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Chicago's answer to car-jackings: "Bleeding Control Kits" installed in hundreds of public buildings

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Jun 4, 2021
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See Chicago Carjacking in Your Chevrolet​

The city’s auto show has a booth that is a sign of the times.​

By Bob Greene Wall Street Journal Feb. 15, 2022

im-485820

Workers prepare the showroom for the Chicago Auto Show, Feb. 9.​

For lovers of the freedom of the open road, the Chicago Auto Show—the largest in the nation—has been a happy destination since the days of the Model T. But at the 114th annual show this week, there’s a new feature destined to tamp down the lightheartedness.

Situated among the nearly 1,000 gleaming vehicles on display across a million square feet of the McCormick Place convention-hall complex near Lake Michigan is a booth sponsored by the office of the Cook County Sheriff. It’s a carjacking booth—specifically, a booth staffed by sheriff’s office personnel to warn attendees of the deadly dangers presented by the current wave of violent carjackings on Chicago’s streets and to give those car-show fans tips about how to avoid becoming the next victims.

Sheriff Tom Dart, in announcing the reason for the plan, was blunt: “This is a terrifying and dangerous crime that enables additional crimes to be carried out with the stolen vehicle.” Chicagoans have become numb to constant news reports of motorists being ordered out of their cars and beaten or shot if they resist giving up their keys. So the sheriff’s office is going to the place where people who care the most about cars gather. If that sounds rather downbeat for a carefree trade show that has always aimed to amp up enthusiasm for hopping behind the wheel of a new car and zipping joyfully around town, it’s not the first ominous new step taken by local officials in response to seemingly endless street violence. Late last year, the city of Chicago announced that it was installing “bleeding control kits” in hundreds of buildings.

The idea was that if a person is shot, stabbed or beaten, it would be helpful to have medical supplies nearby until an ambulance can arrive. So in 269 buildings, including public libraries, senior-citizen centers and City Hall, 426 of the kits were mounted on walls. Inside each kit, according to the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications, were tourniquets, gauze, scissors and gloves. The kits were stocked with enough stop-the-bleeding supplies to take care of up to eight victims until police or EMTs rolled up.

If that’s not the kind of thing that local chambers of commerce have traditionally liked to brag about, it’s merely a somber acknowledgment of current realities. As is the sheriff’s new booth at the auto show. One piece of advice that attendees will be given is to purchase vehicles with the latest tracking technology, and to pre-authorize law-enforcement authorities to obtain tracking information from auto manufacturers once a carjacking has taken place. Victims of violent carjackings are usually so stunned that by the time they realize what has just happened, their cars have already been driven out of sight.
Not exactly the stuff of “See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet.” But, as the head of Chicago’s emergency-management unit told NBC Chicago when the stop-the-bleeding kits were being installed, “We’re living in different times.” As if anyone needed reminding.
 

See Chicago Carjacking in Your Chevrolet​

The city’s auto show has a booth that is a sign of the times.​

By Bob Greene Wall Street Journal Feb. 15, 2022

im-485820

Workers prepare the showroom for the Chicago Auto Show, Feb. 9.​

For lovers of the freedom of the open road, the Chicago Auto Show—the largest in the nation—has been a happy destination since the days of the Model T. But at the 114th annual show this week, there’s a new feature destined to tamp down the lightheartedness.

Situated among the nearly 1,000 gleaming vehicles on display across a million square feet of the McCormick Place convention-hall complex near Lake Michigan is a booth sponsored by the office of the Cook County Sheriff. It’s a carjacking booth—specifically, a booth staffed by sheriff’s office personnel to warn attendees of the deadly dangers presented by the current wave of violent carjackings on Chicago’s streets and to give those car-show fans tips about how to avoid becoming the next victims.

Sheriff Tom Dart, in announcing the reason for the plan, was blunt: “This is a terrifying and dangerous crime that enables additional crimes to be carried out with the stolen vehicle.” Chicagoans have become numb to constant news reports of motorists being ordered out of their cars and beaten or shot if they resist giving up their keys. So the sheriff’s office is going to the place where people who care the most about cars gather. If that sounds rather downbeat for a carefree trade show that has always aimed to amp up enthusiasm for hopping behind the wheel of a new car and zipping joyfully around town, it’s not the first ominous new step taken by local officials in response to seemingly endless street violence. Late last year, the city of Chicago announced that it was installing “bleeding control kits” in hundreds of buildings.

The idea was that if a person is shot, stabbed or beaten, it would be helpful to have medical supplies nearby until an ambulance can arrive. So in 269 buildings, including public libraries, senior-citizen centers and City Hall, 426 of the kits were mounted on walls. Inside each kit, according to the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications, were tourniquets, gauze, scissors and gloves. The kits were stocked with enough stop-the-bleeding supplies to take care of up to eight victims until police or EMTs rolled up.

If that’s not the kind of thing that local chambers of commerce have traditionally liked to brag about, it’s merely a somber acknowledgment of current realities. As is the sheriff’s new booth at the auto show. One piece of advice that attendees will be given is to purchase vehicles with the latest tracking technology, and to pre-authorize law-enforcement authorities to obtain tracking information from auto manufacturers once a carjacking has taken place. Victims of violent carjackings are usually so stunned that by the time they realize what has just happened, their cars have already been driven out of sight.
Not exactly the stuff of “See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet.” But, as the head of Chicago’s emergency-management unit told NBC Chicago when the stop-the-bleeding kits were being installed, “We’re living in different times.” As if anyone needed reminding.
I’d suspect these kits are stolen by vandals and either sold or used for personal use.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bonefish1
Waiting for Lori Lightfoot to make a Kit mandate for everyone downtown, versus hiring police and prosecuting crimes
 
  • Like
Reactions: Crayfish57
I think they should provide the option that you can blow up your own car with hidden explosives if you're carjacked. But, libs would probably be against that.
 
“If Obama had a son…..”
Sure seems to be a lot of thugs "turning their life around".



 
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