Trump threatens to ‘send in the Feds’ if Chicago doesn’t ‘fix the horrible carnage’
If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible “carnage” going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
photo JRLibby
Obviously there are no specifics to the sort of federal intervention President Trump was implying, possibly being the FBI or another agency to help the Chicago police sweep the five neighborhoods which constitute 80% or more of the problem.
In fact, even on Martin Luther King Day, the violence and shootings made headlines with “At least 39 people have been shot across Chicago over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend, leaving 10 dead…”
Trump appears to have been using numbers published by the Chicago Tribune this Monday, where the news outlet reported that at least 228 people have been shot in Chicago so far this year, which is a 5.5 percent increase from the same period in January 2016. The Tribune also reported at least 42 homicides as of Monday morning, an increase of 23.5 percent.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Frank Giancamilli disagreed with the Tribune over the numbers, noting that according to police data, there have been 182 shootings in the city this January – “exactly flat from last year.”
The Tribune confirmed their stats, claiming the pace will exceed last January’s 50 homicides, the most for the month in 16 years.
With a population of 2.7 million people, Chicago had more shootings and homicides last year than any other US city, according to Chicago Police statistics, cited by Reuters.
Chicago’s homicide toll for 2016 was 762, the highest since 1996. Its murder clearance rate, which measures the solved and closed cases, remains one of the lowest in the country.
Earlier this month, Trump already pointed to the fact that the city’s murder rate was “record setting,” warning that if the mayor [Rahm Emanuel] can’t cope with the situation, “he must ask for Federal help.”
