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| Rahm Emanuel talks tough and vows to lower Chicago's soaring murder rate | Rahm Emanuel talks tough and vows to lower Chicago's soaring murder rate |
| (12 days later) | |
| Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago has vowed to break the cycle of gang-on-gang violence that is tearing apart poorer neighbourhoods of the city, moving to redefine police priorities in the face of a soaring murder rate that has already claimed 261 lives this year. | Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago has vowed to break the cycle of gang-on-gang violence that is tearing apart poorer neighbourhoods of the city, moving to redefine police priorities in the face of a soaring murder rate that has already claimed 261 lives this year. |
| "We have gang-on-gang violence, and we will break it. I'm making law enforcement changes and adaptions to get on top of the problem," Rahm Emanuel told the Guardian. | "We have gang-on-gang violence, and we will break it. I'm making law enforcement changes and adaptions to get on top of the problem," Rahm Emanuel told the Guardian. |
| Since he entered City Hall 13 months ago, Emanuel has worked to focus resources on the problem. More than 1,000 police officers have been reassigned from desk work to the streets, and their ranks reinforced at weekends when much of the shooting happens. In one single weekend last month there were eight people killed and 45 wounded. | Since he entered City Hall 13 months ago, Emanuel has worked to focus resources on the problem. More than 1,000 police officers have been reassigned from desk work to the streets, and their ranks reinforced at weekends when much of the shooting happens. In one single weekend last month there were eight people killed and 45 wounded. |
| He has also sought to understand better the nature of the problem, which goes back many years but is on an alarming increase. Although overall crime in Chicago has fallen 11% in the past year - with robberies, assaults, car theft, rapes all down – the city's murder rate has stubbornly moved in the opposite direction. | He has also sought to understand better the nature of the problem, which goes back many years but is on an alarming increase. Although overall crime in Chicago has fallen 11% in the past year - with robberies, assaults, car theft, rapes all down – the city's murder rate has stubbornly moved in the opposite direction. |
| This year's crop of killings is the worst start to the year since 2003, according to RedeyeChicago, and an increase of almost 40% on last year. That's substantially more than the 185 people who have been murdered in New York – a city with almost three times Chicago's population. | This year's crop of killings is the worst start to the year since 2003, according to RedeyeChicago, and an increase of almost 40% on last year. That's substantially more than the 185 people who have been murdered in New York – a city with almost three times Chicago's population. |
| Emanuel has commissioned an audit of the landscape of gangs in the city to deepen understanding in the hope that the retaliatory acts that are fueling the drive-by shootings can be pre-empted. "We're in the middle of a break down of the old gangs with many little factions of younger kids running 200 or 300 people," Emanuel said. "What used to be gang versus gang are now fights within gangs." | Emanuel has commissioned an audit of the landscape of gangs in the city to deepen understanding in the hope that the retaliatory acts that are fueling the drive-by shootings can be pre-empted. "We're in the middle of a break down of the old gangs with many little factions of younger kids running 200 or 300 people," Emanuel said. "What used to be gang versus gang are now fights within gangs." |
| Among his other measures, liquor stores that acted as co-ordination hubs have been closed, and a racketeering law has been introduced that will target gang leaders in the same way that Chicago's mafia bosses were successfully neutralised. In late June the city voted to effectively decriminalise possession of small amounts of marijuana to allow police to concentrate on the shootings. | Among his other measures, liquor stores that acted as co-ordination hubs have been closed, and a racketeering law has been introduced that will target gang leaders in the same way that Chicago's mafia bosses were successfully neutralised. In late June the city voted to effectively decriminalise possession of small amounts of marijuana to allow police to concentrate on the shootings. |
| The blood-letting is undoubtedly the hardest, and most distressing, part of Rahm Emanuel's new job. He makes a point of inviting every child who has been caught in the cross-fire to visit him at City Hall while they are recuperating, along with their parents. "Think of a parent of a child who has been shot. That's the hardest thing – that you could not protect your child, the sense of your own vulnerability," he said. | The blood-letting is undoubtedly the hardest, and most distressing, part of Rahm Emanuel's new job. He makes a point of inviting every child who has been caught in the cross-fire to visit him at City Hall while they are recuperating, along with their parents. "Think of a parent of a child who has been shot. That's the hardest thing – that you could not protect your child, the sense of your own vulnerability," he said. |
| "So I want the parent to know, while I'm comforting their child, that they are not alone." | "So I want the parent to know, while I'm comforting their child, that they are not alone." |
| The innocent victims include Heaven Sutton, aged seven, who was killed by a stray bullet last month as she sat beside her mother Ashake Banks. Ironically, Banks had opened a candy store outside which they were sitting in an attempt to keep local kids out of harm's way. "I figured they [the gang members] know us, they wouldn't come to the neighborhood and start shooting, but they really didn't even care," she told the Chicago Tribune. | The innocent victims include Heaven Sutton, aged seven, who was killed by a stray bullet last month as she sat beside her mother Ashake Banks. Ironically, Banks had opened a candy store outside which they were sitting in an attempt to keep local kids out of harm's way. "I figured they [the gang members] know us, they wouldn't come to the neighborhood and start shooting, but they really didn't even care," she told the Chicago Tribune. |
| Emanuel is acutely aware that no matter how successful he is at reinvigorating more wealthy parts of the city – in bringing Wi-Fi to downtown, attracting companies to expand and dragging infrastucture into the 21st century – the city as a whole will suffer if a few of its poor neighbourhoods remain engulfed in gun violence. And with it will suffer his record as Chicago's chief executive. | Emanuel is acutely aware that no matter how successful he is at reinvigorating more wealthy parts of the city – in bringing Wi-Fi to downtown, attracting companies to expand and dragging infrastucture into the 21st century – the city as a whole will suffer if a few of its poor neighbourhoods remain engulfed in gun violence. And with it will suffer his record as Chicago's chief executive. |
| "I am the mayor. I want no resident of any neighbourhood to feel they are not part of the city or that they are not my concern." | "I am the mayor. I want no resident of any neighbourhood to feel they are not part of the city or that they are not my concern." |
| The shootings and homicides are concentrated almost exclusively in Chicago's poorer, largely black neighbourhoods where gangs run rampant. Just two of the city's 25 police districts, Englewood and Harrison or "K Town", account for a quarter of all shootings. | The shootings and homicides are concentrated almost exclusively in Chicago's poorer, largely black neighbourhoods where gangs run rampant. Just two of the city's 25 police districts, Englewood and Harrison or "K Town", account for a quarter of all shootings. |
| "If a kid is hurt in Englewood, you can walk away and say, 'That's not my neighbourhood'," the mayor said. "But no, that child is a city of Chicago child, and that's a tear at the fabric of the city. I don't want anybody to feel they are not part of the city, isolated." | "If a kid is hurt in Englewood, you can walk away and say, 'That's not my neighbourhood'," the mayor said. "But no, that child is a city of Chicago child, and that's a tear at the fabric of the city. I don't want anybody to feel they are not part of the city, isolated." |
| Combating the carnage is difficult because it is so entangled in a complex web of gangs. Many of the city's long-standing gangs have been broken up, their older leaders killed or put in jail, but a new generation of teenagers have filled their shoes heading a bewildeing array of as many as 600 posses or crews. Acts of retaliation are commonplace – a child's game of tag made lethal when combined with the all-too-easy access to guns. | Combating the carnage is difficult because it is so entangled in a complex web of gangs. Many of the city's long-standing gangs have been broken up, their older leaders killed or put in jail, but a new generation of teenagers have filled their shoes heading a bewildeing array of as many as 600 posses or crews. Acts of retaliation are commonplace – a child's game of tag made lethal when combined with the all-too-easy access to guns. |
| Judging by the murder rate, though, there will be no quick fix. Emanuel knows that he cannot do this on his own. He is trying to co-opt other community leaders, particularly the churches in the stricken neighbourhoods, to join forces with him. | Judging by the murder rate, though, there will be no quick fix. Emanuel knows that he cannot do this on his own. He is trying to co-opt other community leaders, particularly the churches in the stricken neighbourhoods, to join forces with him. |
| "Gangs tend to take normal parts of community life and, through fear, put them behind closed doors so that they can operate unrestricted on the streets. I need to bring the faith-based community out of the churches and back on to the streets, working with the police, so that together we can overpower the gangs." | "Gangs tend to take normal parts of community life and, through fear, put them behind closed doors so that they can operate unrestricted on the streets. I need to bring the faith-based community out of the churches and back on to the streets, working with the police, so that together we can overpower the gangs." |
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