Friday, March 14, 2008

* Does Rank Matter?

Police Ranks
Superintendent of Police (Four Silver Five-Pointed Stars)
First Deputy Superintendent (Three Silver Five-Pointed Stars)
Deputy Superintendent (Two Silver Five-Pointed Stars)
Chief (One Silver Five-Pointed Star)
Assistant Deputy Superintendent (Silver or Gold Spread Eagle)
Deputy Chief (Silver Oak Leaf)
Commander (Gold Oak Leaf)
Captain (Two Silver Bars)
Lieutenant, Inspector (One Silver Bar for Lieutenant) (An inspector wears the Lieutenant's uniform less any rank insignia)
Sergeant (Three Chevrons)
Police Officer Assigned as Detective, Police Technician, Field Training Officer, Investigator, Gang Crime Specialist, Police Agent, Traffic Specialist, Marine Unit Officer, K-9 Officer
Police Officer

Needing Official Clarification...
-- Joe Moore's email blast said....> "Superintendent Weis has selected veteran Chicago Police Sergeant, Steve Caluris, to be the new 24th District Commander." --
So, let's get this straight. According to Joe Moore - "Sergeant" Steve Caluris jumped 3 ranks yesterday. Suddenly, "Sergeant" Steve Caluris went from three Chevrons - to a Gold Oak Leaf, in a matter of hours. He passed all the one Silver Bars, all the two Silver Bars, and suddenly gets put in the highest position in the district.

Could one of our 'rank and file' police officers who reads this tell us how this is possible?

I wonder how "Sergeant" Steve Caluris feels about being promoted to Commander? This seems so unprecedented. "Sergeant" Caluris must be the happiest man on the police force?

Then, I wonder how all the Lieutenants and all the Captains feel about having a "Sergeant" jumping over them for a top promotion? They've gotta feel pretty sour being passed over for such a plum position. That's gotta suck for moral.

So, does rank matter?

Blognotes: The worst part, Joe Moore sends out his email blast, which gets picked up as gospel by the sheeple of the ward. The sheeple get this information - and they suddenly believe a "Sergeant" gets the top 24 job. They start spreading the wrong information around ' Jabber-Jaw' Joe gave them. Sound familiar? Like that old grape vine, soon, everyone believes a "Sergeant" is taking over the entire district - and shouting it from the rooftops. Okay, maybe not so. But, this false information is now being circulated around the Internet.

12 comments:

Big Daddy said...

I believe Caluris is actually a Lieutenant but his "civil service" rank could be a Sgt as well. It would not be the first time a Sgt or Police Officer jumped several ranks. Mike Cronin went from Police Officer directly to Deputy Superintendent. The Officers that work on daleys bodyguard detail are all Police Officers but carry the rank of Commander. There is no General Order that states that one must be a specific rank to be promoted to an "exempt" rank which is what a Commander is. The "exempt" rank, which is anything above a Captain, serve at the pleasure of the Superintendent and can be removed at any time and returned to their "civil service" rank. The only test that is given is for Police Officer, Sergeant or Lieutenant. Any thing above that is actually an appointment. But the question I have is what's the difference? Why are you getting yourself all worked up over this? Lt. or Sgt. matters not.

Craig Gernhardt said...

From the Better Government website on City of Chicago employees:
Caluris, Steven
Deputy Chief - Dept Of Police
Earns: $148,356
Hired: 12/26/89

Nice pay for a Lieutenant.

Big Daddy said...

One more thing. Don't be fooled by all of this rank nonsense. An Officer is not appointed to an exempt rank such as Commander because he is a superior Police Officer. Most Commanders and above are administrators and probably no nothing about being the Police. They are appointed because they have a "rabbi" who makes a phonecall for them and gets then the job. For instance. The new Commander of the 20th District was a "meritorious" appointment to detective, Sgt., Lt. and now Commander.But matters not because she as well as others have worked inside next to the powers that be for years and has become a familar face. Your new Commander has been a "house mouse" for years. Most of these new Commanders are inside people who have not been on the streets for years. They are NOT leaders but are instead "connected". Which is why the CPD has such a problem with low moral and incompetent leadership. And for the most part, I do not, based upon these new promotions, expect anything to change soon.

Big Daddy said...

Craig, BTW, Sgts. and Lts. run the Department. And don't sweat those numbers put out by the City. They are put out there during contract time to help their side keep the salary as low as possible.

Craig Gernhardt said...

Big Daddy said...> "Your new Commander has been a "house mouse" for years. Most of these new Commanders are inside people who have not been on the streets for years. They are NOT leaders but are instead "connected". Which is why the CPD has such a problem with low moral and incompetent leadership."

Because of Joe Moore's constant lies about crime in Rogers Park, the citizens have low moral too. That's why the CAPS program can barely get 20 people to show up at most beat meetings.

That's why this bothers me. Joe Moore can't even get this officers... or as you say, "House Mouse's" rank right.

I live here too said...

So, in reality, our new Commander is taking a demotion, from Deputy Chief to Commander of a district.
And, the current commander is getting the new guys old job, a promotion. I wonder what that does for a guys moral?
Is that correct? Big Daddy, any input or clarification?

Ryne said...

All the comments posted hit many "facts" right on the head.

The leaders in the CPD are removed from the rank and file on the streets which brings down moral, it brings up the old "its not what you know but who you know" way things in Chicago are run.

The citizens of Chicago are being fed " tainted numbers" of the crime going on in their neighborhoods, which in turn frustrate them.

The losers are the people of Chicago who are being overtaxed, feed lies,have leaders in office who do not care about the peoples needs.

CNB said...

It's not the rank. It's how you use it.

floss said...

Maybe it is all about who is chosen to be getting the fatter pension.

Big Daddy said...

Commander Caluris was the Deputy Chief for Organized Crime. When he was assigned to the Commander of the 24th District, he was actually demoted one rank. Bruce Rottner was promoted to Deputy Chief of Area 3. His new assignment is not related to what Caluris was assigned to prior to his demotion. I believe that both hold the "civil service" rank of Lieutenant.

Joe Moore. I don't know how you can expect Joe Moore to know the various ranks in the CPD. Hell, sometimes it's hard for me to remember who's who or what the order of rank is. As far as his lieing about crime, I don't know anything about that or how he would do it. He has zero imput into how the stat's are recorded or who does the recording. Those stat's are entered into the datatbase almost immediately upon the Sergeants approval.If he's making blanket statements about crime conditions without documentation, that's one thing. If your referring to the stat's that are distributed at the CAPS meetings by the Officers, those come from the database and Joe Moore has no control over them.
As far as attendence at beat meetings, 20 is probably the citywide average give or take a few and dependent on the time of year. I do know of districts where more than 20 attend the Beat Community Meeting but that's really not that common. 20 people attending a beat meeting where I work would be an exceptional turnout. I have NEVER seen more than 30 attend.

Karen Hoover said...

I have known Steve Caluris, the new Commander, for several years. When he was a Sergeant, he was 2420. He was in the 24th District for the implementation of CAPS. He is was one of the smartest police officers I know. He is very community-oriented. He is bringing a wealth of experience with him. We are fortunate to have him.

Karen Hoover

Craig Gernhardt said...

I had to offer a rank correction before. Why can't Joe?

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