If Compass knew, his behavior is doubly condemnable. He's been crying poor-mouth over officers' wages and calling for a fatter budget so he could afford to hire another 100 - 150 officers. Looks like he might've had an adequate budget all along.
He struck me as a straight shooter, too - one of the first things he did when he replaced Pennington was get rid of all the department-owned Blackberrys (he referred to them as "crackberries" because some of the officers seemed to be addicted to the "free" wireless service).
Compass came up through the ranks, working as a patrolman in some of the city's worst neighborhoods. Nagin held the superintendent's job for Compass while he completed his graduate degree in Criminal Justice. It seems that somehow, Nagin wanted Compass in there all along. Now we'll find out why.
The "phantom officers" story might not be true, only one radio talk show has said it...and you know how reliable they are...