To all those who have to work tonight ............please stay safe!

IS JUSTICE SERVED?

I received an email from a proud father of a US Marine and he had asked if I would post the story of a marine who is soon to be deployed. I hopped over to Blackfive.net and found this post.

Anti-Military Lawyer Damages Marine's Car on Eve of Deployment

Turns out this incident occurred in our great city therefore Cook County States Attorney's seeing to it that justice be served.

Marine Sgt Mike McNulty is on activation orders to Iraq (second tour). On December 1st, 2007, Mike went to visit a friend in Chicago before deploying to say goodbye. In order to get to his friend's residence, and keep in mind that Chicago is a myriad of diagonal and one-way streets, the front entrance (right way) to the one-way street was blocked. Mike, being a Marine, overcame and adapted by driving around the block to the other end of the street and backing up all the way to his friend's place.

While saying goodbye, at about 11am, he noticed a man leaning up against his car. Mike left his friend's apartment and caught the man keying his car on multiple sides.

After caught in the process, the man told Mike, "you think you can do whatever you want with Department of Defense license plates and tags". (In Illinois you can purchase veteran, Marine, or medal plates. Mike has Illinois Marine Corps license plates.) During the exchange, he made additional anti-military comments.

Mike called the Chicago police and had the man arrested. A citation against the man was issued for misdemeanor criminal damage to private property.

The police report (and I have copies if needed) states:

Victim related to P/O that as he walked back to his vehicle, he observed the offender leaning up against his vehicle and rubbed/dragged his left arm and hand across the passenger side. As offender walked away from victim's vehicle, victim observed a scratch along the rear trunk and passenger's door area where offender dragged his arm and hand over. Victim and witness stopped offender and confronted him. Victim has military plates and decals on his vehicle and offender made anti war and military comments to victim. Upon P/O's arrival to scene, offender denied scratch victim's vehicle, but did admit to rubbing past it. Victim at this time did not sign complaint, because he is leaving tour for military duty. Offender said they accused him of scratching the car because he is Jewish. Offender's statements/responses to P/O's questions unreasonable.

As it turns out, the man is Chicago lawyer Jay R. Grodner, who owns a law firm in the city and has offices in the suburbs.

After sending the car to the body shop, it was determined there is $2400 in damage, making this a felony. Mike went to court Friday morning to collect the damages against Mr. Grodner and file felony charges. Though the damages are over $300 (the amount which determines felony or misdemeanor) Grodner offered Mike to pay his deductible, $100, and have Mike's insurance pay for it.

The Illinois States Attorneys tried to coerce Mike into accepting the offer. Appalled, Mike said he wanted this to be a felony. The state told Mike that it was not worth pursuing felony damage against Grodner because they don't have the time. In addition, the state prosecutors told him that he would never it 'would be difficult to recover the damages' from Grodner because he is a lawyer.

Instead, the State asked Mike if he would accept probation for Grodner. Mike accepted, probation was offered to Grodner, and Grodner declined the offer, saying within ear shot of Mike, "I'm not going to make it easy on this kid". Mike's next court date is tomorrow, Monday, December 31st, to pursue misdemeanor charges against Grodner.

Mike's leave is over on January 2nd when he reports to Camp Pendleton before heading to Iraq.

Jay Grodner knows this and is going to file for a continuance until Mike is gone and cannot appear in court.

By account of the Illinois State's Attorneys, Grodner is likely to get away with defacing Mike's car with no penalty because, 1) Mike is about to deploy to Iraq and will not be available to appear in court, and 2) Grodner is a lawyer and can get out of this very easily.

So, does anyone have any ideas about how to proceed? All peaceful and rational ideas are welcomed. We are contacting the media about this, too.

Please pass this story on to anyone you know that might be able to help. Contact me if you have any information or ideas.

Thanks!

If you have any suggestions for Blackfive.net visit their site.
The tenets of Blackfive.net are:

Supporting the Military
Caring for the Wounded
Remembering the Fallen
Honoring the Sacrifices

I'll link them for future stories.

Would a felony upgrade be approved if the jag-off in question were an off duty copper? No doubt in my mind it would be.

SO DISAPPOINTING

A few days back Annie Sweeney of the Sun-Times wrote an article about TRU passing out gifts in the 5th district on Christmas Eve. The article was positive for the most part but couldn't be written without the obligatory mention of recent scandals plaguing the CPD. I have a few friends in TRU and asked one of them about the gift give away in 5. He told me that the unit had a toy drive and three groups were designated recipients, La Rabida, Gold Star Families and a women's shelter. This Sgt also told me that 300 gifts were needed and that there was an excess of toys that were received. It was later decided on Christmas Eve that when the cars were deployed to the various level two DOCs each car could take a few gifts out and pass them out to some local kids.
How did Annie Sweeney come to know about this story and be present when it occurred? My source claims that the WC told the Commander who then told the Deputy and someone up there called media affairs. Obviously someone up high saw this as an opportunity to shed a better light on a department that gets shit on on a regular basis. Its called public relations and it happens all the time. Someone told the press that our "heroes" aka CFD were passing out presents at La Rabida. Either the hospital or the Fire Department made that call and positive press was created. The bottom line is that the intentions were genuine and the members of that unit who participated came through for the intended recipients and some additional kids in the hood. Find some fault in that!

I had no intention of posting on the issue until seeing SCC's take on it.
SCC's post of 27 DEC "Feel Good Story" was about Annie Sweeney's story on TRU. SCC ended their post with

And the chosen subject of this feel good story? TRU. Is there anything these people can't do?

I wasn't absolutely sure if the above comment was a compliment or sarcasm but since SCC prides itself on "sarcasm and silliness" I leaned toward sarcasm. That's all and good but TRU is favorite target of many readers of SCC. Sarcasm and humor from the moderator is fine but the ensuing comments that resulted degenerated into impetuous backbiting. Like the targets before them TRU seems to take a beating at every turn. I do not have a horse in this race but I was deeply disappointed at what I read.
It seems that the post "Feel Good Story" got legs and spawned yet another post called SCC Comments where SCC defended the fact that its their blog and they will print what they see fit. Fair enough. SCC seems to take issue with a comment by Bill Schield Sgt TRU. It appears that this TRU Sgt took issue with SCC's sarcasm and the follow up comments made about TRU. My first thought was good for him he had the balls to stand up and post his name and then immediately my second thought was the shit he is going to catch from a whole bunch of anonymous tough guys. What if the comment was made by someone else claiming to be Sgt Bill Schield TRU. Either way they would shit all over him.
As of the writing of this post 137 comments were submitted on the "Feel Good Story" and 168 comments were submitted on the "SCC Comments". That's 305 comments about one group of police officers. Anecdotally I would say the negative comments were 10-1 against the guys and gals in TRU. That in of itself is so disappointing. I'm not disappointed that the comments were valid but that most were hypocritical and uninformed for the most part. You see as a sgt in a working district I dealt with TRU many times. As a sector sgt I can't turn a corner in the DOC without seeing flashing blue lights and multiple heads on the hood. I stop and they give me a thanks and a wave off. I drive by them on the street and for the most part I get a wave from one or both of the occupants. On a few occasions I would work the desk and for the most part the folks from TRU would bring in arrest and inventories that are no different then that of our gang/tact teams. The only difference is they wouldn't be bringing in the trespassers or loose cigarette hustlers. I rarely hear any grief from the guys on the watch about TRU being in the district except for the fact the the lock box keys seem to disappear when they are here. They bring their own wagon for transports they have their own supervisors for TRR's,IOD's and pursuits. I have on occasion been assigned a CR that I discover to be theirs. Big deal! I do a To-From and request it be reassigned to TRU. From what I hear they don't have too many problems in the south side districts but are treated less then poorly on the west side in particular in 11 and 15.
Schield claims there is nothing TRU can't do after SCC sarcastically questioned if there was anything that they couldn't do. Well I'm in no position to say they can or can't but SCC points out three things that TRU can't do

eat lunch without congregating

process a one bag dope arrest with less than 3 cars

take a joke

There isn't a gang or tact team that the first two criticisms don't apply to. As far as not taking a joke, there are nearly three hundred comments that go way beyond humor.
I am not an apologist for TRU and if you go back in the archives I have advocated the return of manpower to the districts. I am just tired of the same old beat downs that certain groups in this department take from the snide bitchy old ladies who share their lackluster opinions on a blog that at times can be absolutely brilliant.
That is just my opinion.

CONSENT DECREE

I recall reading comments at Second City Cop that stated the author would welcome a Federal consent decree. Some theories have Jody being named superintendent just to keep us out of Federal receivership. Here is the latest from LAPD via Pajamas Media

A new regulation will require “regular and periodic financial disclosures” by all Los Angeles police officers “who routinely handle valuable contraband or cash.”

In the seven years they have operated under the consent decree, LAPD officers have seen millions and millions of dollars and countless man-hours devoted to complying with its many provisions.

William Bratton may be the LAPD’s chief, but in reality the department is run by lawyers and auditors. A new computer system demanded by the consent decree was intended to help supervisors monitor their officers, but in reality it is little more than a generator of worthless busywork, keeping those supervisors glued to computers in the stations rather than in the field where they might actually interact with the officers they’re supposed to be monitoring. And far too many honest and hardworking officers have been disciplined for making the smallest and most inconsequential of errors in reports that are now endlessly and ludicrously scrutinized.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

RANTS

In today's Sun-Times Fran covers the Mayors speech at the graduation of the new PPO's. The Mayor speaks of the new demands on supervisors.

During a police graduation ceremony at Navy Pier, Daley said his appointment of the first outsider to serve as superintendent in nearly 50 years signals big changes in the demands made on police supervisors

I was talking to another supervisor who attended the graduation and he brought up the mayors speech. Fran forgot to mention Daley's berating of the attending press for their unfair coverage of the good most police do versus the endless coverage of the misdeeds by a few.
I had also heard about the decentralizing of the department by the new superintendent. What does this mean? The elimination of units? The elimination of the DOC?
Whose heads will the new Superintendent axe? Since the mayor brings up supervisor accountability my guess would be Matt Tobias and Debra Kirby to start.

CONTRACT VIOLATION?

Ok sarge you arrive at work and the watch commander hands you a face sheet. You have read the allegation and the information provided states that 2 unk (M,F)/(white, black, Hispanic) uniformed offices searched complainants vehicle for no reason. You attempt to call the complainant on various occasions and only reach a voice mail where you leave several messages for him to contact you. You drive over to the complainants residence only to have someone answer the door who informs you "he aint around". You have sent the obligatory certified letter and track it on the USPS website. You obtain confirmation that the letter has been received and you have yet to hear from the complainant. 20 days have passed and you now need to close out this investigation. A reasonable amount of time and effort has been exhausted in the attempt to contact the complainant and to obtain a signed sworn affidavit.
Here are the facts as you know them:
1. the complainant alleges the accused are two unknown (any gender)/(any race) officers
2. the alleged incident occurred in your district
3. the complainant is uncooperative and therefore you are unable to obtain the signed sworn affidavit.
I would say this scenario typifies 9 out 10 CL numbers that I have received.

You are left with no choice but to prepare your summary digest including 4-5 attachments showing your attempts to contact complainant. The investigation is "UNFOUNDED" due to the lack of cooperation from the complainant. You send it through and it is kicked back because they want to see what you have done to identify the accused.
This is in my opinion is a major problem.

(50 ILCS 725/3.8)(b) Anyone filing a complaint against a sworn peace officer must have the complaint supported by a sworn affidavit.
In other words if the complaint is NOT supported by a signed affidavit the complaint does not exist. If the complaint does not exist they why should the accused of a non complaint be identified?

APPENDIX L
AFFIDAVITS IN DISCIPLINARY
INVESTIGATIONS

10. No officer will be required to answer any allegation
of misconduct unless it is supported by an
appropriate affidavit, except as specified in paragraphs
one through five above. In the event that
no affidavit is received within a reasonable time,
the investigation will be terminated and no record
of the complaint or investigation will appear
on the officer’s Disciplinary History.

According to the Department Advocate we must make every effort to identify the involved officers. The officers have no recourse because the allegation can not be investigated and they will have an "UNFOUNDED" disposition in their CR history. In the past that would have been acceptable, however the number of complaints against an officer in a period of time is the issue regardless of disposition. Officers are being placed in the BIS and despite what the Department says it is a form of discipline.

In the above scenario the investigating sergeant discovers by PCAD that officers made a traffic stop and our complainant was ticketed for no DL and no insurance. The complainant was placed in custody (TVB) and vehicle was searched before being towed.
Had the complainant signed the affidavit the officers would have been exonerated.
FOP and PBPA need to push to have all complaints administratively closed when they are not supported by affidavit whether the accused are named or not. Again according to 50 ILCS 725/3.8 (b) Anyone filing a complaint against a sworn peace officer must have the complaint supported by a sworn affidavit. It stands to reason that minus the affidavit the complaint does not exist.

ACCEPTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Suspect seeking death penalty

Rejda is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Lauren Kiefer, 24, of unincorporated Oakbrook Terrace. Family members discovered her beaten body in her home Christmas Day as they returned from a party.

Rejda was arrested a short time later, after his DNA was identified at the crime scene, authorities said.

In July, prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty. Birkett said the death penalty was appropriate because Kiefer was murdered during the course of aggravated criminal sexual assault, home invasion and residential burglary.

Of course he will now receive a mental fitness exam to see if he is fit to enter into such a plea. This sort of reminds me of Gary Gilmore.

Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad on January 17, 1977, at 8:07 a.m., after angrily telling his lawyers to drop the appeals they had filed in defiance of his wishes

After being asked for any last words, Gilmore simply replied, "Let's do it."

GOD BLESS

It is a rare moment when I can I say that I feel for the Mayor but in this instance I chose to show my respect.

"Every day a policeman gets up and their wife and their children look at them and they are put in harm's way. Every time a fireman goes to work, they are put in harm's way. Every time a young man or woman in the military is put in harm's way . . . that is part of joining the military. We understand that. And that is part of the mission in regards to bringing democracy and safety against terrorism, not only here in the United States but throughout the world."

Richard Daley, when asked about the risk that goes with being a soldier

The Mayor's son, Patrick, is an enlisted member of the 82nd Airborne and a graduate of the University of Chicago. Patrick could have easily taken the route to become a commissioned officer, however he not only enlisted but he chose to became a paratrooper. On Tuesday the Mayor announced that his son was being deployed.

The mayor's eyes welled up with tears once Tuesday when he said his son "is honored to serve this great country."

As a father who has a child presently serving in our Armed Forces my thoughts and prayers to the Daley family and all the families of those serving.
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!

OUTSIDE INVESTIGATIONS

Robert Milan (D) running for Cook County States Attorney has proposed an independent agency to investigate CPD involved shootings.

A ranking Cook County prosecutor said Tuesday that he has suggested taking investigations of police shootings away from Chicago police and putting the often controversial incidents in the hands of specialized "shoot teams" that would be independent of the city.

Robert Milan, the office's first assistant state's attorney and a candidate seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed State's Atty. Richard Devine in the Feb. 5 primary, said he brought the idea to top police officials during discussions over how to improve shooting investigations.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ALREADY

As usual knee-jerk reactions are just that. Aldermen push to test Chicago cops for alcohol after police shootings
And here is the brilliant argument presented by Carothers.

“If you work for Streets and Sanitation in Chicago . . . and you run over somebody with a truck, then you have to go take a Breathalyzer test and, in fact, a drug test as well,” said Carothers, a strong mayoral ally and chairman of the Police and Fire Committee. “So I think it’s just appropriate to do this. . . . I have a concern to just make sure that the public knows that we’re doing all that we can to make sure that police officers are not impaired.”

Well ass wipe, if the S&S guy runs someone over its an accident. We shoot someone it is because we were in fear of our life. Since when has a shooting incident been questioned as to the sobriety of the involved?

In one incident in 2000, an off-duty officer shot and wounded a man at 3 a.m. in a fight outside a South Side bar. The officer, who contended the man had pointed a gun at him, reported he had consumed 11/2 shots of cognac. But he was not given a breath test until seven hours after the incident. In a subsequent calculation, a state toxicologist estimated that the officer’s blood alcohol content was at least 0.11 and possibly as high as 0.15. A person is legally drunk under Illinois law at 0.08.

and this is what they came up with.
I'm getting so sick and tired of this bullshit!

FOP RESPONSE

December 5, 2007

Chicago Tribune
Letters to The Editor
435 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60611

Dear Editor:

The Chicago Tribune is biased against the Chicago Police Department. Its goal is, and always has been, to portray police officers in the worst possible way to its readership. In order to poison the minds of its readers, the Tribune needs a bridge to the public. This is where Steve Mills, house reporter to the People’s Law Office and the Loevys, comes into play.

When reading Mill’s articles, one must realize that the story is being told by a person who is clearly biased against the Chicago Police Department. Reputable news outlets rely on unbiased reporting. The Tribune does not subscribe to that philosophy. Mills is an out-and-out “police hater.” At a national conference in New Orleans, Steve Mills was quoted as saying the following about Chicago Police Officers:

“It’s very clear. It’s us against them.”

“I mean why not make it (the relationship with police) an all out war…It’s our job to go after them.”

When Mills writes a story, he misleads his readers by providing a slanted account of the details. He admitted to as much when he said, “So, well, we can’t be as systematic as we’d like sometimes, if you can’t get enough—as long as you, you know, you stay focused like a laser on what you’re really trying to prove, you can go far enough and get enough into the paper to make the points.”

Make the points? What about reporting the entire story rather than bits and pieces which support your conclusion? The readers have no choice but to think poorly of police officers after reading his misleading stories. But then again, that is exactly what Mills and the Tribune want.

Mills talks about the tragic situation when a paraplegic was shot by police officers. After reading his story, a reader has no other choice but to conclude that the officers acted inappropriately. That is because Mills followed the Tribune script perfectly: “Present only the facts which hurt the police.” What Mills failed to write, by design no doubt, was that the paraplegic was fleeing the police in a stolen car moments prior to the shooting. He did not mention that the offender was driving the wrong way down streets during his flight. He also failed to mention that the offender threw a second gun out of his car during the chase. He claims that a gun was planted on the offender. So the first gun was his, but the second one had to be planted?

Moreover, it is undisputed that the offender’s family was outside when the shooting took place. It was a warm summer evening, with people all over the place. Surely someone must have seen the police plant this gun? Not one of those persons ever alleged that the police planted the gun on the offender. It was not until years later that someone concocted this story. Mills also failed to mention that the police explained that the offender pointed his gun at the officer who was standing outside his window when he was then shot by a police officer from the rear of the vehicle. Mills contends that since there were bullet wounds to the back of the offender’s hands, it is obvious that the offender had his hands “raised in surrender.” Mills neglected to mention that it was at least equally plausible that the wounds to the back of the offender’s hand came as the result of his pointing his gun at the officer. But then again, why should Mills or the Tribune let facts get in the way of a good story.

His series, which will continue all week, will likely contain more fabrications, selective testimony and out-and-out lies. This disservice to the members of the Chicago Police Department and every citizen of this City will have lasting effects. When credibility is given to one man who builds bridges between fact and fiction, and misleads the public, the credibility of all members of the media is questioned, just as is the credibility of all police officers.

Sincerely,

Mark P. Donahue
President
Fraternal Order of Police, Chicago Lodge

(I'm sure FOP does not mind that I reproduced their letter to the editor. )

A couple of weeks ago I posted my disgust with the Sun-Times and vowed to never purchase that rag again. Add the Tribune to that list

LAWSUIT

Female officer sues her former tact Lt.

The lawsuit centers on the allegation that Donna Lewis, a Grand Crossing tactical officer, was wrongly denied a special assignment in Washington to assist with crowd control during street demonstrations at an International Monetary Fund conference in 2002.

Lewis said her supervisor, Lt. Terence Williams, who is now the commander of the Calumet District, told her she couldn't go because she was female.

BYE BYE CHIPS

Coppers in 005 have been dropping by the Jays plant for years getting their complimentary bags of chips and now that is about to change.

Snyder's of Hanover, the Pennsylvania snack food-maker aiming to buy Jays, doesn't intend to operate the plant on 99th Street, thus jettisoning 220 production jobs. A warehouse and distribution facility at the site, which employs 420 others, will continue to operate for "an unspecified period of time," Jays said in a press release.

Do they still get fresh bread from Gonella on Kensington?

JUST BACK IN TOWN

I'm sure it didn't make sense that I didn't have anything on the new Superintendent.
I have been out of town since Wednesday.

JOB WELL DONE FELLAS

25th District Tactical Officers save a mother and child from burning house.

A mother dropped her 4-year-old daughter into the arms of waiting Chicago police officers today after a fire broke out in the family's West Side home.

Great job!

PARIS BURNS AGAIN

From Pajama's Media

PJM Paris: Nidra Poller reports that fires are raging in the Paris banlieues (suburbs) again after two boys (15 and 16) died when their mini-motorcyle hit a police car. A Peugeot dealership, train station, police station and MacDonald’s are among targets attacked by the “youth.”

Any of this sound familiar?

Interviewed by Le Parisien, the uncle of Moushin Souhhali, one of the victims, says he understands the rage; it’s terrible to lose a 15 year-old boy. His body, claims the uncle, was dumped at the fire station with no respect. The police who, in his opinion, caused the accident were nowhere to be seen. He heard they were speeding. His nephew was a good boy, not a delinquent.
The November 2005 riots that lasted three weeks were triggered by the death by electrocution of two teenage boys who ran away from the police and hid in an electric substation. According to the sociological interpretation of the incident, the police were guilty of pursuing the innocent boys.

CREDIT CARDS

After the Bears game 60 Minutes had an interesting segment on credit card fraud. It seems most people are hesitant to make online purchases but readily use their plastic at the mall. This segment may make you think twice. Use the above link to watch the whole segment.

NOTE: (I rarely if ever watch the liberal biased 60 Minutes but this one caught my eye.)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

STATES ATTORNEYS RACE

This evening I had the radio on and caught a forum on WBBM 780 of the candidates for Cook County States Attorney Office. The show played the candidates answers concerning previous police corruption, i.e. Burge and if they favored the release of the CR list. This is important folks.
You can listen to their answers at the above link but I'll give you a quick run down on where they stand concerning the list.

Tom Allen (D)

Chicago Aldermen and opposed to the release of the list. Mr. Allen felt that while Burge was a bad guy he by no way represents the men and women of the Chicago Police Department. Mr. Allen believes the release of the list to the aldermen serves no purpose and it is unfair to the officers and their families.

.

Anita Alvarez (D)

NO! Would not want the list released. Ms. Alvarez believes that some allegations are legit many are just pure nonsense and it is impossible to separate that out of the list.

Edward Barron (R)

Hard working police officers tend to get more CR's as retaliation. To release the list would not be fair

Tommy Brewer (D)

List should be given to the alderman.

Howard Brookins (D)

Brookins feels that the alderman deserve the list because they craft the laws and they need that list so they can stop the hemorrhaging of multi million dollar lawsuits being paid out.

Robert Milan (D)

The alderman should not be given list because the list is not fair. Some CR numbers are for mere rule violations within the department. Hard working policemen will get retaliatory CR's from bad people trying to help themselves in their own cases.

Tony Peraica (R)

He compared the events of Burge to Abu Ghraid and would do all he could to reopen the Burge case. Never mentioned the list but I'm pretty sure I know where he stands.

Larry Sufferdin (D)

To help victims this man would go after guns. He believes that taking them away would solve the problem of violence. The alderman should have the list.

Now we know that there are three Democrats (Allen, Alvarez and Milan) we can support and one Republican (Barron).
From all indications Peraica has the Republican nomination locked up. Pray one of the three listed Dems is the nomination.

NICE TO SEE

I know that many bosses read this blog..

I live in the 18th dist and I called the police to report a loud party on a busy friday night. the police showed up in less then 5 mins and shut the party down and restored peace.

I was unable to see the beat that showed up. but they did a great job clearing out 100 kids in 10 mins.

I then tried to call 311 to see if I could send a message to say thanks to the officers but 311 was unable to do that. 311 then transferred me to 911 and they then sent me to 18th dist desk who then told me that they are unable to take any messages for cars on the street.. they then sent me back to 311 who told me that any words of praise would have to be official and written then sent to the headquarters ( even if I did not have the officers names) so 20 mins later I got nothing.

AGAIN ALL I WAS TRYING TO DO WAS SAY THANKS FOR A GOOD JOB.


So it seems that it's so easy to call and complain about the police. But it's so hard, dam near impossible for a citizen to praise the good work of the police.

so why can't someone make this a little easier.
In this day and age, why not let citizens call in letters of praise and let it go on the officers record. I would be willing to bet you would have a lot more praise.. then complaints

Sun Nov 18, 06:02:00 PM

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

This is the last time you will be able to link to the Sun-Times from this site! As a matter of fact I will never pick up that rag sheet ever again. Today Frank Main and Annie Sweeney do another hatchet job on the men and women of the Chicago Police Department. In their front page headline grabber titled "Mistakes cost city, not cops" these two equate settlements with wrongdoing.

• • Twenty-five lawsuits stemming from shootings cost taxpayers $27 million between 2002 and 2007. The figure includes a 2003 award of $9.6 million in the shooting of Northwestern University student Robert Russ, but not a 2001 settlement of $18 million in the shooting of LaTanya Haggerty.

• • None of those 25 shootings led to an officer's firing or a suspension of a year or more, according to Chicago Police Board records. Twelve of the shootings happened in the 1990s and the rest were in the last six years.

• • Of about 200 Chicago Police shootings between 2002 and 2006, the Office of Professional Standards recommended firings in at least five cases and lesser discipline in at least nine. OPS -- now operating under a new name to reflect reforms being made within the agency -- reviews police shootings and recommends discipline.

• • Of those, no on-duty shootings cost an officer his or her job. Only one officer was fired -- for shooting his girlfriend in the foot while off-duty, according to OPS records.

• • One officer remains on the job despite his involvement in two shootings that resulted in settlements, records show.

The funny thing is Frank is relying on Second City Cop for how "officers" are feeling about the new OPS procedures in the shooting of an offender in 15th district the other night.

Already, officers are privately complaining about how OPS investigators aggressively grilled the officers involved in the rapper's shooting, treating the officers like "offenders."

If Frank really wants to use SCC as a source for his writing then maybe he should go back and see how most officers feel about the city settling lawsuits. We see these settlements all the time and it is demoralizing because it gives the impression that what transpired was wrong. I on the other hand understand the cities logic for settling these suits but they have given rise to the John Loevys of the world.
Frank grabs a line from SCC and assigns it as the prevailing opinion of the rank and file. I talked to two sergeants that were on scene and in the area for the investigation and never were the officers treated like offenders.
There obviously are times that scandals occur and the press has a duty to report it but the day to day vilification of the Chicago Police Department and the men and women who work it has got to stop.

Boycott the Sun- Times!!!!

CRIME REDUCTION

City's violent crime drops 2.6%

Does this me we get a star for our crime reduction ribbons?

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

Do death penalties deter murder? New studies rekindle debate

According to roughly a dozen recent studies, executions save lives. For each inmate put to death, the studies say, three to 18 murders are prevented.

The effect is most pronounced, according to some studies, in Texas and other states that execute condemned inmates relatively often and relatively quickly.

The evidence on whether it has a significant deterrent effect seems sufficiently plausible that the moral issue becomes a difficult one," said Cass R. Sunstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago who has frequently taken liberal positions. "I did shift from being against the death penalty to thinking that if it has a significant deterrent effect it's probably justified."

Sunstein and Adrian Vermeule, a law professor at Harvard, wrote in their own Stanford Law Review article that "the recent evidence of a deterrent effect from capital punishment seems impressive, especially in light of its 'apparent power and unanimity,'" quoting a conclusion of a separate overview of the evidence in 2005 by Robert Weisberg, a law professor at Stanford, in the Annual Review of Law and Social Science.

"Capital punishment may well save lives," the two professors continued. "Those who object to capital punishment, and who do so in the name of protecting life, must come to terms with the possibility that the failure to inflict capital punishment will fail to protect life."

And of course there are those who think the death penalty has no effect as a deterrent.

But not everyone agrees that potential murderers know enough or can think clearly enough to make rational calculations. And the chances of being caught, convicted, sentenced to death and executed are in any event quite remote. Only about one in 300 homicides results in an execution.

In most death penalty cases the principle driving force behind the execution is not necessarily the deterrence of future crimes but the right of society to rid itself of a heinous criminal. A recent example would be John Couey. Couey is the predator that kidnapped Jessica Lunsford in the middle of the night. Couey repeatedly raped Jessica and then buried alive this precious little girl. Yes! society demands that John Couey breathes no more and whether or not his execution deters future predators is irrelevant. The family of Jessica will have closure on the day John Couey is put to death and on that day he will no longer be a threat or a burden to society ever again.

NAUSEATING

Rapper killed during traffic stop

He was parking his friend's car and complying with a police command when shots rang out, the site said.

Man shot dead by police at traffic stop

Several neighbors who did not want to be identified said Tuesday night they heard sirens and shouts from officers ordering someone out of a car. The shouts were followed by what sounded like at least eight gunshots, the neighbors said. Other neighbors said they heard as many as 20 shots.

Family Wants Justice For Rapper Shot By Cops

"I loved him dearly," said Bobbi Brown. "He was a good guy. He was my favorite cousin and y'all took that from me."

Police shooting to test new procedure

"We heard that this was a traffic stop. We have not found anybody in the community to say that a traffic stop actually occurred," said Rev. Marshall Hatch, Leaders Network.

Chicago Media should be ashamed of itself. Their actions are nauseating.

REMEBER OUR VETS

WRITE TO MIKE

Mr. Michael A. Mette, #6520284
Iowa Medical & Classification Center
Box A - Highway 965
Oakdale, IA 52319

Letters only Please!

CHICAGO & LA MALLS TARGETED

From ABC NEWS
Today the FBI warned local law enforcement agencies, in Chicago and L.A., of threats it has received concerning targeting of malls by Al Queda.

The alert said al Qaeda "hoped to disrupt the U.S. economy and has been planning the attack for the past two years."

Law enforcement officials tell ABCNews.com that the FBI received the information in late September and declassified it yesterday for wide distribution.

The bulletin acknowledges that U.S. intelligence officers are uncertain as to whether the information is real, and intelligence officers say there is a concern that it could be "disinformation."

Just think how much of an effect a single bomb would have going off at only one location in either L.A. or Chicago. I believe it could be equally crippling if 10 went off simultaneously in either or both cities. The key is to instill fear and to cause economic damage. The threat alone may cause people to rethink their plans of going to their local mall for Christmas shopping.

These pieces of shit are pure evil and if water boarding resulted in the foiling of a plot to kill Americans then I would agree that the ends do indeed justify the means.

Remember Khalid Sheik Mohammad? from a Time Magazine, March 24, 2003 article:

Mohammed's cooperation has improved investigators' understanding of al-Qaeda's command-and-control structure. Sources say he has explained that at any time, the organization has open-ended plans for as many as two dozen attacks — mostly ideas proposed by field operatives and sanctioned and financed by Osama bin Laden's inner circle.

Mohammed's account dovetails with those of other detainees. Al-Qaeda schemes, now in various stages of development, run the gamut from old-fashioned truck bombings to assassinations to the dispersal of chemical and biological agents, sources say. He has underscored al-Qaeda's interest in spectacular attacks on landmarks such as the White House, the Israeli embassy in Washington, Chicago's Sears Tower and bridges in Manhattan, St. Louis and San Francisco.

This article was written prior to media knowledge of water boarding being used to retrieve this important information. It is now known that Khalid kept quite for 2 months but after 90 seconds of water being poured down his nose he sang like a canary.

WHAT NEW

Feds eye City Hall's sway in Bridgeport

Federal authorities are investigating allegations that Mayor Richard Daley's administration pressured property owners in the mayor's native Bridgeport to sell to developers favored by City Hall.

Mazzochi and another landowner -- who declined to be identified -- were contacted by federal agents in late October, days after the Tribune detailed how a politically connected Bridgeport developer made a windfall profit by selling contaminated riverfront land to the city for a park.

A third property owner, who also declined to be named, said he talked to the FBI several months ago.

FROM OUR SUBURBAN BROTHERS

Burbs Cop Chicago has a interesting take on the new "surveys"

"Can you see the City doing this bullshit?"
And now...we see the city "doing this bullshit."

Read the whole thing........Good job guys.

HEAT FOR MARY

Well I take pleasure in the fact that I put out an opinion on the Mary Mitchell article before the much larger Second City Cop did. With that being said I did not approach the subject with as much vigor as my friends at SCC did. Kudos to you folks.
I am not the least bit surprised by the manipulation and the skewing of facts by Mary Mitchell. Apparently Mitchell has now taken to ginning-up poll numbers in order to sway public opinion. Mary's written words (lies) were not enough to cause the animosity she desired so she cooked the books to create the desired effect.
FOP has taken an interest in this remarkable statistical anomaly. My hope is that the rest of the Chicago media and the Chicago Police Department take a long look at this garbage and call it for what it is. Mary Mitchell needs to be taken to task enough is enough.



Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge 7
Mark Donahue, President
FOP PRESS RELEASE NOVEMBER 7, 2007
The Chicago Sun-Times conducted an electronic poll yesterday regarding an incident
where a hammer wielding senior citizen was Tasered by police. The incident has been the
subject of two columns by Sun-Times writer Mary Mitchell; one yesterday and one today. Aside
from the obvious Monday morning quarterbacking of the police, the FOP is also very upset about
today’s reporting regarding the Sun-Times poll.
The web poll asked: “Should cops have Tasered an 82 year old?” There were only two
answer choices: Yes or No. Several people that answered the poll during the day yesterday were
pleasantly surprised to find that the poll results favored the police. 61% (Approximately 2,600)
of the respondents voted “Yes” and 38% (Around 1,700) voted “No.” You can imagine my
surprise when I opened the Sun-Times this morning and the headline screamed just the opposite:
“SUN-TIMES READERS TO POLICE: DON’T TASE HER!” In the piece written by Mary
Mitchell today, she claimed that 37% (2,940) of poll respondents voted “Yes” and 63% (5,027)
voted “No.” She claims that these numbers were generated “late Tuesday.” If the Sun-Times
article today is correct, it means that of the approximately 3,600 people that voted after we were
pleasantly surprised with the 61% “Yes” vote, about 3,300 (about 11 out of 12) voted “No.”
This cannot be.
Today, I went to the Sun-Times website and checked the poll results again. At 12:42
p.m. today, 6,171 (or 51%) were said to have voted “Yes” and 5,868 (or 48% voted “No.” In
other words, since Miss Mitchell checked “late Tuesday”, the poll has apparently done yet
another wild flip-flop with 3,131 “Yes” votes and 841 “No” votes since she checked the stats.
Again, statistically speaking, this really cannot be. I am requesting that the Sun-Times
investigate this matter and produce records to show that the poll was not tampered with and
skewed to support Mary Mitchell’s column today. It is bad enough that this writer constantly
baits and second-guesses the Chicago Police. While she is entitled to her opinions, the Sun-
Times readers are entitled to the truth when it comes to the facts. The credibility of this
newspaper depends on it.

SATISFATION GUARANTEED

Caller, how would you rate police?

After months of negative press over scandals, the Chicago Police Department recently launched a first-of-its-kind consumer satisfaction survey.

People who call 311 are going to be asked to fill out a survey.

The department is not asking callers to the 911 emergency number to complete a survey because they're in life-and-death situations.

So police inspectors and assistant deputy superintendents have started to monitor 911 calls and randomly visit callers to ask if they were happy with the police response, Starks said

Thus the need for more inspectors. Will an unsatisfied "customer" result in a CR#?

IN CUSTODY

Philadelphia Cop Killer Captured In Miami

This morning, after the image of John Lewis, 21, was flashed on Miami television screens, the alert staff of the Miami Rescue Mission recognized the new arrival as the man suspected of killing Police Officer Chuck Cassidy, who was gunned down last Wednesday during a botched armed robbery in West Oak Lane in Philadelphia.

"We are extremely appreciative of the hard work of the Philadelphia Police Department during the past week and are grateful, as well, for the efforts of the police officers in Miami,"

Cassidy Family

God Bless

MORE SECOND GUESSING

I try not to read Mary Mitchell but every so often the headline grabs me and I find myself sucked in and usually pissed off. Today Mary questions the use of a Taser by Chicago Police on an assailant. The assailant in question is an 82 year old women. What made her an assailant? The fact that she was swinging a hammer at the responding officers. Since I wasn't there I am not going to second guess the decision made on scene besides I'm certain Mary is cherry picking the facts.

But in Fletcher's case, police officers showed extremely poor judgment. Even if she didn't look elderly, there was no question she was mentally disturbed.

How do these police officers justify using such force on an elderly woman? Where was their compassion?

By Mary's own account the police were on a well being check requested by the city's Department of Aging. The department had received a tip that Ms. Fletcher was alone and in need of assistance. Mary claims there is no excuse for the police to use a Taser on an elderly women. None. However, Mary is an apologist for a family that is possibly guilty of neglect.

Normally Fletcher is looked after by a homemaker or by her own daughter and Taylor. Only recently did these women find themselves between homemakers.

Convenient! Had this women fell and broke a hip and died as a result of no "homemaker" being available to assist her, not a peep would have been heard from Mary Mitchell. Had this women attempted to cook a meal and as a result burned down her home and died, not a peep would of been heard from Mary Mitchell.
Have an incident involve the police and a sympathetic figure, preferably a minority, and you can count on Mary to contort the facts to make the police appear as jack booted thugs. Want to take the police to task and second guess all their actions? Try asking your "victims" or their families to take some personal responsibility once in awhile then maybe your second guessing won't appear so partisan.

FORT COLLINS COLORADO, NICE PLACE TO LIVE

Greetings!



I am the Chief of Police for the Colorado State University Police Department and a former 15 year member of the CPD. I am in the process of conducting an informal inquiry, seeking individuals that may be interested in two positions I will be offering: Commander, Investigations Division and Commander, Patrol Division.



We are located in Fort Collins, Colorado nestled against the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and alongside the banks of the Cache La Poudre River. Colorado State University is located 65 miles north of Denver and the population of Fort Collins is 130,000. Residents enjoy a moderate climate with an average of 300 days of sunshine and 14.5 inches of precipitation per year. It is a very beautiful location.



More information about our department can be found on our website at http://police.colostate.edu.



The salary for both positions will be in the range from $80,000 to $90,000 depending upon qualifications. The cost of living and taxes are lower than in Illinois. I would appreciate it if you could assist me in getting this information out to your membership. If anyone were interested, I would ask that they contact me directly at the phone number below or my email address: chief.yarbrough@colostate.edu . I will be happy to provide more information when contacted.



Thanks for your assistance.





Chief D. Yarbrough

Chief of Police

Colorado State Police Department

750 S. Meridian Avenue

Fort Collins, CO 80523

1-970-491-1159 Office

1-970-491-2294 Fax
http://police.colostate.edu




No comments will be accepted for this Post. The chief asked for the oppurtunity to place his search on this site and he has provided an email address for your comments.

OPS TO LEAD POLICE SHOOTING INVESTIGATIONS

I got an email today from a sergeant about today's roll call. I'm RDO.
Sergeant X states that the watch commander informed the troops that OPS will now be the lead investigators for all police involved shootings.
More Inspectors will be created in order to ensure uniform appearance and follow ups on cleared jobs will be done, domestics in particular.
More personnel will be added to the court section

Bad PR for officers claims wrong man

John Kass
November 1, 2007
What do you talk about when you're driving your son to prison?

Picture yourself on that highway, cutting through cornfields under blue Iowa skies, your son next to you in the quiet car, your boy about to begin a 5-year sentence for defending himself with one punch against a raging drunk who attacked him first.

What does a father say to the son he knows is innocent? What does a son hear from his dad as he looks out the window?

"There's too much to say," said Bob Mette, father of former Chicago Police Officer Michael Mette, a victim of Iowa. "Mike had his mind set right about where he was going. We talked about the Bears and how terrible they played on Sunday."

You talked about the Bears?

"Yeah, the Bears. And we talked about a lot of things," said Bob Mette. "He was upbeat. His mind was right, focused. We talked about a lot of things. Things you'd talk about with your son."

We left it at that. As a father of two boys, I can only imagine, in some nightmare, about that drive to Iowa. As I heard Bob's voice over the phone on Wednesday afternoon, I thought about the silences in that car of his on Monday morning.

And I thought of all the noise to come over George Ryan, the corrupt and convicted governor who learned Wednesday that he would finally be serving his own prison sentence next week.

You'll hear the caterwauling by his champions and the whining of Ryan's steakhouse pals. And the loud know-it-all whispers that Ryan's buddy, former Gov. Big Jim Thompson, might prevail on President Bush to pardon Ryan, a move that would certainly kill off whatever is left of a wounded Republican Party in Illinois.

Ryan sold his office and got 6 1/2 years and a $20 million free legal defense and all the clout Big Jim could bring. Mike Mette got 5 years for throwing one punch.

I asked his father about the Ryan public relations spin and the anti-death penalty advocates nominating Ryan for a Nobel Prize. All that noise for Ryan, all that silence for Mike.

"Mike's not a politician," said Bob. "Politicians do what politicians do. We all know that, we're from Chicago. But Mike shouldn't be in prison for defending himself."

Yet that's where Mike sits, being processed by the Iowa prison bureaucracy, for the crime of self-defense in Dubuque. Mike had been drinking, his friends had been drinking, and the guys they got into a fight with had been drinking. Mike tried to avoid the fight, one of the drunks of the other party chased him down on the street, cursing, pushing, putting his hands on Mike. He punched the man once and the man went down, striking his head on the concrete.

The victim, with a blood-alcohol level measured at 0.27 and higher, was out of the hospital in four days. But some media reports insist the victim's life was threatened, that he suffered cracked vertebrae. Yes, X-rays show the victim had cracked vertebrae. But not from any fight with Mette. The back injury -- initially thought to be related to the Mette incident -- occurred years before, according to testimony.

That doesn't seem to matter to the spinners, who say I'm not giving you whole story, and the spinning continues, by the prosecutors in Dubuque, and by some in Illinois who hate cops for being cops and so lump Mike in with the rotten ones under investigation in the Chicago Police Department.

The damage had been done. The spinners were successful. The media, by and large, were silent about Mike Mette. There was a piece on WLS-TV, and one paragraph in the Tribune, and my column on Sunday, and Bob Mette watched horrified as his son was virtually ignored or painted with that broad brush being applied to corrupt and violent cops.

"Why didn't Mike become some media cause? Because he got lumped in with all the other stuff about the CPD," said Bob Mette, who joined the Chicago Police Department in 1966, retired as a detective and is now an investigator for the Cook County state's attorney.

There was that other officer who beat a female bartender in a tavern, the video of the beating a YouTube sensation. And another police fight in another tavern. And a conviction of an Outfit-connected Chicago cop.

Most recently, there have been reports of a federal investigation into the highly political unit called Special Operations Section, with allegations of robbery and murder-for-hire, and now the investigation moves upward, toward the highly political police brass.

Mike had nothing to do with any of it. What happened in Iowa occurred long before any of those other incidents came to light. Yet he's been unjustly mixed in that vile public relations stew, spiced with proper public horror toward allegations of police torture by former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge.

"It's a bad time to be a Chicago cop. And Mike got lumped in with all that other negative stuff about cops, and some people turned away," Bob said. "It hurts."

I didn't have to ask anymore about that long ride to Iowa with father and son. I could hear it, all of it that mattered, in what Bob Mette didn't say.

----------

jskass@tribune.com

Police Officer Charles Cassidy
Philadelphia Police Department
Pennsylvania
End of Watch: Thursday, November 1, 2007

Biographical Info
Age: 54
Tour of Duty: 25 years
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Weapon Used: Handgun
Suspect Info: At large

Officer Cassidy succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained the previous day when he walked into a robbery in progress.

Officer Cassidy was checking in on a store at the corner of 66th Avenue and Broad Street that had previously been robbed. Unknown to Officer Cassidy, there was a robbery in progress in the store. As Office Cassidy entered, the suspect turned and fired at Officer Cassidy striking him in the head.

The suspect then stole Officer Cassidy's service weapon as he fled.

Officer Cassidy was transported to Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he remained until passing away.

Officer Cassidy had served with the Philadelphia Police Department for 25 years. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Agency Contact Information
Philadelphia Police Department
One Franklin Square
Philadelphia, PA 19106

Phone: (215) 686-1776

Please keep Officer Cassidy and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

WHO REALLY CARES?

OPS to switch to IPRA?

Do the people of Chicago really want an emasculated police dept? Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it. Does this mean I am defending criminal behavior? Absolutely not!
However, second guess a policemen every time he locks someone up and eventually he won't lock anyone up.

MIKE METTE

Tribune, John Kass

The drunk is fine now, golfing, having attended college in Dubuque. The last time I checked he was adding to his résumé with a DUI. And Mette?
"Well, he got framed, and nobody cares," Bob said about his son. "It's just not fair. Since when can you get hit three times and get locked up for five years when you respond with one punch? If you can't protect yourself from being attacked, then we are not in America anymore."

Iowa is in America. They even have a governor, Chet Culver, a Democrat who took office in 2007. We called Gov. Culver to see if he'd take an interest in Mike Mette's case. But the governor is extremely busy. His press secretary said the governor has a full schedule and can't talk about Mike Mette because he's got too much to do.

Iowa is indeed hectic these days, with presidential candidates sweeping the state, selling themselves in cornfields, at roadside diners, using fine words about justice and fairness and so on. Politicians often talk about mercy when one of their own gets in trouble with the law. Their mouthpieces pull the levers, and the machinery begins to whir and purr. The same goes for when a politician's kid gets in a jam.

But Mike Mette isn't a politician's kid. He's no politician. He's never made anyone wealthy with the stroke of a pen on a government budget, so there are no levers to pull. Where's the compassion for Mike Mette?

He's a white cop going to state prison. I usually don't mention race in this column, but that's the fact of things. So the media-political dynamics should be understood by most grown-ups. Because you read newspapers, surely you must have studied the ritualized public theater of other cases, the protests and formulaic media responses accompanied in news narratives by the ambiguous phrase "social justice."

But there is no "social justice" for Mike Mette. No protests, nothing. A few newspaper columns by me, a late-night report on CNN, stories in the Dubuque paper taking the prosecution's side and a fair account in The Des Moines Register, that's about it.

Mike's a cop. Or was a cop, a good one by most accounts. If there were anything kinky in his background, it would have been dropped on my desk by now, anonymously, as such things are done. Mike was a beat cop, a blue shirt in a squad car, the real police, the men and women who show up after midnight when you call 911 and the world has gone to hell.

It went to hell for Mike Mette, too, in Dubuque on Oct. 8, 2005. What happened shouldn't have happened, but it did. Mike and his buddies were drinking, a testament to what happens when young guys mix with alcohol. They heard about a house party, the party was a dud, they left without taking a drink, but the alleged victim and another man, a basketball player standing 6-foot-8, were highly offended.

The victim said his cell phone had disappeared. Angry words were exchanged. Mike and his friends left.

The victim, a college student, and the basketball player chased them down the street, picking a fight. Mike wasn't armed. He tried to avoid the confrontation until the other guy began pushing him, punching him in the chest with both hands.

So Mike did what anyone would do. He threw a punch. One punch. The victim went down. Unconscious.

There was no testimony that he did anything other than throw that one punch. Prosecutors spinning their local paper talk about the victim being kicked, but even the victim's friend wouldn't testify to that. The victim was released from the hospital four days later. A month went by, and Mike was charged with assault causing serious injury, which carries a mandatory five-year term.

I figure that if anyone puts their hands on you, you have a right to put your hands on them. At worst, he should have been charged with a lesser crime and jailed for 15 or 30 days. But five years in state prison for one punch in self-defense?

"It's kind of funny with the negative publicity the Chicago Police Department gets when somebody does something wrong. But when a police officer is getting screwed over, nobody seems to care," Mike Mette said. "Where is the attention for this? You get people doing marches for people who are guilty and they know they're guilty and they try to get them off. What about trying to get an innocent guy off?"

Not for you, Mike. You're not a politician's kid. You're not political enough. You're a cop.

And on Monday, after the Bears game and breakfast at home with your mom and your sister, you've got a long ride ahead of you, with your dad, into Iowa.

It's that state where politicians are busy, standing tall before TV cameras, talking of justice.

jskass@tribune.com

I received this email from Dennis McEnerney:

MIKE METTE'S REQUEST DENIED

If you have not spoken with Mike or his family lately,
Dubuque County Judge Ackley has denied a request from
Mike's attorneys, to keep Mike out of prison, while
efforts to obtain an appeal hearing date continue.
Obviously Mike is not a flight risk, nor is he the
violent felon, that Dubuque County is making him out
to be....But then again we would not want him walking
in Dubuque,where he could get attacked, defend himself
instead of running away, then smack some spoon fed,
alcoholic punk attacker, now would we! Once again we
can only hope and pray that the sitting judges of the
Iowa appellate court have more common sense,
experience and better judicial values, then what Mike
and his attorney's have had to deal with so far!

Mike's journey to Dubuque will begin Monday October
29th, 2007 at approximately 0700 hrs when members of
his family along with some MMDF committee members will
escort him out to Iowa. He has a reporting time of
1200 hrs. On behalf of Mike and his family, we the
members of the MMDF Committee, want to thank all of
you, who have supported the cause. We will continue to
keep you updated on Mike's fight and appeal process.
We will supply you with a mailing address for Mike as
soon as we obtain it.

Please keep Mike and his family in your thoughts and
prayers.


Dennis McEnerney
MMDF

DENIED!

Judge refuses to release names of accused officers

THE LIST AND THE 28 ALDERMEN

The 28 will have their petition heard by Judge Lefkow today at 930.
Read the the lawsuit here.

AILING PENSIONS & MIDWAY LEASE

The state of our underfunded pension should be a concern to all. Read the TRIBUNE and see how Daley plans to use the revenue if a Midway lease deal ever materializes.

NEW DRIVERS LICENSES

State unveils new driver's licenses, IDs
More protection against ID theft, officials say

RESULTS ARE OUT

By now you have all checked the mail and received your results.
When will the first lawsuit be filed?

OPS AND NONSENSE

Some cop complainants seek to 'enhance their case in court,' superintendent says

It should have also been noted that (anecdotally)90% of the remaining complainants are for nonsense. I have seen CR complaints that should have never seen the light of day. An officers is responding to an assignment when he encounters a traffic accident, it is determined that there are no injuries and that the involved vehicles are drivable. The officer instructs the involved parties relocate to the station to prepare a traffic crash report. A complaint is filed against the officer for failure to take police action. Another example has two officers respond to a fight between two 8 year olds and the parent of the looser in the altercation files a complaint because the officers failed to take police action and arrest the offender. There are countless examples out there of such nonsense. Please post your examples of complaints that should have never been generated in the first place.

GRILL THE COMMANDER

City to investigate Tunney cell-phone ticket incident

Chicago police said today they will investigate whether any city policy was violated in returning a driver's license to a Chicago alderman who was ticketed for using a hand-held cellular phone while driving.

According to Monique

"An officer issued a citation to an elected official, and he accepted the ticket," Bond said. "The issue here is whether everything was properly done after that."

Police were waiting to interview Town Hall District Cmdr. Gary Yamashiroya, who has gone on scheduled furlough since the incident last week, Bond said.

Hows that furlough going Commander?

Tunney's office tries to get in front of this one

In a statement released by Tunney's office this morning, the alderman said he phoned the commander after returning to his office to question "why, in an understaffed police district where we have serious crimes unsolved, officers are assigned to pull people over solely for cell phone violations."

"Although I did not ask him to, following our conversation the commander had my driver's license returned to me at my office," Tunney said. "I must emphasize that at no time did I ask for any special treatment."

A few points to note:

1. Does the Alderman advocate all citizens call the Commander's office after being ticketed or is that "special treatment" reserved for elected officials only?

2. He knows the district is understaffed. How many other Alderman know this about their districts?

3. Serious crimes are investigated by Area Detectives not patrolmen in a beat car.

4. I'd be willing to bet the farm that the officers "duties" for the day weren't " to pull people over solely for cell phone violations."

The Alderman emphasized that he didn't ask for any special treatment but the fact that he called to bitch out the Commander resulted in his D/L being hand delivered to his office. By the way, the license was hand delivered by an officer in an understaffed district while serious crimes go unsolved.
Alderman Tunney you sir are nitwit!
Second City Cop has already made it clear that they will keep an eye on the officer for any retaliation.

Read Kass' column "Only a casino can stop Mayor Chucky"

Me: Your Honor, do you support the plan to create a Chicago gaming commission to oversee a city casino and cut out the Illinois Gaming Board?

Daley: No. I don't know anything about that.

City Hall suit sitting next to Daley: I don't know anything about it.

Daley: Gee. I don't know.

But it turns out that at 10 a.m. Wednesday on the 16th floor of the Thompson Center, there will be a public meeting about proposed Chicago casino legislation, including a plan to let the mayor appoint a board that would govern a casino.

According to a Better Government Association analysis of the legislation, there would be no competitive bidding for professional services contracts to manage the casino. And once passed, City Hall could never lose its license, even if it runs the casino as it ran the scandal-plagued Hired Truck program.

Also, the legislation that the mayor doesn't know anything about would create a five-member Chicago Casino Developmental Authority to oversee everything, with three members picked by Daley and two picked by Tony Rezko's governor.

How's that for reform?

VIA PB&PA

Lt’s Promotion Exam: UPDATE 12 October 07
Once again, the City of Chicago and the Department have further complicated the lieutenant’s exam promotional process. On Friday, 5 October 2007 the Department announced that it would begin the process for merit nominations for the position of lieutenant from the 2002 eligibility list. On Thursday, 11 October 2007 this announcement was rescinded pending the issuance of the test results from the 2006 Lieutenant’s Examination Test.

The unfortunate aspect of this current situation is that it serves to further divide and demoralize our members who are affected by their placement on the 2002 promotional list, as well as our members who are awaiting the results of the 2006 examination. The Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association, along with our attorneys have continually argued the fairness issues of certain portions of the 2006 examination process. During the recent months we have continually demanded that the City either release the test results or provide an explanation as to the reasons for the delay. It is now anticipated that the 2006 test results will be issued in the near future.

It has been and remains the position of the Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association to encourage the Department and City to maintain full staffing of these positions in order to provide the best possible service to the citizens that our members serve on a 24/7 basis.

John Pallohusky
President
Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association

WELL IT HAPPENED

news release
Chicago Police Department

CHICAGO POLICE ANNOUNCE RE-ORGANIZATION OF SPECIAL OPERATIONS SECTION
Specialized Units to be Assigned under Special Functions Section, 5th Platoon to be added to the Targeted Response Unit, More Officers
Reassigned to Patrol and IAD
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 9, 2007
CHICAGO—Chicago Police today announced the reorganization of the department's Special Operations Section (SOS) assigning all of the specialized units under one unit called the Special Functions Group. The Group will remain under the Bureau of Strategic Deployment.
Operationally, the Special Functions Group will become even more strategic and tactical in its focus. Eight of the department's specialized units that include SWAT, the Marine Unit, the Helicopter Unit, the Mounted Patrol Unit, the Canine Unit, the Animal Abuse Unit, the Critical Incident Response Unit and the Dignitary Protection Unit, will fall under the direct command of the newly created Special Functions Group utilizing those officers who have tactical training and specialized skills.
"As we have stated in the past, we are tightening up our processes and we believe that all of these measures will no doubt strengthen community relationships, enhance our violence reduction strategies and make us better police officers," said Interim Superintendent Dana V. Starks.
He added that the reorganization had already been underway for the last two months beginning with the assignment of a new commander.

The Targeted Response Unit will add a 5th Platoon assigning officers to targeted areas where violence is known to occur. The officers will be highly visible on the streets in uniform and in marked squad cars with vehicles equipped with GPS. Officers will operate under a tactical team concept, armed with intelligence from the Deployment Operations and Crime Prevention Information Centers, targeting gang violence and the seizure of weapons.
Members will also be assigned to the Patrol Division focusing on areas where gang retaliations and shootings have spiked.
In a effort to continue to demonstrate the department's commitment to the integrity of officer performance, more police officers will be assigned to the Internal Affairs Division to enhance the department's investigative process. Internal Affairs will also increase integrity checks. Officers will visit district station supervisors to follow up and monitor complaints.
Some of these unannounced visits are designed to ensure that community and police service is being provided in a professional and courteous manner by the police. This pro-active approach is designed to analyze citizen complaints, and how supervisors are responding to identify potential problems.
Additionally, the Interim Superintendent's Office is meeting on a regular basis with top command staff to address and closely monitor the complaint process. These meetings are designed to identify patterns before they become problems by evaluating assignments, and comparing data from the Personnel Performance System.
None of these assignments will add additional costs to the police department's operating budget.
All of these measures demonstrate the department's ongoing commitment to building trust within the community, strengthening the resources for police officers and fighting crime to make everv communitv safe.

100,000

Today we will make our 100,000th hit since November 15, 2006.
Thanks for the support,

SHOOTOUT IN 004, BAD GUY DEAD

Police shoot man on South Side

A South Chicago District tactical officer chased the man, who earlier fled police, through a series of alleys and lost sight of him in an empty lot near the 7800 block of South Cregier Avenue just after 10:45 p.m., according to News Affairs Deputy Director Pat Camden.

The officer began looking around parked cars but couldn’t find him, when the man “comes out” and opens fire on the officer, Camden said. The officer began to retreat for cover because his gun was still in his holster, Camden said.

“The guy fires two more shots, and the officer draws his weapon and exchanged gunfire with the offender,” Camden said. The man was hit multiple times and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he later died, Camden said.

A .38 caliber revolver was recovered from the scene, Camden said.

The police officer went home the way he went work. Stay safe everyone!

MAKE THAT TWO THIMBLES!

Daley told to add 100 police

Normally one of Daley's staunchest City Council supporters, Carothers is threatening to withhold his vote from Daley's request for a $108 million property tax increase unless the police hiring is doubled in response to a wave of shootings that have claimed the lives of Chicago Public Schools students.

"We've had a lot of marches, rallies and prayer vigils. But we haven't hired more police. The rubber band is stretched too far. Hiring 50 police is like taking a thimbleful of water out of Lake Michigan," he said.

Do you think any of us believe that the addition of 100 new police slots will have any more of an impact then 50 new slots? Its ridiculous to even think that the addition of 2 police officers to a district, let alone 4, is going to alleviate this manpower crunch. I do not subscribe to the popular theory that there are only 9800 sworn members of the department. So where is everyone? Well one place would be TRU. TRU is comprised of 4 companies and that equals 320 patrolmen, 33 sergeants, 4 Lts and 1 Commander. I can think of at least 5 districts that do not need manpower like other more desperate districts. So imagine if the patrol division had an infusion of 320 PO's and 33 sgt's. The 33 sergeants could be spread out to the districts that have less then 28 sergeants and bring all the districts up acceptable supervisory levels. Now imagine 320 PO's infused into the roughly 20 districts that are hurting for blue shirts. On average the 20 districts could each receive 16 desperately needed coppers. I personally think that the districts are better suited to handle their problems over an outside unit coming in to lock up the nonsense MCC violation of the week.If the department continues at this pace the districts will have only one function, answering calls for service. It is already getting to that point with the lack of rapids and 99 units. Word has it TRU will be adding another company in the future. Goodbye to another 80 coppers, 8 sergeants and 1 lt.
So Ike, your demand for 100 new police officers is admirable but it hardly scratches the surface.

2007 P.B. & P.A. 71st Annual Convention

04 Oct 2007

On the 5th, 6th & 7th of October 2007 the P.B. & P.A. of Illinois will hold its 71st Annual Convention. This year’s event will be co-hosted by Bloomington Unit # 21 and Normal Unit # 22.

In accordance with the By-Laws of the P.B. & P.A. elections are to be held every two years for all positions on the State Board and this year is an election year. As President of the Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association, I believe it is essential that we obtain a position on the Executive Board of the P.B. & P.A. to ensure that the interests of our members are represented at the state level. With the support of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association (Unit 156A) and in conjunction with the Chicago Lieutenants’ Association (Unit 156B) and the Chicago Captains’ Association (Unit 156C), I plan on seeking a position on the Executive Board of the P.B. & P.A. at this year’s convention.

Sincerely,

John Pallohusky
President
Chicago Police Sergeants’ Association

CONTRACT UPDATE VIA PB&PA SITE

Contract 2007 Update: 25 Sept 07
When we first met with the City on 16 Aug 2007 we presented them with a “Letter of Retroactivity” and requested that they formally agree to it by signing the document. The City refused, citing the PB & PA’s (Unit 156a – Sergeants) 2005 interest arbitration which the City believed created a position which was inconsistent with previously established past practices of both parties.

Our position was simple, we informed the City we would not proceed with these negotiations without securing these important safeguards for our members. On 10 Sept 07, the City agreed to sign a “Letter of Retroactivity.” This agreement was presented at the last contract negotiation meeting on 18 Sept 07.

The “Agreement” covers the following two important areas.

In the event negotiations do not conclude by June 30, 2007, the City agrees that economic increases, including but not limited to, wage, allowance, salary and pay increases agreed to by the parties shall be retroactive to July,1, 2007, unless the parties mutually agree to another date.
Any bargaining unit member who retires, dies, or voluntarily leaves the bargaining unit between the current contract expiration date and approval by the City Council of Chicago of any successor collective bargaining agreement between Unit 156 PB & PA and the City of Chicago, shall receive all increases in economic benefits including, but not limited to, wage, allowance, salary, pay and/or bonus to which he/she would have been entitled during the period the member was employed between date of contract expiration and leaving of the bargaining unit as described.

The next formal meeting for negotiations with the City of Chicago is tentatively scheduled for 28 Sept 07.

Sincerely,

John Pallohusky
President – C.P.S.A

US VS. JEROME FINNIGAN

Read the complaint brought against Jerry Finnigan by the FBI.

SUPERVISORS AS FOP MEMBERS

Certain disgruntled members (or are they former members?) of the FOP have a serious problem with supervisors being members of FOP. They have a problem in particular with the two trustees that were elected to the board but were later promoted. There is not a mechanism in place to remove promoted trustees from office nor does it seem that the lodge wish that there be such a mechanism. Two detectives attempted to introduce changes to the constitution and by-laws to rid the lodge of trustees that get promoted. The resolution was defeated by voice vote at an open general meeting of the membership.
These trustees are not allowed to vote on matters of the contract. The two trustees in question belong to various committees and none of have which have anything to do with contractual matters.
Gerry Majerczyk belongs to the following committees:Audit, Constitution and By-Laws & Newsletter
Mike Voight belongs to the following committees:Fishing, Health And Insurance & Public Relations
Neither of theses Sergeants is a member of the Contract Negotiation Team.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

Rule 54 B. Joining or retention of membership by supervisory personnel in any labor organization, whose membership is composed of rank and file members of the Department, and whose purpose is to represent its members concerning wages, hours, and working conditions. It is provided that this Rule will not apply to the joining or retention of membership with rank and file members of the Department in organizations whose primary purpose is social, religious, ethnic or racial.

If you interpret Rule 54B as the "disgruntled" members have, Majerczyk and Voight along with approximately 300 other members of FOP Lodge 7 above the rank of sergeant would also be in violation. The spirit of 54B is such that you as a supervisor can not negotiate on behalf of rank and file members. There is not one member of the FOP Lodge7 Negotiation Team that holds the rank of sergeant and above. I would like to know why the "disgruntled detectives" haven't made an effort to seek the removal of all sergeants and above from Lodge 7.

THE FEDS AND FINNIGAN

Chicago cop charged with murder-for-hire
September 26, 2007
BY FRANK MAIN and ERIC HERMAN Staff Reporters

A Chicago Police officer facing charges of running a robbery crew with fellow cops is now charged in federal court with trying to arrange the murder of a former officer who was prepared to testify against him, prosecutors said.

Jerome Finnigan, 44, was arrested today and charged with using a telephone to commit murder-for-hire.

Read it in the Sun-Times Tribune, See it on CBS2, NBC5, ABC7

What can you say? It will be years before we as a department will recover from this scandal. Tonight will probably be a record in hits over at Second City Cop.

PBPA VS. FOP

The issue has come up again. Should the Sergeants Association be PB&PA or should the members decertify and become a separate lodge of FOP.
From one of the comments

We would have OUR OWN Lodge as in:
"CHICAGO POLICE SERGEANT'S LODGE #10" It would be the same local Chicago Police Sergeant's Association ie; Pallohusky/Cosgrove running the lodge NOT LODGE #7 / Donahue and Co.

The FOP has a stronger voice in Washington and Springfield. The PBPA does NOTHING for us. We pay them $43,000 a year for NOTHING. Ask BUSH or Blagojevich if they know who the PBPA is and they don't have a clue.

The city still must recognize the contract which expires 30 June. The question is would that contract be null and void if the PBPA is decertified.

I am not going to take a stand one way or another. I can see both points on this one.
I personally thank Pallohusky/Cosgrove for doing a job that evidently no one else wanted to do. The easiest thing to do is bitch. I am a member of both FOP and PBPA.
My opinion will be limited on this one.