In this life there is suffering and evil is real. We live in a world that struggles with peace. Our communities have peace officers, police officers, because of this reality. Yet, more than any other reason, those who pursue a policing career seek to help others. And, given that children are among the world’s most vulnerable, their safety is deeply held within the policing mission. At their best, our police officers protect the innocent, and they seek to bring peace. They can also help guide those who have wandered from peace back toward the path. On Christmas, we remember a child and the path to redemption He provides. [Click the link below to read more.]
Category: Juvenile Crime
Sound of Freedom, Over the Trafficking Target
Last week, on the Fourth of July, the film Sound of Freedom was released in theaters. The release had been delayed for years. The criticism the film has received since its release has also been unusual. There is a key connection between the delayed release and the post release criticism. The film is based on a true story, and that story is beyond ugly. The film builds from the efforts of former Homeland Security Special Agent Tim Ballard and his efforts to confront the scourge of child trafficking. Sound of Freedom is compelling, must see viewing about the international child sex trade. The film spares the audience from the actual abuse images, but captures the horror of the reality that exists. We urge you to see this moving film. [Click the link below to read more.]
The Pandemic Excuse and Bigger Problems
The news cycle last week was dominated by coverage relating to the death of Tyre Nichols. Nichols died three days after he was stopped by, fled from, and was stopped again by police in Memphis on 7 January 2023. An extended struggle with police left Nichols severely injured. Two fire department EMTs and a fire lieutenant have been terminated for not providing adequate medical attention. Police body camera and other video footage of these interactions were released last Friday. Condemnation surrounding the actions of five Memphis police officers involved in that incident has been swift and widespread. Those officers were quickly terminated and now face criminal charges. But, a lesser news item from last week should not be ignored. Police in Washington, DC repeated the pandemic excuse for continuing carjacking issues in that city. The lesser incident highlights a larger and related problem relative to public safety. [Click the link below to read more.]
THE Pandemic Still an AP Crime Bogeyman
The Associated Press (AP) continues to publish stories suggesting a causation link between THE pandemic and crime. No, not investigative journalism seeking to examine whether a virus was created through banned gain of function research. Not journalism suggesting the use of a biological weapon as a war crime. Simply, crime and violence on our streets. AP continues to cite THE pandemic as a key explanation for the continuing lawlessness that exploded in 2020 across America. As we all know, the spark of that explosion occurred in May 2020 in Minneapolis. Yet, let us not forget, that just days before that spark, the news media was citing THE pandemic as the reason why crime in America was declining. It is beyond time to stop using THE pandemic as a bogeyman to gloss over the lawlessness issue that persists in far too much of our nation. [Click the link below to read more.]
The Council Says it Has Questions
Last week we posted on the continued lawlessness and outright evil observed in three American cities on a single day – 14 May 2022. The most horrific of the incidents occurred in a Buffalo supermarket. But, evening lawlessness in the entertainment and downtown areas of Milwaukee and Chicago also stood out. Less than a week later, Chicago’s downtown was the scene of yet another mass causality shooting incident. The latest mass shooting left two people dead and seven others wounded outside a major subway stop and a popular McDonald’s restaurant on Chicago Avenue. That shooting incident happened on Thursday night, 19 May 2022. Today, Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) gathered the signatures of 29 other council members to call a Special Meeting of the Chicago City Council. The focus – Chicago violence and the city administration’s plan to address lawlessness. [Click the link below to read more.]
Continued Lawlessness and Outright Evil
Since May of 2020, the nation has witnessed growing lawlessness. Compared to 2019, violence in cities like Chicago drove the year-over-year national murder rate higher by nearly 30 percent in 2020. That single-year murder-rate increase is the largest ever recorded. While the final 2021 national murders statistics will not be released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) until later this year, we already know that last year lawlessness and violence remained at elevated levels. Saturday, in Chicago and Milwaukee the nation witnessed more lawlessness in the centers of those two cities. A 16-year-old boy was murdered near the Bean (Cloud Gate) sky sculpture in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Two others were also shot in downtown Chicago as the night progressed. In downtown Milwaukee, 21 people were shot in three separate shootings, in the blocks surrounding Fiserv Forum, following the NBA playoff basketball game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics. In Buffalo, lawlessness does not begin to describe the tear in the social fabric. Pure evil was on full display with the deliberate taking of ten lives. The Buffalo carnage was streamed live on the Twitch social media site by the attacker. For those who are apt to find social forces as a ready excuse for criminal acts of cruelty, the streamed video is definitive proof of the existence of pure evil. Hateful, demonic evil. Not only must law and order return to the nation’s cities, this one nation under God must seek revival and renounce all such evil. [Click the link below to read more.]
A Montage of Lawlessness and Violence
It has long been said, “knowledge is power.” It is important to note that the pronouncement is not “information is power.” In the “Bizzaro World” of the news media, so much of what passes as the “news” is little more than information. The rise of 24-hour cable news has provided more time to pass more information. But, often the platform simply passes the same information in a mind-numbing extended loop whose output does not foster actual knowledge. Pseudo-knowledge is advanced through the frequent use of split-screen commentators and political operatives advancing their own narratives. These often competing narratives generally distort true factual analysis, and they often end in an incomprehensible mash of over-talking and shouting. This phenomenon crosses the spectrum of political, social, and daily-life topics, particularly when there is an overlap into politics. Lawlessness is one of these topics. Even the local – allegedly straight news – news programming runs a steady flow of lawless incident-of-the-day segments, particularly when the incidents are violent with shock-seeking video. These segments are generally little more than sensationalized information, and rarely is their presentation one that advances knowledge. Secure 1776 offers this “cops ask questions” question in Latin: “Cui bono?” Translation: “Who benefits?” [Click the link below to read more.]
Surprising, Without Intervention Juvenile Delinquency Continued
Well not surprising actually. On 10 February 2022, Newsday posted their article, “Report: Nearly half of 16-year-olds arrested under RTA committed new crimes in NYC.” Some background. What is “RTA?” RTA, stands for “raise the age,” and concerns the oldest age at which an offender is considered a juvenile. RTA measures seek to push older and older individuals away from the criminal courts and under the jurisdiction of our juvenile (or family) courts. Many advocates have pushed for raising the juvenile court age to 21 or even older. These efforts tend to go hand-in-hand with the assertion that our juvenile courts are ineffective, and there should be a complete diversion from all formal court processes. The problem – absent a formal court response mechanism, the youth most at-risk of continued and deepening delinquency do not actually participate in needed interventions. Oh, and absent both accountability and intervention, they are at a substantially increased risk of violent crime victimization themselves. The Newsday article covered a research report from the New York City Criminal Justice Agency (CJA), a non-profit, pre-trial services and “court-involved” (aka offender) advocacy organization. Their report was released in December 2021. [Click the link below to read more.]
More Spectacle Chicago, Yet Another Juvenile Carjacker, Now Murderer
The spectacle of lawlessness in Chicago is far too frequent, and far too often involves juvenile offenders and juvenile victims. On 9 February 2022, Chicago Police announced the arrest of a 16-year-old, Anthony Brown for the murder of a 15-year-old Michael Brown (known to Anthony, but not related). On 8 February 2022, Michael was shot twice in head, once in the shoulder, and once in the chest, as he walked home from school. Anthony Brown was driven to the shooting location by another 15-year-old juvenile offender in a vehicle Anthony Brown carjacked earlier in the afternoon from a Lyft ride-share driver. Before the carjacking, Anthony Brown had been in juvenile court on an ongoing case for his unlawful possession of a firearm last year. Police stopped the stolen vehicle with the two juvenile offenders about 30 minutes after the fatal shooting. Anthony Brown has been charged with first degree murder as an adult. The second juvenile offender was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle as a juvenile. [Click the link below to read more.]
Carjackings Update on Chicago’s Juvenile Crime Story
Last November we posted an editorial on how the City of Chicago, under the administration of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, closed its only Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (JISC). In December, Secure 1776 followed up with an analysis of carjackings and the connections to juvenile crime. Carjackings have spiked across the country since 2020. An escalating carjacking problem has been particularly noteworthy in urban areas. Many cities have experienced a continuing surge. But the problem is particularly evident in Chicago. Yesterday, 7 February 2022, Mayor Lightfoot held a press conference with Chicago Police Department (CPD) Superintendent David Brown, a representative from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and other officials. In the press conference, Mayor Lightfoot indicated that half of those arrested in connection to Chicago’s carjackings are juveniles. She also made an interesting statement on the cause of the rising juvenile crime connection – “remote learning.” [Click the link below to read more.]
Some Clarity on Carjackings and the Complexities of Juvenile Crime
A week ago in our “Editorial: Spectacle Chicago and the Death of the JISC,” our readers were provided several key insights regarding juvenile delinquency. First, the connection between early delinquency and the risks of future violence are clear. Second, the closing of the Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (JISC), without any alternative, weakened the city’s response to juvenile delinquency. It remains another spectacle Chicago moment. Yes, large social forces lay a complex macro-level foundation for crime – particularly juvenile crime. But, we should not be fooled, even in areas where crime and violence are the worst, most youth do not become gang members, and most do not engage in violence. Chicago loses children to gang activity, delinquency, and violence one young person at a time. The explosion of carjackings in Chicago provides us with an opportunity for some clarity relative to juvenile crime. [Click the link below to read more.]
Editorial: Spectacle Chicago and the Death of the JISC
On 4 March 2006, the Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (JISC) became Chicago’s first and only police facility dedicated specifically to address juvenile delinquency. In my 34 years, three months, and two days with the Chicago Police Department (CPD), the JISC stands out for two reasons. First, the fact that the doors opened at all was a historic accomplishment. Second, it is a massive disappointment that the JISC stopped receiving youth, as of CPD’s midnight watch on 21 November 2021. In truth, the JISC was never fully supported, not fully implemented, and was not allowed to meet its full potential. And yet, the JISC did good work and offered a pathway for improved outcomes for thousands of Chicago’s young people. Abandoning the JISC, with no functioning alternative, is yet another spectacle Chicago moment. [Click the link below to read more.]