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| Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson |
The Chicago Police Department is grappling with both an increase in crime - especially in North Side areas previously considered safe -- such as Lakeview, and West Ridge -- but are simultaneously attempting to reform both its image, and its outreach; especially in the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald shooting, the black teenager who was shot 16 times by a white officer in 2014, but whose video was suppressed for over a year, prompting charges of a coverup by the mayor's and state's attorney's office.
The effort, at reform, as well as crime fighting, is not only ironic, but is hampered by Chicago’s reputation as one of the most racially segregated cities in the country, in an otherwise mostly liberal midwest. Critics of the CPD have not failed to mention this in their press briefings, protests and rallies.
Added to the ever increasing crime on the South and West sides, some Hispanic neighborhoods have also been heavily affected, and Thursday's announcement by Supt. Eddie Johnson that Kevin Navarro, would be his second in command seems to support that recognition.
In fact, Ald. George Cardenas, praised the choice, and said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, “The violence isn’t just in the African-American community. It’s not just on the West Side and the South Side. It’s in the Hispanic community. The superintendent needs a No. 2 person who can give him a different perspective. Someone who reflects the diversity of the city and also the diversity of the problems we face.”
Statistical reports have shown that Chicago homicides, and shooting, are up by nearly 50 percent in comparison with the same time last year. While overall violent crimes are still well below what they were 20 years ago, there is still a significant cause for concern, say many residents. And, while this is a trend for other U.S. cities, in fact more than 24, according to a recent study, residents and police officials alternate between anger and frustration at the reports.
At the end of last month, in West Ridge, so many women were attacked in the early morning hours, according to local reports that police “actually lost track of how many victims were waiting for service.”
While academics, and those who study crime, say that there is no trend, there are many who state otherwise, especially the families and communities affected, and are demanding change. The Chicago CIty Council is holding a series of public hearings to gauge proposals to replace the Independent Police Review Authority, and at a recent one held at a far North Side High School, 200 people gathered, according to local reports, to plea for change, share stories, and condemn the lack of police accountability.
One resident said, “Police must be held accountable and change the department from the racist department that it is today.” Activists note that this is a charge that spans decades and that black arrestees faced forced confessions, even torture, especially under the infamous police commander, Jon Burge, who tortured more than 200 criminal suspects between 1972 and 1991.
The U.K paper, The Guardian, last fall, showed evidence that Chicago police run a secret detention center, in Homan Square, and that 7,000 people had disappeared from view, and were also allegedly tortured, and abused; and when seeking answers to the charges, journalists, such as this one, received no reply from police officials.
Hearings such as these are also designed, says Ald. Joseph Moore, to help create a Public Safety Auditor to audit the police department and investigate allegations of misconduct within the department. Also considered is a Police Accountability Task Force, and a civilian investigative agency. Restoration of trust between the police and the communities they serve is also sought; and which has eroded over several decades in the city’s black communities. This was demonstrated in the events that also erupted in Ferguson, MO, after the death of Freddie Gray, where police were seen as an occupying force, instead of protectors; an unfortunate national trend.
With the recent release of a video showing police shooting into an open car, that killed a young African American, Paul O’Neal, who stole it from a suburban dealership, the subsequent chase, and firings, in a residential neighborhood on the South Shore, in broad daylight, is proof, say residents and observers, of the deep lack of accountability. Departmental policy expressly bans “shooting at a car when it is the lone threat.”
The reaction by the police also caused some surprise: city officials speedily, and uncharastically, released the video of O'Neal's shooting; and Johnson “almost immediately revoked the the police powers of the three officers who fired shots,” reported the Chicago Tribune.
In another move, that some are calling bold, Johnson, also on Thursday, recommended that seven officers be fired for lying in the aftermath of McDonald, and stripped them of their police powers. But, on Monday, The Fraternal Order of Police countered that the officers civil rights were trampled, because the firings came with no specific policy violations.
Supporters of the change, keeping recent events in mind, show have a three-tiered goal: a community safety oversight board, for community input; a new agency to replace the IPRA, and lastly, to create the new agency before the October budget process begins.
One area of reform that seems to plague the department is “insufficient training and tactical blunders leading to questionable uses of force”, the paper reported, and which are mostly “unresolved.” If the O’Neal shooting is an indication of such gaps, where the body camera of the shooting officer was not recording, then those assertions bear witness. It was later turned on, only to reveal, what the Tribune described as, “potentially damning comments."
Looking away from the racial aspects of charge, and countercharge and back to the crime increase, perception maybe as the old adage, states, “ten percent of the law.” Yet, some say, especially academics, say that looking at specific areas does not make sense, and that the differences between what is happening “in Chicago on the South Side is different than what’s going on in the North and West,” according to Richard Berk, a professor of statistics and criminology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Furthermore, treating the “city as a unit doesn’t make any criminological sense,” Berk has said.
Off the 24 cities cited by the study, the largest overall increase showed 316 killings in the first half of this year, up from 211 in 2015, with the potential to top 600 homicides in a year; the first time in 2003. Adding to the mix, for Chicago, who had the largest increases,are the proliferation of illegal guns; police have said they have confiscated 5,000, and arrested 1,530 people for gun-related offenses.
To blame, say some, are the presence of gangs, others say drug sales, and then others, taking a step back, say guns, are the reason. Darrel Stephens, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the group of law enforcement leaders that collected the data for the study,said that even with overall crime decreases, “you still have too many people killed in America by homicide, more than any other industrialized nation in the world,” and citing pockets of high poverty and impact on African American populations.”
Gang violence has certainly been established as part of the recent increase in violence, and one district commander, Roberto Nieves, at an earlier community meeting said, “The gangs that affect us here, believe it or not, are the same ones in Englewood, in Skokie - they travel.” And, some criminologists note that the problem used to be inter gang warfare, and now has spread to inter gang warfare, and, in some instances, aided and abetted through social media.
Part of the fight against the increasing stats, will have to be a corresponding increase in crime prevention, and reporting, an area of both strong contention, denial, and blame shifting that has plagued the nation’s third largest city for some time. Within the last two years, Chicago Magazine even cited evidence that CPD was scrubbing the number of crimes, or underreporting them at best.
What is needed most, many residents, and victims, say are more police to battle the crime. But this has been an ongoing problem, reaching back to the Richard Daley administration, whose reluctance, in a deficit ridden city, to hire more, had residents complaining to a local columnist, that fear of the future without enough beat cops was increasing.
It was apparent, even then, that attrition was being used to balance the budget for what are known as 9161’s -- those officers that are the first responders. With often fuzzy math, those that were on medical leave, or disability, gave rise to figures that were not wholly accurate on the rolls.
On the heels of a long hot summer, some wonder if cooler weather might serve as a deterrent for high crime, but mostly are calling for cooler heads to determine, how, and when Chicago police can provide reform, as well as, relief from cases like McDonald and O’Neal.
In fact, Ald. George Cardenas, praised the choice, and said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, “The violence isn’t just in the African-American community. It’s not just on the West Side and the South Side. It’s in the Hispanic community. The superintendent needs a No. 2 person who can give him a different perspective. Someone who reflects the diversity of the city and also the diversity of the problems we face.”
Statistical reports have shown that Chicago homicides, and shooting, are up by nearly 50 percent in comparison with the same time last year. While overall violent crimes are still well below what they were 20 years ago, there is still a significant cause for concern, say many residents. And, while this is a trend for other U.S. cities, in fact more than 24, according to a recent study, residents and police officials alternate between anger and frustration at the reports.
At the end of last month, in West Ridge, so many women were attacked in the early morning hours, according to local reports that police “actually lost track of how many victims were waiting for service.”
While academics, and those who study crime, say that there is no trend, there are many who state otherwise, especially the families and communities affected, and are demanding change. The Chicago CIty Council is holding a series of public hearings to gauge proposals to replace the Independent Police Review Authority, and at a recent one held at a far North Side High School, 200 people gathered, according to local reports, to plea for change, share stories, and condemn the lack of police accountability.
One resident said, “Police must be held accountable and change the department from the racist department that it is today.” Activists note that this is a charge that spans decades and that black arrestees faced forced confessions, even torture, especially under the infamous police commander, Jon Burge, who tortured more than 200 criminal suspects between 1972 and 1991.
The U.K paper, The Guardian, last fall, showed evidence that Chicago police run a secret detention center, in Homan Square, and that 7,000 people had disappeared from view, and were also allegedly tortured, and abused; and when seeking answers to the charges, journalists, such as this one, received no reply from police officials.
Hearings such as these are also designed, says Ald. Joseph Moore, to help create a Public Safety Auditor to audit the police department and investigate allegations of misconduct within the department. Also considered is a Police Accountability Task Force, and a civilian investigative agency. Restoration of trust between the police and the communities they serve is also sought; and which has eroded over several decades in the city’s black communities. This was demonstrated in the events that also erupted in Ferguson, MO, after the death of Freddie Gray, where police were seen as an occupying force, instead of protectors; an unfortunate national trend.
With the recent release of a video showing police shooting into an open car, that killed a young African American, Paul O’Neal, who stole it from a suburban dealership, the subsequent chase, and firings, in a residential neighborhood on the South Shore, in broad daylight, is proof, say residents and observers, of the deep lack of accountability. Departmental policy expressly bans “shooting at a car when it is the lone threat.”
The reaction by the police also caused some surprise: city officials speedily, and uncharastically, released the video of O'Neal's shooting; and Johnson “almost immediately revoked the the police powers of the three officers who fired shots,” reported the Chicago Tribune.
In another move, that some are calling bold, Johnson, also on Thursday, recommended that seven officers be fired for lying in the aftermath of McDonald, and stripped them of their police powers. But, on Monday, The Fraternal Order of Police countered that the officers civil rights were trampled, because the firings came with no specific policy violations.
Supporters of the change, keeping recent events in mind, show have a three-tiered goal: a community safety oversight board, for community input; a new agency to replace the IPRA, and lastly, to create the new agency before the October budget process begins.
One area of reform that seems to plague the department is “insufficient training and tactical blunders leading to questionable uses of force”, the paper reported, and which are mostly “unresolved.” If the O’Neal shooting is an indication of such gaps, where the body camera of the shooting officer was not recording, then those assertions bear witness. It was later turned on, only to reveal, what the Tribune described as, “potentially damning comments."
Looking away from the racial aspects of charge, and countercharge and back to the crime increase, perception maybe as the old adage, states, “ten percent of the law.” Yet, some say, especially academics, say that looking at specific areas does not make sense, and that the differences between what is happening “in Chicago on the South Side is different than what’s going on in the North and West,” according to Richard Berk, a professor of statistics and criminology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Furthermore, treating the “city as a unit doesn’t make any criminological sense,” Berk has said.
Off the 24 cities cited by the study, the largest overall increase showed 316 killings in the first half of this year, up from 211 in 2015, with the potential to top 600 homicides in a year; the first time in 2003. Adding to the mix, for Chicago, who had the largest increases,are the proliferation of illegal guns; police have said they have confiscated 5,000, and arrested 1,530 people for gun-related offenses.
To blame, say some, are the presence of gangs, others say drug sales, and then others, taking a step back, say guns, are the reason. Darrel Stephens, executive director of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the group of law enforcement leaders that collected the data for the study,said that even with overall crime decreases, “you still have too many people killed in America by homicide, more than any other industrialized nation in the world,” and citing pockets of high poverty and impact on African American populations.”
Gang violence has certainly been established as part of the recent increase in violence, and one district commander, Roberto Nieves, at an earlier community meeting said, “The gangs that affect us here, believe it or not, are the same ones in Englewood, in Skokie - they travel.” And, some criminologists note that the problem used to be inter gang warfare, and now has spread to inter gang warfare, and, in some instances, aided and abetted through social media.
Part of the fight against the increasing stats, will have to be a corresponding increase in crime prevention, and reporting, an area of both strong contention, denial, and blame shifting that has plagued the nation’s third largest city for some time. Within the last two years, Chicago Magazine even cited evidence that CPD was scrubbing the number of crimes, or underreporting them at best.
What is needed most, many residents, and victims, say are more police to battle the crime. But this has been an ongoing problem, reaching back to the Richard Daley administration, whose reluctance, in a deficit ridden city, to hire more, had residents complaining to a local columnist, that fear of the future without enough beat cops was increasing.
It was apparent, even then, that attrition was being used to balance the budget for what are known as 9161’s -- those officers that are the first responders. With often fuzzy math, those that were on medical leave, or disability, gave rise to figures that were not wholly accurate on the rolls.
On the heels of a long hot summer, some wonder if cooler weather might serve as a deterrent for high crime, but mostly are calling for cooler heads to determine, how, and when Chicago police can provide reform, as well as, relief from cases like McDonald and O’Neal.
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