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.
Change you can believe in.
O ba ma
to be repeated tenfold on election night if this clown loses...and when he does I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near Chicago
Something else we have to look forward to unless we get Republican turnout.
Did a good job of organizing the gangsta community, huh?
Chicago was tired of being the “second city”.
When did Detroit drop out of the top 3?
I predict a President Obama would do everything possible to empty the prisons (at least the Fed. prisons), eliminate the Federal death penalty, reinstate parole, eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing, etc. Not one question that I know of has been put to him on the issue of crime! But we know his mentor Bill Ayres doesn’t even like the IDEA of prison, so that might indicate about where Obamugabe stands.
His mentor expected 25 million dead. Ayers planned for it from what I’ve read.
If my math is correct, one’s chances of being killed in Chicago are about the same as being killed in Iraq.
Chicago could probably use a “surge” and I’m sure Obama would be against it....
If O ba ma loses, the Chciago homicide rate just might double on one night.
yep, Chicago has lots of gangs and drugs. It’s not politically correct to talk about certain things, but certain types of people are driving the crime wave.........
And “O” is going to fix the country the same way!
When the last person worth mugging moved to the burbs.
LOL -- That may have been 25 years ago.
426 homicides in Chicagoe so far this year compared to 210 killed in Iraq [KIAs] and a total of 279 for all deaths, hostile and non-hostile. McCain should create an ad reflecting this fact, i.e., there are more than twice as many homicides in Chicago this year than KIAs in Iraq. The surge is working.
NYC’s population is arund 8.2 mil., Chicago 2.8 mil.
That given, there are nearly 3 times more murders per capita in Obamaland than in NY.
Jeez, dangerous freaking town!
Hey..stop picking on the Amish!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.