The rumor mill is on fire, and of course, no one at the Puzzle Palace is revealing squat:
- Sheriffs have been informed that their days off are being canceled in May with little to no explanation;
- Some suburban departments are warning their officers days off and vacations are being "delayed" and issuing fire retardant clothing to their members;
- CPD is going to put the day crew in crown caps, no helmets and no cargo pants. Has anyone here ever seen what fire does to 80/20's?
Even some of our admitted non-police readers are noticing odd things:
- Civilian here. I work in a high-rise on LaSalle in the heart of government and financial row. Had our quarterly fire drill last week. Subtle differences this time. Instead of going down one floor, they had us go down five. Fire marshal's spiel emphasized listening to the intercom and NOT assuming it would be an automatic evacuation. Instructions might actually be to shelter in place -- up to and including locking the doors -- because of disturbances outside. Hmm. Wonder why they added that?
Unfortunately, this is the mindset starting to take hold of the Department:
- D/C Velez comes to roll calls this AM to talk about NATO. Says we've had training, blah blah, officer safety is paramount, blah blah, really care about officer safety.
Then he drops the bomb. Seems GMac wants the front line police that will actually be marching WITH the protesters to have a "soft" look. Therefore our helmets will not be on our heads, but rather left in the bus they transported us in. But don't worry, the Ninja police will be paralleling us and can jump out at a moments notice.
Almost felt sorry for Velez, as he was just reading notes that I'm sure were put together by the brain trust downtown.
So, 2nd watch officers on the front line YOU ARE EXPENDABLE !
(and more so than you thought)
But don't worry, They'll have some sort of 'glasses' there that you can wear if you so choose.
And oh yeh, they will be filming everything, so I'm sure they'll be able to stop the guy that threw the bag of piss before he gets back on his plane. Officer safety, my ass !
Someone downtown ought to muzzle Velez. He isn't doing anyone any favors.