Chicago Daily Observer

A top level authority on police attitudes told “The Chicago Daily Observer” yesterday that “there’s a good chance that murders are rising in Chicago because police are demoralized and intensely dissatisfied with conditions at the very top of the department. That doesn’t mean they’re lying down on the enforcement job, but what’s the point of pursuing a rigorous enforcement and deterrence when the department is in the hands of the civil libertarians—and punitive penalties are meted out against officers for doing their jobs effectively?”
He said that Jody Weis’ appointment…an FBI agent who never wore a uniform nor patrolled a beat…signaled a mayoral disapproval of the department that is ruining morale. He contrasted this with the record of New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani who stood by his department and beat off civil libertarians who tried to super-enforce infractions that hobbled the New York police.
“As a result ... Read More...

The shooting of a 41-year-old Chicago mother on the South Side evoked a creative idea: Treat gang members as domestic terrorists.

Said Chicago Tribune reader “Welcome to Chicago”:

Laws should be adjusted to limit the rights of gang members. Gang members are domestic terrorists and should be handled using a higher level of force as well as vigilant strategic planning….Of course we care about everyone’s civil rights and rights as a citizen in this country. [But] as soon as an individual or group has proved that after several documentations by police that he is a gang member, then his or her rights should be similar to a terrorist.

Interesting. If we treated gang members as terrorists, perhaps we should send them, without trial, to detention (preferably on a boiling hot Caribbean island) as “enemy combatants.” Question them without a lawyer present. A little water boarding might even straighten a few ... Read More...

Earl Gardner lounged on the street near his home just west of downtown Chicago, a 24-ounce can of Crazy Stallion beer in his hand.

A mile away, police Officer Al Garbauski slid a computer mouse to maneuver a camera that was perched a block from Gardner. Zooming in tight, Garbauski saw malt liquor meet mouth and sent an officer to arrest Gardner for drinking in public.

“I didn’t appreciate it, not one bit,” the 55-year-old Gardner said the other day. “The liquor store was closed when I got out (of custody).”

It might seem like a steep expenditure of police resources for a small-time arrest, but Chicago authorities say busts like this serve a higher purpose. They let everyone know that police are watching as the city’s 560 anti-crime cameras look in on the toughest street corners, a strategy intended to deter small-time and big-time crime alike.