Chicago law enforcement officials are being accused of placing bait trunks filled with Nike sneakers in the underprivileged neighborhood of Englewood on the city’s southwest side. Its alleged intent was to invite would-be thieves — all inner city youth — to steal its contents. Accusations were reported earlier this week when videos of a partially opened truck filled with sneakers was located near a basketball court inhabited by kids. The large majority of them being black.
The truck was said to be overflowing with Nike Air Force 1s and Christian Louboutin sneakers of all sorts. After being recorded by Charles Mckenzie near the basketball court in the largely black community, the unmarked truck was again seen at another nearby location by another local activist, Martin G. Johnson. Community members are accusing Chicago PD of not protecting and serving its community, but praying on vulnerable youth in lieu of chasing down career criminals.
The correlation of baiting black kids with “basketball sneakers” as they play basketball in a city that praises both sneaker and hoops culture isn’t lost on Chicagoans or anyone else intimately informed or intertwined with black culture. The racial element of these alleged activities are vastly apparent. In part, such enforcement practices in any community are wrong. Yet, from a wider lens, enacting such deeds in an underprivileged community where means are lesser thus desperation greater, registers as an even weightier offense.
As Vox reports, the poverty rate in Englewood is at least 40 percent, with varying reports that indicate it could be even higher, tallying upwards to 60 percent. Given the staggering poverty rates, and the fact that Illinois is a state where theft crimes in excess of $500 are charged as a felony, this alleged honey trap for youths who’d immediately be thrust into a criminal justice system that has long been slanted against blacks, is emphatically predatory.
Chicago PD has a history of bait operations. In plain view of Americans in 2008 when they used bait cars to cut down on auto-theft in high-crime areas, Chicago was the foremost city when others like Dallas and Philadelphia followed with sting operations of a similar volition. San Francisco even implemented bait bikes to slash theft activity.
In most circles, bait operations raise huge civil liberties red flags as they can create crime where it otherwise wouldn’t be. Again, terms like predatory and entrapment come to mind. This, too, could have lifelong ramifications on someone without a criminal record. As in Chicago, even at the age of 18, stealing a pair of Louboutins valued at $500 or more would be considered a felony. The offender could face upwards to five years in prison.
Chicago PD and FBI officials would not comment on the alleged Englewood bait truck. Community members are demanding answers, emphatic that such an act would add further strife to an already tense relationship between Chicago’s inner city and local law enforcement.
