CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) -
Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy on Saturday continued to defend the department's anti-violence strategy as the city saw another bloody weekend in which five people were dead and at least 16 others were wounded in separate shootings.
Speaking at a press conference touting two crackdowns on open-air drug markets on the South Side, McCarthy said he believes the department's efforts to stem gun violence are beginning to take root.
"We're not winning. We're not losing. We're basically treading water," McCarthy said. He said that in the month of August, "we had some trouble because some of these retaliatory shootings are happening quicker than we can stop them."
The police department has busted drug markets on the South and West sides in recent months as part of its strategy to combat the city's rising number of shootings.
On Friday, officers arrested five people in a so-called "takedown" of a drug market located in the area of 39th Street between Calumet Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive.
Another 10 people were cuffed in a separate bust of a drug market operated by an affiliate of the Gangster Disciples. That market was located in the area of 55th and 59th streets between Throop and May.
Of the 15 people arrested in both raids, 13 were convicted felons, McCarthy said.
McCarthy said the department has seen significant reductions of crime in areas where busts have taken place. In the department's Englewood District, the number of murders fell by 25 percent this year, McCarthy said.
But McCarthy said the department needs to build better relationships with communities to help prevent drug markets from opening back up.
"We're having trouble finding a community that's willing to step up and help us hold onto those corners," McCarthy said. "That's what it's all about. It's not about us holding onto that corner. It's about turning it around, getting the community involved [and] using the religious institutions, elected officials and anybody who's willing to come out in that community to foster some civic pride."
