Thread time!

In response to all of the people blaming a "lack of things to do" and a "lack of resources" for predominantly Black youth in Chicago, thus defending the "need" to go downtown on large groups and fight, shoot, damage property, etc.... This is based on my own personal observations.

Every year, Chicago hosts what's called the Bud Billiken Parade. The Bud Billiken Parade was first held in 1929 and is the largest African-American Parade in the U.S.

Question for non-CPD officers from departments with body cameras: when are you required to activate the audio recording feature on your camera when responding to a call: when you are arriving, or when you are initially dispatched? This includes regular and emergency driving. I ask because our previous order dictated we record "calls for service" and emergency driving, but not the driving portion of non-emergency response. Now, we are required, it seems, to activate our cameras immediately upon being dispatched.

Two years ago, in the heat of summer, my coworkers and I were transported by bus to a part of the city that was in the final stages of being looted. We were dropped off with no access to water, food, or bathrooms. After clearing the area of looters, we sat for hours doing nothing We had no method of transportation to respond to calls. A bus is not an emergency vehicle, a bus driver is not outfitted with a ballistic vest. The only bus that remained with us served as a "cooling center" because it was extremely hot outside.

I love when people talk about the difference between red & yellow tape. In a perfect world, yellow is outer perimeter, red is inner perimeter. But in Chicago, tape runs out quick, so you just use what you have. Like using torn up paper & chip bags as initial crime scene markers. Like, the likelihood of a regular squad car in Chicago having rolls of both yellow and red crime scene tape in the trunk is about as likely as the same squad car having zero maintenance lights illuminated on the dashboard.