I’m wholeheartedly, enthusiastically, 1,000% in support of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to impose radical changes to make police foot chases as safe as can be.
She’s considering a new rule requiring that cops receive permission of a supervisor in order to chase a criminal suspect on foot. They already must get permission for a car chase. So why not be consistent?
“No one should die as a result of a foot chase,” the mayor said the other day.
Who would disagree? The sad, tragic thing, as Chicago knows, is that sometimes suspects put themselves in danger if they run, and especially during chaotic moments when police have to make split-second decisions.
But, really, what do cops know about policing? Let’s leave it up to the politicians.
The theory is that cutting back on police foot chases and car chases would cut back on police and criminals shooting at each other. The protesters would love it. Many would applaud such a compassionate policy. And politicians don’t want the aggravation.
Yes, the suspects will get away and victims just might feel ignored. But don’t they already feel ignored?
It “raises obvious problems,” Ald. Brian Hopkins told “Fox News Chicago.“ “In the time it would take to do that (contacting a supervisor), the person you’re supposed to be chasing is actually long gone. The point would be moot then.”
Moot. Ah. Moot.
Moot is the perfect word for what Chicago’s political class wants now. Moot is a lawyer’s word, and many politicians are lawyers. It means “to be deprived of practical significance; made abstract or purely academic.”
It’s so much easier on political leaders if confrontations between police and criminals become merely abstract or purely academic. Because then there won’t be any protests.
Naturally, moot law enforcement might become harder on victims. But victims must realize that in most Democratic-run cities, they really have little, if any, political utility.
Chicago Democrats didn’t reelect Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx because she was about getting tough on crime. She’s the opposite, one of those new social justice warrior prosecutors cropping up in major cities. Lightfoot endorsed Foxx, as did many other Democrats.
And Cook County judges allow violent offenders awaiting trial out on electronic home monitoring, with some shooting or killing others even as they await their court dates.
Illinois also has recently put into law a measure to phase out cash bail altogether. Won’t that be fun?
Lightfoot’s plan on foot chases is a good start, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough if the goal is to eliminate troublesome conflict between criminals and police. That’s where my plan comes in.
If police with guns are a problem, let’s be logical and disarm the police. Just take their guns away and give them whistles they can blow, like the London bobbies of Victorian England who weren’t armed (except with clubs).
They’d blow their whistles at criminals and wait for Sherlock Holmes to arrive. We can call them Chicago Bobbies or Lori’s Lightfeet, just as long as it doesn’t sound threatening.
“They could run around with their big nice bobbie hats and whistles and nightsticks,” said a guy who lives in Lincoln Park.
Stop. No! No nightsticks. No way.
You never know what could happen with a nightstick. Someone could get hurt. Naturally, it would go viral on video. The angry defund the police protests would follow.
Wouldn’t it be much simpler for the civilian authority (politicians) to have police who don’t make arrests and prosecutors who don’t prosecute and judges who let violent criminals just hang out at home with an ankle bracelet? This is compassion.
The victims might not like it, but get real, do victims count anymore?
A friend of mine just sent me an email on how he imagines the new limited foot chase policy might work out, what it would be like when a cop confronted a robber.
“Say, Mr. Robber, before you descend the stairs from this CTA platform, could you please stop right here and chill? I have to ask permission to chase you. Yes, for now you can keep the two purses …
“I know, I know, this is taking a while. Yes, I did call the watch commander to ask if I can chase you. But she’s busy deciding whether it’s OK for my colleagues to pursue three carjackers on Wabash. Then she has to consult the use-of-force protocols to see if two beat cops on Halsted should tackle an armed mugger who beat an old lady, or just wave their white flag of surrender ….
“Sure, have a seat. This will take a while. … Why yes, I do remember you heaving that water bottle at my skull when we faced off at the Columbus statue. Wonder where the mayor buried it. Do you mind if I check my email while we wait?
“No, I didn’t bring snacks for you.
“Whoa, the shift commander wants to know if you fired any shots. I’m telling her you waved what appeared to be a bowie knife at those high school girls, but maybe it was a flute or a chromed buggy whip. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions about your intentions.
“This might go faster if you could fire a shot or two. Here. Take my Glock.”
– John Kass
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“But, really, what do cops know about policing? Let’s leave it up to the politicians.”
Yea, Right, let AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez the bimbo bartender make police department decisions.
But, really, what do cops know about policing or stopping crime?
Lying, self-serving, corrupt politicians know more than anyone.
Chicago has the most and strictest gun control laws in the U.S..
If the Democrat Party ruled Chicago gun laws worked,
then Chicago would be the safest place in the U.S. to live…………. NOT!!
According to the Chicago, Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, 875 people died from gun violence in 2020.
How’s about we WALL THE ENTIRE city off. Remove all cops, firemen and EMT, and just LET THEM HAVE AT IT… SEe how long it is, before they are BEGGING emergency services to come back in.
an excellant idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAMN FOOLS THAT PEOPLE HAVE ELECTED ARE RUINING THIS US OF A.
AND when they do come a begging, TELL THEM TO sod off!
Quarantine the birds of a feather together? What’s good for the goose……
All police should do a 2 week sick time. Let the politicians do the police work since they are so good at it. Let them try out their fine new programs. Good luck.
Look at what Chicago elected, how can people be so ignorant? What did they expect from a thing like this?
Fools leading the foolish!!
Admiral Ackbar from Star Wars. Always with the rebellion.
Chicago, Chicago…a hell of a town!!
You have that a bit mixed up. Chicago, Chicago…a town of hell.
These days, it MIGHT as well be the 9th circle of hell..
So in essence, these politicians like Lightfoot, have “defunded” the police, because the police are not allowed to do their jobs. Crime goes up, but it looks crime has gone down, because of a lack of policing and who pays the price, the innocent citizen who is a victim of crime. But the inner cities are one party Democrat communist states and the sheep voted for the one party. Why not tell your citizens in the inner cities, that they must jump into a vat of toxic waste, because the politicians, with their armed security, have no use for an innocent citizen. The politicians are pro criminal.
Which is why , for the life of me, i can’t understand why SO MANY COPS seem to vote democrat!
It’s most likely a union thing. Has to be. Democrats have been anti-Law and Order since at least the 1960’s, yet the police are still arresting white victims of BLM/Anti–First Amendment aggression.
True. Just like steel workers, gas workers etc.. THE WORK FORCE is often very conservative, but the unions support the dems far greater than the ‘workers’ do the republicans!
backpacker on 12:44 pm April 23, 2021 at 12:44 pm
So in essence, these politicians like Lightfoot, have “defunded” the police, because the police are not allowed to do their jobs.
Mayor Lightfoot has a rejection of reality in that she’s not even sure which sex she is and what role nature has assigned for her in life, it then isn’t surprising that she also is more than a little confused about the duty and role that police are supposed to play in a society that has replaced logic with such imagination in life, what if’s…..
As i’ve said elsewhere..
IF COPS can’t enforce the law, what need is there FOR COPS..
AND IF cops are not needed, what reason is there to have SO DAMN MANY LAW MAKERS if the laws won’t be enforced!
Pretty soon police jobs will be in very high demand. What other occupation pays you but doesn’t allow you to do anything?
let them suffer in the crime there elected officials have brought to them.
AND all those cops serving as her protection detail, should QUIT! OR go on strike.
Given that they are speaking of Democrapic Politicians NO they should not let politicians guide anything. The Democraps are the most WILLFULLY IGNORANT people there are and could not lead their way out of a flat open field.
THEY ARE not ignorant. THEY FULLY KNOW what they are doing, cause they are ruled by Satan!
Maybe I’m a little dense….but how is it the citizens of Chicago and the other crime plagued Democrat run cities don’t get the message? Is there that much apathy to ignore your city is dying daily.
Why aren’t people DEMANDING that organizations as BLM step in and help?
Again this may all be “above my pay grade” but it seems to me the root cause is within the family or lack family structure. This doesn’t mean that a single parent family is the problem or that a two parent family is the solution. My theory is centered on the family unit and being involved with the children and their education and teaching responsibilities.
Unfortunately those reading this are probably not the ones that it is directed to.
It seems to me that BLM is helping, but only in a destructive negative way. By teaming up with Lightloafer, the problem(s) only get worse.
I have to say that for a country that is supposed to be, all evil and Racist like the United States is supposed to be , the evil White Man, voted a Black Man, Barack H. Obama, to be President of This ” Racist, evil, Country, Twice !
That proves America is not racist, but quite stupid.
IMO he was only elected, CAUSE Folks wanted to “NOT be seen as racist”..
AND we had the crappiest nominee to run against him! MCCAIN!
BLM is NOT the answer, they are Marxist/Communists as their three leaders have expressed themselves.
This is even more insane than most other left-wing ideas. Getting “permission” to do your simple basic job would greatly handicap any organization but putting this burden on a first responder is totally unforgivable.
What the clueless politicians want is “proof” that the police are failing to do their job (because of the roadblocks erected then use this “fact” to justify the defending / abolishing the entire police department; letting the criminals totally rule the city.
How’s about doctors ASK BLM “Can we save this person”?? How’s about power grid workers ask “Can we send power to this building”? WHAT THE HELL is next?!
The Dumbocrat Party has to be reined in by any means necessary before they completely “deconstruct” America.
ITS NOT just the party. ITS ALL the so-called EDUCATORS, the indoctrinators, the facilitators and the FUNDERS, that also need to be eliminated…
The destruction of this country is being carried out by the very people, those that owe their elite position in life are the one’s who are doing everything in their power to destroy the country which , through the capitalist system, gave them the opportunity to succeed in life. And such people as George Soros who made his fortune through the capitalist system, condemn the country which made him A Millionaires. George Soros said of America,” America is too big for its britches and needs to be brought down a peg or two.” How Dare He!
Did you see that story out of LA, where the FBI supposedly raided a safety deposit box building, and just SEIZED EVERYTHING THERE, just because “they wre hunting for some possible criminals’??
One of the guys who had a box there, HID STUFF there, cause he no longer TRUSTS the US banking system..
Lightfoot and her ilk are the silliest people I’ve heard in decades. I really didn’t think people actually are as stupid as they and Joy Behr seem to be. Warning shots and shoot to wound, only the totally stupid think that way. Bring back the nightstick. It could handle many knife situations or fist assaults on officers. Of course, it was the liberals who demanded that the sticks go. Better to get thumped than SHOT!
Timothy Toroian on 3:00 pm April 23, 2021 at 3:00 pm
” Lightfoot and her ilk are the silliest people I’ve heard in decades….”
If common sense is to be applied to todays many problems facing America today the Democrat Hierarchy want nothing to do with that solution. For instance, if crime is increasing rapidly the first thin you, as a democrat leader you would want to do is,” defund the police” and if businesses are forced to close their doors because of a lack of customers is to increase their cost to pay their help to $15.00 an Hour then if more people are on welfare than ever before in the history of this country the first thing the democrat Party hierarchy calls for is to permit more illegal aliens be allowed to enter the country, they want America to be ” a country without borders, makes perfect sense, that is, if your a democrat elite running the show.
Perfect reparations. They can all move to Chicago, will give them a home, and call it a state
And isn’t Chicago the model all-American city even when the police were not under fire from inept Liberal politicians? It’s one thing to think you are an enlightened law enforcement analyst—shielded from the heat of the moment and the dangers that your police officers face every single day they are on the job. Maybe you should ride along with some of your officers from time to time and actually witness what they are up against. You cannot make sound evaluations based solely upon a bystander’s video footage, second-hand information, and the whinings from Antifa and BLM.
Since blacks insist their only problem is with police trying to kill them, the logical answer is to remove all police from black neighborhoods, problem solved. Do a couple of pilot studies. It won’t matter that black bodies will pile up because blacks NEVER protest black on black murders that number in the thousands per year. What’s a few hundred more? Why should whites care more about black murders than blacks themselves do? Give police back to neighborhoods where law-abiding blacks request AND BACK them. The end.
AND If cops are not going in those hoods, NEITHER SHOULD FIRE OR EMT services.
In Sweden, fire services won’t go into Muslim areas without a police escort because they’re attacked by the arsonists or their supporters. Since the hostile immigrants pay nothing for their Welfare quarters and are always provided with new ones, they value them not at all.
AND thats imo, what the left is wanting the US to become like.
Someone apparently doesn’t like the bald truth. Point out where blacks protest their community’s inner carnage of 5000 murders a year instead of a handful involving cops and usually criminals resisting arrest. Until then, they provably don’t care. They don’t even kick up a fuss over children murdered by blacks.
I believe that the problems that this country is facing have only been made worst by the Kamala Harris / Biden presidency and i see no solution in the near future. On only has to recognize that the democrat party is home to a manajery of Anti-White, and Anti-American, leftist elites so we can expect that the countries future is in doubt
And even though voter fraud IS NOW being investigated in a # of states/counties, i FEAR EVEN if they show results PROVING BIDEN stole the election, the END RESULT of biden still being in the white house, Won’t get overturned.
Well the best thing to do is call BLM, Antifa, all the “radical” thinking politicians, EVERY time they need to arrest someone, chase someone, talk to someone, look at someone and get their permission to see if they are allowed to uphold the law in every instance, any day any time of day. Especially at night and all hours of the day when the crime happens. Then you can tell the criminals what time to commit their crimes so they don’t inconvenience anyone. The best solution is for ALL police to go on strike and especially DO NOT protect any of these idiot minded so called leaders and NOT have society pay for their security.
If the people of Chicago wants to get rid of crime they need to oust the incompetent politicians they voted into office. Donald Trump caught heat several years ago for referring to some countries as S hole countries. Chicago is an S hole city.
IMO it always has been one, since the late 60s..
It isn’t called Chitcongo or Chiraq for nothing.
Step 1: Demoralize the police so they quit/retire and good folks don’t want to become cops.
Step 2: Decry the high crime rate and lack of cops.
Step 3: Federal government offers to stock local/county police forces with “federal cops”.
Step 4: Federal government nationalizes all police.
Step 5: Federal govt only hires cops (antifa/BLM) who accept “Critical Race Theory” and who hate America.
Step 6: Draconian gun-grabbing bills passed.
Step 7: A legalized army of antifa/BLM is kicking in the doors of Trump supporters/Conservatives/Christians.
That sounds Exactly like what the left are already doing.
Beatle Juice is still here? I thought she left, because crime is up in Chi Town…
If this is not the most idiotic thing I have heard, I have not heard anything idiotic! To Hell with BLM rioters, our police, supported by Americans who have not yet lost their minds, should rebel and remove the Mayor and Police Chief from office! A patrol car drives by a convenience store and the patrol officers hear three gunshots. The officers witness a man running from the store, carrying a gun, and jump onto a waiting car. As the car speeds away, the officers call in to get permission to chase a possible murderer. As the officers await a decision, they lose the car and never see it again. If that is not the most stupid regulation I have heard, then stupid regulations, relative to law enforcement, do not exist and politicians never lie! When was common sense replaced by socialistic liberalism?