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Take it with a large mountain of salt

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* Today’s Sun-Times…

This past weekend saw the most fatal shootings all year in Chicago, but CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson said deploying extra officers to control crowds around Wrigley Field during the World Series did not mean other neighborhoods were neglected.

Between Friday evening and Monday morning — as the Cubs were playing three straight games at Wrigley Field — 17 people were shot and killed in Chicago, nearly all on the South and West sides. […]

The extra officers at Wrigley didn’t impact police staffing in the rest of the city, Johnson said Monday morning after a department graduation ceremony at Navy Pier.

Those neighborhoods hit by the spike in fatal shootings “didn’t get shortchanged at all this weekend,” he said.

* This past weekend in the Sun-Times…

For five years, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other city officials hewed to the same script, maintaining to the public that Chicago has enough cops.

And the mayor and police brass proclaimed that they were working with the community to fight problems that lead to crime.

But out of the spotlight, the Emanuel administration told federal officials that the Chicago Police Department needed hundreds of additional officers and that community-based policing has been withering in Chicago for years — and that’s been a factor in the rise in violent crime battering the city.

In applications for grants from the Justice Department the past two years, city officials portrayed the Chicago Police Department as dangerously understaffed — even as Emanuel and police brass publicly dismissed calls to hire more cops until just a few weeks ago.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 2:31 pm

Comments

The mayor and the brass knew the truth all along, but denied it, and now we reap what they sowed.

Comment by anon Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 2:45 pm
There’s no fool proof method or science to link crime w police staffing, hire more cops (when the population is dropping) might help, but my guess is it won’t. I do enjoy the paper trying to pin murders on the cubs, now I’ve heard everything.

Comment by Doubt it Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 2:54 pm
This isn’t a simple matter of more or less police, this is a problem of economic despair, coupled with a fraying in the social fabric in general. Kids in Lincoln park are born the same as kids in englewood. Parents of kids in Lincoln park struggle to make sure that their kids are raised right, and they have the advantages of general prosperity on their side. Parents in englewood face far greater challenges when raising their kids, from crime, to protecting their kids from the pressure to join gangs, to the quality of the education their children will receive. Until this city addresses this economic disparity, and until our solutions to crime involve more than adding more police, we will never end this cycle of violence.

Comment by Anon Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 2:55 pm
One comment? Unbelievable.

–For five years, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other city officials hewed to the same script, maintaining to the public that Chicago has enough cops…

…But out of the spotlight, the Emanuel administration told federal officials that the Chicago Police Department needed hundreds of additional officers and that community-based policing has been withering in Chicago for years — and that’s been a factor in the rise in violent crime battering the city.–

And the truth shall set you free.

Thank you Dumke, thank you Sun-Times, thank you Rich.

Why are these horrible, self-serving lies from Emanuel, in regards to public safety, NOT the only story in the city?

What is wrong with the media in this town? Do you not understand the phrase “smoking gun?” The Sun-Times just put it on the table. Look at it!

As for Spin Dr. Emanuel…

You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 2:59 pm
Cops on patrol don’t decrease the violence for a weekend. It’s a bigger issue than that. Understaffing community policing and investigative personnel over the long-term certainly contributes though.

Comment by Shemp Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 3:01 pm
Anon. I believe raising minimum wage to $18/ hr will solve these problems.

Comment by blue dog dem Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 3:03 pm
When I looked at the numbers in 2008, Chicago had one sworn officer for every 200 residents. Naperville had one sworn officer for every 750 residents. Clearly Naperville is underpoliced and all there are at risk.

Drugs are the economic fuel for the gang violence. I advocate state controlled distribution of less dangerous drugs to cut the cash flow to the gangs while still providing some attempt to stop the damage of the drugs themselves.

The state and city need to promote positive alternatives to gangs (one of the original reasons for the Boy Scouts) to provide structure and status for youth. The culture needs to change, but I will wait for those in the communities at risk to come up with solutions there.

Comment by Last Bull Moose Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 3:29 pm
If the City only had more programs to help the disillusioned youth…..

Comment by Ron Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 3:34 pm
I had really hoped MRE putting Liquor signs up all over the CTA would bring Gang Harmony./s

Comment by yeah Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 3:40 pm
Is it true that the Daley administration cut significant numbers of police jobs from the budget over the years? I am not a fan of Rahm, but if Daley’s cuts are a fact, to Rahm’s credit he has not whined about inheriting a weakened PD.

Comment by Motambe Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 4:17 pm
We need more police officers but we don’t want to pay for more police officers. So the killing continues.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 5:04 pm
Talk to any front line officer and they will tell you they have had their hands tied following the McDonald debacle. Not excusing isconduct but unless you allow police to do their jobs- crime will increase. It’s a war on our streets and Rahm isn’t allowing our soldiers to engage

Comment by Sue Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 5:19 pm
With regard to hiring more officers: kinda feel like the law of diminishing returns kicks in at this point. Chicago has plenty of police and they’re pretty visible in these areas of the City. Unfortunately, the City seems to be more and more desensitized to these reports. From a marco sense, the Chicago economy seems to be humming a lot. Take a deeper look though and you’ll see a lot of those good jobs claimed by people that grew up in the suburbs or the well connected.

Chicago: Exhibit A for the war on a drugs and a government that’s complacent with the current economy.

Comment by BK Bro Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 5:43 pm
===our soldiers===

It’s that attitude that has gotten us into this mess.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 7:07 pm
Sue- “Talk to any front line officer…”
Front line is a military term, as in the front lines in the Battle of the Bulge. An officer is a person whose commission is signed by the President of the United States. By “officer” do you mean cop?

“…they will tell you they have had their hands tied following the McDonald debacle.”
A person is killed by CPD with a coverup where only two of five cameras on scene were “working” and falsified reports is a “debacle.” For the family it involves claiming a body at the morgue.

Hands tied means police abiding by the laws and the Constitution, or refraining from administering electric shock or suffocation like CPD detective Jon Burge?

“Not excusing (m)isconduct…”
“Misconduct” when used to describe conspiracy and murder by police criminals is my favorite nonsense spin term! It’s like when I got served a beer in campus town when I was nineteen at the dorm party, but I was supposed to be twenty-one. Misconduct, write me up for a student council ticket!

“…unless you allow police to do their jobs…”
“Their jobs” is always presented as defined by the police themselves. Do firefighters and garbagemen decide what their jobs are?

“…crime will increase.”
Always a threat of retaliation whenever you deal with cops.

“It’s a war on our streets…”
This person definitely lives somewhere like Jefferson Park, not Englewood. Maybe one of those cop wives with the checkered hatbands hanging off their rear view mirror to show they are “connected.” I always find it strange how there is almost a Chicago Outfit type twist to these people.

“…Rahm isn’t allowing our soldiers to engage”
If it weren’t for the phoney politicians tieing our hands, we could do what we have to do to keep “our” neighborhoods safe.

Comment by Payback Monday, Oct 31, 16 @ 8:23 pm