Four months after an extremely violent weekend in Chicago, neighborhood residents would feel reassured if suspects were locked up and all cases closed.
If only that were so.
There were 40 shooting incidents the weekend of Aug. 4--at least 75 people were shot, 13 of them fatally. Chicago hadn't endured such a savage stretch in years. It's now December, and the Chicago Police Department has made just three known arrests. Which likely means most of the shooters are still on the streets.
Shootings in Chicago--many of them gang-related--aren't easy cases to solve. Often it's violent chaos in motion. Shots come from gangways, from moving vehicles, from somewhere down the block. When bullets start flying in formation, some people are intended victims but others get struck accidentally. Sirens sound. Perpetrators flee. Witnesses can be reluctant to speak up.
CPD knows it must do a better job of policing. More residents in high-crime areas would be willing to help if relations were better between the department and community members, but trust has been broken due to past incidents of police abuse and intimidation meted out by gangbangers.
Then there's the investigative response: Is the department properly staffed to solve these cases? The CPD has announced that it would add 50 sergeants to supervise detectives investigating violent crimes, including shootings and homicides. CPD also plans to bring in experts from the Los Angeles Police Department and U.S. Department of Justice. We trust that Chicago's cops will listen to the outsiders with open minds--just as they expect officers in other departments to listen when CPD gang officers and other specialists travel the country to share their techniques.
Chicago cannot continue to be a battleground. Preventing shootings from happening would be ideal. Making arrests in as many cases as possible is mandatory.
Editorial on 12/11/2018