Swiping Rumors Gain Traction

Here we go again:

• Fingerprint Swipe will be sprung on ALL City Employees very soon. Be ready, it's here, and it will save the City Millions, by docking You for being late and leaving early Rahm is hard just thinkin about it, and it's gonna be sprung on you all with NO notice, and FOP, etc; cannot do anything about it, it's totally legal and in use all over the country, and Rahm's buddies will make a fortune maintaining the System.

This keeps popping up every year.  And every year it falls apart.  The issues are legion.  The hand scanners don't work.  The non-functional ID cards number in the hundreds, if not thousands.  As there is a disciplinary process already in place for tardiness (progressive SPAR discipline), we don't think the city can unilaterally dock your pay without running afoul of the Contract.  And we have little doubt that there are going to be large issues with people staying 7.5 minutes late for various legit reasons that will be checking the "money box" each and every day.  The blizzard of paperwork ought to be impressive.

The city can't maintain the GPS system in any sort of working order, the in-car cameras are out of service at least as often as they are working and today, we got a letter that the OEMC nerve center that is supposed to be watching the video system is completely unmanned.  All those thousands of blue-light cameras?  No one is watching a single one and haven't been for weeks.  The working ones are set on "pan-and-scan" and the broken ones just sit.

Let's see how this plays out.

Rumor Central

Rumor has it that the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Chicago suffered a burglary to her home yesterday.  Can anyone confirm?

That would be kind of poetic in nature - the head bean-counter providing Rahm with the reasoning to gut the department ends up a victim of the dwindling numbers that cannot hold the street any more.

Um, What's This?

Can anyone confirm this?

• I don't know how to reach the folks in charge of this blog, but I have a good topic that will certainly shock most members of the CPD. In a time where manpower is at its lowest, violent crime at its highest and the expectations from the public and politicians of police performance is unrelenting, the repercussions on the police officer's emotional/psychological well-being are detrimental. You see, the ole Employee Assistance Program has succumbed to the ill-practices of HR Director Ladner and others in the Department. Let's start with an Officer seeking psychological help voluntarily and is then placed on medication to help with whatever the issue may be: PTSD, Anxiety, Depression, Anger, Grief, et al. Common sense and a caring Department would say, "Well done officer for being strong enough to seek the help and carry on honorably with your profession". Hell no!! What happens is that the Department's Medical Section will dig in to find out if the Officer is taking what they call "Psychotropic Meds" like Ambien, Effexor, Prozac, and a plethora of other anti-anxiety/anti-depression meds. This dead is done by the MSS's nurses who will, upon receipt of a letter or prescription from a Doctor or Psychiatrist, call the Personnel Concerns folks at HR's new Performance Management Section, who will then sit the Officer down in their office, tell them that they are there to help (While asking the officer for their ID, Badge and Shield), read them some form that in essence sounds like "Miranda Rights", force you on the medical, and escort you in and out of their office with a "visitor's" badge around the officers neck. Really?? This is how the Department is "Helping" its officers in a time of emotional/psychological need?? Hitler treated his troops better than that!! This needs to be put out there for all to see....Fuck Ladner and her anti-police/psychological warfare against our officers. The time to change this shit is NOW. What about all the Officers coming back from the war zones with PTSD who are being treated by the VA?? Guess what, if the Dept's Medical Services Section finds out that they are on medication, they get stripped too. That is a crying shame!!

This would appear to violate a few long standing practices, certain contractual protections, the spirit of the EAP Program and maybe a HIPAA rule or two.  We say "appear" since we have no direct knowledge, only this comment.  Can anyone provide further info?  Has anyone contacted the FOP with this issue?

Clearance Rate

Any detective or bean counter want to comment on the rumor that the clearance rate for homicides has dipped below 20%?  Is that why they're about to make a class of Detectives for the first time in almost 6 years?

What Now?

Anyone have any info on a rumor that an Officer's spouse shot and wounded a burglar in their house tonight? And that an exempt member attempted to have her arrested on UUW charges, and when the Detectives refused, he sought a Log Number (the old CR) on the Officer for "failure to secure" a firearm?

Because if this is true, we are sure everyone would be interested.

UPDATE: Can't seem to nail down an event or RD# yet.

UPDATE: According to a couple of people, 006 District. And it's in the 24 hour report?

UPDATE: Apparently, it's the duty status of the Officer involved that is leading to the rumor mill and reality combining into this steaming heap.

Rumor Central

A good one:

• Panic at Headquarters
  
  McCarthy now has us looking up Monthly arrest stats for all police officers from 2010 and 2011 and comparing those stats with 2012.
  
  Commanders will be given the names of all officers with lower arrests. Commanders will put ALL officers with significantly lower stats into the Personal Concern program. Then they will counsel all officers who HAVE NOT INCREASED their arrests.
  
  It looks like if you were always a dog, you're in the clear, but those who've dropped down their arrests will be punished.
  
  The real reason is that 2012 arrests are the lowest in the past 15 years and that's only because the records are poor going back further. It is completely possible that 2012 will have the lowest arrest totals in the last 30 years.

If we're going to start with arrest statistics, we should probably start at the top ranks and work our way down, just to set an example. We're going to insist on arrests in which only the officers in Box #1 or Box #2 are counted, and the arrest cannot be "holding the offender." Anything else goes in this instance of counting.

Anyone want to speculate on the totals for any one of our exempt members? How about Captains/XO's? Remember, these are our leaders, the ones we should be emulating and aspiring to be. Low arrest totals would seem to be the norm for these ranks, so anyone without decent numbers can just point to them as inspiration.

If McDumbDumb is endorsing an arrest quota, let's see it on paper. Now please. And a General Order that we can point to when the inevitable federal lawsuit results.

And another point of order - McMoron has been saying for a year now that crime is down across the board with the notable exception of homicides (and shootings he is finally admitting). Here's a quick mathematical equation for McNumberChallenged:

• Less crime = Less arrests

Right? How can we have more arrests for non-existent crime? Or is McCivilRightsChampion advocating a wholesale violation of local, county, state and federal law? Because we're definitely going to have to see paper on that one before we even start the car tonight.

Someone downtown better think this one through again.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, we missed this obvious one:

• Less police = Less arrests

Sorry about that.

Missed OT Check Again?

Can anyone confirm? (We don't work special, so we can't tell)

• Check your overtime checks. Finance once again did not pay folks for working the OT Initiative the 29th of July.

A few possibilities (if true):

1. they actually have no money;
   
2. part of a ploy to give the impression of no money;
3. incompetence.

We're going to bet on a combination of #2 and #3 with a heavy emphasis on #3.

Hot Rumor

XO's are being "demoted" back to Captains and will henceforth be Watch Commanders.

Rumor is the city lost or is about to lose the grievance filed by the Lieutenants Association and is looking for a cheap settlement.

Next thing you know, we'll have Desk Sergeants in the station.

Everything old is new again.

Bike Attack? Or Bad Rumor

From the comments:

• Why didn't the group of bicyclists getting run down, hit and run, on 75th and green (006 dist) make the news? All the victims were white, obviously a hate crime. Four were taken to the hospital, others treated on scene. While witnesses laughed and made jokes about how they shouldn't of been there. Which I agree with but Wtf! What if that happened in mt. Greenwood with black victims?

Did it happen? Because in this supposedly "bike friendly" town where Rahm is destroying the ability for cars to move around, it'd be nice to see some warning about the perils of biking. Our readers know about the gauntlet that runs through a north side district where the "protected bike lanes" mean easy hunting for the criminals.

Foot = Foot

Once again:

• SCC, unless I missed it there has been no mention of what GMac said at Compstat re: Foot patrols. To wit: Commanders must justify why a fixed post police officer gets a car from now on. Inclement weather is the only real reason, otherwise all fixed posts must be on foot.

These "posts" aren't storefronts or downtown spots with tourists all around. These posts are deep in enemy territory at high traffic dope spots. Spots where weapons are commonplace and turf wars rage. Spots that are easy to hide dope and where the dealers can operate out of sight.

We certainly hope that downtown has thought this one through. And then the supervisors mention their concerns. And finally, the FOP can ensure that officer safety concerns are paramount and in the front of everyone's mind.

Rumor Mill Working Hard

Other things that pop up:

• My neighbor works for Chicago Motor Maintenance/Fleet Management and I could not help but notice a marked CPD squad car parked in front of his house for the past 2 nights. I inquired and was shocked to hear that the workers at the area were instructed that they can take card to/from work to "test" them............but my informant at 35th st told me the real reason is to give the "illusion" of more officers on the streets!!! These hacks from downtown are really stretching with this one!!!! With the upcoming 500 new hires and all the motor maintenance take home cars that will make us at full strength right???

....and a reply:

• So, when a frantic, terrified victim runs into the street to flag down some help from one of these auto mechanics, WHAT THEN?

Then they are going to be really terrified.

Another one:

• Starting August 1, all Robbery Dets assigned to districts will be in uniform and will be assigned ALL robbery jobs via OEMC.
  
  All Dets from the Area and Districts will be expected to patrol the street between assignments. At least one Det Sgt will be assigned a Conflict Zone in the Area or District and will ensure his available units are conducting stops in the zone. The Det Sgt will be held responsible for his unit's daily activity.
  
  The Detective Division as it was once known is gone forever.

The D-Unit as we once knew it is already gone, but forever is a long time.

Shots Fired at Navy Pier?

A whole bunch of comments about Michigan and Chicago going up for grabs last night and at least two saying gunfire at Navy Pier. Rumors? Trolls? Or just more of the unreported mayhem going on downtown on a near weekly basis?

Suspend It All!

Crime will be documented, but it will not be solved:

• The Ivory Tower had decreed that Detectives will have a report on all handouts within 5 days!!
  OK let see how fast you can say suspend.
  Thw word is that in NYC all cases are suspended and only the victims who demand follow up get some

Tie this into the upcoming list of jobs we won't even be responding to and we foresee a tremendous drop off in crime numbers. We also see a massive drop in the Clearance rates, though "massive" is a relative term if you look at the actual numbers right now.

"Sneedling"

How come Sneed didn't catch this one? She has spies everywhere:

• Durbin the turbin was with tiny dancer at yolk in the south loop. I wonder what they were plotting. No body guards. Hhhhhmmm

Well, maybe that's one she wants to keep secret for some reason.

Summer Furlough Rumor

Articles like this....:

• The streets of Chicago are officially more dangerous than a war zone: Homicide victims in the Windy City outnumber U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year.
  
  While 144 Americans have died in Afghanistan in 2012, a whopping 228 Chicago residents have been killed, and the murder rate is up a staggering 35 percent from last year. That’s a rash of homicides quadruple the rate of New York City’s, and police and crime experts fear it may only get worse.

....lead to rumors like this:

• The city's new priority in the next contract has changed.
  
  Priority #1 is to cancel ALL summer furloughs in the department. The old priority was changing the medical policy.
  
  The city is going to leave the medical alone and possibly offer 2% annual raises if the FOP agrees to NO 6, 7, 8, or 9 furlough selections for ANYONE. This will keep the city from having to hire more officers when all they need (they think) are more officers in the summer.
  
  The city knows it will be hard to get this in arbitration, so they are already planning concessions to get the FOP to agree.

There are exceptions already built into the contract - we believe the Mounted Unit already can't have summer furloughs and one of the restrictions in place from the old days was Summer Mobile people couldn't have a furlough segment during their details. A wholesale ban on summer furloughs though? Not really in the cards that we can see.

UPDATE: Someone said that the Mounted Unit can get summer furloughs since last contract.

Sergeants List Delayed Why?

Two interesting rumors. First one:

• Sgt.'s and Lt.'s list were done as of Friday but because someone leaked it out HR got pissed and intentionally held it back while they investigate the leak. Apparently, Ladner who was out of town on Friday was not to happy and so the decision was made to hold it back pending investigation.
  List won't be out until they feel it is adequate now...

Ladner is a control freak who thinks she runs the entire Department, and it might be true if she has the power to stop promotion lists in a Department that couldn't keep a secret to save itself. Whatever, the list won't be secret unless she releases it on a Wednesday afternoon when no one is looking.

The second rumor is a bit more believable, given the history of the CPD:

• Hey SCC, supposedly one of the "merit picks" you shine the spotlight on ended up taking 30 pending before the Police Board a few days before the list was released, so now the entire merit list is undergoing a serious second look to weed out potential embarrassments.

Does anyone else think that maybe that should have been the first thing done for a "meri-clout-orious" list - a simple background check for open investigations?

Rumors Rumors

Interesting if true:

• This just in though, heard it tonight. The City is planning to mess with the wage scales in a very big way. Also every city employee is going to wake up after this NATO fiasco and find the city is going to take away a lot of the benefits, like holidays, personal days,etc. in order to make up for the pension problem. And there is more cuts coming in court overtime. Every officer is going to get a court card and a new identification card. The court card will be swiped in and out of the court building. There will only be a total of six people in the court section to handle those little problems dealing with the court cards and the court section will be at 35th Street. Change is coming soon.

We've seen attempts to cut OT at court many times before and it always results in clearance and conviction rates plummeting. This doesn't look any different. Anyone have insight or info?

True or False?

Anyone have the scoop on this?

• Mayor came to plant a tree today @ Garfield and Western. When he got out of his car, Protesters, Anarchists ETC came rushing out of a Carnival that was set up nearby and his detail had to throw him into his car to speed away! The police there were OVER RUN by these nuts, some wearing masks over their faces..
  
  Police called for assist cars.
  
  The press was there, filming this tree planting ceremony..
  
  WHERE IS THE COVERAGE?????
  
  This shows we are TOTALLY FUCKED when NATO comes!!!

Now imagine this at 50 different locations across the city.

Who knew Earth Day could be so confrontational?

Ridiculous Rumor

Someone is over-thinking this:

• It seems that the powers that be want to take the lowest preforming officers on the watch and have them present at the Comp stat meeting to answer for their performance in the district. They will get a court notification to appear. Can someone say witch hunt! hostile work environment.....f^&k this department

Pardon our laughter, but if this is any sort of a "confrontational" meeting, you're entitled to the representation of your choice and a time frame of not less than 24 hours, probably more.

If the brass, specifically McGee8, is demanding numbers from any officer, demand he cite chapter and verse of the Department Order, the contract section and finally City Ordinance covering quota based policing. We're pretty sure that will end the witch hunt fairly quickly.

And we're pretty sure that if you were in the 1800 block of Avenue Z and the assholes are shooting in the 2500 block of Q Street, there's no way you can be responsible for something happening 12 blocks away.

And if you're a bid spot, all the better. They aren't going to be moving you any time soon.

Holiday to be Canceled?

Hot rumor:

• heard a Rumor that more ways to save money are on the way. Logic is if it doesn't exist why have a payed holiday for it. Talking about CAPS, heard that the city is using the same logic they applied to watch commanders. Call it something else and then you don't have to pay for the old title.

We're actually surprised this hasn't popped up more frequently. Thirteen holidays is quite a bit...at least one or two more than most city departments, and the CAPS holiday is pretty much a big fat target for Rahm and the administration.

That being said, it's still a part of the contract and must be negotiated over. Rahm can't just take things away, no matter what he wants to do. We fully expect this to be part of the "austerity cuts" proposed this summer and it could be a winner for Rahm. Maybe if we headed the city off at the pass? Suggest a holiday cut for something substantial in negotiations and then a public push for how reasonable we're being in the face of Rahm's proposed cuts to the bone? We certainly need to be seen as more proactive and a willing partner in negotiations. Just saying "no" to Rahm isn't going to fly in this atmosphere. Rahm controls the media and plays everyone against each other. Time to take a page out of his book.