Friday, December 29, 2006

HE GONE!!!

UNION!!!!!!

Should we continue with the status quo or make changes after the expiration of the existing contract?

This is an important issue and after the class of 50 pre-sergeants graduates, barring any retirements, we will have 1300 members. We pay $50.00 a month in union dues (totalling nearly $65,000.00) and we need representation.

People have been complaining that when they call the Sergeants Association with questions it takes up to a week to get an answer. The response from some is to volunteer or shut up. Folks that's not the answer. We need people to staff those lines who know what they are talking about and are paid employees of the sergeants.

A website is a valuable tool to get out information and for what its worth we don't have one. The non-updated website is indicative of the state of our union.

Apathy runs rampant in this union as it does at FOP. I would not be able to tell you how many of our members are eligible to run for an elected office but I am aware that a little over 120 are eligible at FOP. Just about 1% of FOP members are eligible to run for an elected office with less than 40% of the members voting in elections. To me this is a great example of apathy and I'm sure the numbers are probably the same with the Sergeants Association.

We may never be able to change the atmosphere of apathy and thus a few members will always control the destinies of many. So you have to ask yourself what direction you would like to see our association go.

So far we have read some interesting comments, and here are some possibilities that we see happening.

1. Apathy prevails and we stay the course.
2. Decertification occurs and we must then pick an organization to represent us.
3. We select FOP and are separate from lodge 7
4. We select FOP and share facilities with lodge 7 (building, staff, etc.)
5. We select an entirely different bargaining organization i.e. Teamsters.
6. We select PB&PA again with the promise of changes
.

This post has not been written to blame the current or past presidents of the Sergeants Association for the problems that exist. We created this post with the intention of getting the members to move in the direction of getting involved.
Whether that involvement is as a PB&PA member or a member of a new bargaining unit.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Last updated on 01/06/2005

Just a reminder of the banner at the bottom of the Sergeants Association, PB&PA website.


Don't be surprised if there is a move for decertification of PB&PA after the expiration of the current contract.

Keep in mind that this is the opinion of a few sergeants that I have spoken to about the subject.
We would like to provide a forum for discussion concerning this very issue.
We will print all comments (no personal attacks) pro or con.

Gerald Ford dead at 93

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Brawls break out at 3 movie theaters

Spend all day with the family on Christmas. After dinner you relax and then decide to go see a movie to put an end to a great day. My choice of movie theaters is always in the burbs...Why?

Brawls broke out at three Chicago movie theater complexes Christmas night

The fights were reported between about 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. at I.C.E. Chatham 14, 210 W. 87th St.; I.C.E. Lawndale 10, 3330 W. Roosevelt Rd.; and AMC Ford City 14 7601 S. Cicero Ave.

The fights did not appear related to any particular movie, police said


No the movie wouldn't be your common denominator in this one.Tribune

Stroger Betrays Unions

You get what you pay for!!!!!!
In todays Sun-Times the unions (AFSME & SEIU) are beside themselves with the proposal by Baby Doc (Todd) Stroger to lay off thousands of their members in order to balance a $500 million projected budget deficit.
Dennis Gannon of the Chicago Federation of Labor. "I'm very concerned about this budget being balanced on the backs of hard-working men and women."

The union proposed that the county raise taxes --


Thats the answer! Screw the honest hard working taxpayer. The Cook County government is an overbloated bureaucracy filled with patronage workers and political hacks.
The fact Todd wants to trim department budgets by 17% is purely political. The jobs that will eventually be eliminated will surely come from the ranks of those with the least political connections.

Not Much In The Way Of News

In today's Tribune there is an article concerning the expiration of most city employee contracts.
June 30, 2007 is fast approaching!
City has no incentive to renegotiate in a timely manner. Retro is paid with no interest.
The city will be looking for us to take on more of the health insurance cost. During the last set of negotiations FOP was able to show that the cities actual cost for medical claims actually decreased from one year to another.
The city will probably be looking to change our pension with a two tier system. In essence new hires would have drastically different benefits then existing members.
The over/under for contract settlememnt is 24 months.

Friday, December 22, 2006

SHOCKING!

A 13 year old and a 14 year old were arrested Thursday for a series of armed robberies in the University of Chicago area. The two "misguided youths" would approach their victims and display a replica handgun then demand money and cell phones.
As reported in the Tribune

Officers from the Chicago Police Department and the University of Chicago working a special covert mission Thursday night spotted the 13-year-old in the Midway Plaisance, a stretch of park near the university grounds.

The boy fit the description of a suspect in recent robberies in the park, and officers found he was carrying a knife and a replica handgun, according to a Chicago police news release.


The best way to describe the University of Chicago is one square mile inhabited by the socially naive surrounded by stark reality. These little shits have learned at a young age how to spot a good victim (dumb whites). I am not trying to make this a race issue (stupidity vs opportunity) but I'm sure Mary Mitchell will find just the right angle to make it so.
I wonder how successful these "little angels" would have been had they plied their craft south of 59th St/ north of 51st St.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

JUAN JUAREZ


Mark Suppelsa of Fox 32 ran a story about a former Chicago Police Office who has written a book called "Brotherhood Of Corruption". Over at SCC they say "Every story we've ever heard about him wasn't complimentary. Go figure." We did a little digging on the Internet and found reviews of this shit and one in particular that stuck out.

"Juarez's frank firsthand account of the culture of corruption that pervades the Chicago Police Department should send chills up the spine of all readers who care about fairness in law enforcement and justice in society. . . . A compelling read."


So according to the reviewer, Professor Michael L. Seigel, University of Florida Levin College of Law, there is a culture of corruption that "pervades" in the Chicago Police Department. Professor Siegel has decided that we have a pervasive corruption problem in the CPD based on the writings of this "pothead". The writers biography on line states that he was a writer for the "Reader" ...go figure.
The sad thing is it is impossible to prove a negative. Any discredit brought to this guy is dismissed by critics as blackballing those who attack the blue wall of silence. I can only think that anyone interested in buying this book is a person who has a negative view of the police in the first place.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

WELCOME

50 NEW SERGEANTS!

045 SULLINS, Edward J.
121/610 NIEVES, Luz A.
193 BOCARDO, Michael R.
193/640 LOPEZ, Jose L.
603 O'DONNELL, Johnny
603 FLANIGAN, Kevin T.
606/610 SVILAR, William
610 LOMBARD, Richard P.
610/006 PARHAM, Andre
610/008 DORRIS, John E.
610/009 McINERNEY, Raymond J.
610/015 AYLWARD, Patrick M.
610/018 BRIDGES, TIM R.
610/025 LAUFER, James R.
610/121 MONTGOMERY, Phyore D.
620 KINNEY, David B.
620 PARKS, Cedrick V.
620/011 PITROWSKI, Dawn M.
620/018 MORRISSEY, Margaret M.
620/022 JASICA, Shannon K.
620/022 SMITH, Dennis L.
620/050 PETTIS, Christopher
620/153 DOWNS, Richard B
620/253 ROWLING, Steven R.
620/701 FLANAGAN, Thomas J.
630 VALDES, Hector A.
630/013 HEIN, Jon P.
630/019 MUSZYNSKY, Michael W.
630/023 BANICH, Thomas J.
630/024 FICHT, Leonard K.
630/050 AXIUM, Jack A.
640 DEVINE, Peter C.
640 BAZAREK, Michael G.
640/006 MULLINS, Stanley M.
640/010 SCHAAF, Jeffrey A.
640/012 BORJA, Jean P.
640/012 ZABER, Nicholas E.
640/013 DELGADO, John M.
640/018 O'DONNELL, Weslene M.
640/121 MILLS, Thomas
650 ERNST, Raymond G.
650/014 BETANCOURT, William
650/015 SOTO, Alexis C.
650/015 WHITE, Glenn
650/017 Mark A.
650/025 FORBES JR. Terence P.
650/057 BIELICKI, Anita M.
650/153 ROWAN, James G.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

HEY PB&PA / FOP WHERE ARE OUR CALENDERS?

PB&PA.....No website, Phone calls that are returned weeks later, and calenders that will be issued maybe sometime during the new year. We have to do better guys.

and FOP what is your excuse the news letter said we should have had them last week.

Update.......Received our FOP book in todays mail....19 DEC 06

One of our readers suggested we view this video. We thought you might like it as well.

What's Up With Harwood Heights?

It seems over at Second City Cop they have a post in regards to a beef between Harwood Heights Police And 16th District coppers.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Authorities interview Bears' Johnson after shooting

Tribune

Chicago Police Supt. Philip Cline said a fight broke out before the shooting took place at 1:30 a.m. Saturday and it appears only one shot was fired. The round struck Posey in the left shoulder and traveled into his chest. The victim was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital a short time later.


Johnson, 25, and Posey were charged Thursday after police raided Johnson's Gurnee home and found six guns, some of which were loaded and laying in plain view. The Bears have benched Johnson for Sunday's game


You have got to be kidding me!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

NEWS

Cable worker charged in bathtub slaying
Sun-Times Tribune
When I saw this headline I thought it was the murdered girl found in Garfield Ridge.

Bears player faces gun charges
Sun-Times

Secretary of State's daughter caught in drug sting
Sun-Times
Lorraine White, 47, of Chicago, was charged with possession of a controlled substance, attempted possession of a controlled substance and criminal trespass, the police said.


Jersey cop sues state troopers over arrest
Sun-Times

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

WHO YOU CRAPPIN?

SUN-TIMES
DENY! DENY! DENY!.........This is the strategy our beloved mayor loves to employ when faced with questions concerning his knowledge about corruption in his administration.
Fran Spielman describes the mayor as a person who prides himself on being a master of detail and wants to know;

how he could have been oblivious to the fact that city hiring and promotions were being rigged.


And the mayor skillfully dodged the question with this brilliant answer.

"You have asked me that question a thousand times and I've given you the same answer. I'm not going to keep repeating [it]," Daley said. "If I knew everything in the world, I don't think I'd be mayor. I'd be something else."


You would then be what?...GOD!
Fran hardly asked if the mayor knew everything in the world. Fran asked how was he not aware of what was going on in his world and in particular the corruption perpetrated by his closest operatives.

The mayor wants you to believe that there is no possible way for him to know top officials of his staff were corrupt. There is no possible way he would have known about job and promotion rigging. Everyone in the city knew about it in one form or another. It is a way life in Chicago "The city that works". You and I know about rigging (meritorious) promotions. We aren't the only agancy in the city that practices this fine art of politics. Somehow the mayor was able to insulate himself from any knowledge of the crap that has been going on on his behalf.

Well Mr. Mayor you now have created new precedent in defense of a charge of culpabilty. The next time you (P.O/Supervisor) face an accusation of culpability because your partner or one of your cars was involved in some bullshit..just remember, "I can't know everything in the world. I'm not God!"

UPDATE: from AP
Daniel Katalinic is a former deputy commissioner of streets and sanitation. In pleading guilty last year, he admitting knowing that court orders requiring merit hiring of city employees were being violated.

Katalinic was sentenced today by a judge who warned that corruption in Chicago "has to stop."

Monday, December 11, 2006

Friday, December 08, 2006

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Why Rookie Cops Need To Listen To Old Timers



Found this little funny post at
Crimefiles and didn't think Pual would mind if we republished it.

When you’re a young cop, you instantly become the smartest, strongest, best looking, bravest son of a bitch on the planet. You look in the mirror a lot to admire yourself in that superman uniform.

Soon you are sent to patrol and get an lazy old goat for a partner instead of another cool dude like yourself. That’s a bummer. Your new partner has bad feet, seems way too cautious and you just know he was hired when cops did not get real training like you’ve just gotten. You find it embarrassing to be in the same vehicle working with a guy older than your own father.

In Chicago I worked on the Near West Side (012). I had Cook County Hospital, Greek Town, Jew Town, Taylor Street, Skid row and a large high crime area with projects filled with poor African-Americans. It was a busy district and a great place to work. My first boss, Commander Ronald Nash took a big fall and went to the joint for corruption.

As you come to the end of your police academy training you are sent out for Field Weeks to district patrol units. The normal plan is to pair you with an experienced officer working as a “Field Training Officer”. Sometimes they just run out of those creatures and you get what you get.

I was sent to the Near North Side (018) for one such Field Week and was assigned to work a wagon with a real dinosaur. His first name was Gene but I can’t remember his last name. Gene was several months away from mandatory retirement because he’d be 63 years old.

It was Easter Sunday morning and I knew it would be a really dull day. Gene was complaining to me about having to baby sit for a recruit. I was to keep my ears and eyes open. Further I was told to keep my mouth shut and perhaps he’d let me live. We were off to a great start.

Our first radio call did not come in for two whole hours! Then the radio cracked, “Eighteen-seventy-two.” I grabbed the microphone and responded, “Eighteen-seventy-two” The reply was,“Eighteen-seventy-two, a complainant says there’s a DOA floating in the Chicago River." I retorted excitedly, “Ten-Four squad we’re in route!”

Gene said two words, “Oh fudge!” Okay, it was a little stronger than fudge. I was going my first probable homicide call! Gene drove the wagon to the river parking next to the bridge. There was nobody around, not even a complainant, or passers by. As we got out of the wagon to look for a body we were suddenly hit with a really foul odor. Instantly we knew the call was legitimate as we gagged.

Walking closer to the river there he was in all his glory. Large and obese, this fellow was floating face up in the water. He was wearing only a white t-shirt and had his left leg severed attached only by a little tissue. He was bloated and looked ready to explode from the expaneded gas inside his abdominal cavity.

Suddenly the glamour of being a cop was on the ropes for me. We would have to somehow put this huge smelly pile of sh*t into our wagon, take him to a hospital, get a physician to pronounce the guy dead (they won’t take a cop’s word on that in Illinois) and then we'd take him to the Cook County Morgue. Once at the Morgue we'd be expected to remove his t-shit and inventory it as evidence once it was dry. This last procedure has since changed and been assigned to Medical Examiner’s personnel.

Our uniforms would be destroyed and we’d be barfing for sure. Suddenly our fortunes were improving! Two little Black boys were crossing the bridge on bicycles carrying fishing poles. Gene quickly flagged them down and asked to borrow one of the poles. Next, I watched an expert fisherman go to work.

Gene cast the hook right to that T-shirt and snagged it. Then I watched Gene pull the floating mess straight West from the bridge. The soon the body was on the West side of the river! Gene yanked the fishing line and broke it. He crossed back over giving the pole to the now complaining Black kids. Gene reached in his pocket and fished out $5 and gave it to them. The boys left happy and Gene said I now owed him $2.50.

Gene grabbed the radio microphone and called, “Eighteen-seventy-two” The dispatcher responded, “Eighteen-seventy-two.” Gene replied, “Eighteen-seventy-two, be advised this call is bonafide but the DOA is on the 13th district side of the river, we’ll stand by for 13. They’re going to need the Marine Unit or Fire Boat for assistance squad.”

We waited and watched the two poor bastards working a 13th District wagon as they handled the job in the finest tradition of the Chicago Police Department. That was the day I learned that the old timers were smarter than I was. There are some things you just can’t learn in the academy.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

EALY CASE

In today's Sun-Times an article is written asking "You be the judge: Should James Ealy have been let go?" Well law and order people will say no and those who believe that the rights of an individual far out weigh the greater good of society will say yes. The article in the end shows how the justice systems scales tip far more in favor of the accused than in the favor of the victim and society as a whole.

James Ealy had been out on bond (for sexual assault) when he commited the henious acts of murdering and raping a 3 year old little boy, Jontae Parker, along 3 other members of the Parker family. He was convicted for the CSA charge and sentenced to 23 years but sreved 10. Three years later he cathes a UUW/Agg Unlawful Restraint case and receives a 10 year sentence but serves less than 3 years.

So throw out James Ealy's life sentence and you still have Ealy receiving 33 years for other crimes since 1983. James Ealy has served less than 13 of those 33 years. At the very least James Ealy should of been in prision till 2013 on his other convictions. The scales however seem to tip in his favor and now Mary Hutchison is dead as a result. Mary Mitchell where is your out rage now?

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Bonds set for charged Chicago cops

Tribune

In the Tribune bond was set for the newly charged 3 and new bond was set for the other 3 that were charged originally.

We will not make any personal comments on this subject since we known or are aquainted with 1 or more of the indicted.

BAD NEWS

Channel 9
Not much to say.....

Monday, December 04, 2006

INDICTMENTS

We have not reported on this subject yet because we would like to see the press release first.

Police Supt. Phil Cline released a statement today saying the arrests "illustrate the department's ongoing commitment to root out bad cops who violate the public's trust and the professional integrity" of Chicago police.

Friday, December 01, 2006

NEWS

Cops Shoot, Injure Man Allegedly Wielding Knife
CHANNEL 2
(STNG) CHICAGO A female officer from the Rogers Park District shot a man twice Thursday night, injuring him, after police said he charged towards her with a knife while she and another officer responded to a North Side apartment for an incident.


Ward bosses angry at mayor
Circulators of petitions told to sign affidavit
SUN-TIMES
The Daley campaign is demanding that petition circulators sign a sworn affidavit that Democratic ward bosses call a "slap in the face" from a mayor who has ignored them


2 aldermen cite slavery, try to block garage pact
SUN-TIMES
Aldermen Dorothy Tillman and Ed Smith filed a lawsuit Thursday against the city, which is set to enter a 99-year lease agreement with Morgan Stanley Investment Management to run the parking structures. Morgan Stanley declined to comment


Police Decry Web Site on Informants
MYWAY.COM

WASHINGTON (AP) - Police and prosecutors are worried that a Web site claiming to identify more than 4,000 informants and undercover agents will cripple investigations and hang targets on witnesses

UNHAPPY READER

You're boring and uncreative and not timely with your moderation and comment posts. Sorry, but you got nothing to give to attract us.


Well we have a dissatisfied "customer" out there and it seems he speaks for all sergeants. Certain critics said SCC would fail when it went to moderation and that prediction obviously hasn't come true. Moderation is extremely important for many reasons but the most important one is we did not want this site to negatively reflect on the members of this department and police officers in general. We felt it was important to allow criticism of the department and those who implement its policies but we weren't going to allow ourselves to become another shithouse stall.
We try to review and publish comments as often as possible. Some days I'm able to spend a couple of hours out of my busy day to post and moderate comments and some days I don't have a free moment. Since this is only a hobby and not my livelihood I'm not about to apologize for my untimeliness in post moderation. We created this site because our union that we pay ($50 a month x 1200 members)$60,000 a month can't seem to update the associations site. We felt that information had to be put out there somewhere and when we run across it we publish it. We peruse various media outlets and police forums to find what we think might be interesting to our readers. Many times we publish a story we find and other times we will editorialise on a story. SCC does a great job in our opinion with hot-button topics but in the past (pre-moderation) some of the reader comments were pure garbage. We hoped to avoid the negatives that SCC experienced in the beginning. If our moderation policy and our timeliness in posting the comments aren't agreeable with you then create your own site.
We look at the site traffic and again we receive approximately 250 visits a day and we believe SCC receives approximately 2000 visits a day. In our case we feel that figures to be approximate 20% of our targeted readers. Maybe someone from SCC can comment. We are huge fans of SCC and as we told them when we started SCS they definitely inspired us.
So if you don't like us don't read us! Again if you think you could do better then create your own site.
Please keep in mind that this is an open blog
that can and is read by people other than Chicago Police Officers.