BECOMING A CHICAGO POLICE OFFICER, A VERY EXCLUSIVE CLUB TO JOIN

The acceptance rate for incoming students at Harvard University is 9% and at Yale, 9.7%. If one is not a veteran, the chance of becoming a new Chicago police officer is barely 2%. This is based on the facts that 9,600 people took the police entrance exam on Saturday and the Chicago Police Department (CPD) plans to hire between 150 and 200 new officers. One’s odds improve if they are a veteran, because CPD is reserving 20% of  the new spots for that category of applicant. One actually has a better chance of holding some sort of winning lottery ticket than being hired by CPD.

CPD sent every test applicant a memo of what was allowed to be brought to the test site at McCormick Place. The bolded words are courtesy of CPD.

“We are very much looking forward to your participation in the written examination on Saturday, December 11. As previously communicated to you, we would like to remind you of the following:

1. Any personal possessions including, but not limited to, handbags, large purses or tote bags, backpacks, briefcases, notebooks, paper, notes, reference materials, and food, should not be brought into the test site.


2. All electronic devices such as CELL PHONES, pagers, personal digital assistants (PDA), MP3 players, calculators, cameras, tape/video recorders and/or personal alarms are strictly forbidden at the test site.


3. You may bring a bottle of water for your personal use only (only clear plastic bottles up to 1-liter will be permitted).


In the event that candidates bring the possessions listed above that are not permitted in the test room, we have made arrangements for a coat check on site. There are fees associated with checking of these items and only cash is accepted:


$3.00 per coat (fur coats will be accepted, but owner will be required to sign a liability waiver)


$4.00 for other items; charged on a per item basis (such as a cell phone, purse, luggage, etc.; laptops will be accepted, but owner will be required to sign a liability waiver)

In addition, there will be bottled water and snack foods for sale inside the testing room. The fees associated with the purchase of these items range from $2.25 to $2.50. Cash and credit will be accepted. Eating will not be permitted once the exam begins.”

I was sent the memo by one of the applicants who was upset that they were being charged for checking their coats and other personal items. Since everyone will be wearing a coat in this freezing weather it means that the McCormick Place vendor who controlled the hangers collected almost $30,000 in CASH at the site. If one adds to that the fact that almost every woman would be carrying a purse and virtually everyone a cell phone, I would venture to guess that the money collected was closer to $50,000. I did not even figure in the profit on the bottled water and snack food, which would add thousands more to the till. Who gets to keep that pile of money? CASH has a funny way of disappearing in this city.

What are the odds we will ever know?