B.S. Interview

It's amazing. When J-Fed talks, you can't even see Daley's lips moving.

All in all, his interview with Carol Marin was a flop and a repeat of everything we've seen before. He talks up what Shortshanks wants in terms of the big "crime is down" story to get the Olympics interested in Chicago. Then he dances around and doesn't answer the other questions that might not mean much to the public, but mean a whole lot to the people he's attempting to "lead."

• J-Fed talks up a 21% drop in homicides. After the coldest winter in a decade. But it's all wine and roses where J-Fed comes from. Aggravated Batteries with handguns are up over 100 even in the cold. A few warm days and we could manage to catch up really quick. Don't count chickens before they're hatched.
  
  
• J-Fed says that with good equipment, good training and leadership by example, there is no morale problem. Last time we checked, there were still no pool cars citywide, Tahoes came two at a time then stopped and have to be downed at 3,000 miles for a transmission problem that ought to be the subject of an investigative report, we can't send anyone to training because we have no manpower to spare, and our leadership consists of one of the more amusing selections of buffoons outside of a carnival.
  
  
• J-Fed bases his judgement of morale being fine by the fact that officers are still responding to calls and 10-1's, joking and in good spirits. Leaving aside the fact that we're required to go to jobs (it's in the description), everyone responds to 10-1's if they know what's good for them. That could be any one if us on the other end of that radio one day and you better believe we're going to be trusting that everyone shows up. It's what you're supposed to do and has nothing to do with morale. The joking and good spirits is more a result of everyone letting off a little steam after finding our co-workers in one piece. And the people greeting J-Fed and telling him what a great job he's doing - pure fantasy. It's either (A) cops have fun at his expense or (B) the fine CPD tradition of sucking ass. Look what happened to the first three people to smooch up to J-Fed - hello "Policy Group." Of course, at least two of them were mayoral plants, but don't tell J-Fed!
  
  
• And finally, "merit" promotions. We called that one right on the money. J-Fed goes on and on about how merit is a badge of honor, merit promotions are good, and he lifted the "veil of secrecy" surround who was "merit" and who wasn't. If "merit" is so damn good, why not define it? Give everyone a fair shot at achieving career brownie points so as to have a shot? These were the payoff quotes - "I don't know all the players." "Mayor Daley has never called me regarding any promotion that I've made since I've been here."

Of course he hasn't J-Fed. He's been doing this long before you were here. His fingerprints aren't visible out in the open - he has people for that. He's a puppet master. And guys like you? You don't even see the strings he's pulling. We won't even name names, but you can't seriously think that a largish number of the people you promoted are even remotely qualified for the jobs they're holding?

Evidently, $310,000 per year buys a lot of blindfolds.