CHICAGO _ Violence in Chicago remains stubbornly high as the city recorded about the same amount of homicides and shootings in January as the year-earlier period, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Police Department.
Much of the violence remains centered in three police districts _ Englewood on the South Side and Harrison and Austin on the West Side _ where half of the homicides took place, Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a news conference at the Englewood District station.
Asked about recent comments by President Donald Trump about Chicago's violence, Johnson said he welcomed the president's attention to the problem, saying he'd like more federal financial support for programs to support the most troubled neighborhoods.
"I like the fact that he recognizes Chicago has some challenges," said Johnson, who noted that other cities as well are seeing a spike in violence.
At about the same time during a White House listening session to mark Black History Month, Trump raised the issue again, saying that violence in Chicago was "totally out of control," according to a press pool report.
Last week a tweet from Trump drew wide attention. "If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on ... I will send in the Feds!" he wrote.
At the White House session Wednesday, one unidentified attendee told Trump that gang leaders wanted to sit down and talk about "how to reduce that body count," according to the press pool report.
It's a great idea," Trump said of possible meeting involving gang leaders and the starting up of social programs if the violence can be reduced.
"If they're not going to solve the problem _ and what you're doing is the right thing _ then we're going to solve the problem for them," the president said. "Because we're going to have to do something. ... What's happening in Chicago should not be happening in this country."
With pressure mounting to find solutions, Johnson announced at the news conference the department was launching intelligence centers at two districts that will use more technology to speed up how quickly officers can respond to shots fired.
The pilot project, starting in the Englewood and Harrison districts, will include data pinpointing the location where gunshots have been fired. Officers in the districts will also be linked by smartphone technology to the data to improve how quickly they can respond to the scene.
Johnson said Chicago recorded 51 slayings in January, one more than the first month of 2016, a year that would emerge as the most violent in two decades.
Across the city, the department said, 18 of Chicago's 77 neighborhoods saw an increase in homicides. In the other 59, homicides remained the same or fell below levels a year earlier.
One bright note was the Deering District on the Southwest Side, which posted a 50 percent decline in homicides, the department said.
Johnson began the news conference on a lighter note, referring to his near-fainting at a news conference last Friday when the department first tried to announce the new crime-fighting efforts. Later that day, Johnson revealed he was on a waiting list for a kidney transplant but blamed his "light-headedness" in the morning on his taking blood pressure medicine on an empty stomach.
"Good morning, deja vu all over again," Johnson said Wednesday to start the news conference.
