As Chicago Public Schools prepares to eliminate resource officer positions districtwide, a new study found removing police from city schools has not led to increased disciplinary issues, nor did it make students and staff feel less safe.
A Safer City
A WTTW News reporting initiative diving deep into neighborhood crime, violence and public safety as residents, policymakers and community groups work to address the growing issue.
According to the Chicago Police Department, 31 people were shot in 25 separate shooting incidents between Friday and Sunday evenings.
The revised policy represents a “substantial improvement” over the original policy, according to a coalition of police reform groups that challenged the policy in federal court.
According to the Chicago Police Department, the boy was standing on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of South Independence Boulevard just before 8:30 p.m. Friday when he was shot.
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd Ward) came up with the idea following a violent attack on May 31 when a group of teenagers allegedly assaulted a couple in the Streeterville neighborhood. The man was hit in the head several times, and the woman was kicked in the stomach, which she said caused her to suffer a miscarriage.
An 18-year-old woman fatally shot as she sat in a vehicle early Sunday morning in West Englewood was among eight people killed by gunfire over the weekend across Chicago.
Chicago has a reputation as the City of Big Shoulders. For rough-and-tumble politics. And for having a lot of crime, despite strict gun laws. But what are those laws? WTTW News explains.
People marched the streets in Bronzeville to demand that elected officials and law enforcement authorities do more to resolve missing persons and murder cases. Black girls and women are overrepresented in missing persons cases in Chicago, according to reports.
The Chicago Police Department held an open training session at McCormick Place, where police demonstrated for media the different measures and strategies the department is planning to deploy during the August convention.
With rising overtime costing the city more each year, records show the Chicago Police Department paid a high price for overtime for shifts meant to curb violence before ending its strategic deployment initiative. The city did not explain how it judged the effectiveness of the plan it recently ended.
“There’s no silver bullet here,” study author David Johnson said. “But there is some really solid evidence that the work that schools are doing matters. And I think that’s really exciting and important.”
“I am heartened by the progress CPD has made,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said. “I think Chicagoans should be heartened. I think there are persistent concerns. I think there is time to address them.”
The Chicago Police Department has fully met just 7% of the consent decree’s requirements, according to the most recent report by the team monitoring CPD’s progress.
Through the end of May, there have been 204 homicides and 979 shootings, both of which are the lowest totals for any year in Chicago since 2019.
A man who was fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in the Back of the Yards neighborhood Sunday was among at least three people killed by gunfire across Chicago over the weekend.
Chicago police are better prepared to handle the large protests and crowds expected during the upcoming Democratic National Convention, but concerns still exist around the police department’s ability to put those preparations into action, a new watchdog report found.
