Police Promise Crackdown On People Posting Chief Keef Promotional Posters

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 15, 2012 5:00PM

It’s hard to believe that with all of the drama surrounding Chief Keef the teen rapper hasn’t formally released a full album of music yet. That’s all about to change Dec. 18 with the release of Finally Rich, a day after he’s due back in juvenile court for a hearing that he may have violated his parole when he was interviewed by music website Pitchfork while holding a gun on a shooting range.

Keef street team members have been plastering promotional posters for Finally Rich all over Englewood, which has Chicago Police promising to issue citations to the people responsible for hanging them. Here’s what the Chicago Municipal Code has to say about the posting of bills.

No person shall distribute or cause others to distribute, as defined in Section 10-8-325, commercial advertising material by means of posting, sticking, stamping, tacking, painting or otherwise fixing any sign, notice, placard, bill, card, poster, advertisement or other device calculated to attract the attention of the public, to or upon any sidewalk, crosswalk, curb or curbstone, flagstone or any other portion or part of any public way, lamppost, electric light, traffic light, telegraph, telephone or trolley line pole, hydrant, shade tree or tree-box, or upon the piers, columns, trusses, girders, railings, gates or parts of any public bridge or viaduct, or upon any pole box or fixture of the police and fire communications system, except such as may be required by the laws of the state and the ordinances of the city, or on any bus shelter, except that the city may allow the posting of decorative banners in accordance with Section 10-8-340 below.

Chicago police say they aren’t targeting Keef specifically, but what some cops said to the Sun-Times seemed to indicate they don’t want Keef becoming a folk hero. Chicago Police Union vice president Daniel Gorman said the posters are “a smack in the face to the police officers who are serving the citizens of those communities.” Chicago Police Cmdr. Kevin Ryan said he used to do these crackdowns all the time when he worked a downtown district.

But a downtown district is a far cry from one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the city and, given all the non-music press Keef has received in recent months, it’s hard not to make the assumption.