CHICAGO — A 12-year-old was shot in the back and a Chicago Transit Authority bus driver attacked within 20 minutes and less than half a mile apart in the Loop last weekend.
The attack of the bus driver and videos of teenagers gathering downtown circled social media, causing city officials to develop a plan to curb violence downtown during the holiday season.
This weekend, Chicago police are beefing up patrols and taking other measures to prevent violence and other disorderly conduct from happening again. And a private security firm will monitor the safety of CTA bus drivers, according to the drivers union.
Chicago police Superintendent David Brown held a news conference at police headquarters Friday morning to discuss what occurred last weekend and share police plans for the weekend.
Twenty young people were arrested Dec. 4 downtown for disorderly conduct, battery and reckless conduct, and another nine young people were issued curfew violations, Brown said. The department did anticipate a large crowd of children and teenagers last Saturday and worked with youth outreach workers to help mitigate some of the young people.
“Everyone is always welcomed downtown, everyone,” Brown said. “Chicago belongs to all of us, but if you come downtown or anywhere else to engage in disorderly conduct or other crimes, you will get arrested.”
Brown added that the lives of these children and teenagers matter and their futures are valuable, which is why the department is investing in community engagement programs to keep kids involved.
In the short term, officers throughout the department had one of their two regular days off canceled for the weekend so more officers are available to respond to violence downtown and the central business district, Chief of Patrol Brian McDermott said. The department also worked with the mayor’s office and other city agencies to create a “comprehensive plan” to deal with any large gathering that may occur in Millennium Park.
Brown said the department believes that young people will gather at Millennium Park and police are prepared to get kids back on a train, call their parents or arrest the kids if needed. He said he could not comment on the specific number of officers that will be deployed over the weekend, but it is a “significant increase” of officers who will be deployed into neighborhoods and downtown.
Police will also enforce the city’s curfew, McDermott said.
After last weekend, the city learned that parents have been dropping off children as young as 12 years old downtown without adult supervision, Brown said.
“But that is not the role of police to babysit people’s kids,” Brown said.
Shootings are up 9% citywide compared with the same time last year, according to Chicago police data that dates to last Sunday. But since 2019, shootings are up 67% citywide.
When asked about conversations the Police Department has had with downtown business owners, Brown said that Deputy Chief Jill Stevens, whose area covers downtown, has been talking to those people to assure them that there will be a higher presence and more resources in the area.
Chicago aldermen also advanced their own plan this week to levy an additional property tax on Magnificent Mile businesses, with part of the money going toward safety improvements.
The tax of 0.05% on the value of property within the district, which includes North Michigan Avenue and some nearby blocks where high-end boutiques are clustered, is expected to bring in $742,033 annually, with $472,194 dedicated to “public health and safety programs.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot tried to fast-track the North Michigan Avenue special taxing district last year, saying business owners on the Magnificent Mile wanted to pay into the fund to improve security following looting incidents there and coax shoppers back to the area during the pandemic.
But downtown Aldermen Brendan Reilly and Brian Hopkins opposed the mayor’s expedited process, saying her administration didn’t consult with them about local priorities and gave too little time to take the pulse of commercial property owners within the boundaries of the proposed district. Aldermen declined to approve the plan then, which the mayor called “a mistake,” and “aldermanic prerogative at its worst.”
A year later, Reilly and Hopkins dropped that opposition. The full City Council is set to consider the proposed taxing district Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the union representing CTA bus drivers has indicated its members are fed up worrying about their safety. Keith Hill, president of Local 241, said the union worked with activist Early Walker to find security firms to guard “hot spots” where CTA workers have been attacked.
One of those locations will be East Washington Street and North Michigan Avenue, the site of the Dec. 4 attack on a CTA bus driver — and steps from the September shooting of a different CTA driver in the first block of East Washington. The Chicago-based Guarded Interest Security Firm has stepped up to volunteer its guards.
“Enough is enough,” Hill said. “Something has to give to give us protection while we try to earn a living and make us feel safe. Not just us, the passengers too as well on the bus.”
The CTA does not allow weapons on its property, so the guards will stand outside at the bus stops and check in with the driver about any safety concerns once the doors open, Walker said. He criticized how Chicago police seem to not have enough manpower to handle the violence, saying that it’s time for private security firms to fill in the gaps.
But while the security guards will be armed, they won’t “engage” with anyone causing trouble, Walker’s spokesman Sean Howard said. Instead, they will alert police immediately.
Hill added that assaults on CTA operators on rail and bus lines have doubled from last year, reaching close to 400. In 2020, that number was about 150, and in 2019 it was under 300. Hill said the injuries also appear to be more serious.
The transit union is planning to block traffic Saturday afternoon to protest recent violence against its members, Hill said. The march will start at City Hall and end at Washington and Michigan, close to the Millennium Park Christmas tree.
“We just won’t quit,” Hill said. “We want safety for Christmas. That’s it.”
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