Bryan W. Alaspa 1Cheese it! Da Cops!
June 25th 2009 13:47
Other cities like to talk about how corrupt their cops are. You hear about how cops in New York are such bastards. Then you hear about how corrupt the L.A. cops are. It’s as if those cities just cannot get enough of bragging about how evil their policemen are. Well, here in Chicago, every average Chicagoan knows that the Chicago cops are bastards, but they try to keep it to themselves.
I was once on a nice evening with a lady friend. We had gone out with a bunch of her friends to a couple of bars and clubs and had been dancing and having a great time. We tool the EL back to her neighborhood and I was walking her home. We got to an intersection and started to cross, with the light and in the crosswalk and a cop in a patrol car turned right directly in front of us.
Now, as you probably know, the people in the crosswalk are supposed to have the right-of-way. I am not sure if it is a law, but I bet had I been the one doing the turning like that, nearly hitting the pedestrians, and the cop had been behind me, I would have been pulled over and issued a ticket. Well, this guy just turned. My friend and I shook our heads and made comments. Neither of us shouted at the car, we just laughed and made comments about how cops don’t have to stop or follow the traffic laws, particularly in Chicago.
Down the street we went. Not two minutes later the same patrol car suddenly slowed down and pulled up to the curb next to us. The cop inside rolled down the passenger window and said, “Did you have something to say to me?” Now a stupid person might have said something. I may be many things, including stupid sometimes, but I am not so stupid to think you can then engage in a civil debate with a Chicago cop about traffic laws. We both demurred, said no and then cop eventually drove on.
Here in Chicago the cops still routinely beat the people they arrest. Oh sure, the official policy is that they don’t but you know it happens. There is even a former police captain or sergeant or whatever who was recently arrested for brutally torturing prisoners back in the late 70s. You do not want to end up arrested here, trust me.
The Chicago cops have to live in the city limits. I grew up in a part of town that is very close to the suburbs, but still within the city limits. I grew up around cops. The cops had the best fireworks every 4th of July. So did the firemen. It was pretty awesome.
Chicago cops tend to be big, bulky, overweight guys who look like they barely fit behind the wheel of their car and as if their Kevlar vest barely fits over their prodigious mid-section. Chicago cops are considered “blue collar” workers, maybe because their collars are actually blue even though they do not manufacture a thing.
Here in the Windy Cit, you just accept these things. Every so often, such as when an off-duty cop tries to beat a female bartender to death, people get outraged. At the same time the cop ended up getting two years of probation. He was seen on video beating and stomping this woman. The judge, however, felt that he should just get some probation and that it wasn’t that big of a deal.
The corruption extends into the suburbs. These days we have a cop who may have killed two of his wives. You just know (although, so far, there is no solid evidence of this) that he had his cop buddies help him cover up these murders. That’s why he can smile so smugly when it gets his picture taken.
At the same time, there have to be many cops, on all of the various forces both city and suburbs, who do their job and do it well. They must be wanting to tear their hair out at stories like this. To those cops, I want to make it clear, this column is not about you.
So, like, don’t follow me as I walk down the street in your patrol cars. Please.
I was once on a nice evening with a lady friend. We had gone out with a bunch of her friends to a couple of bars and clubs and had been dancing and having a great time. We tool the EL back to her neighborhood and I was walking her home. We got to an intersection and started to cross, with the light and in the crosswalk and a cop in a patrol car turned right directly in front of us.
Now, as you probably know, the people in the crosswalk are supposed to have the right-of-way. I am not sure if it is a law, but I bet had I been the one doing the turning like that, nearly hitting the pedestrians, and the cop had been behind me, I would have been pulled over and issued a ticket. Well, this guy just turned. My friend and I shook our heads and made comments. Neither of us shouted at the car, we just laughed and made comments about how cops don’t have to stop or follow the traffic laws, particularly in Chicago.
Down the street we went. Not two minutes later the same patrol car suddenly slowed down and pulled up to the curb next to us. The cop inside rolled down the passenger window and said, “Did you have something to say to me?” Now a stupid person might have said something. I may be many things, including stupid sometimes, but I am not so stupid to think you can then engage in a civil debate with a Chicago cop about traffic laws. We both demurred, said no and then cop eventually drove on.
Here in Chicago the cops still routinely beat the people they arrest. Oh sure, the official policy is that they don’t but you know it happens. There is even a former police captain or sergeant or whatever who was recently arrested for brutally torturing prisoners back in the late 70s. You do not want to end up arrested here, trust me.
The Chicago cops have to live in the city limits. I grew up in a part of town that is very close to the suburbs, but still within the city limits. I grew up around cops. The cops had the best fireworks every 4th of July. So did the firemen. It was pretty awesome.
Chicago cops tend to be big, bulky, overweight guys who look like they barely fit behind the wheel of their car and as if their Kevlar vest barely fits over their prodigious mid-section. Chicago cops are considered “blue collar” workers, maybe because their collars are actually blue even though they do not manufacture a thing.
Here in the Windy Cit, you just accept these things. Every so often, such as when an off-duty cop tries to beat a female bartender to death, people get outraged. At the same time the cop ended up getting two years of probation. He was seen on video beating and stomping this woman. The judge, however, felt that he should just get some probation and that it wasn’t that big of a deal.
The corruption extends into the suburbs. These days we have a cop who may have killed two of his wives. You just know (although, so far, there is no solid evidence of this) that he had his cop buddies help him cover up these murders. That’s why he can smile so smugly when it gets his picture taken.
At the same time, there have to be many cops, on all of the various forces both city and suburbs, who do their job and do it well. They must be wanting to tear their hair out at stories like this. To those cops, I want to make it clear, this column is not about you.
So, like, don’t follow me as I walk down the street in your patrol cars. Please.
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