[VIDEO] I wanted to share this ad you probably have seen somewhere - perhaps on TV or perhaps while watching YouTube. This ad touting Mayor Lori Lightfoot's accomplishments on policing and crime. I can believe that she has been taking a beating on the crime issue at least since 2020.
I like to save videos like this to a playlist, however, I can't save this one because this ad has been set to content made for kids. Interesting....
Then I found this article from April 2020 - at the time David Brown had just become police superintendent - via Block Club Chicago. I didn't know this, however, some detective areas had been closed down. In 2020 two of those areas that had been shut down had been re-opened.
That structure was slashed to three Areas — referred to as Areas North, South and Central — under Emanuel.
But Lightfoot revamped the former map, adding back Areas at 5101 S. Wentworth Ave. and 3151 W. Harrison Ave. All five of the old Areas return to their former names: Areas 1-5.
The three Police Areas were “too big” and weren’t “functionally working … as effectively as [they] could be,” Lightfoot said.
The restructuring had been in the works for months. The city rehabbed the two re-opened Area buildings that were closed and redrew their boundaries as part of the project.
With the changes, parts of the city hit hard by crime now no longer have to share resources and officers with as many other neighborhoods.
For example, the newly created Area 4 will focus solely on crime in the 10th, 11th and 15th police districts, which are in parts of the West Side that struggle with gun violence.
Now, detectives working out of the Police Areas will be closer to the neighborhoods where they work, which means it will be easier for them to work with witnesses and victims and they’ll be able to get to crime scenes quicker, Lightfoot said. She said it also means detectives will be able to collaborate more often with officers.
Anyone out there thinks this reorganization has been helpful?
Meanwhile almost three years later during the mayoral race, it seems the latest news about David Brown is that he is on the verge of leaving. Lightfoot running for re-election had pledged to keep Brown as Superintendent if she wins another term. Polls seem to suggest it's not likely that she will win another term, however, if she does time to start looking again for another police chief.