CHICAGO, August 6, 2011- The Chicago Sun Times recently had an article that feebly tried to examine why the number police shootings were up in Chicago over last year. Chicago police shot more people in the first half of this year than all of last year. Violent crimes are up in certain areas of the city. In some places it’s a combat zone. Chicago is not alone. Other large cities are facing the same dilemma.
Violent crime is down across the board, but certain pockets have huge increases in armed violence. Most of these pockets are gang and drug infested areas. For political reasons gangs and major drug dealers are not treated like dangerous vermin, pox, and pestilence. Rat abatement is taken more seriously.
Violent crime is up because of shear brazenness. Brazenness is considered the new root cause of crime. Criminals are no longer afraid of anything, including dying. There is an inherent belief they can do what they want and get away with it. They don’t get caught, the bleeding heart judicial system will let them loose, or, worse, they do not fear prison. Prison is a badge of honor.
Unfortunately this attitude is even drifting down to kids in their early teens. Last week Chicago Police shot a thirteen year old boy armed with a BB gun that looked like a real firearm. A home photo showed him with a big smile giving the gang signs of the Vice Lords, one of the most vicious gangs in Chicago.
Brazen criminals treat the police like they treat their victims. They are equal opportunity shooters. They have no fear. Some may even have a death wish. There is a reason some shootings are laughingly called suicide by cop.
There is a culture of violence being bred into young people through the street and their association with street gangs. The gangs are urban terrorists. In Chicago, which has well over 100,000 street gang members, they are urban terrorist armies. Well armed urban terrorist armies.
Tio Hardiman, the Chicago head of Operation CeaseFire, whines that police officers are “too quick to pull the trigger lately”. CeaseFire supposedly works with criminals to to stop the violence and stop the killing. Now, they want the police to stop killing armed criminals. They want the police to cease fire.
CeaseFire does not tell criminals and gangs to stop committing the crimes that lead to violence and death. They do not demand the gangs disband and cease criminal operations. Organized crime is not their concern. Just stop killing. Cease fire. They enable the gangs and drug dealers. It’s like putting a pedophile in the park and telling him to leave small children alone.
What are the cops supposed to do when confronting an armed criminal Mr. Hardiman? “Mr. Mookie Mamaluke sir, will you please drop the weapon, sir, or I will be forced to ventilate your insides, sir. Please sir don’t make me use deadly force sir. It would be so very messy and so inappropriate sir.”
If you an armed criminal, and you point a gun at a police officer or you refuse to drop that gun you will die. No pity. No mercy. And no one cares cares if you graduated from kindergarten summa cum laude, you were the 15 year old next LeBron James, or you were the honor prisoner at the county jail last month. They shoot first and ask questions later.
By the way cops do not shoot to wound, wing, or try to shoot the gun out of your hand. They are not Roy Rogers or Hop-a-long Cassidy. The streets are not the county fair. Police shoot for center mass. The torso. The largest part of the body. This is just common sense. It insures the bad guy goes down and an innocent bystander does not get accidentally killed. You know like granny or some pregnant woman waiting for a bus?
Mr. Hardiman laments that urban youth are not taught how to deal with the police. He must be looking for more state and federal grant money to waste on classes teaching urban youth how to respect adults and authority. He should change his name to Dyson. Like the turbo vacuum cleaner, all he does is suck up tax money that should be spent on hiring more cops.
Here is how urban youth should deal with the police. Respectfully and politely. Oh, and leave the gun at home. By the way, knock off all that respect and “dis” bovine excrement. Respect is not a right. It has to be earned. Those dead armed criminals got the disrespect they deserved.
It is time to stop the madness and seriously deal with the problems of brazen armed violence. There is only one way to do this. Stop being politically correct and politically convenient. The politicians are fearful that they will be perceived as racists if they let the police do the job they are supposed to be doing. Crime victim’s families do not care about perceived racism.
People should feel safe because they know that rough tough men and women are out there protecting them. Tough times call for tough measures. You just have to accept the fact that killing armed criminals is the right thing to do. Until criminals accept the fact that brazen violence is not acceptable behavior.
It is time for the private donors to CeaseFire realize they are giving money to stupid people. They should cease giving. It is time for the government grant agencies to dry the money up. Oh, wait, that is why our country and states are going bankrupt. Stupid people giving tax money to stupid people. Duh.
Peter Bella is a retired Chicago Police Officer, freelance writer, freelance photographer, and consultant. He likes to be the sharp stick that pokes and annoys.
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