Chicago’s Crime & Cop Suicide Crises

As arrests in Chicago plummet to “historic lows” while crime soars thanks to police pull backs, the city’s cops are committing suicide in record numbers as an “understaffed department repeatedly cancels days off.”

As Fox News reports that “police morale is down across the country,” yet it’s startling that 3 more Chicago police officers have recently committed suicide and the city’s force is “experiencing 60% more suicides than the national average.” How could this be?

One Fox article notes how the defunding movement in the wake of the George Floyd murder in another city & 2 years ago now has triggered a fearful “no way will I always get involved” attitude, thereby contributing to a shocking reduction in arrests & the city’s resulting crime wave; yet, simultaneously, another story adds, underfunded police are so stressed out they couldn’t fight crime, even if they wanted to: “When somebody is forced to live on fast food & caffeine, while living in that constant state of what we call hyper-vigilance, for 12, 13, 14 hours a day, that takes its toll,” Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith said. “You look at those last 3 officers who committed suicide, these were not veterans, these were fairly young people – and that’s horrific.” It also suggests the vicious Catch 22 situation facing police today & the vicious cycle of progressive reforms contributing to more, not less crime, then, creating yet another problem that wasn’t there to begin with.

Davd Soul