The plan: Park a semitrailer truck loaded with goods on a Chicago side street as a lure for thieves.
The goal: Strike back against freight thefts that have plagued the crime-ridden area.
The outcome: Totally awry.
A Norfolk Southern official has apologized to Chicagoans, saying the operation “eroded trust between law enforcement and the community.”
The apology, in the form of a letter to the editor of the Chicago Tribune published Sunday and also sent to Trains News Wire, came after a public outcry when the sting operation, using a “bait truck,” was exposed by a community activist’s video.
The video, posted on Facebook, appears to show Chicago police arresting one man after he allegedly broke into the truck in the Englewood neighborhood, about a half-mile south of Norfolk Southern’s South Side rail yard.
But the video was immediately criticized as entrapment by community residents, an alderman, a mayoral candidate and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said his department, which did not plan the sting but cooperated with Norfolk Southern police officers, would review its handling of the matter “to see if it can be done better.”
Burglary charges against three men arrested in the sting have reportedly been dropped by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.
In the letter, Herbert Smith, the railroad’s manager of community and legislative relations in Illinois, Iowa and Michigan, said: “We sincerely regret that our actions caused further unease, and we don’t plan to use this method in the future.”
Area residents “deserve more context about this operation,” Smith wrote, which he said was in direct response to ongoing thefts from containers and trailers in the area.
The “bait” trailer in this case was loaded with running shoes, but previous break-ins have included thefts of guns and ammunition that remained in the crime-ridden community, Smith wrote.
“At the time, local residents and officials told us we needed to do more to prevent this, and we responded. … (B)ut unfortunately thefts continue,” the letter continued. Nationally, the FBI estimates that $27 million of freight is stolen in transit annually, he said.
Smith concluded by saying that Norfolk Southern officials “welcome a dialogue with the community, and we already have reached out to local officials to discuss how best to prevent freight theft, improve community relations and rebuild mutual trust.”
