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Ken Griffin, Illinois’ richest man listed by Forbes, in March 2018, pledged to donate $10 million to Chicago’s efforts to combat gun violence in high-murder rate areas in the city.
The money will be in used by the Strategic Decision Support Centers across the city’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods to study real-time data and provide better support for Chicago police officers. Supervisors send them where they are most needed when a shooting or crime occurs.
This system will also be used for overseeing citizen complaints toward police officers and will be inspected by supervisors to determine if the officers need more field training before returning to duty.
Some of the grant money will be used to create programs by the police department, in collaboration with the university’s crime lab, to assist the officers with mental health and stress-related issues, as confirmed by city officials.
Superintendent Eddie Johnson has continued to tout the many accomplishments of the police department. Technology has reduced the number of shooting incidents on the South Side by 25 percent.
“And while those statistics are progressing in the right direction, on the ground in these communities we’re … finding hope and optimism … replacing fear and the sound of gun violence,” Johnson told the Chicago Tribune.
He also added that implementing 40 hours of anual preparation for Chicago police by 2021, will rejuvenate training for officers.
Johnson committed himself to further reform the department’s tactics and training. In hopes that there will not be another tragic incident like the one that rocked the city in November 2015. That concluded with the court-requested release of a video that revealed a white officer shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times, as he was walking away with a blade.
Lori Lightfoot, leader of the Chicago Police Board, noticed that Johnson made no comments about what Lightfoot declared the “generally minuscule” rate in which Chicago police investigators are solving murders — just 17 percent.
“Essentially, individuals need to feel safe,” stated Lightfoot, who is thinking about challenging Rahm Emanuel. “Children don’t feel safe. They don’t feel like they can leave their homes and go to class securely. They don’t feel like they can go to the parks. What’s more, that the truth is something that we have to all begin to continue pondering about and concentrated on with the goal that we get to a better place.”
Notwithstanding, every one of the changes the Chicago Police Department has set up amid the past couple years, the ACLU and others say the genuine change will not occur until there is an assent declare with government oversight for the officers.
ACLU alongside a myriad of organizations filed lawsuits demanding a third party to supervise Chicago police reforms. Lawful activity has been put on hold while the city of Chicago and the Illinois Attorney General’s office take a shot at an assent decree which is likely be recorded with the court this late spring.
Written by Juan Ayala
Edited by Jeanette Smith
Sources:
The Chicago Tribune: Crime-fighting technology in Chicago gets $10 million boost[s] from billionaire Ken Griffin
The Chicago Sun-Times: Billionaire Ken Griffin takes on Chicago crime with $10M to prevent violence
USA Today: The Affluent Ken Griffin gives $10 million to enable Chicago to police control murders, shootings
The Chicago Tribune: Eddie Johnson touts [a] continued drop in violence, credits data centers now in 12 districts
ABC 7 Chicago: Supt. Johnson touts the new use of force policy, CPD reforms
Featured Image Courtesy of Ceyhun Jay Isik’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Top Image Courtesy of Damien Entwistle’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License