Author: pvbella

“I think our media plays a very important role in our democracy, but you lose me, you lose me when it’s a race to the bottom and it’s all about the fight and it’s all about the conflict,” she said. “I’ve got to tell you, some of the reporting I’ve seen this week is just sickening. We all need to ask ourselves what we can do better to show our people everywhere that we have the capacity to be human beings again.” (Chicago MayorLori Lightfoot)

We try to give public officials the benefit of the doubt, hoping they will do right by us. We want to trust what they say.  We try to have confidence they have the public’s best interest at heart. Even though this is Chicago, where politics, public service, and press conferences are tall tales.

For the most part, the local news media gives officials a wide berth with the benefit of the doubt. They only pile on in disbelief when things go south. Scandals turn the news media into swarming tabloid sharks looking for blood in the water. It lasts for a while, then things return to normal, the benefit of the doubt returns.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot was skating on thin ice for the benefit of the doubt department. She finally lost that benefit this week. So did Superintendent of Police David Brown and First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter.

During a press conference on the city budget, the mayor criticized the reportage over the events that played out after the tragic murder of Officer Ella French. She needs to be right, and she will be right, no matter how wrong she is. The press must report her correct(ed) version of events versus the facts. She also told reporters to check or be careful of their sources.

The mayor claimed the press lost her. She has it backward. She lost the press. She, like mayors before her, is trying to bully the news media. It is not going to work. She lost the benefit of the doubt of some alderpersons, who she needs to get things done.

Mayor Lightfoot lost the rank and file of the Chicago Police Department, their families, and all the people they have influence over. That is tens of thousands of voters. David Brown and Eric Carter lost the credibility that they are competent or compassionate.

Crime is rampant and out of control all over Chicago. Murder, mayhem, carjackings, robberies, and other crimes are several times a day occurrences. According to HeyJackass, which interprets hard data about crime, a person is shot every 1:56. A person is murdered every 10:44. So far this year, 2774 people were shot. Firearms killed 475.

Lightfoot and Brown sailed along on the benefit of the doubt granted by citizens and the news media. They were given a wide swath of the benefit of the doubt for too long. We ate up the excuses, gangs, guns, drug dealers. The pandemic. Root causes. Systemic somethings or other. We listened or read their well-crafted words created by PR weasels. We tried hard to believe, even though things kept getting worse.

By the way, Lightfoot claimed that Eric Carter was not a member of “Friends and family.” He worked and earned his position. This was not only a lie, it was a laughable lie. No First Deputy Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department is appointed by their resume. They all had clout. They all knew or were related to one or more powerful people. They all were part of the friends and family club.

When the lies were refuted, the mayor doubled down, covering for Carter. It only got worse. Superintendent Brown got an earful at a gathering of police officers in McCormick place. He claimed he heard their complaints, understood their anger, and did what he always does, nothing. Brown is a good listener and slick talker. Those are his only two qualities.

Chicago Police Officers are overworked, twelve-hour days with days off canceled over and over again. They are discouraged, frustrated, and stressed to the maximum. There is no morale left. The esprit de corps is broken. They only have each other. They cannot rely on their executive leadership or City Hall.

These were the bitter end to benefit the doubt for the mayor, Brown, and Carter. The cops do not believe them, and too many citizens, especially family members of violent crime victims, do not believe them.

Lori Lightfoot won 49 out of 50 wards when she ran for mayor. She lost many of those wards over her conduct this past year. If she decides to run again, her chances of winning reelection are slim.

Lightfoot’s only credible bright spot was her handling of the COVID pandemic. Unlike other big-city mayors, she made the hard decisions early, shutting the city down. She worked with the governor, partnering her health experts with his. She remained calm in the face of rising cases and deaths. When she disagreed with the governor, she did not turn it into a war of words. Her mandates kept us healthy, for the most part. If she ran the rest of the city the way she managed the pandemic, she might still have the benefit of the doubt.

Just when you thought the Chicago clown show could not get worse, Chicago Police Superintendent, David Brown, could not get the name of a fallen police officer right during a press conference. He referred to her as Ella Fitzgerald, not once, but twice. What next? Etta James? Ellie Mae Clampet?

Her name is Officer Ella French. OFFICER ELLA FRENCH!

Brown embarrassed himself and outraged the rank and file. They expressed their outrage on social media. Even Cook County State’s Attorney, in name only, Kim Foxx lashed out on Twitter.

Maybe Deadeye Brown should have a staff member face him at the podium with large hand-lettered cue cards, so he knows what to say like they for talk show hosts.

The night of the shooting, as the police honor guard was preparing to lead the ambulance into the Medical Examiner’s facility, Brown’s Mini-Me Minion, First Deputy Superintendent, Eric Carter, was caught on video trying to rush things along, saying, “We’re not waiting for the bagpipes. We don’t have time for this shit.” Yeah, he said it. He wanted Officer Ella French to get the bum’s rush so he could go back to the bed he was roused from.

Police officers are outraged over the latest gaffes from their supposed leaders. They single-handedly destroyed what little shred of morale is left in the department. Insult to injury to utter and laughable stupidity reigned over this tragic, heartbreaking incident. 

Not one senior staff member of the police department attended the bond hearing for the two accused offenders yesterday. No else from the city, including alderpersons or staff members, attended the hearing.

The list of gaffes by this clown show is embarrassing. Police leaders are not supposed to be embarrassing. Officers are rightfully angry over this. They risk their lives every hour of every day, and they get kicked in the teeth by their leaders.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot cannot let this clown show go on. The ratings are in negative territory. Pay off Brown’s contract and send him packing. Force Carter out. We will wish them ill on their way out of the door.

There is plenty of senior staff in the Chicago Police Department to step up and do those two jobs. Stop doing nationwide searches for incompetent mercenary police executives. Enough is enough. Each one in Chicago was and is a failure. 

A department is mourning and grieving. A city is metaphorically burning as we go into the 150^th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire. People are dying and suffering from unchecked rampant criminality. Now, the Chicago Police Department men and women are left knowing their boss, and his number two do not care a wit about them.

When is enough going to be enough? Lightfoot bears the responsibility for the gaffes. She bears the responsibility for the murder, mayhem, havoc, and criminality plaguing this city. She hired Brown and probably approved Carter.

She needs to act swiftly. We can no longer wait for the next failing plan. Time is running out. Citizens across this city are fed up. Our police officers are demoralized, sad, and angry.

Public safety is the number one responsibility of the Mayor and City Council. Yet, there are over a dozen anti-police alderpersons. Many are represent wards with the highest poverty, crime, and violence. Like all good extremists, all they do is flap their soup coolers. They propose nothing of substance. Most do zero for their constituents.

Communities where violence is most rampant, are demanding better. Their pleas fall on deaf ears at City Hall. The communities know their alderpersons do not care about them. It was this way for decades. Now, it is getting beyond worse. The grim reaper piper is being paid in blood and death.

It is time to send Sheriff Deadeye back where he came from. It is time to put people in charge of the police department who know what they are doing. We need those who know the city, worked the streets, and know the communities. We do not need another dunderhead mercenary from someplace else who has no clue.

The circus does not have to come to town. Chicago is the circus.

Lori Lightfoot lost the confidence of the Chicago Police Department rank and file, the men and women who work the streets every day. Her police superintendent, David Brown, is an abject failure. When you lose the confidence of your public safety and emergency service personnel, you have a big problem.

The streets of Chicago are a war zone and Wasteland, like a post-apocalyptic movie. The criminals are in charge. Gangs, drug dealers, and other criminal groups, small and large, are wreaking murder, mayhem, and havoc every day in every neighborhood. 

Chicago police officers are overworked, beyond tired, and demoralized. They cannot make good decisions and solve problems under these highly stressful conditions. The cops are warning the city. The city could care less. Chicago is a town without pity. It does not care about its emergency service personnel or the citizens, who are being victimized daily.

If David Brown and his command staff demand police officers work long hours with no or few days off, they should do the same. The concept of rank having privilege has its limits. They should lead by example or leave.

According to the Chicago Police Department, discipline is meted out as an educational tool, not punishment. Under the COPA regime, discipline is pure punishment, and it is slammed hard. They severely punish officers for legitimate actions, like stopping people visibly wearing firearms. COPA does not punish to educate. COPA punishes for punishment’s sake.

Why would any police officer want to do proactive policing under these horrific conditions? Why would they risk their life, job, or freedom? The Chicago Police Department is a toxic work environment. The buck stops on the mayor’s desk. She is wearing the hat. She can change course, but she won’t. Lori Lightfoot is stubbornly clinging to failure.

Police officers have no faith that this city has their best interests at heart or the citizens’ best interests. They are living in despair. Every day they go to a job they are afraid to do properly. Every day they are looking over their shoulders in fear of retribution. Every day they are tired, mentally, physically, and emotionally. This is a recipe for disaster.

The mayor is responsible for this cataclysm. Her superintendent is inept. He proved time and time again he is out of his element. Chicago is not Dallas. It is not some sleepy cowpoke town. 

The people in this city no longer feel safe. There are no safe places left. 

The mayor is losing the faith of many alderpersons whose constituents and businesses are fed up. Some of these aldermen have been calling for changes. Their demands fall on deaf ears.

There are over a dozen alderpersons who are anti-police. Maybe the police detail that protects these elected officials at City Hall should be disbanded. Social workers could replace them. Many of these alderpersons represent some of the most dangerous wards.

No one wants to live in fear. People are speaking out. Lori Lightfoot is deaf to even the most common-sense solutions.

Crime is out of control. You cannot fight crime with press conferences like David Brown is doing. Chicago needs a reset. The mayor must wake up to the reality that she lost this city and will lose the next election if she runs.

Time is running out. Patience is running out. The pressure is building. Chicago is on the path to destruction. There is no leadership on the fifth floor of City Hall, in the City Council, and not in the Chicago Police Department. 

Failure is an option is the leadership philosophy of this once great city.

When I worked in the 10^th District during the late 1970s through the 1980s, we had a dispatcher named Harry. Harry was the best dispatcher on our zone. He had a cheerful disposition and a calm, competent manner. No matter how much chaos there was, he controlled it with his assuring voice.

Harry could handle multiple hot calls, chases, and other incidents without creating havoc. If you look the word multi-tasker up in a dictionary, Harry would be the first definition. There were many dispatchers like Harry, but he stands out because we knew his name.

When Harry was dispatching, he had our backs. He was able to get us whatever we needed ASAP. He rarely asked why, and when he did, it was to make sure he could do the right thing. If there were something severe, Harry would shut down the zone until the issue was resolved. He stayed on the radio with his reassuring voice assisting as if he was there.

Harry, like most dispatchers at the time, was a police officer. He was a cop’s cop. He knew we relied on him, and he never let us down.

I bring up Harry because police officers, the public, and the news media never give dispatchers the credit they deserve. Today, most, if not all, dispatchers are civilians. Chicago police dispatchers are some of the best in the nation. Most cops never meet, let alone know the names of their dispatchers. They are invisible voices on the radio.

During the incident Saturday night that left one police officer murdered and another clinging to life, a dispatcher was one of the heroes. His name is Keith Thornton.

Thornton did a pheromonal job juggling several tasks as the incident unfolded if you listen to the recording. The recording speaks for itself. Thornton took control of the radio zone. He owned it. He showed total focus and concern for “My officers.” His words, “My Officers.”

“That’s the unconscious officer, correct? Is someone in the back with her? Is someone in the back seat with her? Ok, listen to me, take that vest off right now and start compressions, start breathing, whatever you got to do, start it now, while you’re driving, the officer in the back with her, take the vest off and start compressions now. Keep it rolling baby… they know you’re coming in,” 

Thronton stayed cool and calm. He gave directions to the officers on the street. Nothing would interfere with him until the officers were at the hospital, the crime scene secured, and everyone was safe.

Police officers rely on their dispatchers for many things, trivial and critical. They are our ears and mouthpieces. When we need things, they can get them and get them fast. They can organize the chaos, keep officers calm, deescalate excited officers, and juggle many balls in an emergency.

Keith Thornton is a hero. The cops that night know it. Hopefully, the brass and the city will recognize his actions on that horrific night. One could only wonder what went through his head when it was all over. 

Many officers take the dispatchers for granted until the stuff hits the fan. They may not be on the streets. They do not wear guns. They are sitting behind computer screens with headsets. They are always there when cops need them. They are the cops’ invisible partners. They rarely get the credit they deserve.

“To such as these, all but forgotten, doing a dirty, thankless job, without reward or glory, policing, firefighting, and EMTs is a way of life, the only one we knew or wanted.” (Paraphrased from “Boots and Saddles”)

The day my daughter was born, I held her tiny body in my arms. Her head was barely the size of my palm. I knew then that I had to change. I could no longer be the kind of police officer I was. I did not want to be all over the news for some action I took. I did not want some bosses and the Police Chaplain ringing the doorbell at some ungodly hour, announcing my family is a member of a club no one wants to join.

Cops, firefighters, and EMTs may not think about or verbalize it. But deep in the recesses of their minds, they all wonder. When they leave for work, will this be the last time they see their loved ones? Will these be the last hugs and kisses.? Their families feel this too. They may never express it, but they know, feel, and fear it.

Some say they do God’s work. That is wrong. They do the work God does not want to do. They do the job no one wants to do. It is a calling, not just a career. They are humans with human flaws. Yet they are essential. Their flaws are splashed all over the news media like cheap beer on a bar. The day-to-day grind and danger are only reported when they are killed or seriously injured performing their essential duty.

Last night a Chicago Police officer was shot and killed. Her partner was critically wounded and is fighting for his life. They were performing their duty. It is called the ultimate sacrifice, dying or being catastrophically injured while performing duty.

We live by rituals. The rituals are essential. They make us feel we belong to something bigger than ourselves. They keep us strong in the face of our weaknesses. They help us grieve, heal, and keep us bonded to each other. They begin the remembrance. We never forget.

The ritual played out over the early morning hours. Droves of police officers gathered at the hospital. Then, the parade of police and fire vehicles took their slow ride to the Cook County Medical Examiners facility. An honor guard and piper led the parade from the street into the parking lot.

Two hook and latter trucks raised their ladders, almost touching, to drape an American flag as they arrived. Officers and Fire Department personnel lined the street to honor the fallen. In the days ahead, the honor wake and funeral will be another part of the ritual.

Another mass gathering of emergency responders will be at the funeral home. A large honor parade will follow the fallen to the cemetery. Handing a flag to the family and the twenty-one gun salute will end the formal ritual.

I was a witness and participant in many of these rituals. Some were for friends. Some were people I worked with. Some were people I did not know. Each and everyone was heartbreaking.

We are extended families. These are our brothers and sisters from other parents.

Another part of the ritual is assisting the families of the fallen or catastrophically injured. We take care of our own. It is the least we can do to honor those who lost their lives or bodies for those words, duty, and honor.

Emergency services personnel go out every day and give their all. They see and do things no human being should experience. As the adage states, they are the first in and the last out. They leave no one behind. The ritual is part and parcel of leaving no one behind, including the families of the fallen.

Lest we forget, others do the work God does not want to do. They are the medical personnel in trauma units. They heroically work to save lives no matter how fruitless their endeavors may seem. Life is sacred to them. They never give up until the very end.

582 Chicago Police Officers were killed in the line of duty since the inception of the Chicago Police Department. Many members were catastrophically injured while serving. The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation assists the families of these officers. For more information or to donate, visit their website.

“This is the song that never ends.
Yes, it goes on and on, my friend(s).
Some people started singing it Not knowing what it was,
and they’ll continue singing it forever just because. (Shari Lewis)

Like the Song that Never Ends, some people never go away. “They go on and on again.” For example, take Rod Blagojevich, AKA Blago. Take him anywhere but take him out of the public eye.

Blago, convicted of corruption and sentenced to fourteen years in prison, filed what legal experts termed a frivolous lawsuit regarding his ban on running for public office. The state legislature banned him from running for public office after impeaching him. Blago claims he was denied his due process rights during his impeachment process. He further claims voters lost their right to vote for him. Geez, Louise, this sounds like bad legal comedy.

Blago is not the brightest lawyer in a land where the bar is low for licensing lawyers. There is no right to hold public office, no matter how low the bar might be. There is no right to a law license, especially for a convicted felon.

Blago filed the suit, pro se, meaning he is representing himself. As the legal adage goes, he has a fool for a client. Blago is not very intelligent, though he is well-read. He will recite Kipling at the drop of a hat or discuss the finer points of the life of Elvis Presley, his idol and role model. It is a good bet he is now an expert on his new icon, the former occupant of the White House, who he supports with evangelical zeal.

Ironically, the news media showed up, but an ABC News documentary crew was there too. Is ABC News seriously making a documentary about Blago? If true, it should be a mockumentary.

Blago did not receive fourteen years in prison solely for his crimes. He received that long sentence because he continually defied the legal system and the trial judge. As an attorney and officer of the court, he repeatedly demonstrated a total disregard for court orders.

When the federal government comes after you, you should lay low and stay out of the public eye. That is not how Blago rolls. He kept attempting to try his case in the court of public opinion, defying the judge’s orders. That cost him a sentence on the high end of the spectrum. The former occupant of the White House commuted his sentence after he served eight years. Only the Great Comedian knows why.

Now he needs a job. Blago is hustling by making greeting recordings for a living, like a cheap prostitute. The sad thing is Blago has a throng of followers who adore him. Like the blonde Man Tan, they are the typical low intelligent voters who keep giving us the government we do not deserve.

Blago’s terms as governor were a bad clown show. He thought he could do whatever he wanted, including not showing up for work. Elected officials in this state, Cook County, and Chicago are notorious for their laziness and ineptitude.

His chances of prevailing in court are slim to none, and slim just left town. His attempt to get his law license is futile. The Bar does not want or need more jongleurs as members.

Maybe he should move to Bubba Land, US of A. There is no bar for licensing, as the lawyers are as dumb or dumber as the people they serve. Hell, they might even make him a judge. Those beauty contests are always looking for judges.