[sanjuro]

See if you can defend your brethren here, Manimal!

CHICAGO — Seven police officers here will be disciplined for failing to detect a 14-year-old boy’s impersonation of a police officer for five hours, including driving a patrol car and pulling a suspect’s arm behind his back so officers could handcuff him.

The Chicago police superintendent, Jody P. Weis, said Tuesday that an internal investigation into the teenager’s charade uncovered troubling lapses in department policy and that the seven officers had violated department rules. The officers will remain on duty until the final disciplinary action, which could range from a verbal reprimand to dismissal, is determined, Mr. Weis said.

“The fact that this happened at all is outrageous,” he said. “Fortunately, a lot of tragic things that could have happened did not.”

Mr. Weis said the teenager slipped past officers at the Grand Crossing police station on the South Side on Jan. 24, arriving in a store-bought uniform with neither a badge nor identification. The impersonation ended at 7:40 p.m. when the teenager’s identity was questioned and he was arrested.

The teenager, who was released from juvenile detention on Friday after pleading not guilty to impersonating an officer, is being kept under electronic monitoring at home.

“He was caught by a supervisor who recognized the boy was not who he claimed to be,” Mr. Weis said. “The other officers were either not paying attention or perhaps they were just too relaxed.”

Citing the confidentiality of personnel matters, Mr. Weis said the names of the officers would not be made public.

Last month, Mr. Weis appeared at City Hall before an outraged Mayor Richard M. Daley and aldermen, vowing that the internal investigation, which included 150 interviews with department personnel, would help prevent the breach in police security from happening again. Mr. Weis said all officers in the department would receive additional training in dealing with impersonations.

The Chicago police have already arrested eight people this year on charges of impersonating a police officer and made 24 such arrests in 2008.

The police have also warned drivers to be wary of suspicious vehicles with flashing lights, after a recent report from a woman who said three men impersonating police officers in the Humboldt Park neighborhood tried to sexually assault her after asking her to pull over into an alley.

“We are a little more hypersensitive about this problem, but it’s not an epidemic,” Mr. Weis said.

The department has posted the photographs of the accused police impersonators on its Web site, www.chicagopolice.org, with the exception of the 14-year-old.

 

[jerseydirt]

those cops sound like a couple of slackers if you ask me.

 

[j.les]

That was a big story here. He must have bedazzled the dept. with a box of Krispy Kremes.

 

[Austin Bike]

So where this whole thing went wrong? CHICAGO cops. Chicago cops are to real cops what guantanamo bay is to prisons.

In a million years I would never cross them. Nor stone park cops. Supposedly their lockup is in the basement and a lot of perps trip going down the stairs....

 

[j.les]

stone park

Nasty.

 

[manimal]

So where this whole thing went wrong? CHICAGO cops. Chicago cops are to real cops what guantanamo bay is to prisons.

In a million years I would never cross them. Nor stone park cops. Supposedly their lockup is in the basement and a lot of perps trip going down the stairs....

that's what i was going to say. In my Gang interrogation studies i learned of a peculiar general order in the Chicago PD that states, "no gang tattoos or symbols of affiliation will be displayed while on duty."

um...it's chicago...not exactly the place the law enforcement community goes to look for leadership. that town produced the FOLK nation (corporate side of numerous gangs) and has dirty money flowing in and out like you wouldn't believe. there's really not much for me to defend from that town but in the grand scheme of things..a teenager dressing up as a cop really isn't all that newsworthy.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

The bigger news item is how a dude named "Jody" has managed to stay alive in Chicago...

 

[JohnE]

As graduate of the Chicago Metropolitain Police Academy, I will tell you that the gang world there was pretty interesting.
We had 8 guys pulled out of class the first day, never to be seen again. When we asked, weeks later, what happened to them, our homeroom instructor told us that they all had outstanding felony warrants...
In gang awareness class, the PO Instructor was teaching to "read walls" when a fight broke out. It seems that some students were throwing signs across the room, behind teachers back. Not to mention that the students were more up on current gang intel then the instructor.

My kind of town, Chicago is...

Austin, isnt Stone Park the 23 hour bar town? I seem to remember drinking there, having the bartender lock us in for an hour while he "closed", only to open up again 60 minutes later, business as usual. Near O'Hare, right?

 

[jimmydean]

Sounds like the kid has a career waiting for him.

Cops pull over the wrong motorcycle.

http://www.wsmv.com/video/18694679/index.html

2 motorcycles, not 2 people on a motorcycle.

 

[ohio]

Sounds like the kid has a career waiting for him.

Cops pull over the wrong motorcycle.

http://www.wsmv.com/video/18694679/index.html

2 motorcycles, not 2 people on a motorcycle.

Wonder if the motorcyclist got covered by the PD for that tip-over. On a lot of bikes, that's a several thousand dollar mistake.

 

[$tinkle]

Cops pull over the wrong motorcycle.

"your badge please"

 

[dante]

^^^^ That's a good question. Are cops responsible for damage they cause if you're innocent? Guilty?

 

[manimal]

^^^^ That's a good question. Are cops responsible for damage they cause if you're innocent? Guilty?

the city/county/municipality usually takes care of the damages in that situation. cost of doing business in a sense.

 

[jimmydean]

I have never heard of a good case where they paid out appropriately. In my brothers case, he was ran over when a cop blew a stop sign (wasn't running code, just bored I guess). Bike was totaled and the estimated damage value and medical bills only. No pain/suffering, not replacement bike value, he wound up being upside down in the bike and broke from the PT after the accident.

The cops story was my brother MUST have been speeding because he didn't see him when he entered the intersection.

 

[j.les]

Austin, isnt Stone Park the 23 hour bar town? I seem to remember drinking there, having the bartender lock us in for an hour while he "closed", only to open up again 60 minutes later, business as usual. Near O'Hare, right?

Yeah, although I think the bars aren't open all night anymore.

 

[kidwoo]

It seems that some students were throwing signs across the room,

That's