From The Guardian:

Gun violence, unsolved murders put Chicago on course to set grim record

Lois Beckett in New York and Justin Glawe in Chicago

Sunday 4 September 2016 06.45 EDT

As violence rises, an increasing number of shootings and murders are going unsolved. Through 28 August, the police department had only made arrests in 73 of the nearly 2,000 non-fatal shooting incidents so far this year – or just under 4%, according to a department spokesman.

The clearance rate for murders is not much better. Last Sunday, police swiftly charged two brothers in the murder of Nykea Aldridge, a 32-year-old mother of four, who was shot to death the Friday before while pushing a stroller on her way to register her kids for school. Her shooting had made national headlines because she was the cousin of NBA star Dwyane Wade, who mourned her death publicly as “unreal” and “another act of senseless gun violence”.

But the quick charges in Aldridge’s case are an exception. Police have only made arrests in about 16% of fatal shootings through 28 August this year, according to a department spokesperson. Through June, the clearance rate for all murders was 22.2%. That’s lower than last year’s rate of 30.4%, and dramatically lower than the national average of 64.5%, according to the most recent available national FBI data.

Overall arrests in Chicago also have dropped 27% compared with last year, according to police statistics. …

Let’s have an update on how well things are going in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood next door to Oak Park, IL:

In the police district that covers Austin, on the city’s west side, murders have increased 150%, and the district has seen more than 200 shootings.

The rising violence comes as Chicago’s police department is under investigation by the justice department for potential civil rights violations, with a focus on whether there are racial disparities in the department’s use of force.

“We need it,” Rahm Emanuel, the city’s mayor, said last year in response to the announcement of the justice department’s investigation.

You might almost think there is a connection …

[Comment at Unz.com]