Chicago police Supt. Jody Weis said Tuesday his department has made good on a promise to hold entire gangs accountable for violent acts its individual members committed.
There was initially some skepticism to Weis' August meeting with gang members, but he announced Tuesday that more than 60 people had been arrested in the 11th district in the wake of a gang-related shooting there.
Anthony Carter, 18, was killed on Aug. 31, just two weeks after Weis' gang conference with police and members of several Garfield Park-area gangs.
In the fewer than 60 days since Carter's death, dozens of other reputed gang members have been arrested for everything from misdemeanors to felonies. One was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, four were arrested on weapons-related charges and 52 were nabbed on drug-related charges.
"If you take 60 members out of a gang in a particular district, that's a pretty big impact," Weis said Tuesday.
As many as 15 cities around the country have employed the Violence Reduction Strategy in some fashion and have seen a 40 to 60 percent reduction in gang-related homicides, the department said in a statement.
Tuesday's report was announced proudly by Weis and his team.
"There actually every reason to think not only that this will work here but it can carefully and gradually be taken to scale out across the city," said David Kennedy, the criminologist who designed the anti-crime system.
A second gang call-in is scheduled for the near future, authorities said.
