Chicago: Chicago, the third most populated US city, has reported increasing violent crimes. In 2021, there were 800 killings and more than 3,500 incidents of firing in Chicago. This is the first time in the last 25 years that such a high incidence of violent crimes has been reported in Chicago. Chicago Mayor is from the Democrat party and she had cut down the security expenses by nearly $1.8 billion.
As per the information published by the Chicago police department, 797 people were murdered in the year 2021. The highest incidence of murders has been reported from Chicago among all the US cities. An increase of 25 homicides was recorded compared to year 2020 and 300 murders compared to year 2019. Besides, 3,561 gun shooting incidents have been reported and this is an increase of a whopping 1,415 since 2019. Police officers were the target in 75 incidents out of these.
Moreover, it is being criticised that the inefficiency of the Chicago administration is the cause of this increasing violence. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot of the Democrat party slashed the policing budget for 2020 by a whopping $1.8 billion. This resulted in a drastic reduction in the active police personnel in Chicago. 600 posts in the police department were permanently cancelled after retiring nearly 1,000 policemen in 2020. Massive demonstrations were held in the city under the ‘Defund the Police’ campaign.
The results are evident in the crime rate in Chicago. As there is a shortage of police personnel for important tasks like patrolling and other matters, gang wars and other violent activities have increased. Keith Thornton, who worked as a ‘911 Despatcher’ in the Chicago police department, criticised the policies of Mayor Lightfoot and levelled a serious allegation that she has converted Chicago into a ‘Death Zone’.
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