quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
If downtown Chicago gets the reputation of being unsafe, Chicago can write off tourism for a generation.

Too late, in our case.

We visited Chicago three years ago. Much to my surprise: Really, really enjoyed it. Had planned to go back, again, someday.

"Had" being the operative word. Between what I've read here and the denial of my right to arm myself: We will not be going back.
.

Honestly, I wish I could change your mind. You and others as well... Chicago is truly a beautiful city, tons of things to do and see. Food is outstanding. Sports, concerts, plays, bars, tours and about a thousand other things.

Here's the "realist" in me: I won't change your mind. Or others.
I can't, in good conscience, say "Hey, come on down, it's safe!" For the most part, it is. But that percentage is shrinking. It used to be: stay out of "the hood" and you'll be ok. Now, "the hood" is coming to downtown on a regular basis, and doing nothing but causing trouble and chaos.
Coupled with the fact that, yes, Illinois has concealed carry, however... Reciprocity with other state's CCL is non existent.

It's damn near impossible for you to protect yourself. We know that the Police (including me) can't protect you all the time.

I've been working downtown for the past 5 years, and in that time, it's only gotten worse. The vast majority is caused by the savages coming from "the hood".

It's sad. It's only going to get worse. It's not going to stop.
People here refuse to face reality.


"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate"

I wrote off "Touring" Chicago a long time ago.

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:...It's damn near impossible for you to protect yourself. We know that the Police (including me) can't protect you all the time.

I've been working downtown for the past 5 years, and in that time, it's only gotten worse. The vast majority is caused by the savages coming from "the hood".

It's sad. It's only going to get worse. It's not going to stop.
People here refuse to face reality....

Sorry CPD SIG, get with the times. I read this morning a church in Oakland CA is disconnecting/disallowing police, as people will be safer without them. (And now I have to get a bigger throw-up bucket) Can those in Oakland really be that stupid?

Before long, Chicago will be district 9 because it is politically incorrect to recognize the problem appropriately.

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:

quote:

Originally posted by Klusk2:
As someone who actually did the "escorting", I can tell you it was worse than you can imagine. They were there for one thing and one thing only, create chaos.

Thanks Klusk2!!! Thanks a lot!!! I thought we were friends?!?
Where did Klusk "escort" the little savages?
Right to me!!!!
Thanks buddy!!!


Klusk is on the north end of Downtown, I'm on the south. I got all the nice leftovers from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday's shit-show, and a lot of our own bullshit too. My comment to Klusk is actually intended as a jab to the Chicago Transit Authority. Klusk and his people rounded up the Savage and put them on a southbound train. The train was supposed to stop at 47th street... AWAY from the downtown area. Well, what's that about "the best laid plans..."?

CTA stops the train and lets the animals out on the Roosevelt stop, or the south end of Downtown!
From there, Savage tried to destroy the Target, and other parts in the area. We got them back on the train, and pushed them further south.

The next night wasn't much better... CTA shit the bed again. Dropping of the savage only slightly further than the night before.

Not only dealing with the normal nonsense that goes with a busy, warm weekend, we had this bullshit on top of it. Yeah, we worked our asses off!

Sorry about that brother. Believe it or not we advised CTA to do just that....bypass all stops in the entire downtown area. We knew they would be back and or stop at Roosevelt or sooner and just hop the Northbound train right back.

I had my camera activated the entire time, I only wish that someone would request it via a FOIA request. All I can say is thank GOD i'm on furlough for a bit now. Time for another glass of whatever is in the liquor cabinet

The link has a photo gallery that may include Klusk and CPD SIG!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...-20180529-story.html

Police try to keep peace downtown, along lake by 'directing' large groups of troublesome teens to express trains

Peter Nickeas
Chicago Tribune
May 30, 2018 8:30AM

The large group of teens had been wandering downtown and along the lake Sunday evening, but police decided it was time for the group to leave.

The teens, numbering more than 100 and some deemed "borderline criminal" by police, were first steered onto Red Line trains that ran express from the Gold Coast to the South Side. Then they were chased from 31st Street Beach and began running through traffic on King Drive.

As the teens approached 38th Street, eight or 10 of them knocked a 15-year-old boy to the ground.

“I didn’t do nothing,” the boy protested, guarding his head with his arms as a teen stood over him and swung left-right, left-right while others kicked his ribs and back, an attack witnessed by a Tribune reporter. They kicked his face, they stomped his head. They emptied his pockets, they took his shoes.

Finally a police lieutenant pulled up and stood over the boy while waiting for help.

Chicago police spent much of Memorial Day weekend tracking and chasing groups of teens through downtown for what often began as “borderline criminal behavior” and sometimes ended in vandalism and fights. Officers shut down beaches and parks early, and "directed" large groups of teens toward trains and buses.

The holiday weekend trained a spotlight on the Police Department’s delicate strategy of keeping the peace downtown and along the lakefront — areas heavily trafficked by tourists — without resorting to more arrests or heavy-handed tactics.

“I know there were some questions about us forcing people to get on CTA buses and what I can tell you is this: We didn't force anybody," Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said Tuesday. "We directed people to different stops — it’s simply a public safety issue."

But Edwin Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said reports of police funneling groups en masse to express trains were “incredibly troubling.”

“Who made that decision?” he said. “How were decisions made about who was going to be put on that train?”

Holiday weekends are traditionally more violent than other weekends in the summer, and the Police Department in recent years has turned to using overtime and canceling days off to put more officers on the street. This year, 1,300 more officers than usual were deployed.

Many of them were assigned downtown or detailed there from areas as far away as Morgan Park and Albany Park once supervisors realized they needed help. Officers descended on beaches and parks south of Fullerton Avenue, the downtown area that includes North Michigan Avenue and the South Loop.

All four nights of the holiday weekend, these extra patrols kept track of groups of teens as they arrived downtown on the Red Line and made their way to beaches and parks. Some lingered around Michigan Avenue or near CTA stations. The groups ranged in size from a few dozen to more than a hundred.

“They came down here specifically to cause problems,” Deputy Chief Al Nagode said. “They were running in and out of traffic, they were confronting different groups, they were running into businesses doing different activities that were borderline criminal, mostly nuisance, so the officers have to work that fine line of, do we (go) out there to arrest somebody.”

In one instance, teens damaged property at a Target store at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, police said. There were reports of gunfire near the Bottled Blonde bar on Wells Street late Saturday, near LaSalle Drive and Ontario Street early Sunday and at Chicago Avenue and Lake Shore Drive early Monday. That night, officers reported people running from the sound of gunfire as crowds left North Avenue Beach.

“A lot of it is the nuisance that they’re doing. It’s part of what we get with teens,” Nagode said. “The resources it would take me to lock up 100 kids who were fighting would be tremendous, so we have to mitigate, stop the problem and do what’s necessary to make (everyone) safe."

Several teens were arrested downtown on misdemeanor reckless conduct and disorderly conduct offenses. But for the most part, police attempted to disperse the crowds. Once orders were given to start clearing beaches and parks, officers directed the teens toward buses and train stations. They mostly complied as officers opened gates and moved people through.

“We're just not randomly picking an ‘L’ stop and getting them out of there, we’re affording them an opportunity to leave the area," Nagode said. "And once they realize a lot of times they will be placed under arrest if it rises to that level, a lot of people will thankfully take that option and get out of there.”

Such tactics are preferable to making mass arrests but they still raise red flags, particularly because the teens involved were all black, said Craig Futterman, a University of Chicago law professor who works on civil rights and police accountability issues. “I don’t know what ‘borderline criminal’ means. It is or it isn’t.”

The police strategy may make sense in isolation, but against the backdrop of the city’s long history of discriminatory police tactics, it becomes troubling, he said. “(Police should not) pick on or single out groups on the basis of race for selective treatment or discriminatory treatment. That’s a problem.”

On Sunday night, the crowds were broken up after fights broke out near the Red Line station at Chicago Avenue, long a trouble spot.

"All they wanna do is act stupid. Puts more pressure on citizens, more pressure on police, more pressure on the CTA," said Rosanna Wallace, a 49-year-old retired bus driver who lives near Chicago Avenue and State Street. "My mother never would allow us down here without them."

Wallace said most weekends downtown there are large groups — usually between 100 and 200 kids — who go back and forth from the lakefront to the McDonald's at Chicago and State. The shopping center at Water Tower has had to close early because of groups running through the mall and using other entrances after being kicked out by police and security.

"It's chaos," Wallace said. "This atmosphere, it doesn't make sense. They come out of their neighborhoods, 'cause they have nothing to do, to make havoc here. They're disrespectful. They'll cuss at you in a minute ... acting like they have no damn home training."

A Tribune photographer and reporter tracked a teenage crowd that was steered onto southbound trains from downtown Sunday evening. The teens exited at 35th Street and tried to make their way east toward the lake, only to be met by more cops. Police closed 31st Street Beach and used bike patrols to shut down the pedestrian bridge at 35th Street around 9 p.m.

The teens lingered at 35th and King for a few minutes, then split into two groups, the smaller one running through traffic on King Drive and between grass medians. “There’s a good-sized group in the street southbound on King at 37th,” a police dispatcher said.

At 38th Street, eight or 10 teens from that group surrounded and attacked the 15-year-old, whom they knew from school, according to police. “It looks like somebody’s down, we need an ambo,” a police lieutenant said as he walked up to the boy.

“I can’t feel my ribs,” the 15-year-old said. “I can’t feel my ribs.”

A friend walked up. The boy asked where he and his other friends had been. “I tried to fight them all, it was too many,” the 15-year-old said.

His groans were picked up by the lieutenant's radio and broadcast across the city. “They jumped this guy pretty bad,” the lieutenant said. “He’s gonna need the ambulance.”

The group who beat the 15-year-old ran toward a Mariano’s store, while a larger group walked in the street down King Drive. The lieutenant walked toward the larger group as the 15-year-old was helped to his feet and placed into an SUV.

"I’m in the intersection of 38 and King where the ambulance should come," the lieutenant told the dispatcher. "I’m OK, I’m with a couple people over here, but that group that’s at 37th, some of the guys were a part of it.”

Paramedics parked on King Drive and walked up in blue pants, blue T-shirts and orange gloves, tapping the window of the SUV. They offered to help, but the woman in the SUV sped off. The boy arrived at Comer Children’s Hospital a short time later.

After the SUV left, someone sucker-punched an adult who tended to the 15-year-old victim and provided information to the police.

The teens continued west from Mariano’s to the Green Line station just south of Pershing Road. Confused officers noticed a sign that said no service the rest of the night, and they had to ask the CTA to run a special train to move the teens out of the neighborhood.

A boy on the platform threw a garbage can toward squad cars below. A supervisor told officers to put their cars under the station.

Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, said she didn’t know how the large crowd of teens ended up in her ward, which has the 35th Street Red Line station on its western border. But she said it was a problem for local police at a time they were already busy. “I think my commander did not expect to have 200 young people on 35th Street at 10:15 p.m.,” Dowell said. “To then have to make a course correction and deal with that took away resources they could have been using to address other needs in the community.”

Two other aldermen suggested police could have taken a harder line downtown.

Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th, chairman of the Black Caucus, said police should have made more arrests downtown, if there was criminal activity, rather than sending the troublemakers to another part of the city. “I think we need to send the message that we won’t tolerate it anywhere in the city of Chicago. Not just, ‘We won’t tolerate this near the Magnificent Mile,’ but we won’t tolerate it in any neighborhood.”

Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, whose ward includes parts of the north end of downtown, agreed making more arrests might have been better. “I think that when you have people committing assaults, disorderly conduct, criminal trespass to property when they’re entering the parks after they’re closed for the night, we need to take another look at the tactics and consider making more arrests … I think the pendulum has swung a little too far in the direction of leniency.”

Chicago Tribune’s John Byrne, Megan Crepeau and Jeremy Gorner contributed.

pnickeas@chicagotribune.com

"Police try to keep peace downtown, along lake by 'directing' large groups of troublesome teens to express trains"

Should have used freight cars!

Geesh, what if there hadn't been any police presence?

quote:

Originally posted by Klusk2:


Sorry about that brother. Believe it or not we advised CTA to do just that....bypass all stops in the entire downtown area. We knew they would be back and or stop at Roosevelt or sooner and just hop the Northbound train right back.

I had my camera activated the entire time, I only wish that someone would request it via a FOIA request. All I can say is thank GOD i'm on furlough for a bit now. Time for another glass of whatever is in the liquor cabinet

Oh, I know where the fuck-up was!
CTA shit the bed! But we don't hire them for their mental prowess.

The first night, the train stopped at Roosevelt.
The second, Cermack, then we pushed it to 35th street. The savages then walked to 31st st beach and acted a damn fool over there.

Enjoy the furlough, and have a drink for me. I'll be thinking of you over the 4th of July, from somewhere in Wyoming, Colorado area.

And Edwin Yohnka? Go fuck yourself.

"....acting like they have no damn home training."

They don't.

quote:

Originally posted by sgalczyn:
"Police try to keep peace downtown, along lake by 'directing' large groups of troublesome teens to express trains"

Should have used freight cars!

And parked the freight car on a siding in a desolate desert in Nevada.

I can, but barely now, remember a day when the offenders would be beaten with clubs and loaded on police buses and carted off to jail. After there prison stay they could find there own way home.
Unbelievable where we are at now!

Haven't been to Chinatown in Chicago in a few years. We used to go once every summer. Now, I take the kids to Toronto.

Too bad you guys in Chicago can't do what we do with kid riots. We used to just toss pepperball grenades in and anyone who came to station later to complain got charged with rioting. Nowadays, we just shoot the pepperball gun at their feet and force them to go one way. Away.

So, heat+poverty=violence

That new math always messes with me.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
So, heat+poverty=violence

That new math always messes with me.

Actually the formula is

Heat + violence x Dimocrap control + Progressive Court and Prosecution Reform + public transportation = Violence coming to you From The Hood.

But Chicago is such a lovely place.

I counted twenty uses of the word(s) " teen(s) " in that article.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
Nowadays, we just shoot the pepperball gun at their feet and force them to go one way. Away.

Your aim is a little off...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXEaMafqheQ

Jesus just left Chicago