Police officer complains of leadership issues, I give the answer.

After reading a whiny complaint from a Chicago police officer, then a followup from another one, I posted my response, I will give you the transcript below in case it gets lost to news censorship.  While the original Officer was venting what probably needed to be vented, my solution presented will likely not be well received.  

FRUSTRATEDCOP wrote:

When you have 12-13 thousand people you are going to have some issues. They could be park workers, postal workers, ,teachers, etc.. The real isssue here is the lack of leadership and direction in the CPD. The shootings are up and that is due to lack of faith that the officers in the street have in their superiors. These thugs that are taking over our streets and killing people need to be dealt with in a different way than family Joe or Jane. You will not appreciate the police until you are a victim and need them!

SAVASHIP wrote:

If the police didn't force citizens to depend on them, people would be able to defend themselves, having a naturally reducing effect on violent crime, thus reducing the stress and danger for the police. The police just don't trust normal citizens, and it shows. Why are they the "only ones" who are allowed to carry a weapon to defend themselves in an admittedly dangerous area? Is it because they're better than you? More trustworthy than you? If they're better trained to use the simple point and click interface of a modern firearm, why is that training not available to citizens? Why do the police insist that you will only appreciate them once you've been victimized? I mean, it's not like they were around to stop it. If you were attacked and had a small amount of marijuana on you, what do you think they'd be more interested in... investigating the attack, or ruining your life in their self-righteous war on drugs? Doesn't that make you twice to three times the victim?

Just remember, when seconds count, the police are just minutes away, and they would rather you be holding a phone, than a firearm... because they're the only one's enough to handle protecting you.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/chicago-police-andrews-opine-101443474.html#ixzz0y8Og3L9l

Zion IL man sues over standard Illinois police operating procedures

A Zion man was walking by a fight that was near his residence when he felt a strong shock to his body.   The police tasered him, then arresting him to later be acquitted of all charges.   He has apparently been arrested over 10 times, but never convicted of a single crime:

Wells has been charged with several criminal misdemeanor charges, including assault, property damage, obstruction of justice and resisting a police officer since 1992. He was not convicted of any of those charges.

While I believe the lawsuit is valid, and the police are probably singling this man out, there are parts that I don't agree with.   The man claims to suffer from panic attacks, bi-polar disorder, ADD, and is using those "special needs" to raise the amount of cash owed to him.  My experience with panic attacks from people is that they are extremely narcissistic, and freak out when they can't control everything around them.   This claim leads me to cut the police only a little bit of slack, because after seeing several panic attacks in my day, they are drama filled raving lunatic sessions!

Parallels of Dogs and Guns in Illinois.

A woman from Elgin who's dogs ran to greet the Mayor Ed Schock's dog was shocked to find out that her dogs are deemed dangerous and illegal.  She was fined $2,200 for the crime of owning 2 pit bulls in Elgin, a clean, nice city where only dogs that aren't dangerous, like German Shepherds are welcome.  This was after an incident where the Mayor and his German Shepherd recieved no damage from 2 Pit Bulls that ran at him in a neighborhood.   He claimed he was so terrified of the curious dogs that he mustered all his cowardice, and kicked one square in the jaw, where it stopped being curious and whimpered.   The other dog, wagging and jumping was fended off with the end of a leash.   These dangerous hounds were then corralled by the owner who was upset this man kicked her dog in the face.   The man, who was the mayor and obviously better than her, ran an administrative meeting and concluded her "dangerous" dogs violated Elgin statutes, and she was fined $2200.

Check out these parallels for the dog owner to what gun owners face: Lugo, the owner of the pit bulls is also required to, in addition to the fine, obtain $100,000 in liability insurance, register her dogs at city hall, muzzle them when they are outside and have both dogs microchipped.

Keep in mind, Lugo's dogs did not hurt either the mayor, nor his dog, one of Lugo's "dangerous" Pit Bulls was kicked, the other was whipped by a man who's obviously no threat to any person or animal, the cowardly Mayor Ed Schock.  I might be biased because the only Pit Bulls I know of are sweet, well adjusted, kinda doofey dogs that can't even kill crickets, so read that sally-pants Ed Schock's testimony yourself, and see if you can sort it out.

Schock testified that he was walking his dog at about 9:15 p.m. when two dogs bounded off a porch along Plum Street.

Schock said he and his German Shepherd, Rako, retreated behind a tree along the city-owned parkway and he felt they were both threatened and in imminent danger.

"They were coming full speed. One of them came to a screeching halt because I kicked it right under the chin. The other I hit with a leash," he said.

Schock said a man corralled the dogs and brought them inside the home and Lugo "proceeded to berate me and curse me for kicking her dog."

 I think Ed Schock should be in the courts for Misdemeanor Criminal Damage to Property for kicking the dog... but that's just me apparently.   If the dogs had bitten, or hurt him, then I would be saying something else, but I've had too much experience to tolerate panicky human reactions to these companion creatures.  

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!"