Chicago Plans Anti-Gang Crackdown on Heels of Bloody Weekend - East Idaho News
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Chicago Plans Anti-Gang Crackdown on Heels of Bloody Weekend

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Getty 033012 RahmEmmanuel?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1338321369205Scott Olson/Getty Images(CHICAGO) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Garry McCarthy announced new crime fighting initiatives Tuesday after 40 people were shot over Memorial Day weekend.

On Tuesday, Emanuel and McCarthy outlined their strategy for dealing with Chicago’s gun violence — including improved intelligence on gang activity, increased efforts to rid communities of the “cancer” of liquor stores where much of the violence occurs, and ridding the streets of guns responsible for so much of that violence.

“We determined that we needed to create a multi-faceted approach that is objective and not merely based upon making arrests,” McCarthy said. “It requires commitment from many resources and angles. Our enhanced Gang Violence Reduction Strategy includes intelligence. It includes enhanced technology.”

Emanuel announced the city’s collaboration with federal authorities to heighten crime-fighting initiatives across the city after at least 10 people died over the holiday weekend.

They plan on closer monitoring of social media as well where the violence can start with gang members “calling each other out,” as McCarthy put it.  He noted that 70-80 percent of the shootings are gang related and that “4 percent of the population drives 90 percent of the violence in the city.”

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