Great Recession, a new report shows that applications for food stamps in Illinois is greater than its creation of jobs.
  
  Illinois has had the worst recovery from the recession of any state in the country, the Illinois Policy Institute reported this month "There are nearly 300,000 fewer Illinoisans working today than in January 2008, and 170,000 fewer payroll jobs. "
  
  "For every post-recession job created in Illinois, nearly two people have enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps," the Institute wrote. "In the recession era, the number of Illinoisans dependent on food stamps has risen by 745,000."

Labels: state politics

Labels: contract stuff, FOP

• Why the City of Chicago is even involved in our medical benefits? We have 12,000 active members, 5,000 retires and how many dependents? Why can’t the FOP handle our medical benefits? The plus side would be the City can no longer use medical benefits as a contract negation point tied to any other parts of the contract, also we could no longer use the City of Chicago Benefits Management Division and deal directly with a real company and or a health insurance broker. Why do I have to call the City if I have problem with Blue Cross and not call Blue Cross directly? I would pay more for insurance if retires had free health care, because we are all going to be there someday. It’s a benefit for members that should be controlled by members not the City.
  
  I'm glad you brought this up. I have been working on an alternative insurance plan for our retirees anticipating something like this would happen. Hope to have something soon. Stay tuned.
  
  Kevin Kilmer
  Financial Secrerary [sic]
  Fraternal Order of Police.

Labels: general, info for the police

• MERRILLVILLE — Images of Merrillville Police Officer Nickolaus "Nick" Schultz flickered past on the screen at the Star Plaza Theatre — as an apple-cheeked toddler playing in the bathtub, a boy preparing to launch a throw in a Little League game, a teen excelling at football, hockey and golf, hanging out with family, friends and his girlfriend, and celebrating graduation with a cigar.
  
  A picture of him in his Franklin College football jersey graced the stage alongside his Merrillville Police dress uniform, mementos and a bevy of flowers.
  
  All of it was a reminder of a life that ended far too soon.

Labels: officer down, out-of-state

• My Two Cents said...
  A few quick points why I and everyone I know will be voting NO. This is referencing the literature FLOP posted on their website:
  
  Section 2 - Wages, Section D. "Pension Legislation Reopener":
  
  says the Lodge "can" reopen the Agreement and renegotiate salary, percentage increases and duty availability pay. Doesn't say they "WILL" or that they "HAVE TO". If/when we wind up exceeding 9% of our pay for our pension, watch for them (FLOP) to say something along the lines of "the city ain't gonna budge and it ain't worth fighting/going to arbitration".
  
  THE PENSION IS A STATE ISSUE AND SHOULD NOT BE INCLUDED IN ANYTHING RELATED TO THE CITY / OUR CONTRACT.
  
  Section 3 - Duty Availability Allowance
  
  The fact that they want to keep new hires after 01 Jan 15 from duty availability pay for 3 1/2 years is total bullshit. These kids are the first ones to have to be 'available' for the worst of assignments via reverse seniority. They do the same job we all do, they shouldn't have to lose this perk. PLUS THIS IS PENSIONABLE, SO THIS 'TEMPORARY' LOSS ACTUALLY EQUATES TO MUCH MORE THAN APPROX 10ドルK.
  
  Section 10 - Time Due
  
  States in part: "Accordingly, for officers assigned to District Law Enforcement" and "approval of which shall not be unreasonably denied".
  
  A) This language suggests that people in units and detectives won't have any recourse when denied the use of elective time
  B) Define "unreasonably" until the "minimum set percentage" of officers allowed off on any given day is established
  
  Section 11 - Police Department Vehicles
  
  Should have NEVER been a contract proposal since the employer has to provide us with the tools necessary to do our jobs. Says city "intends" to purchase 400 cars by years end and an average of 200 for each additional year of contract. Also says how city and FLOP will form a committee regarding repair, maintainance and mandatory retirement of vehicles.
  
  A) Are there repercussions if they DON'T buy those cars? "Intends" is doublespeak for "NOT mandated".
  B) How about ensuring any new cars bought first go to PATROL AT THE DISTRICT LEVEL. NO UNITS, HOUSE MICE OR BOSSES GETTING THE NEW CARS WHILE WE GET HAND-ME-DOWNS.
  
  Oh yeah, the 11 percent over 5 years is an insult. Especially since, by Rahm and Garry's own repeated admission, crime is at record lows across the board (sans agg batts with firearms). You can't justify paying teachers, streets and sanitation folks and every city labor union employee from window washer to painter a higher percentage in wage increases than first responders.

Labels: contract stuff

• For officers getting ready to vote on the new contract, please be aware of the 2-tier provision RE hospitals. Certain hospitals are listed as tier 1 hospitals. Costs for treatment at these hospitals will be paid at 90/10%. Hospitals NOT on the list will be considered tier 2 hospitals. Costs for treatment at these hospitals will be paid at 75/25%. I am told there are NO Advocate hospitals on the tier 1 list. That means Christ, Illinois Masonic, Lutheran General and Trinity (among others) will cost you 25% of the bill instead of 10%. This means that any hospital services incurred while traveling will cost you 25% of the bill instead of 10%. I am not asking anyone to vote 'yes' or 'no' on the contract. I just want everyone to be aware of one of the lesser talked about provisions of the new contract.

Labels: contract stuff

• A deal involving the federal government’s most expensive lease in Chicago produced millions of dollars in profits for a development group that included Penny Pritzker, a top campaign fund-raiser for President Barack Obama who is now his commerce secretary, a Chicago Sun-Times / Better Government Association investigation has found.
  
  The developers also included Jack Higgins, a friend and political backer of former Mayor Richard M. Daley.
  
  Over the 14-year term of the lease, the government will pay 280ドル million in rent and operating expenses for the Near West Side property, which houses the FBI’s Chicago headquarters.
  
  That’s more than double what it cost to build the complex at 2111 W. Roosevelt Rd., which opened in 2006, records show.

Labels: corruption

• Shootings on two area expressways left two young men wounded overnight, according to police.
  
  A 24-year-old man was shot during a chase between two cars heading south on the Dan Ryan Expressway about 3:15 a.m. Sunday, according to police.
  
  The 24-year-old suffered a leg wound and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where his condition stabilized, police said.
  
  A witness saw two cars speeding down the highway and then gunfire, police said. The man was dropped off by his friends at 79th Street just above the expressway in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side.
  
  Earlier, about 1 a.m. Sunday, a young man whose age wasn't available was shot on the Kennedy Expressway near Armitage Avenue in the Bucktown neighborhood on the North Side. Police shut the outbound lanes to search for evidence.
  
  The man was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition.

Labels: crime

• As the pastor and several other members of the One Way M.B. Church in the city's North Lawndale neighborhood were enjoying lunch Sunday afternoon, they were interrupted when shots rang out on the other side of the small brick building.
  
  Outside of the church, a 28-year-old man lay critically injured on the sidewalk in the 4100 block of West 16th Street on the West Side, one of at least three victims of shootings and a stabbing on the South and West sides of the city. The man later died, according to police.

Labels: crime

• A Chicago police officer was hit by a car and the suspect shot on the Near West Side Saturday night, officials said.
  
  The incident took place about 10:12 p.m. in the 2300 block of West Lake Street, according to said Police News Affairs [...].
  
  The officer's injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, Gaines said. The officer was struck by a vehicle and police fired shots, hitting a suspect, who was shot in the leg.....

Labels: officer injured

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday dropped another financial bombshell on Chicago’s 25,000 retired city workers and their dependents: their monthly health insurance premiums will be going up by a whopping 40 percent — in spite of a pending lawsuit and a precedent-setting Illinois Supreme Court ruling.
  
  Last year, Emanuel announced plans to save 108ドル.7 million a year by phasing out the city’s 55 percent subsidy for retiree health care and forcing retirees to make the switch to Obamacare.
  
  For the city, the Year One savings was 25ドル million. For retirees, that translated into an increase in monthly health insurance premiums in the 20 percent and 30 percent-range.
  
  On Friday, city retirees and their dependents got hit again — only this time, even harder. The city notified them of a 30-percent to 40-percent increase that will cost most of the retirees between another 300ドル to 400ドル a month.

Labels: we got nothing

• A Chicago Police officer performed CPR on a newborn baby to help save his life Friday night in the Bridgeport neighborhood on the South Side.
  
  About 8:15 p.m. the officer, who works the evening shift in the Deering District, heard a radio call from a dispatcher asking "if anyone on the zone knew how to perform CPR on a newborn baby," according to a police statement.
  
  She went to a house in the 3100 block of South Lituanica, just west of the Deering District station, where the 2-day-old boy’s great-grandmother was holding him, police said.
  
  The baby was blue in color and not breathing, and the officer began performing chest compressions for several minutes until he began to breathe on his own, police said.
  
  Paramedics arrived and took the newborn to Mercy Hospital, where police said his condition was stabilized.
  
  The officer is a 14-year veteran who recently had been CPR certified, police said.

Labels: good news

• Alderman Bob Fioretti jumped into the race for mayor of Chicago Saturday with an attack against Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the mayor's campaign fired back.
  
  Fioretti launched his campaign with a website and a campaign video.
  
  The two-term City Council member wasted no time criticizing current Emanuel, painting him as out of touch, unwilling to listen, and divisive, a politician of broken promises on jobs, crime, and education, and attacked his administration's policies like charging not-for-profits and churches for city water.
  
  "But our schools are being gutted, our streets are not safer and so many are missing out on economic opportunities and jobs," Fioretti said.
  
  The Second Ward alderman made his announcement Saturday morning before a crowd of about 100 supporters at East West University in the South Loop.

Labels: city politics

Labels: sports

Labels: contract stuff

• Dear SCC and SCC (Retired):
  
  We would very much appreciate a post on Second City Cop tomorrow inviting current and retired members of the Chicago Police Department to attend the unveiling of a Horse of Honor dedicated to the memory of Off. Michael A. Ceriale.
  
  Saturday, September 13
  12 pm
  Hyatt Regency Chicago
  Chicago 60601
  
  The life-size horse statue was designed and painted by artist and Chicago Police Officer Peter Bucks, a high school classmate of Off. Ceriale.
  
  Horses of Honor is a public art campaign to raise awareness and support for the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation. This horse was underwritten by the Officer Michael A. Ceriale Memorial Foundation.

Labels: events

• The 2014 Candlelight Vigil will be held on Tuesday, September 16 at 7:30 PM in Gold Star Families Memorial and Park. All police officers, their families and friends are invited. The ceremony is expected to last an hour and will take place rain or shine.
  
  As is the tradition of the Candlelight Vigil, the names of all Chicago police officers who died in the line of duty will be read. Those who wish to read the name of a fallen Officer should email Beata.Staszewski@chicagopolice.org.
  
  Gold Star Families Memorial and Park is located on Chicago Park District grounds near Waldron Drive (in the shadow of Soldier Field). Uniformed CPD personnel will direct attendees to the parking lot at the 18th Street exit off of Lake Shore Drive.

Labels: events

• The Chicago Blackhawks Alumni Association is busy planning the 7th Annual Blackhawk Alumni and Friends Charity Softball Classic presented by BMO Harris Bank.
  
  Chicago Blackhawks current players and alumni "face-off" in a 16" softball game with members of the Chicago Police and Fire Departments. The event also features the annual CFD vs. CPD City-Wide 16" Softball Championship.
  
  The event benefits the Chicago Firefighters’ EMWQ Retirees’, Widows’ and Children’s Assistance Fund and the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation and related police and fire charities.
  
  [...] Plan to join in this premier event on Sunday, September 14, 2014 from 11:30am – 3:30pm on Ferrell Field at St. Xavier’s University, 3700 W. 103rd Street, Chicago.

Labels: events

Labels: we got nothing

Labels: events

• Chicago seemingly switched from summer to fall overnight.
  
  Temperatures plunged from a high near 80 degrees on Wednesday to the mid-50s on Thursday, and by mid-day the area set a record low for high temps.
  
  On this date in 1940, the coolest high temp was 61 degrees. On Thursday, O'Hare Airport recorded a high of 56 degrees.

• The speech by former US Vice-President Al Gore was apocalyptic. ‘The North Polar ice cap is falling off a cliff,’ he said. ‘It could be completely gone in summer in as little as seven years. Seven years from now.’
  
  Those comments came in 2007 as Mr Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaigning on climate change.
  
  But seven years after his warning, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that, far from vanishing, the Arctic ice cap has expanded for the second year in succession – with a surge, depending on how you measure it, of between 43 and 63 per cent since 2012.

Labels: we got nothing

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel is starting an online community forum to engage directly with Chicago's residents and business owners.
  
  In a city of more than two million, the chance to sit down and talk about important issues is rare. The chance to sound off to city officials directly may not be an option for everyone, but a new website opens that possibility to anyone with a computer or smartphone. Chideas.org went live on Thursday.
  
  "The technology allows to create that community forum 24-7, throughout the process, all year round," said Emanuel.
  
  Emanuel says he will respond directly to some of the comments, and have city commissioners do the same.

Labels: we got nothing

Labels: events

Labels: events