Chicago Alderman Anthony Napolitano told Newsmax on Thursday that the recent city crime wave targeting postal workers is because there's "too much coddling of criminals" in Chicago and that "it's not just the postal workers" who are feeling the effects of crime in the Windy City.
"Chicago has become the land of the lost right now," Napolitano said during an appearance on "The National Report." "There's no fight against crime, especially in our judicial system, so these are just crimes of opportunity. Criminal elements here in Chicago are looking for any avenue to earn a buck because they know they're not going to serve any time in jail.
"They know that our state legislators and our city legislators, as well, aren't putting any emphasis on fighting crime.
"Our state's attorney is a defense attorney. And if you look at the agenda behind our state's attorney, the same people that support our state's attorney are the ones that are slating judges, so it's like we're agenda law right now — it's based on a political agenda."
Things have gotten so bad, Napolitano said, that residents can't step out their door without being on high alert.
"You can't go out to your car without your head on a swivel right now [because] you've got to watch out for being carjacked," he said.
The problem, according to the former Chicago police officer, is that "there's too much coddling of criminals here."
"They were hoping to save these criminals by giving them their 15th chances; I think what's got to happen here in Chicago is criminals need a punch in the teeth," Napolitano said. "If we can't do it through our state's attorney's office, I've submitted legislation to go after criminals with our own Chicago ordinances.
"We hit them in the pocket. We might not be able to put them in prison for an extended period of time through our state's attorney's office, but we could do it on the municipal level, as well as hit them with financial burdens."
Reacting to the apparent ambush of police officers in Bristol, Connecticut, Napolitano said his prayers go out to the officers and their families.
"The way you're telling the story right now, it's almost like it's a surprise if it's an ambush, and there is no surprise with this anymore," he said. "This is happening constantly, to officers across the country. There's a mark on their backs."
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