This past January, the Task Force on Missing and Murdered Chicago Women (MMCW) Act took effect in Illinois. The act was passed by the Illinois General Assembly in June of 2022. The legislation created a task force seeking to examine the issue of missing and murdered women in Chicago. Under the act, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (ILACP) was among the agencies and organizations authorized to nominate a task force member. The ILCAP nominated former Chicago Police Deputy Chief Thomas Lemmer to serve on the task force. In April, Executive Director Delrice Adams, from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), formally approved Lemmer’s appointment. The first session of the task force was held on 24 May 2023. [Click the link below to read more.]
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The Chicago Police Department (CPD) will take the lead in paying respects to slain Police Officer Areanah M. Preston. Sadly, the department has considerable experience in how to render honors to a fallen member. Police Officer Preston was the second CPD officer murdered this year. The pain of the loss of Police Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso is still raw. Areanah is due our respect for how she lived, and for her willingness to be a peacemaker. She and her family are owed our unending thanks and prayers for the cost she paid for being a police officer. We encourage all who can attend the wake or funeral to do so, and if you cannot to at least pause, reflect, and sincerely pray for her and her family. But what else? [Click the link below to read more.]
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Officials have confirmed the murder of yet another Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer. The incident occurred about 1:45 a.m. today, 6 May 2023. The identity of the murdered female police officer was not initially released, but has since been confirmed as Areanah Preston. We join all those mourning her loss, most particularly her family. That is the most important part of this story. Lawlessness in Chicago remains a serious issue, and the city has lost another officer to violence. But, there is also another undercurrent worth noting. Even before linking to their reporting on the March murder of Police Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso, Chicago’s ABC affiliate linked its readers to their article on the release of body camera footage in a completely unrelated police shooting. Media bias? [Click the link below to read more.]
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Late yesterday afternoon, Chicago Police Officer Andres Vasquez Lasso was murdered as he honored his sacred oath. He and other police officers were responding to a domestic-related call of a man with a gun. As Officer Vasquez Lasso was coming to the defense of a victim, and a community, he was wounded by the offender. Despite the efforts of his fellow officers and medical personnel, Officer Vasquez Lasso did not survive the attack. His murder is a tragedy for his family, and a tragedy for a city that struggles against lawlessness. [Click the link below to read more.]
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At Secure 1776 we waited a week to issue our New Year’s post to make a point. There is no special magic at the stroke of midnight ending the last day of any December. Not with the dropping of a ball in Times Square, nor with the dropping of a musical note in Nashville. Not with the flipping of the calendar to any January 1st. As far as holidays go, New Years commemorates little more than Ground Hog Day does. Time passes. It is true that most of us seek more time. Time to get things right. Many hope to achieve significant accomplishments, and have more time for enjoyment. Yet, individually and as a society we tend to waste a lot of time. We tend not to spend enough of it seeking truth. Such is the case with the public safety crisis that continues in far too many communities. [Click the link below to read more.]
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To acknowledge that there is a continuing public safety crisis in our nation is clear. Even in a culture where nearly every aspect of everyday life has divided political overtones, unease about violence and crime is widespread. At a Chicago Police Department (CPD) awards ceremony held yesterday, Chaplain Kimberly Lewis Davis provided an opportunity for clarity. In her opening remarks and prayer, she spoke about the stars that filled the room. Star imagery is particularly impactful in places where the badges worn by police officers are formed in the shape of a star. Chaplain Lewis Davis spoke on how in darkness, the stars provide us light. Her prayer acknowledged the stars that filled the room. In communities across America, such reason for celebration, and yes gratitude, abounds. [Click the link below to read more.]
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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.]
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In August, we posted on the bad news ahead for public safety in Illinois beginning on 1 January 2023. The posting provided a review of key changes to the criminal justice system that are coming with the full implementation of the Illinois SAFE-T Act. In fact, all but two of the 102 elected state’s attorneys in Illinois have expressed concerns about the changes that await the state. The already enacted changes include: (1) severe restrictions on when the courts can order even violent offenders to be held in custody prior to trial; (2) procedural obstacles in the ability of judges to issue warrants for offenders who fail to appear in court; and (3) the prohibition of police officers from making any physical arrests for public order crimes like trespassing. Here in this post, we provide two additional interviews as recommended resources. [Click the link below to read more.]
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On a fundamental level, changing problematic behavior is a personal struggle. While others can help, the involved individual either makes the needed change or not. Simple logic and critical thinking tell us, if we seek another to do less of something, we should discourage such behavior. So to we know, a key method by which to encourage a behavior is to incentivize it. When a financial benefit is linked to a behavior, we tend to see more of it. However, such is true even if that behavior is damaging. In the Summer 2022 issue of City Journal, public policy analyst Judge Glock provides a devastating look at how government policies have incentivized drug addiction and criminality. Taxpayer funds purportedly seeking to address homelessness are instead fostering misery and death. The article and an interview this past week with the author are recommended resources. [Click the link below to read more.]
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In Illinois, state’s attorneys are the elected county prosecutors. They represent the people of their respective counties in court. When 100 out of 102 elected state’s attorneys have a warning, then the people are wise to listen. The coming full implementation of the SAFE-T Act in January 2023 will make Illinois far less safe. On 5 August 2022, AM560’s Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson, from Chicago’s Morning Answer, interviewed two county prosecutors from the Chicago area. One Republican, Robert Berlin, from DuPage, County. One Democrat, James Glasgow, from Will County. They are agreed. Public safety will be jeopardized. Law-abiding citizens will be confronted by emboldened criminals, and the police and prosecutors will be far less able to do much about it. The full interview is a highly-recommended resource. [Click the link below to read more.]
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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.]
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