https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing ... -track-gun

A new online tool launched by the Chicago Police Department allows the public to look up people who have been arrested on gun charges and whether they have made bail, prompting criticism by civil libertarians, according to The Associated Press.

“If we’re OK with how things are going, then don’t look at it,” Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said of the Gun Offender Dashboard. “But if you want to know why we are suffering from some of the things we are, then take a look at it and come to your own conclusions.”

Critics of the program argue that it convicts people pre-trial and will lead users to conflate people arrested merely for carrying weapons with those who have threatened or shot people with them, according to the AP.

All people are considered innocent until proven guilty, unless politiically convenient to do otherwise.

“If we’re OK with how things are going, then don’t look at it,” Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said of the Gun Offender Dashboard. “But if you want to know why we are suffering from some of the things we are, then take a look at it and come to your own conclusions.”

The implication here is that if you look at WHO is arrested for illegal gun possession, you will then immediately understand the cause of Chicago’s murder problem. I haven’t looked at the photos, but I’d bet a Sig against a basket of Harold’s that this is a police invitation to make racist assumptions.

Did Chicago ever close their GITMO?

The court actually made them pay widespread reparations and they STILL didn’t fire anybody.

Sweet Baby Jesus.

"That's the Chicago way!"

Via Sean Connery in the Untouchables.

SR

Marlene wrote: Sun Aug 25, 2019 9:12 pm “If we’re OK with how things are going, then don’t look at it,” Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said of the Gun Offender Dashboard. “But if you want to know why we are suffering from some of the things we are, then take a look at it and come to your own conclusions.”

The implication here is that if you look at WHO is arrested for illegal gun possession, you will then immediately understand the cause of Chicago’s murder problem. I haven’t looked at the photos, but I’d bet a Sig against a basket of Harold’s that this is a police invitation to make racist assumptions.

There are no photos listed on the site, just to clarify.

https://home.chicagopolice.org/online-s ... ashboards/

If you decide to look through it, keep in mind that an I-bond is a recognizance bond, so people may receive an amount, but essentially are let out on their word.

From the police's view, bond reforms have let offenders out on to the street who commit offenses again. There is some truth to that. Chicago has had a REALLY bad rash of carjackings over the past 2 years. Nearly all of the people who have been caught, have bonded out. Some have gone on to commit repeat car jackings within days of their release.

I'm not willing to say that it's a simple problem, and there is no simple solution, but a handful of the crimes we're seeing in Chicago right now are due at least in small part to the bail reforms that were intended to reduce disparity in sentencing. Those are the ones the police want us to focus on, and I think to some regard that's understandable, but it only tells a part of the story.

Yes, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But the facts about repeat violent offenders don't lie. My argument is more: "Why?". Why do kids mostly from the heavily minority South and West sides of Chicago engage in this behavior? It's certainly not because of the color of their skin, but rather the lack of social and economic opportunity. You have to look at these things through a historical lens, and you can see how these conditions were developed and made to create the situation that currently exists. I blame the Daley and Emanuel administrations (last two mayors) for failing to act for decades to promote development in Auburn Gresham, Englewood, and Austin. They had every opportunity, but didn't have the interest.

You can't fix the problem with a band aid. You need real and effective social and economic change. Those are things that would involve the rich going without some of the creature comforts that they're used to. It involves an end to the bottom-up weath re-distribution that we've seen in Chicago and around the country. It means an end to TIF (Tax Increment Finance) money being used to enrich downtown Chicago neighborhoods, rather than the poorest of neighborhoods that it was designed for. There is not a political will for these things to occur, and the public isn't demanding it.

Instead, we get "common sense gun control", as if that will take care of the problem. It won't. It's a symptom of rampant and systemic poverty, which is politically and financially motivated by powerful elites.

In Chicago particularly, looking at the absurd proportion of city budget spent on policing is also critical in understanding where the money that should be spent on all sorts of other programs is being spent.

Guess the ACLU has lost it's voice. Another section of the site allows anyone to search for those arrested, but you have to have a name.

Compiled by The Center for Popular Democracy, Law for Black Lives and the Black Youth Project 100, the report makes the case that investment in mental health, housing, youth development and living wages would stabilize communities and prove more effective than policing.

Big city policing budgets
https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccar ... 8da961e7b7

Marlene wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2019 9:27 am In Chicago particularly, looking at the absurd proportion of city budget spent on policing is also critical in understanding where the money that should be spent on all sorts of other programs is being spent.

It's not just the absurd amounts of money, it's what you get for that money (or in this case, what you don't get).

The police in Chicago have been on strike (work slow-down) since the officer who murdered Laquan McDonald was arrested.

You're effectively on your own for your self-protection in the city.

By and large, the police in Chicago don't want to do their job, and I while I do have some sympathy for some officers, there are way too many bad actors to call them "rotten apples". It's a rotten bushel.

senorgrand wrote:Did Chicago ever close their GITMO?

That was largely an exaggeration and honestly shitty reporting using questionable sources. It also took away from the real issue. Notice the DoJ investigation said nothing about this.

Everyone here knew it was a police station, because it had a section open to the public. The real issue is that CPD likes to give lawyers the run around as to where their clients are. This somehow morphed into CPD running a secret "black site".

Illinois is fucking broke and drowning in pension debt it can't pay, and contrary to what people who live in Southern Illinois think, the rest of the state depends on Chicago for tax revenue.

Chicago is "hood rich". When it comes to funding meaningful social programs we're always broke. But when it comes to attracting tourists or giving businesses welfare, like magic TIF money is available. The same TIF money that's supposed to be for improving neighborhoods.

Also, if you live on the north side of Chicago, you don't really see crime much. Chicago is hyper segregated by race and income level, so naturally crime is typically bound by income lines.

Chicago has always taken the bandaid approach. Because it's just easier, and aldermen in high crime wards trick their electorate in thinking guns are the problem, rather than corrupt politicians wanting to stay in power. Most of these democrats run unopposed.

This gun offender data portal is more pandering, and is also another piece in the fight between CPD and Kim Foxx

Being a gun offender in Illinois is incredible easy without being an actual criminal.

For example: if a husband is a FOID holder, and has a gun in the home, but the spouse does not have a FOID, by the letter of the law the spouse is committing a gun offense.