City hall to chicago PD: write more tickets!

In a memo that was leaked to the Chicago Sun-times last week, the City is informing the Police department that ticket writing is down 25% from last year, making a budget deficit of over $10,000,000.   This is further evidence that Police are a money stream for cities, a way of pseudo-legally extorting money from citizens over minor issues, like parking in the wrong spot, or letting a silly meter timer run out.  The revenue director, Bea Reyna-Hickey has been suspended over the message because according to Chicago Aldermen this memo sends the wrong message:

Cook County Clerk David Orr and several aldermen said the memo sends the wrong message to the public. City Hall considers parking tickets a revenue-generating tool more than a public-safety tool, Orr said.

The problem that I see is that the memo sends an honest message to the public about what law-enforcement is in today's day.   This is a big deal to city hall because the people can see exactly what their overlords think of them.   What's the result of this airing of the fact city dwellers and visitors are just targeted marks?

There's no outcry... no protest... not a stir.    The subtle hatred does seem to be growing though, this hate is getting so extreme that even the police seem to be turning against Daley's hand that feeds them:

July 31, 2010 - Chicago police officers were overheard talking about both a search warrant and Mayor Daley at 9:43 p.m. tonight. The officers, whose names are unknown, did not know that one of their microphone keys was "open," or pressed down, which allowed their conversation to be overheard on police radio scanners. We overheard the conversation on frequency 460.050, which is used by CPD Zone 2, Districts 19 and 23 on the city's north side.

The female dispatcher frantically called out to all officers on that frequency to "Watch your keys, watch your keys, you're talking about a search warrant." Moments later, she said, "Watch your keys, you're talking about the mayor!"