There are a lot of folks in Chicago who aren’t too happy with the cops right now. The Chicago Police Department is under fire for allegedly helping the Norfolk Southern Police plant bait trucks filled with Nike and Christian Louboutin shoes in an operation to attract potential thieves.
“The police parked a truck with boxes of Nike shoes in front of kids … and when people hop in the truck the police hopping out on them,” community activist Charles McKenzie wrote on Facebook. “I heard it was Nikes and red bottoms,” he told CBS Chicago.
CNN reports that the trucks, which were parked in the mostly black neighborhood of Englewood, were a part of a surveillance operation but some residents are arguing that the tactic created an unfair situation of entrapment.
The police have since apologize. “We sincerely regret that our actions caused further unease, and we don’t plan to use this method in the future,” Herbert Smith of Norfolk Southern said in a statement. He added that it “eroded trust between law enforcement and the community.”
TSR STAFF: Myeisha E.! @myeisha.essex
