The Chicago Police Department has fully met just 6% of the consent decree’s requirements, according to the most recent report by the team monitoring CPD’s progress.
Larry Snelling
The city’s current contract with SoundThinking — which was previously known as ShotSpotter — expires Feb. 16. Mayor Brandon Johnson made a campaign promise to end the contract, but has not yet indicated whether he’ll renew the deal.
The Chicago Police Department would be required to immediately launch a new study of whether officers are efficiently and effectively deployed across the city, under a measure set to be considered by a key City Council committee.
According to the Chicago Police Department, there were 31 homicides recorded through the first month of 2024. That’s the lowest total for any January since 2019 (23 homicides) and the third-fewest in the last decade.
The Scaling Community Violence Intervention for a Safer Chicago initiative aims to link local community groups. The goal is to coordinate care and spending between the city, county and state governments, community organizations and the business community.
Speaking Wednesday before the Economic Club of Chicago, Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said police officers will always have some role in school safety, even if they’re no longer working inside schools.
The policy approved by the commission bans officers from belonging to hate groups that promote prejudice or those that aim to overthrow the government or interfere with police duties.
The independent monitoring team that oversees the CPD’s consent decree implementation published its eighth semi-annual report this week, which found that although the department has reached some level of compliance with 85% of paragraphs, it has only fully complied with 33 out of 552 paragraphs.
William Groves, 48, has been charged with 15 counts of attempted first-degree murder, 15 counts of aggravated battery, 15 counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm in an occupied building and one count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
Even though the Chicago Police Department has exceeded its overtime budget in each of the past five years, the City Council is once again poised to set aside just $100 million to cover the department’s overtime bill in the 2024 budget.
“It is hard to imagine a more serious issue in police oversight right now,” Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said. “Chicago has to get this right.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago Police Department say they’re moving into a “new age of policing” while rebuilding the department. They are also asking for more money, patience and time.
The Oath Keepers organization is considered by the FBI to be a “large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some who are associated with militias” who have vowed to “not obey unconstitutional (and thus illegal) and immoral orders.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024 spending plan would increase the overall CPD budget to nearly $2 billion, accounting for more than 31% of the city’s $5.7 billion corporate fund, by far the most of any city agency or department.
The Englewood native has been Chicago’s top cop for less than a month, but after spending nearly three decades serving in various roles throughout the department, he believes he knows what’s needed to make improvements for his officers and residents throughout the city.
Mayor Brandon Johnson picked Larry Snelling to implement Johnson’s pledge to fight crime in Chicago with a holistic approach that focuses on the root causes of violence.
