- "We've got a domestic situation!" exclaimed Phil Strazzante, a Chicago police recruit, as he quickly sized up the scene — a man struggling with a naked woman just inches away from a knife lying on the floor.
But this was no crime scene. Strazzante and 15 other recruits were checking out "Tarquin and Lucretia," a painting by 16th century Italian artist Tintoretto, as part of an unusual exercise Thursday at the Art Institute of Chicago. The aim was to teach soon-to-be patrol officers to sharpen their observational skills when they respond to shootings, robberies or traffic crashes.
The department started the museum visits a couple of years ago but discontinued them until recently. The afternoon session was one part of the recruits' months-long training.
We're all for art appreciation, but this sounds more like a field trip to no apparent purpose. There has to be some other way to enhance recruits observational skills? We remember the gym instructors taking us for a run through a number of not-so-nice neighborhoods, then a few alleyways and then demanding to know the address of the building we were behind, how many people were on the sidewalk out front and what the car on the corner looked like. That was an eye opener to say the least.