Yes folks, the Cook County, Illinois Sheriff's Department wants you to know, they're the Grim Reaper

[marym625]

I was at northwestern memorial hospital today. When I was on the escalator, going to grab a sandwich after a long stint in the doctor's office, a young woman was ahead of me. Her jacket had me perplexed and I wanted to know what it was about. But she went one way and I went the other.

On my way back down, she was again ahead of me. I had to ask. "Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you. I have to know, what does Cook County have to do with the Grim Reaper?" She said, "Oh, my brother is a Cook County Sheriff Deputy. The jacket is from them." I said, "you have to be shitting me! So they're advertising they'll kill you. Call a cop, meet the Grim Reaper." She laughed and said, that's about right. Last year, they change it every year, it was a grizzly bear scratching some guy with his claws." And she acted out the picture.

We spoke for a couple minutes about this, laughed a lot about the audacity of the cops. She showed me the sleeve that has the CPD, CFD and CCSD logos. Then she let me take a picture.

[edgineered]

4. very strange,

i wonder what one would lose their patch (get center punched) for?

[marym625]

6. interesting, isn't it?

[bravenak]

2. WTF?

You know, this is scary. Somebod puts a lot of thought into making the scariest logos possible. Cops are a gang, imo.

[marym625]

7. exactly!

We were laughing but it was out of amazement. It is very disturbing

[marym625]

28. Just an FYI,

I tweeted this picture and a link to this post, to Tom Dart, twice now. I asked both times if he sanctioned this. No reply.

I will continue to tweet it, once a day until he blocks me or answers.

[Kelvin Mace]

3. I would bring this to the attention of the local media

Put it on Facebook, Twitter, and mail it to Rachel Maddow, the ACLU, the NAACP, and anyone else you can think of. This is sick.

[marym625]

9. I thought so

I just kept staring and thinking this can't be the Cook County Sheriff. Please!

[Fumesucker]

5. To protect and serve

It's a cookbook!

[marym625]

10. Haha!

Good one

[Takket]

8. oh, so the cops are a motorcycle gang now...

stay classy Cook!

[marym625]

11. The Grim Reapers!

Beware

[Aerows]

12. Hell of a way

to do "community outreach."

[marym625]

13. Right?

This is a WTF!? I can't even begin to understand

[Aerows]

16. Me either.

It's not appropriate by any means.

[marym625]

17. I'm actually surprised I haven't seen it before

But I guess it's an exclusive club

[flying rabbit]

14. FWIW

The reaper is a copy of the one on the show "Sons of Anarchy". Going for the popularity angle.

[marym625]

15. Really?

I thought it looked familiar. So now they're stealing from a motorcycle gang. Good to know

[WillyT]

18. My Old Man Worked As A Police Reporter In The Cook County Jail... As Did...

One Of The Guys I'm Named After (My Great Uncle)



Link: http://www.amazon.com/Dateline-Chicago-Veteran-Newsman-Recalls/dp/0800821149

[marym625]

19. Cool!

That looks like an interesting read. Thank you

[WillyT]

20. He Also Worked With The Author Of The Play/Movie "The Front Page"

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Front_Page

[marym625]

21. Oh wow!

I love the original. Great movie.

Lucky you!

[WillyT]

22. He Explained To Me Once...

"Look... cops are a lot like most people... both good and bad. BUT... they have a baton and a gun on them, and are generally supported by the law. And nobody knows what percentage is there to protect us, versus the percentage of those that can't wait to use their baton and gun. Be careful out there."

[marym625]

24. Good explanation

But as time goes on and the training, the gear, the procedures become more and more militarized, the good ones are more and more elusive.

I think the jacket kind of proves that

[mucifer]

23. As someone who lives here I think you should know more about Sheriff Dart:

As Cook County Sheriff, Tom Dart has brought an aggressive, yet innovative approach to law enforcement. A former prosecutor and state legislator, Sheriff Dart has long fought to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.

As a prosecutor, he helped initiate a massive public corruption investigation in the poverty-stricken village of Ford Heights, which led to the indictments of multiple police officers.

As a state legislator, Dart sponsored hundreds of bills that demanded accountability from state officials, while also showing a willingness to take on state bureaucracy. He re-wrote child welfare bills, wrote the state’s Sexually Violent Predators Commitment Act and led the state’s first-ever study connecting homelessness and prostitution.

Since becoming Sheriff in 2006, he has introduced sweeping changes at the Cook County Jail, the nation’s largest single site jail, aggressively re-structured the Sheriff’s Police force, and improved operations of the Court Services Department.

He reformed the way Sheriff’s Police handle prostitution arrests– steering prostitutes toward rehabilitative services through the Sheriff’s Women’s Justice Program rather than jail. Sheriff Dart also launched a national campaign to target the “johns” who solicit sex and highlight their roles as catalysts for the sex trade. Since its first operation in 2011, the “National Day of Johns Arrests” has grown to include 51 law enforcement nationwide partners who have combined for 1,832 johns arrests. The Child Exploitation Unit, also founded under Dart, actively pursues child pornography and human trafficking cases; such work provided the foundation for his federal lawsuit against the website Craigslist, which ultimately led to the removal of the Adult Services section previously listed on their website. Sheriff Dart has since turned his attention to Backpage.com, now the most prominent conduit for online sex ads, shining a light on the company’s facilitation of the sex trade while pushing for policy and legal strategies to protect the website’s victims.

Sheriff Dart also overhauled the county’s approach to foreclosure evictions – ensuring that evictees receive proper notice before being put out on the street and offering on-site social services geared towards families with school-age children, the elderly, and individuals suffering from mental illness. Sheriff Dart gained national prominence in 2009 for placing a moratorium on evictions after banks admitted to robo-signing foreclosure documents.

http://www.cookcountysheriff.com/sheriffs_bio/sheriff_bio.html

For a sheriff, he's not too bad.

[marym625]

26. I agree

He was the one of the only law enforcement officials who spoke out, strongly, about the open carry bill in Illinois.

But the department still has major issues. Especially in the jails.

[marym625]

29. Please see my reply, #28, to this post

I agree with you about Dart. But this doesn't speak well about him.

[Iggo]

25. Cops.

Gotta love 'em.

[marym625]

27. If you say so

[HappyMe]

30. Isn't that special.

A gang type logo.

Doesn't surprise me.

[marym625]

31. Have to admit, I was shocked.

I shouldn't have been but there it was, shock.

I have been trying to find a way to buy it online. I can't find it on a public site.

In my search, I found this. Now I know it's great they're cracking down on this stuff, but I find it interesting that it's a black female that is arrested.

http://www.cookcountysheriff.com/press_page/press_OfficerSexualMisconduct_02_12_2015.html

There are a couple other stories about CCSD deputies being arrested but not from internal investigations. They were deputies doing horrible, illegal things to women in public while they were off duty. Like punching a woman in a bar and another for raping a prostitute.

[damnedifIknow]

32. Real mature

I might expect this sort of thing from a juvenile street gang but a police department? Wow someone needs to grow the hell up.

[marym625]

33. ain't that the truth!

Something to be devoutly wished. Unfortunately, as time goes by, it seems less and less likely to happen