Murders Down, CTA Violence Up

Of course, weather has nothing to do with it, but last February, we had a couple of 60 degree days that "facilitated" the efforts of shooters.  This year, a couple of decent snowstorms, lows near zero and highs below freezing....it cuts down on the mayhem.

Not on the buses and trains though, and the manpower shortage is being felt there:

• With almost 20,000 CTA bus trips a day, tempers sometimes flare on a few of them. Regular users of the CTA know what an obstacle course it can be.
  
  On the CTA's 1,200 rail cars, riders are often met with a variety of frightening encounters- from armed robbers and cell phone thieves to fist fights and shoving
  
  Sometimes, shots are fired and people end up wounded or dead.
  
  
• -There were more than 6,800 assaults, robberies, thefts and similar offenses.
  
  -According to the statistics, you are twice as likely to become a victim on a CTA train or platform than on a bus or at bus stop.
  
  -On average, 19 CTA passengers are victimized every day.

It's so bad, the CTA has budgeted $30 million to hire 50 off-duty cops every day.  But as far as we can tell, none of McOnTheRocks's boxes encompass any CTA platforms, so it doesn't exist.