Talking Solutions on Violence at Lake Forest College

Jcoydenreports.com founder Jason Palmer (right) moderates a panel that included (from l to r) McHenry County Sheriff Rob Tadelman, Marvin Lindsey and Illinois state Rep. Joyce Mason, who talked about violence directed towards politicians during this election season. Photo by Charese Smiley

Talking about violence is something unfortunately I know a lot about. In my career as a journalist, I’ve covered many violent people and events that have happened in and around the Chicago area. I saw my once stable middle-class urban community be turned into a war zone because of poor planning by the City of Chicago when they tore down public housing units and displaced residents into what had been stable communities. I have seen politicians pass laws that either made no sense or had no direct or indirect effect of stemming violence, in fact in a few cases it even made the situation worse.

So, I was honored when Lake Forest College Professor Christine Walker contacted me last year and asked if I would be willing to moderate at panel for the school’s Public Policy department on ways we can lower violence. My panelists included McHenry County Sheriff Rob Tadelman, State Rep. Joyce Mason and retired CEO of the Community Behavioral Healthcare Association of Illinois Marvin Lindsey.

Each panelist had their own unique personal experience with violence and how we can treat it as the disease that it is. It was interesting to hear a politician admit that she didn’t realize it was so difficult to get a law passed in general, and explain about the unintended consequences of when some laws are passed. In particular it was interesting to hear Rep. Mason say she was unaware that the Illinois Concealed Carry law does not allow anyone other than law enforcement to legally carry while riding on public transit anywhere in the state, even though statistics show a lot of violent crime happens on public transportation.

Sheriff Tadelman made several good points on the difficult positions he and other law enforcement officials are placed in when a law is passed but there is no money to enforce the law. He also gave some frightening details of what it is like for officers to respond to domestic violence calls and how it is basically a 50/50 chance that officers make the correct decision on what to do based on the information and circumstances they are given. His candid talk on police budgets and the number of officers employed today compared to 20 years ago was enlightening.

Lindsey, who admitted that he is really bad at retiring, continues to work with a segment of the population that has committed some heinous crimes, in an effort to learn what causes violent behavior and what strategies have shown success in reducing violence. Lindsey’s frontline work for decades gives him credibility and like many others, he is concerned on where society is going with state-sanctioned violence like bad police officers and political violence with the upcoming presidential election.

You can view the entire forum here and my thanks to Lake Forest College for allowing me to moderate this panel on such an important issue.