Chicago Police Looken To Hire Idiots

[Brer Rabbit]

Wow the phone rang on this one...

I think Brer Rabbit is a Chicago PO. Where is he

Billy T.
gnxtc2@aol.com

Im right here and this is not intended to be confrontaional to U Billy T., but here it goes.
First off, If you read the article that GNBRETT linked U would see that the no test nonsense is just that, nonsense, and will never become an accepted part of the hiring process for this Department. Jody and the Mayor both know that a large portion of the police force are mental midgets that screw up even the easiest of jobs so he will never allow a basic and I mean BASIC test to be dropped from the screening process. Now the real problem with hiring in this department is the actual background investigators that are assigned to the applicants. They became really soft in their evaluations and recommendations for the applicants in recent years. By recent years I mean after 1999-ish. Heres my theory on the cause... It was around 1999 that a few too many recruits coming out of the academy were quickly labled as "Softballs". (Softball- n. is just a guy or girl who acts like a dumb@ss and/or does stupid sh!t while acting in the capacity as a law enforcement officer.). I personally believe it was because after may of 98 all recruits entering the academy were required to have 60 credit hours which prevented a lot of good or "solid" people from even applying. Initially there were no noticeable problems and the number of applicants were still abundant but like good honest Turbo Buick Vendors that dont get a ton of negative feedback the numbers of 60 credit hour applicants began to diminish. The belief was "I just obtained an associates and the city is only going to pay me 37K a year....no way, Im not even going to apply". The Department countered by pushing unqualified applicants thru the academy that couldnt pass the standard course of fire, the state exam, or the power test without a lil help if u know what I mean. If anyone here thinks education makes a better policeman they are outright crazy. Nothing anyone learns in community college is going to help them when they respond to a battery in progress that was actually an armed robbery in progress. By the way it may sound like I'm bashing school but I have over 70 credit hours none of which ever helped me in the performance of the job. However hooked on phonics did work for me!

 

[GNBRETT]

Im right here and this is not intended to be confrontaional to U Billy T., but here it goes.
First off, If you read the article that GNBRETT linked U would see that the no test nonsense is just that, nonsense, and will never become an accepted part of the hiring process for this Department. Jody and the Mayor both know that a large portion of the police force are mental midgets that screw up even the easiest of jobs so he will never allow a basic and I mean BASIC test to be dropped from the screening process. Now the real problem with hiring in this department is the actual background investigators that are assigned to the applicants. They became really soft in their evaluations and recommendations for the applicants in recent years. By recent years I mean after 1999-ish. Heres my theory on the cause... It was around 1999 that a few too many recruits coming out of the academy were quickly labled as "Softballs". (Softball- n. is just a guy or girl who acts like a dumb@ss and/or does stupid sh!t while acting in the capacity as a law enforcement officer.). I personally believe it was because after may of 98 all recruits entering the academy were required to have 60 credit hours which prevented a lot of good or "solid" people from even applying. Initially there were no noticeable problems and the number of applicants were still abundant but like good honest Turbo Buick Vendors that dont get a ton of negative feedback the numbers of 60 credit hour applicants began to diminish. The belief was "I just obtained an associates and the city is only going to pay me 37K a year....no way, Im not even going to apply". The Department countered by pushing unqualified applicants thru the academy that couldnt pass the standard course of fire, the state exam, or the power test without a lil help if u know what I mean. If anyone here thinks education makes a better policeman they are outright crazy. Nothing anyone learns in community college is going to help them when they respond to a battery in progress that was actually an armed robbery in progress. By the way it may sound like I'm bashing school but I have over 70 credit hours none of which ever helped me in the performance of the job. However hooked on phonics did work for me!

I would have to agree with the education thing to a degree. Everything you need to know will be tought to you in the academy or on the street. It's not the corporate world.

But, educated applicants are more likely to succeed in the academy because they have demonstrated some ability to comprehend basic skills needed to pass the academy such as rules of evidence, laws of arrest, constitutional law, etc.... which are basically college level courses. I don't feel educated applicants will be better Police but the PD is less likely to have to send them for remedial training while in the academy.

NJSP use to require either a (4) years degree or a (2) year degree with atleast (2) years of full time law enforcement experience. That no longer exists and hasn't for several years.

It just seems to be common practice these days to lower the standards of potiental applicants. Most of time I have no idea what someones race is when stopping them and I certainly have no idea what their race is when responding to a shooting or robbery.

Cities want their Police Departments to reflect their communities. I can understand that thought process but lowering that standard to accomplish that goal only hurts their community. Not help it. Recruit harder in those areas for QUALIFIED applicants, don't long for a cop to look like the citizen just because he looks like a communty member in the mirror.

And I can only assume that the entrance exam is as basic as an exam could be. Lord knows it is here. To lower the standard any lower is hard to swollow.

I have been on the job for over a decade now and can tell you from my own personal experiences as a patrolman and a supervisor that minority officers as a whole (Black or hispanic) just do not put much heart into the job. I'm not saying that as a racist because I am not. In fact, im probably the furthest one could be from that. But, I am a realist. And I can tell you that the majority of the hard charging officers are white, not black and not hispanic. The white officers simply try harder, work harder and take more pride in their work.

Black officers do not make up a large percentage of our PD. In fact it's only 17% I believe. Of that 17% maybe 1% are hard chargen, kick ass take no prisoner type attitudes. The rest? Pretty much fuken useless! And I mean useless! Don't get wrong, we have plenty of useless white officers as well but by percentage the black officers and hispanic for that matter are more concerned about what the white man has done to them to keep them down 25-30 years ago vs. figuring out what they need to do to get ahead. Not all! Just most.

Our PD has federal oversight. A federal judge oversees our PD. Yea. I know. Pathetic! The Chief is NOT in charge. The judge is. We are the second largest city in New England and rooted in racism. But racism from 25-30 years ago.... She is terribly liberal and has allowed certain members of the PD to play the race card their entire career.

In my entire career I have never ONCE seen any officer discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Seen lots of favortism, but no racism. Never once, ever! And that's no BS!

I call em like I see em and lowering the standards to allow more blacks into a PD like Ctown which is extremely violent and challenging in many areas of the city is just NOT what is condusive to combating crime in those problematic areas. It's not. Those areas that are problematic are areas populated by blacks. Those are facts, not opinion.

Hiring people from those areas will only increase the likelyhood of corruption and further deteriation of those neighborhoods. I'm sorry, that's just the facts. That's reality, not racism. The best person for that job is the person who scores highest and tries hardest. Whether it's an entrance exam or promotional exam. PERIOD!

Sry for the rant.

 

[TURBOPOWERED68]

Its a story as old as the movement itself, minorities dont want equality, they want equality w/o work. Benefits w/o effort....Thats not equailty at all if you work hard for everything like I do.
Try hard HONEST work, its given people a great life for over 2000 years.
Its crazy to think this is in the messiahs home town and the female messiahs as well, where the train is OBVIOUSLY off the tracks, and no one sees it.

..

 

[Brer Rabbit]

Cmon Brett tell us how u really feel!

I can honestly say that in my district there is a clear line between the working police and the dog @ss police but I never really looked deeper to factor in race. When I check the sheets for the next days assignment to see what car I'm on I simply look at the cars in my sector and see who is working those cars. I know right away who will be there on time as an assist car and who will be there 3 minutes after my arrival because they were shopping somewhere or hanging out at a 7 eleven in another sector. Since I work Days and we are all 10-99(1 man cars), a solid assist unit is a priority. On Days, I can easily name 5 black officers that are known as dog@sses and very unreliable, but for every one black Officer I can also do the same for the white or hispanic officers so I would say that Chicago contradicts The Northeast in that aspect. It is very interesting to read ur assesment of ur dept. cuz back in 98 I remember going to a watch party for the 4th district in an area called hagwish on the southside and I learned after seeing only white officers at the party, that the 4th district afternoon watch is outright segregated. Black officers only assisted black officers, white officers helped only white, and hispanic officers only hispanic. Needless to say I bolted from that party real quick as im Half Puerto Rican and half white, but my buddy with me is black. We got some strange looks when we walked in to the party. Our buddy that invited us worked in the 4th district and had no idea what to expect as we had just hit the street out of the academy. He apoligized like crazy but its just sad to see that 1950s bullsh!t in a 1998 police department.

 

[bison]

getting hooked on phonics

1-800-abcdefg

 

[faster]

Brett,

You and I have had our disagreements in the past over LE's but this is the kind of nonsense I was referring to when I ran down the Gainesville Police Dept. When you lower the standards to "make it fair" for minorities who won't play by the rules and then scream racism when they can't qualify you get the type of LE's I despise. I would love to have fair, honest LE's with integrity but they don't pay enough to keep them or even attract them so we get what you describe is happening in Chcago.



They did the same thing to the rural fire fighters in the west a few years ago remember? Instead of requiring recruits to speak english they fired the supervisors (some with 30 years seniority) who could not speak spanish. Now how can someone who cannot comunicate in english possibly coordinate safely in an emergency situation with other firefighters in a forest fire? Especially over the radio with all the background noise of a blaze and the equipment to fight it you're trying to understand someone by repeating what did you say, over and over.

Mikey
Mikey

 

[GNBRETT]

I guess the bottom line is we live in a politically correct world and considering it's civilans that over see most Police Departments we will likely never escape that entaglement because it's the citizens who vote the politicans in so the politicans are going to take whatever steps necessary to appease the citizens.

 

[ttypewe4jim]

I hear ya on goin from test to test. Been there, done that and don't miss it at all! You see the same people over and over from test to test but you have to stay focused.

If it's any consulation it took for many years to get on. A lot of my friends that I grew up with refused to expand their horizens and apply to places outside their home town area and are still to this day (13 years later) applying locally. I went from Maine to Maryland to LA and many more places in between b4 getten on. It was no walk in the park.

Law of averages of getten hired are always better in the cities simply because they hire more people at a clip.

Of course you have to fight the push to hire minorities but in my experiences no matter what advantages are given to them (Extra point prefrence for living in the city for example) are just not enough. Hence, the reason I guess places like Ctown are looking for alternative methods.

The average age is my academy class was 31. Not sure how old you are but the oldest was 47, yes 47 and the youngest was 25 (Me). What do burns have to do with the agility? Is it the sit and reach ur haven difficulty with as far as not being able to stretch?

Of course when the economy sux you are likely to see many well educated applicants come out due to job security and a pay check till the day you die with health benifits. Not many corporations can offer you that these days. But those people usually fail out to be honest. It's not for everyone.

There are many internet firms out there that will notify you when PD's are hiring. I'm not sure what they cost cause the internet was not really available when I was looking. You can also look here for agencies hiring. Police & Law Enforcement - Officer.com Police News, Forums, Links and More for Police Officers, Law Enforcement, Corrections, Sheriffs and More

I am lucky in some aspects I'm still very young only 23, not married nor do I have a serious girl friend right now. My area has saw a huge downward spiral in jobs just like everywhere else. In the past 4 years Ive been laid off over 12 times :frown: this has effected me applying at places. I wont lie on the applications (since its flat out stupid to do...) and when I get to the interview stage they always want to know why Ive had so many jobs.... The answer is never easy but I have yet to see someone understand its something that I have not been able to control.

2 years ago when I was 21 I applied to well over 120 departments in police and fire, I was just about to take the physical agility test with the Pa state police. When I was at a house fire and things went south real fast, while we where inside the fire flashed, 85% of my gear was extremely burnt and unfortunately one of my close friends never made it out of the fire. I got real lucky only suffered some burns and I lived, unfortunately its left some rather unsightly marks on my back from it. Philadelphia police didn't like it and feared it may effect my ability to be a police officer Right now Im in a somewhat stable company finally, so the plan for now is get back into shape and at least try and stay where I am for a year. After my B-day in August I think I will try and start applying again. I do read officer.com on a daily basis to try and see what area's are hiring. I also have been trying to apply locally but that obviously isnt working, I think its time to start looking farther away :biggrin: But that's all I have to say its late and Im half drunk right now, I will probably read this in the morning and wonder why I posted it but whatever. Hopefully this will be the year I can get into the academy

 

[TurboBuRick]

And this is something new? Pretty much every one that works for the city of Chicago is an idiot.