I understand that not everyone agrees with me on things like addressing crime. I'm fully prepared for that and can accept it. After all, I straddle the "tough on crime" approach and the touchy-feely concept of addressing the root causes of violence.
But when someone is just soft on crime, and their office gets robbed, well...it's kind of hilarious.
That's exactly what happened to one elected official with a history of attacking the police in the oh-so-enlightened state of Illinois.
The Illinois Senate president's office was subject to an armed robbery last week after a long history of leading efforts to crack down on police in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests and the death of George Floyd.
Democrat Senate President Don Harmon's office was robbed at knifepoint on Friday, NBC 5 Chicago reported.
According to reports, Scott Loeffler, 35, is suspected to have entered Harmon's Constituent Service Office in Oak Park. After a brief exchange, a staffer found herself being held at knifepoint, with her phone in the suspect's hand.
Loeffler allegedly entered the office at 11:11 a.m. and was arrested at approximately 12:51 p.m., almost two hours later. The staffer's husband was able to track her phone after the suspect fled the scene.
Loeffler has been charged with felony armed robbery.
Now, this wasn't an armed robbery with a gun, which would have been even more ironic, but the fact that an anti-police legislator got robbed is hilarious enough...at least as far as it goes.
Harmon wasn't there, you see, so it was his staff that dealt with it, and it was the staff that was endangered. I'm sure some could make the case that by working for the man, they're siding with his positions, but I also see that some people might not agree with everything their boss does and shouldn't be held responsible for it.
But that's me.
I can't help but wonder just how much his anti-police stance has impacted law enforcement in his district. How many potential police officers chose another career because they simply didn't want the abuse from people like Harmon? How many cops left the job, either entirely or for just more friendly environments, all because Harmon jumped on a bandwagon that had nothing to do with Illinois?
More importantly, how many other people faced similar or worse threats because of his anti-police stance?
The irony is hilarious in and of itself. I seriously laughed out loud at it.
I do feel bad for the staff members who were impacted, who may or may not have shared Harmon's views on the police. I'm sure it was pretty traumatic, even if it was a knife Loeffler allegedly used and not a gun--everyone knows that a firearm is a murder-megadeath-kill device that would have detonated the entire office, so a knife is so much kinder and not at all more terrifying than a gunshot.
Now, Harmon has a choice.
Can he stand by his staff and start supporting the police, as it's clear they're important, or will he continue to pander to constituents who are unlikely to be so affected? One is the mark of someone who cares about his people. The other is the mark of someone who only cares about staying in office.
I have my suspicions, and if I'm right, those staff members might want to start looking for work with people who actually give a damn about their safety, their security, and not seeing the offices covered in blood like a bad scene from a slasher movie.
Then again, if they're dumb enough to not just agree with Harmon but continue to agree with him, well, they're sort of bringing anything going forward down on themselves at that point.
