Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is calling on the federal government to help combat crime and violence in that city.
According to Fox32 Chicago, the Democrat mayor requested that US Attorney General Merrick Garland send in agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) for six months to increase the number of gun investigations and seizures.
According to the station, she also requested more federal prosecutors to handle the criminal cases that the agents will be investigating and federal marshals to assist local law enforcement in tracking down thousands of suspects wanted on warrants.
“We need these additional resources well in advance of summer,” Lightfoot reportedly said.
According to the Chicago Tribune, as of Sunday, there had been 4,270 shooting victims in Chicago this year, up from 3,930 in 2020.
The number of homicides has risen to 783, up from 749 in the same period in 2020, according to the newspaper.
Last summer, President Donald Trump dispatched 100 federal agents to Chicago as part of Operation Legend, according to Fox News.
With neighborhoods becoming more dangerous, Chicago is spending $411 million on a safety plan that has shown few results so far, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Lightfoot recently told the newspaper she hopes that by focusing on things like violence prevention, affordable housing, job training, health and wellness, and community development, the unprecedented level of spending over the next two years will eventually close the “safety gap.”
“We may not call all of these things part of the tools of public safety, but they absolutely fundamentally are,” the mayor told the newspaper.
Communities thrive, according to Lightfoot, when people are healthy when communities are vibrant, and when people feel like they own the land beneath their feet.
