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A group of Aldermen led by Ald. Raymond Lopez of the Back of the Yards neighborhood, rallied Monday to summon Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown and others from the Mayor’s office to present their specific plans to alleviate the rise in crime expected to occur this summer.
With the month of May coming to an end, the city of Chicago has had multiple shootings occur in the tourist attraction downtown area, including a shooting near the magnificent mile last week that saw seven people injured and two killed outside of a popular McDonald’s restaurant.
Alderman Lopez was joined by 29 other members of the city council who have called a special meeting of the entire city council to ask Brown, CEO of Chicago Public Schools Pedro Martinez, and Chicago Park District Superintendent Rosa Escareño for their plan to reduce crime during the coming summer months.
Lopez has had a long history of opposing both Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Superintendent Brown and has declared his candidacy for Mayor in the next Mayoral election. Lopez has also repeatedly called for the firing of the Chicago Police Superintendent and promises to do so if elected mayor.
Many aldermen have voiced their frustration with the increase in violent crime that has occurred over the last three years and feels that Superintendent Brown and Mayor Lightfoot are not making enough of an effort to fight crime. Following the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy at the landmark “Bean” sculpture in Millenium Park Downtown, Mayor Lightfoot imposed a weekend curfew barring teens from entering the park without an adult accompanying them past a certain time in the evening. Checkpoints equipped with metal detectors operated by off-duty police officers have also been added to park entrances downtown in an effort to reduce the violence.
Even with the added security measures, incidents still occurred downtown at the park, including the shooting of a man possessing an illegal firearm by an off-duty Cook County Sheriff. The new strategies implemented to prevent crime downtown have been met with criticism from all angles with critics of the mayor’s office claiming they are ineffective, and youth advocates arguing that the new security measures will dis-proportionally target children of color and prevent those from marginalized communities from being able to enjoy themselves in a public space meant for every Chicagoan to enjoy.
Aside from the curfew and enhanced security at Millenium Park, city council members claim Lightfoot and Brown have not offered many more solutions to the crime surge. They have targeted specific holidays where violence has spiked historically as mandatory days for police officers to work with no days off, which has become a highly unpopular policy with police officers and criticized by Aldermen like Lopez who called the cancellation of off days “not a sustainable solution.”
With the morale of the Chicago Police Department at a low level due to a myriad of reasons, officers have resigned from the department at record numbers in the last couple of years, leaving the police force severely understaffed. The City council and the Mayor’s office together are struggling to find real solutions to the issue of gun violence spreading across the city.
Written By Justin Connor
Edited by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
Chicago Sun Times: 30 City Council members call special meeting for Wednesday on violent crime surge
WTTW: Alderpeople Call Special City Council Meeting to Pressure Lightfoot on Crime Spike, Summer Violence
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Daniel X. O’Neil’s Flickr Page-Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Tommy Chheng’s Flickr Page-Creative Commons License