Blame pols: Former top cop
CHICAGO’S former top cop blames the Windy City’s rise in homicides — including 11 over the Christmas weekend — on political pushback against police stops and other proactive measures aimed at curbing the ongoing violence.
Garry McCarthy, Chicago’s former police superintendent, noted Tuesday in an interview with the Daily News that the number of police stops in that city is down by nearly 90% this year compared to last.
Also, the Chicago department no longer holds CompStat meetings to focus on crime hotspots, he said.
“We have completely flipped the script where we investigate police and not criminals,” said McCarthy, a Bronx native who served as the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of operations from 2000 to 2006.
“And as a result, we are reaching a lawless state in this country.” Chicago police say more than 40 people were shot over the holiday weekend.
All told, the number of people shot in Chicago this year reached more than 4,300 and the number of homicides hit 770. Last year, there were 2,989 shooting victims and 492 murders.
The figure from this year accounts for nearly half of the increase in murders nationally.
McCarthy was fired by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (photo inset bottom) last December over criticism of his handling of the 2014 fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
A judge forced the city to release police video that