A young man died Wednesday after he was shot at a South Side convenience store. Martece Glass, 18, was robbed by a group of approximately seven men and subsequently shot. Apparently, family members do not believe that Glass was targeted for any specific reason. The Chicago Tribune quoted Glass’ aunt as saying, “It’s just, you know, kids just marking their territory.”
 
After reading the scant paragraphs about Glass’ plight, I read the comments below the story to see what people were saying about the case. What I found was troubling.
 
“buety,” from Blairsville, Ga., says “this brings me great joy– if that’s all the ‘aunt’ can say.”
 
Cryptic, I know.
 
“Think-About-It,” from Washington, DC, answers: “Just curious on what that is supposed to mean?” He/she asks. “You have joy because a kid who wasn’t robbing the place died?”
 
The poster goes on to say: “It is a sad fact of our society that there are some neighborhoods that don’t react to violence any more because they see it every single day. On the flip side - don’t judge people by what is quoted in the paper. Sometimes they only take a few words out and you don’t get the full context of what she was saying.”
 
What exactly did “buety” mean? Is he saying that he’s happy that Glass wasn’t involved in the robbery? Or is he being cruel, as “Think-About-It” suggests?
 
Regardless, I agree with the statement that “Think-About-It” makes next. People no longer seem to react to violence. This message board proves that. As the posts progress, the discussion turns to insults. The posters seem oblivious to the fact that family members and friends are reading this story, that—to them—the printed words act as almost a memorial to Glass.
 
Does a story announcing a young man’s death really have to end with “buety” telling “T Dog” to “buy some deoterant and get a job you fatherless piece of crap”?
 
I think not.

Photo by CommandZed
 
This week, on the Crime Beat, I’m featuring a personal favorite of mine, The Decemberists.
 
Check out “The Perfect Crime No. 2″ on their MySpace page.
 
Meanwhile, here’s a little more info on this indie force de force.
 
“I’m a poor, drunken orphan with nowhere to go but the grave,” wailed a waifish and non-plussed Mr. Chris Funk as he lay supine by the railroad tracks. The crate of records he had been cradling in his nubile appendages now lay in pieces on the ashen ground, his complete collected recordings of sixties psychedelic luminary Rick “Paisley Dave” Rigmore scattered hit her and yon like so many dead leaves beneath a diseased elm. Noting his neglect to accredit this phrase to its rightful owner, chief engineer Jenny Conlee, her accordion neatly strapped to her back, stepped lightly from the caboose and corrected his negligence with the aplomb only an immigrant Hungarian could muster: “Dylan Thomas, sir! Please move along!” But it was too late: an indelible bond had been soldered in that moment of recognition. A few hours later, in a Turkish bath, they revealed their stories to one another between sips of a strange, tangerine liqueur. Not far from that spot, however, two young military dignitaries (John Moen, Nate Query), appropriately lathered, overheard our two heroes’ stories. Was it chance, then, that lead the four unsuspecting bathers to seek to return their soiled undergarments at the same kiosk where worked the poor, bespectacled Colin Meloy? One can surmise all one wants, but the truth should be known that, after adopting the moniker The Decemberists, these five wan vagabonds began playing their peculiarly styled pop music in various concert-halls and brothels all across the globe.

Photo by Brenna Ehrlich
 
This isn’t really related to crime directly, but today I came across a dollar bill with this message on it: “Track this bill: www. wheresgeorge.com.”
 
I’ve always wondered where money has been. Did someone steal it? Die for it? Lose it? Or merely buy gum with it? Here was my chance to find out. I went to the site, created an account and looked to see where the bill has been.
 
Apparently, 1 year, 24 days, 17 hours and 12 minutes ago it was in the hands of “Railroader Jim.” Jim’s profile describes him as a 61-year-old from Minnesota. He’s an:
 
Old time computer geek, mainframe variety. Born, raised and lived most of my life on the East Side of St. Paul. When the winters got too cold for us we moved south. All the way to Hastings MN (it’s just a little bit warmer here, honest). Now that I live on a highway out in the country and my street is always plowed when it snows, every half hour or so. No more “Declared Snow Emergencies” for me where they make you go out and move your car or it’s towed. Favorite toy is my 2006 Harley Ultra Classic. Got it in April of 2006and ride it every chance I get.
 
So, now I know where the bill was a year ago– a place where streets actually get plowed. But where has it been since then? How did it get to Chicagoland? I guess we’ll never know. Still, if someone logs in after I spend it, perhaps we’ll know where it ends up.
 
Here’s hoping it’s involved in something exciting, like a heist of some sort.
 
Farewell George. I’m about to go buy a bagel.

It seems like there’s a shooting listed on the police blotter every day. Today, in the Chicago Sun-Times, there was the story of Corderro Douglas, who was slain yesterday in front of a Lawndale shop. He allegedly sold drugs on the street in front of the store. The Harrison District police told the Sun-Times that Douglas was “full of holes” when they found him.
 
Who was this man who ended his life “full of holes”? It’s unlikely that we’ll hear much more about him, or that the police with catch his killer. He’s had his fifteen minutes–or seconds for that matter.
 
Commenters on the Chicago Tribune Web site had their own ideas about Douglas.
 
“yes he was a gangbanger” from Chicago, IL says: “Let the savages kill each other they chose this life…why do people seem concerned when a west side savage dies but wants him to do 30 years when he strong arm robs them????to many liberals…”
 
“Done” from Roselle, IL says: “See no evil Hear no evil Speak no evil, Let them kill each other, why change anything now.”
 
Well, I won’t mention the poor grammar (Opps, too late!), or the rather biting Heart of Darkness reference, but I do think these comments warrant discussion.
 
Why do people seem concerned, “yes he was”? Well, death is usually grounds for concern. In this city, people are quick to dismiss death when the victim is identified as a “gang banger,” as if that somehow makes a life less worthy. I am not defending gang members—by any means—I am merely saying that a life taken is a life taken.
 
Furthermore, who exactly is “concerned”? I Googled Douglas’ name and came up with a grand total of three paragraph-long articles giving the bare facts—that’s all. In fact, the Sun-Times was the only publication to throw in any extra details—the line about being “full of holes.” So, I assure you “yes he was,” the average newspaper reader probably does not care about Douglas, and will skim this death notice and forget about it tomorrow.
 
As for “Done,” “Why change anything now?” you ask. Because, without change, we rot and decay. Do you suggest we throw up our hands and turn away? Or cover our eyes like the monkey in the statue that you’re referencing? Nothing is gained by avoidance or Ostrich-like tendencies. We may think it will never happen to us, but so—I’m sure—did the kids at NIU.
 
As for your other suggestion, we cannot, in fact, “let them kill each other,” because 1.) Whoever “they” are will never die out, and 2.) Sometimes innocent people get caught in the crossfire. Remember Schanna Gayden? Logan Square does.
 
And I’m sure someone out there will remember Corderro Douglas.

Photo by Brenna Ehrlich
 
This lovely air freshener–a gift from my boyfriend’s father– arrived in the mail today. Apparently, it has a fresh baked doughnut scent.
 
I know, I would be jealous of me too.

Photo courtesy of EveryBlock
 
Adrian Holovaty, a journalist and computer programmer from Chicago, started up chicagocrime.org in 2005. If you’re in the with the tech- or crime-obsessed crowd, you’ve probably seen this site– or stared at it for hours on end. Give or take a few hours.
 
You probably also know that Holovaty has recently expanded his site into the brand new web resource EveryBlock, a hub for neighborhood news from Chicago to New York to San Francisco.
 
Holovaty has created Web applications for washingtonpost.com, Lawrence.come and LJWorld.com. So, as you can imagine, he’s a pretty busy guy. But today, this gypsy-guitar playing programmer took a couple of minutes to answer a few questions for Watching the Detectives. Take a look.
 
WTD: Tell me a little bit about chicagocrime.org. Why did you start it? How did you start it?
What kind of response have you gotten from it?
 
AH: I started chicagocrime.org for the fun of it, in May 2005. I’d found the Chicago Police Department’s Citizen ICAM site and was blown away by the amount of quality crime data — but I found myself wanting to interact with it in more of a “browse” fashion than a “search” fashion. At the same time, I was part of the early community that was working to figure out how to embed Google Maps on our own sites, so the project was an excuse for me to use mapping on a Web site.
 
The response was overwhelmingly positive, both from residents/users of the site and people outside of Chicago who saw it as an innovative project. It inspired more than a dozen similar sites in other cities around the world, it was named by the New York Times Magazine as one of the year’s best ideas, and it made some waves in the journalism industry, where it was seen as an interesting new form of journalism.
 
WTD: Why did you decide to switch over to EveryBlock?
 
AH: In spring 2007, I received a two-year grant from the Knight Foundation to start an experiment with address-specific news — essentially, to create the successor to chicagocrime.org, with more data than just crime and more cities than just Chicago. Thanks to the grant, I have the luxury of working on this project full time, whereas chicagocrime.org was always a side project.
 
It didn’t make much sense to operate both sites, given that EveryBlock provides Chicago crime data too, so I redirected chicagocrime.org to the appropriate EveryBlock pages a couple of weeks ago.
 
WTD: Can you tell me a little about EveryBlock?
 
AH: The concept is, it’s a newspaper for your block. We pull together as much local news we can find — public records, mainstream media reports, plus Webby stuff like Flickr photos — and let you filter it geographically, at an extremely granular level. Every block in Chicago gets its own page, e.g.,
http://chicago.everyblock.com/streets/addison-st/1050-1098w/ .
 
More information is on our “about” page.
 
WTD: What kind of response have you gotten from the changeover?
 
AH: It’s been mostly positive, but any redesign causes its share of anxiety and confusion. People have said they like the wealth of additional data we offer, along with the fact that we now offer e-mail alerts. The main criticism has been that we no longer have a way of finding *only* the crimes on a given block, as we now use a small search radius around each block. But we’re working on fixing that.
 
WTD: Has your site every helped anyone to stop or prevent a crime, or to catch a criminal?
 
AH: I have no way of knowing that for sure, but I think increasing
information and awareness about neighborhood crime has the effect of making a community a bit more safe. What I hear anecdotally is that people use the site to keep tabs on crime in their neighborhood and, in some cases, create reports to take to aldermen to point out specific trends.
 
WTD: Why crime?
 
AH: Because the data was available.
 
WTD: How do you think the advent of the Internet has affected crime reporting/fighting? Does it promote amateur crimefighters? Or merely provide an outlet for armchair sleuths?
 
AH: I think tools like chicagocrime.org and EveryBlock get people more interested in their neighborhoods, which has a positive effect.
 
WTD: Was Django named after Django Reinhardt?
 
AH: Yes. I’m a big Django Reinhardt fan and even attempt to play that
style of music.

Photo by Kevin Lawver
 
I propose a road trip, and I propose it ASAP. The Dick Tracy museum in Woodstock is closing in June.
 
The Chester Gould-Dick Tracy Museum opened in 1991, and was pretty popular for a while. But lately low attendance is driving the landmark into the ground.
 
So, what I want to know is: What’s going to happen to the Crimestoppers?!
 
The Crimestoppers were first introduced in 1947 in the Dick Tracy comic strip, penned by Chester Gould. Junior, Dick Tracy’s adopted son, started the group in order to help kids stay on the right path by becoming involved in detective work. Awesome.
 
During the late 90s, back in the real world, Woodstock Police Chief Joe Marvin kicked off the “Crimestoppers Police Academy.” Due to scheduling and other issues, the program failed, but in 2000, the Museum started working on the “Crimestoppers Youth Program,” which ran for eight, one-hour weekly sessions. Kids from grades three through five learned all about crime, safety and—of course—identity theft. They even got a t-shirt and a badge. I so wish I was in fifth grade again.
 
The museum’s Web site says that the Crimestoppers Youth Program was to be implemented in the Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago in April 2003, but the news stops there. What happened to the program? I found an organization called Crime Stoppers on the CPD Web site. Is this the same organization? Does anyone know? It seems almost impossible to find out.
 
Either way, the Crime Stoppers mentioned on the CPD page are currently partnering with CAPS and the CPD to continue the search for the Tinley Park killer.
 
Maybe, if we’re lucky, we can get Dick Tracy on the case– before his museum hits the sheets for the big sleep.

My Tribune alert just informed me that Will County officials have announced that an autopsy conducted in November found that Drew Peterson’s third wife’s death with a homicide.
 
That was a mouthful.
 
In case you didn’t get all that: Kathleen Savio was Drew Peterson’s third wife. She was exhumed in November. An autopsy was conducted. Will County officials just announced the results of that autopsy. The results were that her death was not accidental; it was a homicide.
 
So, what does this mean for the Drew Peterson case, which has been pretty dormant for the last month or so? What do you think readers?

Photo by RossinaBossioB
 
This week the Crime Beat is going experimental, with experimental/blues/rock band Crime of 89. Check out these acoustic gems on their MySpace page.

The other day I got a text message during class. That’s not an unusual ocurrence– my friends are big on texting– what was weird was the message. “NU EMERGENCY,” it read, “You are now confirmed to receive alerts from us.”
 
I know that most schools have this system by now. The University of Chicago used it when grad student Amadou Cisse was killed. The texting system is nothing new.
 
That doesn’t make it any less weird. Texting is for friends–and sometimes random advertisers who somehow get your number– not life-threatening emergencies.
 
But that’s where we are now. We’re scared and grasping for options. Meanwhile, we’ve got the NIU gunman becoming a regular man of mystery. According to the Chicago Tribune, Steven Kazmierczak took great pains to conceal why he did what he did, and why he did what he did when he did (Valentine’s Day), etc. It won’t make life better to know, but we all want to know–desperately. It’s a mystery of In Cold Blood proportions.
 
What kinds of weapons do we have to fight people like this? Not guns; that would be chaos. But some, like this commenter on political site PoliBlog, aren’t so sure:
 
Is it mere coincidence that so many of these attacks occur in gun-free zones, and so few happen where guns are allowed?
 
But I think the point is not so much that allowing guns would serve as a deterrent (possibly, but that point is debatable), but that once these attacks start, they usually only stop when one of two conditions is met: a) they run out of victims (or ammunition), or 2) they’re met with force (someone with a gun, either a police officer or a civilian (Jeanne Assam in Colorado, for example)).
 
Well, that’s obviously an inane idea. A whole classroom of stressed-out college kids packing heat? Please.
 
So, what are we left with? Our cell phones? The reliability of our Verizon plans?
 
Somehow, I’m not that comforted.