And a new “Our City. Our Safety” plan includes more than 100 youth programs, activities and community events over the three days.
The Chicago Police Department will increase its deployment over the Memorial Day weekend — to the tune of 1,200 officers working overtime and on adjusted schedules — to prevent the unofficial start of summer from turning violent.
In addition, roughly 50 Chicago police officers will spend the entire summer riding CTA buses and trains throughout the city to protect mass-transit riders, CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
Two years ago, 1,300 additional officers hit the streets to prevent a Memorial Day weekend bloodbath. CPD also kicked off that three-day stretch by arresting more than two dozen people in a series of raids.
Last year, more than 1,000 additional officers were deployed citywide over the holiday, but there were still nine people killed and 29 others wounded.
This year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has made Memorial Day weekend safety, as well as preventing the traditional summer surge of violence, her top priority.
On Thursday, Lightfoot will attend a Comstat meeting with most of the city’s 22 district commanders.
After that, she will join city department heads and agency chiefs to launch a citywide plan to showcase more than 100 youth programs, activities and community events across the city over the holiday weekend.
Lightfoot has expressed disappointment with the city’s handling of large groups of young people who came downtown during spring break after organizing on social media. She has called it a “missed opportunity” and declared: “We’re not gonna do that again.”
That’s apparently why the city’s plans for Memorial Day weekend will be announced in two phases. On Thursday, the spotlight will be on showcasing the citywide initiative to provide alternative programming. She calls it “Our City. Our Safety.”
On Friday, CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson will announce specifics of the policing part of the plan will be during a joint news conference with state, county and federal law enforcement authorities.
“We need to make sure that, when there’s a school break as there was, that we have plans for young people to have the opportunity to engage in productive activities in their neighborhoods,” Lightfoot said earlier this month after wrapping up two days of meetings tailor-made to prevent summer violence.
“We’re gonna make sure that we’re thoughtful and intentional, particularly around school breaks. That’s why I’ve been spending so much time talking to not just law enforcement, but the various agencies that have a real plan for the summer.”
Under former Supt. Garry McCarthy, Chicago police officers flooded downtown during summer months, paying particular attention to CTA stations where large groups of young people arrived to congregate in the Michigan Avenue and State Street shopping districts.
If police saw large groups of young people intimidating shoppers or otherwise causing trouble, they would surround those groups, follow them for blocks and sometimes steer them back to CTA stations.
That prompted periodic complaints that police were violating constitutional rights.
That’s the legal tightrope Johnson is now attempting to walk.
On May 9, Johnson told the City Club of Chicago that he was “devising a plan to give kids an alternative” to coming downtown, but he warned that constitutional concerns make it a “complex issue.”
“We’re right now in the process of devising a plan that will give those kids an alternative. ... I’m not gonna tell you yet. But I think you all will be pleased with what we come up with because I think that will really tamp this down once and for all,” Johnson said.
“If you come downtown . . . and you misbehave, then you’re gonna be held accountable. You don’t want to treat a juvenile like an adult. But there still has to be some accountability when they do that.”
Johnson stressed the punishment will be the same for young people from South and West Side neighborhoods as it is for suburban kids who flood Grant Park for Lollapalooza and Taste of Chicago.
“I’m talking about all children. ... We don’t target people by their race and ethnicity. We target people because of what they’re doing,” he said.
“If you come down there and you act like you have some sense, have at it. But if you come down there and commit criminal acts, you will be held accountable. Period.”
Johnson said then that the summer plan would rely on: data from so-called Strategic Decision Support Centers, now located in 20 of 22 police districts; “seasonal deployments,” including a “summer mobile team, saturation teams, gun teams, bicycle teams and a special mass transit team” and more foot patrols in the business and entertainment districts.
“These teams can be assembled quickly and deployed to areas of immediate concern. They can also patrol an area we know is going to be popular, such as the beachfront or large festivals like Lollapalooza and Taste of Chicago,” he said then.
