[ad_1]
CHICAGO (CBS) — As we headed into the lengthy vacation weekend Friday, many CTA Purple Line riders have been feeling rattled after a sequence of violent crimes throughout the town’s busiest ‘L’ line.
To assist put riders comfortable, the Chicago Transit Authority is sending some four-legged safety guards – and it comes at an enormous price ticket.
The primary Okay-9 CTA items had been deployed on the Purple Line on Friday. Remaining Okay-9 groups will probably be deployed by way of October, after they full coaching.
The CTA signed a brand new contract final week with Motion K9 to supply as much as 100 unarmed guards and 50 canines per day together with supervision and supporting gear throughout CTA rails for 18 months — including to the 300 unarmed safety at present deployed.
The CTA stated the Okay-9 groups will probably be “strategically deployed throughout its rail system, together with patrols alongside the Purple Line and Blue Line, the system’s two busiest traces, which each function 24/7, and have lately seen a spike in crime.”
The entire contract for 100 guards and 50 Okay-9s — per day — will are available slightly below $31 million.
Some Purple Line riders had been glad to see the Okay-9s.
“After I seen these officers and that canine, I knew like Chicago PD is out right here – and you recognize, they’re holding us secure, they usually’re doing the perfect that they’ll,” stated Purple Line rider Treasured Williams.
The groups on the ninety fifth Road Purple Line station had been deployed lower than two hours after a choose denied bond for 31-year-old Christian Thompson — who’s charged with first-degree homicide within the capturing that killed 40-year-old Anthony Binion on Wednesday, Aug. 17.
Prosecutors stated Thompson began a combat with Binion on the 69th Road station round 8:30 p.m. that evening. Phrases became deadly gunshots.
Thompson simply obtained out of jail for threatening to kill a girl at knife level. He had been sentenced to fifteen years in jail in 2016, however was launched early in April.
On Friday, the CPD additionally stated they’re seeking to determine three individuals seen in snapshots from surveillance video – who’re answerable for an aggravated battery simply after midnight on Saturday, Aug. 27, in a Purple Line practice automobile close to the Lake Road cease.
A 30-year-old lady was shot in a practice automobile at the moment and placement.
Again at ninety fifth Road, a Purple Line rider who takes the ‘L’ again from work late at evening stated she remembers Okay-9 items on the ‘L’ previously – and would not know why they left.
“Once they had been out, there wasn’t no hassle,” stated the Purple Line rider, Nikki.
The CTA declined an on-camera interview, however a consultant confirmed they used to have a contract with the identical Okay-9 safety firm about three years in the past — with good outcomes.
We’ll test again in to see if — and the way — it impacts crime this time round.
[ad_2]
Source link