I have a mile-wide soft spot for the men in blue, but even I recognize that not many bleeding hearts wear police uniforms, in Chicago or anywhere else.

So when a 19-year-old with some prior arrests named George Lash was shot to death by officers on the CTA last week, I wasn’t surprised when the local police blogs didn’t shed tears, despite the controversy swirling over the circumstances. But a suburban detective who blogs anonymously as “Joe the Cop” for the Tribune-owned Chicago Now managed to create a mini-uproar with two posts about what he termed the”Ghetto Shooting Template.” Chicago Now then pulled down both posts, although inquiring minds can still find them using Google Cache.

Joe predicted that witnesses would come forward to the press and claim the use of force was unwarranted, but would refuse to give any statement to the police. He also anticipated that the victim’s family and friends would insist he was turning his life around, and that his family would quickly file a lawsuit against the city.

All of which came to pass in the following days. Now just because media coverage unfolded according to Joe’s script doesn’t mean the police were justified in killing Lash, or that Lash wasn’t an innocent victim in the wrong place at the wrong time. Police make mistakes and panic under pressure. Some are downright bad.

But Joe’s posts made some valid points – or at least it did until Chicago Now pulled the plug on them after three days. He wasn’t diplomatic. It wasn’t a pretty read. But in a city that feels like it’s losing the battle with violent crime, maybe Joe’s voice is one that needs to be heard.

I have no idea if George Lash was a thug or just a kid who was putting his life back together. But from the backlash, you’d think Joe the Cop shot Lash himself in the middle of City Hall.

Blogger Frank Sennett of TimeOut Chicago wrote a scathing critique which was picked up by Huffington Post, calling Joe a racist and blasting the Tribune for allowing the posts to stay up. For their part, Chicago Now offered little explanation as to why the posts were removed, although spokesman Jimmy Greenfield did write that the site had removed fewer than ten posts in its history.

Granted, Joe’s tone was enough to give someone with a corner office at CPD headquarters a migraine. It read like you’d expect from a cop-rough, harsh, more than a bit jaded. It was an unpleasant read, especially days after a young man was killed.

But Joe and every other cop around Chicago still remembers the fatal shootings of Officers Thor Soderberg, Mike Bailey and Thomas Worthham, all killed in a two-month period this summer. The latter two in front of their homes. Bailey, just a few weeks shy of retirement.

If police sentiment comes off as politically incorrect, it’s because officers feel like they face a no-win situation. Use force, and be branded a murderer. Use restraint, and risk becoming another tragic statistic.

Joe the Cop’s dismissive attitude toward Lash’s murder and his family’s pain was too cold to stomach. Crime record or not, George Lash is dead at 19 and that’s no cause for humor or celebration. But the Tribune does the city no favors by silencing the voices of a frustrated police department. The tensions between the police and their neighborhoods is real, one of the many costs of a city grasping to contain crime.

Joe’s “Ghetto Shooting Template” may have made for an ugly read. But policing is an ugly business in a city crackling over the issue of violence. Shutting out the voice of those who cast a light on that ugliness won’t bring peace, or help guide our officers as they try to limit the bloodshed.

Mike Carson is a Weinberg senior. He can be reached at [email protected].