Gun Banning Oak Park Pass Out Whistles to Fight Crime

[RamboLiberal]

Thousands of Oak Park residents are being equipped with a simple device to help fight crime in the village.

Police are passing out whistles that they are urging citizens to blow if they are victims of or witnesses to a crime.

Officers distributed hundreds of the shiny whistles at two stations along the CTA's Green Line in Oak Park on Friday and will be passing out more Wednesday along the Blue Line. Giveaways elsewhere are expected to take place in the weeks ahead.

"We think they are going to go quick," said Oak Park Police Cmdr. Keenan Williams.

The village conducted a similar program in the 1980s, and Police Chief Rick Tanksley earlier this year suggested bringing it back after statistics showed that burglaries and robberies were on the rise.

Cell phones are often taken during robberies, leaving a victim without a means to quickly call the police. But if a victim or witness to the crime blows the whistle it is hoped someone within earshot will call 911 and report the incident immediately, Williams said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/west/chi-oak-park-whistles-w-zone-9dec09,0,5280002.story

While the Illinois State Police have promised a "comprehensive review" of their website, including its advice that women protect themselves from sexual assault by avoiding gun ownership and vomiting on their assailants, last week brought more news of non-serious, symbolic approaches to self-defense in Illinois as the Chicago Tribune reported that Chicago suburb Oak Park had begun issuing whistles to its citizens. In a move that promises to deter the town's notorious armed robbers as thoroughly as loud car alarms deter car thieves, Oak Park police officers waited for returning commuters on train platforms and gave out small whistles engraved with the name of the program's corporate sponsor. Oak Park officials say the whistles will help residents deal with the increasing incidence of armed robbery and street crime in the handgun-free town by allowing them to summon help, if not actually do anything in their own defense. Certainly a simple canister of pepper spray, a knife, or even a humble flashlight could prove much more useful for self-defense than any whistle even under Illinois and Oak Park law, and the Chicago Gun Rights Examiner heartily recommends any of the three for those of us denied the right to carry a defensive firearm by Illinois law. But the whistles are unlikely to make a bad situation worse, so why are gun owners reacting with derision to Oak Park's newfound dedication to its citizens' safety? To understand, we need to recall the lengths Oak Park has gone to keep its citizens as disarmed as possible for as long as possible.

http://www.examiner.com/x-17034-Chicago-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m12d15-Gunbanning-Illinois-town-issues-whistles-to-citizens

[Hoopla Phil]

1. I laughed when I read the title on this post. How funny!

[proteus_lives]

2. How asinine.

Why not water balloons?

[krispos42]

3. "Stop or I'll blow my whistle at you!"

Well, it's something, I guess. Do this issue bobbie helmets as well, or are those extra?

[taurus145]

4. Hey, guys, I just heard one of tose whistles!

Let's run over. Maybe it's a rape and we can get seconds.

Yeah. Whistles make loads of sense. Let's locally announce the victimization of yet another unarmed citizen.

[pipoman]

5. I can hear the conversation with those notoriously friendly

911 operators now...'911, what is your emergency', 'I just heard a whistle', 'madam, what is your emergency?', 'I just heard a whistle outside', 'ma'am this line is for emergencies, what is your emergency?'.....

[slackmaster]

6. Now robbers are going to start taking peoples' whistles as well as their cell phones

How hard is this to figure out?

[SteveM]

7. Why not fart loudly in the thug's general direction? (nt)

[GreenStormCloud]

9. If my cousin did that it would be cruel, inhumane, and deadly force. N/T

[SteveM]

13. Think of the roses and petunias! nt

[oneshooter]

8. Whistles!!!

Here in Texas our noisemakers are much louder, and a damn sight more effective!

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

[jeepnstein]

10. Why not just shout "ni' loudly?

A whistle? That's just precious.

[Xenotime]

11. There is nothing wrong with a whistle and using it for safety.

[one-eyed fat man]

12. whistleblowers, huh?

They gonna have witness protection program for the whistleblowers?

[eqfan592]

14. Sure, as long as you don't mind it not working at all.

Then yeah, I guess there's nothing "wrong" with it.

[burrfoot]

15. You're right, Xenotime-

there is absolutely nothing wrong with carrying a whistle and using it for safety. However, since the whistle can only signal a need for help, which in most instances takes longer to arrive than it takes the criminal to commit the crime; it still makes sense to have pepper spray/mace/knife/flashlight/gun (as allowed by locality and individual license).

It's terrific that we, as a society, can call for help on a cell phone from pretty much anywhere. Hell, simply talking on a cell phone- or convincingly pretending to do so- may well be enough to make a goblin choose another target. Same goes for walking with your head up and looking around you, making eye contact with the people around you. However, when someone is determined to do you harm, and/or appears too quickly for you to call and speak to a 911 operator, well..... I for one would feel better being able to pull out a pistol in that situation.

So take the whistle, by all means. Also keep your cell phone charged. And, if you feel like it and are allowed to, have a sidearm in your purse/pocket/waistband.

Just my .02

:toast:

[rd_kent]

16. You are right. There is also nothing wrong with having a gun on your person and using it for safety