My Blog

Category: Crime

  • CPD Brass Wasting Money Trying to Track Gunshots

    The Police Department began using gunshot detection technology early last month in two 1.5-square-mile areas to try to better pinpoint the location of gunshots, Superintendent Garry McCarthy disclosed Thursday. The sensors sometimes give officers information before 911 calls are made, he said.

    In the past decade, the city twice installed the devices but ultimately removed them because of their high price tags and ineffectiveness. Since then the technology has improved “dramatically,” McCarthy said.

    “What we can do with this is overwhelming right now,” McCarthy said at a news conference. “It’s gotten a lot better, and obviously as it’s out there longer, it’s a lot cheaper also.”

    The one-year contract for the ShotSpotter system costs about $200,000 — money that will come from drug forfeitures and other property seized by police, authorities said.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    So it didn’t work before and was too expensive.  Boy, that’s not what we were told last time.

    Given the success of the pilot program, in September 2003, Mayor Daley announced that a new phase of PODs would be deployed throughout the City. Subsequently, the number of PODs increased from 30 to 80 by December 2003. Some of the new second generation PODs were also equipped with technology to detect gunfire. Using wireless technology, these units transmitted gunshot alerts, as well as the usual video images, directly to the City’s Emergency Management and Communications Center, thereby providing crucial intelligence on criminal incidents involving guns. Several of the 30 existing PODs were also upgraded with the same technology during that time period.
    — CPD Website, dated June 15, 2003

    and

    Chicago police plan to add 50 new remote-controlled cameras in city … The new cameras will be equipped with gunshot detectors….
    — Herald & Review, dated April 7, 2004

    and

    Chicago police have installed 30 surveillance units in high-crime locales. The system uses four microphones to zero in on firearm discharges.
    — USA Today, dated June 6, 2005

    The USA Today article ends with:

    Adding SENTRI to an existing surveillance camera is not cheap, however. The system costs between $4,000 and $10,000 per unit. In Chicago, money forfeited by criminals is used to pay for both it and the accompanying cameras.

    As a result, Police Superintendent Phil Cline told a recent U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting, “the drug dealers are actually paying to surveil themselves.”

    I guess everything old is new again.

     

  • CPD Brass Wants Tighter Gun Tracking

    Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said today that he would like to see gun owners in Illinois have to report when their weapons are stolen, lost or sold – steps he said would lower the number of firearms in the hands of criminals.  …

    “We keep trying to pass comprehensive gun legislation,” he added. “And my recommendation is to really start small. The fact is that if there was a requirement to report the loss, transfer or theft of a firearm in the state of Illinois, that would significantly limit the number of firearms in the city of Chicago.”

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Media simply reports what the man says as gospel and doesn’t ask any questions.

    Please tell us Mr. McCarthy how part one, a “requirement to report the loss, transfer or theft of a firearm” leads to part two, and “significantly limit the number of firearms in the city of Chicago?”

    Person A has a gun.  Person A goes on vacation and while gone Gang-Banger B breaks into Person A’s house and steals Person A’s gun.  Person A reports to the police that the gun has been stolen.

    First, Person A is going to file a report b/c guns are expensive and he or she is going to want to make the insurance claim that the gun was stolen.

    Second, Person A is going to file a report b/c they don’t want the police knocking at their door when the gun is used in a crime.

    But just in case that’s not enough…  let’s just say we do create a new law to force Person A to notify the police that the gun was stolen.  Now just exactly what is the police going to do with that information to keep the stolen firearm out of the city of Chicago?

    I would really like to know.  Where is the nexus between knowledge of a stolen gun and action that keeps that gun out of the city?

    Can someone please explain?

  • Alderman Ervin’s Maywood ‘Drug House’

    For Ald. Jason Ervin, who represents a large swath of Chicago’s troubled West Side, drug activity in the area hits particularly close to home.

    That’s because until recently, Ervin owned what police and others portray as a “drug house” in nearby Maywood.

    During the decade or so that Ervin owned the three-flat at 1600 W. Madison in the Near West suburb, police were called to the property or the immediate vicinity roughly 150 times, often for drug-related incidents, but also for gunshots, assaults, trespassing and thefts, among other matters, according to records from the Village of Maywood.via Chicago Sun-Times.

    Those looking for another reason to not vote for Ald. Self Serving Jason Ervin.

    Welcome to The Machine.  The Machine like Mr. Ervin because he will do whatever they tell him to do.  He could never find a job in the private sector making $120,000 per year like he makes as Alderman.  So he will do absolutely anything to keep his job.

    We need to cleanse people like this from the system.

  • Islamist Radicals Visited White House

    A year-long investigation by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has found that scores of known radical Islamists made hundreds of visits to the Obama White House, meeting with top administration officials.

    via The Investigative Project on Terrorism.

    This is a problem.

    A real mo fo problem.

    No word yet from the Ministry of Truth.

     

  • Democrat Voter Fraud in Florida & a Beating in WI

    [Republican] Voters are getting letters that look like they are from local elections offices, questioning their citizenship. But Local 6 has learned the letters are fake, and they are going out across Central Florida and other parts of the state.

    Officials said the voters who have received the letters thus far are white, registered Republicans who consistently vote in elections.

    “This is a major concern,” said Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Mike Ertel, who received a letter from a voter mailed from Seattle with no return address. “You should not expect a letter from your elections office saying, ‘You’re not registered to vote, please don’t go to the polls.’  That’s ridiculous.”

    The supervisor of elections in Collier County said some residents there have also received hoax letters.

    Inside the letter is the resident’s supervisor of election’s name, the resident’s name and address, and a warning that doubts the voter’s citizenship, saying the resident is not eligible to vote unless a letter is returned in an enclosed form within 15 days.

    via WKMG Orlando.

    This surprises no one.

    Think about this for just one second.  The bogus letters are sent to “white, registered Republicans who consistently vote in elections.”  Who has access to that information?  Sure, it’s available at the local board of elections but not easy to pull together into a mail-merge.  This is a sophisticated effort by someone who has a copy of the electronic voter database.  That’s not easy to come by.

    Very creepy.  But this (I guess) is the lengths some people will go to to win an election.  And if the fraud doesn’t work, they just beat some people up and put them in the hospital.  People in the hospital don’t vote right?

    State Senator Neal Kedzie says his son was attacked while trying to stop someone from stealing his Romney/Ryan yard sign.

    Whitewater Police tell NBC15 News this is an active investigation.

    Here is the statement released by Senator Neal Kedzie:

    Early on Friday morning, October 19th, my son Sean was awakened by noises outside his residence in Whitewater. As he went to see what the commotion was about, he noticed an individual removing a Romney/Ryan yard sign from his property. He yelled to the person that they were taking something not theirs and to return it immediately.

    The individual returned the sign, however, a second person confronted and attacked Sean without warning.

    Sean was wrestled to the ground by both persons, held down by a constricting chokehold, and struck repeatedly about the face and head.

    He nearly passed out from the chokehold and suffered contusions to his face and eyes.

    Fortunately, an alert neighbor heard the commotion, scared the individuals away, and called the police.

    My wife and I were awakened by a telephone call from Sean’s roommate that Sean had been taken by ambulance to Fort Atkinson Memorial Hospital.

    via NBC 15, Madison WI

    They say if you resort to violence
    then you’ve already lost.
    —  Sean Connery as Capt. John Connor, Rising Sun

    Given the continued threats of violence should Obama not win it’s safe to say our fair nation is losing its soul.  The media has given a voice to those believe they can govern through raw power and fear.

    Something is very very wrong here.  A lack of proper education, poor social values, a biased and weak willed media system, and a general lack of civility can sink the country.  We’re very very close.

    Scary times.

  • Obama Illegaly Accepts Foreign Donations

    The Obama re-election campaign has accepted at least one foreign donation in violation of the law — and does nothing to check on the provenance of millions of dollars in other contributions, a watchdog group alleges.

    Chris Walker, a British citizen who lives outside London, told The Post he was able to make two $5 donations to President Obama’s campaign this month through its Web site while a similar attempt to give Mitt Romney cash was rejected. It is illegal to knowingly solicit or accept money from foreign citizens.

    via NYPOST.com.

    This is kinda like Al Gore walking out of the Buddhist temple with a suitcase full of cash and not asking any questions.

    We need an investigation into this.

  • 12-year-old Girl + Shotgun > Large Bad Man

    A 12-year-old girl is being hailed a hero for shooting a home intruder after she hid with a gun in the closet.

    Kendra St Clair, from Oklahoma, was home alone when she heard someone break in.

    She called her mother and asked what she should do, and her terrified mom told her to get the gun and hide in the closet and stay there until she thought the coast was clear.

    But when she emerged from her hiding space and went to the back door, she saw the intruder was still trying to break in and ran back into the closet.  …

    ‘When I was back there (in the closet) on the phone with 911, I heard the bathroom light turn on that was leading to the closet. And when I saw the door handle turn, I shot him.

    via Daily Mail Online.

    I wrote before about how guns are great equalizer for self defense; especially for women.  Self defense is one of the basket of rights we inherit from our creator.  It does not come from the government; it cannot be taken away.

    All rational people would hate to think of what would have happened — how differently this situation could have turned out — if this little girl did not have that shotgun.

    Shame on those who would take it away from her.

  • Benghazi Attack Organizer Mocks Obama

    Five weeks after an assault on the US consulate in Benghazi left Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead, the reaction from Washington has been anything but fruitful. No elected official has yet to reveal with certainty who led the attack, and both the White House and the US State Department have at times offered entirely different explanations for the assumed motives of the assailants.  …

    Mr. Obama stated, “…  I wasn’t confused about the fact that we have to hunt down whoever did it and bring them to justice. As I said during the debate, nobody is more interested in figuring this out than I am.”Even if Mr. Obama’s insistence regarding his investment in the attack is genuine, journalists with both the New York Times and Reuters may have already done a better job than all of the government agencies combined. At the same time Pres. Obama endorsed a thorough investigation into the attack, articles published by major media outlets had already accomplished as much.

    On Thursday, the Times published an interview alleged to have recently occurred between one of their reporters and Ahmed Abu Khattala, described to the paper by both witnesses and Libyan authorities as a ring-leader of the September 11, 2012 assault.

    When Pres. Obama told Stewart that he is still very serious about hunting down any persons with a part in the attack, the Times had already conducted a sit-down with the suspected terrorist at a “crowded luxury hotel” in Benghazi, where the paper described Khattala as nonplussed and anything but concerned about repercussions from the White House. The Libyan national Army assumingly in cahoots with the Obama administration was a “chicken,” Khattala said, and US politicians were “playing with the emotions of the American people” and “using the consulate attack just to gather votes for their elections.”

    “Suspect in Libya Attack, in Plain Sight, Scoffs at U.S.,” the Times headline reads.

    via RT.

    This situation reminds me of when O.J. Simpson went out looking for the real killer.  He checked several golf courses throughout Florida and couldn’t find anything.

    The real question is why this story has not been picked-up by the MSM, a/k/a the Ministry of Truth?  No word of this on NBC, CBS, even Fox.  What gives?

    The president is clear not really all that focused on bringing this guy to justice.  That’s pretty sad.

     

  • Censorship: This is How it Begins

    Spain’s government is drafting a law that bans the photographing and filming of members of the police. The Interior Ministry assures they are not cracking down on freedom of expression, but protecting the lives of law enforcement officers.  …

    ­The new Citizen Safety Law will prohibit “the capture, reproduction and editing of images, sounds or information of members of the security or armed forces in the line of duty,” said the director general of the police, Ignacio Cosido. He added that this new bill seeks to “find a balance between the protection of citizens’ rights and those of security forces.”

    The dissemination of images and videos over social networks like Facebook will also be punishable under the legislation.

    via RT.

    “Oh it could never happen here.”  That’s what the Spanish used to think.  Now look at them.

    Note the language of the law. It’s the Citizen Safety Law.  Bullshit!  It has nothing to do with the safety of citizens.  It about making sure that people do not record the unlawful acts of their own government.

    In case you don’t know, Spain is going through a tough time right now because for years and years they spend more money than the had.  They go too far into debt and now they have to pay the bills.  The austerity measures are not very popular.  So people have been taking to the streets.  The government don’t like that.

    Keep this in mind as we start having to pay down our own debt.  Something is going to have to give… People are going to take to the streets.  There may very well be some violent confrontations between people and police.  Those confrontations need to be public.  Not limited to what the government, a/k/a The Ministry of Truth, tells us what happened.

    It can happen there… it can happen here.  Prepare yourself.

  • Connecticut Dem Jokes Promises Vote Corruption

    Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch is at it again. The Democrat who presided over a 2010 vote casting and counting scandal in the tight race for governor was caught on video Friday guaranteeing Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Christopher Murphy a big result in the state’s largest city–even if it takes days to count.

    Bridgeport provided a crucial and dubious margin of victory to Democratic and Working Families Governor Dannel P. Malloy in 2010 amidst unprecedented chaos at the city’s polling places. The 2010 Bridgeport assault on democracy included photocopied ballots, altered hours at polling places, a mysterious bag of votes and Finch’s abuse of the city’s emergency notification system to increase turnout on Election Day.

    Murphy, locked in a dead heat with Republican Linda McMahon, needs the grimy Bridgeport Guarantee. He got it from Finch on Friday while visiting small businesses in the poverty-wracked city. A laughing Finch boasts even if it takes a couples of days to get the results,”You can be guaranteed you’re going to get the vote.” Two years after the 2010 fiasco, it remains no laughing matter to the rest of Connecticut.

    via The Weekly Standard.

    Video at the link for those of you who say “it didn’t happen that way.”