Two Chicago cops talk about crime and issues in the police force
Last Wednesday, while my mom was watching an (actually pretty interesting) historical documentary, I was covering a community meeting in Chicago West Side’s Austin neighborhood. I figured the meeting would be about regular community stuff , but it would up being more interesting than I could’ve ever hoped.
When the temperatures plummet, the number of shootings in Chicago tend to go down. Not this year. Over the past few weeks, far too many neighborhoods across the city saw an upswing of shootings. Not all of them were deadly, but the numbers have still been pretty high.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) called the meeting to address the crime in the neighborhood. He invited Dwayne Betts, commander of the 15th police district (which covers most of south and central Austin) to an inside look at what the police is doing about it and answer whatever questions residents may have.
It helped that, before he was elected alderman, Taliaferro was a police officer, so he had the kind of insight into police work most aldermen didn’t. Because he stopped being a police officer for less than a year, he had a fresher perspective than the other ex-cops on the City Council.And, as both Taliaferro and Betts mentioned, the fact that the alderman understood police work made it easier for them to talk to each other about crime prevention.
Right at the beginning of the meeting, Taliaferro said that he didn’t want the discussion to be about Laquan McDonald shooting and the more recent controversies. But Betts wound up talking about it anyway - and the alderman shared some insights of his own.
Most of that made it into the article that actually got published. But my editor also wound cutting out the part where Betts talked about dealing with crime. I thought that was also pretty interesting - though for different reasons - so I decided to copy-paste it here.
At the start of the meeting, Taliaferro said that, out of all commanders whose districts are in 29th ward, Betts did the best job of keeping him in the loop. The alderman said that he’s been very concerned about the increase in shootings in the 15th District - which is why he invited Betts to talk to residents.
“I want our residents to know what’s going on, and what the police are doing about it,” said Taliaferro.
Betts said that he was surprised about the recent rash of shootings, because crime usually goes down during the colder months. The police has looked into it, and they discovered that there tend to be two major causes - gang members taunting rivals on social media and arguments over missing guns, drugs or other property. In many cases, Betts said, it comes down to a person striking back after losing a fight - something that happens in the heat of the moment, before they had a chance to cool off.
When somebody gets shot, Betts said, the police tries to make sure it doesn’t lead to any further shootings.
“One of the first things we do is look at the associations of this guy, see if there might be retaliation,” he said. “If there’s a gang conflict, [the supervisor] will assign a person who will patrol strictly to prevent shootings.”
The length of the patron, Betts said, would depend on what kind of intelligence they’re getting. The police would also send officers to increase patrol along the boundaries between gang territories to further deter shootings.
However, one problem they’ve run across is that the shooter who retaliates may not necessarily be from Chicago.
“They don’t [always] do it themselves - they call someone from Dolton who used to live there,” said Betts.
The commander went through some of the other things the police has done to reduce shootings. The officers talk business owners whose establishments seem to attract gang activity - not necessarily to shut them down, but to get them to do something about it. Betts said that 15th District officers took over 170 illegal firearms off the street - the biggest total out of all city districts. The police department has also been working with John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s National Network for Safe Communities organization, visiting residents who are at high risk of getting shots. NNSC staff offers those individuals help with finding jobs, getting education and other resources.
“I tell them - it’s not often that opportunity knocks down your door, and I’m that opportunity,” said Betts.
When asked how well that works, the commander said that, NNSC keeps track of the statistics, not CPD. But from what he understood, an average of two out of 12 people that get approached take advantage of the resources offered.
When asked what he thought was a good way to reduce violence, Betts said that things like a local Little League would go a long way toward turning kids away from gangs.
“People feel proud to belong to something,” said Betts. “If they don’t get to belong to something good, they’ll belong to something bad.”
On, and one thing that didn’t make it into the draft I submitted. Back in August, CPD and ACLU reached an agreement to address complaints about department’s “stop-and-frisk” street stops. Among other things, it required the officers to fill out two-page reports on every street stop instead of giving the people they stopped much smaller “contact cards.”
During the meeting, Betts commented that tthe reports were pain to fill out, and they slowed down police work. He stopped short of complaining about it… But, a few days later, DNAinfo Chicago reported that it is actually a common complaint among CPD officers.
As the article mentions, officials believe that this may change once the officers get used to the new forms. But that’s definitely something to keep an eye on.