Chicago Homicide Rate Worse Than Kabul

[Bloodshot Scott]

As Chicago residents face a murder rate that, thus far this year, is worse than U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Chicago Police Department has assigned at least 100 officers to secure the wedding of White House advisor Valerie Jarrett's daughter.

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Malia and Sasha arrived in Chicago Friday evening ahead of the Saturday wedding of Laura Jarrett, which will be held in a backyard in the city's Kenwood neighborhood. And that wedding is, expectedly, set to be a high-security affair.

The Chicago Sun-Times' Michael Sneed reports that between 100 and 200 Chicago police officers will be on site to help "secure the perimeter" of the wedding.

Sneed further reports that the city will not be reimbursed for the police security by the federal government.

The directive for police to cover the Jarrett wedding arrives at a time where Chicago is facing a surge in its homicide rate. The Daily pointed out in a Friday column that more Chicago residents -- 228 -- have been killed so far this year in the city than the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan - 144 -- over the same period.

The war zone-like statistics are not new. As WBEZ reports, while some 2,000 U.S. troops have been fatally shot in Afghanistan since 2001, more than 5,000 people have been killed by gun fire in Chicago during that time, based on Department of Defense and FBI data.

Chicago's murder rate is also currently quadruple that of New York and double Los Angeles' rate. Gun violence Friday evening into Saturday took the lives of at least one person -- Antonio Buck, of the 5400 block of South Aberdeen -- and wounded at least seven others, including a 16-year-old boy shot in the lower back around 11 p.m. Friday.


This weekend, with the combination of balmy weather and a number of crowd-drawing outdoor events including the Puerto Rican Festival in Humboldt Park, another surge of violence is feared.

Heading into the weekend, many Chicago police prepared to take part in a new initiative allowing them to receive overtime pay for working on their days off. A "high deployment" of officers will also be assigned to the city's downtown area to curb additional "mob-style" attacks.

The previous weekend, at least eight were killed, including a 16-year-old boy, and 46 wounded by gun violence in Chicago. Monday evening into Tuesday, seven more people were shot, two of them fatally. The city's homicide rate is up more than 50 percent over last year.

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy commented at a Tuesday event that the city was dealing with a "perception problem" when it comes to its homicide and shooting rates, noting that statistics in those two areas have actually improved in recent weeks, the Chicago Tribune reports.

"I don't know how to overcome it, except to keep communicating the facts," McCarthy said. "And that's what we're going to continue to do."

The city has repeatedly said "fracturing" street gangs are responsible for the bulk of the recent gun violence. The city has deployed specialized undercover officers to units on the city's West and South Sides, as well as saturating area neighborhoods with uniformed cops.

Tio Hardiman, Illinois director of anti-violence group CeaseFire, wrote in a HuffPost blog that although much of the gun violence is simply labeled as "gang-related" in media accounts, "once you take a closer look, you will find out that the majority of conflicts stem from interpersonal conflict that escalate into a gang conflict."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...d=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec3_lnk2&pLid=170526

 

[Will E Worm]

What do you expect? Chicago is a horrible city. They need an overhaul.

Rahm Emanuel's father an Israeli terrorist. What do you expect when a Zionist terrorist is mayor? :hatsoff:

 

[Sam Fisher]

Good post Will. And a side note.... Illinois (especially Chicago) has one of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. Notice how crime HAS NOT gone down?

 

[Will E Worm]

Good post Will. And a side note.... Illinois (especially Chicago) has one of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. Notice how crime HAS NOT gone down?

Thanks and I have noticed crime has not gone down with strict gun laws.

 

[Master Roshi]

yes now we are starting to see what the "Chicago Way" is really all about, a corrupt mobbed up mayor who likes the "13/13 Plan" model

 

[Master Roshi]

Thanks and I have noticed crime has not gone down with strict gun laws.

yes because heavy restriction on legal gun ownership takes them out of the hands of law abiding citizens and puts the illegal firearms in the hands of hardcore criminals

 

[Straight Shooter]

What do you expect? Chicago is a horrible city. They need an overhaul.

Rahm Emanuel's father an Israeli terrorist. What do you expect when a Zionist terrorist is mayor? :hatsoff:

Once again, you're talking absolute shit. I live in Chicago and it is far from a horrible city. All this violence is concentrated in the bad neighborhoods. Every major city has their bad neighborhoods and Chicago is no different.

 

[Will E Worm]

yes now we are starting to see what the "Chicago Way" is really all about, a corrupt mobbed up mayor who likes the "13/13 Plan" model

yes because heavy restriction on legal gun ownership takes them out of the hands of law abiding citizens and puts the illegal firearms in the hands of hardcore criminals

:yesyes:

Once again, you're talking absolute shit. I live in Chicago and it is far from a horrible city. All this violence is concentrated in the bad neighborhoods. Every major city has their bad neighborhoods and Chicago is no different.

 

[STDiva]

Chicago is one of my favourite places to visit. Just sayin.

 

[ThatRedWing]

:yesyes:

My, what a compelling argument. It's refreshing to see such well thought out responses. I would be interested to read your thoughts on quantum string theory.

 

[Mayhem]

If you had to drive around on those crappy roads, you'd want to shoot someone too.

 

[C.K. Lawrence]

There used to be a YouTube video back when it first came out of these teens driving around running over people and basically just shooting anyone. I don't care to see anything like that again. Glad they took that crap down quickly but as they say, what's been seen....

 

[C.K. Lawrence]

^ In Chicago I mean, sorry I didn't post that, I just assume the connection would be made, but you never know...

 

[Will E Worm]

Chicago is one of my favourite places to visit. Just sayin.

You obviously have a deathwish.

My, what a compelling argument. It's refreshing to see such well thought out responses. I would be interested to read your thoughts on quantum string theory.

 

[knowone]

There used to be a YouTube video back when it first came out of these teens driving around running over people and basically just shooting anyone. I don't care to see anything like that again. Glad they took that crap down quickly but as they say, what's been seen....

Are you sure it wasn't "Grand Theft Auto" the Video Game?

 

[C.K. Lawrence]

Yeah, a car full of youngsters driving around laughing while shooting at people and bumping them in what looked like a park at night. I'm not gonna search for it, that's not my type of stuff, but I remember seeing it and that it was in Chicago and it reminded me of New Jersey Drive. Hopefully I got rickrolled along with everyone else who watched it, sick nonetheless. I'm sorry I posted on the subject, the thread just brought that to memory is all.

 

[PlumpRump]

Garry McCarthy commented at a Tuesday event that the city was dealing with a "perception problem" when it comes to its homicide and shooting rates

Yeah, perception is the problem. If people stopped perceiving ~230 gun related deaths in less than 6 months as a problem, there wouldn't be a problem. Pretty cut and dried.

 

[Straight Shooter]

Yeah, perception is the problem. If people stopped perceiving ~230 gun related deaths in less than 6 months as a problem, there wouldn't be a problem. Pretty cut and dried.

McCarthy is right. We're not even in the top ten most dangerous cities. Instead of talking about Chicago, we should be talking about these cities, they are much much worse in terms of crime and have been for a long time.
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/17/12172808-the-most-dangerous-cities-in-america?lite

 

[PlumpRump]

McCarthy is right. We're not even in the top ten most dangerous cities. Instead of talking about Chicago, we should be talking about these cities, they are much much worse in terms of crime and have been for a long time.
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/17/12172808-the-most-dangerous-cities-in-america?lite

Chicago is not in the "Top 10" because the report is using metrics that involve total violent crime (murder, robbery, forcible rape, aggravated assault, arson, carjacking, etc...) but this story is specifically about homicide rates, and Chicago has the highest homicide rate in the country. If you look at the list you provided, and compare them with the extrapolated murder numbers from Chicago in 2012 (roughly 460 murders) you would have to add the top 3 cities murder numbers for all of 2011 to reach that number (Flint + Detroit + St. Louis = 509). And personally, I'd rather be carjacked and smacked around a little bit than be murdered.

In 2011, if you added together the murder numbers from Detroit and St. Louis (The #1 & #3 most dangerous cities according to your list) there were 457 murders, total for the year. Chicago is more than halfway to the 2 city total in less than 6 months. That's not perception, that's a legitimate problem.

Being the murder capital of the country, by far, for the 1st half of the year is not something that should be ignored, or marginalized, especially not by someone who lives in the city at discussion. Don't get me wrong, I love Chicago, have family there and have visited numerous times, and I'm not intending to compel you to defend your city, but denying the problem is dangerous.

 

[Straight Shooter]

Chicago is not in the "Top 10" because the report is using metrics that involve total violent crime (murder, robbery, forcible rape, aggravated assault, arson, carjacking, etc...) but this story is specifically about homicide rates, and Chicago has the highest homicide rate in the country. If you look at the list you provided, and compare them with the extrapolated murder numbers from Chicago in 2012 (roughly 460 murders) you would have to add the top 3 cities murder numbers for all of 2011 to reach that number (Flint + Detroit + St. Louis = 509). And personally, I'd rather be carjacked and smacked around a little bit than be murdered.

In 2011, if you added together the murder numbers from Detroit and St. Louis (The #1 & #3 most dangerous cities according to your list) there were 457 murders, total for the year. Chicago is more than halfway to the 2 city total in less than 6 months. That's not perception, that's a legitimate problem.

Being the murder capital of the country, by far, for the 1st half of the year is not something that should be ignored, or marginalized, especially not by someone who lives in the city at discussion. Don't get me wrong, I love Chicago, have family there and have visited numerous times, and I'm not intending to compel you to defend your city, but denying the problem is dangerous.

I'm not denying the problem but some people are making it sound like you can't walk out your door without being shot, like the entire city is under assault. The homicides are concentrated in certain neighborhoods, neighborhoods that are well known for being gang and drug infested. I just saw a news report that 5 people were shot in Englewood, one of the worst neighborhoods in the city, and I wasn't shocked because it's fucking Englewood, people have been getting getting shot and killed over there for literally years.