Chicago’s best cop David Brown blames the courts again after the most violent July 4th weekend in 4 years

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Lightfoot Says ‘We Are Doing All We Can To End Violence’ After Bloody Chicago Weekend

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot made remarks Tuesday after a violent holiday weekend in which more than 100 people were shot dead.

CHICAGO – After the most violent July 4th weekend in four years, the Chicago Police Superintendent. David Brown has once again blamed the Cook County justice system, complaining that it is releasing too many violent criminals.

“The Chicago cops are doing their job of arresting people and charging them with murder,” Brown said Tuesday, the day after a long holiday weekend that has seen more than 100 people shot, 19 of them fatally.

“It’s doing our part,” he said. “And what happens in the courts, it creates this dangerous environment for all of us.”

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It’s an argument he and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have made repeatedly as this year’s violence continues to surpass last year, which was the most violent for the city since the mid-1990s.

Brown pointed out more than 90 people who were charged with murder but were later released into their communities under electronic surveillance.

Chicago’s most violent weekend of 2021: over 90 bullets, 16 killed

On the deadliest and most violent weekend of this year in Chicago, 92 people were shot dead over the July 4 long weekend, of which 16 were killed.

“If the productivity of the cops were down and not at an unprecedented level, I would argue that we need to do more as police officers, this is not the case here,” he said, noting that the police recovered 244 illegal firearms over the holiday weekend, resulting in 86 arrests.

The superintendent did not say whether police made any arrests during any of the weekend shootings, including attacks that injured at least 13 children aged 15 and under.

The holiday was the most violent July 4th weekend since 2017, when at least 101 people were shot dead, 14 of them fatally. However, that holiday was a Tuesday, so the count covered four full days, not three like this year.

Numerous shootings have taken place in the Calumet and South Chicago Police Districts on the South Side, in neighborhoods that have seen more violence this year than last year, according to Sun-Times data.

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In the loop on Sunday night, Chicago police arrested dozens of youths as a huge group began to take to the streets, setting off fireworks and dancing on police cars.

Brown was quick to point out that violent crime in other major cities has increased dramatically more than in Chicago last year and this year. “It’s a wave of violent crime happening in this country,” he said.

So far in 2021, murders have increased by almost 18% nationwide, according to statistics compiled by criminal analyst Jeff Asher, while Chicago has seen an increase of almost 4% from the same period last year.

However, murders last year in Chicago jumped more than 50%, far more than the national increase of 30%.

Chicago’s nearly 800 murders in 2020 were still below the city’s annual tally for much of the 1980s and 1990s, but marked the highest number of murders in 20 years.

Two officers shot dead in the most violent weekend of 2021

A high-ranking Chicago police commander and sergeant recover after being shot while trying to break up a large rally in the Austin neighborhood overnight.

“No one would do the job the Chicago cops are doing right now, no one would walk into large crowds and risk being shot,” Brown said. “No one would take down those dark allies that officers take down.”

Two officers – a commander and a sergeant – were injured on the West Side early Sunday as they dispersed a crowd. One was hit in the foot, the other in the thigh.

Brown said he was not indulging in a “finger pointing” by blaming the courts, but was seeking to stimulate debate.

“I think people should hear this,” he said. “It’s a valid debate here and across the country.”

Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell said he watched Brown’s press conference online and disagreed with the Superintendent’s assessment that the large number of people accused of murder on electronic surveillance devices “contributed to the violence”.

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Violence erupted in a number of cities across the United States as people gathered to celebrate the July 4th weekend.

“If you are charged with something as serious as murder you have probably posted a very high cash bond and are still subject to all kinds of restrictions. You are being monitored by GPS so we know exactly where you are. “You have curfews. You have to check with the court,” said Mitchell, whose office represents about 90% of all felony defendants in Cook County.

Criticizing low sureties and focusing on arrests are frequent topics of discussion for the Superintendent. Mitchell said the message could be politically timely, but undermines programs that seek to crack down on crime through community outreach.

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“This idea that if the courts were just doing their job and we would all be safer contradicts many studies,” Mitchell said. “Crime is rampant in every city in the United States right now, and it’s covering cities with conservative bond policies and bond reform.

“I feel for the superintendent. He has a very difficult job,” he added. “But we have to avoid asking what the superintendent is going to do on a Thursday to stop the violence this weekend.”

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