mercredi 21 juillet 2010
Threats Against Police
- A frightening warning has been sent to police on the street: their lives could be in danger. It comes while Chicago police are still looking to make arrests in a case that's personal for them: the murder of Chicago Police Officer Michael Bailey.
Thomas Wortham IV, Thor Soderberg and Bailey are three police officers murdered in Chicago in the past two months. CBS 2 [...] reports on the threat being made to police in the Chatham community.
"More police will be shot...gang bangers in the area are passing the word...every night they will be ambushing police in the Chatham area."
That was the key part of the text message sent Monday, to police commanders, watch commanders, sergeants and police officers by the department's Mobile Strike Force, the group concentrating their efforts in high crime areas.
In the meantime, how about two cars for every call, don't wave off your assist and fuck the backlog.
mardi 20 juillet 2010
Lies, Damn Lies, .....
- Mack Julion has always been in love with Chicago. A Southwest Side resident, he swore he would never flee to the suburbs, playfully mocking friends as not being "real Chicagoans."
But now, crime in his neighborhood and across the city has worn that devotion thin.
[...] Julion's sense that Chicago's crime problem is growing worse is shared by nearly half of the city dwellers who responded to a new poll for Tribune/WGN. But the reality is that overall crime in Chicago is down when compared with last year and homicides are nearly flat, with no significant uptick compared with recent years.
- Overall crime, including violent crimes such as criminal sexual assault and robbery, are down, according to official crime statistics through the end of June. For instance, shootings are down slightly compared with January through June of last year. The facts, however, have done little to prevent perception from becoming reality for people in all parts of the city.
- Police statistics suggest it's getting increasingly dangerous on the street for officers. Nearly 3,160 officers reported they were victims of assault and battery in 2008, almost double the 1,583 officers who said they were attacked in 2003. About 35 percent of those officers in 2008 were injured, according to the department.
So it comes down to citizen perceptions? And who are you going to believe? The "statistics" released by a mayor desperate to prop up his reelection chances and the chances of his heirs? Or your own goddamn lying eyes?
Hold on for Those Reinforcements
The city needs to hire 100 more police officers, Mayor Richard Daley said today, but should not fund their salaries from a tax program reserved for promoting economic development.
"You have to hire a hundred new police officers," Daley said at a news conference to open a new Target store in the Uptown neighborhood.
But hiring more officers will only partially address the problem of crime in Chicago, Daley said.
And this quote is just freaking priceless:
- If the officers were hired as some aldermen have suggested by tapping money from the city's tax increment financing program, it would throw the budget out of whack because those funds run out after a fixed number of years, the mayor said.
"To balance your budget, if you start taking TIF money only once, then what do you do?" Daley said.
Oh wait. That did happen. And we're seeing the results each and every day here in Chi-troit II.
Contradictions Abound
- Sources said the Police Department was analyzing surveillance video, and officers were "hitting the gang-bangers hard" to shake loose any information about the killing, one of three slayings of Chicago Police officers in two months.
- Despite the attacks on police, Daley said he's not about to turn a blind eye to officers who engage in excessive force. "If some police officer comes out and starts whacking people around here, you'll have an outrage," he said. "We are a country of laws."
More contradictions:
- Mayoral press secretary Jacquelyn Heard said the hirings were set into motion weeks ago, before Sunday morning's slaying of Bailey, whom Daley knew personally and called "a wonderful guy."
And a belated "Welcome to Our World" to aldercreature Lyle:
Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th), whose South Side ward includes the Bailey shooting, said the violence stems from a lack of respect for police officers she saw during a recent "ride around" in her ward with a district commander.
"The commander got out and asked this young man to get off a woman's porch. He did it nicely -- by putting his hand on the guy's shoulder. And the guy got all riled up and said, 'Why are you touching me?' I was shocked. I never in my life thought people would respond that way," Lyle said.
"I had a female officer tell me they called her b---- so much, she thought her name was b---- by the end of the day. That goes to the total lack of respect."
If brains were dynamite, these idiots couldn't blow their noses. And that includes the mayor, the supernintendo, the aldercreature and the "reverends." Combined.
