Thread: Chicago Beats New York, Los Angeles In Murders

Chicago Beats New York, Los Angeles In Murders

Police Supt. Jody Weis To Take Hot City Council Hot Seat

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Chicago is the Second City in nickname and the third in population, but when it comes to murder, the city has the dubious distinction of being second to no city in America.

As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, the Chicago Sun-Times pointed out on Friday that Chicago has seen 426 homicides this year through Tuesday, compared with 417 in New York and 302 in Los Angeles.

At the end of 1998, Chicago made international headlines as the U.S. "murder capital" after surpassing New York's homicide totals for the first time ever. Chicago shed that dubious distinction when murders plummeted over the last decade.

There are more than 8 million people in New York, compared to slightly under 3 million in Chicago. The population of Los Angeles exceeds that of Chicago by more than 800,000.

Murder is also up, at a lower rate, in New York.

The alarming statistics were expected to come up on Friday when Police Supt. Jody Weis once again appeared before the City Council to address a crime rate that many believe has spun out of control. He appeared at a City Council budget hearing, which began at 10 a.m.

Weis, a career FBI agent, took office this year with a mandate to clean up the department in the wake of several scandals. But murders have risen, and arrests have fallen, on his watch.

Back in July, Weis addressed the media after being grilled by the Council on the subject.

"I don't mind tough questions," Weis said in July, not long after a shooting erupted on the streets of the Loop as crowds were leaving the annual Grant Park fireworks show. "The City of Chicago has the right to ask tough questions, especially when our crime is up nearly 13 percent."

Under tough questioning at a Council hearing that month, Weis suggested there was a "degree of timidness" among officers afraid of having lawsuits and citizen complaints filed against them.

At the hearing Friday, Weis may highlight what police view as a different problem: Officers have spent nearly 5,000 hours filling out inventory forms in the first nine months of 2008. "We'd rather they be on the street," said Beatrice Cuello, deputy superintendent of patrol.

Last year, the Cook County sheriff, who runs the jail, stopped inventorying arrestees' property. Under an agreement with the Police Department, cops took over the task.

"It's not our responsibility," said Steve Patterson, a spokesman for Sheriff Tom Dart. "We had an entire room filled with property.

Chicago is on pace to exceed 500 murders by the end of the year, but that number is far short of even approaching a record. In every year between 1991 and 1994, there were more than 900 homicides in the city, peaking in 1992 with 943 murders. The standing record for homicides in Chicago dates back to 1974, when there were 970 murders.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.ho ... 47736.html

Crime Skyrockets In City Compared With Last Year

316 More Shootings Than Last Year Through August

CHICAGO (AP) ― Violent crime in Chicago continues unabated this year, with the latest unofficial statistics showing that there were 316 more shootings in the city through August.

Through the end of September, there were 392 murders, 50 more than the same time last year.

Deputy Superintendent of Patrol Beatrice Cuello attributed the increased violence to street gang activity. She noted the arrests of high-ranking gang members has left a vacuum in which young gang members try to fill.

Crime had dropped consistently since about 2003, with murders dipping below 500 in 2004, the lowest since the 1960s. As recently as seven years ago, the murder tally was closer to 700.

David Olson of the Criminal Justice Department at Loyola University said there are likely several causes for the increase, including changes in police staffing and changes in the drug markets that drive shootings.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/chicago.vi ... 32091.html

10-Year-Old Victim Of Gang Violence Laid To Rest

Nequiel Fowler Among 125 People Fatally Shot In Chicago This Summer

Reporting
Dorothy Tucker

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Family members came together Friday for a final farewell to a young Chicago girl. Ten-year-old Nequiel Fowler lost her life to gang violence while walking with her blind sister.

Nequiel's grieving mother sobbed silently over her coffin. A relative took Nequiel's younger sister, Valerie's, hand and guided it over the casket. Valerie is blind; she and Nequiel were walking near their Southeast Side home when Nequiel was killed.

"We watched her take her last breath. It hurt. It hurt for a little child to lose her life like that," said family friend Sharon Jones.

Nequiel was the youngest victim shot to death since Memorial Day. From May 26 until Labor Day cbs2chicago.com has counted 125 people who were shot dead. That's nearly double the number of American servicemen and women killed in Iraq in the same period.

Tracking Summer Shootings In Chicago

The West Englewood neighborhood around 67th and the Dan Ryan Expressway had the highest number of deadly shootings, seven this summer. Residents aren't surprised.

"People get mad and go get a gun. Now instead of taking one life you done taken two. It's messed up. Young boys dying, young girls, babies dying," a Chicago man said.

The murders happened across the city, most on the South Side, but even downtown turned violent when a man was fatally shot near Grant Park after the Independence Day fireworks.

Tio Hardiman says the summer has been a rough one, and he speaks from experience. As the director of CeaseFire his job is to try and prevent shootings in the communities. He says the problem is too many idle young men who don't know how to resolve conflicts without guns.

The solution, he says, is more men willing to talk to young teens.

"We need a thousand men to hit the streets every weekend, reach out, find out what they want and get these guys off the streets," Hardiman said.

In addition to the 125 people killed by gunfire CBS 2 estimates that another 247 people were shot and wounded.

Chicago police dispute our numbers and a police spokesperson said they did not match department statistics. However, police would not provide us with any more information.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/summer.sho ... 11212.html

Top Cop To Gov.: City Violence Not Out Of Control

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The governor's crime fighting offer seemed to catch everyone off guard. On Thursday, Chicago's top cop called a news conference where he didn't try to hide the violent truth.

"It is up, it is up," Supt. Jody Weis said. "The facts don't lie. The murder rate's up about 13 percent."

Police superintendent Jody Weis didn't shrink from acknowledging the increase in Chicago's homicide rate, but his assessment was far less dire than the governor's, who yesterday offered to send in state troopers or the National Guard.

"I think we, those of us at the state level, need to offer a helping hand, and do something to help the mayor get his hands around this uncontrolled violence that's taking hold of some communities in the city of Chicago," Blagojevich said Wednesday.

Weis strongly disagreed that the violence was out of control. The superintendent delivered his version of the crime situation at Chicago police headquarters one day after Gov. Blagojevich had given a much different view.

"We've enjoyed phenomenal success in crime fighting since 2004," Supt. Weis said. "My predecessor did a great job since 2004. We may go up a little bit this year. But I don't see us going to the levels of the 70's or 90's when the murder rates were in the 800's. Although it sounds really bad, if you do a mathematical projection it's going to be right in line with the success the Chicago Police Department has had since 2004."

While newspapers compared the governor's offer to that of a Wild West sheriff offering to ride to the city's rescue, the governor's comments about Chicago violence made news around the world.

It certainly won't help Mayor Richard M. Daley's effort to bring the 2016 Olympics to town. Some close to Daley thought the governor was sending the mayor a message: stop blaming Blagojevich publicly for deadlock at the state capitol.

"It's the Hatfields and McCoys, you know that. There's a lack of trust," Daley said Tuesday. "Last year, the governor took all money away from Democratic legislators. He said, 'I don't like you any more!' And he took all the money away."

Supt. Weis says he would accept help from the Illinois State Police at his news conference Thursday afternoon. He chose to ignore the political infighting, and to tell the governor, "We'll use whatever help you send."

Exactly what that help could be is not yet clear, though state police officials and Weis planned to follow up.

CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports that in the south side's Washington Park neighborhood, the governor's remedy sounded good to some crime-weary residents.

"It's pathetic what's going on in the streets and we need all the help we can get," said resident Michael Woods. "I would be all for it."

"What the governor wants to do, if he wants to try it, that would be great," said resident Pamela Farland. "Just try something. But I don't think there's enough policemen out here, no I don't."

"Blago's crazy if he thinks putting the National Guard in neighborhoods will help anything," said resident Carl Williams. "It won't help, it will hurt."

Jody Weis said he'd gladly accept help from state troopers, especially using their expertise in tracing guns.

Weis says the state police once had a gun trafficking squad, working with Chicago cops, but it was disbanded before he arrived.

So what do you think? Should state police be sent to the city to fight crime? Click on the link at the top of the home page and let us know.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/weis.chica ... 73738.html

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