CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chinatown residents got their chance to take their safety concerns directly to Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling on Tuesday at the first of four public meetings of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.
At the top of their list, the controversial gunshot detection technology Shotspotter — which will be the topic of a special hearing on Feb. 8. Snelling was quick to defend the devices.
“Technology is being used by those who are engaging in violent crimes, and the only way to combat that is to approach with a high level of technology,” he said. “Over 150 incidents where officers have applied tunicates and lifesaving techniques because they were able to get to that scene sooner.”
The superintendent covered a wide range of topics at the meeting, held at the Pui Tak Center. Among them: community policing, the Democratic National Convention, recruitment and police accountability.
Snelling told residents attending the town hall-style forum that he was restructuring the department.
“We’re going to strategize by infusing community engagement into all of our training,” he said. “All of our officers understand that we’re all community police officers and we will all be engaging with our communities.”
He also took the opportunity to share some statistics behind a downward trend in crime.
“For the month of january … we’re down 17 homicides — 50% down in homicides,” Snelling said. “We’re down 45% in shootings; we’re down over 50% in shooting victims; we’re down close to 60% in vehicular hijackings. That is a lot.”
Snelling added that the department's relationship with the CCPSA is in a good place.
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