Several Chicago Police Department officers swarmed the Chatham neighborhood Sunday, but it wasn’t for a crime in progress. Officers were helping out elderly citizens by clearing their walkways and driveways of heavy snowfall. Maryam Ahmad, a friend of a local resident, posted a photo from her friend on LinkedIn and described the kind act.
“Members of the Chicago Police Department showed up on my friend’s block yesterday and started shoveling out the more than 13 inches of heavy snow for her and her senior neighbors,” Ahmad writes. “Very kind!”
The officers can be seen blowing and scooping the snow from driveways and sidewalks in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago.
CPD’s 6th District Twitter account highlighted the officers’ kind deed on Sunday afternoon, providing more context to Ahmad’s original post.
Members of the 6th District Third watch cleared snow from the sidewalk in the Chatham neighborhood Sunday.
Awesome Job!!! pic.twitter.com/GQXjQxzmID— 6th District – Gresham (@ChicagoCAPS06) February 1, 2021
At a time when violent crime in the Windy City is on the rise, the act of service is a positive example of what law enforcement is doing for their communities in addition to their duties of enforcing the law.
According to the CPD crime dashboard, there were 51 murders recorded in 2021 through the month of January, which is a 46% increase over last year’s 35 in the same time period. This is the highest it has been since 2017.
The Chicago Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for further information at the time of publication.
Joshua Skovlund is a former staff writer for Coffee or Die. He covered the 75th anniversary of D-Day in France, multinational military exercises in Germany, and civil unrest during the 2020 riots in Minneapolis. Born and raised in small-town South Dakota, he grew up playing football and soccer before serving as a forward observer in the US Army. After leaving the service, he worked as a personal trainer while earning his paramedic license. After five years as in paramedicine, he transitioned to a career in multimedia journalism. Joshua is married with two children.
