Light in Chicago

[gentle_dissident]

Data from the Chicago Law Department, which serves as counsel for the city, reveals that, from 2010 to February 2016, the city paid more than $322 million in judgments, settlement payments and legal fees. The reasons behind those payments include false arrests, illegal searches and seizures, extended detentions, malicious prosecutions, excessive use of force, reverse convictions, constitutional rights violations and failure to provide medical care.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/03/us/chicago-police-department-documents/

Look what we can do.

[gentle_dissident]

What limited post-Academy training happens is primarily delivered through roll-call videos. Roll call was derisively described by one officer as “day care,” meaning that officers slept, checked their smartphones or otherwise paid little attention to what was happening. Compounding this problem is that there are no metrics used to determine the level of comprehension or retention of the topic reflected in the video training.

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2801130/Chicago-Police-Accountability-Task-Force-Report.pdf

Pretty wild read.

[SGOS]

When, I was a kid living in Chicago, the cops didn't beat up criminals.  They joined forces with them and supplemented their incomes by standing guard while thieves cleaned out electronics stores in the middle of the night.  But one of their finest traditions was taking bribes.  Get stopped for speeding?  Give them a five!  Some people kept a five dollar bill taped to the back of their driver's license.  The cop would check your license and give it back minus the five.  As far as I knew, there was no cop that wouldn't let you off for a five.  It was a good system.  It kept drivers from breaking the law, and a court didn't impose a fine that required a bank loan.

[Johan]

When, I was a kid living in Chicago, the cops didn't beat up criminals.  They joined forces with them and supplemented their incomes by standing guard while thieves cleaned out electronics stores in the middle of the night.  But one of their finest traditions was taking bribes.  Get stopped for speeding?  Give them a five!  Some people kept a five dollar bill taped to the back of their driver's license.  The cop would check your license and give it back minus the five.  As far as I knew, there was no cop that wouldn't let you off for a five.  It was a good system.  It kept drivers from breaking the law, and a court didn't impose a fine that required a bank loan.

From what I understand that system evolved from $5 for cars to $50 for truckers on I294. Unfortunately for them, trucking companies started setting speed governors on the the trucks and installing GPS trackers that record speed. So the cop would stop the trucker and say I clocked you doing 72 in a 60, how are we going to fix this? And the trucker would say well the fastest this truck can go is 62 so I'll let you decide how you wanna fix it. The cop would write the ticket and then the judge would throw it out when the trucker showed up with a printout showing the trucks path and speed minute by minute before being pulled over that day.

[SGOS]

From what I understand that system evolved from $5 for cars to $50 for truckers on I294. Unfortunately for them, trucking companies started setting speed governors on the the trucks and installing GPS trackers that record speed. So the cop would stop the trucker and say I clocked you doing 72 in a 60, how are we going to fix this? And the trucker would say well the fastest this truck can go is 62 so I'll let you decide how you wanna fix it. The cop would write the ticket and then the judge would throw it out when the trucker showed up with a printout showing the trucks path and speed minute by minute before being pulled over that day.

I had just come of driving age, when the $5 bribe was done away with.  I had to actually pay a fine when I got nailed for running a red light, which was my first ticket at the age of 16.  My dad was pissed.

[SGOS]

From what I understand that system evolved from $5 for cars to $50 for truckers on I294. Unfortunately for them, trucking companies started setting speed governors on the the trucks and installing GPS trackers that record speed. So the cop would stop the trucker and say I clocked you doing 72 in a 60, how are we going to fix this? And the trucker would say well the fastest this truck can go is 62 so I'll let you decide how you wanna fix it. The cop would write the ticket and then the judge would throw it out when the trucker showed up with a printout showing the trucks path and speed minute by minute before being pulled over that day.

I don't think this is right.  The bribe thing ended around 1958.  We hadn't even put a satellite up in space yet, and GPS didn't happen for another 20 or 30 years.  It's possible that cops started taking bribes after that again, because your story about the truckers is believable.  I left Chicago after I turned 17, so a lot could have happened after I left.

[Johan]

I don't think this is right.  The bribe thing ended around 1958.  We hadn't even put a satellite up in space yet, and GPS didn't happen for another 20 or 30 years.  It's possible that cops started taking bribes after that again, because your story about the truckers is believable.  I left Chicago after I turned 17, so a lot could have happened after I left.

Must be the case because it was a pretty well known racket among truckers around Chicago. Seems like it kind of fizzled out as telemetrics (gps tracking) became more widespread in trucks over the last 10 years.

[gentle_dissident]

When, I was a kid living in Chicago, the cops didn't beat up criminals.  They joined forces with them and supplemented their incomes by standing guard while thieves cleaned out electronics stores in the middle of the night.  But one of their finest traditions was taking bribes.

Wow, the CPD has been a criminal organization for a long time. I'm not sure how better training will help. It sounds like criminality is systemic to the whole of Chicago.

[SGOS]

Wow, the CPD has been a criminal organization for a long time. I'm not sure how better training will help. It sounds like criminality is systemic to the whole of Chicago.

During my lifetime, much of Chicago's law enforcement ethics have been lacking or at least questionable.  I'm not sure it's worse than other big cities, however. 

[gentle_dissident]

During my lifetime, much of Chicago's law enforcement ethics have been lacking or at least questionable.  I'm not sure it's worse than other big cities, however.

Did you read the PDF?

[marom1963]

I don't think this is right.  The bribe thing ended around 1958.  We hadn't even put a satellite up in space yet, and GPS didn't happen for another 20 or 30 years.  It's possible that cops started taking bribes after that again, because your story about the truckers is believable.  I left Chicago after I turned 17, so a lot could have happened after I left.

Most company owned tractor-trailers are governed-out at 65. Most companies have installed tracking-ware that lets them keep track of where their t-ts are at every minute of every day. The Wild West of trucking is in the past. A cop looking to fuck w/a trucker would be looking for an independent trucker - few and far between, due to the fuel cost these days. Even those have smartened up and have installed tracker-ware on their rigs. Saves them bundles in court. Plus there are those on-dash cameras these days, filming the road as the driver is driving. A lot of truckers have installed those as a back-up. Truckers are a wily bunch. They have to be to live on the road, year in and year out.

[SGOS]

Did you read the PDF?

Yes.  Is there something in it you want to draw my attention to?