Chicago Alderman Arenda Troutman has achieved a new low in elitism, insisting that she deserves special police protection after a series of burglaries at her South Side home while her legally-disarmed constituents are left like defenseless sheep in a city of wolves, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) said today.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported May 6 that Troutman’s home, burglarized twice in the past three months, now has a police officer assigned during all shifts to watch the residence, including weekends. In a statement quoted by the newspaper, Troutman said, “Deserve it? Damn right. I should receive the protection I am receiving. I am an elected official. You’re darn right.”
Stunned by Troutman’s cavalier attitude, SAF Founder Alan Gottlieb offered this harsh rebuke: “What happened to the rights of Troutman’s constituents to police protection in a city where honest citizens have been left virtually disarmed by insidious gun laws that Troutman no doubt supports?
“While Troutman gets special treatment,” Gottlieb said, “what happens if another citizen needs police protection? The district police commander ordered a squad car parked in front of Troutman’s home on weekends. In a gun-free gulag like Chicago, everyone should have around-the-clock personal police protection. This is costing taxpayers an estimated $366 a day. That’s an outrage.”
Gottlieb agrees with many police officers in the city that Troutman doesn’t deserve the special treatment.
“Just who does Arenda Troutman think she is,” Gottlieb questioned. “While she is part of a city government that makes it virtually impossible for average citizens to protect themselves from burglary and other crime, here’s Troutman saying she deserves special treatment because she’s an elected official. It’s time for Troutman’s South Side neighbors to tell her she’s wrong.
“In an ideal world,” Gottlieb observed, “Troutman would not need a policeman parked in front of her house, because citizens in Chicago would be legally armed, and able to defend themselves and their homes. But the world is not ideal, and it is the kind of elitism Troutman has exhibited that makes it so.”