Chicago is grieving.
The city saw 105 murders in July and has 445 this year, more than any other major city in the country. One 29-year-old police officer is dead after she was shot while conducting a traffic stop on Saturday. Chicago hasn’t experienced anything like the murder surge of the last year and a half since the 1990s, when the demolition of major public-housing projects precipitated turf wars among displaced gang members.
So what is happening here?
Some reasons for the spike will be familiar to residents of other big cities that have recently experienced a violent-crime surge. These include the isolation and economic carnage of the COVID-19 pandemic, alienated young people, and demoralized police. Some point to root causes such as generational poverty and discrimination against communities of color. These, too, are not unique to Chicago.
But Chicago stands out in one way: Put simply, politics trumps professionalism when it comes to public safety in the Windy City. And as a result, two keys to effective crime-fighting — constitutional policing and community policing — are absent here.
