On the West Side, the street shows no fear of Chicago police

Guest Post by John Kass

I’d hate it when some old-time police sergeant, usually an old white guy but sometimes black, would stand, hand on hip and sigh.

And in the laconic and bitterly ironic tone of Chicago police, he’d make the big speech of five words:

“Gonna be a bad summer.”

I’d cringe, because, well, who the hell doesn’t know this?

People are outside in summer. Rich people go places. But poor people go outside. And in Chicago, guns go outside with them.

Calling it “gun violence” lets local politicians off the hook, because they want to shift the blame away from the lousy schools they’ve provided and taxes that cripple or drive away businesses so there are no jobs.

The proper name is “gang violence,” and the gangs kill people over drugs, money, over revenge, over nothing, over they just felt like it.

It was always going to be a bad summer. But something happened the other day on the West Side that makes me think that old archetype of a sergeant may be right this time.

Authorities confirmed that two police officers — TAC cops, not rookies — were making a drug arrest shortly after 2 p.m. on Sunday.

A mob appeared, threatening the officers, surrounding them, threatening to reach for their own weapons to shoot them dead, and the cops let the suspect go.

What is learned here? The street is officially no longer afraid of the Chicago police.

If the cops had fired their weapons, news media would have been all over them, metaphorically skinning them alive. Politicians would have demanded their heads. Democratic presidential candidates, and the two campaigning for mayor, would have held repeated news conferences.

But this? Nothing.

I don’t see politicians convening blue ribbon panels of experts. I don’t see media bringing all the light they can bring to this. Tribune reporter William Lee crafted a compelling story, but one story isn’t enough.

The cops know they’re alone. That’s not a good prescription for what may come.

I’ve never heard of that before, of cops so intimidated during an arrest that they’d back off. And I wonder what message that sends, to cops, to the street, and what will come of it.

Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, the department’s chief communications officer, sent me this statement:

“Multiple times each day, Chicago police officers encounter dangerous and potentially unstable situations in the name of creating a safer neighborhood for all Chicagoans. The department supports the officer’s measured response to a situation that could have deteriorated and put lives at risk. Our message to the offender — we know who you are, and you will be held accountable for your actions.”

It was a measured response. It could have deteriorated and put lives at risk. People could have died, including the cops, and innocents down the block, and even some of the mob that began shouting.

And then where would we be?

According to authorities, the two tactical officers were making the drug arrest on Sunday afternoon in the West 4700 block of Gladys Avenue in West Garfield Park.

Police who had viewed the body camera footage told me one officer dealt with the suspect and another stood a few feet away, watching a bystander who was making threats.

Then, someone reached into the squad car and took seized drugs. The officer standing a few feet away ran to chase the drug thief, and the mob began pressing and threatening the other officer with the suspect. A shot was fired a block away.

A police radio recording of the incident shared with me lays it out.

“Ten people surrounded me indicating they had firearms, then one person away from me … holding his waist … indicating he’d use the firearm against me.”

That’s difficult to put your mind around, that people on the street have lost their fear of the cops. And what comes next? Who can say? But others will push the envelope, and others will push back, and it ends badly.

I asked rank-and-file police to weigh in, on Facebook and Twitter; unfortunately, regulations prevent them from talking. That’s something the next mayor should address. Preventing people from discussing terrors on the job simply builds resentments.

“I don’t know what was going through that officer’s head, but I guess part of it was he didn’t want to shoot anyone, and wind up charged and in jail like (Jason) Van Dyke,” wrote an officer via email. “Like I said I wasn’t there so I can’t second guess him or read his mind.

“The criminals are emboldened to challenge the police because the politicians and media will not stand up for the police and are only too happy for any excuse to jump on the police to gain political support… Now there is no fear of going to jail.”

Did the officer do the right thing by letting the suspect go? Schools of thought vary. It’s easy to say this or that when you’re calm at a typewriter and there’s no sweat trickling down your back.

But what will happen is that the guys who hang on the corners of 4700 W. Gladys will see more cops, and soon.

Two of them talked to me, as others drove past, slow, to watch.

“Yeah, yeah, I know you,” said a pleasant man who called himself “John” on the corner on Thursday. The other guy looked at my ID, and said his name was “Kass.”

“It wasn’t no ‘mob.’ But this is the hood, man,” said John.

“This (stuff) happens in the hood.”

Not this (stuff), I said.

“It do now,” he said.

Listen to “The Chicago Way” podcast with John Kass and Jeff Carlin — at www.wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/thechicagoway.

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