The real lesson in the pursuit of Robert Maday
Two days after the capture of fugitive bank robber Robert Maday, it is a little difficult to draw deep conclusions about his 26-hour attempt to escape justice.
The intense suburban manhunt finally tracked him down Friday after a daring chase that zigzagged from Rolling Meadows to Arlington Heights, then Hoffman Estates to Bloomingdale before finally coming to an end in West Chicago.
We in the suburbs do breathe a bit easier today.
Crime can affect anyone and can occur at any time and place. For most of us, the atmosphere as we locked our doors and double-tested the deadbolts Thursday night was a tad more apprehensive than normal, knowing an armed escapee was desperate and on the loose.
Perhaps we at the Daily Herald felt it a bit more strongly because the search for Maday Thursday afternoon, with helicopters flying overhead and scores of heavily armed police moving in on the ground, centered around an apartment complex across the street from our main office in Arlington Heights. But it was a mood most suburbanites felt, a mood that, well, we're not completely safe.
Yes, we breathe a bit easier today.
A central question in the episode, of course, is how did Maday escape in the first place?
Somehow, despite riding shackled, he was able to overpower two officers from the Cook County state's attorney's office and strip them of their guns Thursday, according to the account provided by authorities.
We now know procedures were not followed. There can be other explanations: Flawed methods, incompetence by at least one of the officers or some combination.
State's Attorney Anita Alvarez moved quickly to suspend the two investigators and to order a comprehensive review of procedures. Without prejudging the officers, we laud both moves. But Alvarez must go further: Steps must be taken to ensure that a breach like this can never happen again; the responsibility rests with her.
Let there be no mistake: The lapse in security put untold numbers of the population in danger and cost untold but sizable expense in bringing about Maday's recapture - in addition to the cost of public's peace of mind. Alvarez must ensure that something similar can never happen again.
But let that not be the only lesson we take away from this episode.
As police surrounded the complex where Maday was believed to be hiding Thursday, as a West Chicago police officer took chase after his fleeing car on Friday, we all were reminded: Those police approaching the buildings in Arlington Heights, that officer approaching his car in West Chicago, could not be sure of what was in store, could not be sure of the outcome.
We too often take our police for granted. Scores of online commenters at dailyherald.com took the opportunity to vilify the authorities for his escape. So comparatively few returned to thank those who risked their lives to attempt or make his capture.
As Burt Constable related in a column on Saturday, so much of what suburban police confront is uneventful or mundane, but lurking behind every corner and every call and every traffic stop is the real possibility of death.
These people put their lives on the line for us every time they head out the door.
As the late writer Sidney Shelton said, "My heroes are those who risk their lives every day to protect our world and make it a better place."
We in the suburbs breathe a bit easier today.
For that, we owe the police our thanks.