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Today's Transgender Day of Remembrance Honors the Dead
A sad end to a story from earlier today: the Chicago Police officer who was shot responding to a call this morning has died as a result of his injuries. According to Police Supt. Jody Weis, Alejandro "Alex" Valadez, 27, died about 2:40 p.m. this afternoon. He had been with the department for about three years. The Sun-Times and Chicago Breaking News have more details.
Valadez's death continues a sad trend for the Chicago Police Department. After a six-year break, three Chicago Police officers have been killed in the line of duty in less than a year. Officer Richard Francis, a 27-year veteran, was killed last July during a struggle with a woman who had been harassing a CTA bus passenger outside the police headquarters at Belmont and Western. Then, last September, Officer Nathaniel Taylor, Jr. was shot by a suspect as he and other police attempted to execute a warrant. The shooter, Lamar Cooper, had previously served time in prison for attempted murder stemming from another shooting of a cop.
Another police officer, Robert Soto, was shot and killed along with a companion while off-duty. It was an apparent robbery and while Jason Austin was originally arrested for the killings, he was eventually set free. Then in March of this year, off-duty officer Cameron Karshna was killed in a motorcycle accident.
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My thoughts and prayers with this guy's family.
Here's a prediction, all the internet toughguys who "hate the pigs" and think "all cops are raziztz Nazis!" will be absent from this story.
Cause when a cop dies in the line of duty, keeping order, serving the public, doing the job most of those people don't have the guts to, it's silence on the band.
Now if a cop pushes over someone on a bicycle, or gets too rough with some lowlife thug...watch out!
Well one things has absolutely nothing to do with the other.
Anyway: RIP.
Not really - this should put into perspective the kind of real threat and danger that CPD officers are under every day. I'm sure that threat/risk forces some of them to cross the lines at times. I'm sure if this officer had gone up to the person, sensed the risk/danger, and got rough with him/her - the anti-cop crowd on here would be all up in arms.
Next time you criticize a corrupt politician we'll have to make sure and refer to you as part of the "Anti-American" crowd, or if you have any criticisms of Chicago goverment we'll have to call you "Anti-Chicago" as well.
I'm sure if this officer had gone up to the person, sensed the risk/danger, and got rough with him/her
That doesn't even make any sense whatsoever.. but hey, if it makes you feel good about your faulty logic...by all means.
Just yesterday, I was taking the green line in, late in the afternoon, and noticed all the cops, with dogs on one of the platforms and it got me to thinking....especially after looking down on all of the urban blight, how much these cops probably DON'T want to get into any altercations and how depressing it has to be to go to work every day and see nothing but all of this ugliness and apathy and human scum.
The hard thing is that the bad apples on the force get all of the publicity and not many think about what these cops have to face day in and day out. I know I wouldn't want the job.
It is an unfortunate reality that all people are judged by to the worst of their particular demographic. The vast majority of Chicago cops are good people walking a difficult and delicate line, but everyone who looks at them sees Abate or Burge or any one of a dozen morons who should never have been given a badge. And unfortunately for the rank and file, the city has never really acknowledged how much damage those scandals have done to public perception, so the cops just have to live with it.
But then, we all have to live with these perceptions based on the actions of a few. It's the way of the world. But I, for one, am glad there are people willing to do it.
It seems that there isn’t ever any good news, at least during this recession. Store robbery is a felony, and you'd think that some people would get with it that we're all suffering these days. Well, apparently that view hasn't disseminated, as another store robbery, involving a payday loan store has occurred in South Carolina. The interesting bit is that it was happening at almost the exact same time as a payday loan store robbery in California. The South Carolina incident, however, wasn't wrapped up as in the Golden State, as the suspects, both considered armed, haven't been apprehended as yet. Well, when the police catch up to these bozos they are going to need payday loans for their legal defense from charges of armed store robbery.