Rahm Emanuel sure can pick ’em. The man he named to head the Chicago “Department of Aviation” Police – otherwise known as the 300 police that patrol O’Hare and Midway Airports – worked tirelessly to build animosity between himself and his officers.
He forced his trained cops – real police with all the requisite training and qualification – to work unarmed. This is despite a well-equipped armory that according to Second City Cop would make many SWAT teams envious. In the end, one of Chief Richard Edgeworth’s training videos got leaked to the media. It told his mandated-to-work-unarmed officers: “If evacuation is not possible, you should find a place to hide where the active shooter is less likely to find you. Block entry to your hiding place and block the doors.”
Translation: He tried to turn them into mall cops.
From the Patch:
If an armed assailant opens fire at one of Chicago’s airports, “run and hide” is the order of the day.
You might be surprised, however, to learn that advice isn’t for the millions of innocent air travelers passing through O’Hare and Midway international airports on business, vacation or visits to family — that’s official guidance for 300 sworn, certified and uniformed aviation police officers who work at the city’s two airports.
Why?
Because they don’t carry guns.
“We’re nothing but casualties if you tell us to run and hide,” one aviation officer told CNN. “And how can the public look at us if they see police officers running and hiding? That goes against the very oath we were sworn to that we took.”
Of course Edgeworth, who came to the Department of Aviation Police from the Chicago Fire Department, practiced the same “run and hide” technique when media tried to contact him to explain his so-called training program and his policy for making his police work unarmed. Denial of potential threats has no survival value.
Last Friday was his last day at work. He quit without notice, and returned to a post at the Chicago Fire Department.
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