Nonsense Story

Hasn't anyone in the media got a lick of sense? Fran? Frank? Did you really write this crap?

• A key alderman says the Chicago Police Department's overtime spending is "alarming," having more than doubled over the last five years to more than $37 million in 2009.
  
  "We're short officers, and a lot of overtime is going to fill those gaps," said Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), newly appointed chairman of the Police Committee. "I also know officers go to court quite a bit, and if they make an arrest at the end of their shift, there are reports to fill out."
  
  "But $37.1 million is an awful lot of overtime," Beale said. "I need time to find out how we can make our streets safer and also lighten the burden on taxpayers."

• The department is more than 830 officers short of its authorized strength of 13,500.

  [...] Meanwhile, nearly 130 officers retired Friday -- and as many as 1,000 retirements are expected by year's end.

So we lost another 130 officers Friday? Guess what's filling those gaps Frank and Fran? Overtime.

We're short almost 1,000 on paper? That's a minimum $40 million in salaries alone. Add benefits and insurance and we're probably in the neighborhood of $75 million unspent, so $37 million in OT is actually a savings of nearly $40 million.

Frank can be a decent reporter when he wants to be. Fran, not so much. But when they write crap like this at the behest of Shortshanks, they prove themselves tools of the highest order. Hopefully, this costs the Slum Times another few thousand subscribers.