* ABC 7…

The U.S. attorney in Chicago on Monday wrote two letters. First, Zachary Fardon penned a resignation letter. Then on the way out the door he handed out a five-page public letter that amounts to a roadmap of what’s wrong in Chicago and how to fix it.

In the “open letter,” that focuses on Chicago’s unrelenting street violence and seemingly out-of-control murders, Fardon states that “this is not war” and he discourages the call to use National Guard troopers in the city. He is calling for more law enforcement officers.

“We need to flood those neighborhoods with local and federal law enforcement officers” wrote Fardon. “Not just to arrest the bad guys but also to be standing on that corner where shots otherwise might get fired, to be breaking up those corner loiterers, and to be meeting and learning and knowing the kids, the people, and the truth of who are the good guys, who are the bad guys, and who isn’t yet formed and can be swayed.”

The full letter is here. You should read it all.

* Let’s take a quick look…

The long term is that Chicago has an entrenched gang problem in a limited number of neighborhoods on the south and west sides. For decades, those neighborhoods have been neglected. The reasons for that historic run of neglect are rooted in ugly truths about power, politics, race and racism that are a tragic part of our local and national history and heritage. And as a consequence of those ugly truths, and the neglect they brought, these neighborhoods stand wrought with poverty and inadequate schools, businesses, jobs and infrastructure. For many growing up in these neighborhoods, there is a sense of hopelessness, a belief cemented early in life that they’re not good enough for higher education and that they’ll never get good jobs. Gangs and guns are ubiquitous, and gangs fill the void created by that hopelessness; they teach kids crime and violence, and give kids protection, money, and a sense of belonging. That’s the long term reality, and long term challenge.

The short view is the surge in violence since January 2016. That surge started immediately on the heels of those 4 successive events I mentioned in late 2015: the release of the Laquan McDonald video; the initiation of the DOJ pattern and practice investigation; the firing of CPD’s Superintendent; and the beginning of that ACLU contract. Those things exploded a powder keg that didn’t change fundamentally the landscape of gun violence or law enforcement, but they poured gasoline on the tragic aspects of those realities and further polarized our officers and our community.

* Fardon said there should be more federal agents in the city, including from the FBI, DEA and ATF…

Each is noble, talented and passionate about fighting crime. But here’s a hard truth: federal law enforcement can yield an improved impact on gun violence in this city by either folding those key federal agencies together into one agency, or as an alternative, assigning all their agents working on violent crime to one special task force with one mission and one leadership chain. Do that so that DEA isn’t limited to working dope cases, and ATF isn’t thinking only about gun trafficking, and no one is competing for credit on cases.

* No National Guard…

Some people recently have said bring in the National Guard. If you care only about the short view, maybe there’s some attractiveness to that notion. But if you care about the long view – if you don’t want to be talking about “Chiraq” and “two Chicagos” ten and twenty years from now, then it’s an ill-conceived notion. What would a National Guard presence say to folks in those neighborhoods? This is war, and you are the enemy. The Chicago of bike paths and glistening lakefront, and economic opportunity – that’s not your Chicago, it’s ours and we will protect it.

This is not war. Wars are fought between enemies. There is only one enemy here, and it is us, all of us in Chicago. Every single one of us. We are the problem, and we are the solution. If we resort to wrongheaded measures, we might set ourselves back years, even decades in the long term fight.

* Do the consent decree…

You can’t stop our brand of violence without a top-flight police department. And you can’t have a top-flight police department on the cheap. For decades, CPD has been run on the cheap. Officers don’t have the training, the supervision, the equipment, or culture they need and deserve. Our DOJ findings report lays that out.

* Create new “youth pathway centers, in the handful of most afflicted neighborhoods”…

The vast majority of those kids will do the right thing if we help them find and figure out what that right thing looks like. So let’s find those kids, and let’s intervene, in a positive way, in their lives. Let’s engage them, and their parents, teachers, community leaders, and clergy. Let’s deter criminal behavior and incentive lawful behavior.

To do that, we should have a brick and mortar place, in each afflicted neighborhood, that is base, the home, the epicenter to that effort.

* And recognize that violent crime in these areas spreads like a virus…

Biological viruses are transmitted through body fluid or air. The virus of gun play moves through social media. We can stop or stem that. Don’t send in the National Guard, send in the tech geeks. If a gang member makes CPD’s Strategic Subject List, find a way to curb or real- time monitor that gang member’s social media accounts. If kids have convictions or overt gang affiliations, find a way to curb their social media. I recognize that First Amendment issues come into play, but let’s test those limits. Lives are at stake. Enlist parents, teachers and clergy. And work with social media service providers for options to limit access and to create safeguards against social media as the conduit for the gun virus.

And at the same time, launch a positive community-based social media exchange both deterring kids from gangs and enticing them with music, sports, jobs or other outlets.

* Related…

* Chicago police recruits rarely flunk out, raising concerns about training

* ADDED: Group launches effort to employ 10,000 at-risk young Chicagoans

* ADDED: ACLU blasts Fardon for ‘blindsided attack’ on curtailing stop-and-frisk