Chicago (AFP) - For a few days in December, no one was shot dead in Chicago.In most US cities, that would be the norm. In the Windy City, where blood has stained the streets all year, it's an aberration.Sure enough, after the mid-month lull, the city tumbled back into a grueling and seemingly endless series of killings, with 15 people gunned down in subsequent days.Chicago, effectively the capital of America's Midwest, is hurtling toward the end of its deadliest year in nearly two decades, with more than 750 murders and 3,500 shootings.By comparison, America'stwo biggestcities, Los Angeles and New York,had about 600 murders combined.The shootings in Chicago, which spiked nearly 50 percent in 2016,were concentratedmostly in historically segregated, economically struggling andpredominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods.As 2017 arrives, there arefew clear answersas tohow to staunch the bleeding, but city officials are looking at a number of new and rehashed plans.Guns and gangsChicago police chief Eddie Johnsonspent much of 2016 hammering home a key idea: Gangs, guns and an outmatched police force were a toxic brew.With the support of the city's Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Johnsonintends to hire almost 1,000 additional officers over the nexttwo years."This will make us a bigger department, a better department, and a more effective department," Johnson said in September when he announced the plan. The first class of new recruits will graduate in 2017 and join a force underincreased scrutiny and pressure.The department isfacinga federal civil rights probe, the outcome of whichcould change how officers operate, adding a measure of uncertainty in the new year.The force already hasdifficulties dealing with a waryAfrican-American population. Somedo notcooperate inmurder investigations out of fear of retribution or distrust ofpolice.The department solvedonly about a third of the murders committed in 2016.Tensions intensified when a video became public in late 2015 showing a white police officer fatallyshootingblack teenager Laquan McDonald.Jason Van Dyke, who was later charged with murder, shot McDonald 16 times, continuing to fire his gun even after the 17-year-oldhad fallen to the ground.Police less proactiveThe resulting political uproar led Emanuel to fire then-police chief Garry McCarthy, leaving the department's leadership team in disarray.At about the same time, the department changed its policyfor stopping and searching people, requiring officers to fill out more complicated paperwork.Police activitydropped.Gun violence did not."It wasn't until March-April that we started seeing (police) activity increase," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told AFP in November.But a dozen current Chicago cops admitted to theCBS news program "60 Minutes" that they remain less proactive than in the past. "Aggressive patrol, when you're out looking for people breaking the law that's not happening as much as it was," said Brian Warner, a former officer who counsels current cops.Whether a police department on the defensive hascontributed to the rocketing murder rate is up for debate.But Chicago police say the true measure is how they deal with the approximately 1,400 people who perpetrate themajority of the gun violence.Targeting this group identified through pastarrests on firearms charges, and surveillance of real-world and social media associationsis effective, police argue.A new proposal, to be taken up bytheIllinoisstate legislature in January, wouldincrease prison sentences for repeat gunoffenders.The theory is that if they are behind bars for longer periods, the number of shootings and murders would decline."Our biggest problem in Chicago is the gun problem and the culture that allows offenders to commit gun crime after gun crime.So we need better accountability," Johnson said in November.A public health issueThis is not an idea all Chicagoans support."Are people not in prison for long enough already' Have we not used policing as much as is possible'" asked Gary Slutkin, a former World Health Organizationepidemiologist andfounder of the group Cure Violence, which treatsgun violence as a public health issue."You have to come at the problem from a different angle," he said.Slutkin's group turns former gang members into counselors, teaching themto talk to at-risk youths and convince them to avoidresolving disputes with guns.Chicago's murder spike directly correlated with cuts instatefunding for his group, he said. The funding loss affected all non-profit organizations with state contracts."At that exact moment, I mean within a week, the shootings and killings turned the corner from going down to going up," Slutkinsaid.Government, philanthropic and community leaders are nowback at his doorstep, he said,looking to find the money for the group to resume its work."This really has to be managed like an epidemic with some urgency," Slutkin said.On that point, there is agreement with the police chief, who has repeatedly called Chicago's violence a societal issue."The violence in Chicago... is not just for police to resolve," Johnson said.Still, he believes his officers can bemore effective.In late December, Johnsonvisited the New York Police Department to learn about some of their policing techniques."I liked what I saw in New York," Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times after his visit, adding that he will test out some of the Big Apple's ideasin the coming year.SEE ALSO:These maps show how Mexican cartels dominate the US drug marketJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Donald Trump supports a controversial police policy that was ruled unconstitutional
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