(IL) Gun billboard offers rewards (aka turn in your neighbor)

O

Oatka

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http://www.msnbc.com/local/WMAQ/32057.asp

Gun billboard offers rewards

by Charlie Wojciechowski

DUPAGE COUNTY, Aug. 8 – The billboard on Route 83 in Elmhurst is meant as much as a warning to felons as a notice of a reward. The terms are simple: if you know of a felon carrying a gun call 911. If he or she is arrested, you collect $1,000 cash.

The money-for-information offer by the Illinois Crime Commission dovetails with a new legislative initiative to prosecute felons with guns on federal charges.

“We want them off the streets,” said state Sen. Patrick O’Malley. “We want to go after the criminal element that uses [guns].”

Senator O’Malley’s plan, called Exile Illinois, calls for mandatory five-year terms for felons convicted of gun offenses, terms that would carry no parole and which would be served outside of Illinois in federal prisons.

“We’re thinking that being proactive like this, felons will be put on notice and will think twice before they decide to carry any weapons,” said Elmhurst Police Chief John Milner.

Illinois Exile Illinois is based on a similar project that started in Richmond, Virginia. Now in operation statewide, Exile Virginia, with its warning signs at the state lines, claims on its Web site to have decreased gun offenses by 40%.

The DuPage County program is a pilot program that officials say they would like to expand. But the expansion would be expensive; in addition to the rewards, billboards cost $9,000 apiece.

Right now all of the reward money will come from private sources like the NRA-affiliated Illinois Rifle Association.

“We are supporting this wholeheartedly in Illinois,” said Illinois Rifle Association spokesman Jim Vinopal. “We think it’s a genuine first step in putting the onus on the criminal rather than trying to put a burden on the legitimate gun owners in Illinois.”

Right now Exile Illinois is still on the drawing boards. The earliest it could be introduced to the state legislature would be the upcoming fall veto session.
 
If my neighbor were a felon in possession of a gun, I'd turn his ass in in a heartbeat.

Luckily, my neighbor is an attorney.

Hum... Where's the phone? :)

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Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
I don't see the problem. We're talking about felons here. I'd be hard pressed to call it a moral dilemma.
 
As long as it stays restricted to felons that's good. I do get sick of these "we need tougher jail sentences" fools though some times. We need a better society is what we need, and then we need better jails and electric chairs for the people who lost that they can't even manage to fit into a society that helps provide them with opportunities.

Still, the never ending quest for law enforcement vs. getting people to cooperate voluntarily is alarming. In Iowa we have a special highway patrol that has no markings on their cars, and they have literally said in advertisements "We're everywhere". I hate and despise them, these people should be ashamed of what they represent.

Will turn in your neighbor eventually be turned against you when your society flips and passes some new law making you a de facto felon?

Keep a file handy, and work hard on dulling that back edge of the sword. That backhand from the initial strike may not land where you want it to....

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I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist

The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
 
I am so glad I left that state...and I did live in DuPage county. Almost as corrupt as Cook County.
 
A couple of years ago I had the States Attorney in an Illinois County DROP felon in possesion of a firearm charges because he told me the mans brother was going to testify that it was HIS gun.

The story went like this. I backed up another officer on a traffic stop on the interstate. A custodial arrest was made for DUI and I conducted an inventory search of the vehicle. A small amount of marijuana and a Raven .25 were found in the vehicle. The driver was a member of an outlaw biker gang and had a criminal history that had two pages on the floor when I held the printout at arms length (I'm 6'2"). Naturally we added the charge of a felon in possesion of a firearm to the DUI and possesion of cannabis charge.

I thought it was an open and shut case. A few weeks later the SA calls me and asks me if I could put the felon in personal possesion of the gun (as in on his person). I said no, I found it in the toolbox just as the report said. The SA informed me that he was dropping the weapons charge because the suspect's brother was going to testify that it was his gun. I asked if he didn't think he could convince a jury that this member of an outlaw motorcycle gang, with a long criminal history that included weapons violations had the gun, he said no. My argument that the fact that he was a felon and had the gun in his vehicle was pretty open and shut held no weight and the charge was dropped.

I'd be interested knowing in what kind of cases are getting the Exile treatment and what kind of cases are getting dismissed.

Jeff
 
Dangus, I know your pain. I live right near Springfield, IL, where the state police are close to their main headquarters and to the legislature that pays their bills. Their skills include pioneering the "wolf pack" system of fund-rais--I mean, law enforcement. They also, when Terry Gainer was in charge, had a semi-tractor fitted with radar. The only marking was the logo "Gainer Trucking" that they painted on the sides, and the truck never pulled anyone over. It was strictly a radar vehicle. Most recently, they bought a Mustang and a Camaro a couple of years ago. The Mustang is blue with white "hockey stripes" and the Camaro is red. No other markings. Supposedly the Camaro tickets a lot of Fords and the Mustang tickets a lot of Camaros--people have claimed that they got tickets after one of these pony cars pulled up alongside and "challenged" them. I don't know if that's true and it's not a great excuse--but it is pretty low.
 
On the surface, a noble project, but as Dangus pointed out, the big risk is that they start lowering the bar on what is a felony. Remember when Sarah Brady was (and probably still is) pushing to make misdemeanors carry the same no-guns-anymore penalty?

Under this concept, all you need is a vengeful spouse/neighbor/coworker etc. to fink on you. So even if you're innocent, you're going to incur costs, financial or mental.

As with so many laws with good intentions, they start out fine and end up being corrupted.

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"The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside
the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:12)
 
Bad idea, when they outlaw guns or types of you may become the felon they will be paying them to snitch on, this is a old nazi tactic and it became such a problem during their reign everyone was scared to death of eachother - don't fall for it, it's only the beginning.

There will never ever ever ever be any law or program at all they will ever pass from now on until the end - period, that won't be used against YOU at a later date.


[This message has been edited by scud (edited August 10, 2000).]
 
Just so you know: The Illinois State Crime Commission is a fiction. It was created by a former politically connected employee who carried the luggage (and laundry, I'd guess) of a former DuPage County chairman. The organization has no legal standing whatsoever. It's not to be confused with teh Chicago Crime Commission which dates back to the early 1900s. It's bogus. I will take issue with PreserveFreedom: DuPage is nothing like Cook County; it's flawed, alright, but not a managerie of corruption and beaurocratic nitwittery like Dem. controlled Cook County.
 
DANGUS, Said ". In Iowa we have a special highway patrol that has no markings on their cars, and they have literally said in advertisements "We're everywhere". I hate and despise them, these people should be ashamed of what they represent. "

You should have said so before, send them out here to kali, it would be a welcome being able to drive the freeway withoug getting in an accident almost daily, about a year ago or so the I10 AND I91 were written up at the most likely free ways to die on, the 91 on the stretch going to riverside where all the LA drivers can finally get out of gridlock after weir canyon and can just haul ass through corona. The I10 I think they said was between Ontario and San Bernardino. These freeways absolutly suck! There are so many idiot drivers I would welcome another 10,000 chp on these roads.
Then again,
Might just be that night a couple years ago that I got rear ended by some southgate bankrobers that nearly put me over the side of freeway in corona that has me a little ticked off at these people. Was only a couple stories down to the city streets below, guess I should be a little more understanding. And of course did anyone follow me off the onramp to be witness, of course not, too much hassle I guess. As to the bank robbers it was on the news that they were hitting other cars on the 5 different freeway on their gettaway the car matched what I saw after gaining control of my vehicle, also the time of capture on the I5 where their vehicle broke down connected them to me in my opinion. But it could have just been another idiot driver who didnt even exit the freeway after causing a crash, which is even worse. Kalifornia SUCKS!
 
The crime hysteria has resulted in many crimes being classified as felonies. You don't have to be a mean bad violent person. It could be YOU someday! "Wrong thought" could be a felony. Due to dogfights in my area (which I don't agree with, the dogfights I mean) "animal cruelty" has been something that can result in a felon charge (which I don't agree with either). I could be a felon for killing a rat! Get caught with a dube or fail a drug test, you could be a felon too!
 
Don,

The Camaro's aren't just found around Springfield. There are a few of them found in the Southern part of the state too.

I've personally met a nice state trooper in a green Camaro that relieved me of some funds. :( Imagine my surprise when my radar detector went off after passing a Camaro. :eek:

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Now here we have the mining man, in either hand a gun.
He is not afraid of anything, and he's never know a run,
He dearly loves his whiskey, and he dearly loves his beer.
He's a shooting, fighting, dynamiting, mining engineer.
 
Thought-crimes are now a felony. tsk-tsk! You know you shouldn't be thinking that!

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God, Guns and Guts made this country a great country!
 
ober,

First off, this isn't Kali. Secondly, I am not a speeder. I take the speed limit very seriously and try to obey it at all times, because the idea of a speed limit makes sense. Problem is, sometimes I speed without realizing it. If I see a highway patrolman, I am reminded to slow down. There are a lot of people like me who just sometimes lose track of their speed. Secret police roaming around to make you obey are a danger to free society, and only serve to stop people like me who they should leave alone because I obey the damn laws of the highway nearly religiously. They should be out stopping real criminals, not the good guys.

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I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist

The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
 
Dangus, never said you were a frequent speeder, we just have very reckless people out here. So undercover or not I don't care, my damn truck is too big to go over the speed limit anyway. ;)

I USUALLY make a full stop at stop signs, but that aint gonna fly when I "roll" one of them. As I was reminded a couple months ago by local leo. Actully yellow light, but same Idea.

BTW are there any speed limit signs in Iowa?

I understand where you are coming from, and be glad you don't live in this commie state!

[This message has been edited by oberkommando (edited August 12, 2000).]
 
Yes, there are plenty of speed limit signs. We have great signs here, but unfortunately, one of those signs is often missing, and that's a marked police car. Also, there have been a couple cases where unmarked cars with lights have pulled people over and killed them. If an unmarked car tries to stop me I will not stop until marked cars show up, to hell with the consequences. The LEOs themselves should know better than to be a part of this commie BS. I generally like Iowa, but this just absolutely infuriates me.

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I twist the facts until they tell the truth. -Some intellectual sadist

The Bill of Rights is a document of brilliance, a document of wisdom, and it is the ultimate law, spoken or not, for the very concept of a society that holds liberty above the desire for ever greater power. -Me
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dangus:
Yes, there are plenty of speed limit signs. We have great signs here, but unfortunately, one of those signs is often missing, and that's a marked police car. Also, there have been a couple cases where unmarked cars with lights have pulled people over and killed them. If an unmarked car tries to stop me I will not stop until marked cars show up, to hell with the consequences. [/quote]

I agree with you, but:

With all due respect, Dangus, if you do not pull over quickly you are likely to encourage the officer to blow your tires out with his gun, or force you off the road, are you not ?

I hope you drive a BIG 4X4 rig :)
 
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