Lightfoot touts report ranking Chicago one of the best cities in violence prevention
CHICAGO - Mayor Lori Lightfoot is trying to change the conversation about violence in Chicago, pointing to some positive new crime numbers and national recognition for violence prevention.
"Progress on violence can be slow and at times it can be frustrating, but we're working on it, day in, day out," Lightfoot said. "And we are seeing the fruits of those labors."
With images of Chicago violence dominating television and social media, saying the fight against crime is working can be a hard sell.
But Mayor Lightfoot and others tried to make that case at City Hall on Tuesday, pointing out that both shootings and homicides are down 18-percent year over year.
"Report the numbers," Lightfoot implored reporters. "Because it does give people confidence that we are heading in the right direction. An 18-percent decline in homicides year over year, that's a big deal."
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The mayor says what's also a big deal is Chicago ranking third among 50 major U.S. cities in the newly-released "Violence Prevention Index," which measures the effectiveness of violence prevention programs and all the dollars spent on them.
"The Violence Prevention Index is a one-of-a-kind report that looks at what cities are doing, what they're investing in," said Greg Jackson of the Community Justice Action Fund, which wrote the report.
"Not just with law enforcement, but an all-government approach," Jackson added.
Chicago is spending $52-million this year on violence prevention, with a focus on 15 communities hardest hit by crime.
Violence prevention experts say early results are encouraging, especially on the city's West Side.
"We are not even close to where we need to be," said Jorge Matos of the Heartland Alliance. "But I think we're on the road and we're heading in the right direction."
But as crime rates fall in some neighborhoods, they're jumping in others, especially areas where crime has not historically been a problem like downtown and the Near North Side.
Mayor Lightfoot said there is still plenty of work to be done.
"To be clear, no one's taking a victory lap here. Or to say we have all the answers. We know that we have many, many more miles to travel on our journey," she said.