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Police Spend Too Much Time Sleeping, Using Phones On Duty, Residents Say

By Sam Cholke | July 17, 2014 8:00am
 Hyde Parkers said at a Wednesday CAPS meeting that officers are spending too much time playing with their phones and napping.
Hyde Parkers said at a Wednesday CAPS meeting that officers are spending too much time playing with their phones and napping.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

HYDE PARK — Police officers in Hyde Park are sleeping in their patrol cars or sitting idly talking on cell phones too much, neighbors complained at a Wednesday night meeting with police.

“What do we do? Go up to them and say, ‘Why are you sitting here on your cell phone?’” Ginni Cook said at a CAPS meeting with Wentworth District officers at the Shoreland Apartments, 5454 S. South Shore Drive.

Cook said people often see officers parked at 47th Street and Cornell Avenue chatting on phones as trucks that are barred from entering Lake Shore Drive cruise past them.

Others said officers are frequently parked at 55th Street and Lake Shore Drive, sitting planted in their patrol cars a block from where a 34-year-old man was killed June 22.

Officer Denise Gathings said she would take the concerns to Cmdr. Terence Williams.

“Once I tell him, he’s going to call them into his office,” Gathings said. “He has no problem taking a car from someone and giving it to someone who wants to work.”

She said she would ask the commander to come to the next beat meeting to address the concerns personally.

“You will definitely see changes in the next month,” Gathings said.

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