Armed and Dangerous

Chicago’s Channel 2 Investigative Team spent three months on a very important effort to show that many unqualified, unlicensed and potentially dangerous security guards were at work in the Chicago area, constituting a threat to the public. They sought to have the state of Illinois take action to remedy this problem. Subsequently a new law was passed which closed a loophole that permitted thousands of armed guards to work without licenses. The law also requires certain reviews by the state any time a security guard discharges a firearm on duty and makes it unlikely that persons with criminal histories or drug addictions could serve in this capacity. For an undertaking in the public interest which produced tangible and meaningful results, a Peabody Award to WBBM-TV, Chicago, for Armed and Dangerous.