Chicagoans brace for more violence with warm weather

In his recent visit to Chicago, former president Barack Obama held a meeting at the South Shore Cultural Center, along with his wife Michelle, to discuss plans for his presidential library, and his vision for that space. Included in his remarks, were some unexpected, and even unbridled comments about problems facing the city.  Leading them, was the increasing violence that has pockmarked the city’s reputation. As Obama remarked, “if you ask a lot of people outside of Chicago about Chicago, what’s the first thing they talk about? They talk about the violence.”

So far the city has exceeded the 762 homicides from last year, with over 1,000 people shot, and it seems well on its way to pass its two decade record. With the approach of summer, Chicago is poised for further increases with increasingly warmer temperatures. The link between hot weather, and crime, supported by scientific evidence, already has some residents fearful.

This past weekend, the city saw 18 people shot as the mercury rose, and fall.

Severe heat increases crime, according to psychologist Lance Workman at the University of Glamorgan (UK) who has established a link between hot weather and the levels of serotonin – a brain chemical – that is released, with a side-effect that can heighten aggression.

“‘Violent crime and riots increase as temperatures rise,’ he emphasized, and ‘“The majority of riots in the USA occur when the temperature increases to between 27C and 32 C (81 to 90 Fahrenheit). When the temperature goes over 32C, however, riots level off and begin to fall because people become so hot they can't be bothered."

While police have effectively kept crime away from the downtown areas, the tourists, and the predominantly white North side, the near daily media coverage of blacks shooting other blacks (albeit low-income blacks) is a near daily occurrence, especially in some neighborhoods, such as Englewood. The increased violence has also exacerbated racial tensions in a city with a long history of racial segregation. And, it has  fueled suspicion towards blacks from white visitors, even middle class blacks, as they make their daily commute to work, or school.

That commute has also become fraught with tension, as Chicago’s public transportation system, especially the Red Line subway, has become rife with robberies, some even in broad daylight, and others, in early evenings, with roaming gangs stealing, often under gun point, wallets, purses, and cell phones. Chicago Transit Authority officials, say that video surveillance cameras can help apprehend perpetrators, but most get away.

A local community newspaper features a police blotter detailing the crimes, and most offenders are not apprehended. Activists, such as Eric Russell, have suggested the use of Guardian Angels style monitors, as well as dedicated text numbers for riders to report crimes, and audio announcements that the trains are being monitored. Yet, to appear (as in London) are plainclothes police, riding the trains.

Seemingly, most of the attention is given, by CTA, and Chicago police, to the homeless who sleep on the trains, often lacking the money to pay another, required, fare at each end of the Red line.

Last year there was a focus on cheaters who jumped the turnstile, as CTA officials felt that there was linkage between those that did so, and system violence. This year that seems to not be a tactic.

Adding to the racially charged atmosphere are the divisions from the 2016 elections, and the much publicized capture, and torture, of a young white male by four black teenagers, who yelled, “Fuck Trump,” and “Fuck white people, as they slashed his clothes, and other indignities. As a consequence the city is on edge, as headlines blare the latest violent sprees.

Sup. Eddie Johnson

Gangs and guns are prevalent in equal measure, and ways to prevent both have been on the forefront of police concern. There have been intervention methods, by police, used to track social media bragging, and provocation, to proposed legislation to thwart, or at least contain their violence, which can spill into the streets, killing innocent bystanders. Often the headlines are full of stories where toddlers, or school age children, become drive by casualties.

A recent case had two police officers shot as they ran a covert operation, but instead were shot by a gang member who may or may not have thought they were rival gang members. According to the Chicago Tribune, it was “unclear what the shooter knew that the unmarked, covert van carried officers or if he thought that they were rival gang members.”

The suspects were reputed to be members of the La Raza street gang, one of four Hispanic gangs believed to he responsible for about three dozen shootings tied to semi-automatic rifles,” in a West side neighborhood, according to reports.

Adding to the threats to quality of life in that Back of the Yards neighborhoods is an increasing use of rifles, “styled after AR-15s and AK-47s . . . a menacing new development in the gang fights,” and they also noted, “a menacing new development in the gang fights.”

As The Chicago Sun-Times reported: “Further antagonizing police challenges are carjackings, near downtown areas, and in some neighborhoods. Whether it’s a Bears wide receiver’s Maserati or the 2006 BMW heisted in an incident that led to a man being shot early Tuesday, carjackings are making headlines around downtown Chicago and on the West and North sides.

City crime statistics show their numbers have been on the rise: Vehicular hijackings in Chicago nearly doubled between 2015 and 2016 and are occurring with the same frequency this year.

Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the uptick “appears to be a pattern between Area Central and Area North involving juveniles and targeting higher-end vehicles.”

Efforts in March, of this year, by CPD superintendent, Eddie Johnson, to push a bill through the state legislature to curb guns was caught in the ongoing donnybrook between state Democrats and Republicans, who led by Gov. Bruce Rauner, opposed the bill, saying that it was too soft on crime.

Regional differences between city and suburb, but also downstate, in more rural areas, (where hunting is prevalent), have differing opinions regarding gun control, made the bill, which emerged from committee by one vote, dead on arrival in the Illinois Senate.

Drug usage has vastly increased in the surrounding suburbs with heroin, leading as the drug of choice, even among affluent families, and many lawmakers demurred, so as not to be soft on the offenders, or the dealers.

Mayor Emanuel

 “The proposal would increase the sentencing guidelines for judges deciding punishment for repeat gun felons. Instead of a range of three to 14 years, judges would hand out sentences in the range of seven to 14 years. If judges wanted to depart from that guideline, they would have to explain why,” reported the Chicago Tribune.

Race of course entered the picture, and while attempts to limit low level criminals from the jails, rehabilitations is still sought by many, including Sen. Patricia Van Pelt, who claimed, that “more arrests is just going to cost us more money.”

Sen. Don Harmon noted that,  “Almost 900 black and brown men were killed with guns last year. If there were 900 heroin overdoses in DuPage County, we'd be moving heaven and earth to deal with it, and we sit on our hands while kids are getting shot.”

Running along like an old-school television crawl, under the banner of crime prevention, is the tension between CPD and that of the black community, which earned national headlines with the shooting of an unarmed black teenager, named Laquan McDonald, created the tipping point between effective, and lawful, policing and what others have called deadly racial profiling.

The delayed release of police video, from the incident, ensnared Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and the State’s Attorney Office, whose previous head Anita Alvarez, seemed to be in a political blockage as Emanuel, allegedly had the tape held from public scrutiny, as he faced an unexpected challenge from former Cook County Board member, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.

After that, and repeated revelations of police brutality, going back to the days of Cmdr. John Burge, who was convicted of torturing black prisoners, guilty, or innocent, the issue of police brutality reached a fever pitch.

With charges of racism, many called for Emanuel to resign, which he did not do, but did manage to win, albeit shaken, after a runoff election,a historic first for Chicago. Since then there has been a Department of Justice investigation, under the Obama administration, in its outgoing days, that had, then Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, issuing a scathing report, that included among other charges, pervasive racism.

Reaction form CPD and the Fraternal Order of Police, was wholly negative, and was labelled as a political untruth, or even “crap, and that police could not do their jobs, with increased regulations and policy changes, mandated reports, and videos.In fact, many police and their supporters trashing the findings.

Increased satisfaction led the Fraternal Order of Police to vote out Dean Angelo, as head, and put Kevin Graham, in his place. Graham, outspoken in his opposition to reform, and the DOJ report, had the Tribune reporting, “Graham has slammed the media for allegedly lying about police misconduct claims and applauded [Jeff] Sessions' move to review the federal government's reform agreements with local police agencies. He also said he disagreed with Emanuel and Supt. Eddie Johnson's pledges to continue pursuing reform.”

“Sessions recognizes that the police are generally doing a good job and must be allowed to continue to do so. We think this decision is a step in the right direction to restoring law and order and diminishing violent crime in the city,” he continued.

Jeff Sessions, the new US Attorney General has vowed that he will not use a consent decree to enforce the findings and police have gone into retrenchment mode against all suggestions, otherwise, for improvement.

Nearly five years ago, for my now defunct Examiner column, I spoke with Dr. Dennis Rosenbaum, professor of criminology, law and justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has done research on anti-gang and anti-violence strategies in Chicago, and more than a dozen cities across the nation. He emphasized what he thinks is a key role for prevention: putting police in the community so that they get a feel for the community, and most importantly to know the residents, identify the repeat offenders, and “the people [that are supportive] of police efforts.”

This idea was compromised by a shortage of police, under the Richard M. Daley administration, with a “cost savings” formula for greater overtime, one that proved to be self-defeating. There has been increased recruiting, by Emanuel, but observers feel that it will take years before any positive effect can be seen by the new officers, due to lack of experience.

In a recent North Side meeting with the newly created Community Policing Advisory Panel, residents asked for “ a change in the “police culture”, and “greater accessibility.” Also, asked for were police from “every ethnic group,” with preference to working in their own neighborhoods.

Heard then, and previously, were “more foot patrols, bike patrols, and more personal contact. We want friendly police community interaction.”

Present at that meeting was Johnson, but who said little beyond, “the rest of the country is looking at Chicago right now.” One of those, looking, is President Trump who has frequently used the city as an example of what’s gone wrong with America’s largest cities.

Many academics and lawmakers have stated that the root causes of the violence in the black neighborhoods are economic disinvestment and opportunities for employment. Illinois has the highest black unemployment of the nation at 12.7 percent compared to 6.7 for Latinos and 5 percent for whites..

Add to that, an often fragmented family structure, without two parents. To counter that, Emanuel has established a mentoring program, that the city’s website calls “a bold and aggressive effort to invest $36 million in public and private funds over three years to expand mentoring programs to serve at risk youth across the city.”

Designed as a volunteer based program, he “has set aside the cash to bankroll an immediate expansion of Becoming A Man, the program with the best track record for results. Also known as BAM, Becoming A Man served 2,700 students in the last school year and has seen crimes fall and graduation rates soar among its participants.

Now, the program will add room for nearly 1,400 more students — a total of 4,080. That will help deliver on the mayor’s promise to provide a mentor to every one of the 7,200 eighth-, ninth- and tenth-grade boys in Chicago’s 20 most violent neighborhoods,” reported the Chicago-Sun Times.

A local columnist for the Chicago Tribune, said, “As long as we live isolated in our demographic, geographic bubbles, largely ignorant of each other, the city's troubles won't be fixed. Mentoring programs are one way to open the borders.”

Many of these efforts, be they economic efforts, or mentoring programs, will take time; a lot of time, and some effects may not be seen for more than a generation. Meanwhile, it may be a long hot summer.