By P. J. McNeal, The Chicago Times
December 21, 2021
CHICAGO – On Monday afternoon, Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to bring additional federal resources to Chicago in order to battle violent crime.
Garland was given three explicit requirements by Lightfoot. One example is that he sent ATF officers to Chicago for six months to “raise the amount of firearms investigations and gun seizures.”
Second, Lightfoot is proposing that more federal prosecutors be assigned to the city to handle new criminal cases that the federal government will develop, as well as more ATF officers to work on investigations.
Lightfoot also urged the Justice Department to form “multi-jurisdictional task teams to combat illicit gun trafficking across state boundaries from southern states like Mississippi, up the interstate, through Indiana, and over the border to Chicago.”
Lightfoot stated that the Chicago police will boost the number of officers who investigate gangs as well as the amount of murder investigators.
Aside from illegal firearms and dangerous persons on the streets, the mayor stated that the community must address poverty and neglect.
“Many of the neighborhoods most plagued by violent crime also have high rates of poverty, high unemployment, homelessness, drug addiction, and other afflictions that rip at the fabric of community,” Lightfoot added.
There was no comment from the mayor when asked why she is requested the federal help now under the Biden administration when help was offered under the Trump administration.
The Chicago Times 