CHICAGO — Looters in Chicago might have gotten away with a lot of crimes last weekend but shouldn’t press their luck this time, the city’s police superintendent said Thursday.
“We want to send a message,” Chicago police Supt. David Brown told reporters outside the city’s famed Water Tower on Thursday evening.
“If you come downtown or to anyone of our retail corridors to loot, CPD is doing to arrest you. If someone is attempting to break a window to loot, CPD is going to arrest you. If you’re going in and out of stores in an attempt to loot, CPD is going to arrest you. If you are carrying or transporting merchandise from a store that has been looted, you will be stopped and arrested.”
Chicago police are taking a hardline stance against looting. https://t.co/Mxkev2xUqG
— FOX 32 News (@fox32news) August 14, 2020
Brown said police will deploy a number of tactics in their efforts to combat looting, including using spike strips to puncture tires of vehicles being used for crimes, and using trucks for impounding cars or for rounding up large numbers of suspects, FOX 32 reported.
“We are going to deploy all tactics necessary to prevent and stop looting,” Brown said. “[W]e’ve increased our numbers, we have extended our hours that our officers work. There’s an increase of 1,000 officers that would normally be here.”
Chicago police arrested more than 100 people in connection with last weekend’s lawlessness, during which several police officers were injured, the local news organization reported.
The police department has also set up a Looting Task Force and is working with the FBI to track down suspects from last weekend and bring them to justice, Brown said, according to Chicago’s WBBM-TV.
Tonight, Superintendent @ChiefDavidBrown joined Officers from the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) in @ChicagoCAPS18 to address the media regarding planning and preparations ahead of the weekend.
Click the link to watch the full video: https://t.co/GHx8ir1WmN#CPDMediaCar pic.twitter.com/EAT6Wl8ksc
— Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) August 14, 2020
The task force has posted a website where people can view looting videos to help authorities identify suspects, he added.
That website can be accessed here.
Although Brown’s resolve to handle the lawlessness is commendable, the bigger question is how the prosecutor’s office will deal with them. Kim Foxx has been known to drop the ball; remember Jussie Smollet?
Author information
Jim McNeff is the managing editor of Law Officer and founder of Badge 145, a ministry geared toward helping police officers and their families.
Jim worked in military and civilian law enforcement for thirty-one years. While in the USAF he flew as a crewmember aboard the National Emergency Airborne Command Post—a presidential support detail. Following his military service, he served for twenty-eight years with the Fountain Valley Police Department in Orange County, California where he retired as a lieutenant. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice from Southwest University and graduated from the prestigious Sherman Block Supervisory Leadership Institute as well as the IACP course, Leadership in Police Organizations.
In addition to being a Medal of Valor recipient, Jim has authored three books: The Spirit behind Badge 145, Justice Revealed, and Jurisdiction.