Boy's Stache Helped Him Impersonate Cop
Weis: We dodged a bullet on this one
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Maybe it's true ... a good stache really could be all you need to get ahead.
Police Supt. Jody Weis said Friday that people impersonating police officers is fairly common, but not to the extent that happened last month, when a 14-year-old boy was able to go on patrol with an actual police officer for several hours before anyone realized he was a fake.
During a two hour meeting before the Police and Fire Committee, Weis said that 33 people have been arrested for impersonating an officer in the last year.
Weis illustrated that he's taking the situation very seriously, and he used every expression he could to admit that what happened was wrong and can't happen again.
"This was a very serious breach. We dodged a bullet on this one," he said. "Someone will be held accountable."
Internal investigators are clearly aiming at the 40-year-old rookie female officer who went on patrol for hours with the teen, apparently never knowing he was unauthorized and unarmed.
The head of Internal Affairs testified the boy "looked older than his age and had facial hair. Civilians he came in contact with almost all said they thought he was in training."
Police and Fire Committee Chairman, Ald. Ike Carothers (29th), is expecting several officers to lose jobs over the incident.
Weis ran through a laundry list of what he's doing to punish and prevent, and steps he's taking to determine who knew what, and when, about the teen's activity.
He said he wants to correct the poor security at the back door entrances of many police facilities, and he said he's enlisted the Secret Service to assess security throughout the Chicago Police Department, free of charge.
One alderman had a simpler solution.
"I think we need the 'Department of Common Sense,'" Tom Allen said.
Rumors swirl that some disgruntled officers are setting Weis up for failure, especially with a drug bust Thursday evening at a condo owned by his new first deputy, but Mayor Daley, the man who hired Weis for an unprecendented $300,000 salary, is still publicly supporting the police superintendent.
An internal report will be done Feb. 23.
Posted Thursday, Jul 30, 2009 - 1:44 PM CST
