CHICAGO HEAT
U. S. attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions vows to target city’s gun crime, boost cops’ morale during confirmation hearing
U. S. attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions vowed Tuesday to step up prosecutions of gun crimes to stop a surge in violent crime in Chicago and other cities.
During his U. S. Senate confirmation hearing, Sessions also said police officers in Chicago and across the nation have been “unfairly” blamed for the “unacceptable actions of a few bad actors.”
“They feel they’ve been targeted. Morale has suffered,” said Sessions, a Republican U. S. senator from Alabama.
The attorney general- designate said a rise in police officers killed on the job across the country was a “wake- up call” for a situation that “can’t continue. . . . Local law enforcement must knowthey are supported.”
The promise to make prosecution of gun crimes a high priority came in response to a question from Sen. John Cornyn, R- Texas.
“When I looked at the record of the . . . Justice Department, prosecution of those crimes were down 15.5 percent in the last five years. Down 34.8 percent in the last 10 years,” he said.
A Chicago Sun- Times story last year found that federal weapons charges in Chicago have fallen slightly over the past five years— despite the local rise in firearm offenses. Federal prosecutors in some other major urban areas — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Detroit and Baltimore — have charged far more people with weapons offenses than the U. S. attorney’s office in Chicago has.
“Can you assure us that you will make prosecuting those people who cannot legally possess or use firearms a priority again in the Department of Justice and help break the back of this crime wave that’s affecting so many people in our local communities like Chicago or Baltimore, particularly minority communities?” Cornyn asked.
“Criminals are most likely the kind of person who will shoot somebody when they go about their business. And if those people are not carrying guns because they believe they might go to federal court, be sent to a federal jail for five years perhaps, they will stop carrying those guns during that drug dealing and their other activities that are criminal,” he said.
“Fewer people get killed. So I truly believe that we need to step that up. . . . Communities are safer with fewer guns in the hands of criminals.”
In prepared remarks to the committee, Sessions also mentioned the more than 4,330 shooting victims in Chicago in 2016.
“We must not lose perspective when discussing these statistics. We must always remember that these crimes are being committed against real people, real victims,” he said. “These trends cannot continue. It is a fundamental civil right to be safe in your home and your community. If I am confirmed, we will systematically prosecute criminals who use guns in committing crimes.”
Sessions also said legitimate criticism of individual police officers’ actions has spilled over to condemnation of entire police departments.
“Morale has been affected, and it’s impacted the crime rates in Baltimore and the crime rates in Chicago,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about it. I regret that’s happening. I think it can be restored.”
When Sessions pointed to poor morale among Chicago Police officers, he touched on a wide perception that cops engaged in a work slowdown in 2016 because they believe they’ve come under unfair scrutiny following the release of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.
Before the release of the video, Chicago Police officers were making about 50,000 street stops per month. After the video was made public, that figure dropped to about 10,000 amonth.
Sessions could give Chicago Police officers a morale boost if he were to decide not to implement Chicago Police reforms expected to comein a Department of Justice report thisweek.
President- elect Donald Trump had campaigned on a promise to take the handcuffs off rank- and- file police officers. Sessions has said he opposes consent decrees and refused to commit to implementing the reforms during a recent meeting with Sen. Dick Durbin, D- Ill. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has vowed to implement the Justice Department reforms, whether or not Trump and Sessions pursue a consent decree mandating those changes.