Chicago Beats New York, Los Angeles In Murders
Police Supt. Jody Weis To Take Hot City Council Hot Seat
CHICAGO (CBS) ― Chicago is the Second City in nickname and the third in population, but when it comes to murder, the city has the dubious distinction of being second to no city in America.
As CBS 2’s Mike Puccinelli reports, the Chicago Sun-Times pointed out on Friday that Chicago has seen 426 homicides this year through Tuesday, compared with 417 in New York and 302 in Los Angeles.
At the end of 1998, Chicago made international headlines as the U.S. “murder capital” after surpassing New York’s homicide totals for the first time ever. Chicago shed that dubious distinction when murders plummeted over the last decade.
There are more than 8 million people in New York, compared to slightly under 3 million in Chicago. The population of Los Angeles exceeds that of Chicago by more than 800,000.
Murder is also up, at a lower rate, in New York.
The alarming statistics were expected to come up on Friday when Police Supt. Jody Weis once again appeared before the City Council to address a crime rate that many believe has spun out of control. He appeared at a City Council budget hearing, which began at 10 a.m.
Weis, a career FBI agent, took office this year with a mandate to clean up the department in the wake of several scandals. But murders have risen, and arrests have fallen, on his watch.
Back in July, Weis addressed the media after being grilled by the Council on the subject.
“I don’t mind tough questions,” Weis said in July, not long after a shooting erupted on the streets of the Loop as crowds were leaving the annual Grant Park fireworks show. “The City of Chicago has the right to ask tough questions, especially when our crime is up nearly 13 percent.”
Under tough questioning at a Council hearing that month, Weis suggested there was a “degree of timidness” among officers afraid of having lawsuits and citizen complaints filed against them.
At the hearing Friday, Weis may highlight what police view as a different problem: Officers have spent nearly 5,000 hours filling out inventory forms in the first nine months of 2008. “We’d rather they be on the street,” said Beatrice Cuello, deputy superintendent of patrol.
Last year, the Cook County sheriff, who runs the jail, stopped inventorying arrestees’ property. Under an agreement with the Police Department, cops took over the task.
“It’s not our responsibility,” said Steve Patterson, a spokesman for Sheriff Tom Dart. “We had an entire room filled with property.
Chicago is on pace to exceed 500 murders by the end of the year, but that number is far short of even approaching a record. In every year between 1991 and 1994, there were more than 900 homicides in the city, peaking in 1992 with 943 murders. The standing record for homicides in Chicago dates back to 1974, when there were 970 murders.
October 25, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Obama sure made an impression on those poor Southsiders in his community organizer days.
October 25, 2008 at 2:29 pm
well there is one good thing about that city. Hillary Rodham!!!
she was born near that city, and we love Hillary Clinton so much, she was the best candidate, McCain-Palin are the best candidates left in the race.
October 25, 2008 at 5:33 pm
and just yesterday, Jennifer Hudson’s own mother and brother were shot dead. Obama has not done one god damn thing to improve the city of chicago, let alone the state of Illinois. i live here, and i know it!
October 25, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Wow he sure did alot for those poor people, they are probably scared to death to come outside sometimes, I’m glad I don’t live there.
October 25, 2008 at 8:44 pm
chicago won’t learn, they keep electing the same corrupt politicians, just like NJ & MI
October 25, 2008 at 9:45 pm
from a friend:
Being dismayed recently when a family member of mine said to me with great resignation that Obama will take the presidency. These words came from someone who in the past has been a great prayer warrior.
What is happening was my question? Why are we Christians settling and not issuing a battle cry and falling to our knees and taking our country back?
We allow ourselves to be stripped of the right to pray at school functions and in school, we have the 10 commandments removed from government places and are told we cannot pray in school, all the while providing public prayer places for Muslims. What in the world is going on and why are we being apathetic?
Why aren’t we praying? Our God is a mighty God who is waiting patiently for us to raise our voices to heaven to stop the tide of the anti-Christ actions in our world today. Now we find we have a charismatic candidate for president who does not respect our flag and refuses to wear one on his lapel except when it becomes politically expedient and whose own wife and pastor that he loves profess to have strong anti-white feelings, and we sit back and say “It is a given, we can do nothing.”
There has never been a time in 2000 years that we can do nothing, never a time that we must sit back and allow the evil in men’s and women’s hearts to take over our world. We should be very afraid because our apathy is leading us to perdition.
It is time for all Christian Americans to raise the battle cry and take our nation back. Maybe McCain on his own cannot defeat Obama, but our God can and He will if we take to our knees in prayer and raise a mighty cry to the heavens to “Save us O Lord.” We have the power to change the course of this election and to keep a man as suspect as Barrack Obama from leading our country to who knows where with his message of “change” – a change which I fear will be away from our Christian ideals and away from Christ and further away from one nation under God.
We are great at passing stories and pictures around the internet, but where are our prayers and prayer warriors praying to stop this tide of Barak Obama? God parted the red sea, Jesus raised himself from the dead, and we can bring our country back to its Christian roots and stop the move to the rise of Muslims in our country. We can stop our country from being “under Allah,” but we must begin to pray, to pray as if our country and our lives depended on it, because they do. We can stop all these atrocities against God’s commands that have taken root in our country through something as simple as sincere prayer, a call to God to deliver us, to forgive us our sins of apathy and to protect us from the evil that is upon us.
Okay prayer warriors, here is your challenge, start those prayer chains. Get the spiritual power working on our behalf and stop Barak Obama the proper way, by calling on our God to save us from the deception that charismatic preaching is using to lead us on the wrong path. Stop those who would take God out of our country and our government. Raise up good men to lead us and protect us.
George Bush is being buffeted because he has fought a holy war against the evils that attack us and we should not be surprised because a prophet is not honored in his own country. But we should not rest on our laurels and allow ourselves to be taken further off the path of Christianity and to have God removed from our presence in our schools, courts, government and businesses. Invite God into the fray. Ask that His power rest upon us and give us the victory. Ask him to raise up a mighty army to defend us and to protect our country as he did in days of old. Let us be victorious beginning NOW. The battle is His but we must call on Him without ceasing and unite our voices and hearts in prayer and fasting.
Please pass this around to all people of prayer that you know and maybe, just maybe a more eloquent person of prayer will write something better and more inspiring and even the rocks will shout that Jesus is Lord and our Mighty God is with us, bringing the victory for us and ultimately for Him.
“Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
I Thess 5:16-18
….Continuous Prayer is the answer to this attack on the USA….
Please pray the Will of God will prevail
through our continuous prayers to HIM…
Remember Prayer Can… Move Mountains!
October 26, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Yes… God help us!
October 27, 2008 at 2:35 pm
don’t blame obama for kids not having the same opportunities as suburban youths! this is not a new problem for chicago this is the 4th or 5th time chicago has been dubbed the murder capital. last time I checked obama never owned a gun store nor shipping company to transport guns. u think moose shooting gun toting palin is a good choice. a governor of a state that has a population of 5 people. lol do u think ur grandfathers heart could take the stress of the country. neither can mccains please! what does chicago have 2 do wit it! what city is mccain from he has 100 different homes! find a solution instaed of pointing ur fingers placing blame.
October 27, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Richard Daley is the problem. Obama has nothing to do with this problem. I like how people want to use their political alliances to bash someone.
October 29, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Why isn’t someone asking about the Mayor Daley? Why immediately jump to Obama. Isn’t our mayor our first in the line of political responsiblity for his city?
October 30, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Now you know why Obama wants the White House—he can be safer there and have body guards. He should have spent his time in community organizing and few months in the Senate to help his own town–how deplorable that he has not–this speaks volumes about what he cannot accomplish.
February 2, 2009 at 11:15 pm
I knew that Chicago was the top! I feel a bit ashamed to say I live in Illinois. But I guess its ok cus I can’t vote and I didn’t vote for BlagoaBITCH!