Are gangs a bigger threat than guns in Chicago?
theGRIO REPORT - This year, Chicago received national attention because if its violence issue, a problem that along with other undesirable traditions, has plagued the city for years...
McCarthy insists that the city of Chicago has comprehensive gun laws, but not stringent gun laws. He says the Chicago Police Department would support a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as universal background checks and a requirement to report the loss, theft or transfer of a firearm. This is in line with President Barack Obama’s proposed gun legislation, policies that Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel fully supports.
McCarthy said, “The fact that people don’t do jail time when they’re arrested with firearms in the city of Chicago,” also drives up the violence numbers. “They get off with probation. The Hadiya Pendleton case is the perfect example, because the accused shooter, Michael Ward, was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm last January, and if we had mandatory minimums for the possession of a firearm, he would not have been on the streets to commit the crime.”
Ways insists that existing gun laws should be enforced, “…but making sure that the prosecutors and the courts charge and try appropriately the people that are charged with carrying weapons.”
The Rev. Corey Brooks, Pastor of New Beginnings Church and Chicago’s famed “Rooftop Pastor,” who is also serving as a spokesman for the Watkins family, says, “We have to have things that are also going to help, from a heart perspective and from a mind perspective, as well.” New Beginnings Church is offering an $11,000 reward to information leading to the arrest of the shooter.
Chicago South Side pastor Bishop Larry Trotter says empowering residents to ignore the longstanding “no snitch” tradition, where witnesses don’t tell police what they saw, would help the city’s crime issue. “We’ve got to kill the apathetic attitude of people who see something in a neighborhood and won’t report it. I hate to say it, but there are people who look at the news and see kids are killed, and it’s so common, they just say ‘Well…’ it’s not gripping their hearts.”
Crime in Chicago is down, police say
Despite the elevated national attention that Chicago has received on its violence issue lately, the city’s crime numbers are down from 2012. Police say through March 11, the city had experienced 61 homicides this year versus 79 for the same time frame last year.
In February, Chicago had 14 murders, “the best since January, 1957,” according to McCarthy.
Chicago’s top cop said creating a comprehensive gang violence reduction strategy has been most effective in bringing the numbers down. Last year, he and his team built the strategy starting with a gang audit where they identified every gang member, gang, turf and who they were in conflict with. That information is available in databases and “right in the hands of officers on the streets,” McCarthy said, so that if a gang shooting happens, police are equipped with all of the players involved, their rivals and where possible retaliation would come from. “Retaliation is the first thing that we need to stop,” he said.
Another part of the strategy, McCarthy says, is eliminating individual narcotics markets. When Chicago police discover drug markets, they send police there, get the community involved, and bring city services to the area.
“We’re making significant progress,” McCarthy said, “We haven’t won this battle yet, but we are very very clearly making progress on it.”
Renita D. Young is a Chicago-based multimedia journalist. Follow her on Twitter @RenitaDYoung.
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