J-Fed = Harbinger of Doom

J-Fed attended an "anti-violence" rally and march Saturday. We don't know if he spoke or just marched and flexed his muscles, but what followed the next day was nothing short of epic:

• Eight men were fatally shot this weekend in a slew of shootings citywide that left several others wounded.

At one point, the top six stories at BreakingNews.com were shooting related, so we can only assume that (A) the Shortshanks embargo on death and mayhem reporting lapsed or (B) someone was asleep at the editor's desk.

And once again, it was not a warm weekend.

Got Your Back!

What a novel way to improve morale!

• I guess miracles never cease..
  
  At the Area 5 CAR meeting, Friday I heard something from Peterson that was shocking..."Commanders, Deputies, and other exempts, tell your supervisors to back them 100% when they are right, actually back them when 100% when they are wrong. We need to step up support for our people"!!!!! I was pretty shocked, having never met the man, his comments were hopefully a step in the right direction.. The funniest thing was the look on Brusts face when he said it, I swear the voice in brusts head was saying, " what you talking about willis?"
  
  Of course a few minutes later, Dugan put things back into reality...Commander of 25, I think Lopez, was on the hot seat. They wanted to know why arrests and contact cards were down for April. Lopez related he had 15 people on furlough, Dugan replied, "for operational needs you can change their furloughs". Lopez replied, sir they have a contract, at which point Dugan interrupted,PER OPERATIONAL NEEDS, you can change their furlough" Dugan closed his little notebook, and the next topic was discussed. Lopez knew that was an un winnable battle...
  
  Tell you what their Doogie, go ahead and let the 5yr guy on tact change from a 4b to 7b and quote operational needs, and you better bet me and my 6yrs will grieve it because i wasnt offered to fill in for tact or change my furlough as the person with less seniority was..."The operational needs have to be acknowledged by the Supt and the mayor in writing that a serious emergency condition exists"...But knowing Dugan he will pull some obscure passage from an order or the contract and show he is right...Instead of using common sense and understanding furloughs are part of the job....

At any given point, 8% of a District is on furlough except for the summer months when the percentage drops to 7%. Fifteen people on furlough in a District like 025 is a pittance. Five a watch on average, but probably mostly guys on days. That's why we have watch relief bids - to even out the manpower.

If the Department is going to declare a "serious emergency condition" exists so that they can cancel furloughs, what happens come September? October? November? Suddenly we're going to have 12-15% of the District manpower off? These furloughs have to be taken during the Operational Calendar year, right?

Is this what we've come to? We're going to cancel scheduled furloughs with the attendant family trips, summer vacation activities, and who knows what plans for some specious "emergency conditions" and trust Mother Nature to keep a lid on the violence when we're down 15% manpower in the fall?

How about you let us bank unused portions of our furloughs as hours? Or agree to buy the days from us at OT rates? Payable along with the BFD/P-Day sellbacks? We'd give serious thought to banking/selling 25% of our V-Days for the right price. It would save everyone this nonsense about switching our 6th or 7th period furloughs for bullshit.

Long Week Ahead

Baring some unforeseen circumstances, the Abbate trial starts Monday. That means the media will be running the infamous footage of him throwing haymaker after haymaker and missing just about every single one.

And again, while we and 99% of our readers condemned the actions of this asshat, we roundly objected to the felony charges that were based on nothing but political considerations. Look at what this person who never should have been hired in the first place has wrought on the Department as a whole.

In any case, if you have blood pressure concerns, avoid the news for a bit.

Captains Union - Listen Up

Rumor floating around that the Department may take action against Watch Commanders who disregarded or worked "around" the recent Bureau of Patrol reorganization directive.

We understand "action" to mean assignment changes as there are very few Captains who are actually eligible to be demoted.

We're sure we aren't telling the Captains anything they don't already know, but for everyone else, be very aware of the Department's tendency to overreach, especially in recent months with a fed in charge who has no clue about Labor Agreements and Contracts. The Department loses a majority of the grievances filed against it, but it usually takes a few years.

They've already driven the Officers' morale to the verge of extinction. Are Captains next?

Tax Hike Fails in House

Yesterday's Senate vote falls flat in the House:

• SPRINGFIELD -- Democrats in the Illinois House led the rejection tonight of a $4.5 billion plan to boost income taxes by 50 percent for the next two years, with a midnight deadline approaching to fund a new state budget.

  The House action came after Democrats decided in a closed-door meeting that they also didn't have the votes for a higher, permanent tax plan passed by the Senate.

  The House voted 42-74 for the measure, which required 60 votes for approval to go on to the Senate.

Well, at least we know they aren't completely suicidal. Now, instead of raising taxes, cut spending you idiots. We haven't had a raise in two years and we're cutting spending like there's no tomorrow.

TAPA Nº 96

GANO VELEZ Y DESCENDIO JUJUY (VC)
CALIGULA EN CHARLA TECNICA: EL 2º TIEMPO DE TOCALLI

Media Follows Blog Lead

Channel 5 did something last night we never would have believed if we hadn't seen it with our own eyes. They ran this picture at the tail end of a story:

This is the gangbanger who was found beaten, shot to death and then burned in a gangway on the south side, miles from his territory. The family immediately set out to sanctify the victim, painting him as a good boy who hadn't attended school in nine months, but was about to turn it all around and who would never ever run around with a gang. They forgot to shut down his MySpace account though, and we were able to save the incriminating evidence that gave lie to their entire tall tale.

But we never imagined an actual media outlet would broadcast something that was so obviously at odds with the "poor honor student" narrative they've been pushing for the past few weeks. It's like we woke up in Bizarro World.

Next thing you know, they might actually mention the aldercreatures 6% pay raise for a part-time, $120,000 a year job, or the brewing pension scandal, or the money Shortshanks has been bleeding away for decades.

Another Tax Increase

Thanks Illinois government:

• The state Senate voted Saturday to raise Illinois taxes by more than $5 billion as Democrats groped for ways of generating money to reduce a massive budget deficit and avert deep cuts to government services.

  "If we don't do this, who you gonna cut? The disabled? Senior citizens?" said Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago. "Who you gonna cut? Who's going to suffer? How much pain should the people of Illinois go through?"

How about our readers tell Hendon where he can make some cuts?

Four Years

Over 5,300 posts, read 13.1 million times by 6.1 million visitors who left behind something like over 250,000 comments. We may have made up that last stat, but we don't have the time to go back and add everything together.

Regardless, thanks to each of you.

To SCC Fan

We have no other way of contacting you, so we're burning a post for it.

Thanks for the unpublishable comments over the past few weeks. Your insight has been an asset to our understanding of certain operations within the Department. It's eye-opening on a number of levels, especially in areas of absolute ignorance.

In any case, it is people like you and your co-workers that help make this possible. While we might disagree on certain issues, the method of addressing the issues shouldn't be the subject of what it became. Thanks for looking out for the process, and us.

Stay safe and keep in touch.

Comments closed for this post.

Opportunistic Pandering

Gee, you think Lisa Madigan is running for something?

• As she contemplates a run for governor next year, Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan is wading into the hot-button issue of Chicago's parking meter lease.

  Madigan's office has launched a consumer fraud investigation into the recent privatization of the city's 36,000 parking meters.

  Today, a Madigan spokeswoman said the office sent subpoenas about two weeks ago to three companies involved in the controversial lease deal, which ushered in dramatic parking rate hikes across the city.

So is she investigating Shortshanks? How he rammed the deal through the City Council in 72 hours? How a company was invented out of thin air involving City Hall and Daley insiders stands to reap millions, maybe billions in fees? Well, no, that'd be silly:

• "We're looking for information related to the transaction and implementation of the system to determine if consumers were defrauded," spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler said.

  [...] When asked if Madigan was also investigating the city officials who quickly approved the deal, including Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Ziegler responded, "No, we're not investigating the city." The City Council voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal in December, despite having little time to consider it before it was brought up for a vote.

So pretty much hunting for headlines after the fact without really endangering anyone attached to her father, the Chicago Machine or Daley cronies. Yup, that's a sure way to garner votes. At least from people who don't know any better.

Huracán 2 Bánfield 1

Falta de precisión, fallas defensivas (Goltz y Dominguez), Pastore y Defederico presionados, Bánfield áspero ganando 0-1 y Collado (árbitro) algo permisivo abrían un panorama complicado para el globo.
Pero apareció Bolatti (1-1), Devaca lo atendió a Defederico y se fue expulsado, Cappa sacó a Medina (punta) y metió a Alan Sánchez (volante de movilidad) para destrabar el cerrojo de Falcioni. Hasta que apareció otro volante defensivo, Toranzo, con un derechazo al segundo palo de Lucchetti.
Huracán juega, pelea con sus armas y… además tiene variantes.

The Noose Tightens

We aren't sure who should get the credit, but this is a good thing:

• City pension officials have been hit with subpoenas from a federal grand jury trying to determine how they decided to invest $68 million with a start-up company co-owned by Mayor Daley’s nephew.

  The grand jury issued the subpoenas Wednesday, nearly two months after city pension officials refused to comply with similar subpoenas issued by the city of Chicago’s inspector general, David Hoffman.

We'd like to see at least a few people head to jail over this. We'd also like to see a few of the elected Pension Board members who seem to have forgotten whom they are supposed to be representing have a sudden flash of introspection. They are likely going to be answering questions in front of a Federal Grand Jury shortly. And they are facing the voters soon.

Scumbag Arrested - Gun Recovered

A tiny bright spot:

• A 22-year-old South Side man was charged in connection with the theft of a 9 mm Baretta belonging to a Chicago police officer as he lay critically injured following a traffic crash Wednesday at 98th and Halsted Streets, authorities said tonight.

  Rasaan Shannon, of the 9800 block of South Morgan Street, was charged with strong arm robbery, disarming a peace officer and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, police said, adding that the injured officer's gun was recovered.

Gee, a felon. Anyone want to post his rap sheet? We're betting it's a beauty. And this worthless piece of shit went through an injured officer to steal. We're just irritated beyond words.

The officer is still in very bad shape. We'll update as possible.

Callback Shorthanded?

Word is that a number of POWs whose cases have been resolved or who never had cases that went anywhere are being reinstated at a decent clip. At least six and maybe as many as a ten were sent to District Reinstatement this week alone.

So we have front offices, CAPS offices, desks and callback being emptied out. Is someone admitting that we're short on the street finally? Or are they expecting something bigger this summer?

City Hall Plumbers

Reports are that a number of plumbing crews were called to City Hall this morning to unclog a number of lavatories. They found this:

We're of the opinion that since it was pretty much public knowledge that Carothers was the target of a couple of investigations (hell, we've been talking about it for a year) that there is probably no way Shortshanks got caught on tape.

There are however, a number of other persons who ought to be concerned. Any aldercreature who served on any sort of committee with Ike ought to be reviewing the substance of shared conversations, in the hallways between sessions, maybe over a cup of coffee in the lounge. And just about every builder who appeared before the Committee better review past business practices to make sure there was nothing that could be interpreted as shady.

Ike is posturing. He's not pleading "not guilty" because he knows he's innocent. He knew he was getting jail time the second he strapped on the wire. He's pleading "not guilty" because it's part of the dance. And maybe the feds have a bunch of other wiretaps in place that are just buzzing with conversation.

Another Citizen Says Thanks

You're welcome:

• Greetings SCC,
  
  This email is a little late, but better late than never when expressing gratitude. I was trying to find a way to thank the officers from the 13th District who responded so quickly to the shootings on the 800 block of Francisco this week.
  
  The other night, I was reading in bed when I heard several gunshots right outside my window. I called 911 for shots fired and then went to put on my shoes to make sure a neighbor was not bleeding out in the street. By the time I got my shoes on and made it to the front porch, a squad was already driving down the block. It turned out that three people had been shot.
  
  I was really relieved to see that the response time was under a minute!
  
  Now before some respondents say that I should move, or I live in a ghetto etc... Let me just say that I am a lowly city employee who has to live within the Chicago city limits, and this was the most convenient neighborhood we could afford at the time. There are lots of good people in the neighborhood and if it had not been for the severe economic downturn, it would have been a great investment. I'm not sure why I feel the need to defend my home, but some people have a way of blaming innocent people for their misfortunes, so I wanted to clarify right off the bat that I live on that block due to economic reasons. I'm not someone who would move in to complain about the crime and the lifelong residents.
  
  So as a fellow City hostage employee, I really do appreciate everything our officers are doing. We can't all afford to live in Lincoln Park or the Gold Coast. It's nice to see that regular folks can get top-notch service too. Thanks for your fast and professional response. Several neighbors on the block commented on how fast you responded, so I thought I should share it with you, since you probably get more complaints than praise.
  
  Stay safe, and good luck with that contract...

Two letters in as many weeks? We're hoping this is a trend.

INSOLITO

Mañana, por la 35º fecha del torneo Nacional B, la CAI (en zona de promoción) recibe a Talleres de Córdoba (en descenso directo) en Comodoro Rivadavia, por supuesto, sin público visitante. Más allá de encontrar un grande como Talleres en esta condición, la nota del asunto la vuelve a dar el sistema de descensos del Nacional B, hermano menor del conocido en nuestra primera división y que, en familia, han sabido presentar casos sospechosos, ridículos y ahora, insólitos.

LA CAI SALE DE ZONA DE DESCENSO SI PIERDE PERO NO SI GANA.

Los Andes (1.088) y Talleres (1.090) se encuentran hoy en descenso directo. Almagro (1.109) y la CAI (1.190) se encuentran en promoción. Si Talleres le gana a la CAI y Los Andes y Almagro no ganan el fin de semana, Talleres sube a zona de promoción y deja a la CAI fuera de peligro (al menos por esta fecha).
Esto es producto de la diferenciación entre clubes de Buenos Aires y del interior: el 19º y el 20º de la tabla de promedios pierden la categoría cualquiera sea su afiliación; pero la promoción la juegan el peor equipo metropolitano y el peor del interior. Entonces, de darse los resultados antedichos, Talleres vence a la CAI, sube a zona de promoción, deja en descenso directo a Los Andes y Almagro y la CAI - que supera en promedio a Talleres – deja de ser el peor del interior en promoción (siendo ahora Talleres), por lo que el otro lugar de promoción debería ser ocupado por un equipo metropolitano (en este caso, Platense).

Corazón rosarino

En las postrimerías de un desigual Clausura, los equipos rosarinos navegan en una irregularidad que puede tornarse peligrosa. Martín Rubino - periodista - nos acerca una visión de cara a la última fase del torneo.

La recta final del Clausura es una bocacalle donde confluyen en un reducido espacio los múltiples objetivos que persiguen los 20 equipos. Central y Newell’s no le escapan a ese atractivo cambalache entre los que pujan por la gloria y los que se esfuerzan para no hundirse en el barro. Claro que las urgencias de uno contrastan con la ilusión del otro, dentro del marco de una nítida irregularidad.

Sería un lamentable gesto de exitismo elogiar sin cautela a Newell’s luego de su sólida victoria ante San Lorenzo. Así como sería de ignorante no destacar que el equipo recobró por un rato las cualidades del principio de torneo y que tiene margen para seguir mejorando. Sensini debe reforzar el aspecto anímico y agregarle color al dibujo futbolístico. Cuando hay hambre el pan duro es salmón, pero la distancia de cinco puntos que ostentan Vélez y Tigre, hoy últimos en entrar a la Sudamericana , obliga a refaccionar con urgencia el barco para desembarcar en el plano internacional.

De la ilusión, a la preocupación. Ese es el cambio que se produce en el análisis cuando se hace referencia a Central. La llegada de Russo entusiasmó en el inicio pero el magro nivel de las últimas jornadas derrochó aquel capital de optimismo. La dependencia del Equi y los errores defensivos encabezan la lista de falencias. Quizás sobre corazón para no bajar los brazos, pero la cruel Promoción y el asesino descenso directo no van a perdonar ningún traspié. Tampoco lo harán Racing y San Martín (T). Será cuestión de reaccionar a tiempo antes que la soga inicie su coqueteo por el cuello.

Martín Rubino es periodista deportivo recibido en DeporTEA y escribe periódicamente en su blog Corazón rosarino.

Bombshell

Ike wore a wire. For a year:

• Federal court documents unsealed Thursday as Ald. Isaac Carothers (29th) was indicted on corruption charges suggest Carothers himself has been cooperating with federal investigators and secretly taping other public officials.
  
  The records included a motion filed in February to keep an earlier indictment against developer Calvin Boender sealed. Boender was indicted along with Carothers Thursday, accused of bribing Carothers to get him to support a zoning change at a large parcel in his ward.
  
  But a motion to keep a February indictment against Boender under seal suggests Carothers himself wore a wire during a federal investigation into zoning matters.
  
  The motion, which appears to describe the same conduct between Boender and Carothers outlined by federal authorities Thursday, only describes Boender as dealing with "Public Official A."

We guess that Ike won't be facing the full ninety-eight years he could get come sentencing. If recent history is any indication, the Feds will settle on 3 years, which is truly sad. Ninety-eight years would open up a lot more cans of worms. And slam shut a whole lot of sphincters.

Day One

Reorganization tales:

• We thought the "Quality of Life" car took the cake. We were mistaken;
• Some district put up a "Pod Mission" car. Never left the station, just watched cameras all day;
• Rumor has it three different districts didn't even have cars for the extra people - no pool cars citywide you know. None of them left the station either;
• OEC reports a plethora of "Squad, hold down the following vehicles on Special Assignments" phone calls from a number of Districts at various points during the day so the backlog of office work got done;
  
• At least one District completely ignored the directive and kept their sheets exactly as before with desk, lockup, and watch secretary spots fully manned;

We make no claims to the veracity of any of the above. It's all out of our comment sections and e-mail. But we aren't blind. We can read a PCAD screen for some of these. It seems obvious that something is going to give at some point and the quasi-military decorum that's supposed to hold the organization together might be the first casualty.

Right Hand, Meet Left Hand

Letters, we get letters:

• SCC, you are going to loooooove this one.
  
  (XXX) District gets a letter today from Patrol Division wanting to know about a drop off in index numbers. They have a couple of days to respond. The numbers weren't down. They just weren't entered because the Officer who does stats was out of town.
  
  But the Officer comes back Thursday and guess what? Their spot has been eliminated! They're back out on the street and who knows when the stats will be entered now? If they were the vengeful type, they'd toss the whole pile of numbers in the garbage.
  

This is the second time we've heard of this and it points out a serious flaw in the ongoing reorganization. There are people downtown whose sole purpose is to generate useless reports to secure their own spots. And to demand an explanation of falling index numbers in the midst of eliminating the very spots that feed their useless statistical reports is truly ignorant. Whoever authored the report demanding that data ought to have their spot eliminated immediately.

While these efforts are a tiny step in the right direction (overstaffed offices and desks), they are missing where the most fat needs to be trimmed - HQ. And we doubt that even as one of the top five exempts in the Department, Dugan has any power to trim those spots.

It Wasn't a Rumor

We keep getting letters about the recent ticketing of police cars - State, County, CPD unmarked, all while parked downtown. The wording of a memo appeared, purportedly by City managers, the CPD brass got involved and FOP came out with a statement that the whole thing was a rumor that took on a life of its own. Then we get these:

The top picture and the first two tickets in the second shot are automated tickets written on "U" plates, which we believe are registered to State vehicles. The last ticket in the second picture appears to be written on an unmarked Ford. In any case, here's a pic of one of the offending vehicles:Definitely a police car. So the contention that this was an out of control rumor takes a hit. Hopefully, the whole unpleasant episode ended as quickly as it started. As an amusing side note, the tickets were written by a Parking Enforcement Agent named "Drew Peterson." Might that explain his dislike of the police?

Rumorville

What's going on over at Homan Square? OCD? 192?

Did the Gambling Unit get disbanded? Did we even have a Gambling Unit any more? What are Brown and EG up to? A whole lot of dissension over there if we're hearing about it over here.

And with Ike going to jail, who's going to back Ernie's nonsense?

City Sticker Renewals?

Has anyone else noticed that the City Sticker renewals aren't showing up in the mail?

We've been conversing with a number of Officers and it seems that while in previous years the renewal notices showed up by the middle of May, no one has gotten their mail from the City yet.

Our resident conspiracy theorists speculate this is a deliberate attempt by Daley to have as many cars as possible without city stickers on 30 June so he can unleash hordes of Parking Enforcement Agents (and police inspectors) upon the unsuspecting masses and get an influx of revenue. Our gut says that Shortshanks laid off the person in charge of mailing out the notices.

In the meantime, you can go to this link right here and order your stickers online without any additional fees. Have your plate and VIN handy.

Defensor Sporting 0 Estudiantes 1

Defensor Sporting: Silva; Pintos , Curbelo, Risso y Ariosa (Nasa) ; Marchant (Mora), Gaglianone y Amado; Diego De Souza; Navarro (Vila) y Vera. DT: Jorge Da Silva.

Estudiantes (LP): Andújar ; Angeleri , Cellay, Desábato (1 gol) y Ré; Pérez, Braña, Verón y Benítez (F. Fernández); Boselli (Calderón) y Salgueiro (Galván). DT Alejandro Sabella.


RELACIONADO: 8º FINAL: ESTUDIANTES 0 LIBERTAD 0

Los goles de Messi en la Champions League

1º GOL VS. SHAKTAR

Para ver los goles clickear sobre las imagenes.

RELACIONADOS:
BARCELONA CAMPEON
LOS 10 MEJORES GOLES DE MESSI

Bye-Bye Ike!

Daley gets to appoint another criminal aldercreature to an opening:

• Federal authorities later Thursday plan to announce charges against Ald. Ike Carothers (29th), the chairman of the City Council's police and fire committee.
  
  They issued an alert Thursday indicating that new charges are expected in a public corruption case involving an FBI investigation.
  
  Federal prosecutors and the FBI will hold a 2 p.m. news conference.
  
  Also, a U.S. Attorney’s spokesman said a separate, unrelated case involving racketeering activity, armed robberies, arson and illegal gambling will also be unsealed.

So is this second indictment for Ike, too? Or is there a parallel Outift case working its way through the system?

UPDATE: The second indictment is a suburban Outfit case.

UPDATE: Interesting - Ike's dad was an aldercreature indicted for Extortion. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

UPDATE: Seeing as how Ike allegedly solicited bribes and took gifts in exchange for votes, we think it's fair to ask how much he charged his brother for three separate promotions.

Shooting in 011

One dead. Cops fine:

• Police reportedly fatally shot at least one person on the West Side Wednesday evening.

  About 7:30 p.m., police fired shots in the 4300 block of West Washington Boulevard, Independent Police Review Authority spokesman Mark Payne said.

  "There were shots with hits," Payne said. He could not immediately provide further details and said investigators were on the scene.

Be careful out there.

Reorganization Blues

As with any reorganization, there are hiccups, stalls and mistakes made before everything is "right-sized." This one is no exception:

• CAPS Offices weren't hit hard enough. CAPS is dead and everyone knows it except Daley. It needs to be euthanized.
  
• Commanders' Staffs were overdue for a trimming. Ticket Clerk? These spots should have been automated 10 years ago. Liaison Officers? The aldercreatures already have the Commander's phone number - they made the Commanders for pete's sake.
  
• The Lockup and District Desk spots will be the mistake of this reorganization and should have been determined on a case-by-case basis. Areas handle double the prisoner loads of any District. Some Districts handle triple the walk-ins of other Districts. It's a crap shoot.

We're probably going to see more than a few retirements over this, too - not a big wave, but a noticeable number.

We're also going to see some creative attempts to get around sending certain people out on the street. A "Quality of Life Car?" What the hell is that? We don't know either, but we've heard tell of one starting up.

Has anyone heard about downtown or the Units giving up spots?

Police Layoffs = More Guns

Toledo, Ohio:

• The first round of Toledo police layoffs, in which 75 officers were let go, may already be having an affect on gun ownership.

  "I just don't feel safe with the amount they're laying off," says Jonna Ewing. "I think it's going to be a longer respond time."

  She is spending the day at a conceal carry class. She's been thinking of getting a gun for awhile, but feels now's the time due to the recent layoffs.

At least Toledo is being upfront about their layoffs instead of watching 50 officers a month retire for the past two years and then having a single class of 46 recruits expected to fill the gap. And Ohio acknowledges that its citizens are allowed to own firearms of all types.

Has anyone found out if that entire Academy class is being assigned to 003 yet?

It Was a Good Run

They did better than anyone expected.

They went farther than many dreamed possible.

Rocky has shown a willingness and a desire to make the right moves and difficult decisions that were all too often quashed by his father.

They are two, maybe three moves from a Stanley Cup appearance. They might be four moves away from a Cup win.

As someone pointed out, even the Bulls had to make a few runs at Pistons before the glory years. This is a team on the verge of those types of years.

Citizen Support?

And by "support," we mean "move him around while others looted his unconscious body"

• A police officer was seriously injured in a three-vehicle crash on the South Side at midday, authorities said. Four other people also were hurt.
  
  A source said that police were trying to find the officer's weapon. As of 1:48 p.m., about two hours after the accident, the gun had not been located.

And according to cops and detectives on the scene, the gun isn't the only property missing. We wish we could say this was an "isolated incident," but every cop we know has at least eight stories like this. And at least one of the stories always involves an unconscious officer - we've written about it before.

The officer remains in critical condition.

Barcelona campeón

Alegría.

Porque vivimos una fiesta de fútbol.
Alegría.
Porque el tiki tiki triunfó sobre el pragmatismo.
Alegría.
Por la burla de los pronósticos.
Porque ganó el estilo.
Porque Messi festeja botín en mano.

Por noventa y tantos minutos olvidemos penales silenciados, estadísticas prolijas y mercadotecnia. Despojémonos y miremos fútbol como el chico que tenemos dentro. Salgamos del mundo y vivamos sólo el fútbol, aquí y ahora. Miremos un estadio perfecto, un césped de cine, una técnica deslumbrante y camisetas tan transpiradas como relucientes. Y más allá de que las finales se resistan al análisis, esta es desigual, elegante, contundente y sobretodo un legado.

Desde el dual motor de Xavi e Iniesta con explosión de Messi, transimisión Tití, potencia Puyol y lubricantes Pep, la máquina del Barcelona se hace de su primer TRIPLE CORONA.

CRONICA UEFA / ESTADISTICAS DE LA FINAL / ALINEACIONES
BARCELONA REY, MESSI EMPERADOR (VALE CHUMBAR)
BARCELONA AMO Y SEÑOR (EL BALON EUROPEO)

No More Tickets

That's the word from on high.

• In yet another breakdown in the city's automated parking meter system, nearly half of the new boxes broke down this morning.
  
  CBS 2's Vince Gerasole reports that about 200 or the 500 new boxes in which motorists deposit money and then get a receipt to display on their vehicle are not working.
  
  A city traffic aide reported that several boxes across the Loop are down and that no tickets will be issued until the problem is resolved.

So park wherever you want for a while. 200 out of 500 boxes all quit working at the same time? Sounds like someone needs to have their contract re-evaluated.

And be prepared for Daley to say he's even more broke than before.

No Civil Rights?

This certainly sounds like a winner of a case:

• SCC, Please post this for all to see…
  During the 1st Watch on 25 MAY, an off duty P.O. from the 008th District was involved in a traffic accident in which a child ran out in front of his vehicle. Luckily, the off duty officer reacted in time and only knocked the child to the ground resulting in minor scrapes. As the off duty officer exited his vehicle to check on the child, several family members ran out from their backyard party and approached the off duty officer in a threatening manner, causing him to identify himself as a police officer before locking himself in his vehicle until 008th District officers arrived. After more than an hour later, one of the family members of the child made an allegation at the hospital that the officer must be drunk, resulting in the off duty officer being ordered into 008 to submit to an administrative blow, as the newly revised order reads. An IAD supervisor arrived in 008 and advised the W/C that field sobriety tests must be performed as well as the complete warning to motorist DUI packet. After the off duty officer called FOP, IAD changed their mind and wanted only an administrative blow. The acting street deputy, Cmdr. Carter, made several calls on his blackberry before finally overriding IAD and ordering an ET to administer FST’s to the off duty officer, now more than five hours after the traffic crash. The off duty officer passed the FST’s without problem but then was led directly into the processing room and ordered to blow. The off duty officer complied and blew a .000 on the breathalyzer machine.

First up, the relative that made the allegation should be sued. An allegation like that in front of witnesses is actionable and has been won in civil court many many times.

Then an investigation of the Acting Street Deputy's actions ought to be initiated.

You have rights as a citizen boys and girls. Get an FOP lawyer and a Field Rep to walk you through the process. This sounds hinky and needs to be investigated. We imagine the officer has a decent chance of owning the Commander's house. We hope it's a nice house.

Congratulations New Hires

We don't know where you came from, but your presence is appreciated:

• [Daley] added, "People in stress positions, many of 'em take alcohol and many take drugs. . . . Especially today [with] a whole new generation. We think it was alcohol, but many times they do take drugs. That's what happens to people. . . . It's uncalled for. But remember — we have 14,000 police officers. He's just one of the [14,000].''

And evidently, people in political positions take drugs, alcohol and numerous blows to the head.

14,000? Shortshanks' tenuous grasp on reality continues to fade.

Inspect Your Porches

Because the City is admitting they aren't up to the job:

• Chicagoans were warned today to check their shaky porches and avoid overloading them — nearly six years after the Lincoln Park porch collapse that killed 13 young partygoers.

  Although City Hall is no longer conducting a blitzkrieg of inspections, Buildings Commissioner Richard Monocchio urged residents to protect themselves by visually inspecting porches and using them responsibly.

We're sure that every single property owner is going to run out and instantly be qualified to conduct porch inspections, then run to Home Depot and spend thousands of dollars in these economic times when everyone isn't spending money to address a problem that has existed since the structure was built. Illegally no doubt. And maybe three owners and two real estate flips ago.

So instead of actually hiring to perform the required inspections, the City is admitting they aren't going to do them. But the next time a half-assed porch comes down, you can bet Commissioner Monocchio is going to be there with a battalion of building inspectors (some of whom might actually be older than 17-years and not related to union bigwigs) writing up every damn violation they can find to generate revenue.

Safety takes a back seat to $$$. Still.

National Politics - Chicago Style

It's here!

• Earlier it was reported that the Obama Administration may have targeted GOP donors in deciding which Chrysler dealerships would have to close their doors.
  
  Now there's this...
  RLJ-McLarty-Landers is owned by three men.
  One was the former Chief of Staff for President Clinton.
  One is the founder of Black Entertainment Television and a huge Obama supporter.
  All 6 of their Chrysler dealerships will remain open.
  And, get this... Their local competitors have been eliminated!

Change you better believe in! Or the government will shut you down.

Blame the Police - Always

Daley's policy of paying out to everyone who sues comes back to bite taxpayers in the ass. Again:

• A Chicago man freed a year ago after DNA cleared him of a rape for which he spent 12 years in prison has alleged in a federal lawsuit that he was framed by Chicago police.

  Dean Cage, 42, was convicted in 1995 of the rape of a 15-year-old girl on the South Side after she identified him in a police lineup and said she recognized his voice.

  Cage, who had just moved to Chicago from Arkansas and was working at a supermarket, was arrested a week before Thanksgiving 1994 after police said a tip stemming from a published composite sketch led them to him.

  Cage, who had no criminal record, repeatedly denied that he had committed the rape but was convicted in a bench trial and all of his appeals were denied.

So he's identified by the victim, she testifies against him, he chooses a bench trial and the judge finds the victim more credible than him. Not only that, the appellate courts also find there were no errors in the process.

But whose fault is it?

• Since being freed, Cage received a "certificate of innocence" from the state, allowing him to seek compensation for his years in prison, which he is in the process of doing, said his attorney, Jon Loevy. But last week Cage sued the City of Chicago, a police detective who investigated the rape and other unnamed officers, alleging that he was framed to simply clear the crime.

Ah yes, another Loevy case. We haven't heard that the judge is being sued. Oh wait, they're immune. What about the victim? Oh, that'd be cruel. Let's just blame the detectives who followed up on the victim's identification and testimony. Corp Counsel is probably already writing the check at Daley's direction.

And how about the CPD taking the hit for Cook County's decision to hold holiday bond court at 11am? This rule has been in effect for how many years now? But suddenly it's a giant police conspiracy? Amazing.

Historical Ignorance

Does anyone in the media even know how to do research at all?

• President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, selecting a woman who would be the court's first Hispanic justice and a liberal who is unlikely to change its ideological balance.

Without a single deviation from the party line, every news outlet we followed today ran with this storyline. Obama had to have some sort of first...even if it's wrong:

• Benjamin Cardozo (1870-1938), Supreme Court Justice 1932-1938, was of Portuguese descent. He holds the distinction of being nominated by a Republican president even though he was a lifelong Democrat. Hoover actually took the advice of both parties and nominated a man named the most qualified jurist in the nation.
  

The wikipedia entry has been altered extensively all day today, casting all sorts of aspersions on his ancestry, concentrating on the fact that his relatives fled Portugal for Holland during the Inquisitions due to Jewish heritage in an effort to make Sotomayor the first true "Hispanic" nominee. We guess if you aren't from this side of the Atlantic, your historical contributions to the American experience don't count for spit.

It'd be amusing if it wasn't so "1984" in terms of altering past events to fit the present narrative.

Una historia de la pelota de fútbol - Parte 16 - Finale Rome

Una historia de la pelota de fútbol (capítulo XVI)

Adidas presentó el 'Finale Rome' (16.03.09) en la Terrazza Colle Oppio como balón oficial para la final de Champions League 09 (Liga de Campeones de la UEFA), cita en el estadio Olímpico de Roma.

La fusión de diseño combina la conocida base de estrellas de la UEFA Champions League con la simbología romana de la ciudad anfitriona: estrellas en borgoña (tradicional romano) fileteadas en dorado sobre fondo blanco y figuras alusivas de mosaicos típicos.

Una cubierta de poliuertano (PU) y uretano termoplástico (TPU) de 14 paneles unidos mediante termosoldadura, con refuerzo de espuma y vejiga de látex más una estructura de superficie 'PSC-Texture', permitiría a los jugadores controlar y dirigir perfectamente el balón en todas las condiciones climáticas aumentando la adherencia entre la pelota y el botín.

UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 13
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 12
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 11
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 10
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 9
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 8
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 7
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 6
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 5
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 4
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 3
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 2
UNA HISTORIA DE LA PELOTA DE FUTBOL PARTE 1

DT se busca

RELACIONADO: SIGUEN SONANDO REFUERZOS (MUY BOCA)

Parking, Zoning, Corruption? Oh My!

Ah, Chicago:

• The house is part of a $4.6 million development that Burke and his partners built on a parking lot over the objections of Mayor Daley's zoning administrators.

  Daley's zoning staff thought the development -- one massive, three-story house along with 13 town homes -- wasn't "compatible" with the Archer Heights neighborhood, where it would tower over the surrounding bungalows.

  But Burke, the city's most powerful alderman, won permission from his colleagues on the City Council for the project anyway.

But what Burke wants, Burke gets. Including 6 police drivers / bodyguards at Sergeants pay to drive him to suburban golf courses and sit around for five or six hours to drive him back home, all because of an alleged "threat" that happened two decades ago? We're sure this threat was documented on letters? Tape? Federal wiretaps? Anything? And we're sure it was investigated to the fullest extend of the law? Someone went to jail? For many years over telephone threats? Something? Anything?

We're slashing District desk crews. What about the bloodletting that needs to occur downtown or in the Units?

Citizen Appreciation

Letters, we get letters:

• Hello SSC,
  
  I've long been a civilian lurker of your blog. I've found it interesting and informative but have never had a reason to write to you. The events of this morning have compelled me to write.
  
  A little after 6:30am Sunday morning my wife and I were awoken by gunshots very close by. Due to the mild night we had the windows open and there was no mistaking the 6-7 distinct pops that could be nothing but a gun discharging. (For some reason my wife always hears firecracker and asks me if it is gunfire. Today, when it actually was a gun, she asked me if it was firecrackers. Go figure.) I immediately grabbed the phone and called 911 and informed the dispatcher that I was just awoken to the sound of 6-7 gunshots and now there is a women in the street sobbing loudly. Within a minute there were 2 cops on the scene and two minutes later the area was absolutely swarming with police.
  
  I am a little weak on hard facts but from what I've heard from my neighbors this is what happened: While we had initially assumed gang involvement, the incident was the result of a man either leaving or getting kicked out of his wife's/girlfriend's apartment after a long night of drinking. From the sidewalk he fired 5-6 shots into the building and then turned the gun on himself falling dead on the sidewalk. No one else was injured.
  
  During this entire incident the responding officers dealt with a situation full of unknowns, grieving and distraught family members, and a concerned general public. I saw a police and fire department working together quickly and professionally to understand the crime scene and attempt to save a man's life. For that I would like to offer a sincere thank you to the police officers of the 17th District. Know that there are people who live in Chicago who do not judge an entire department based on the mistakes of a few.
  
  Sincerely,
  Jon M.

If only we could publish a letter like this daily, we'd feel a lot better about where the Department was in terms of citizen support. But these letters are few and far between.

In any case, Thanks for the kind words Jon M. We appreciate the support more than you know.

Brokeback Fitz?

Sorry we missed this one in Sneed a few days ago:

• Cop shop: Thus spake U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald about the bodybuilding Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis, a former FBI chief, at a City Club of Chicago luncheon Thursday: "If Jody Weis were here, and he's not, you'd recognize him. He looks like he's wearing a bulletproof vest, even when he's not."

Wow. Get a room you two.

Did Fitz also mention J-Fed's pectoral muscles ripple like Lake Michigan after a spring storm? That his legs are like tree trunks standing firm against a Gulf hurricane? That J-Fed's forehead looks like a empty billboard looking for an advertisement?

He should have.

Clausura 09: 10 DTs despedidos

Y un día la palabra necesitó de garantía. Entonces se instituyó el juramento y se invocó a las divinidades como garantía. Al tiempo se necesitó la imprecación por parte de quien jurara, de incurrir en castigos merecidos si no dijese la verdad. Religión, moral y orden jurídico jugaron un triangular trabado como promoción de descenso.
Cuando sopló el viento y se llevó las palabras y la memoria de los testigos ya se firmaban escritos y los dioses se convirtieron en billetes: el contrato.
Si Maquiavelo hubiese susurrado y no escrito su famoso tratado no sería recordado como el ícono de la apología al incumplimiento de la palabra: No se debe ser fiel a las promesas, cuando esta fidelidad perjudica y han desaparecido las causas que hicieron prometer.

CLICK PARA AMPLIAR

Somos respetuosos de los contratos, espetó el presidente Ameal después de la eliminación de la Copa Libertadores, horas antes de que Ischia dijera en conferencia de prensa: mi contrato es hasta diciembre y lo voy a respetar.

Remember

All the men and women who have served and died. Thank you.

Manpower Shortage Solved!

Oh. Wait. We're not short-handed. We have 13,000 officers!

But a "little" Bureau of Patrol item came out on Friday (of course it did - long weekend). Major points:

• District desks are authorized 2 POs and 1 Desk Sergeant, for a total of 3 sworn personnel. No watch secretary is authorized.
• District desks in area centers (002, 005, 011, 019, and 025) are authorized up to 3 POs and 1 Desk Sergeant, for a total of 4 sworn personnel. No watch secretary is authorized.
• CAPS: Duties and functions of all officers on the second watch in the CAPS office will be reviewed. The least amount of officers necessary will be placed in the second watch CAPS office to perform necessary duties. On third watch only 1 officer will be assigned to CAPS along with the third watch sergeant. All officers released from CAPS office will be placed back on their watches for field duty.
• Lockup: Staffed by no more than 2 people on second watch and 3 on the first and third watches if arrestee intake justifies extra lockup personnel.
  
• Office staff: 1 district secretary, 1 assistant district secretary, 1 administrative manager, 1 timekeeper, 1 PC operator, 1 senior data entry operator, 1 clerk III, 1 tact secretary, 1 crossing guard supervisor. And if a full duty officer is occupying one of those positions, the DC will have to justify why.
• And DCs are to submit their lists by 27 May so that all freed-up officers can return to field duty on 28 May.
  

Office staff barely (if at all) touched. Smoke and mirrors. And when you get down to it, no real benefit to patrol.

1968 Reunion

The cops of the 1968 Convention Riots are having a reunion:

• If you plan on attending, please send me your full name, number of attendees, contact information and a check. Some of those who have contacted me only gave me your email address. CPD Re-pro graphics is printing tickets and posters - I'll either mail you your tickets or have them waiting for you at the door, if you choose to prepay. Please make the check payable to Michael Mattson, in the amount of $30 per person - in the memo line please write "convention reunion." My mailing address is:
  
  7455 W. Seminole
  Chicago, IL 60631
  (All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Chicago Police Memorial Fund).
  
  A T-shirt company is designing shirts for the occasion. If you have any other ideas please let me know.
  
  If you'd like to volunteer for the Food Committee, please feel free to research food vendors and let me know what you find out. I've hit a bit of a wall on that one, and the clock is ticking.
  
  Lodge rules prohibit any bottles - all beer, wine and pop must be in cans or plastic cups. Any volunteers for the Libation Committee would be welcome as well.
  
  I've contacted a photographer as well. Phil Cline has agreed to attend the event, as well. Still no word from John Kass or his staff.
  
  Depending on the success of the event, we may make this Annual.
  
  Please bring any memorabilia that you think relevant - old riot gear, call boxes, photos, log-books...etc.
  
  Thanks again for your interest and participation in this reunion. Thank you especially for your service to the City and to your fellow police officers.

We took out Mike's cell phone number as this site is trolled by non-police. If he wants to post it in the comment section, we'll pass it along. But it sounds like a good time. Hopefully, they have a "Dunk the Hippy" tank and a "Dodge the Flying Excrement" event. Come out and party like it's 1968.

Still Insignificant

Northside pointed out that we passed 6,000,000 visits this past week.

That's "million" with an "M."

Six million times, people thought that this site was worth at least a few moments of their time. Cops mostly, retirees from out of state, bosses downtown (yes, we still see your IP addresses popping up), civilians and reporters. Fans in Europe, Australia, Asia. The vacationing coppers in Belize, Mexico, South America, wherever there is an internet connection. Even the odd visit from Iraq and Afghanistan where our brothers in blue find time to stop by.

And along with the 6,000,000 milestone, we passed 13,000,000 page views.

We are truly thankful for all your visits. And we truly hope to continue serving up helpings of sarcasm, silliness, seriousness and the pointed commentary you expect. Again, thanks.

Time for Another March?

Well, if arbitration hasn't been set and we're still at an impasse, perhaps it's time for another march? Someone has been posting in the comments that 30 June might be an opportune time for a second round? Is FOP taking the lead this time?

It's a Tuesday so we get the maximum impact of downtown exposure.

It's two years without a contract.

If we march a few blocks east after City Hall, we get to see the Taste. Not that we'd offer to spend a dime there, but it'd piss off Shortshanks.

TAPA Nº 95

RELACIONADO:
VELEZ NO SE RINDE (VC)
LOS TITULOS DE LA FECHA (TM)

Rosario Central 1 Huracán 2

Pastore sigue inflando el globo: dos goles (´8 y ´19), un travesaño y la expulsión de Burdisso (´9). Cappa salió a disculparse con "sin manos" Vega, denunció canallada de Fútbol de Primera y disfrutó del triunfo en Rosario. Lanús tiene la nuca cubierta. Vale la pena ver a Huracán.

Nothing New, As Usual

WBBM 780's At Issue program is discussing youth gun violence today. Same tired conversation and issues, especially from ceasefire -- sociological blah blah blah and let's throw money at it so the families can keep their kids off the streets.

It's usually available on the station's website for listening, if you're interested.

The Age-Old Argument

Do fewer cops mean less crime?

The cynical and sarcastic among you will say, "Yeah, less cops stealing." We respond, "Haha, you're an ass."

But if there are fewer officers on the street making fewer arrests and generating less paper, then what?

A lot of police work is perception. If you see more police, you might think, "Hey, this place is pretty well protected" or you may think, "This place is out of control." If you see the beat car once every other week or so, are you actually less secure? What if the beat car is in on a burglary every day? They are fighting actual crime, but the high number of arrests would lead one to believe the neighborhood is actually less safe. And while they are processing, do other criminal have free rein?

Now look at backlogs. If it takes the police 3 and 4 hours to show up at a disturbance call or a damage to property call or a dope job, does the citizen who called actually wait around for the whole 4 hours to make a report that isn't going anywhere but the "suspended" file? No. But does that mean the crime didn't occur? Not at all - it just means it wasn't reported. And from there, does the perception of neighborhood crime take a hit? Neighbors talk, they'll let each other know about something that happened, but it never made the statistics. Every one of us has a story about showing up at a job and filling out a report after the fact and then the victim relates that their buddy up the street had the same thing happen three days ago, but they never made a report.

So are backlogs (or Radio Assignments Pending - RAPs) actually a good thing for crime reporting? A frustrated citizen not reporting crime might be a better thing for Shortshanks and his statisticians. It almost means the only true measure of crime is the number of bodies showing up at hospitals with holes in them.

Recruits Ticketing?

What's the deal with this?

Supposedly, the Academy took a bunch of recruits out and had them writing meter tickets this past week.

First up, it took a separate City Ordinance to authorize CTA Supervisors, Streets and Sanitation Supervisors, TMA's and PEAs to be able to write tickets. Did we miss something that permitted unsworn unarmed recruits to be able to write parking tickets?

Second, if this is supposed to be some sort of new mandated training, welcome to the future of the Chicago Police Department. You aren't the Police anymore - you are revenue agents, ticketing to feed the Machine. We imagine that the new kids will come out with a quota attached to their daily grading system and FTO's city wide (oops, we mean in 6 training districts) will be required to fail the recruits if they don't write at least their salary plus in parkers per day.

Maybe the City hopes to develop it into a habit - a mindless horde of revenue generators:

• Old Vet: See that guy in the long jacket? Hanging around outside the Dollar Store? He keeps looking in the window and around the corner and it's 85 degrees out. That strike you as suspicious kid?
• Newbie: Holy crap! Look at that car parked 12 inches from the curb with the cracked windshield! And that other car is protruding 6 inches into the "No Parking" zone delineated by signs! And oh my lord! Two fire hydrant violations, one with a hanging front plate! I think I'm in heaven - I need some oxygen!

Welcome to the future.