Chicago Murder Rate Continues to Climb; Police Think Tech Will Solve the Problem

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by Micah J. Fleck

As the murder rates in Chicago remain high and seemingly unstoppable, the authorities and lawmakers have decided that the best thing to do in gun control city is… Turn to technology for the answer!

According to USA Today:

The Chicago Police Department is hoping a data-driven tech surge can help it stem its murder problem.

The department on Friday opened its first two data-driven nerve centers — what they’ve dubbed Strategic Decision Support Centers — that will use hyper-local video and data in two of the city’s most violent neighborhoods to help officers more quickly respond to shootings and help police predict where the next incident may occur.

Chicago recorded 762 murders and more than 4,300 shooting victims in 2016 — more killings than New York and Los Angeles combined — and is off to a more violent start to 2017 compared to last year.

The surge in crime in the nation’s third largest city has attracted the attention of President Trump, who earlier this week took to Twitter to warn that he stood ready to “send in the feds” if “Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on.”

The technological surge includes an expansion of ShotSpotter technology — sensors which several big city police departments use to help detect gunfire — and increases by 25% the number of remote-controlled police cameras in two the pilot enclaves, Englewood and North Lawndale, according to police. The two neighborhoods, a swath of just 13.5 square miles, make up roughly 5% of Chicago’s population but accounted for about 24% of the violent crime the city saw last year.

Yeah. That will work.

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