Everyone to 015

LOTS of reports coming in that cars were taken from all over the city and sent to the 015 District to quell an outburst of violence tonight. So far, we're hearing that 4 cars (8 Officers) and a Sergeant were taken all Area 3 Districts along with a few Area 5 Districts:

• SCC something outrageous is happening and we need your help! Seems like a bit of police redistricting in a much more covert manner is taking place. 8 POs and a Sgt from every district in A/3 were sent tonight to guess where??? The land of the non-taxpayer! And maybe some brothers from 016 can verify but I was told at least a handful from home were also sent.

We could have sworn that MSF and TRU were supposed to be covering these "problem" areas. We also heard that foot patrols have started in earnest:

• As of today foot patrol will begin in districts frequented by MFS and TRU. Teams have been ordered to begin foot patrol within an area for a minimum of 5 hours a night, with a trail car to follow. Any in-progress calls outside that box are to be ignored by the teams assigned to foot patrol.

So how are these cops getting to their posts? And ignoring in-progress calls? And pretty much preventing any sort of police-in-force response? This is some truly stupid thinking.

Must be a Masters Production.

Stolen Car Rams 17 Cars

Five of which were CPD squad cars:

• As several police officers responded to the stabbing, a motorist driving a stolen car tried to drive past the scene but became blocked in, according to [police].

  In an attempt to get out, the motorist smashed 12-13 vehicles -- five of which were police squad cars. The others were parked on the street, the officer said.

  Police tried to stop the car but the motorist "floored it," pushing the squad cars out of the way and driving onto the sidewalk. One officer had to jump out of the way causing that officer to suffer a wrenched back...

At least two kids were reportedly in the back seat, so the decision not to shoot at the occupants was definitely the right call.

Best wishes to the injured PO for a speedy recovery.

A Telling Statistic

A violent weeknight during a warm spring break:

• Chicago police are investigating nine separate shootings spanning a 24-hour period that left two dead and seven wounded. The victims' ages ranged from 11 to 27-years-old.
  
  The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the fatalities as Lacharles Johnson, 27, and Jeremy Lindsey, 16, both of Chicago.

And a disturbing trend appears:

• Police have no one in custody in any of the shootings.

The 800-man-shortage in the Detective Division rears it's ugly head. That 30-something percentage clearance rate last year? We'll bet 100 dollars toothpicks it dips lower this year. All thanks to no hiring for two years by Daley.

68 to 68?

A commentator claims that we are dead even (pun intended) for homicides January through March this year compared to last. This would mean that in the course of a month, the city managed to wipe out a double digit decrease in the homicide rate that J-Failure and company was publicizing all over the media just last month.

That warm weather can be a bitch, can't it?

Manpower, too.

Dog Ate My Squad Car

Honest Captain!



The best part was when the dogs dragged the squad into the neighbor's yard and buried it next to the tree.

Césped artificial en Sudáfrica 2010.

01.04.2010 - Nanu Bauzá - Puede sorprender o sonar algo paradójico pero por primera vez en un Mundial habrá partidos a disputarse en campos formados con césped artificial. El Comité Organizador de la Copa Mundial de la FIFA Sudáfrica 2010 pidió a Desso Sports Systems instalar un sistema Desso Grassmaster en dos estadios: Mbombela (Nelspruit) y Peter Mokaba (Polokwane), en los que se jugarán cuatro partidos (en cada uno), entre otros, Chile – Honduras (Nelspruit) y Argentina – Grecia (Polokwane).

El sistema está hecho de una superficie de hierba natural en la que se inyectan 20 millones de fibras de césped artificial a una profundidad de 20 cm. Las raíces de la hierba natural se entrelazan con las fibras artificiales, para sostener el campo en una superficie de césped estable y nivelado. Es conocido por sus aplicaciones en los estadios de Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottehham Hotspur y Manchester City (Inglaterra) y AZ Alkmaar (Holanda).

El CEO de Desso, Stef Kranendijk, se muestra orgulloso: “evidentemente – dice – suministrar la cancha para la Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2010 es un proyecto prestigioso. Así queremos contribuir al éxito de este torneo e inspirar futuros eventos superiores”.

La noticia cuenta que el sistema se instalará durante las próximas semanas, que está previsto para finales de abril y que con él, la Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2010 tendrá un campo perfecto durante todo el torneo, ya que los estadios mundialistas se utilizarán intensamente para partidos y entrenamientos durante un corto período de sólo varias semanas y el Desso, de fibras reforzadas, ofrece seguridad de juego bajo todas las condiciones climáticas.

Lo que no cuentan, ni la noticia ni Kranendijk, es que este giro de último momento responde a los fracasos en la plantación de césped de los dos estadios, sobretodo en el Mbombela, donde ya plantaron todo el campo en dos oportunidades con semillas diferentes y no se logró obtener resultados mínimamente satisfactorios, hecho por el cual se siguen retrasando las entregas y el Comité Organizador de la FIFA llama la atención desde hace meses.
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Police Kill a Killer?

Another police shooting, this time of an armed offender leaving a homicide scene:

• A man was shot to death by Chicago police in the Austin neighborhood this morning as he fled the scene of a shooting where a 16-year-old boy was found dead, officials said.
  
  Plainclothes officers were patrolling around Pine Avenue and Huron Street because of "an ongoing gang conflict" when they heard gunshots about 12:45 a.m., the department said in a statement.
  
  The officers saw several people running away, one of them with a gun in his hand, police said. The officers ordered him to stop, but he ran through a gangway and into an alley behind Pine, the department said.
  
  An officer approached the man and ordered him to drop the gun, police said. The man pointed the gun at the officer and the officer fired, striking the man. The department said a gun was recovered.
  
  Officers then returned to where they heard the gunshots and found a 16-year-old boy with a gunshot wound.

If we were of the gambling sort, which we would never ever think of being (that Thursday night poker thing...it's just toothpicks!), we'd say it's better than even money there's a ballistic match from the dead guy's gun to the dead 16-year-old.

April is picking up exactly where March left off. Be safe boys and girls.