Hadiya Pendleton (Chicago, Newark, Time: foreclosure, violent crime, how much)

[rubbersoul89]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Chicago spend a more on planting flowers along LSD than it does on breaking up the dope dealing hoodlum gangs.

why do so many chicagoans fails to grasp the reality that gangs aren't just going to go away, no matter how many of them you put in jail?

the CPD successfully took down many of the top ring leaders of the biggest gangs in the city over the last 20ish years and now the gangs are more splintered and less predictable than ever.

At best, the CPD can chip away at tiny chunks of the gang infrastructure, but there's no real progress to be made on that front.

[rubbersoul89]

Originally Posted by SmartGXL

This is why, I say that we need to get help from the federal government on this. What do I mean? I mean NATIONAL GUARD/MILITARY help. We need armored trucks and troops with guns and body armor, permanently setting up shop in the drug areas, at intersections, and then re-position the Chicago police into areas such as the Northside. Doing so will cause the drug markets to dissolve, and for the gangs to disband, as they will not have the ability to coordinate and operate. Their mobility will be limited and they will collapse and dissolve. The troops' mission will be to carry out law enforcement duties. They will also need to coordinate with suburban law enforcement, as we all know that the gangs will try to flee to the burbs when the city is put under martial law.

bull****.

unless you literally want to place the national guard on every street corner in chicago (which will never happen), your plan will fail in every aspect.

gangs aren't stupid, they know how to get around authority.

Originally Posted by SmartGXL

I agree Chet, but if they do not take action, now, then the city is finished. It will quickly spiral down into Detroit. It is already getting a national reputation for high crime, and violence, not just in the "bad areas" but now in the "world class" sections of town as well. I am here in TX, and people are openly mocking Chicago, stating that they will not travel there for business, nor for vacations. It will start to suffer economically, as companies will refuse to relcoate there, and current residents flee to the suburbs (or other cities and states, like I did) just to have a safe place to live.

ha.

the city is way safer today than it was a 20 years ago and noticeably better than it was even 10 years ago.

i'm just glad i don't live texas. that's for sure.

[linicx]

The city is not listed among the most dangerous in America, but St. Louis is. It's another one of the rewritten a dozen time headlines I give no credence to. (I don't care who wrote the original.)

[Link N. Parker]

Chicago has its problems, and yes, if things are not dealt with, then it will get worse.

[Link N. Parker]

There were more shooting deaths in the 90's, for sure, but someone was saying, the reason for less deaths now, is simply better medical care...yes shootings went down for a while, but now shootings are back up, and the reason those who are shot are not dying is because the hospitals have better medical care when it happens.

It would be interesting to see how many "shootings" there were then, and now, and to see if they are the same, even though the number of deaths has gone down.

[ProgMichael]

First of all, we all know that this isn't going to get corrected overnight. This is going to take years, maybe even a generation to get substantial improvement. Obviously the presence of gangs is the leading issue and the lack of father figures for many of these boys leads them to turn to gang members for that paternal need. Furthermore, many of these people in the poorer neighborhoods do not trust the police and those who do fear the repercussions of helping the police. I'm not a sociologist, but on the surface my two main thoughts would be this:

1) Whether fair or not, Police can no longer just be law enforcement. Police officers need to be community activists as well. They need to be in the neighborhoods not just on-duty, but off-duty as well. They need to go to the churches, participate in neighborhood activities, volunteer at elementary and middle schools. They need to establish rapport with the neighborhood residents. I know it's beyond the scope of typical police duty, but if we're serious about fighting crime then we need to engage residents and build trust, and not create an even greater arc of fear. What's worked in New York City and Newark is not working here. This request is difficult but not unrealistic and it CAN be done: Cathy Lanier Changes Policing in D.C. and Maybe Nation

2) Can we create a social program where Chicagoans (and even suburbanites) mentor a child from a single-parent home in a poorer neighborhood. You would have the young boy or girl one day a week, and communicate with them via phone, Skype, etc. every day. You would be responsible for being another father/mother figure. Many of these children do not have a positive influence in their lives. Sure, from a distance they see what life is like for people with financial means and a safe environment, but it's not a part of their everyday lives, it's not something tangible. I know many will shake this off as creating big government (and I realize funding is difficult now, but the onus is mostly on the mentor), but something has to be done to stem the bottomless pit of poverty. I know this can't be done for everyone, and I know this is not a foolproof program, but perhaps we could try it for a few years and determine its effectiveness. At high schools such as Urban Prep, teachers serve as mentors as well. Their interaction with students is not limited to the school day. Apply this on a larger social scale.

Chicago needs a think-outside-the-box mentality. Furthermore we cannot accept the "quick fix". We need to understand that our decisions today should impact future generations. Lastly, perhaps we need to not only look at US urban success stories, but Canadian ones as well. The most dangerous cities in Canada have about one-third the violent crime rate of Chicago. Sure it's cultural, but let's look north of the border too to gauge effectiveness in fighting crime. Apologies for the long-winded note here.

[jonnynonos]

Originally Posted by Link N. Parker

There were more shooting deaths in the 90's, for sure, but someone was saying, the reason for less deaths now, is simply better medical care...yes shootings went down for a while, but now shootings are back up, and the reason those who are shot are not dying is because the hospitals have better medical care when it happens.

It would be interesting to see how many "shootings" there were then, and now, and to see if they are the same, even though the number of deaths has gone down.

No idea if its accurate but someone told me a cop told him at least 3-1 for shootings to deaths. Sounds about right. Good point about medical care. That is likely also a factor.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by chicagobear

The mayor and chief of police are in a tough spot, because if they start cracking down and putting more gangbangers in jail, someone in the black community claims it's a "war against black men."

EXACTLY!!!

We don't call the war on terrorism a war on Arab men. But if they were to start sweeping the streets of these hoodlums what you say is exactly what would happen. We need to say enough is enough and stop seeing it as a race issue and simply as a problem that needs to be dealt with--and dealt with hard.

The gangbangers are domestic terrorists and need to be treated as such.

[Irishtom29]

These gangs are at war with The United States; they're in a state of rebellion and should be treated just as Confederates or hostile Indians were: shot on sight.

[viv_smi98]

Authorities are too worried about their jobs to do anything truly necessary on this front. You are right-- some blacks will cry "racism" if you start cracking down on these hoodlums, but let them cry! Sacrifice the votes if that's what it takes! Most sensible blacks understand that there is a crisis here and criminals need to be dealt with accordingly. As long as it isn't indiscriminate (like when they assumed Hadiya's friends were all gang members). That's a tough call and something they'll have to exercise due caution with. There need to be more blacks in the police force, for one. Some other groups like to lump everyone who looks the same into the same category, but I think blacks are automatically more attuned to the differences.

And the problems do need to be prevented before they happen. I believe strongly that we should cut back certain programs that encourage/allow poor women to keep having babies and instead use that money to expand Planned Parenthood. Good luck with that happening in this political climate though. Half will cry about welfare getting cut and the other half will cry about Planned Parenthood getting government funding, and nothing will change. You can't really have one without the other though, abstinence does not work. Whether it's a moral failing or not does not matter when we need policies in place that really will help solve this PROBLEM that seems to be getting worse and worse. If people treated this as the crisis that it is, political ideology would not matter.