Durkin Park, Part 2, or maybe 3.

We'd like to entertain the topic of how the dispatchers were served. One of them reported for work, and was told to turn in her work IDs, her headset, and even her parking sticker. As far as we know, the other one still hasn't been served. Rumor has it that they were to be served at their homes, but a cooler head or two allegedly prevailed and decided that wasn't the best option (although it did happen to a former employee around the beginning of the M.K. reign.

So, opinions on that, please. Try to keep it from turning into a mud-fest like the last thread. Although we must admit, we appreciate the fact that noone attempted to name the dispatchers/supervisors under investigation.

Durkin Park

If you haven't heard about the Durkin Park incident then you're either been asleep in roll call or you seclude yourself from the lot of your coworkers. And it also means you haven't paid attention to the news.

You can see the Executive Director's official OEMC press conference on the matter at CLTV if you scroll down through the video panel. It's entitled "OEMC Durkin Park press conference."

You can also see an article in the Daily Southtown, yesterday's front page of which said very boldly that two 911 dispatchers have been suspended, which was incorrect. They've been placed on administrative leave with pay. At least we can say that they weren't stripped of their due process and immediately placed on suspension, the prospect of which had several people on the Ops Floor up in arms.

And of course NBC 5 joined in, since they're always the quickest to report on OEMC wrongdoings. You can read their latest article here, and see a video snippet here.

We don't know what else was or wasn't going on on the zone during the time of the incident, but we've worked Zone 6 and were amazed at just how busy it is, and how many things are going on at one time. It includes Districts 007 and 008. 007 is an absolute hellhole, and 008 is questionably the largest (geographically speaking) district in the city. 008 is so big that 10-sector cars don't respond to 30-sector jobs because the sectors are literally several miles apart.

It takes a certain skill level to work Zone 6 on a regular basis, and as with everything else in a public safety job, it's not recognized publicly. In fact, in the 12-year history of OEC, we have yet to see a news story where an employee was lauded for the job he/she did. Noone in public safety (except for the fire department and, occasionally, the police department) gets any kind of recognition in the public eye until something goes wrong. And unfortunately in this situation, things went horribly wrong.

We won't comment on the ongoing investigation, and we won't speculate on why the job didn't get put out, and we won't mention who the dispatchers are who were involved (and you won't either, not even by initials this time, no matter how poignant the rest of your comment is). But we ourselves are waiting to find out what was going on that kept the call from going out before it did. We're hoping that the PCO IIs will have solid reasoning for their sake (and for the sake of all of us, indirectly). But we're honestly befuddled.

And we ALL know that they're going to be used as examples. So are the supervisors who are being investigated (you won't name or initial them, either). In the NBC 5 video snippet from the community meeting following the incident, the executive director is quoted as saying:

I'm very unhappy with the way the dispatchers handled the situation.

Huh? Excuse us? We must have missed the whole part about how the situation is under investigation, and no determination is being made until the investigation is completed. We must have also missed the whole "apparently handled" disclaimer that would give an indication that "No, we haven't already decided that you're fucked."

The crowd broke into applause immediately following that statement by the E.D. Of course they're going to love it when even the boss of the people they're blaming sides with them. We imagined the whole huge crowd turning into vampires lusting after the blood of the PCO IIs, and breaking through the ceiling to fly across the city to find them. Maybe that's why NBC cut the scene so abruptly.

We also believe we missed the outrage over these teens who run rampant through the neighborhood wreaking havoc, and the explanation for where the hell their parents were and why they didn't know that their children were involved an what's been described as a riot at 10:15 at night. That could be because the news focused on hanging dispatchers, but who knows.

Where the hell were the parents? How long has this problem been going on? How aware/unaware of it were district personnel? Are we too stupid/too naive/too quick to sweep things under the rug, to face the apparent racial motivation for the attack here? Why the hell, when sergeants can (and do) monitor pending events as they're supposed to, they can tell dispatchers "Event number such&such is a 19P/5P" but were just nowhere to be heard when all of these calls came in about 8445 S. Kolin? It smacks of traffic pursuits where we almost had to redline sergeants because noone would answer up for the notification thereof.

But we digress. We're not trying to render the PCOs blameless, but we are trying to touch on points that the media neglects to keep the shock value of their story.

Also quoted from the E.D.:

When these investigations are concluded, we will issue appropriate discipline, possible termination.

You hear that, people? You're being watched (moreso than you know, more on that later). You're being scrutinized. You're in a position where you can play a major role in whether or not someone lives or dies. You're in a position where if something goes wrong and police/fire/OEC administration can pin the blame on you, you're up the creek without a paddle. We tend to get complacent with the day-in-day-outs of the job, and forget all of these things. It's the same thing every day, the same calls, the same people calling. And we get tired and frustrated. And our Giving-A-Damn meter falls into limbo. Complacency kills. It could kill a citizen, which in turn would kill your career.

We're not saying to internalize the job, and take it home with you. Not by any means, it would be hypocritical (you'll notice this is the first blog update in weeks, because we try to leave the job at the job). What we're saying is cover/watch your ass. Those PCOs we're all feeling worried for? It's going to be one of us next time.

And there WILL be a next time. Trust us.

And head over to Second City Cop. Lot of comments on their post about the topic.

We've been hiding, but

This topic brings us out.

Rumor has it that during yesterday's staff meeting, it was decreed that time due is to be denied across the board if anyone is working overtime on a shift.

For those who have more trouble comprehending basic notions and need everything spelled out:

If anyone is working an extension on your shift on tomorrow's date, that time due you put in for 11 months ago will be denied.

If anyone is working his/her RDO on your shift on tomorrow's date, that time due you put in for 11 months ago will be denied.

We can't confirm it - hence the word "rumor." Nor have we seen anything in writing stipulating such. But if it's true, we see a lot of misery in the future, at least more than there already is. Family functions? Fuck 'em. Need the day off because 6 days on-2 days off is wearing on you 3 months after furlough? Fuck it. At this point, you'll be feigning illness if you need the day off. That's the only way you're going to get it.

Okay, okay, you'll be feigning illness more often than you already do.

Surely you all realize that on any given day, on practically all three watches, someone is working overtime in some way, shape, or form. And all of this before the summer's even in full swing. So for them to tell us that time due will be denied if one soul is working on a shift at overtime pay, is basically to tell us that all of our time due is denied well in advance. If you're one of those who have literally hundreds of hours of compensatory time built up, consider thyself shat upon. You now have it for nothing. Indefinitely, or until City Hall hires enough PCOs to fully staff Operations, or until you retire and cash your hours out. We'd bet a whole paycheck on the latter coming first.

We anxiously await the comments that're sure to come on this post. And by the way, we appreciate the way you all have kept the comment sections decent in our absence (although we were still watching the whole time).

We'll see you at work.

Every day.

Absolutely every day.

For a long time.

The Olympics

It was just announced that they'll be in Chicago. Word is that there are other countries vying for the Olympics, and that it will be in Chicago if the Committee decides on the U.S.

Here's to having the 2016 Olympics in Djibouti. We dread the thought of how that summer would be for us and the police department and, to a certain extent, the fire department.

Updates as time and new information permit.

Well, that didn't work.

Daley wins another election in a landslide.

Better luck next time. By the way, when do contract negotiations start, again? Months after the current contract expires? Also from the same Scum-Times article:

Contracts with city unions expire June 30 and a showdown looms. Last time around, the police contract was handed down by an arbitrator, and it took 28 months to nail down an agreement with the building trades that ended up denying retirees back paychecks.

28 months. Don't the contracts last for 36? We seem to recall our previous contract expiring in 2004, and the new one getting ratified in October of 2006 - and not until after sworn personnel got theirs. We don't predict the next negotiations proceeding any more quickly. Now that the mayor has won a 6th term, his belief of invincibility has surely worsened. And you know what that means for his employees, especially since most of our unions decided not to endorse him for another term. We expect to feel more wrath.

Payback's a bitch.