CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago’s police superintendent said Monday that he plans to flood the city’s streets with additional officers during the long July 4 weekend in an effort to avoid a repeat of particularly bloody recent weekends and despite pressure to keep officer overtime to a minimum.
“We didn’t do it last weekend and the Memorial Day weekend,” Superintendent David Brown said of the two weekends that ended with a combined total of 111 people being shot, 24 fatally.
“We’re pleading (with the court system) to keep them in jail for the weekend,” he said, explaining that the people arrested for dealing or buying drugs on street corners may not be charged with violent crimes, but that such activity often leads to gun fights between violent gangs.
There is no doubt that the July 4 weekend stands as the biggest test for Brown since he become superintendent two months ago, largely because the bloodshed over the long Memorial Day weekend — when 49 people were shot, including 10 who died — was widely viewed as a failure in his first major test on the job.
While mayors are typically reluctant to criticize superintendents so early in their tenure, Mayor Lori Lightfoot didn’t mince words after Memorial Day weekend, though she has since maintained that she still has confidence in Brown.
