By Frank Main
Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — The Chicago Police Department has unleashed a new anti-violence strategy in four West Side districts -- and the results have been dramatic so far, police officials say.
The Mobile Strike Force, created late last year, includes two companies of 48 officers each. They’ve been patrolling the Marquette, Harrison, Austin and Grand Central districts.
In January 2008, there were 17 murders in those districts, compared with only one murder last month, said James Roussell, commander of the unit.
“It is very dramatic,” he said. “It’s an early validation of the strategy. Now we need more people to buy into it, particularly the public.”
It’s good news for a department criticized for Chicago’s 2008 murder total, which surpassed 500 for the first time in five years.
Roussell, who recently fought against Iraqi insurgents as a Marine Reserve officer, said he is less concerned about compiling arrests than about suppressing violence.
Roussell said the Mobile Strike Force’s surge into the West Side is somewhat similar to the strategy he employed in Iraq: targeting the most dangerous actors while winning the hearts and minds of innocent residents.
Many of the gang members responsible for the violence don’t live in the neighborhoods where they commit crimes. The Mobile Strike Force works closely with the Illinois State Police to target them, Roussell said. “We spend a great deal of time identifying who these violent offenders are, where they are coming from and where they are going -- and interdict them in vehicle stops,” he said. The officers have seized 85 guns between November, when the strike force started, and the end of January, Roussell said.
Officers show up in large numbers at places where violence is likely to break out -- parks, shopping malls, schools and certain intersections, Roussell said.
“We’ve been to a number of [high school] basketball games,” he said. “We show up early and prevent two sides from flaring up at each other. It’s all about stopping violence from happening.”
Preliminary statistics for January show that crime decreased in every category citywide, except arson, compared with January 2008.
Copyright 2009 Chicago Sun-Times