'A Fail' How Mayor Lightfoot Called Plans To Curb Weekend Violence
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Calling it a "fail" Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot addressed the weekend violence where more than 40 were shot and 10 were killed. It was the deadliest Memorial weekend in years.
Several people were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, but Chicago Police said they have no record of citations or arrests related to the stay-at-home order on Saturday or Sunday. Lightfoot said she is meeting with CPD to discuss what went wrong.
"This was a fail. Whatever the strategy is, it did not work. They are hard at work and looking at data. I have a meeting with them later this afternoon but we have to do better. We cannot have weekends and the summer turn into a bloodbath and this was out of control."
The mayor addressed word from police sources that said there were 1,000 fewer officers working the weekend. She denied that was the case.
"One hundred percent not true. In fact, there were more officers. What we have been doing is pushing organized crime and gangs and narcotics to be involved and decentralize and move them out of the control of district commanders."
Lightfoot stressed that tackling the crime issue goes beyond her city's borders and that federal assistance is part of the solution.
"The federal government and agents that are actively involved in the crime fight, many of them have been on the sidelines for weeks. That is a problem," Lightfoot said. "We have officers that are risking their life and arresting people that are drivers of violence and cycling in and out of the jail out of the court systems in 24 or 48 hours. The pieces of the end system and infrastructure, our partners in this fight are not there and if they are there, it is substantially diminished."
Lightfoot also cited the need for the public to do everything including adhering to stay-at-home orders.
"We can't do this alone solely with the resources of the Chicago Police Department and I have said this many times. What we experience every day with gun violence is a public health crisis and we have to treat it as such. It means getting at the root causes and that is not a tool that law enforcement can address by itself. It can't."
When asked to comment on Chance the Rapper's claim that CPD officers patrol minority communities instead of other neighborhoods regarding the stay-at-home order in place, Lightfoot said it wasn't true.
"I can tell you based upon the statistics that those orders are happening all over the city," Lightfoot said. "The reality is that they are active and engaged all over the city and doing it towards equity. I would have it no other way as mayor of the city."
The mayor was also asked about the people from the city who crossed over into Indiana where the beaches are open there despite COVID-19 concerns. Lightfoot said while she can't stop people from traveling, but she can only control what she can do in Chicago and remained undeterred to keep the lakefront closed for now.
"I have said to my team that we will not let this happen in Chicago and if that means slowing things down and taking our time and being thoughtful about the way that we start to reopen, we will do that because we will not undo all the hard work and all the sacrifice that people paid for with their lives," Lightfoot said. "We will not allow that to be undone in a moment when people are not thinking and are congregating in ways that we absolutely know is high risk and will lead to hot spots and spread and death."
