A former Chicagoland police chief is calling on President-elect Donald Trump to advance the case against violent raids and the death of on-duty police officials. In an interview with Fox News Digital, retired Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel stated that “attacks on police officials are definitely on the rise since 2020, and what’s really on the increase is ambush.” In the past two to three years, police officers have been the target of more offensive problems than I’ve ever seen, and that includes anything from a police officer sitting in a crew vehicles while writing a report to someone walking off and simply shooting the officer in the squad car. ” That’s happened a number of times over the past few years, or false 911 calls where the goal is to call the officer and fire at that officer, killing that agent. That’s happened many times. We had never seen that, you know, 10 times ago”, he added. Currently, killing state or local law enforcement officers can result in a federal penalty if the shooting is retaliatory or interfers with the officer’s formal jobs and involves federal commerce or federal jurisdiction. There is no formal federal law that makes killing a police commander in any position a crime because the majority of cases are prosecuted under state law, despite the recent years of some laws that have been passed to combat the increase in police deaths. The death of a police officer is typically viewed by states as an aggravated kind of crime that can result in severe penalties, including life prison or the dying penalty. ” I’m hoping for consistency, and I’m hoping to relieve the family and loved ones that items are being handled properly, and I’m aware that not every state in America prosecutes and investigates crimes the same.” That’s no happening”, Weitzel said. Weitzel, who was almost killed in an ambush shooting during his day as a officer, said he’s sent letters to his position politicians, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and both the Biden and past Trump services, but he only heard again from Trump’s DOJ with a list of best practices. Weitzel emailed Trump a second email last week asking him to take a look at the request. CHICAGO REMOVES LARGEST HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT, Moves TENT People INTO Rooms AND SHELTERS: REPORT” There’s also an unexplained police death in the west suburbs of Chicago, and that really that also made me think, like, we need to get an outside company’s experts in doing it. I’m hardly criticizing local law enforcement, I’m saying we just want it done uniformly”, he said. Almost 200 officers were feloniously killed over the course of three years, according to FBI data, which shows a substantial increase in officer fatalities globally between 2020 and 2023. Next month, the Chicago police department had two officers killed: Officer Arenah M. Preston on May 1 and Officer Andrés Mauricio Vasquez Lasso on March 1. Officer Enrique Martinez, 26, was killed in November during a visitors stop in the state’s East Chatham area. Trump supporters blow Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to his face just days before the town council will decide whether or not to repeal his tax levy. He has stated he supports rules protection, many of the law enforcement principles and regulations”, Weitzel said. Therefore, it’s the right time to at least drive this because someone in the White House says he’s willing to work with local law enforcement to pass laws and money.
Cop crime is being deemed a federal crime by an ex-Chicago police chief:” Attacks on police officers have increased since 2020.”
