CHICAGO (CBS) – Starting this week, Chicago police are changing their responses to 911 calls. They’ll no longer come right away to reports of things like criminal damage to property, vehicle thefts, garage burglaries, or other crimes in which the suspect is no longer on the scene, and the victim isn’t in immediate danger.
The move will free up the equivalent of 44 police officers a day for patrol duties.
CBS 2′s Jim Williams spoke to some Chicagoans who think it’s the wrong move for the police.
November 16, 2012|By John P. Huston, Chicago Tribune reporter
One day three years ago Meghan Murrin was a New Trier High School senior. And she had just died for a few minutes.
Her increasing experimentation with illegal drugs had led her to heroin, and on Oct. 3, 2009, an overdose almost killed her. Her heart stopped beating, but she was brought back to life after three shots of adrenaline, said Murrin, 21, of Northfield.
Suburban teens and young adults start out experimenting with Vicodin and OxyContin prescription painkillers. They become addicted, then are unable to get the prescription painkillers and move on to heroin. They are not injecting heroin, but snorting it. It is easy to get heroin in the City of Chicago. They call the Eisenhower expressway (290) the Heroin Highway because of the traffic from the suburbs that get off at Independence or Sacramento blvds. and are able to by the drug in open markets less than 1 block from the highway. Chicago drug enforcement police and government officials are fully aware of this but for some reason unable to do anything about it.
Murrin was one of the lucky ones. But several north suburban police departments are seeing an increase in heroin use — more arrests, more overdoses, more deaths.
2:39 p.m. CDT, August 17, 2012 A veteran Chicago police officer pleaded guilty in federal court today to stealing thousands of dollars from an undercover FBI informant who he thought was working for drug dealers.
As part of his plea deal, Kallatt Mohammed, who was a tactical officer in the Wentworth police district, also admitted that in 2007 and 2008 he and Sgt. Ronald Wattsextorted protection payoffs from heroin and crack dealers in the Ida B. Wells public housing complex.
Regardless of if you condemn or condone the Chicago Police Department’s handling of last week’s NATO Summit protests, there’s no denying that the Windy City cops were indeed on the job. Why then, ask the officers, aren’t they being properly paid?
The Fraternal Order of Police has now filed a grievance against the city’s management because Chicago administrators show no sign of compensating police officers on duty during the demonstration with overtime, despite some cops working a week straight on the clock.
On the website for the FOP’s Chicago Lodge 7, the group sums up the debacle with an explanation delivered with sheer sarcasm — a post published on their website this Thursday is titled “More Thanks for a Job Well Done” and its contents reveal that the Windy City boys in blue are rather angry.
Chicago Police are taking lessons learned in Pittsburgh to help control crowds for the upcoming NATO summit.
Police plan to use what’s called a long-range acoustic device to keep crowds from getting out of hand. ABC 7′s Paul Meincke learned more about the device and what worked and didn’t work in Pittsburgh.
The G20 Summit in Pittsburgh in September of 2009 has been called the most peaceful of modern day global summits. There are doubtless many reasons why arrests and property damage were minor compared to other host cities. Police say their intelligence paid dividends. Some protestors say the city purposely dragged out the permitting process for marches making it tougher to organize. And there is also Pittsburgh’s layout: a compact downtown that come summit time was filled with riot-control police.
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police in the United States can strip search anyone that they arrest. It doesn’t matter how minor the crime is and it doesn’t matter if they suspect that you have contraband on you or not.
The Supreme Court even said that you can be strip searched if you have been arrested for a traffic violation. Any type of arrest will do. Once you are arrested, if the police want to strip off your clothes and see you naked there is not a thing you can do about it. You can read the entire Supreme Court decision right here. Considering the fact that 13 million Americans are put in jail at some point each year, this is a very frightening thing. The notion that we are all “innocent until proven guilty” is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Thanks to the Supreme Court, it is now legal for the police to strip search you any time they want. All they have to do is find some excuse to arrest you. And considering the fact that almosteverything is illegal in America, that is not hard to do. America continues to become a very dark place in 2012, and very few people are speaking up in defense of liberty and freedom.
By Ryan Haggerty Tribune reporter 10:04 a.m. CDT, April 6, 2012
A Cook County judge is scheduled to decide this afternoon whether to appoint a special prosecutor to look into how Chicago police investigated the 2004 death of David Koschman following a drunken confrontation with a nephew of then-Mayor Richard Daley.
In seeking the special prosecutor, attorneys for Koschman’s family have argued that Chicago police deliberately falsified reports to make it appear Koschman was the aggressor.
But the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, which opposes the appointment, accused Koschman’s attorneys of “Monday morning quarterbacking” and jumping to conclusions about evidence.
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com March 21, 2012 7:54PM
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration is buying 8,513 more face shields for Chicago Police officers at a cost of $757,657 — and demanding delivery in time for the May 20-21 NATO summit — to give every officer on the street a shield that fits over a gas mask and prevents them from being blinded by liquids thrown by protesters.
The supplemental purchase from Colorado-based Super Seer Corp. brings to $954,118 the amount of money spent to purchase 11,570 face shields twice as thick as the old ones with a larger surface and air-tight seal to keep liquids out.
The new contract was piggybacked onto an existing Fairfax County, Va. award with a third-distributor to expedite delivery. It makes it clear the Chicago Police Department is not scaling back its protest preparations even though President Barack Obama has shifted the G-8 summit from Chicago to Camp David.
Police held Williams and Ponce for about 10 minutes. The officer who handcuffed them is recorded on camera warning members of the media that their First Amendment rights could be terminated.
“Your First Amendment rights can be terminated if you’re creating a scene or whatever,” the officer said.
When asked how they were creating a scene, the officer said, “Your presence is creating a scene.”
By Mary Owen TribLocal reporter Friday at 2:28 p.m.
A Joliet police officer has been fired after allegedly using excessive force while responding to a domestic dispute earlier this month at a motel.
Officer Thomas O’Connor, a four-year veteran of the Joliet Police Department, was alone when he responded to a call on Feb. 9 and is accused of beating a woman at the Star Inn in Joliet as he attempted to arrest her.
“He is not above the law,” said Joliet Police Chief Mike Trafton. “I have a duty to enforce the law and I also have a duty to protect the people of Joliet, whether you’re a cop or not a cop. I have to do the right thing.”
Trafton said O’Connor did not cooperate with an internal investigation, but there was sufficient evidence to warrant firing. The officer was placed on administrative duties immediately after the victim filed a complaint. An administrative hearing was held before Trafton made a decision to terminate O’Connor.
January 17, 2012, By Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune reporter
A Chicago police officer accused in a hit-and-run crash that killed a 13-year-old boy received preferential treatment from investigators who drove the off-duty officer to a restroom, delayed field-sobriety tests and overlooked key evidence that he was intoxicated, prosecutors said Tuesday in closing arguments.
A Cook County jury deliberated on the fate of Richard Bolling into the evening without reaching a verdict. Deliberations are scheduled to resume Wednesday morning. The veteran narcotics officer, 42, is on trial on charges of aggravated DUI, reckless homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the May 2009 crash that killed Trenton Booker, who was riding his bike late at night.
By Hal Dardick, Chicago Tribune reporter December 13, 2011
A City Council committee Monday approved paying more than $3 million to settle two cases of alleged misconduct that, according to one key alderman, indicated “a troubling pattern” in Chicago Police Department lockups.
Police and civilian detention aides were accused in two separate lawsuits of ignoring obvious signs of medical distress that resulted in the deaths of people held in custody.
“It’s clearly indicative of a pattern that is very troubling,” said Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, a former police officer and attorney. Burke is chairman of the Finance Committee, which recommended the settlements be approved at Wednesday’s full City Council meeting.
“In the ordinary scheme of things, from just a human perspective, people should be treated with compassion and humanity,” Burke said. “But from a more practical sense, the taxpayers are now suffering to the extent of millions of dollars because these officers in detention facilities have ignored what appears to be clear signs of people in distress.”
Spotted this police truck on Madison Street in the Loop recently. It’s intimidation factor is so over the top that I thought it was an improperly parked movie prop. It turns out, it’s legit.
The “my police department can beat up your police department” vehicle isn’t part of Chicago’s police department. It comes from the hamlet of Winthrop Harbor — the last town before the Wisconsin border.
It’s the home of the AIR-ONE Emergency Response Coalition. It provides part-time helicopters and other expensive equipment to small police departments that can’t afford to have them full time.
BY Teresa Auch Schultz Sun-Times Media November 18, 2011 6:04PM
A bistate crackdown on the Latin Kings street gang on Friday snared two Chicago Police officers accused of using their badges to rob people in Northwest Indiana and Illinois.
Their arrests were part of a broader crackdown against gang members and associates accused of taking part in 19 murders, attempted murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping and weapons violations, mostly in Chicago and Indiana but stretching down to Texas, said U.S. Attorney David Capp of the Northern District of Indiana. The crimes date back to 1989, officials said.
Officers Alex Guerrero, 41, and Antonio Martinez Jr., 40, both of Chicago, helped the gang steal, according to the indictment unveiled Friday in federal court in Hammond.
Protester and three-tour American veteran Kayvan Sabehgi was beaten by Oakland police during the Occupy protest’s general strike on 2 November. Sabehgi, who was ‘completely peaceful’, according to witnesses, was left with a lacerated spleen
Officer: “Guess what? You were eavesdropping on our conversation. I did not give you permission to do so. Step out of the vehicle.”
Despite clear legal precedent, nationwide hoax that it is illegal to film cops prevails
Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Thursday, September 29, 2011
Cops arrested an Illinois man and tried to hit him with a 15-year jail sentence for “eavesdropping” after the man filmed his own traffic stop, in another example of how citizens are being intimidated out of documenting the actions of public servants despite every single case against Americans for recording police officers being thrown out of court.
“I’m just an ordinary citizen. I was on my way to the movies, and all of a sudden I’m facing a felony and 15 years in prison,” Frobe told ABC7.
Convinced that he had been stopped unfairly because he was not in a 35-mile-an-hour zone, Frobe used his flip camera to record the incident in Lindenhurst, before being arrested on “eavesdropping charges”.
The Lindenhurst police chief Kevin Klahs says his officer who stopped Louis Frobe was simply following the law. The chief also points out that if the same thing had happened 13 miles to the north in Wisconsin, there wouldn’t have been an arrest because the eavesdropping law there is much less restrictive.
City, CTA bumping up funding for train, bus patrols
By Kristen Mack, Tribune reporter July 28, 2011
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Transit Authority President Forrest Claypool on Wednesday touted a $10 million investment to hire 50 full-time police officers to patrol the rail and bus system.
But a closer look reveals a less significant outlay.
The CTA says it is already paying out $9.2 million a year to 60 officers to handle security on their off days. Under the new plan, the transit agency simply will add another $800,000 to what it’s already spending.
BY FRANK MAIN Staff Reporter/fmain@suntimes.com Updated: July 15, 2011
Battle lines between protesters and the police are already being drawn for the NATO and G-8 summits that Chicago will host next spring.
On Thursday, an anti-war organizer said he was scouting potential staging areas for crowds of protesters expected outside the summits in May.
Meanwhile, police Supt. Garry McCarthy said he’s been planning for three weeks. And he put a deputy superintendent, Debra Kirby, in charge of preparing the Chicago Police Department’s response.
Yesterday, a friend of mine posted this link on Facebook from Salon.com: http://www.salon.com/2013/01/11/stop_talking_about_hitler/. Along with the link he added this comment: Let’s stick to facts folks! If you need 20 bullet clips and an assault rifle to hunt deer I feel very sorry for you and support your right to have them. Ok, I’m game. […]
Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm Location: Article 2 Gun Range - 250 Cortland Ave Lombard, IL 60148 – Click here for a map. Details: The DuPage Libertarians are going to the shooting range! We have lanes reserved from 7:00 to 8:30pm, so please try to show up a few minutes early or just ask for the DuPage Libertarians group […]
Twenty years ago today, the United Nations (UN) established World Press Freedom Day to raise awareness of press freedom and remind governments of their duties under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year’s official celebration, sponsored by the UN, highlights what EFF has known for a long time: that free expression is an imperativ […]
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November 16, 2012|By John P. Huston, Chicago Tribune reporter
By Paul Meincke, ABC7 Chicago 13 April 12
