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You can’t make this up!!!!!
Let’s say you live in a neighborhood that has seen a significant surge in armed robberies during which offenders were targeting up to eight people at a time, frequently pistol-whipped their victims, and even fired shots during some crimes.
Now, let’s say you happened to see or hear someone being robbed near you. What are some reasonable things you could do? Call 911? Sounds good. Try to get a photo of the robbers or their car from a safe distance? OK. That’s worth a try.
How about this? How about running toward the robbery while blowing a whistle to attract attention? That’s what Lincoln Park Alderman Michele Smith hopes her constituents will do.
Good luck to anyone and everyone who tries it.
Smith announced that she was bringing back the “WhistleStop program,” which she said helped fight crime in Lincoln Park during the 1970s.
Of course, the 50-year-old program was used decades before people could simply call 911 using the phone in their pocket.
“The WhistleStop program follows these rules,” Smith wrote in her December 22 email. “If you find yourself in a suspicious situation or witness a crime, blow your whistle. If you hear a whistle, call the police, then move toward the source while blowing your own whistle.”
This is by far the DUMBEST ADVICE I HAVE EVER HEARD in terms of how to address a crime. Gee, running toward a violent crime as it’s happening and blowing a whistle to agitate the situation surely won’t piss off the criminal(s) and make YOU a target for possibly getting killed. Then again, she’s a supporter of Moms Demand Action and promotes them, so no surprise her advice is extremely poor.
