The Chicago Police Department launched a new unit to target areas of high crime following the city’s homicide rate more than doubling over the past several weeks compared to the same period in 2019.
Police announced this week the formation of a violent crime unit “to tackle violent crime and create community partnerships in some of our most challenging areas.” The department is reinforcing its Summer Patrol Unit, a 100-officer group that responds to emergencies during the warmer months of the year, when the number of homicides historically increases. The mobile unit will be stationed in high-crime areas, saturating it with extra officers.
“The ultimate goal of the Chicago Police Department’s organizational restructuring that began earlier this year has always been to bolster police resources under the authority of district commanders while also being able to address spikes in violent crime citywide,” the department said Tuesday.
The move comes after 95 murders in city limits in the four weeks leading up to July 5 — more than double the 45 murders that period last year, according to police data. Seventy-nine people were shot from Friday evening through early Monday, leaving 15 dead, according to a local paper. Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said officers recovered 173 illegal guns over the weekend.
Since January, 353 people have been killed in Chicago compared to 254 at the same point last year. Year to date, the city has, however, seen a decline in criminal sexual assault, robbery, aggravated battery, and theft.
Chicago’s police force came under fire in October 2014 for the shooting death of an unarmed black man, Laquan McDonald. In 2015, then-Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel faced new criticism following two police-related fatal shootings.
The homicide rate in Chicago jumped 84% in the first few months of 2016 compared to 2015. The 2020 figure to date is higher than the homicide rate at this time in 2016 after several years of a slight downturn in homicides.
On Monday, Brown blamed the shrinking jail population for the uptick in violence on the street. Since 2017, the Cook County Jail population has dropped from approximately 7,000 to 4,700.
“That is not sustainable, and many of these people come right back to the very communities where they’ve committed their crimes to commit more crimes,” Brown said.
