Robbing Reporters Reporting on Robbery

When readers think of a television reporter being victimized by crime while trying to report on crime, they probably think of San Francisco. But there is a similar disturbing phenomenon in Chicago, where the Windy City’s mayor seems to have adopted a strategy of adding insult to injury.

“Chicago TV news crew robbed at gunpoint while reporting on armed robberies,” announces a headline in the Chicago Sun-Times. Kade Heather, Allison Novelo, Mohammad Samra and Allison Novelo report:

A Univision Chicago TV news crew was robbed at gunpoint early Monday in West Town as they were reporting on a recent rash of armed robberies.

The reporter and photographer were filming shortly before 5 a.m. in the 1200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue when three men wearing ski masks exited two cars and approached them displaying firearms, according to the news outlet and Chicago police.

The suspects demanded money from the two men, then went through their SUV and stole a camera, two bags containing equipment and a backpack belonging to the photographer, according to the station and Raza Siddiqui, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 41.

Thank goodness there were no injuries. In a Monday morning story on the incident, the website CWBChicago put in context the robbing of reporters covering robbery:

That unbelievable development came as at least 30 people were robbed or carjacked during sprees between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning...

It’s been more than a month since [Alderman] Daniel La Spata (1st) promised his constituents that police had a “concrete and collaborative plan” to address the relentless robbery crews that had been victimizing residents of his ward and neighboring areas.

While police have had some successes, the robberies continue unabated.

Robbery reports are up 22% this year, according to [the Chicago Police Department’s] latest statistics report.

But of course it wasn’t an unbelievable development, given the level of lawlessness. ABC television station WLS in Chicago reported earlier this month:

Damarrion Jakes, 14, was shot early Saturday morning in the 2700-block of West Van Buren. He died Monday at Stroger hospital.

Jakes is the cousin of the Reverend Paul Jakes, Jr...

While trying to cover a news conference called by Rev. Jakes Tuesday afternoon, one of ABC7’s photographers was assaulted and robbed in the 2800-block of West 5th Avenue.

The station noted that its employee “suffered only minor scrapes.”

While Chicago police statistics show fewer murders this year than last year, such crimes are still up 26% compared with the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

Meanwhile the increase in reports of motor vehicle thefts is nothing short of astounding—Chicago Police Department statistics show a 104% increase compared to last year and a staggering 228% increase since 2019.

How is the city’s political leadership responding to this titanic crime wave? The following is not a publication of the Onion but the first paragraph of an actual press release distributed by the mayor’s office on August 24:

CHICAGO – Mayor Brandon Johnson announced today that the City has filed a civil lawsuit against Kia America, Inc., Kia Corporation, Hyundai Motor America, and Hyundai Motor Company for their failure to include industry-standard engine immobilizers in multiple models of their vehicles, resulting in a steep rise in vehicle thefts, reckless driving, property damage, and a wide array of related violent crimes in Chicago.

Sadly this political attempt at blame-shifting is becoming popular among officials in crime-ridden cities. Fortunately the Chicago mayor’s attempt to blame car makers for the actions of car thieves is not being universally applauded. Bailee Hill reports for Fox News on an interview with Democratic Alderman Raymond Lopez:

“Clearly, we don’t have a crime problem. We have a Kia problem in the city of Chicago, according to Mayor Johnson,” Lopez told Steve Doocy on Monday...

“Chicago’s answer to the Kia problem was to hand out those steering wheel column locks, The Club, as a way of helping our citizens, not necessarily prosecuting those repeat offenders who know that they could steal a car, sell it or use it in crimes,” Lopez said. “I had a friend just last week whose car was stolen. It was used in 12 different robberies on the north side of Chicago.”

Will the mayor now begin filing lawsuits against media outlets for allowing reporters to venture out into the city he is supposed to be governing?

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In Other News

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Meanwhile over at the Chicago Tribune, Dan Petrella and Jeremy Gorner report:

Shortly after saying Illinois Democrats have “learned lessons” from recent corruption convictions of close associates of Michael Madigan, Gov. J.B. Pritzker appointed an ally of the indicted former longtime Democratic House Speaker to a state board that oversees billions of dollars in lending.

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Annals of Pandemic Policy
Spencer Kimball reports for CNBC:

A street gang in Milwaukee allegedly stole millions of dollars in Covid-19 pandemic relief money that was then used to carry out a murder and purchase guns and drugs, among other items, according to a federal indictment.

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Cutting the Mustard
“Minnesota’s crop art community rocked by upcoming ban on popular seed at State Fair,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 30

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Bye-ku for Francis Suarez

Miami winter

Sunnier than Manchester.

And a Messi fall.

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James Freeman is the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival” and also the co-author of “Borrowed Time: Two Centuries of Booms, Busts and Bailouts at Citi.”

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(Teresa Vozzo helps compile Best of the Web. Thanks to William Jensen, Kevin Burns and Jeffrey Zygmont.)

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