Special Column: Reinstate death penalty in the killing of police
The shooting murder of Chicago Police Officer Ella French and the wounding of her partner by three suspects revives calls to reinstate the death penalty for individuals who kill someone intentionally with gun. They should be put to death with no compassion. Killing these killers would send a strong message to other criminals who use guns to kill people, maybe stopping some who make the intentional choice from doing so. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s blather is disgusting and shameful
By Ray Hanania
Two Chicago Police officers were attacked by armed thugs who were pulled over during a routine traffic stop near 63rd Street and South Bell Avenue in Chicago Saturday around 9 p.m.
One of the officers, Ella French, 29, died from her wounds. Her partner is listed in serious condition. One of the three suspects who opened fire on the officers was injured and is in a hospital. The other two criminals are in custody.
Had this been two minority civilians shot by police, riots would be raging in Chicago Lawn and activists would be screaming about “defunding” the police.
But it was the police who were attacked by armed thugs and all three of those suspects should be prosecuted. If convicted, they should be given the death penalty. They don’t deserve to live.
The killing of officer French reminds us of the dangers that police face each and every time they confront criminals who violate the law. Any law, from the most minor to the most significant.
We know what is going to happen, right? The killers are going to get the best legal representation ever. Cook County States Attorney Kim Foxx will insist that they be given every courtesy as suspects, innocent until proven guilty. Politicians like Mayor Lori Lightfoot will pretend to care about street gang violence but do nothing, preferring instead to support weakening our police and strengthening the rights of the accused.
But the presumption of guilt can’t be ignored. Suspects who murder a Police Officer need to face the maximum penalty. All three are murderers, not just the one who pulled the trigger on the gun that killed officer French.
Our society has been turned upside-down by a twisted debate that makes the police the bad guys and the criminals the heroes. Hypocritical activists twist and distort facts in police and civilian clashes asserting that the police are guilty, despite the fact that the victims are often on drugs, carrying weapons and refuse to follow police commands.
The suspects end up dying, because of their own criminal behavior not because the police tried to stop them. But the families of the victims see dollar signs. The activists see headlines. Suddenly, a drugged-up criminal is a “good student” represented by a high school graduation picture.
The public should have no illusions about what’s at stake here. What is at stake is the safety of the law abiding public. They respect everyone’s rights. They pay their taxes. They raise their kids by moral standards. They take responsibility for their own actions.
All they want is to live in safe neighborhoods.
And yet their interests are being challenged by activists who are using the police-criminal confrontations as excuses to ease the burden on the criminals and impose heightened punishment on the police.
These activists are stereotyping police. Yes, there are some bad cops and those police should be prosecuted not by mobs but my the Rule of Law. But the vast majority of police put their lives on the line every minute of every day to ensure the safety of average law abiding civilians. They are our heroes.
The fight to defend our police is a battle at every corner of society.
This week in the Village of Mount Prospect, activists led by the League of Women Voters and other “defund” police movements, are seeking to force the police there to remove a badge that is designed to express community pride and support for police.
The badge reads “Honor, Respect, Remember” has an emblem with the words “Police, Mount Prospect,” part of the American flag, the State of Illinois, the date Mount Prospect’s incorporation, 1917, and black and white stripes, with one Blue line.
The League of Women Voters, a group that claims to be “non-partisan” but is in fact at the forefront of the far left movement to undermine police and censor anyone who disagrees with their extremist views, is rallying supporters to protest the emblem because of that Blue line.
The Blue line is embraced across America as a symbol of support for the police, our men and women in “blue.” According to the League and its radical activist supporters, the Blue line is a symbol of White Supremacists and racists. But that’s just a political lie, an effort to demonize supporters to silence them by bullying. They want to undermine public support for the Police.
Mt. Prospect has a public hearing on Tuesday where activists hope to bully village residents into silence and remove the badge because of the Blue line. Activists from throughout Chicagoland, who have fought to defend criminals while undermining police by calling for them to be defunded, are being encouraged to attend and disrupt the meeting.
It’s time that the public, the majority of Americans who want justice for all and a judicial system that fairly weighs crimes in order to achieve a safer society, stand up and defend the police.
The three suspects involved in the murder of police officer Ella French, should be charged with First Degree murder. The Illinois Legislature should repeal the death penalty ban and pass a law that mandates the death penalty in any case where a suspect is convicted of intentionally killing someone, especially a police officer, with a gun.
Family of killers aware of the criminal behavior of their family members should be charged as accomplices, including parents who only suddenly show concern for their children when they are killed by police and they stand to win millions in activist-backed lawsuits.
Membership in a street gang that has a history of gun violence should be a felony and at least result 20 years of jail time without parole.
When we are soft on crime, all we are doing is empowering the criminals, sending a message that they have a better chance of avoiding punishment.
We need to change that message and be tough. Anyone engaged in any crime must be punished. You use a gun in a crime and are convicted in a murder, you should be put to death.
It’s time we made law abiding members of the public the priority. But that will only happen if law abiding citizens end their silence and speak out forcefully against the louder voices of the small groups of extremist activists who have hijacked our society and are trying to hijack our system of justice.
We need to draw a line. And I think that line should be Blue.
(Ray Hanania is an award winning former Chicago City Hall reporter and political columnist. His mainstream columns are published in the Southwest News Newspaper Group in the Des Plaines Valley News, Southwest News-Herald, The Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers. His Middle East columns are published at ArabNews.com. For more information on Ray Hanania visit www.Hanania.com or email him at rghanania@gmail.com.)
Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.
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