I received the following email in response to yesterday's post on rogue Chicago cops terrorizing South Side residents. I have corresponded with this person in the past and found his information and observations to be reliable and insightful--he wishes to retain anonymity because he is concerned about possible reprisals:
I've personally spoken to people in this city who've experienced similar things to what's described in the article. One who comes to mind now is a fellow who was beaten to a pulp and had drugs planted on him by members of the Chicago Police Department.
In another local court case I heard about recently, an (alleged) carjacker who was on parole for attempted murder at the time of the crime was let off the hook even with convincing evidence of his guilt. The jury just wanted to set the guy free and go home. One of them said, "Look, if we get into an argument about this we're gonna have to stay in a hotel tonight!" They made the dissenters as uncomfortable as possible until they got their way.
Garbage like the above is unfortunately quite common. People seem to have lost their sense of outrage. I believe that the populace can be conditioned to police-state tactics and gross injustice until they are apathetic, and that's what seems to have happened in Chicago.-- A Friend of Freedom