While on its face value this seems like a victory for the city, Chicago still beats the number of killings in New York City and Los Angeles combined. Despite these cities being among the leading cities for gun control laws, they continue to remain in the top percentage of the highest homicide rates.
Chicago Police officials say they were able to make progress in combating violence with the launch of Strategic Decision Support Centers.
These centers are data driven nerve centers that Chicago Police Department says has helped it respond faster to shootings and help officers predict where the next incident may occur. According to Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson “the six districts where police launched the nerve centers in 2017, murders and shooting incidents decreased by about 25 percent.”
According to the Chicago Police Department website, officers are now provided with "additional cameras, gunshot detection systems, and mobile phones to officers in the field who receive real-time notifications and intelligence data at their fingertips.” Furthermore, according to new Chicago PD reports, districts in the city that have been equipped with these new technologically advanced nerve centers are seeing a decrease in overall crime, not just shootings.
