It only took about two months, but Chicago is about to have a brand-new look. Needless to say, the residents of the Windy City are probably not going to be too happy about some of the changes taking place. After some serious deliberation, the Chicago Police decided to unveil a new policy last Wednesday. In a nutshell, this policy will almost completely end the practice of officers having the ability to pursue suspects on foot.
This new policy was set in motion because there were some recent Chicago police shootings of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez. Due to these incidents, Chicago police officers are no longer permitted to chase individuals who have been accused of a minor traffic offense or a lower-level misdemeanor unless they are an “obvious threat” to the neighborhood.
This policy is also going to urge police officers to find ways to avoid foot chases altogether. Some of the steps these politicians are proposing would be to set up a perimeter, consider whether the suspect could be apprehended at a different place and time, or simply just conduct surveillance. Of course, trying to determine who is an “obvious threat” and who is not would open up yet another can of worms, but I digress.
What this is ultimately going to do is nothing more than force police officers to weigh whether a given suspect is worth apprehending in the heat of the moment or not. Is the potential risk to public safety worth the apprehension? That’s what clueless Chicago politicians are asking these cops to do.
“Officers will need to ask themselves if their need to apprehend this subject is worth the risk to them and the other responding officers, the offender, and the public,” CPD Superintendent David Brown said during the news conference that announced this new policy.
“This is going to give officers an opportunity, perhaps to slow things down and maybe de-escalate and maybe have a better outcome when they are attempting to capture suspects,” he added. “That always should be the intent of a foot chase policy….besides using de-escalation, let’s get a perimeter set up, and let’s choose the right place to capture the suspect.”
If that wasn’t already plenty for these police officers to consider when they go on patrol, the officers are also being called on to discontinue an ongoing foot chase if they become separated from their partner or if they are no longer aware of their location. Factors such as excessive distance, nearby obstacles, or if they are going to be able to control the suspect if they capture and get into a confrontation.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is a full-blown liberal, and she is the one who led the charge for reforming the police foot pursuits after Toledo and Alvarez passed away. She praised this new policy as “a step forward in our mission to modernize and reform the Chicago Police Department.”
However, critics are definitely on Lori Lightfoot’s case, and it’s not just because she has a tendency to have a “deer in the headlights” look every time someone asks her a tough question. They are saying that this new policy is nothing more than an overreaction that will most likely just empower criminals and lead to more crime on the streets.
According to Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara, Chicago “recovers more weapons than New York and L.A. combined” and a great number of these weapons are only “recovered due to a vehicle stop or a foot chase.”
Last April, Mayor Lightfoot herself even acknowledged the potential danger that could result from such a policy, noting that she didn’t want people out there who are dangerous to think, “Well, if I just run, I’ll be safe and then I can continue to wreak havoc.” However, Mayor Lightfoot’s brief flirtation with being a moderate Democrat didn’t last very long and she ended up being as spineless as we thought.
The new guidance was released last Wednesday and it is going to serve as just an “interim” policy and it will not go into effect until June 11th. After that, an independent monitor and the public are going to weigh in. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need a Chicago-style hot dog to know that this is baloney.
But enough about me…what do YOU think? Have your say in the comments section below.