In a city as big as Chicago, a lot of people and events sort of fall through the cracks. People don’t notice somebody stealing a loaf of bread out of a passenger’s grocery bag while getting on the bus. People don’t say a lot if a large imposing person pushes a couple riders out of the way when getting off the train. Most of us don’t want to start a brawl… most of us don’t want “some kind of big hassle” when we are just trying to do errands.
One group facing a lot of bullying, harassment, pushing, and crime is the homeless population riding on the train.
Talking with a wide variety of homeless persons reveals a huge amount of crime—often crime that is never reported. Said Crystal, “Who am I going to tell?” She insists she has lost all of her belongings several times over in this city. “There are some cops who do nothing at all to help if they have heard you are homeless.” She has been homeless about four months, she explained. Trying to get a job and trying to stay a few steps ahead of her violent ex-husband keeps her busy. She is just one kind of homeless person: the temporary non-housed woman fearing for her life, and running. She has been through her own share of violence and robbery, one time almost getting raped but escaped it by “acting crazy and loud—and scaring the boys off. They went to another car to do their thing.”
Why bother the homeless? Why chase them all over the train? Why are they on the train to begin with? What happens to them in the middle of the night?
Using the trains and busses for a wide variety of purposes, the homeless often get pushed, shunned, bullied, harassed, and lectured. They are often the victims of thieves running through the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) trains late at night. They are subject to the robbing, bullying, harassment, and violence of thieves running through the trains at all hours of the day – and night. The thieves often steal their bags of food, backpacks with essentials, and shopping bags full of important papers, all as part of their ongoing game to make a profit from whatever they can find on the trains.
“I don’t even take a backpack on the train anymore at night,” mentions Harv, a long-time resident of the CTA. “I learned long ago there is no point in just ‘giving away’ my phone, food, dry socks, and important medical papers so that some kids can grab everything.” Harv wound up homeless twice—in both cases he had a good job and lost it, only to face sleeping on the train for awhile. He is in a special program to get temporary housing and has health problems.
Your average Chicago train rider does not understand how the thieves work their magic. There is a system to the madness, and people robbing send scouts around and watch for certain key indicators like somebody who looks like an undercover cop or somebody who is filming what is going on. They love weakness.
Thieves often gather on the car furthest from the conductors. They often meet after their thefts, smoke their cigarettes or marijuana, brag about the violence and brow-beating in which they have engaged, and give speeches and warnings to those who would listen.
The thieves—of all ages please remember—often gather to look through the bags and backpacks they have stolen, passing through several cars and then sitting to go through their booty. They cheer as one thief pulls a full pack of cigarettes from a backpack--unopened! They cheer as another thief finds a bottle of booze—apparently still sealed, in a brown bag, buried in the bottom of the backpack. Another thief holds up some new socks and bandages, obviously a homeless person’s bag with signs the owner had been to a shelter or pantry giving out personal items. At the next stop, the thief swears and throws the lot out: pack, socks, bandages.
Emergency medical items and clean socks—desperately sought often by homeless persons—wind up blowing away on an outdoor CTA train station, in the middle of the night, with the garbage and dirt.
The thieves have stolen precious items meant to help homeless persons—perhaps with swollen legs, open sores on their feet, or other ailments. It is seen so often on the CTA trains: thieves come past the homeless person, pick up their backpack, and just keep walking. A bigger person (a sort of security guard) in the group of thieves threatens the owner if they stand up and try to retrieve their items. If the person protests too much, the guard knocks the person out or throws them off the train. Nobody in the car says anything because they are afraid too they will be damaged or killed also.
Most people don’t often intervene to help the homeless—certainly not in cases where there is any violence involved. Your average CTA passenger is not Rambo, is not riding the train to start a fight, and is not a crusader, planning to jump on a gang of thugs and rope them up tight to await the police officers who must be somehow on their way to take over, make arrests, and help the homeless and other unsuspecting riders get safely to their destinations.
Instead, when the violence on the train begins, the homeless persons and other passengers are simply trapped. Most everyone is reluctant to get involved. Passengers do not wish to confront the thieves. The passengers cannot “press the button to talk to the conductor” as the policy tells passengers they should do. The conductor is eight cars away. Nobody wants to alert the thieves someone is reporting them for their crimes—smoking, harassment, theft.
So how can people help the homeless and other passengers who are under siege? There are a variety of things a person can do—to also not become a victim oneself—to help in these difficult situations.
1. Film – unobtrusively – the events on the train or bus… or make mental or written notes about the thieves and a description of them;
2. Offer support afterwards—call the police for the victims but only after the thieves have left the CTA vehicle;
3. Help financially by giving a homeless person who has just lost their bag of food some money – more than $1 obviously but you do not have to go overboard;
4. Offer any resources you know of – local churches or pantries you’ve heard of;
5. Offer more personal assistance -- moral support for example;
6. Try to be understanding (most homeless people have not dreamed their whole lives about someday getting to spend the night on the train while others sleep in beds);
7. Flag down CTA workers, police officers, or security guards if you are in a safe area and tell them of the abuse or theft;
8. Make a note to relate the event to people who can make a difference – your alderman, the mayor, your street captain or neighborhood watch reps or your community organizers and advocates;
9. Become a part-time advocate by writing letters to the editor of the various newspapers in town, join a blog, and tell all your colleagues about what you have witnessed on the train;
10. And finally, reflect on the theft or violence… Why did it happen? What does it mean? Maybe you were there to observe it for a reason…
Maybe you are there to help in some way. Maybe God put you on that train to be a good Samaritan and assist that homeless person. In that way, you are courageous.
The thieves and other criminals have preyed upon persons who are down on their luck, down on their resources. In that way, the criminals are cowards.
Helping the homeless can be very difficult, and there are basically two different perspectives. One is the attention to satisfying the needs of average citizens who have housing and who feel sometimes threatened, scared, or confused by homeless persons. The other perspective is the need to assist citizens who are non-housed and therefore at a disadvantage when it comes to issues of health, security, and safety.
It is not illegal to be homeless. Some persons do not realize this basic fact.
So what is the police response in Chicago? A recent article reminds us of the official point of view of the Chicago Police Department (CPD). The CPD have what is called the “Homeless Bill of Rights” directive. This set of guidelines for treatment of non-housed citizens is directly in line with the state Bill of Rights for the Homeless Act that stating that no person’s rights, privileges, or access to public services may be denied “solely because he or she is homeless.” Important to remember is that the directive states, “Such a person shall be granted the same rights and privilege as any other citizen of this state.” (Helping area's homeless no easy task - Nadig Newspapers - Northwest Side Local Newspapers).
The more people who know about what the homeless and other disadvantaged citizens experience when doing errands, or working, or shopping, or traveling, the more chance something can change.
Homeless people are citizens, remember. They just might not have one of those fancy things called a bed.