Look up your elected representatives.
From a fascinating piece by Medill reporter Taryn Luntz:
"Seven million dollars could buy an awful lot of new teachers for Chicago Public Schools. It could help pay for ambitious homeless programs, contribute to affordable housing efforts, or go toward hiring more police officers to patrol the city's most crime-ridden neighborhoods.
Instead, it's how much money Chicago spent last year settling lawsuits for police car accidents."
Yikes!
More fun bits from this story:
-2 police pursuits from 2001 and 2003 accounted for 6 million by themselves
-Though many do, police departments are not required to track their accidents (!?)
-An cop driving instructor asks a sensible question: Why do police departments put up with car accidents when they're so strict about gun use?
-Police pursuits kill about one person a day nationwide.
Also, back in November I covered a collision in Hyde Park in which a squad car collided with a car being driven by a pregnant woman while turning to answer a backup call. It didn't end well for the squad car but the woman was ok.
Pregnant Hyde Park woman hospitalized after collision with cop car
Two Words: Blues Brothers.
Apparently Chicago's finest took that movie as a challenge to top, not as something to avoid.
Heh. Good one. Every time I see that movie I'm reminded of how awesome the car chases in it are.
What's happening with these crashes is really awful though.
MORE TAX MONEY WASTED..
Da Mayor is planning on bulldozing another park. This one is on the corner of 47th and King Drive. It is rumblings that da City is going to strike at midnight like they did Meig's Field. The $1.5 million park is 90 percent finished, complete with 10 feet granite slabs and pipes and wiring.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=...
What a watse of money.
I won a $3,000 excessive-force settlement with the CPD when I spotted an accident which an officer had caused and for which he was attempting to frame another driver. I gleaned that this is what was happening and when I attempted to intervene, the cop arrested me and put me in the klink. The CPD is stubborn about everything, and that costs money.
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