Editor's note: This Shark is from the old school, having attended Chicago's Senn High in the mid 50's. Senn had fraternities some of who's members of Delta and Beta may be described as "gangsters" on their paths to Joliet and Statesville penitentiaries. Your ProbateShark witnessed a happening at Senn. One "pledge" was ordered to kiss the first girl exiting the main entrance of the school. The result was this poor girl fighting the creep and rolling on the sidewalk.
Enter Coach Phipps and Coach Schachter who administered on the spot justice to the "pledge". Enter the big Irish beat cop administering justice with his night stick. Enter the crew of the Paddy Wagon roughly moving a bloodied handcuffed "pledge" for a special treatment to handcuffed "wise asses". Special treatment was a "Chicago Ride", a series of high speed left and right turns that bounced the "pledge" off the unpadded steel walls of the Paddy Wagon.Later, we heard about the scene at the Precinct when the father of the "pledge", a Chicago fireman, called away from his firehouse had to be restrained by the cops from causing further damage to his son. I never knew what became of the "pledge" in later life, however, this event must have been a major memory in his life.
I'm sure Commander West is well intentioned and a great cop, but people are being murdered and injured in Chicago. Maybe some of the "Senn High justice" is needed?
Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
West Side police commander paying home visits to warn gangbangers
Face-to-face meetings a new tack in effort to quell violence
Austin District Cmdr. Barbara West is pictured at the District 15 Chicago Police Department after speaking with the press on Friday, July 19, 2013, about plans for delivering letters to around 20 people on a "heat list." (Keri Wiginton / July 19, 2013)
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The commander of a West Side police district plans to knock on the doors of the most dangerous gangbangers to issue warnings to stop the violence.
The effort by Austin District Cmdr. Barbara West comes as Chicago police try to quell gang violence with both innovative ideas and more traditional methods such as paying hundreds of officers to work overtime on their days off.
West told reporters she and an undisclosed community leader planned on Friday to begin going to the homes of about two dozen people who have been singled out on the department's "heat list" as those most likely to commit violence and to fall victim to violence themselves.
West, the first police commander to take on this assignment, said she plans to talk for a few minutes at each household and drop off a letter warning the targets that police will seek the most serious punishment possible against them if their criminal behavior persists. If the target isn't home, West said she would relay the message to a relative.
"At this point we're putting them on notice that if you commit these crimes, we will follow you and prosecute you to the fullest," she told reporters Friday at the Austin District police station.
The department declined to let reporters tag along for West's first face-to-face meetings Friday and declined to release a copy of the letter to be delivered.
The strategy is based on research by Andrew Papachristos, a sociology professor at Yale University who conducted a study on the West Side several years ago that showed that much of the violence involved a relatively small number of victims and offenders.
A computer analysis showed a little more than 400 people across the city — including about 25 in the Austin District — are the most at-risk from among more than 16,000 gang members. There can be many reasons for making the list, including lengthy arrest records, the serious nature of the offenses and whether they have been shooting victims themselves.
In her home visits, West said she will remind the 25 people of their often extensive rap sheets and warn that if they continue with their risky lifestyles, they will likely end up dead or in prison.
"Hey, this is your past," she said she might tell them. "Take a look at it very hard. ...You could be faced with something that you weren't expecting," she said.
When asked whether other officers would back her up when she delivered the ominous messages to the gangbangers, West made it clear that she is confident that her 19 years on the job have taught her how to take care of herself.
"We'll see. ... We have to take each incident as it comes," she said.
In a year in which homicides and shootings have dropped sharply below bloody year-earlier totals, West's Austin District has been struggling to contain the violence. Through July 14, homicides have risen in the district to 15, up from 13 a year earlier and 7 in 2011 at that point.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said he expects the department's 21 other commanders to go door to door with the "heat list" targets in their districts as well, but he laid out no timetable for when that will happen.
McCarthy said he hopes to find some gangbangers ready to leave the criminal lifestyle behind. As an incentive, they plan to offer help finding jobs and providing medical care and other services. They also said local clergy would help try to encourage them to change their lives.
"You never know who's going to listen," McCarthy said. "Some of them may, some of them may not. But at the end of the day, we're trying."
jgorner@tribune.com
The effort by Austin District Cmdr. Barbara West comes as Chicago police try to quell gang violence with both innovative ideas and more traditional methods such as paying hundreds of officers to work overtime on their days off.
West told reporters she and an undisclosed community leader planned on Friday to begin going to the homes of about two dozen people who have been singled out on the department's "heat list" as those most likely to commit violence and to fall victim to violence themselves.
West, the first police commander to take on this assignment, said she plans to talk for a few minutes at each household and drop off a letter warning the targets that police will seek the most serious punishment possible against them if their criminal behavior persists. If the target isn't home, West said she would relay the message to a relative.
"At this point we're putting them on notice that if you commit these crimes, we will follow you and prosecute you to the fullest," she told reporters Friday at the Austin District police station.
The department declined to let reporters tag along for West's first face-to-face meetings Friday and declined to release a copy of the letter to be delivered.
The strategy is based on research by Andrew Papachristos, a sociology professor at Yale University who conducted a study on the West Side several years ago that showed that much of the violence involved a relatively small number of victims and offenders.
A computer analysis showed a little more than 400 people across the city — including about 25 in the Austin District — are the most at-risk from among more than 16,000 gang members. There can be many reasons for making the list, including lengthy arrest records, the serious nature of the offenses and whether they have been shooting victims themselves.
In her home visits, West said she will remind the 25 people of their often extensive rap sheets and warn that if they continue with their risky lifestyles, they will likely end up dead or in prison.
"Hey, this is your past," she said she might tell them. "Take a look at it very hard. ...You could be faced with something that you weren't expecting," she said.
When asked whether other officers would back her up when she delivered the ominous messages to the gangbangers, West made it clear that she is confident that her 19 years on the job have taught her how to take care of herself.
"We'll see. ... We have to take each incident as it comes," she said.
In a year in which homicides and shootings have dropped sharply below bloody year-earlier totals, West's Austin District has been struggling to contain the violence. Through July 14, homicides have risen in the district to 15, up from 13 a year earlier and 7 in 2011 at that point.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said he expects the department's 21 other commanders to go door to door with the "heat list" targets in their districts as well, but he laid out no timetable for when that will happen.
McCarthy said he hopes to find some gangbangers ready to leave the criminal lifestyle behind. As an incentive, they plan to offer help finding jobs and providing medical care and other services. They also said local clergy would help try to encourage them to change their lives.
"You never know who's going to listen," McCarthy said. "Some of them may, some of them may not. But at the end of the day, we're trying."
jgorner@tribune.com
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