Posted on 10/24/2008 8:58:22 PM PDT by XR7
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Chicago is the Second City in nickname and the third in population, but when it comes to murder, the city has the dubious distinction of being second to no city in America.
As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, the Chicago Sun-Times pointed out on Friday that Chicago has seen 426 homicides this year through Tuesday, compared with 417 in New York and 302 in Los Angeles.
At the end of 1998, Chicago made international headlines as the U.S. "murder capital" after surpassing New York's homicide totals for the first time ever. Chicago shed that dubious distinction when murders plummeted over the last decade.
There are more than 8 million people in New York, compared to slightly under 3 million in Chicago. The population of Los Angeles exceeds that of Chicago by more than 800,000.
Murder is also up, at a lower rate, in New York.
The alarming statistics were expected to come up on Friday when Police Supt. Jody Weis once again appeared before the City Council to address a crime rate that many believe has spun out of control. He appeared at a City Council budget hearing, which began at 10 a.m.
Weis, a career FBI agent, took office this year with a mandate to clean up the department in the wake of several scandals. But murders have risen, and arrests have fallen, on his watch.
Back in July, Weis addressed the media after being grilled by the Council on the subject.
"I don't mind tough questions," Weis said in July, not long after a shooting erupted on the streets of the Loop as crowds were leaving the annual Grant Park fireworks show. "The City of Chicago has the right to ask tough questions, especially when our crime is up nearly 13 percent."
Under tough questioning at a Council hearing that month, Weis suggested there was a "degree of timidness" among officers afraid of having lawsuits and citizen complaints filed against them.
At the hearing Friday, Weis may highlight what police view as a different problem: Officers have spent nearly 5,000 hours filling out inventory forms in the first nine months of 2008. "We'd rather they be on the street," said Beatrice Cuello, deputy superintendent of patrol.
Last year, the Cook County sheriff, who runs the jail, stopped inventorying arrestees' property. Under an agreement with the Police Department, cops took over the task.
"It's not our responsibility," said Steve Patterson, a spokesman for Sheriff Tom Dart. "We had an entire room filled with property.
Chicago is on pace to exceed 500 murders by the end of the year, but that number is far short of even approaching a record. In every year between 1991 and 1994, there were more than 900 homicides in the city, peaking in 1992 with 943 murders. The standing record for homicides in Chicago dates back to 1974, when there were 970 murders.
Obama wants the whole country to look like South Chicago.
All that community organizing was sure successful in bringing about change, don’t you think?
There I go again, forgetting we’re supposed to judge good intentions, not results.
What he should do is create an add suggesting that if we’re to pull out of Iraq, we should definitely pull out of Chitcago first.
Here's a good site for per 100,000 crime rates of the largest cities. Baltimore leads the way in murder, at 42/100k, followed closely by Detroit at 41.4/100k, the St. Louis, DC, and Newark. Motown also leads the pack in aggravated assault and car theft.
Next to Camden, NJ, Detroit is the scariest place I've ever had the misfortune of visiting.
From a newer thread about bordertown violence:
The situation in Ciudad Juarez is of special concern. Mexican authorities report that more than 1,000 people have been killed there this year.
Paging Rick Davis!
The surge worked in Iraq. Time to redeploy to Chicago!
Please play “My Kind of Town (sung by Old Blue Eyes)” link below while looking at the map: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmOOYxU99fI
It would be a brilliant ad. How do we make this happen FReepers?
Twice as many of his constituents were murdered than KIA in Iraq. Speaks very well to his leadership inadequacies.
I’d also love to know how much of Obama’s million dollars a day in earmarks were used for more law enforcement.
Unfortunately, Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother can be added to the list. Parts of Chicago support a culture of death. So very sad.
That is horrific. What’s so disgusting is that so many of those shootings seem to be outside shootings at innocents. Example:
“August 31, 2 a.m.
Eternity Gaddy, 13, was shot to death while standing with her mother and cousins outside her great-aunt’s house on the West Side.
The family was hours away from leaving Chicago for Allentown, Pa., where they have lived on and off for the last year, when Eternity was shot in the head.”
I don’t much care for the raw murder totals. What is more important are the per capita figures. I thought New Orleans was worse, per capita.
If he wins, the "celebrations" might get out of hand too so you'd be kind of boned either way.
This thread is prima facie a boatload of BS.
We Chicagoans know that, thanks to the the tireless efforts of the Daleys and the Chicago Machine, handguns have been kept out of the hands of law abiding citizens for decades.
There is no way, armed with mere butter knives, that we could lead the nation in murders.
Thanks much for the information and the site!
Hey..stop picking on the Amish!
Don't leave out those murdering Mormons and Christian Scientists. And the Pentecostals. They're all every bit as guilty.
What? No Playoffs?
[ cue up the Jim Mora "play-offs?" video ]...
“Sanctuary City - Check
Strict Gun Laws - Check
No mail delivery in Harvey (just outside of Chicago) due to gun fire - Check
Democrats in control - Check”
Yep, that sums it up nicely. Imagine the hellacious rioting to take place there when Obama loses.
After everybody boarded up the town and left.
Looks like the shooters on the North Side have a better aim.
They took the title of Murder Town, USA from Washington, DC because Congress ruled DC’s Communist firearms laws to be unconstitutional.
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