The other night, I was robbed on the CTA Green Line train just as it was leaving the Laramie stop. I was naively using my PSP very openly while I had 3 black dudes hovered around me. The train had plenty of open seats so this should have flagged me to be more careful, but black kids are always on their feet roaming from cart to cart that I didn't anything of it. Given I had seen that one had taken notice of my PSP but I could not imagine they would actually snatch it from my hands. When it happened, the kid ran off and I immediately sprung up to pursue him but stopped before stepping foot on the platform when I noticed the stop we were at and remembered I was carrying a laptop worth much more than the PSP. It wasn't worth the risk if the other two boys we're anticipating me to give chase.
When I got to the Harlem stop, I drove to the CPD on Madison near Central. There, I only became more dissappointed at the lack of effort the officer that helped put into filling out the report. When he read it back to me, it read very well but it took nearly an hour during which I had to endure his demeanor. I wish I had walked up to the female officer instead, she seemed to actually want to work.
I drove to the train station after my report to get some more information. When I arrived, a young girl was in the CTA help booth, red eyed. She had also been robbed by someone fitting the same description I had given. I left feeling substantially worse about my well being while riding the train.
Fortunely for me, I hardly use my PSP. I'll miss it because I love electronics and because it was a gift from my girlfriend but aside form those reasons of many others. (Although, reading comics on it was pretty nice) What anyone reading this should take from my story is that if whatever you are carrying can't be securely fastened to your body, you shouldn't be bring it with you on the train. And as for filling out police reports, all you're doing as adding yourself as a statistic that Mayor Daley might eventually get around to seeing. Don't expect to get any feeling of comfort by doing so, on the contrary, I feel even more powerless than ever. And be more aware of your surroundings. The Green Line Laramie stop has no cameras so it's the ideal location to pull off a robbery.
Be aware and be safe you guys.
***update***
I received a follow-up call from the CPD this afternoon. It seems they take CTA crimes seriously and like to learn from every report. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to provide many additional details but I'd like to take back what I said about feeling helpless. They were looking for details like which cart I was in, where the robber ran and if he was violent. It's part of a constant effort of being up-to-date with criminal behaviors to better serve the public. So now, a full 24 hours after the whole ordeal, I feel that by simply having filed a police report, CPD police are a little bit more aware of growing crime on the CTA trains. I hope to see more undercover officers riding the trains.
