Last week I wrote about using cameras to help solve crimes. And I still believe it is a tool that can greatly benefit law enforcement as well as the criminal justice system. Because based on a couple of murders that were caught on camera this past week, we have some genuine killers roaming the streets of this country.
Some are killers of opportunity. Others are just cold-blooded murderers who think nothing of taking someone’s life with a gun. Sadly, the black community all over this country is now filled with folks who will take a life. I think everybody saw the video of the woman who was parked in front of the delicatessen on Chicago’s Southeast Side, when the car pulled up and the guys got out shooting. Or the case up in Milwaukee, where they broke into a man’s house and shot and killed him while hollering at the wife to stay down. Or the shooting in the 1200 block of Mason that was like something out of the Al Capone era with two cars shooting at a house and the folks in the house shooting back.
If this state won’t reinstitute the death penalty and impose it, maybe some of the shooters’ penalty needs to be that they lose whatever hand they are dominant with.
Speaking of crime on the other end of the spectrum, the CPD is having a hard time recruiting people to join their ranks. I do not lump all police into the category of a Jason Van Dyke, the same way I don’t expect the police to lump all of us into the category of a known criminal. We need the police because what we don’t need are lawless individuals out here running the streets.
Speaking of the streets, I guess there must have been a shortage of asphalt. Several major streets like Harlem from North Avenue to Irving Park remain unpaved for weeks. Now Harlem is finally getting paved. My street which had several huge potholes across the entire cul-de-sac also got paved. The black asphalt looks horrible sitting in the middle of the cement road, but rather than busting an axle going into those deep crevices, I guess it’s something we have to live with.
On a different note, the city of Chicago’s day of the week begins at midnight. So the young lady who’s been all over the news because the city towed her car overnight because she had until Oct. 8 to pay her bill gets no sympathy from me. Every year on the news, and it will soon occur this year as well, when the snow towing ban begins on Dec. 1, all the people who parked their cars on those streets on Nov. 30 will wake up to find them gone.
Lastly, I attended the funeral for Terry Dean, my former editor here at Austin Weekly News. It was an emotion-filled service where it was easy to feel the loss expressed by those who loved him. Terry was always the epitome of professionalism, and he will be truly missed while leaving a lasting imprint on those who knew him.
