Two Takes on the Same Story

So a CSA happened in 006 - here's the thieves over at Channel 7:

• Chicago police are looking for a man who they say broke into a home and sexually assaulted a woman on the city's South Side on Friday morning.

  Police released a surveillance image of the man who allegedly broke into the home near West 77th Street and South Racine Avenue in Auburn Gresham just after 10:30 a.m.

  Once inside, the man, who police said was armed with a handgun, allegedly sexually assaulted a woman and stole property. 

Pretty routine reporting for what is (unfortunately) a relatively routine crime.

But CWB delves a little deeper and points out how the system is failing victims....routinely:

• A woman who was raped at gunpoint by a home invader in Gresham waited for hours for Chicago police to respond to her emergency call because the district had no officers available to handle it, according to police dispatch recordings.

  The Chicago Police Department’s 911 center received nine calls for service about the November 6 home invasion and sexual assault without dispatching an officer. The victim was eventually taken to Holy Cross Hospital for treatment, but police did not send an officer to meet her there until 2:13 p.m. 

That's a nearly four hour response time for a pretty major felony crime. Granted, it wasn't "in progress" at the time, and we certainly aren't blaming the Department for not having Officers available to respond in a timely manner. Remember, we were among the loudest voices warning about this fifteen or more years ago, and pointing out how the various administrations did a "soft defunding" by not filling positions and not hiring to keep up with attrition. 

This is NOT the Department's fault.

But that doesn't mean the politicians should be spared the outrage of not having cops available to respond to rape victims in something less than four hours. Channel 7 ought to be helping CWB lead that charge instead of ignoring it.