Chicago Fights Gangs with New Weapon
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chicago leads the nation in gang violence. On a recent weekend, 28 people were shot, five killed. The weekend before, more than 50 were shot, 9 killed.
"There's a guy laying on the middle of the street looks like he's been shot," said Cmdr. Leo Schmitz of the Chicago Police Department.
The bulk of the shootings are motivated by gang-related vendettas. But now, Chicago's Police Superintendent is pioneering a gang database intended to predict and prevent the revenge attacks as well as identify potential suspects.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Activists have been calling for change because of the number of shootings in the city. More than 1,200 people have been shot this year, and homicides have increased 39 percent.
The burden to do something has fallen on Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
His initiative is to tear down abandoned buildings and close liquor stores where gang members hang out.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I want to be very clear to the gangs and the members of those gangs, you will not find shelter in the city of Chicago," Emanuel said.
The Mayor and his police superintendent have also altered their strategy from special gang-fighting units to more beat officers on the street.
When they pop up on the police radar, link analysis shows their affiliation and past arrests.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}If a guy gets shot, police see who his friends are.
"We can make predictions about where retaliations might be likely to happen," said Cmdr. Jonathan Lewis of the Chicago Police Department.
Out on the South Side, Sergeant Tom Ryan enters names from the shooting in the computer.
"If they are gang related, if they've ever been arrested and associated with gangs, we're going to have that information now," Schmitz said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Mike Tobin is a Fox News Correspondent.
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