With public safety and gun violence on the tops of residents minds as the weather in Chicago gets warmer, interim supt. Fred Waller on Monday discussed the Chicago Police Department's plans for summer safety.
"We know there are many issues that contribute to gun violence, and we have to address them all, Waller said during a press conference Monday. "Internally, within the Chicago Police Department, we're looking at what we need to do in the short term. And what we need to do and long term was saving lives as our top priority."
The update comes following a series of violent weekends in Chicago, including Memorial Day weekend, where the city saw at least 11 people fatally shot and 53 shot and wounded. In 2022, those numbers were slightly lower.
According to Waller, CPD is looking at "historic and current data to analyze" how crime in the city has shifted. As a result "resources are being shifted in real time," and police districts are tailoring resources to to fit "specific needs of the communities they serve, including large events."
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In his announcement, Waller did not reveal detailed plans for specific communities. He did however note that the department's public safety effort requires a two-step approach involving close partnerships within communities and other agencies.
"We need your help to enhance safety in all neighborhoods," Waller said. "Our goal is not to only reduce violence, as we are seeing it right now, but to create a strong foundation for safety for future generations and Chicagoans."
Waller also said that the department has to have a better understanding of how violence occurs in different areas of the city, and by whom.
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"Some are people passing by in certain areas...and then all of a sudden, someone gets shot because they have a beef with someone. In the short term, we have to do a better job of just getting to know those areas. And that's where we work on getting to know those areas that we need to focus on, getting to know those blocks, even, that we need to focus on."
Waller also addressed police manpower.
"We can always use more manpower," Waller said, in response to a reporter question. "But I'm not gonna cry about it, because at this point it is what it is."
Also on Monday, Mayor Brandon Johnson presided over his first police graduation ceremony, thanking the new officers for answering the call to serve and protect in what he called “some of the most difficult political times our city has ever experienced.”
“Know as your mayor, as your brother, I’m here to build the type of coalition that generations to come will marvel because this will be the generation that stared into the eyes of the divisive nature that’s been created by political forces that do not want the city of Chicago to succeed. But this is the freakin’ city of Chicago. The best city in the world and no one — no one — will come before us,” Johnson told the graduates in the grand ballroom at Navy Pier."
Johnson also delivered a message to those who don't live in Chicago.
“If we’re gonna have a society that we all can be proud of and a society we can raise our families in, it’s gonna take all of us. No one can sit on the sidelines. And let me make this emphatically clear: If you don’t live in Chicago, you don’t have a right to talk about the city of Chicago.”
