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The [Wednesday] PapersThe three finalists for police chief are in. Let's take a look. Retired Dallas police chief David Brown. Brown did a relatively decent job reforming the Dallas PD and improving relations between the police force and the community. But the Sun-Times' assessment is several levels of wrongheaded. Brown got mostly positive reviews from the Dallas media for his time as chief. 1. "Mostly positive reviews" is an incredibly vague marker that also tells us nothing about the quality of the Dallas media and their evaluation skills. 2. Attributing a two-year jump in crime to the police chief is facile. 3. Criticism from a police union is most likely a good thing, given how reactionary they tend to be. My guess is that Brown's response was correct, but it's really up to the reporter to settle the claim instead of leaving readers befuddled. The Sun-Times also reports that "Brown is a seasoned leader who ran a big-city department that also dealt with gun violence problems but wasn't under a civil rights consent decree like Chicago. His weakness: he doesn't know Chicago and could be devoured, as other outsiders have, by the city's unique brand of politics." You know what? Insiders have also been "devoured" by our "unique brand of politics." I'd also like to know which outsiders they are referring to. Ernest Cato. How good does Cato sound? The 54-year-old Cato grew up in West Garfield Park and became a Chicago police officer in 1990. Cato served as a tactical officer on the South Side, then became a supervisor of investigations in the city's inspector general's office and a detective investigating sex crimes and homicides. Wait. So Cato on his own "brought in big companies like Amazon" to recruit here from an Austin drug corner? Did his bosses know? Did the mayor know? I'm not saying it didn't happen; I'm saying I need to know more. At a community meeting hosted by Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), Cato emphasized community policing, saying he hoped more block clubs would form in Austin. This strikes me as ordinary. Cato was promoted to deputy chief of patrol in October. This strikes me as good. * Also, as I wrote in February: "[T]he Chicago chapter of the National Alliance of Mental Illness just named Cato its CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) Officer of the Year. Just landing in my inbox: It is our privilege to honor Deputy Chief Cato III at Light the Darkness for his enduring commitment to healing communities touched by violence and trauma with innovation, bravery, and partnership. Cato is called a "rising star" by both the Sun-Times and the Tribune. The question is if his time has arrived or he's not quite ready yet to be the top cop. Cato, as noted, would be jumping over a few others in the organizational chart. You wonder if Brown could come in as the veteran steady hand while Cato continues to be groomed for the top spot one day. But if Cato is ready - and I hope I don't regret saying this - he seems like an intriguing choice. * P.S.: Cato must think he's ready - he applied for the job. Audacious? Or perhaps someone urged him to? Kristen Ziman. I'm sorry, but I just can't see the police chief of Aurora taking such a big step up. If she's really as talented as advertised, though, maybe she could be hired into the CPD in a different role. Also . . . In 2017, the [Aurora] Beacon-News ran an editorial saying, "If Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman's view of the world gained currency, America would be a scary place for those who cherish the democratic ideals of a free press and the people's right to know whether their government is following the laws of the land." While that passage alone doesn't leave readers with a lot of information, the editorial (which the Sun-Times does not link to) does. It says, in part: Aurora police reported that Anthony Martell, 18, shot himself after first shooting at an officer and trying to flee into a nearby house. The news reporter then had the nerve to file a Freedom of Information Act request to view the dashcam video of the mysterious traffic stop that preceded the youth's death. She also had the gumption to ask whether the department had any history with the young man or the driver of the car in which he was riding. Ziman's Facebook post is no longer available. I didn't take the time this morning to search her Twitter feed because we've learned enough. Such as: The chief went on to blast the reporter's journalistic practices: seeking information too often, wasting her department's time. She complained that sometimes the reporter does not even write a story after filing a FOIA request. We realize that you are somewhat new to this business of being a journalism critic, chief, but we must clue you in to one of our newsgathering secrets: You can't tell if information is worth writing a story about until you see the information. Crazy, right? We treasure the input, chief, but you don't get to decide what is a news story. Perhaps I'm rushing to judgement, but she seems to have disqualified herself. * The Tribune, which owns the Beacon-News, only had this to say today in its less-facile-but-still-not-penetrating mini-bios of the finalists: "She took to social media in 2017 to lament open records requests from a reporter at the Aurora Beacon-News. Several news outlets and journalism organizations chastised her stance at the time." It was a lot more than that, as you've now seen. Out of the running: Sean Malinowski. "Early on, Malinowski appeared to be a front-runner and a favorite of Beck's after a polished video that 'blew people away' on the Police Board," the Sun-Times says. "But sources said he ultimately fell out of favor; he has been viewed as having campaigned for the job in a way some at City Hall see as heavy-handed." This is at least the second time the Sun-Times has made this claim, and I don't necessarily doubt it, but it's at least the second time the Sun-Times has made this claim without explaining just what he did that was perceived as heavy-handed. * Malinowski is also a white male data geek whose high-tech approach to policing may be springing holes. * "Over the years, the Police Board process has been a sham. Nationwide searches were conducted while the mayor conducted his or her own back-channel search. The mayor's pick, communicated to the board, would magically appear on the list of three finalists," the Sun-Times (correctly) notes. I don't remember them - or any local media (besides me) saying it so starkly at the time, though, and challenging the two mayors that we're really talking about here: Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel. For example, in March 2016 I wrote: Weis, like new interim-ish Supt. Eddie In 2016, of course, Rahm selected Johnson as police chief even though he hadn't applied for the job. The city council then retroactively changed the ordinance to make it all legal-like - just for this one time. * It was four years ago almost to the day!
- New on the Beachwood today . . . How I Chose The Cubs Over The White Sox - ChicagoReddit What's bumming you out about the lockdown? from r/chicago - ChicagoGram - ChicagoTube "Dreamboat Annie" at Taste of Chicago in 2001. - BeachBook Williams-Sonoma Owes $1 Million To FTC Over Misleading 'Made In America' Claims. * Incredibly Realistic Paintings Look Like They're Wrapped In Plastic. * Mechanization Taking Command In Elevator Carparks. - TweetWood
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- The Beachwood Q-Tip Line: Book it. Posted on April 1, 2020 |
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