It’s Becoming High Noon in Chicago [PHIL-OSOPHY]

No classic western divides movie fans more than High Noon, where former marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is preparing to leave the small town of Hadleyville, New Mexico with his new bride, Amy (Grace Kelly). But he learns that local criminal, Frank Miller, has been set free and is coming to shoot on sight the marshal who turned him in.

I'm not going to be a spoiler here, but I will say that when the marshal asks for help to fight the criminal, every man of Hadleyville turns gutless and cowardly.

I use the symbolic ticking of the clock of High Noon to describe a modern-day dilemma unfolding in Chicago.

Nearly three dozen Chicago street gangs have made a covenant to "shoot on sight" any cop that is videoed with a service weapon drawn on any subject in public. This is no movie, it's unbelievably true and it's the scariest news story to surface in recent days.

The alert, which was sent out by the FBI to police in Chicago, detailed how the Latin Kings, Black P Stones, Vice Lords and over 30 more organized gangs have pledged to act together to catch an officer drawing his or her weapon on any subject, and will "shoot on sight" the officer in order to attract national media attention.

This is beyond anything I could have imagined. As I keep the law enforcement in my prayers, I have to ask what kind of strategy do you plan to deal with something like this?

Time is running out on handling this impasse.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.