Win Streak on the Line

Putting it all out there, the Bears' one-game streak is on the line in St. Louis.

6.5 underdogs, over/under at 42.5

Chances of a Ferguson protest, 75%.

Someone Didn't Get the Memo

Europe is toast:

• Norway's police, who have been authorised to carry firearms for the past year due to a heightened threat of Islamist attacks, will be unarmed again now that the threat level has been lowered, police said Friday.
  
  National police chief Odd Reidar Humlegard told reporters the measure would take effect on November 17.
  
  The country's 6,000 uniformed police officers will "have to keep their weapons locked in their patrol cars like they did previously," he said.

Did they change this after Friday night?

More Tax Hikes

Toni is about to get all her tax hikes, including the ammo "violence tax." We haven't heard of an exception for law enforcement, so we'll be traveling outside the county again if necessary:

• The Cook County Board Finance Committee had just put the finishing touches Friday on its 2016 budget, approving a 1 percent hotel tax to go with its earlier penny on the dollar increase in the sales tax, when President Toni Preckwinkle offered a sobering assessment.
  
  Asked directly by me how long the additional revenue will hold the county, Preckwinkle pointedly avoided giving any reassurances about future revenue requests during the remainder of her term.
  
  Preckwinkle wouldn’t even say she won’t be back asking for more money in the 2017 budget.

Of course she will be - responsible spending is for other people, not democrats, and certainly not in northeastern Illinois.

Tucked away at the end of the Mark Brown column, long after everyone else stops reading, is this little tidbit:

• In the interest of full disclosure, my wife recently took a job with Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart in a policy role. But I plan to keep writing about county government when appropriate.

Boy, that Tom Dart loves hiring media family members. It must be the hair or something.

Go Baltimore!

They actually got headlines:

• BALTIMORE, Md. – Baltimore has recorded its 300th homicide of the year.
  
  Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said in a statement Saturday evening that it was a "sad homicide milestone." He said that "it's important to pause and vow to continue our collective fight to find a better path forward."
  
  The 300th victim was a 27-year-old man who was stabbed multiple times Saturday and later died. It's the first time since 1999 that the city has recorded 300 homicides. In 2014, the city saw 211 killings for the year. Baltimore crossed the 200 death mark in August.

Remember..."room to destroy."

Meanwhile, Chicago hit 400 with nary a mention a week or two ago and seems well on it's way to 450.

Paris

We actually heard a CBS report claim that the killers shouted "political slogans" as they executed victims.

Really? Aloha Snackbar is now a political slogan? Good to know.

And Sparklefarts was his usual tone-deaf ignorant self, not "speculating," not even mentioning the word "islam" even as most other leaders pointed the finger squarely at terrorists, ISIS, Mid-East turmoil, etc. And he wants to bring how many tens of thousands here without proper screening?

Hell, he even said ISIS was contained, wasn't gaining strength, mere hours before the Paris slaughter. Really?

The students at Missouri U are all pissy that 150+ dead in Paris took their spotlight away.

And a Hollywood moron had to take his shot while the bodies were still bleeding on the ground.

The Department just instituted mandatory Active Shooter training for all Tact teams and sergeants this month. Don't think it isn't coming here.

The Last Fugitive

Long memories and the longer reach of national databases:

• A man accused of being the getaway driver for another man who shot at rival gang members at a city park in 2011 but wounded two young girls has been arrested and extradited from Florida to face charges, according to prosecutors.
  
  Dionisio Gonzalez, 35, has been sought in connection with the shooting June 8, 2011, at Avondale Park, 3516 W. School St., since soon after the attack, when a warrant was issued for his arrest. Another man, Antonio Bucio, pleaded guilty in May to being the shooter and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to prosecutors and court records.

For those of you who don't remember, this was the shooting that led to Supernintendo McCompStat vowing to wipe out the maniac latin disciples. We are happy to be the only outlet in Chicago to report that with this arrest, the gang has ceased to exist! And we are the only outlet in Chicago to offer out heartfelt congratulations to the Supernintendo and his command staff on this amazing accomplishment. Well done!

A Tun(ney) of Openings

Looks like Tunney's first wave of openings in 019 came up yesterday - the openings he bargained for with his vote for Rahm's $600 million tax increase:

• 001 - 2
  002 - 5
  012 - 2
  014 - 4
  018 - 2
  019 - 15
  020 - 5

A few Sergeant openings, too, but those are management moves - 002, 003, 015, 016, 019, 020, 025 - not unexpected when a class starts up. Probably a bunch more are the other class goes in December.

Chief of Patrol to Retire

Unsubstantiated reports that Gulliford has put in his papers and will depart for greener pastures on 15 December. Can anyone verify? And who gets the spot?

Guess Who Went to Vegas?

You'll never guess:

• DEVELOPING NEWS ===============
  
  What would you say if I told you that the mother of a murdered boy left town for Las Vegas on the evening of her son's funeral?
  
  That's the news I am trying to develop this morning for Good Day Chicago. TWO very good sources tell me Karla Lee (Tyshawn Lee's mother) has left town. One of the sources says she left on Tuesday night --THE VERY NIGHT OF HER SON'S FUNERAL--and SHE FLEW TO LAS VEGAS. Her family is said to be incensed. Keep in mind, this is the same Karla Lee who took a hit on social media over the weekend when she was criticized for using GOFUNDME money to buy a brand new car. She adamantly denied using the money from the fund...but said it was money she saved up beforehand. She said she needed a car for her protection because walking and taking the bus just wasn't safe for her. (( In all fairness, Karla Lee's cell phone is a Las Vegas phone number))
  
  I am also trying to develop news that the father of Tyshawn Lee is going to contribute to the reward money to track down the killer of his son. He may hold a news conference later today...but that is still to be determined.
  
  Again, this is developing and as soon as I learn more, I will share on FOX32 News/ Good Day Chicago

Well, what happens in Vegas.....

Oh Poor Babies

We seem to have missed the part where cable service was a Right or something:

• Fearing for the safety of its employees, Comcast canceled six appointments on Chicago's South Side Wednesday due to "heightened potential [for] violence" in the area, a company spokesman confirmed Wednesday.
  
  A day after holding 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee's funeral, St. Sabina Church needed some help with its Internet connection — and was turned away because of neighborhood violence.
  
  Outspoken anti-violence activist the Rev. Michael Pfleger shared his outrage about Comcast on Facebook Wednesday, writing:
  
  "A Supervisor at Comcast just informed us that they couldn't send their technician to repair our internet service today because our area has too much violence.....ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? Oh Hell No!!!!!!!"

Oh hell yes Dumbass. You can't force a company to send employees into harms way, and we can only imagine the faux outrage Pfleger would be spouting if Comcast charged an additional "safety fee" of $100 to all it's Englewood customers calling for service, the proceeds of which would pay for an individually armed off-duty copper to escort the technician. That would be hilarious...and well deserved. Sorry about the many paying for the sins of the few, but that's the situation on the ground.

Schools Warns Parents, Students

When did we post the "war warning"? Nine days ago? Now someone is warning the schools and neighborhood about something they probably already figured out:

• A Chicago school warned parents and students Tuesday of a potential increase in gang violence on the city’s South Side following the deaths of two young people, including 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee.
  
  Augustus Toltan Academy, located roughly 4 miles from where Tyshawn was gunned down in a targeted shooting earlier this month, sent an alert to parents warning of “an increase of gang activity in response to the recently reported gang deaths of the two young people.”
  
  The school’s principal said in the alert the activity was expected to take place on or near 79th Street between Damen and Cottage and near 76th Street between Seeley and Ashland avenues.
  
  “I just wanted to make sure parents are aware, families are aware, staff is aware of what’s happening in this city,” said Principal Pamela Edwards-Sherley.

This isn't the only school warning parents either. It's only prudent.

Anyone Surprised?

Ticket sales are plunging:

• Illinois Lottery ticket sales dropped to the lowest point yet this year in October, the same month lottery officials announced they were delaying payouts over $600 because of the state budget impasse, according to data obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.
  
  Sales for most tickets, including instant games and Powerball, declined about $21 million — with October sales at roughly $215 million compared to September’s approximately $236 million. The high was about $260 million in March, according to data obtained in a freedom of information request.
  
  The figures confirm what ticket vendors at gas stations, convenience marts and grocery stores have said anecdotally for weeks about people’s frustration with Illinois’ budget problems.

And since so much of these numbers are based on "estimated revenue," when the General Assembly finally get off their asses and pass a budget, the deficit will be that much larger and harder to fill.

And where's that Casino bill at anyway?

Invisible Institute Website

The CR thing is up and running, and it's accompanied by an amusing disclaimer:

• The information contained on this website comes primarily from three datasets provided by the Chicago Police Department (CPD), spanning approximately 2002 to 2008 and 2011 to 2015. The CPD has released these lists in response to litigation and to FOIA Requests.
  
  The City of Chicago’s release of this information was accompanied by a disclaimer that not all of the information contained in the City’s database may be completely accurate. No independent verification of the City’s records has taken place and this public database does not purport to be an accurate reflection of either the City’s internal database or of its truthfulness.
  
  Slight changes to the spelling of officer names and to the wording of abuse categories have been made to accommodate a consistent appearance. A glossary of our understanding of common CPD terms has been provided. No other editing of the City’s original datasets has taken place.
  
  This public database also contains other readily available data that has been linked to the City’s original datasets, including: CPD beat geographies, Chicago ward boundaries, Chicago neighborhood boundaries, et cetera.
  
  By entering this website, you acknowledge that the Citizens’ Police Database (CPDB) is not responsible for any derivative work performed by or published by users of this public database.

And if you don't click the I Understand" button, you don't get to view the site, even with all it's "errors," and "slight changes."

The List

Fifty-seven names, supposedly with more "merit" mixed in. This means that that it is more important than ever that FOP establish what a "round" of promotions entails. Otherwise, the City is going to sneak in "merits" and work end-arounds the Contract by any means.

• ALIOTO, R 025
  BARNES, D 002
  BLAIR, K 008
  BUSH, G 193
  CAMPUS, N 014
  CANDELARIA J 312/018
  CARROLL, S 022
  CARTAGENA, W 610
  CHATYS, M 393
  COSGROVE, P 025
  CVETKOVIC, S 005
  DELUNA JR, G 005
  DEROUIN, T 004
  DOBDA, A 116
  DOUGHERTY E 008
  EGAN, R 630
  FALARDEAU, D 014
  GOOSHERST D 006
  GRIB, J 006
  HOLT, J 311
  HOWWARD, R 025
  IRAMIYA A 025/213
  JOSEPHS, P 011
  KELLER, J 630
  KENNEDY, J 006
  KSIAZEK, M 010
  LALLY, J 630
  MCCARTHY, J 610
  MCCRAY, P 019/376
  MEDINA, R 025
  MORALES, W 025
  NGO, C 024
  ODOMS, L 009/142
  ONESTO, M 012
  PATEL, H 019
  PILLOW, C 024
  PORTER, J 393
  RANDALL, A 115
  REYES, M 014/010
  SCHAEDEL, D 630
  SCHNOOR, T 353
  SCHULTZ, B 007
  SHAPLEY-WELLS, D 277/177
  SHEPLER, W 003
  SLAWSON, G 014
  SMITH, B 189
  SPYKER, W 009
  STAPLETON, S 004
  TOLEDO, P 017
  TURRISE, R 311
  UCHMAN, S 009
  UNIZYCKI, G 020
  VANEK, C 002
  VALENTIN, A 313
  WALKER, R 193
  WEST, J 006
  WISE, L 018
  

Fees for Free

How similar is this to what's happening in Chicago? This is in New York:

• Wall Street managers were paid an astounding $708 million in fiscal year 2015 to handle the city’s pension system — but did such a terrible job that taxpayers were forced to cough up $9.9 billion to make up for their shortfalls.
  
  Most of those costs, moreover, were kept secret.
  
  Management fees jumped by $178 million from $530 million the year before. But Comptroller Scott Stringer says the “vast ­majority” of the increase stems from the discovery of previously undisclosed “incentive fees.”

These up front fees, non-performance based fees, would appear to be a major drag on pensions. And if history is any indicator, the "managers" are surely connected to New York politicos, and we can't imagine the same thing isn't happening here, right down to connected firms getting their fees up front.

And Another Sergeant List

Another fifty-plus names came out today. We don't have it here, but we saw it. No word on how many "merit" may have been included in this one.

Supposedly, the FOP was promised that these sergeants would have the exact same seniority date as the golden class of thirteen "merit" picks.

We'll see. At the very least, they'll probably lose out on the Sergeant sell-back option and extra Personal/BFD/Furlough days. That's a monetary damage, provable in court. Will Dean stick up for the soon-to-be-former-FOP members?

We're going to bet "Nope."

And how much money is the City wasting, putting through a class of 13, then teaching another fifty the exact same material four weeks later? Wouldn't it have made sense to put them all through together? They've made classes of two-hundred before...fifty should be a cinch.

Dumb and Dumberer

Pending jury outcomes of course. This one looks headed to trial soon:

• An angry Cook County judge berated a Chicago Police officer who was in court Tuesday after being charged with firing five shots at an off-duty suburban cop who tried to pull him over for driving drunk.
  
  Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. told cop John J. Gorman’s attorney: “The problem I have with this is that we have a climate in this city where citizens are shooting at each other. We have to expect and demand more from those who wear a badge.”
  
  The off-duty cop wasn’t hit, and Gorman, 53, was charged with aggravated discharge of a firearm. He could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

We covered this last year when it turned out the suburban cop was trying to pull over the off-duty..while off-duty himself. Not a good tactical decision, but not anything that would justify blazing away at anyone, cop or not.

And Kass teases this one:

• There is a video that could tear Chicago apart.
  
  It will go viral if released, and the world will see something ugly and frightening on the Southwest Side.
  
  It comes from a police dashboard camera. City Hall worries that political hell may be on the way. Activists are primed. The politics of race and police use of force are at hand.
  
  And a court hearing is scheduled for next week on whether it should be released to the public.

Sorry, but if this video is as bad as suspected and hinted at, then it shouldn't be anywhere near the public realm until after the trial.

• the Civil Suit was preemptively settled for $5 million
• there's still a jury to be seated - this will preclude anything resembling a fair trial

The political aspect shouldn't even come into play, and neither should the public's "right-to-know" argument. The public will know, after the process is completed.

More Speed Cameras

And the neighborhood isn't happy:

• Drawing about a dozen protesters to fight a controversial speed camera activated in the neighborhood Monday, Ald. George Cardenas (12th) said city bosses are using the technology to pickpocket citizens.
  
  “They have no understanding of communities or their needs,” Cardenas said just after 10 a.m., standing in the cold at 3200 S. Archer Ave. “This is completely wrong.”
  
  Since its installation in 2014, the speed camera has drawn criticism from local residents and organizations calling the camera a money-grabbing scheme disguised as a safety solution.

Really? Just a money-making scheme? And Cardenas actually voted "yes" on Rahm's budget.

Queef's Sperm Donor Shot?

A couple comments and a few e-mails claiming that gang banging rapper Chief Queef's dad got shot on 09 November.

Can you believe that anyone would target a rapper's family???

Um...You Want What Now?

Kass has an article up behind the Tribune pay wall. It is of course, about the dead 9-year-old, executed by his father's rivals. Part of it is what you would expect:

• The detectives had just finished their meeting at the edge of the alley near 80th and Damen on Chicago's South Side.
  
  They were middle-aged men in sweaters and jackets, their faces heavy with the weight of the heater case. One answered me before I could ask a thing.
  
  "It's down there," he said. "You'll see the balloons."
  
  There are always balloons at the makeshift shrines of children shot dead in Chicago, and teddy bears and cards.

Part of it is odd:

• Espen Rasmussen, a photographer for the Norwegian magazine VG Helg, worked his camera in the alley.
  
  "I don't know if the people of my country could comprehend this," Rasmussen said. "A child? Targeted for assassination? They wouldn't understand it."
  
  What wouldn't they understand?
  
  "To kill a child to punish the father? They wouldn't know how to talk about it, how to comprehend it. Oslo is a big city. People are killed. But children, like this?

That's kind of rich coming from a guy from a continent that slaughtered some tens of millions in the last world war, including men, women and children, many for collaborating. And a continent currently home to how many refugees who think nothing of slaughtering their own children for perceived or imagined slights to family honor?

And part of the article is an incredible admission on a part of the community:

• At the shrine, grandmothers Cammise Tubbs and Evelgina Avant were praying. They held hands.
  
  "May the angels welcome you to heaven," said Tubbs, eyes closed. "And we light these candles as a token of loving respect for you baby, and by the blood of Jesus we pray the father's sins did not fall on this child. Protect us Lord from these killers and bring our community together."
  
  They lit candles, placed them next to the pile of stuffed animals, and then lit their cigarettes.
  
  Avant said she wished Two-Gun Pete — a notoriously brutal black Chicago cop who was long used as a bogeyman to keep South Side kids in line — was still alive.
  
  "Why? Because you got to scare these boys, that's why," Avant said. "And Two-Gun Pete was no joke!"

Ex-squeeze me? Grandma wants Two-Gun Pete back? A brutal beast of a cop with around a dozen official deaths to his credit and a few that might not have made the papers, along with countless hospitalizations, cripplings and many dozens more who decided not to seek medical attention, but instead took their ass beatings as part of the cost of doing business.

You want this back? You can't control your spawn, or the spawn of your spawn, or the spawn.....you get the idea....you want a cop to be the parent you never were? A parent so brutal that even 60 or 70 years later, his exploits make decent people shudder? After how many lawsuits, marches, laws, punitive judgements, millions of dollars, etc (some justified, some not). This is your solution to stopping the killing? A more brutal police department?

Are you fucking kidding?

A Measley Grand?

An aldercreature in the thick of it again:

• Ald. Edward Burke (14th) accepted money from a charter-school group shortly after signing a letter of support for a new Noble high school on the Southwest Side, but — after he disclosed the donation to elections officials — the campaign contribution never made it to the bank.
  
  Ald. Edward Burke (14th) signed a letter dated Aug. 20 expressing support for the new Noble Network of Charter Schools campus set to go at 47th Street and California Avenue. The letter was addressed to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Board of Education President Frank Clark and Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool.
  
  The board signed off on that Noble high school at its October meeting.
  
  On Sept. 8, Burke reported on state-mandated campaign disclosure forms that his campaign fund Friends of Edward M. Burke had received a $1,000 contribution from INCS Action PAC, the political action committee for the Illinois Network of Charter Schools.

So....what now? It certainly looks like a "quid pro quo" situation - what is referred to as a "legal bribe." The only thing missing appears to be the deposit. So Burke did it for free?

Who's Minding the Store?

It doesn't exactly instill confidence when your own official cites the words "hot mess" in regard to money:

• In another sign that Chicago Public Schools isn’t keeping good enough track of transit fare cards that are supposed to be distributed to homeless students, a Chicago man was recently arrested for allegedly hawking L and bus passes that were swiped from the school system.
  
  Mohammed Abdullah, 24, was arrested on Oct. 15 and charged with theft of more than $500 and less than $10,000, according to court records. He sold paper CTA Ventra cards intended for homeless students to customers who turned out to be undercover police officers, the records show.
  
  When police searched Abdullah’s place of employment – a convenience store at 79th and Saginaw – they found 300 cards, authorities said. The cards contain cash value, and when they’re tapped at L turnstiles and bus fareboxes, the fare amounts are deducted.
  
  How Abdullah ended up with the cards isn’t clear. But they were stolen from CPS and he was selling them for less than their actual value, officials said. A CPS spokeswoman released a written statement indicating a CPS employee had been fired in connection with the incident, and that CPS handed out about 1.9 million two-ride cards to homeless kids last year.
  
  Amber Damerow, a former CPS official who oversaw the school system’s program for homeless kids until resigning last year, called the management of the CTA cards at CPS “a hot mess.”

But hey, let's let the schools raise property taxes to their limit for the.....how many straight years has it been now? We can trust them with the money!

Rahm About to Get Spanked Again

Better make plans for after the Christmas holidays:

• The Chicago Teachers Union has released the results of a test strike vote, which was held last week.
  
  The union said 97 percent of members would vote to authorize a strike, if necessary.
  
  The potential strike could happen after the holiday break.
  
  School officials have warned of massive layoffs if state funding does not come through.

97%. Wow.

Seriously?

Just when you think the 9-year-old story couldn't get any weirder, we get this in our e-mail...about fifteen times:

So, is it or isn't it? It's a pretty good likeness of picture the media has been running with. And after momma posted herself with a gun and bought a new car with the GoFundMe money, we wouldn't be surprised in the least.

And even if it isn't young Mister Lee, it's some kid, about 4 years old, on his way to a lifetime of lord knows what.

Do you remember Eric Holder's non-existent conversation on race? The conversation that pretty much went, "White people are racist, and if you try to refute it, we'll call you racist, and by the way, you're all cowards for not talking about race, you racists." It looks like there might be a crack in the media wall by a black columnist of all people:

• On Thursday, near a gritty alley in Auburn-Gresham, Chicago’s top cop declared it was “probably the most abhorrent, cowardly, unfathomable crime that I have witnessed in 35 years of policing.”
  
  Police Supt. Garry McCarthy stood at the podium, stooped, aggrieved. A battle between two major gangs led to the murder of Tyshawn Lee, who was “lured” to that alley, McCarthy said, and executed in retribution.
  
  “When you’ve done what you did to a 9-year-old, there’s a place for you, and there’s no humanity in that place,” a visibly emotional Rahm Emanuel said.
  
  “This has grieved hearts and touched hearts across America, as it should. But it’s gotta do more than touch us,” said the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Church.
  
  They were exhorting, pleading, begging.
  
  Pfleger begging that the “coward” executioner be exposed. McCarthy exhorting gang-banging “mutual combatants” to end the warfare. Emanuel pleading that people in the community have “a moral responsibility” to come forward.
  
  As I watched and listened to it all in TV reports and online narratives, I noticed: The loudest voices calling for an end to the slaughter came from whites.
  
  White voices asking that we save African-American children.
  
  Pfleger, McCarthy and Emanuel are passionate about ending the raging street crime that has turned Chicago neighborhoods into war zones. As they should be.
  
  Where are the black voices?

Where indeed. Nice to see someone finally catching up, so bravo to her. Let's see how long it takes the Jesse's, Al' Louis's, and Eric's to turn on her.

Every Day Isn't Like This Kid

Sometimes, you can go entire weeks without saving a life:

• A Chicago Police probationary officer on his first day on the job Sunday helped save a man’s life.
  
  Probationary Officer Nicholas Picicci and Field Training Officer Robert Cavaiani responded to the 3100 block of North Marmora at 8:20 a.m., according to a news release from Chicago Police.
  
  The officers found a 62-year-old man inside his home having a medical emergency, police said. He was unresponsive and not breathing.
  
  Picicci and Cavaiani began CPR immediately and continued until the fire department arrived. The man was taken to Community First Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

All kidding aside, a great start to the career. Congratulations to the Officers.

Battle of the sub-.500 Teams

Hell, they're both sub-.300 if you want to get technical about it.

So the Chargers are 4.5 point favorites with an over/under of 49.5.

Both teams are fighting for their 3rd win, so there's a lot on the line here.

What Did You Expect?

We could make this up if we tried:

• The mother of murdered nine-year-old Tyshawn Lee is being bashed on the Internet for using money intended for his funeral expenses to buy a car, but she is defending the purchase.
  
  A total of 727 people had donated to the GoFundMe site “Help Me Lay My Baby to Rest” as of 4 p.m. Saturday, contributing $17,492. The fund’s creator writes specifically on the GoFundMe page that the donations were to be used to lay Tyshawn to rest. But Karla Lee said in several profanity-laced Instagram posts that were posted Saturday, before she took the page private, that yes, she used it for a car and that her son mostly likely would approve.
  
  “They already took my son,” she said in an enraged voice. “I walk to work. I get on the bus. I’m not trying to be a target for nobody.”

Why would you be a target? Daddy has been saying the homicide didn't involve him in the least. He's completely innocent of any involvement in the death of his spawn.

Of course, when momma posts pictures like this on her Facebook account, what chance did this kid actually have? He was just a lottery ticket waiting to be cashed in:

Anyone check her Concealed Carry permit?

"Accountability" Database

You know all those FOIA Request letters McCompStat has been e-mailing everyone lately? The ones that say even in the face of Contractual agreements and legal retention schedules, the Department is providing reporters and others with years worth of CR investigations? Here's why:

• The Law School’s Civil Rights and Police Accountability Clinic next week will launch an interactive online database that, for the first time, will give the public access to tens of thousands of Chicago police misconduct complaints, a release possible because of a precedent-setting clinic victory that opened up police misconduct records throughout Illinois.
  
  “This is historic: nothing like this exists or has existed before,” said Craig Futterman, Director of the  Police Accountability Clinic. “The whole nation is saying we need this kind of data, and the Law School is helping make it available.”
  
  The Chicago Police Database, named the Citizens Police Data Project, which goes live on November 10, was created as part of a joint project with the Invisible Institute, a journalistic production company. It includes 54,581 complaints filed against 8,337 officers, including every allegation of police misconduct within the Chicago Police Department filed between March 2011 and March 2015. In addition, the database contains records on officers who were repeatedly accused of abuse between 2000 and 2008. Eventually, Futterman hopes the database will include the complete list of abuse allegations against Chicago officers going back to 1967. The full dataset, which is more than 7,000 pages, is the subject of ongoing litigation between the City of Chicago and the police union, which is seeking to block the release.

Closed files, exonerated cases, blanket complaints where no accuser was located and in many cases, no accused was identified. In other words, shitloads of Not Sustained cases, compiled in one place to provide media and plaintiff lawyers with a club to beat the Department.

Ammo Tax Coming

Word is that on Monday, Toni will attempt to tax ammunition, perhaps excessively so, in an attempt to drive gun dealers completely out of Cook County, denying dozens, perhaps hundreds of people actual jobs in a legitimate, legal enterprise.

Meanwhile, car dealers continue to operate with impunity, despite killing thousands more in Illinois than guns ever have.

Um....Wrong Drug

Great headline in the Slum Times yesterday:

• West Side man gets two years for 2-year-old boy's fatal meth poisoning

Leaving aside the fact that two-years for the death of a toddler is ridiculous, the article then goes on to show how clueless the writers at the Times are:

• A West Side man was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for endangering the life of a 2-year-old boy who died from methadone poisoning while under his care last year.
  
  Reginal Z. Brown, 37, was sentenced two years in prison by Judge Stanley Sacks after pleading guilty to one count of endangering the life of a child, according to Cook County court records.

Evidently, no one at the Sun Times ever saw an episode of Breaking Bad. "Meth" is not methadone. Not the same class, not the same effects, not even the same targeted group of users. But hey, the media is known for layers and layers of fact checking.

CWB Tweaks Rahm

If you were curious about that Rahm case report, CrimeInWrigleyvillandBoystown blog has posted it up for everyone to read. And since it's not a Department site, you can't get disciplined.

That's some funny shit right there.

Oh, and it seems that the Beat meetings in their neck of the woods have been re-formatted - no more question about specific crimes and only half as many meetings next year. So the blog that has been the biggest thorn in Tunney's and Rahm's side over the blatant under-reporting of robberies has managed to make the 019 District run from the CAPS field - so much for "sharing information" with the community.

Preib Tearing it up Again

The Crooked City blog once again, covers the story the media won't (or can't) cover - how reporters have become the story rather than reporting the story and how members of the media have helped release a number of psychopathic killers onto the streets of Chicago.

We can't even quote the article in order to do it justice, so you'll have to click on the link here and go read it at the source. It is truly a tangled web and spans so many different aspects of the broken system here in Cook County.

Weekly Totals Mount

The numbers are rolling in three at a time:

• Three men were critically wounded in a West Humboldt park neighborhood shooting Friday night on the West Side.
  
  The men — ages 19, 27 and 51 — were outside in the 1400 block of North Kildare about 8 p.m. when two gunmen walked up, started shooting and then ran away, according to Chicago Police.
  
  
• A 17-year-old boy and two other teens were shot and wounded in front of a high school Friday afternoon in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the Southwest Side, officials said.
  
  The boy suffered two gunshot wounds -- one to the head and one to the torso -- and was taken in serious-to-critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, officials said. Authorities earlier listed his age as 16.

Add in the other school shooting, the 9-year-old, the assorted retaliation shootings, plus the normal everyday mayhem, we're kind of curious to see this weeks totals. And we're curious to see this first week of November compared to the last few Novembers. Hopefully, HeyJackass.com has the final numbers after tonight, because you can't forget Saturday in the totals.

Search Warrant on Dad?

The "person of interest" has been released and no one doubts for a second he is hiding far from home tonight. A string of search warrants have been served across the south side:

• McCarthy singled out Lee’s father, Pierre Stokes, 25, who has been particularly unhelpful in the investigation. He said Stokes has refused to talk to detectives on at least two occasions.
  
  Police executed a pair of search warrants in recent days, including a raid of an apartment in the 8000 block of South Marshfield about midnight Wednesday that was authorized by a warrant listing Stokes as the target.
  
  Stokes arrived at the press conference moments after McCarthy left, and talked for several minutes with police brass who were leaving the press conference. Talking to reporters, Stokes denied involvement in gangs and said he does not have information that would help investigators.

Stokes has been bragging for months he was talented at avoiding the police, and he and Garry seem to be like two ships passing in the night. Stokes is playing a game, appearing at a press conference after the Supe is gone, but hobnobs with the lower ranking brass, reasonably safe from retaliation in the midst of so many cops and cameras. Does anyone reading think he's not planning to unleash his shooters on the streets the moment a break in the police presence is felt?

Long gone are the days we could send 250 or 300 coppers into a neighborhood for a few weeks via MSF, TRU, SOS and shut things down. Now, it's like a band-aid trying to stanch a sucking chest wound.

That Rahm Case Report Again

The media finally catching up with what the blog reported weeks ago (here and here):

• Dozens of Chicago police officers are being disciplined for reading a police report involving Mayor Rahm Emanuel's son, police sources told NBC 5.
  
  The police report dates back to last December when Zack Emanuel was mugged near his Northside home and his cell phone was stolen.
  
  Up to 200 officers who read the report on internal CPD computers have been suspended over fears that information in the report has been leaked to the media.
  
  The Chicago Police Sergeants Association said it is currently appealing the discipline action. Meanwhile, The Fraternal Order of Police said it has not been involved with any suspensions yet.

If they're handing out Summary Punishment, then there won't be suspensions...yet. But they can stack up the SPARs for all sorts of minor stuff and really start handing out days. The war against the police continues in the political realm as well. Has the media ever located the "college counselor" who was accepting calls at 11:30 PM?

All Hail Toni!

Shifting the unpopular taxes so she can be the hero....like Rahm and Shortshanks used to do:

• Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will nix her 3 percent amusement tax proposal and instead push for a 1 percent hotel tax, Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin said Thursday.
  
  A 1 percent hike would spike Chicago’s hotel tax to 17.4 percent. And although not yet formally proposed, some hotel representatives are concerned a hike would affect the city’s ability to land conventions.
  
  Suffredin said Finance Committee Chairman John Daley, D-Chicago, invited him to a meeting with Preckwinkle Thursday morning in which she discussed the 1 percent hotel tax, Suffredin said. He called it a “change in direction.”

Of course, when it finally becomes public knowledge that the upcoming Convention Season is going to be one of the worst in recent memory, Toni will have to come up with some sort of hike in fines, fees or taxes to cover the shortfall from this fantasy revenue stream.