Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave a speech on crime on Monday where she admitted that Chicago needed the help of the federal government to halt the out-of-control violence plaguing the city.
This is a big turnaround for Lightfoot. In the summer of 2020, with violence and chaos raging in the streets of Chicago, she arrogantly refused an offer from then-President Donald Trump for federal assistance.
“What we do not need, and what will certainly make our community less safe is secret, federal agents deployed to Chicago,” Lightfoot wrote in a letter to Trump.
She added: “Please stop with the rhetoric and find the moral courage to simply support the needed actions listed above: enact common-sense gun laws, partner with our law enforcement actors through providing investigative resources, deliver on community-based resources for public safety, and invest in our neighborhoods and residents.”
Recall that at that time, federal law enforcement — including ATF — had been dispatched to Seattle, where the left wet its pants when the feds actually began to try and restore order. The radicals put a stop to that immediately.
But Lightfoot recognizes she needs help.
ABC7:
She said she made a formal request to Garland to send ATF agents to Chicago for six months, as well as more federal prosecutors and federal marshals to target those with outstanding warrants. Her hope is with their help they can strip illegal guns and drugs away from gangs and off the city’s streets.
She said her goal is to “proactively and relentlessly bring peace to our city once and for all.”
The city is currently facing a 25-year high in murders, with 767 so far and counting.
Lightfoot blamed the violence on gangs and too many illegal guns. Along with asking for additional federal help, she doubled down on her criticism of the courts, and called for a moratorium on violent offenders being allowed out on electronic monitoring.
Yesterday, she didn’t offer any more substantive ideas on how to stem the violence, but she assured citizens she was working hard.
In a speech designed to reassure frightened Chicago residents and visitors, Lightfoot also promised to “dramatically expand the reach of cameras with license plates readers” and renewed her push for City Council approval of her stalled gang asset forfeiture ordinance.
“Public safety has been, is and will continue to be my highest priority. Keeping you safe is my priority…I wake every morning with this as my first concern, and I push myself every day and all involved to step up and do more because we cannot continue to endure the level of violence we are now experiencing,” she said.
Although she claims to have been “aggressively executing on a comprehensive plan,” Lightfoot acknowledged that Chicago will “end the year far short of the expectation that we all had when the year began.”
That’s the answer, fer sure. The gangbangers are quaking in their Nike Cortezes, now that they know their murders will be recorded on a video camera.
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And just who is it that’s being aggressive? The police? The courts? The politicians? Sorry, but the only aggressive ones in the city are those organized retail theft gangs who are stripping downtown stores bare.
Chicago’s situation is what it is because radicals are in control of the city and they care more about the appearance of “justice” than actual, physically manifest justice. For that to happen, the laws would have to be enforced and those who commit violence would be in jail.
That’s not likely to happen. Lightfoot and the city establishment are so invested in “reform” that the prospect of altering course to deal with the crisis isn’t even being entertained.
Meanwhile, city residents best begin buying body armor and fortifying their homes.
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