Blogging Chicago cop blames crime on police cameras

In the last 16 months, an astounding 508 Chicago Public School students have been murdered.

Gangs, poverty, and drug trafficking are usually mentioned as reasons for the violence.

But are you ready to blame Chicago Police surveillance cameras?

From NBC 5 Chicago:

That number -- 508 children -- comes out to more than one killing a day, and CBS2's Jay Levine tackled the overwhelming question of why. Why are the city's kids being shot down on their way home from school? Why aren't parents, teachers, neighbors and police stopping it? Can it be stopped?

In preparing his report, Levine tried to talk to the public school official charged with analyzing the data and Chicago's Superintendent of Police Jody Weis. Neither was available to talk to him.

He also spoke to the pastor of a South Side church, where an after-school program serves a community in which nearly every child's life has been touched by the city's violence. Levine reported that last Friday night's deadly shooting of an 18-year-old CPS student happened not far from that church and, he added, "within view of a police blue light camera."

But a blogger who says he is a Chicago cop has an earful for Levine:

The answer is out there Jay. We've said it tons of times.

He goes on....

Jay, did you miss this link in the New Orleans press? Shortshanks (Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley) is quoted by the mayor of New Orleans as replacing cops with cameras. Why don't you call Nagin, get a verification, then confront Daley with it? The file a few FOIA requests for manpower numbers 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago and 20 years ago. Peg that to the crime numbers. Then start finding out how many cameras are down, broken, unmanned, empty or simply the result of under the table deals for connected firms.

In other words, be a reporter.

Wow...

About those cameras: When I'm in the city and I see one, the message to me is clear: Roll up the windows and lock the doors. The cop-blogger doesn't think those pretty blue lights reduce crime, and he's not the only doubter.

It's my belief that police cameras stigmatize the areas the devices are supposed to be protecting.

Daley wants to greatly expand the use of cop-cameras, and if Chicago lands the 2016 Summer Olympics, he will probably get his wish.

However, what I'm wondering is how long it will be before some enterprising hood steals a police surveillance box.

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