The Residency Requirement Puts Chicago Cop's Lives At Risk.

The excuse that various Chicago politicians use to demand Chicago police officers live inside the city limits is that they should vote and pay taxes where they work. Is that a real or bogus need for cops to live in the city? I say it's all bogus and may well be for a much more nefarious reason.

As part of my work as a private investigator I have to find witnesses, suspects and deadbeats that don’t want to be found. Local news reporters use similar tools as private eyes to find newsmakers or people to interview about newsmakers. These are also many of the same techniques police investigators use to do their job. Thugs and hit-men also know how to locate their victims. It’s not enough to just not want to be found, you must also know how to hide. Finding people is not nearly as difficult as you may think.

Government and utility records makes finding people a breeze. That includes cops who work undercover or those who have put many criminals in prison. The requirement for Chicago cops to live inside of the city must be supported by records of real estate, vehicle taxes and utility companies.

If an officer calls in sick he may find a sergeant dispatched to his home to make sure he did not attend a Cubs game rather than serve his city. I call that a juvenile form of micromanagement and a waste of tax money.

The truth is that because of the demand to know just where a cop and his family lives requires they become sitting ducks waiting to be murdered. Is this what we’d call good public policy?

It’s no secret that the Mob has had a strong level of control over the Chicago Police Department. Federal court records,TV news, and newspaper stories are rife with examples of this concept. Simply read former Chicago cop, Robert Cooley’s book, When Corruption Was King and you can see the value of keeping cops within reach of Mob bosses. Hoodlums have told many cops that dreaded phrase, “I know where you live with that nice little family of yours.”

Cops know how to keep their names out of various easily accessed public and utility records. Should they ever use the knowledge they have in order to protect their families they will lose their jobs.

Illinois law needs to be changed to protect the very men and women that protect all of us. There is a lot more at stake here than some cop playing hooky from work to watch the Cubs lose.