St. Charles wants you to drive sober over the holidays… does that mean they don’t care about the rest of the year?

I love this time of year. Not just because there’s all sorts of outside fun like ice skating, sledding and curling. Also because it’s that time of year when the local police pretend to care more about DUI.  Yesterday the St. Charles Police notified the world that they’d be using the upcoming weeks to launch a “campaign” against impaired driving.  According to the Kane County Chronicle:

“…St. Charles police officers will begin a traffic enforcement campaign that focuses on impaired drivers and seat belt violators, according to a St. Charles Police Department news release.”

Before I go any further, I’ve got to thank the Chronicle for directly telling us this was spoon-fed to them from a police news release. You know that the media’s reliance on police press releases is an “interest” of mine.

Don’t you read that statement, though, and wonder to yourself, “Hey! What about the rest of the year?  You don’t focus on impaired drivers then?”

You should, right?  If the St. Charles Police department is “focused” on impaired drivers during this short period, isn’t it reasonable to believe they aren’t the rest of the year?  Seems reasonable to me.  Although, I’m in DUI court all the time- I know that’s not true. It’s not like they arrest 100% of the drunk drivers they see this time of year, but would let 25% of them go if it were June or October.

What’s going on is that this is more police public relations.  This little enforcement announcement is part of two of annoying programs that many departments like St. Charles buy into- the “drive sober or get pulled over” and “click it or ticket” programs:

The campaign, which is conducted in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Transportation’s “Click It or Ticket” and “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” programs, will last through Jan. 5. 

The programs are annoying, mostly, because they’re more about marketing and public relations than anything else.  They start with the cute names (“Click It or Ticket”) and media releases before a single person is even arrested.  Local departments across Kane County and all over the country are going to be engaging in these two programs with these two cute names just like St. Charles- so expect more of these news “stories” to pop up quickly.

Why is that?  That’s because the St. Charles Police department didn’t dream this little deal up- neither did any of the other police departments. It’s part of a Federally funded program where your local police can apply for grants. In exchange for the grants, the local police will do things like issue media releases saying they’ll be “extra-cautious” about impaired driving.

Of course, the feds pump the program on their end as well. They’ve set up this informative web page and published intimidating videos depicting things than no person I know who’s ever had to do public service has complained of:

But, I digress.  The St. Charles media release doesn’t acs as though the department will pay special attention to impaired driving over this time because the police disregard impaired driving the rest of the year.  Rather, it’s because the federal grants will go towards things like paying overtime for officers and possibly doing things like setting up roadblocks over this time of year.

So, does that grant money directly combat the problem of impaired driving?  That much is clearly up for debate. Obviously the St. Charles Police, and other departments making use of the grants would tell you it does. Me? I’m not so sure-  That’s a debate for another time.

Either way, the safest bet is to stay safe on the road and call for a ride whenever you’ve had anything to drink– regardless of what time of year it is or what catchy name the federal government is using to administer grants.

Crime News… Whose Perspective?

Obviously I love to troll the press and media releases for local crime.  They amuse me.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  What’s not really amusing, though, is how much they influence what shows up in the newspaper…. and how they get there.

If you read a newspaper article and don’t know what’s going on, you’d think a newpaper reporter was sitting in a courtroom watching trials as they unfold.  That certainly does happen a lot of the time.  What happens more often is that a reporter sits in for parts of a trial.  That’s exactly what was going on when the back of my head made the Huffington Post last year. Of course, in that case, the parts of the trial the reporters weren’t sitting in on were the ones where we presented our side of the case.  Crazy how that works.

Anyhow, what seems to be happening more often (especially in Kane County) is that media and press releases are pushed out to media outlets, who then write stories based largely on the reports.  Of course, those reports are coming from the Kane County State’s Attorneys office, and the police departments.

For example, take this story in the Elgin Courior News:

South Elgin woman guilty of filing false child abuse reports

From Submitted Reports December 6, 2013 4:42PM
Updated: December 9, 2013 12:30PM
A South Elgin woman has been found guilty of making a false report of child abuse that included coloring her young son with ink and claiming it was bruising caused by the boy’s stepmother, the Kane County State’s Attorney Office said.
Kimberly Carlyle, 47, of the 200 block of Nicole Drive, was convicted Friday in a trial before Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles of two counts of disorderly conduct, each a Class 2 felony…

This story says it’s from “submitted reports” on December 6, 2013.  I wonder what “submitted report” that might be?

It’s not hard to find, really.  On December 6, 2013 the twitter account for the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office posted as follows:

If you follow that link, it takes you right to a prepared, pre-formatted press release from the Kane County prosecutor’s office.  If you go ahead and look through the Kane SAO twitter account, you’ll find all sorts of links to press releases, too.

It doesn’t take much investigation to figure out that that press release was a major source for the newspaper story.  According to the press release:

Kimberly Carlyle, 47 (d.o.b. 7-29-1966), of the 200 block of Nicole Drive, South Elgin, was convicted today by Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles or two counts of disorderly conduct, each a Class 2 felony.

Carlyle waived her right to a jury trial.

According to the newspaper:

Kimberly Carlyle, 47, of the 200 block of Nicole Drive, was convicted Friday in a trial before Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles of two counts of disorderly conduct, each a Class 2 felony.

Carlyle waived her right to a jury trial.

Press release:

On Sept. 6, 2009, Carlyle called the Kane County Sheriff’s Office to report that her young child had been physically abused during a visit with the child’s biological father and his wife. Carlyle claimed that bruises she said appeared on her child were the result of physical abuse. When a sheriff’s deputy told Carlyle that she had contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to investigate further, Carlyle acknowledged that the bruises were actually ink that had since washed off. When contacted later by DCFS, Carlyle apologized, acknowledged that the bruising marks were actually ink and said that she had no reason to believe that the child was being abused.

Newspaper:

According to prosecutors, on Sept. 6, 2009, Carlyle called the Kane County Sheriff’s Office to report that her young child had been physically abused during a visit with the child’s biological father and his wife. Carlyle claimed that bruises she said appeared on her child were the result of physical abuse. When a sheriff’s deputy told Carlyle that she had contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to investigate further, Carlyle acknowledged that the bruises were actually ink that had since washed off.

When contacted later by DCFS, Carlyle apologized, acknowledged that the bruising marks were actually ink and said that she had no reason to believe that the child was being abused.

I could keep going on, but I won’t. You get the idea- the article is practically a word-for-word regurgitation of the Kane County State’s Attorney’s media release.  It’s not so much an article as it is a rebroadcast of a prosecutor’s statement about the outcome of the case.  If the defendant had been found not-guilty, then what would the Kane County State’s Attorney’s press release say?  There wouldn’t be one, of course.

This happens nearly every day, all over Chicagoland.

So, when you’re reading the news are you really reading the news? Or are you reading propaganda from a prosecutor or police department?  I certainly have my opinion on that.

Like I said about that Woodstock police officer… it’s not over.

I’m not saying “I told you so” because it’s not like you disagreed. Instead, I’ll just say that I’m not surprised.

Today’s update from the Northwest Herald on the Chip Amati/Woodstock police “sexy pics” saga informs us that he’s been “demoted”:

Woodstock Sgt. Amati pulled from spokesman post

Published: Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 1:24 p.m. CST • Updated: Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 1:41 p.m. CST
By SHAWN SHINNEMAN – sshinneman@shawmedia.com
WOODSTOCK – Police Sgt. Charles “Chip” Amati has been removed from his position as public information officer following revelations that he sent inappropriate texts to a 12-year-old girl and misused a law enforcement database.
Woodstock Police Chief Robert Lowen and Deputy Chief John Lieb will take over as the department’s go-between with the public. Lowen said he made the decision Wednesday.
“I just feel it’s more appropriate at this time to remove those duties from Sergeant Amati and to place them with myself and Deputy Chief Lieb,” Lowen said.

Perhaps more interesting, though, is the news on the suspension.  Earlier reports (or rumors, I forget which… and it’s difficult to tell the difference these days) were that he would serve his 30 day suspension in piecemeal fashion.  There was an implication the he could pick and choose what days he’d miss, just as long as he sat out 30.  Shawn Shinneman’s article today says that’s not true:

The 30-day suspension will be served on days the department deems it won’t “impact the operations of the police department or the city,” Lowen said – not at Amati’s discretion, as previously reported.

I still say that this thing isn’t over.  It seems like the general Woodstock community is pretty fired up.  Like I said yesterday, you never know what went on behind the scenes and who investigated what. It wouldn’t surprise me if the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office as well as the Woodstock Police Department’s disciplinary responses are a direct result of the investigation they were handed by the Illinois State Police.

I suppose we will find out as the details unfold.

You Matter Less. Part II.

Remember back about three weeks ago when I wrote about the property destroyed on the newly re-done River Street in Batavia?  I was a little bit annoyed that damaging public property was a more serious crime than damaging private property because, well, I don’t really know why.  I’m still annoyed- I’m not sure why my property (or your property) is somehow different than public property.

But wait, there’s more.  This might even be worse.

The Beacon News is running a story on a man convicted of stealing property from a mall in Aurora, Illinois.  Shocking, right? A dude stole some stuff from a mall. It’s probably the first time that ever happened. Ever.  It’s probably only in the paper because there are some other “aggravating” issues- like the man’s record.

Actually, it’s probably only in the newspaper because the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office pushed a media release out to the internet and bragged about it on the twitters:

Chicago man is guilty of retail thefts, shoving officer: http://t.co/LbYy3NAaiV
— Kane County SAO (@KaneSAO) December 4, 2013

Let’s ignore that grandstanding for a moment and pretend this story is actually news.  If we ignore that annoying fact, here’s the other part that’s annoying:

A Kane County jury deliberated about two hours before convicting Shawn A. Gosa, 45, of aggravated battery and two counts of retail theft, a statement from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s office said. All the charges are felonies.

I’ve highlighted “retail theft” for a reason.  Therein lies the annoyance.

Of course, you know we’ve got a law against theft (720 ILCS 5/15-1). I don’t need to quote it for you- you know what it says.  It’s got a lot of extra legal mumbo-jumbo but it basically says that you can’t take stuff that belongs to other people.  Simple enough.  If that’s theft, though, what is retail theft?

Retail theft (720 ILCS 5-16/25) says pretty much the same thing- don’t take stuff that isn’t yours.  It goes one further, though by telling you not to take stuff that isn’t yours but is the property of a “retail mercantile establishment”.

Wonder why that might be? It’s because theft of personal property is only a felony if the value of the property is over $500.  On the other hand, theft from a store at the mall is a felony if the property is valued over $300.

So, now you’re wondering why somebody somewhere (lots of people in the Illinois General Assembly, really) is going out of the way to (waste taxpayer money) and protect the retailers?  Why is it that somebody who steals your pants is treated differently than somebody who steals pants from Manny’s Big and Tall?

Because you matter less, apparently.

That Woodstock Cop Was Suspended for 30 Days and… Something Tells Me This One Isn’t Over.

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Update, December 5, 2013: The NW Herald ran an updated story today reporting that Amati has seemingly been demoted.  I’ve posted more about it here.

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Every once-in-a-while I read some crime related story and think to myself, “Hmmm… I’m not sure we’re getting the whole story.”  When I say, “every once-in-a-while” I mean it happens every single day, actually.

That’s not a gripe about media coverage, either.  Our friends in the press can only report on the trash they’re given.  The people “giving” them the information are typically the police or prosecutors office, as well.  There’s only so much detail you can report on when all of the information you have comes from an intentionally vague police report.

That’s not what happened with this story on the Woodstock Police Officer suspended for misusing the police database and asking for “sexy pics” from a 12 year old.  The story still left me wondering if there’s not a lot more to both the story and the reasoning behind the punishment, though.  As reported by the Northwest Herald in a story written by Kevin Craver (kcraver@shawmedia.com):

Woodstock cop gets 30-day suspension for texts, database misuse

WOODSTOCK –  The Woodstock Police Department’s spokesman has been suspended for 30 days after an investigation into inappropriate texts to his former girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter also revealed misuse of a state law enforcement database to look up the girlfriend’s criminal record.
Sgt. Charles “Chip” Amati, a 24-year veteran of the force, was suspended without pay for 30 days by the city’s Board of Police and Fire Commissioners, Police Chief Robert Lowen said Wednesday. But he will not face any criminal charges for either texting the girl or misusing the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System to check her mother’s background…

Because of the nature of the request for the pics and the fact that, “[m]isusing the system in Illinois constitutes official misconduct, a Class 3 felony punishable by two to five years in prison” there has been a fair amount of outrage, to say the least.  Amati has not only not been charged with a crime, he’s only been suspended 30 days.

Here’s the part where, for me, it gets weird:

Lowen said he asked the Illinois State Police to investigate on Aug. 23 after the mother came forward with the texts. State police subsequently discovered that Lowen had used the LEADS system to run her background, and submitted its findings to McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi’s office. Attempts to contact the state police’s press offices in Chicago and Springfield were not successful Wednesday.

I’ve underlined the parts I find most interesting.  People are outraged at the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office for not filing charges.  The interesting part to me is that Bianchi’s office didn’t do the investigation.  The ISP did.  I don’t want to read too much into the article, either, but it might be significant if the thrust of their investigation focused more on Amati’s use of LEADS than the pics, as well.

I’ve noted before that there is, at times, no greater way to get intimidated than to be a witness to potential police abuse.  This is pure speculation on my part, but if the ISP conducted this investigation in the same manner I’ve seen them investigate other allegations of police abuse, it’s possible that the the findings they’ve turned over to Bianchi’s office on the “sexting” issue didn’t leave Bianchi’s office much to prosecute.  You can read into that what you’d like- I really have no idea what actually happened.

So, I’m going to venture a guess that there’s a lot more going on with this case than meets the eye. What, exactly, I have no idea.  It’s just pretty clear that it’s not going away any time soon.  It could get interesting.