Chicago Leads the Way in Crime Prevention

[Feelin' Fowl]

Anyone seen this crap? Chicago is hand delivering "warning letters" to potential criminals.

Nothing scares a gang member like a letter warning them of possible charges...idiots.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/21396323-4 ... ctims.html

Working from a list of people deemed most likely to become shooters or victims, a Chicago Police commander is expected to start knocking on their doors Friday and deliver letters warning them not to commit any violent crimes.

The “custom notifications” are a pilot program in the Austin District on the West Side. Austin District Cmdr. Barbara West plans to deliver letters to 20 people on a so-called “heat list,” officials said.
The heat list stems from work by Andrew Papachristos, a Yale University professor who studied murders between 2005 and 2010 on the West Side. He found 70 percent of the killings were in a social network of 1,600 people out of a total population of 80,000.

The citywide social network of violence includes more than 16,000 people, police Supt. Garry McCarthy said. The department narrowed that list to more than 400 “hot people” most likely to commit shootings or become victims — or 20 people per police district.

The letters will warn those on the list that they will face the most serious charges possible if they’re arrested for a violent crime.

“The custom notifications are the next step in the evolution of putting those guys on notice that they have the highest propensity for homicide,” McCarthy said. “We’re saying, ‘We know who you are, we know what you do and your chance of dying in a homicide is much greater than John Q. Citizen.’ ”
As the program evolves, the department plans to identify “influentials” such as a coach or pastor who can come to the door with the police to help deliver the message. The influentials can direct the “hot person” in a positive direction, officials said.

The department also plans to use the custom notifications in special situations such as flare-ups of violence. When police believe someone is likely to commit a retaliatory shooting, they might deliver a letter to him at home, said Debra Kirby, chief of the department’s Bureau of Organizational Development.

“We are looking to reach out and touch those individuals who are responsible for the violence in the city,” Kirby said.

Gang violence — including a spike in murders — put Chicago and Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the national spotlight last year.

McCarthy says his gang violence reduction strategy is now fully in place. This year through Thursday, murder was down 26 percent, shootings — both fatal and nonfatal — were down 24 percent and overall crime was down 15 percent compared to the same period of 2012, according to the department.

The custom notification program is an extension of the gang “call-ins” the department has held since 2010. Former Police Supt. Jody Weis, following a model developed in Boston, arranged meetings between gang members and law enforcement authorities.

In the call-ins, which have continued under McCarthy, gang members are warned that any future murders tied to their gang will result in a police war on the entire gang — “group accountability.” Families of crime victims, pastors and community leaders also speak to the gang members about the damage they do to their neighborhoods.

David Kennedy, director of the Center for Criminal Control at John Jay College of New York, helped design the group call-ins — as well as the new custom notification program, which was previously introduced in High Point, N.C.

[Tomkat]

Chicago is sounding more and more like Maryland every day.

[huntall6]

Chitcago is worse than MA. guaranteed. the rest of the state, not so bad. in fact, it is similar to your area of neighbors in my neck of the woods.

[Feelin' Fowl]

Chitcago is worse than MA. guaranteed. the rest of the state, not so bad. in fact, it is similar to your area of neighbors in my neck of the woods.

Vary true. If Chicago was separated from the rest of the state, IL would be pretty awesome.

[Goldfish]

gang members are warned that any future murders tied to their gang will result in a police war on the entire gang — “group accountability.”

So, they are going to prosecute people who haven't necessarily committed a crime, but are associated with someone who did? Bs

sent from a phancy fone

[Feelin' Fowl]

gang members are warned that any future murders tied to their gang will result in a police war on the entire gang — “group accountability.”

So, they are going to prosecute people who haven't necessarily committed a crime, but are associated with someone who did? Bs

sent from a phancy fone

There are actually a few of the bigger suburbs that have already done this. If a known gang member is out on the street, and someone is standing with him, they can both go to jail, no questions asked. I'm not sure what the charge is, but there has been a lower crime rate in those cities since this started. It seems like a lot of the gang members are moving out of the towns with the new laws, and into those that haven't passed them/can't enforce them. I'm not sure how Chicago will be able to enforce something like that though...

[Goldfish]

I'd be interested to know the charge

sent from a phancy fone

[Feelin' Fowl]

I'd be interested to know the charge

sent from a phancy fone

I'll see what I can dig up...

[assateague]

That's bullshit.

[Feelin' Fowl]

I thought the same thing when the first city did it. Then the bigger city hoped on board the following year, so they must be on to something.

Still bs though...

[assateague]

Technically, if they just locked everybody up, it would reduce crime. But reducing crime at any cost has never been the goal, and shouldn't be now. Are they more than likely dickheads who deserve to go to jail for something? Yes. But that doesn't mean that they can go for some dumbass charge, invented to make politicians look good and "tough on crime". Perfectly ok to violate someone's rights to put them in jail, but not alright to deny a murderer in jail his "rights". Stupid, idiotic hypocrisy.

[Feelin' Fowl]

I think this is how it started...

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010 ... ce-officer

[Goldfish]

So what if they say they are no longer part of the gang? Then it wouldn't be gang members together. Weak at best, and any lawyer worth their salt should have a hay day with that BS.

I'm sure the streets would be better with them not there, but that's just opening up all sorts of bad if they let that happen this way.

sent from a phancy fone

[Feelin' Fowl]

I thought it went through different than that. I remember something about a regular Joe getting taken in with gang members just for being with them. Meaning, you or I could go to jail for talking with a gang member on the street. I'll look for more articles/talk to some guys I know on the local PD about it.

[aunt betty]

I thought it went through different than that. I remember something about a regular Joe getting taken in with gang members just for being with them. Meaning, you or I could go to jail for talking with a gang member on the street. I'll look for more articles/talk to some guys I know on the local PD about it.

Silly. Lawyers and judges routinely associate with known gang members . ie: in court (a public place).
Bailiff... whack their pee pees.

[aunt betty]

The "known gang members" simply move south to Champaign, Bloomington, Rantoul, or Danville.
Its no secret. Look at all the murders in Champaign Urbana....
These stupid Chicago politicians moved the problem down state and they got patted on the back for it.
Politics...sheesh.

[IndianaMallard64]

Chitcago is worse than MA. guaranteed. the rest of the state, not so bad. in fact, it is similar to your area of neighbors in my neck of the woods.

Vary true. If Chicago was separated from the rest of the state, IL would be pretty awesome.

besides the strict gun laws, gay people, high taxes. ya illinois is pretty cool...... Why live in Illinois when Beautiful Indiana is so close

[Feelin' Fowl]

Chitcago is worse than MA. guaranteed. the rest of the state, not so bad. in fact, it is similar to your area of neighbors in my neck of the woods.

Vary true. If Chicago was separated from the rest of the state, IL would be pretty awesome.

besides the strict gun laws, gay people, high taxes. ya illinois is pretty cool...... Why live in Illinois when Beautiful Indiana is so close

All of that would stay with Chicago. It would be awesome!

[RonE]

Wonder how many of those letters will be delivered to people that can actually read and have any reading comprehension.

Wonder how many of the recipients of these letters actually give a damn?

This appears to be no more than a publicity stunt for someone seeking higher office. They probably voted for O.

[aunt betty]

Chitcago is worse than MA. guaranteed. the rest of the state, not so bad. in fact, it is similar to your area of neighbors in my neck of the woods.

Vary true. If Chicago was separated from the rest of the state, IL would be pretty awesome.

besides the strict gun laws, gay people, high taxes. ya illinois is pretty cool...... Why live in Illinois when Beautiful Indiana is so close

Indiana is the meth state.
There, I said it.

[assateague]

It ain't got a thing on Tennessee.