Dexter Reed a microcosm of what’s wrong with Chicago

Chicago cops do police work – critics moan

In March of 2024, 5 officers from a Chicago Police tactical unit conducted a car stop in East Garfield Park.  The person that they stopped was Dexter Reed.  Reed was a career criminal who decided at that moment that he would not cooperate with the police. 

The cops, in plain clothes and driving an unmarked car, observed that Mr. Reed was driving a car with illegally tinted windows (initial reports were that he was stopped for no seatbelt).  The cops pulled ahead of Reed to get him to stop.  After giving Reed orders to roll down the opaque windows and produce identification, Reed opened fire at the police, shooting one of the officers in the arm.  In a wild scene, the police, who did not have the benefit of adequate cover, engaged in an almost minute long shootout with Reed.  The officers shot 96 times into the tinted-out vehicle.

Reed was shot 13 times and died.  It seemed like an open and shut case.  Reed was a perp, he had a gun, and he shot first.  This is not in dispute.  The entire incident is caught on properly used body cameras.

Yet somehow this is still a story.  It’s still a story because the media is making it so.  Some of the quotes from the Chicago press corps are: “Why are there 5 cops in one car?”, “Why were the police un-uniformed?”, “Why did they shoot him for a traffic violation?”,  “Why did they pull in front of his car?”, and my favorite, “These cops didn’t write summonses, why did they pull him over if they didn’t intent to write a ticket?”  Even Wikipedia is in on it, titling their page, “the killing of Dexter Reed” as if he were summarily executed.

This is the crap that Chicago PD is dealing with on a daily basis.  These cops are heroes.  Going after a menace to society and putting their life at risk to ensure he doesn’t hurt anyone else.  The bad guy made a bad decision and met his maker.  The cops were not looking to engage in a battle to the death.  That is not how the police think.  They want to make good collars safely and go home to their families. 

Let’s address a few of these asinine questions. 

·       5 cops in a car is unusual in my NYPD experience.  But 3 is a minimum number for going after serious criminals.  2 is inadequate.  We are not sure how this shook out, but rather than making a 2 man and 3 man car, the 5 cops all jumped in together.  Plainclothes cops are also supposed to be more carefully supervised.  Spreading them out in multiple vehicles requires more supervision. That could play a role here too. It doesn’t appear that the Chicago media was interested in finding out the answer to this question, they just wanted to make it seem like cops were ganging up on someone. 

·       Why were the police “un-uniformed”?  Really?  That is how anti-crime teams worked in New York until about 5 minutes ago.  It gives the cops an obvious edge when everyone doesn’t see them coming from a mile away. 

·       The fact that the stop was initiated over a traffic violation is completely immaterial to the shooting.  They could have stopped him for selling lemonade without a license.  They had a valid and legal reason to make a stop.  Reed pulled a gun and started shooting.  End of story. 

·       Why did they pull in front of his car?  From the video of the incident, it was not clear that this was necessary.  He did not seem that he was fleeing the cops, but perhaps he was.  If the police knew who he was, and knew that he might flee, it’s not a bad move.  It is not a great tactical situation to be in, but safer that a vehicle pursuit. 

·       The fact that Reed was stopped for a traffic violation, but these tactical cops didn’t write any summonses in the days prior has been turned into some sort of “aha!” moment for the media.  This is completely normal and completely legal.  If there is a traffic violation, that is a reason to stop.  It doesn’t matter if there were other reasons; if there was suspicious behavior, if the driver looked like someone who had a warrant, or if there was a radio run for a suspicious vehicle.  It doesn’t matter if you didn’t write a ticket.  The traffic violation is a legal lock, there is no argument.  That is why cops use it frequently.  Personally, I have been to two trials where we stopped suspicious people in cars.  Both times we waited for a traffic violation.  Both times the perp was found guilty of gun possession.  The defense attempted to impugn our reason for the stop, saying that there was insufficient cause.  Both times the judge shut them down.  Our unit never wrote a single traffic ticket. 

Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) has released accurate facts regarding the shooting, but they too are taking swipes at the officers.  COPA’s Administrator Andrea Kersten fed into the media frenzy by appearing on Stephen A Smith’s show, giving her opinions before the investigation was completed – even before the cops involved were interviewed.  She also demanded that the officers be stripped of their police powers when the Chicago Police Department kept them on duty. 

Reed, who was known to the Chicago Police due to prior gun charges, was no angel.  He had prior arrests for theft and firearms possession.  He had even been shot two years prior to this deadly incident.  It did not stop the media from posting his graduation photo and complaining that the cops just stopped him for not wearing a seat belt. 

Naturally this incident has prompted many to call for the disbandment of Chicago Police Tactical Teams. 

A person is shot in Chicago every two-hours and forty-nine minutes.  Traffic stops are legal – the law is on the books in Illinois. 

Yet this is what the Chicago media and local government spend their time on. 

What a joke. 

Chicago cops might have the hardest police job in the country.  Good luck to them!

Violence at the RNC

The very same Chicago cops that are greatly maligned by the Democratics are on the hot seat starting today.  As the DNC kicks off, no doubt protestors that have been preparing for weeks are waking up in giddy anticipation of pushing their cause-du-jour (a mask for anarcho-communism).

The Democrats in the United Center will be cordoned off by a blue line of Chicago cops.  The same Chicago cops that they decry most days of the year, even when they do their job properly as indicated above.  

In Democratic circles, there will be a one-week moratorium on insulting police officers and the work they do as a sop for protecting them from the more radical elements of their own party.   Elements that the DNC spent years encouraging after George Floyd’s death. 

Chicago cops will hold their noses and do their duty.  They will stand and protect the very people who try to get them fired, defund them, and put them in jail.  Cops around the country do that on a daily basis. Putting their personal opinions and anger aside, they will do their best to keep the peace and maintain law and order. 

The people who vilify them will appreciate it. Until next week.

Thanks for reading The Ops Desk. Stay Safe!