OPINION | Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those held by Sarah Palin.
After another violent week in Chicago wreaked havoc on the luxury shopping district, the city’s superintendent warned looters that they shouldn’t press their luck, according to Fox News.
“We want to send a message,” Chicago police Supt. David Brown told reporters.
“If you come downtown or to anyone of our retail corridors to loot, CPD is doing to arrest you. If someone is attempting to break a window to loot, CPD is going to arrest you. If you’re going in and out of stores in an attempt to loot, CPD is going to arrest you. If you are carrying or transporting merchandise from a store that has been looted, you will be stopped and arrested.”
Chicago police are taking a hardline stance against looting. https://t.co/Mxkev2xUqG
— FOX 32 News (@fox32news) August 14, 2020
“We are going to deploy all tactics necessary to prevent and stop looting,” Brown said. “ … We’ve increased our numbers, we have extended our hours that our officers work. There’s an increase of 1,000 officers that would normally be here.”
Tonight, Superintendent @ChiefDavidBrown joined Officers from the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) in @ChicagoCAPS18 to address the media regarding planning and preparations ahead of the weekend.
Click the link to watch the full video: https://t.co/GHx8ir1WmN#CPDMediaCar pic.twitter.com/EAT6Wl8ksc
— Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) August 14, 2020
“Eleven o’clock is when everyone converged,” Mo Zahid told FOX 32. “Are they prepared for something like that? I’ve seen police a lot in our area. I’ve never seen them so unprepared for what happened [the other night].”
Chicago police arrested more than 100 people in connection with last weekend’s lawlessness, during which several police officers were injured, according to reports.
More from Fox News:
Brown said police will deploy a number of tactics in their efforts to combat looting, including using spike strips to puncture tires of vehicles being used for crimes, and using trucks for impounding cars or for rounding up large numbers of suspects, Chicago’s FOX 32 reported.
— Advertisement — The police department has also set up a Looting Task Force and is working with the FBI to track down suspects from last weekend and bring them to justice, Brown said, according to Chicago’s WBBM-TV.