Memories of the Red Line Train the Night of March 19, 2019: Hello to Hitler’s Dogs!
By Steven Larsen, one of our reporters from Evanston
Editor’s note: Steve wrote this account on March 20, 2019. Because of the terrible violence on the Red Line currently, I have asked StreetSense writers to no longer risk riding the train at night to report on conditions of the homeless there.
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“Security guard.” I wonder what the definition of that would be. Somebody employed to make sure things, people, property are safe and secure??? To make sure train passengers feel comfortable?
What if a security guard is just some random dude wearing a black outfit and pulling an old decrepit German Shepherd around with one of those handles with the pin in the neck. When you pull up on the hook, the pin goes into the dog’s neck. That forces the dog to bark.
The loud barking scares the freakin’ krap out of the person being chased by the security guy.
I was DISGUSTED two nights ago when I AGAIN saw a team of security officers dressed all in black with guard dog in tow chasing poor people onto and off the Red Line train cars at the Howard station.
I thought all of this night-time craziness was over with months ago! I could not believe my eyes! I had heard the city or CTA was not sure what to do about the homeless and so they were simply trying to keep track of how many there were on the train cars sleeping in the middle of the night.
What is with the German Shepherds growling and barking?
And why are the security officers screaming and threatening to "knock out" people or "beat their fu&$ing ass" and of course "let this dog go so he can chew on your fu#@ing ass for awhile" as homeless are running around, screaming back, trying to guard their valuables, and yelling for help from police officers.
But there aren't any policer officers on most of the trains.
What a scene! I mean, I get the frustration of the smells on the train and the fact some people have issues that are pretty out of control. But threatening to arrest people because they are poor? Because they need a shower?
The security guards are guilty of taking mob action against the poor. Nobody does anything about it. There is NO supervisor or level-headed adult to be found anywhere when all of this goes on in the dark of night.
One random security guard screamed at a homeless guy who was trying to get back onto a train to retrieve his personal items: “If you call me another name I will fu&#ing kill you, you dirty motherfu@*er!”
Wow, it seems A LOT MORE SECURE with those guards on the trains!