Does the above headline read like a satire piece from The Babylon Bee? It should. As Chicago’s violent crime wave continues with no end in sight, the Chicago Police Department is actually advising business owners to install bulletproof glass to protect themselves. How reassuring — and insane.
But, it’s no parody; it’s true:
As reported by Fox Business, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) is advising business owners in Wicker Park, a neighborhood in the West Town community area of Chicago, and Humbolt Park — also on the city’s West Side — to install ArmorPlast, an “invisible shatterproof shield produced by a company called Riot Glass,” to protect themselves and their businesses from armed robbery, or worse.
Neither outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot nor incoming Mayor Brandon Johnson were available for comment.
According to Fox Business, CPD’s advice follows a string of burglaries in which thieves usually break in through side or front glass windows using rocks, bricks, or a crowbar, then enter the business to steal money, liquor, and other valuable items. How refreshing that the burglars don’t just shoot out the glass and walk brazenly into businesses, have their way, then stroll out. [sarc]
The CPD told CBS News that they specifically recommended ArmorPlast in an alert to business owners, which founder Brad Campbell says can help keep thieves out.
We want to keep the bad guys outside the building —and that’s what the product does.
Why do I think that if a sufficient number of prime business targets in the area install the product, the bad guys would simply employ other, perhaps more violent, tactics to get what they want?
Here’s more, via Fox Business:
According to Chicago Police Department data, burglaries in the city are on pace to reach 2,253 this year, which would represent a 6% increase over 2022 numbers.
The rise in what some have called “smash and grabs” have employees in businesses throughout the city on edge, with some reporting being the target of multiple burglaries in recent months.
An employee at a local business, Tamer Jaradat, shared that they have been “hit multiple times”:
“Usually, people fear their lives too. Like, I have seven kids,” Tamer Jaradat, and employee at Western Food & Grocery, told CBS News. “If it takes me having to protect my life or my business, I’m going to do it.”
Jaradat said the business has been hit multiple times in recent memory, including one instance where thieves stole an entire ATM from the building.
“Three months ago, they broke in – they stole the ATM machine,” Jaradat said.
However, police response times are now slower, Jaradat said, meaning employees often have to fend for themselves in an emergency.
And there it is — that last line.
The Bottom Line
With violent crime soaring out of control in areas of Chicago — and virtually every other large Democrat-run city in the country — police departments must employ triage, of sorts, with an eye on “supply and demand” of officer resources, and a weighting of one crime vs. another. And, practically speaking, violent crime leads to more violent crime, to the point where police officers simply can’t keep up.
While police departments can continue recommending the “Band-Aids on windows” approach, crime rates across America will continue to rise until Democrat politicians remove revolving doors from jail cells and stop sending repeat offenders back to the streets to pick up where they left off. That observation is neither racist nor heavyhanded: it is reality.
Related on RedState:
Assault Knives? Fatal Stabbings Surge in Crime-Infested New York City
San Francisco Demands Federal Assistance to Tackle Violent Crime, Open Air Drug Dens
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