Police Operations Archives

More Warning Signs: Chicago and Hadleyville

Less than a month ago, Secure 1776 raised the question. Is Chicago a Hadleyville? We highlighted three recent news items which raised warning signs that Chicago was at risk. In light of the murder of Chicago Police Officer Ella French on 7 August 2021, it is worth rereading that post. Officer French was murdered, and her partner critically wounded, while they were conducting a vehicle stop. The shooting occurred in West Englewood, a Chicago neighborhood that has long-suffered the ravages of street crime and gang violence. The murder of a police officer, while she was in the act of keeping her oath to the Constitution, is a tear in the very fabric of the community. [Click the link to read more | 11 Aug 2021]

Subway Safety and Proactive Policing

This week Nicole Gelinas, from the Manhattan Institute, authored an insightful opinion essay published in the New York Times: “To Get New York Going, We Have to Address Subway Safety.” Without question subway safety and proactive policing are correlated variables. Gelinas observed that far fewer New York City (NYC) transit riders felt safe in the subway, just 26% as of early 2021. By comparison, in the last quarter of 2019, 65% of riders “felt satisfied with the levels of crime and harassment on trains.” Violent crimes are up and ridership is down dramatically from “pre-pandemic” days. The absence of “safety in numbers” for riders and a turn from active policing on the system are key factors in the subway safety equation. See our analysis.
[Click the link to read more | 23 Jul 2021]

“Toledo police release body camera video from fatal block party shooting”

At first glance this may not appear to be the type of article that would be posted here on Secure 1776, as this site seeks a higher-level focus than a single shooting incident. However, this incident from 4 July 2021 in Toledo, Ohio connects to several key points nationally. [Click the link to read more | 17 Jul 2021]

“From Broken Windows to Broken Streets”

Nicole Gelinas writes about an interview with the late criminologist George Kelling “half a decade ago” that focused on Broken Windows Theory. The analysis is insightful relative to the fundamental role of the community in public safety and how policing is impacted when community involvement is low. [Click the link to read more | 23 Jun 2021]