Realignment Rumors Get Louder

And now we come to what we and others feel was the primary reason J-Fed was brought to Chicago:

• More than 1,200 times last year, residents of the South Chicago and Gresham police districts called 911, and there was no car available to respond.

  In the Foster Avenue and Belmont districts on the North Side, the same thing happened only ten times.

  On Thursday, those disparate figures for “radio assignment pending” calls were introduced by disgruntled Chicago aldermen as “Exhibit A” in the case for beat realignment, something that hasn’t been done in Chicago since 1985.

Ike "Waiting for the Federal Indictment" Carothers wants action now:

• Carothers said he’s so tired of waiting for Police Supt. Jody Weis to deliver the police equivalent of reapportionment, he’s threatening to push through a City Council “order” that it be done by a specific date.

Welcome to being the political fall guy for Daley's 20 years of inaction J-Fed! You aren't going to be able to please all the aldercreatures, so they'll be demanding your head. They'll get it, too, as soon as the mayor claims it's a police matter he left in your hands even though everything you've done has been at the behest of Shortshanks. The man behind the curtain will be pushing you under the bus at the earliest opportunity. Count on it.

Deputy Superintendent Dugan gives a hint of what's to come:

• As for the geographic disparity in “radio assignment pending” calls, Dugan said “violence and life-and-limb” calls are always moved to the “top of the pile.” It’s the borderline calls that sometimes get short-shrift — and might need to be handled differently.

  “We as a department dispatch approximately 68 percent of the calls we receive at the 911 center. Look at major cities throughout the United States. They’re dispatching at about 30 percent,” Dugan said.

  “We might be a victim of our own success. We’ve asked people to call 911, and people call 911. Are they all the right calls? Or can we maybe [divert some calls] to a more appropriate venue that doesn’t require a police officer actually showing up at the scene.”

The street cop would welcome a reduction in calls from 68% to 30%. Fire doesn't need a baby sitter every time there's a ambulance call. Kids not listening to grandma and not eating vegetables is a failure of parenting, not a police matter. Camera watchers calling in parking violators is a waste of an entire system. Missions that generate nothing but event numbers need to end. The list of nonsense goes on.

Re-prioritize the call system first. Then hire 1,000 cops. Then close two districts while realigning everything. Problem solved.