Rahm Emanuel sure can pick ’em. The man he named to head the Chicago “Department of Aviation” Police – otherwise known as the 300 police that patrol O’Hare and Midway Airports – worked tirelessly to build animosity between himself and his officers.
He forced his trained cops – real police with all the requisite training and qualification – to work unarmed. This is despite a well-equipped armory that according to Second City Cop would make many SWAT teams envious. In the end, one of Chief Richard Edgeworth’s training videos got leaked to the media. It told his mandated-to-work-unarmed officers: “If evacuation is not possible, you should find a place to hide where the active shooter is less likely to find you. Block entry to your hiding place and block the doors.”
Translation: He tried to turn them into mall cops.
From the Patch:
If an armed assailant opens fire at one of Chicago’s airports, “run and hide” is the order of the day.
You might be surprised, however, to learn that advice isn’t for the millions of innocent air travelers passing through O’Hare and Midway international airports on business, vacation or visits to family — that’s official guidance for 300 sworn, certified and uniformed aviation police officers who work at the city’s two airports.
Why?
Because they don’t carry guns.
“We’re nothing but casualties if you tell us to run and hide,” one aviation officer told CNN. “And how can the public look at us if they see police officers running and hiding? That goes against the very oath we were sworn to that we took.”
Of course Edgeworth, who came to the Department of Aviation Police from the Chicago Fire Department, practiced the same “run and hide” technique when media tried to contact him to explain his so-called training program and his policy for making his police work unarmed. Denial of potential threats has no survival value.
Last Friday was his last day at work. He quit without notice, and returned to a post at the Chicago Fire Department.
Why on God’s green earth did Rahm & his fellow Democrats appoint someone from the Chicago Fire Department to head a 300-person police department? Was he sleeping with Rahm or Rahm’s secretary?
He sure didn’t have the aptitude, attitude or competence to serve in that role.
Seems so typical of hand-wringing leftists: Pretend a threat doesn’t exist and then blame their critics when their head in the sand policies fail miserably.
Mr. Edgeworth: You sir have shit for brains.
Sam
Reading Second City Cop is very enlightening, but it can also raise more questions than answers. For example, this story seems to be a case of a boneheaded decision by the brass. But reading the comments at SCC paints a different picture. By the sounds of it, the aviation police is more of a political position for older or otherwise not capable officers. Two interesting comments:
Anonymous said…
The reason that they cannot carry firearms goes back to the decision to hire political hacks who could not pass a background investigation, who failed psychological tests and could not pass a drug screen.
Some of them ae still around and the rest will suffer.
And another comment-
Anonymous said…
How about the fact that 30% of their security force will immediately be fired for being over 63? Or how about the fact that they aren’t drug tested? Or how about the fact that they have no policies? Or how about the fact that they never got field training? Or how about the fact that they have no investigative unit to investigate a shooting? Or how about the fact that they are overpaid security guards? Better idea. Get rid of them and hire more CPD to take their useless political spots. Sometimes things are not what they seem.
I’ve read comments like this before on SCC about aviation police – too old, can’t pass background checks, can’t pass drug tests, can’t pass psych evaluations, the department is for political hacks, etc. The SCC blog is pretty good for giving us a peek behind the Thin Blue Line, and sometimes the comments to the blog posts give an even greater view. I don’t know what the truth is, but the comments are out there and it is interesting.
Perhaps the ultimate take-away is that problem officers should be removed so that qualified officers can do a good job.
Matt:
Thank you for that!
John
Chicago Dept.of Aviation, or DOA (apt acronym) police were unarmed long before Rahm got there. I remember them being unarmed back in the late 90s or early 00s, when I spent a lot of time at O’Hare.
Political hacks in political spots? In Chicago? Perish the thought!
The one DOA copper I ever had any dealings with was a disability-retired CPD officer. He obviously had the background to be safely armed; whether he still had the physical ability to take police action, I don’t know.
Personally, I like the idea of making O’Hare and Midway separate CPD districts and having CPD do the policing.
Sleeping with a politician to get a job? NEver in Chicago.
Homosexual sex with Rahm to get a really good job? Ditto. Couldn’t happen. Just ask Garry.
They all can’t be Captain Carmine Lorenzo.