The Chainlink

Jana Kinsman could have been killed in Logan Square area last night by driver and pals thinking they're funny

Basically, some dudes in a purple tahoe grabbed her while she was on her bike and pulled her along next to the car while she was screaming for her life.

Here's her twitter story, storified: http://storify.com/abughat/wtf

If anyone can get info or ideas for further help, please share! Be safe out there, friends.

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Adam's experience is entirely consistent with my own attempts to report driver assaults. In one case the driver actually got out of the car and punched me, in a situation where I was a pedestrian in the LFT-Montrose crosswalk. I was repeatedly hung up on by multiple cops (and if you think you can get a badge number from a cop over the phone, you're living in a different world than I am) and strongly discouraged from filing a report when I finally visited the station in person. I did persist in filing the report but of course the promised followup call from a detective never came. Would be nice if the CPD spent half as much time doing what it claims to do as it does on these bullshit PR puff-pieces wherein it claims to do them.

Agree.

Took CPD over an hour to respond to my hit-and-run in the Kinzie PBL last year... the reason it turned into a hit-and-run.


Eli said:

Would be nice if the CPD spent half as much time doing what it claims to do as it does on these bullshit PR puff-pieces wherein it claims to do them.

That sucks.... but we're conflating situations with actual physical aggression with acts that appeared to be attempted aggression here. I am not questioning Adam's perception that the cabbie acted deliberately and aggressively in his situation, but without actual contact with the cab it's going to end up being a "your word against thers" situation and is not going to be considered worth devoting resources to by the majority of cops.

Eli said:

Adam's experience is entirely consistent with my own attempts to report driver assaults. In one case the driver actually got out of the car and punched me, in a situation where I was a pedestrian in the LFT-Montrose crosswalk. I was repeatedly hung up on by multiple cops (and if you think you can get a badge number from a cop over the phone, you're living in a different world than I am) and strongly discouraged from filing a report when I finally visited the station in person. I did persist in filing the report but of course the promised followup call from a detective never came. Would be nice if the CPD spent half as much time doing what it claims to do as it does on these bullshit PR puff-pieces wherein it claims to do them.

Not terribly helpful, but when the 911 operator asks if you need an ambulance, and you say no, you're usually looking at at least 45 minutes. If you say yes, generally a police car will be there shortly, often before the ambulance. 

blair said:

Agree.

Took CPD over an hour to respond to my hit-and-run in the Kinzie PBL last year... the reason it turned into a hit-and-run.


Eli said:

Would be nice if the CPD spent half as much time doing what it claims to do as it does on these bullshit PR puff-pieces wherein it claims to do them.

I'd also like to see CPD respond better.  However, I know that there's a big shortage of detectives right now (many retirements and few promotions in recent years).  How do I know this? My next door neighbor is a homicide detective. He and others have told me about how many retirements they've seen in the last 5 years and how much their caseloads have exploded due to lack of new detectives (almost none) in that time frame.  Priority is usually given to homicides, sexual assaults and other incidents that are deemed the most violent/serious on the list of cases needing investigation.  It really sucks that so many cases don't get follow-up. The manpower shortage is a major factor in this problem.

Now that a few recent classes have gone through the police academy and are out on the streets, there will be more promotions in the works to help ease the shortage created by retirements.  The problem won't get solved right away, but we should see improvement (hopefully) over the next few years.

Eli said:

Adam's experience is entirely consistent with my own attempts to report driver assaults. In one case the driver actually got out of the car and punched me, in a situation where I was a pedestrian in the LFT-Montrose crosswalk. I was repeatedly hung up on by multiple cops (and if you think you can get a badge number from a cop over the phone, you're living in a different world than I am) and strongly discouraged from filing a report when I finally visited the station in person. I did persist in filing the report but of course the promised followup call from a detective never came. Would be nice if the CPD spent half as much time doing what it claims to do as it does on these bullshit PR puff-pieces wherein it claims to do them.

Yet another residue of the Parking Meter lease.  Under the terms of the lease the CPD cannot "order" its officers to stop enforcing parking meter and other similar violations as this would trigger payments under the lease. 

Add to this the manpower crunch caused by the horrible gun, gang, and drug problems on the South and West sides and the over policing of the "tourist areas", it is not at all surprising that the City doesn't have the people or resources to address all but the most egregious cases.  In large parts of the North Side, its really a question of people following the rules voluntarily.   

And, of course, this is one of the real reasons behind speed and stoplight cameras....  they provide some degree of enforcement without tying up actual cops.  Not that the overly paranoid auto community would think so.  On some on-line boards they are complaining that the speed limit was only raised to 80 mph and should have been to 100 mph (and that the speed limit on Foster should be 55 or 60....   )



Anne Alt said:

I'd also like to see CPD respond better.  However, I know that there's a big shortage of detectives right now (many retirements and few promotions in recent years).  How do I know this? My next door neighbor is a homicide detective. He and others have told me about how many retirements they've seen in the last 5 years and how much their caseloads have exploded due to lack of new detectives (almost none) in that time frame.  Priority is usually given to homicides, sexual assaults and other incidents that are deemed the most violent/serious on the list of cases needing investigation.  It really sucks that so many cases don't get follow-up. The manpower shortage is a major factor in this problem.

Now that a few recent classes have gone through the police academy and are out on the streets, there will be more promotions in the works to help ease the shortage created by retirements.  The problem won't get solved right away, but we should see improvement (hopefully) over the next few years.

It is for this exact reason that I have a camera rolling at all times when I ride.

I don't believe we're conflating at all here. What happened to me and Eli was assault. What happened to Jana was battery. There's no such thing as "attempted aggression". Either someone is threatening or not. Any threat of violence, verbal or otherwise, is considered assault. Once physical contact is made, it becomes a different issue altogether.

h' 1.0 said:

That sucks.... but we're conflating situations with actual physical aggression with acts that appeared to be attempted aggression here. I am not questioning Adam's perception that the cabbie acted deliberately and aggressively in his situation, but without actual contact with the cab it's going to end up being a "your word against thers" situation and is not going to be considered worth devoting resources to by the majority of cops.

Eli said:

Adam's experience is entirely consistent with my own attempts to report driver assaults. In one case the driver actually got out of the car and punched me, in a situation where I was a pedestrian in the LFT-Montrose crosswalk. I was repeatedly hung up on by multiple cops (and if you think you can get a badge number from a cop over the phone, you're living in a different world than I am) and strongly discouraged from filing a report when I finally visited the station in person. I did persist in filing the report but of course the promised followup call from a detective never came. Would be nice if the CPD spent half as much time doing what it claims to do as it does on these bullshit PR puff-pieces wherein it claims to do them.

CPD would never order officers to stop enforcing parking. Parking violation money goes to the city. Also, it's the revenue guys that write 99% of the tickets, not cops, so they aren't diverting manpower to ticket writing.

Speeding and stoplight cams generate revenue, not safety. And they generate that revenue at low cost. Also the speed limit was raised from 65 to 70, not 80. They should have raised it more.

Crazy David 84 Furlongs said:

Yet another residue of the Parking Meter lease.  Under the terms of the lease the CPD cannot "order" its officers to stop enforcing parking meter and other similar violations as this would trigger payments under the lease. 

Add to this the manpower crunch caused by the horrible gun, gang, and drug problems on the South and West sides and the over policing of the "tourist areas", it is not at all surprising that the City doesn't have the people or resources to address all but the most egregious cases.  In large parts of the North Side, its really a question of people following the rules voluntarily.   

And, of course, this is one of the real reasons behind speed and stoplight cameras....  they provide some degree of enforcement without tying up actual cops.  Not that the overly paranoid auto community would think so.  On some on-line boards they are complaining that the speed limit was only raised to 80 mph and should have been to 100 mph (and that the speed limit on Foster should be 55 or 60....   )

I've personally experienced an ambulance with no police appearing, and as I recall, others have posted about similar situations elsewhere on Chainlink. So even an ambulance does not guarantee active police involvement.

h' 1.0 said:

Not terribly helpful, but when the 911 operator asks if you need an ambulance, and you say no, you're usually looking at at least 45 minutes. If you say yes, generally a police car will be there shortly, often before the ambulance. 


Two people nearby called 911 for me and requested an ambulance. Got there in maybe two mins max. After waiting about 10-15 mins for CPD, they put me in the ambulance because my head was bleeding pretty badly. As soon as they opened the door to let me in, the lady sped off. I had to ask for a police officer three times at the hospital. When one got there, she said she was the original officer responding to my call. No idea why it took her an hour and a half to respond. She basically told me to suck it up because her dad was the victim of a hit and run when he was walking one day. I was later told it was my responsibility to figure out if there were any cameras nearby. If so, it was my responsibility to figure out who owned them. And I did. The security camera on the Blommer factory caught the whole thing but the quality wasn't good enough to get a plate number. I asked if CPD would check if the ambulance had a dash cam. Never heard back. Thankfully I have awesome insurance and only ended up paying $200ish. Still have no idea who hit me - she came out of her car and offered me tissues for my head. I had no reason to think I should take her pic or one of the car. She acted like the was staying until I had my back turned. I really need to invest in a camera.

Here in Milwaukee, the city's Department of Public works handles parking enforcement.  Our cops, who are already spread thin, at least are relieved from parking enforcement duties.

This story and, unfortunately, the many others that have come before it SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF ME!! Please pardon the language but that is some scarey shit. In spite of the fact that there are low-life's, I guess, trying to take the joy out of it, I still LOVE to ride and will continue to do so safely, cautiously and w/ the awareness of a city-dwelling squirrel; sad that we have to ride like that but it is what it is...

RIDE ON ~ CHAINLINKER'S ~ RIDE ON!!!

& hang in there Jana

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