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Failure is an Option in Chicago

Image: PV Bella

Lori Lightfoot lost the confidence of the Chicago Police Department rank and file, the men and women who work the streets every day. Her police superintendent, David Brown, is an abject failure. When you lose the confidence of your public safety and emergency service personnel, you have a big problem.

The streets of Chicago are a war zone and Wasteland, like a post-apocalyptic movie. The criminals are in charge. Gangs, drug dealers, and other criminal groups, small and large, are wreaking murder, mayhem, and havoc every day in every neighborhood. 

Chicago police officers are overworked, beyond tired, and demoralized. They cannot make good decisions and solve problems under these highly stressful conditions. The cops are warning the city. The city could care less. Chicago is a town without pity. It does not care about its emergency service personnel or the citizens, who are being victimized daily.

If David Brown and his command staff demand police officers work long hours with no or few days off, they should do the same. The concept of rank having privilege has its limits. They should lead by example or leave.

According to the Chicago Police Department, discipline is meted out as an educational tool, not punishment. Under the COPA regime, discipline is pure punishment, and it is slammed hard. They severely punish officers for legitimate actions, like stopping people visibly wearing firearms. COPA does not punish to educate. COPA punishes for punishment’s sake.

Why would any police officer want to do proactive policing under these horrific conditions? Why would they risk their life, job, or freedom? The Chicago Police Department is a toxic work environment. The buck stops on the mayor’s desk. She is wearing the hat. She can change course, but she won’t. Lori Lightfoot is stubbornly clinging to failure.

Police officers have no faith that this city has their best interests at heart or the citizens’ best interests. They are living in despair. Every day they go to a job they are afraid to do properly. Every day they are looking over their shoulders in fear of retribution. Every day they are tired, mentally, physically, and emotionally. This is a recipe for disaster.

The mayor is responsible for this cataclysm. Her superintendent is inept. He proved time and time again he is out of his element. Chicago is not Dallas. It is not some sleepy cowpoke town. 

The people in this city no longer feel safe. There are no safe places left. 

The mayor is losing the faith of many alderpersons whose constituents and businesses are fed up. Some of these aldermen have been calling for changes. Their demands fall on deaf ears.

There are over a dozen alderpersons who are anti-police. Maybe the police detail that protects these elected officials at City Hall should be disbanded. Social workers could replace them. Many of these alderpersons represent some of the most dangerous wards.

No one wants to live in fear. People are speaking out. Lori Lightfoot is deaf to even the most common-sense solutions.

Crime is out of control. You cannot fight crime with press conferences like David Brown is doing. Chicago needs a reset. The mayor must wake up to the reality that she lost this city and will lose the next election if she runs.

Time is running out. Patience is running out. The pressure is building. Chicago is on the path to destruction. There is no leadership on the fifth floor of City Hall, in the City Council, and not in the Chicago Police Department. 

Failure is an option is the leadership philosophy of this once great city.

Published inUncategorized