Why is Crime Up? (UPDATED)

Someone did a study in Memphis, and the findings could reverberate everywhere.  Unfortunately, it'll make liberals uncomfortable, so don't expect them to be widely published:

• Memphis has always been associated with some amount of violence. But why has Elvis’s hometown turned into America’s new South Bronx? Barnes thinks he knows one big part of the answer, as does the city’s chief of police. A handful of local criminologists and social scientists think they can explain it, too. But it’s a dismal answer, one that city leaders have made clear they don’t want to hear. It’s an answer that offers up racial stereotypes to fearful whites in a city trying to move beyond racial tensions. Ultimately, it reaches beyond crime and implicates one of the most ambitious antipoverty programs of recent decades. 

Have you guessed what it is yet?

• Janikowski might not have managed to pinpoint the cause of this pattern if he hadn’t been married to Phyllis Betts, a housing expert at the University of Memphis. Betts and Janikowski have two dogs, three cats, and no kids; they both tend to bring their work home with them. Betts had been evaluating the impact of one of the city government’s most ambitious initiatives: the demolition of the city’s public-housing projects, as part of a nationwide experiment to free the poor from the destructive effects of concentrated poverty. Memphis demolished its first project in 1997. The city gave former residents federal “Section8” rent-subsidy vouchers and encouraged them to move out to new neighborhoods. Two more waves of demolition followed over the next nine years, dispersing tens of thousands of poor people into the wider metro community.
  If police departments are usually stingy with their information, housing departments are even more so. Getting addresses of Section 8 holders is difficult, because the departments want to protect the residents’ privacy. Betts, however, helps the city track where the former residents of public housing have moved. Over time, she and Janikowski realized that they were doing their fieldwork in the same neighborhoods.

Yup. Tearing down the projects and Section 8 vouchers.

Go read the entire article.  It puts actual observations of a cop and a social worker (husband and wife) together in a way we haven't seen before.  And it makes 100% sense, which means liberals will ignore it.

UPDATE: Evidently, liberals have ignored it since the article is from 2008 and we haven't seen hide nor hair of it in that time.  Unfortunately, conservatives have ignored it, too, most likely knowing that they'd get tarred with the "racism" charge once again for pointing out something that's true.

NYPD in Trouble (UPDATE)

Comments here and over at TheeRant say that the 60th and 100th Precincts are being evacuated of police officers.  Buildings are being hit hard by flooding and have no power.  News reports across the board say Lower Manhattan is taking a beating and electrical grids are failing.

Prayers for our brothers and sisters in New York and all those affected.

UPDATE: A huge fire has already destroyed 50 homes in Queens.  FDNY can't get to the blazes due to impassible streets - and this is just a small corner of New York.  The entire eastern seaboard and surrounding states are getting trashed badly. 

Bourbon Street

Cappas versus Pappas:

• There was some Comments posted in the Abbate Trial blog that state John Cappas, the Drug dealer is now affiliated with Bourbon Street. I've been getting calls and texts all day asking me about this. John Cappas has never been involved here, and has no affiliation with us what so ever. Its been owned by the same family for 13 years. We have heard this rumor before when we opened, our bar manager was John Pappas, and everyone thought it was Cappas, even though he was in jail.
  
  A large part of all of our customers are police and fireman, and I was hoping if there was anyway to make a post that this is a rumor and he has nothing to do with us. I figured after one call it was no big deal, but seven calls later, I realized this rumor spread quickly. Anything you could do to help us out would be greatly appreciated!

That should clear things up.

Another Take on Shaved

We hadn't considered this:

• The Better Government Association (BGA) of Chicago does not know the difference between public employees and people who are on disability leave. Those on disability leave are not public employees. They are not on the city payroll or time clock. They are paid out of pension funds. They are civilians just like retirees.

That isn't a city check they are drawing, so the BGA's entire premise of "city time" or "city paycheck" is invalid? Does this hold water?

Go read the linked article. It's a retired CPD officer.

013 Photo

Anyone who worked at Wood Street:

• SCC could you make a post for a photo shoot of past & present 13th District coppers? The photo shoot will be on 18 Sept at 1400 hours outside of the station. Thanks

We assume there will be a 012 photo soon seeing as how 012 and 013 are combining this fall? Anyone have the date?

10 September

The teachers set a date. A few predictions:

• Certain districts will probably have a few extra cars up since their high schools will be closed. Maybe that'll mean an easing of the Time Due policy?
• To counter this anticipated use of our own time off, the Department will claim since all the children are out, about and away from their jailers free day care, all hands shall be on deck to counter the expected mayhem;
• Wildings will pick up on weeknights. Weekend wildings will be more intense;
  
• School Absentees will plunge to near zero, although we've never really written any Catholic or other private school students for some reason. We fully expect that to be the subject of that week's CompStat meeting. Some hapless Commander will take a verbal beating over the low numbers and no one will bother to tell McDoofus that CPS is on strike.

Anyone else want to guess at the impact a teachers strike will have? After all, it's been 25 years since the last one - that's longer than 80% of the people on the job.

More Graffiti = More Killings?

You never know:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday defended his decision to cut his predecessor’s popular graffiti blasters program — and dramatically alter the city’s plan of attack — despite a slowdown that has so frustrated one alderman, he’s using his expense allowance to remove it.

  “When we did graffiti [removal] the old way, we’d go into a neighborhood, do one wall, walk away and the rest of the neighborhood would still have graffiti,” the mayor said.

  “Now, it’s the entire community and any community that’s had it since we did the blitz changes it …. So, while you’re calling it lag time, I see an entire neighborhood clean — not just one wall in a neighborhood. It’s a different strategy.”

But on the other side of the coin, leaving gang graffiti up (disregarding simple taggers), especially in disputed or enemy territory, leads to increased confrontation, retaliatory tagging, then someone comes along with a gun and ::BLAM BLAM:: more headlines in the papers, more stories on the news, and more humor from SCC pointing out the failure of politicians and police bosses to wish they were back in Kansas....or New Jersey.

It's an interesting theory at least - leaving this stuff up for more than a day might very well contribute to increased shootings and homicides.

Red Light Cameras Dead

No, not here yet. Too much money involved here with the connected contracts. We're talking about Pasadena:

• Pasadena drivers can now avoid that gut-wrenching feeling of being caught in the flash of a red-light camera, wondering if they made it through the intersection in time.

  City officials decided not to renew a contract with American Traffic Systems Inc. for the city's seven red-light cameras, citing a lack of enforcement from Los Angeles County courts, time wasted by Pasadena police officers and questions about the cameras' effectiveness in improving traffic safety.

  Additionally, the program — while never expected to bring in a lot of money — is running at a $4,487 deficit, the Pasadena Sun reported.

• Janka said the main reason for killing the cameras is that they waste law enforcement resources.

  In a month one officer issues as many traffic citations, including for red-light running, as do all of the cameras, according to a staff report.

  "A lot of time is spent going to court dealing with challenges," Janka said. "It makes more sense to put more money into the Police Department, which is more effective."

  The city of Los Angeles discontinued its red-light camera program after identifying enforcement and equipment problems.

Gee, money into an effective Police Department? Amazing.

Retiree Killed in Afghanistan

A dedicated veteran of the CPD:

• Friends recall that Tom Boyle faced many deadly situations on the streets of Chicago during more than 30 years as a police officer. More than a decade after retirement, at age 62, he was training police in war-torn Afghanistan how best to keep the peace when he died this week.
  
  Eager to make another part of the world safer, Boyle took a job as a security contractor, according to his wife, Pauline Boyle. He trained police in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, she said.
  
  Pauline Boyle was notified by his company and a military chaplain on Monday of her husband’s death in Afghanistan that day.

Tom Boyle couldn't sit still in retirement and continued to try to make a difference. He will be missed.

Remembrances only here.

ZAP!!!

You act like an asshole, regardless of physical condition, you just may get Tasered:

• A woman who was shocked by a stun gun during a dispute with police in the parking lot of a South Side Walgreens says the officer knew she was pregnant.
  
  "I was standing at the squad car close enough for him to see that I was pregnant," Tiffany Rent, who is eight months pregnant, said this morning hours after she was released from custody.

Given the state of Chicago's so-called "obesity epidemic," we doubt the officer knew anything of the sort. We'd love to see this idiot prove that allegation in court.

Even more shocking that a 5-second ride on the lightning, McJumpsToConclusions seems to have actually heeded the advice coming from our readers to keep his mouth shut on ongoing investigations:

• At an unrelated news conference today, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said police would "take appropriate action" but he could release few details while the complaint is investigated by the Independent Police Review Authority.
  
  “That case is being investigated right now by IPRA. I don’t have many details on it," McCarthy said. "What I can tell you is, we immediately, as soon as we got the complaint we started the investigation, and when we realized what was going on, we referred it over to IPRA and we’re going to take appropriate action.”
  
  When asked what Chicago police policy is regarding a stun gun being used on a pregnant person, McCarthy said: "Well, first of all, you can’t always tell whether somebody is pregnant. So, you want to use it where you are overcoming assault or preventing escape. That’s what it boils down to."
  
  "That policy has been in effect for quite some time," McCarthy said. "Whether or not the policy has been adhered to is going to be examined separately from the investigation into the use of force. So we’ll keep you posted on that, and we’ll see how it plays out.”
  

Amazing. Pretty much a textbook answer for all dealings with the media trolls. Stick up for the officer (conditionally if policy was followed), promise a full and prompt investigation, swear to keep the media informed. Nicely played.

Memorial Day

Thoughts and prayers for all those who have served, are serving or will serve in the future. God bless you all.

Record Heat

And somehow, the beaches remained open. Was this some sort of oversight?

• Chicago got some record-setting heat today, with the temperature reaching 97 at O'Hare International Airport to break a record set more than 100 years ago.

  The record high for today was 94 (set in 1911), and with today's high being 97, that mark could be beaten by more than three degrees. It's the hottest temperature ever recorded this early in the year, according to ChicagoWeatherCenter.com.

  If you're outside, sunscreen is probably a good idea. If you're not, you might want to power up the air conditioner.

And in other news, the Bike Unit, everybody's favorite people after NATO, got their day off groups changed with a mere two days warning so everyone was around for the holiday weekend. In other circumstances, that might be a questionable action on the part of bosses, but a volunteer unit, which the Bikes are, can pretty much be messed with at will. It doesn't make people happy though - two days to rearrange your holiday plans? Just more thanks from Tiny Dancer and his minions.

School Strike Prep

Get ready for an extended summer vacation:

• The Chicago Teachers Union polled its 25,000 members Thursday on questions involving the school board as part of what one official called a "dry run" for a potential strike vote.

  Union officials said they undertook the poll in part to figure out logistics for a strike vote if negotiations with the district break down. Under a state education reform passed last year, the union would need to get approval from 75 percent of its total membership before a strike could occur.

What with Rahm's latest Springfield tactics, we imagine this is going to go forward. Funny how Shortshanks kept the teachers in line by lying, promising them the world, passing the buck to Springfield, and Rahm can't keep up the pretense for a full year before a strike vote is going to go down.

This gives a few of our readers a bright idea - what if a certain Fraternal Order took an informal poll? Something along the lines of this:

• Although the FOP is not allowed to strike, and any advocacy of a strike is grounds for immediate termination and dissolution of the union, would you, as a Chicago Police Officer, vote for a strike if the opportunity was granted to you?

It's a simple "yes/no" answer, has no effect on anything concerning the Department, and would be a tremendous slap in Rahm's face if the teachers strike and the police (and even the firefighters) said they would strike if they could.

Keeping Tabs on Rahm (UPDATE)

Want to vote on Rahm's performance as mayor?

This website here (TabsOnRahm.org) lets you do that. So far he's averaging 2.1 out of five stars.

Any chance we could drive that down to 1.6 by the close of business today? Go there and vote. The lower the vote, the lower the average gets driven down.

UPDATE: Don't forget to click on the "Staff Appointments" button at the bottom of the page (or just click here.) You get to vote on Rahm's cabinet appointments, including McCompStat himself - who at last count is averaging a 1.8, just slightly above the schools chief. There are only 110 votes or so right now.

UPDATE: We did notice that all of Rahm's ratings have dropped through the 2.0 range and are approaching 1.0 with astonishing rapidity as the vote totals tripled since this morning. Keep up the good work!

Five Signs

5 signs you might be in the wrong job.

How many do you see in yourself right now?

1. You’re a Loner at Work
   
2. You’re Ashamed of Your Job
   
3. Your Workload Overwhelms You
4. You’re Stagnating at Work
5. There’s No Growth and Development in Your Job

Numbers 5, 4 and 3 pretty much sum up the entire CPD at a glance.

Number 2 is more shame along the lines of what the brass, politicians and "meri-clout-orious" have allowed the job to descend to.

Number 1 isn't a problem - we have lots of friends at work and hobbies away from work, but that's a conscious effort on our parts.

Local Merchant Supports Police

Up north near Belmont and Central:

A&G International Fresh Market is located at 5630 W. Belmont. If you're up around there, drop by and tell them thanks.

Need a Wheelchair? Walker?

An offer from an acquaintance of ours:

• Hey SCC,
  Six months ago I had a motorcycle accident and couldn't walk for a while. I'm walking well enough now that I no longer need the wheelchair and walker I was using. Since the insurance company paid for it, I feel like it would be bad mojo to take money for them. Before I list it for free on craigslist, I'd like to find out if a policeman or policeman's family member needs one. if you could pass the word that if anyone can use a wheelchair or a walker in new condition, send me an email at djhaynes@gmail.com. Thanks.
  
  Dave Haynes

Haynes is the co-author of "The Beat Cop's Guide to Chicago Eats" which will be featured on "190 North" tonight at 1100 PM.

Sentencing at 26th Street

Evidently, a whole bunch of friends of the convicted are going to pack the room:

• I am writing this to inform officers that tomorrow, 21 Feb 12, offender Howard Morgan who shot two police officers in 05 is being sentenced.
  
  An officer safety alert was issued for the four officers(victims)in this case today because apparently shitheads sent out flyers to pack rm 600 to protest the sentencing.
  
  If any officers in court at 26 can stop by rm 600 to show support it would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance

Stop by to help make sure this asshole gets the max.

THIS is the Way to Do It

The old ways are still sometimes the best:

• Utah prosecutors have reluctantly allowed a condemned killer to seek execution by firing squad rather than by lethal injection, saying they want to avoid further delays in putting him to death.
  
  The request by Michael Archuleta, 49, convicted of the 1988 slaying of a college student, follows recent talks among state lawmakers and criminal justice officials about possibly returning to firing squads as an execution option in light of the current shortage of lethal-injection drugs.
  
  If Archuleta gets his way, he would ultimately become only the fourth to be executed by shooting in the United States -- all of them in Utah -- since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976. The last was in June 2010.

Is the line ready?

Global Warming Officially Dead

Finally:

• The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.
  
  The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.
  
  Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

This is a "reevaluation" of previous data that "proved" global warming a number of years back. Now we're looking at sunspot minimums unseen in decades, perhaps dozens of decades.

Of course, that doesn't explain the ongoing mild winter. Four or five straight days of 40+ degrees this week? CompStat is shitting bricks.