Recently in Crime Category

Whooee! Those North Chicago cops certainly have been busy the last few days.

The latest police presence in the city was a raid at Stack's House of Style the other day. Cops allegedly were looking for drugs, although no narcotics were found even after police trashed the beauty shop. However, a police spokesman said "evidence" was removed from the salon at 1800 Sheridan Road.

After the raid, though, city inspectors discovered 24 building code violations. On top of that, according to police, some barbers allegedly didn't have the required state licenses to cut hair.

Good to know police are concerned if barbers are licensed to give hair cuts. The Hound wasn't aware police academies touched on violations of state Department of Professional Regulation rules in the course work. Anything in police class about pedicure procedures?

Surprisingly, Police Chief Mike Newsome's dad owns a barbershop in North Chicago, Dave's Barbershop in the 2300 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. No word if police checked on barber licenses in that shop.

The Hound wasn't aware that North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham had issued a shoot-to-kill order in the city. But, 40 years after Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley issued a similar edit to police, that looks like what happened the other day on North Chicago streets.

Maybe Cease Fire, the anti-violence group, needs to march around North Chicago City Hall after Aaren Gwinn, 21, was gunned downed by undercover drug dicks in the 1400 block of Jackson Street.

North Chicago police, in press releases, say Gwinn attempted to run from, or maybe over, the plainclothes officers. That's their story and they're, no doubt, sticking to it. Not surprisingly, Mayor Rockingham and Police Chief Michael Newsome have not returned calls to News-Sun reporters on the shooting, preferring to control the flow of information.

Perhaps North Chicago citizens can get information at the next City Council meeting. Then again, knowing the penchant for secrecy by North Chicago officials, they may not.

Even a spokeswoman for the NAACP pointed out: "We never get any information from City Hall."

While there are plenty of citizen witnesses, police have mainly issued press releases on the shooting.

One thing is certain: This is the first killing in North Chicago in a while where the perps can be identified, even though police will not name the officers, or their race. Gwinn is, or was, an African American.

The family of Aaren Gwinn can take some comfort in the fact North Chicago isn't New York City. Instead of two fatal gunshots, he could have been shot 50 times by police.

Those red-light cameras in Waukegan and soon to be in Gurnee and other county locales may enlighten, so to speak, motorists if a central Florida study is any indication.

The town of Apopka, near Orlando, installed red-light cameras in July 2007 at two highly traveled intersections, according to the report The Hound saw. That first month recorded 289 infractions. In August 2007, there were 262 ticket issued.

Fast forward to January 2008 and the number of tickets dropped to 26. As of March, 21 tickets --- at two intersections --- were given out.

So much for a revenue maker. That is if those figures translate up North. Remember, most drivers in the South think they can compete on the NASCAR circuit. They respect that caution flag.

Nearly two years into Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran's tenure as sheriff, we learn some mopes have smuggled weapons into the courts complex in downtown Waukegan. Well, thanks for that telegram. Considering this month is the anniversary of the Pony Express, it took less time for a letter telling us that than what the sheriff fessed up last week.

The Hound has prowled the courthouse during this apparent lack of security effort on behalf of the rent-a-cops the county has employed. That means The Hound's life has been in danger, along with hundreds of county employees, County Board members, elected officials and judges, not to mention attorneys.

What an outrage! That outrage would be The Hound's life being in danger. Who cares about the rest? Especially the attorneys.

Um, who exactly was the one who decided to hire Andy Frain ushers to supervise the possibility of terrorists, domestic or foreign, from circumventing security at the Lake County Building? The Hound would like to hear some answers from the County Board chairwoman or at least the County Board administrator.

Those Andy Frains can't even control a rowdy crowd in the upper deck at Wrigley Field. Not that The Hound was one of those who were asked to leave on opening day.

Replacing the Frains with deputies means more money for the county. Has anyone, besides the sheriff's deputies, noticed the deputies haven't had a raise for a while? Looks like the sheriff is going to bat for his people.

In the wake of the rampage at Northern Illinois University a week ago today, there have been calls on both sides of the gun debate to either restrict firearms or expand them with a concealed carry law in the Land of Lincoln. The Hound is siding with the concealed carry aficionadoes.

A nutjob guns down five Northern Illinois University students while they were in a class and now more nutjobs will be invading the DeKalb campus tonight during a prayer vigil for those students killed and the other 16 wounded. These nutjobs would be from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan.

The FBI issued a plea this week in hopes of solving the mystery of D.B. Cooper. You may remember him: He jumped out of an airplane in late November 1971 with $200,000 and four parachutes. He vanished over southwest Washington State with the money and two parachutes. Calling sasquatch!

You have to be a pretty lame thief to walk off with a Salvation Army kettle at this time of year. But that's what happened the day before Thanksgiving in Libertyville where a bell ringer took a potty break only to find his 60-pound kettle and stand missing and the $600 inside it gone with a winter's wind.

If you're like The Hound, sniffing out Christmas presents for your significant other gets harder every year. But, with the holiday shopping season ready to shift into high gear, the perfect gift --- a blue barrel --- is nearby.

Like Shakespeare's Lady MacBeth, perhaps former Bolingbrook police office Drew Peterson, a suspect in in his wife's disappearance and in an ex-wife's death, "doth protest too much."