Halloween Deadline

At least Daley has given the public lots of time to forget this ever happened:

• Mayor Daley on Tuesday set a Halloween deadline for the Chicago Police Department to tighten up the security breach that allowed a 14-year alleged police impersonator to scam his way onto the streets for a five-hour tour of duty.

  “I’d hate to see it at Halloween. If a 12- or 14-year-old child walks into the police station on Halloween, they’ll get behind the desk. They'll give ’em a car. They'll give him a badge,” Daley said.

  Noting that the 14-year-old had no badge and no gun, the mayor said, “You always have a gun and a badge. That’s one thing that identifies you. That’s a real concern that we have. I pay these sergeants good money. We pay lieutenants and captains and everybody else good money to manage people. That’s their responsibility.”

Of course, by Halloween, we'll be short at least another 400 officers due to retirements, so it's possible certain districts will welcome the extra help all those 12- and 14-year-old kids will provide.

And Shortshanks is counting on the Olympics announcement to drive all mention of security lapses from the front pages.