* We’re coming a little late to this story, but a well-written AP investigative piece got a lot of recent national play…

Serious crime is up but arrests are down in Chicago, and some police officers say they are working the streets less aggressively out of resentment toward their new chief and fear of being second-guessed by him.

“People are doing just what they need to get through” their shifts, said Lt. Robert Weisskopf, president of the Chicago police lieutenants union, “and not any extra.”

The reporting did not rely solely on the word of the cops involved in what appears to be a work slowdown. Instead, the AP pulled up some startling statistics…

Through the end of August, the department made 103,589 arrests (not including arrests for outstanding arrest warrants) compared with 117,971 for the same period last year, according to the department. The 5,600 guns recovered is roughly half as many as police seized in the same period in 2007, internal documents show.

Bookings in the Cook County Jail - where the vast majority of inmates come from Chicago - are down, too. In all but one month this year, the number of people booked into the jail was down from the same month a year earlier, sometimes by hundreds, according to data obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information Act request.

* This, however, is the most telling number…

But among the slew of statistics kept by the department are “self-initiated” calls, or those in which officers stop and question people about possible drug or gang activity. Department figures show the total is down by more than 3,700 from the same period last year.

* Anyone who skims through posts and comments at the unofficial, but very high-traffic Second City Cop blog can plainly see a problem. Cops, like soldiers, are infamous for grumbling about their jobs and their superior officers, but some of this stuff goes way beyond the usually expected complaints.

* The biggest complaint, at least publicly, is that officers believe Police Superintendent Jody Weis - the department’s first “outsider” who comes from the FBI ranks - will not back them up when they’re in a tough spot and treats them like they’re the enemy…

The mistrust grew after the department announced recently that every police car would be equipped with electronic tracking devices and officers would be asked to submit DNA samples at crime scenes.

“If you don’t feel your bosses support you, are you going to stick your neck out?” Weisskopf asked.

* But the police are also upset at how their union contract negotiations have stalled. From the Washington Post…

The slowdown is known as “de-policing,” and Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, says it could result in more crime and more guns on the streets. […]

In addition, there is bad blood between the officers and the superintendent stemming from negotiations over a new contract, which Donahue said “are not going well.” The main issues in the contract, which would replace one that expired in June 2007, involve pay and benefits.

Forcing union members to work that long without a contract can lead to all sorts of problems, including “work strictly to the rules” job actions. Much more attention needs to be paid to this issue.

* This story broke yesterday and is not helpful at all…

The Chicago Police Department is down hundreds of officers despite pledges by City Hall to boost the force to combat growing violent crime, police union and department officials confirmed Wednesday. […]

With retirements, firings and resignations, the department is down 250 officers and could be down more than 400 officers by the end of the year, said Mark Donahue, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing patrol officers. The department has lost about 375 officers and hired only 125 since the beginning of the year, Donahue said.

* The very same day, Daley’s office leaked a story to the Sun-Times…

Mayor Daley is urging Iowa Gov. Chet Culver to pardon Chicago Police Officer Michael Mette, who has sat in an Iowa prison for nearly a year for punching a man who repeatedly attacked him outside a 2005 party in Dubuque.

“Mr. Mette’’s response to the physical assault he experienced was not pre-meditated, but merely a matter of self-defense in reaction to a very real threat,” Daley wrote in an Aug. 20 letter to Culver.

* Second City Cop responds…

Let’s check our handy dandy little day planner. Yup, it’s 25 September. So where has this info been hiding since 20 August? […]

It sure seems we’re getting patted on the back with one hand while the other knifes us. Typical Chicago.

* This isn’t helping matters, either…

Some aldermen, though, are quietly suggesting that Donahue’s union could pay for a few more jobs if it were willing to give up a few costly perks. On top of their regular pay, officers receive $730 every three months for “duty availability”—that is, simply being on call, even though they get additional overtime pay if they actually have to take an extra shift. They receive another $600 every three months to pay for new uniforms, and they can take a check for any furlough time they deserve but don’t use. These benefits add up to about $73 million a year.

“Apparently the aldermen grumbling about such things don’t see the hypocrisy of their grumblings,” Donahue says. “The average police officer coming out of the police academy onto the force is going to make an investment of $7,000 to $9,000 dollars—the department doesn’t buy the uniform, doesn’t buy the guns, doesn’t buy the shoes. What would the aldermen say if we proposed cutting the money for their staff and expenses?”

* Mayor Daley ducked questions yesterday about the police vacancies, but promised to talk to reporters today. We’ll see what he says.