There’s a story here in Chicago which you may not have heard about which I think is instructive. A postal worker was abducted in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago but managed to escape before her abductor sexually assaulted her. Both the postal worker and the abductor had been in a convenience store just minutes before. The abductor left the store before the postal worker, entered the postal worker’s van (why was it left unlocked?), and then attacked the postal worker after she returned to her vehicle. Here’s how Matt Masterson reports what happened at WTTW:
Ramirez lunged at her, grabbing her sweatshirt, shirt and bra as she tried to escape, according to prosecutors.
The woman slipped out of that clothing and ran to a nearby auto body shop, where she was given a shirt and called 911. Responding officers allegedly located Ramirez driving the postal van near 20th and Pulaski, but after a 20-minute traffic pursuit, he was able to get away. That vehicle was later found abandoned in the 4300 block of West Marquette Road.
According to prosecutors, the postal worker was hospitalized and treated for high blood pressure and some abrasions around her neck.
The abductor has been apprehended. How?
Later that day, police released a still photo of Ramirez from inside the gas station asking for the community’s help in locating him.
On Sunday, two of Ramirez’s own family members “immediately recognized†him from that photo and contacted police, prosecutors said. A third relative also recognized Ramirez after seeing the same photo later that day, and later told police Ramirez had been wearing a vest this relative had given him a day prior, prosecutors said.
Ramirez was later located and arrested Monday.
Why is that instructive? Because the key element that led to Mr. Ramirez’s apprehension was that those who knew him informed police that he was the individual in the photograph they were circulating. Without that he might never have been apprehended.
My point here is that what makes crime a viable occupation is the complicity of the community in it. Although the cherubic pictures frequently published of individuals who have, for example, been killed by police may represent how his friends and family think of him, they may be a far cry from the present reality which in many cases is that the individual is a hardened professional criminal with dozens or even hundreds of prior offenses. It takes a certain amount of courage and, yes, resoluteness to turn in friends or family which is why it happens so rarely.
It also requires trust in law enforcement which is, sadly, too frequently a missing ingredient.
Although the cherubic pictures frequently published of individuals who have, for example, been killed by police may represent how his friends and family think of him, they may be a far cry from the present reality which in many cases is that the individual is a hardened professional criminal with dozens or even hundreds of prior offenses
That reminds me of how Trayvon Martin was introduced to the public.
I agree the community often circles their wagons around one of their own. However, higher levels of criminal acts and behavior has been absorbed into the public’s mindset as either “normal†conduct, or one that should not be too critically judged or punished – hence your no bail releases, or no basis for an arrest if the merchandise stolen is under $900. IOW, we dismiss smaller crimes, forgive those committing them which sets up a societal environment where what is accepted is encouraged, upping the propensity for more crime to occur. A major exception to such a softening reaction to crime is if a person was unfortunately targeted by facial recognition equipment during the J6 protests – therefore dogging and then taking into custody many now serving harsh jail sentences without due process.
If you read Gang Leader For a Day, or most anything else on crime culture its pretty clear that families know who is involved in the crime trade. However, they rely upon the income. That is going to be difficult to end, especially if they dont trust the police. A little harder to understand is the more recent wave of shootings which is not as much gang related but just people with guns thinking they have ben disrespected. Getting revenge for social media insults. I would expect people to be a bit more willing to report those.
Steve
A sympathetic victim may have helped with the realization he fouled the nest. However, as they say, blood is thicker, which can lead to amnesia.
Affronts with 9mm response are increasing, a reminder of the Southern traditions of a 12 gauge response. In the 60’s and 70’s used to be able to tell the real gangers by multiple knife scars, now its bullet wounds. Good luck to those thinking Conflict Deescalation will work better than say reintroducing Code Duello, or mass stop, frisk and confiscation.
People like the stop and frisk story but not much evidence it did anything. Cities that didnt have it also saw crime drop. After it was stopped crime stayed the same or dropped.
Steve
While we are on crime any idea why Rockford which has a much higher violent crime rate gets so little coverage for its crime as opposed to Chicago? For someone living in Chicago I can see that as their larger concern, but for everyone else? Since Indianapolis is quite a bit worse than Chicago and I have family there that is more of a concern for me but it is rarely covered in the popular press.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/most-violent-cities-in-america
Steve
Because fewer than 150,000 people live in Rockford.
When I was born St. Louis had a population of nearly a million. Now it’s a third that. It’s more like Rockford than it is like Chicago. St. Louis is the most violent city in the U. S. but it’s rarely mentioned. I still feel some ties to St. Louis but I no longer have any close family there and it’s just not the same city as the one that I knew.
Chicago remains a big city. At least for now. Present elected officials are doing their damnedest to make it into a small one.
Are there any telegenic advocates/victims in Rockford/Indianapolis? With elections coming up which party would benefit most from even more reports of violence and probable inept government?
The other thing that seems odd is that if you look at the map the most violent cities are grouped into a sort of smallish area in the middle of the country, New Orelans up through MO Il, IN, MN and MI. Couple out East and West but not many.
Steve
Mississippi River Valley, the Great Migration, might be clues.
walt moffett: Mississippi River Valley, the Great Migration, might be clues.
Some of that is probably correct. Millions of people were socially dislocated when trying to escape oppression in the Jim Crow South. That has had lasting effects.