Public Perception & the Chicago Police (Campus: purchase, university, gated)

[urza216]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Interesting. I've never had problems with Chicago cops. Suburban cops on the other hand....

I agree.

[Alacran]

Narcotic officers are *******.

CPD is fine.

[Drover]

Most are OK but it sure does suck when you run into the one who joined the force to satisfy his adrenaline rush, or the one who has lost his/her ability to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys when dishing out the "I'm a cop, you're a peon" attitude. There's probably a lot of overlap between the two.

[Chi-town Native]

I just think it's interesting that those numbers are that high, given the constant refrain we hear about how lousy police behave in the poor, violence-cursed neighborhoods. I wonder if those areas either just escaped the survey sample, or if there indeed is a "silent majority" in places like Englewood that really support the police but are just not generally heard/covered by the media.

[gomexico]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

I just think it's interesting that those numbers are that high, given the constant refrain we hear about how lousy police behave in the poor, violence-cursed neighborhoods.

I suspect you've limited your sources of information solely to people who complain, whom, I believe, are a very small percentage of the residents.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by gomexico

I suspect you've limited your sources of information solely to people who complain, whom, I believe, are a very small percentage of the residents.

Complainers are always the loudest.

[urza216]

Meh. I'm very skeptical of the results of the survey too..

[Chicago South Sider]

Originally Posted by urza216

Meh. I'm very skeptical of the results of the survey too..

Me too. Very much so.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by gomexico

I suspect you've limited your sources of information solely to people who complain, whom, I believe, are a very small percentage of the residents.

*I* haven't, but I think the media has.

In response to the skepticism, I think the methodology of this warrants a look, but 4,000 people - if truly randomly sampled from a city-wide database - is double the size of a survey that is generally considered to be fully inclusive of a population.

I suspect that it's both, that the complainers are often the loudest, and that in high-crime neighborhoods there are loads of people who see first-hand what the police are dealing with and how understaffed they are.

That doesn't mean there aren't loads of bad apples in the bunch, but to make a dent in serious organized crime you need informants, and I'm guessing those are hard to come by high in the ranks of the established street gangs. The Wire got it pretty right when they had an episode mentioning that street gang rank and file are far more concerned about getting disciplined by their own gang or losing the protection their gang offers than they are of getting arrested or even going to jail.

[Chicago60614]

I've always had very positive experiences with the police in Chicago. Nice and helpful. I've known two people who had to deal with police after attacks, one was horrific just last month. From talking to them the police were there right away and amazing. The cops even came into the hospital in plain clothes last month hours after they'd gotten off their overnight shift just to check up on my friend. They'd been up for almost 24 hours at that point but still put her first.