Sunday, January 16, 2011

The Lights On Broadway (That Crazy, Crazy Town)

A reader pointed out that Wilson and Broadway has a newly acquired police crime camera.  While we don't believe that its presence will stop the shenanigans that take place far too often at that intersection, we do believe that what it records will help convict the criminals who consider that area their place of business.

We regret there wasn't a police camera there when Francis Oduru was shot in the head, a case that's still unsolved.  We wish there'd been a camera there when the young mother who was waiting for the bus with her baby was shot in the middle of the afternoon ... when the female pedestrian who had just moved to Chicago was shot in the back on Christmas Day ... when the gang riots happened after the stabbing on Magnolia last spring ... when police had to use a taser on a street rioter, causing "concerned citizens" to march to the police station to complain about police abuse ... when the windows of the currency exchange were shot out, and flying glass injured a senior citizen ... when a gangbanger fired 15 shots into a large group of people on a crowded summer evening.  We're sure a camera would have helped identify the guilty parties in at least some of those cases, all of which happened at one very troubled intersection.

Criminals hate cameras.  We saw Dennis Dawson, who was filmed roughing up an elderly man in his home's elevator, plea-bargain a sentence of 11 years because the entire attack was caught on tape.  We've seen taggers plead guilty just because a witness brought a DVD taken from a security system to court.  We've seen shootings solved because of footage from nearly security systems.  We aren't naive enough to think that this police camera will be the end to all crime at Wilson and Broadway, but we're sure glad to see it there.  Finally.

8 comments:

  1. We need alot more cameras in Uptown.Need a few in the alleys also.

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  2. I have never heard of these "concerned citizens" marching on behalf of the innocent bystanders who have caught bullets in Uptown shootings.

    Where's their outrage when a mother is shot while waiting for the bus with her child, or an old man is beaten senseless? Or a young child is killed?

    Being the victim of a violent crime is often a financial and health disaster for a person, and can often mean complete destitution, with loss of home and job, for working people who end up incapacitated for months, and sometimes for life. Where's the concern for these people?

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  3. @Molbop

    We can't put cameras in the alleys! Where would everyone go to the bathroom then?

    (note sarcasm)

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  4. When I first moved to the neighborhood I went to the 7-11 near there and the activity in the area just completly unnerved me.

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  5. We are glad to see these cameras up and running. Most likely, it will drive the bad guys out of the cameras' range and help the prosecutors' jobs when they can close their cases more successfully.

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  6. I know this comment is a little late but I too believe cameras are more for follow up prosecution than prevention.

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  7. I'm sure this has been mentioned before and I probably missed it, but what is the chance a police station outpost could be placed in the old Popeye's Chicken spot. That might solve alot of issues?

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