The Chicago Tribune reports that a 22-year-old schizophrenic man was recently charged with murdering his cousin in Cook County. Supposedly the defendant was standing on the street with his cousin and a few other people when the group started making fun of the defendant for being mentally slow. Allegedly, the…
At first blush, the idea of predictive policing sounds a lot like something out of the movie Minority Report. In order to target their policing efforts, the Chicago Police Department uses a high-tech database of persons, which it refers to as the Strategic Subject List, who are most likely to…
That old saying that “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch” is what may be happening in the communities where mistrust of the police is so prevalent. When you have a single police officer, or several officers committing misdeeds, including murder, against members of the communities they are sworn to…
There have been several incidents recently where a Chicago Police Officer has been involved in conduct that was either illegal or borderline illegal. This should not reflect on the hundreds of officers that are outstanding in the performance of their duties, but unfortunately, it does. The responsibility should be laid…
Street gang violence in the inner cities has become a way of life. News reports about shootings and killing on any given weekend is now Monday morning’s “yawn” story. But how can that be? Young men and women being shot down in the streets become just another statistic. A life…
Law enforcement needs community cooperation, involvement, and support. The community needs law enforcement to “protect” it from criminal behavior and to “serve” it in dangerous situations. Both the community and law enforcement need each other in order to keep chaos at bay. But there are communities and neighborhoods in every…
When crime on the streets gets so out of control, when criminal gang members have their run of the neighborhoods, when they can commit violent crimes without compunction, including violent assaults and murder, then you will find at the very foundation of such lawlessness a total breakdown of community involvement…
Like most cities, Chicago’s violent crimes seem local to certain areas and districts. Those areas taint the entire city with their reputation of violence. Specifically, neighborhoods that are infested with gangs and street thugs, like Austin and Englewood, have a murder rate that is much higher than any other part…
There is a war going on in Chicago, as well as in other parts of the country, between law enforcement and political activists. Meanwhile, the residents of those communities are caught in the cross-fires. This has been a bloody year for Chicagoans, and there does not seem to be any…
Unusual crime stories make the news on a regular basis, grabbing the imagination of the viewers and keeping them enthralled and glued to their television sets, not to mention increasing the network ratings. These crimes make huge splashes in the news and tantalize the audience with wild scenes of decadence…