Illinois Police Killing...Anyone Else Getting a Weird Vibe?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I suspect that I will take a lot of crap for this post, but I mean no harm to anyone. I feel awful for the people of the area (several of whom I know) and especially the deceased officer and his family and co-workers.

I have also not participated in any of the many recent threads about police killings and police being killed, mainly because I don’t have a bias one way or the other.

I’ll try to keep this brief, but may not be able to.

It starts with a veteran police officer calling in a report of three suspicious men, but his only description of them is their race. (Nothing implied there, either, that’s simply the only info that was transmitted.) The officer then chases them on foot. Would a veteran cop do that? Is that standard procedure? He’s been on the job for over 20 years so you have to assume the men were not local, yes?

The area is being described as “rural” but I’ve been there many times and that’s not how I’d describe it. It is criss-crossed by paved roads and dotted with small towns, some very wealthy. In addition to on duty police at 8 AM on a weekday, there are surely a number of private security people driving around as well. Nobody saw a thing, despite being aware of an officer down shortly after 8 AM.

They had 400 officers and 50 dog units on the ground, plus helicopters and planes in the air. Nothing… The police focused on the ground search (I assume they had a good reason to). While the area has some dense woods, it’s not anything like the area the two convicts who escaped in New York were in, let alone having a six or seven hour head start on searchers. It’s also full of lakes and rivers and almost impossible to navigate unless you know it very well or have detailed topo maps.

Last thing, although I have many more questions. These three guys killed a cop. Unless they were all three whackos or purely spree killers, they must have had a reason. Any prison escapes recently? Any major crimes committed that are unsolved in the area? Not that we’ve heard. Maybe they had a car and have escaped deep into urban Chicago or are headed to Canada, but why were they on foot and why was the initial response focused almost entirely on the ground?

Maybe they have names and descriptions and are ready to pounce on an abandoned warehouse any minute (I hope so) but everything we have heard so far makes that seem unlikely.

Unlike the other recent incidents, where I felt time was needed for the facts to come out, this one gives off a strange vibe. I hope I’m wrong.

P.S. I have no alternate theory about what might have happened.

2

So a cop says he saw three guy acting “fishy” and they call in the freaking cavalry to search for them?!?

Wow must be nice to have that kind of boredom among law enforcement, in a major US city I lived in if you called cops for three guys acting suspicious they would say FU call us when they kill someone, it took 2 hours to get a cop out to take a burglary report for insurance purposes.

3

Just saw this from The Chicago Tribune.

Three suspects vanished in 14 minutes (six, really.)

4

“Wealthy” and “rural” are not mutually exclusive. In the center of all this farmland is a seven million dollar mansion & guest house.

5

I’m assuming you haven’t heard the story. They killed the cop. That’s why they called in the freaking cavalry.

6

I’d agree that is very rural, unlike the area in Illinois. Barrington, IL is a few miles away from Fox Lake and is a town of 10,000, and is in the seventh wealthiest zip code in the US with a population of 20,000+.

Lake Geneva, WI is about 20 miles away with 7500 people and $7M might buy you the cheapest house on the lakefront.

Fox Lake itself has over 10,000 people.

7

Yea I had events in the timeline mixed up, nothing to see here.

8

I really can’t figure out what your other questions are except this one. Sometimes there is no back up or back up is many miles away. Officers on small departments or agencies that are spread thin over large areas often have to deal with dangerous situations by themselves. It’s the nature of the job.

9

He was too old for this shit.

Worse than wearing a red shirt in a Star Trek rerun.

Regards,
Shodan

10

From what I have seen published, he was killed right by the pizza joint (Moretti’s) on Hwy. 12 less than a mile south of the center of town. Backup arrived in six minutes.

11

Six minutes is a long time. Where would the suspects be in six minutes? You think that if someone runs a police officer should just say “fuck it” and let them go? Sure it will make the job a lot easier but I don’t think that’s the way to go.

12

Funny, I read that the traffic stop was on Rollins Road near Route 59 and his body was found in a marshy area off US 12.

13

This is what I saw from CNN

14

Still not getting what your weird vibe is.

15

Wherever it happened, the initial manhunt took place in an area between US 12 & Illinois 59. That’s the area being described as wooded and rural.

16

Yes, that’s the same small area, just a different corner of it.

The lack of a decent description of the suspects, a 20 year veteran of the police force chasing three unknown men into a marshy field without backup, almost total lack of leads despite an overwhelming manhunt, three guys vanishing in six minutes, etc.

17

Right. And, as the manhunt extended beyond that small, woodsy area, the term “rural” was dropped by news reports.

18

Don’t be an idiot. :rolleyes:

Tribune has a lot of stuff wrong based on the news I just now saw that was released from the FLPD. Backup arrived in three minutes - then they had to look for the officer.

Seriously? :rolleyes:

No. He saw the suspects at the closed cement plant and when he approached them to ask them what they were doing, they bolted. Backup arrived in three minutes.

Agreed. And I’m glad you’re here to respond to some of the comments - your perspective is greatly appreciated! :slight_smile:

There was no traffic stop.

Question for you, Loach - the various agencies involved have asked for tips from citizens if they thought they saw anything or see something suspicious even now - and from what I’ve been hearing on my scanner, calls are coming in in an absolute frenzy. Towns south of me are responding - and I’m several miles south down Route 12 from Fox Lake! The local agencies sound like they are being taxed responding to calls that have absolutely nothing to do with what happened in Fox Lake but that residents consider “suspicious” so call 9-1-1 - how does a Department handle this? I’m curious - they can’t IGNORE the tips, but how do they handle the sheer manpower it must take to respond to everyone who sees a shadow? And believe me, the people around here are pretty hyped up!

19

The officer was fatally shot after a traffic stop in Fox Lake, authorities say. Is Fox News wrong again?

20

Yes. Even the news reports HERE (newspapers, television, radio, etc.) all have different stories - I am only going by what I’ve seen that has been officially released by the FLPD. Unless, of course, FoxNews says a traffic stop means the office stopped and got out of his car while traffic was somewhere close by.

Let me clarify - a traffic stops infers that the officer pulled them over - that didn’t happen. At least not according to the FLPD.