Politics

Chicago Mayor Extends Contract on Anti-Crime Program That He Campaigned Against As Racist

I have written about the disastrous policies of Mayor Brandon Johnson for Chicago.  As a native son, it is hard to watch this wonderful city undermined by Johnson and radical allies in the city council. Some initiatives like reparations and state-funded grocery stores will cost money but will not impose nearly the costs of Johnson’s dismal record on crime and taxes. However, this week saw a particularly confusing moment when, after calling the anti-crime program ShotSpotter “racist,” Johnson asked the company to extend its contract beyond the upcoming Democratic National Convention. So Johnson will put an end to this supposedly racist program but only after the Democratic luminaries (and the most violent summer months) have passed.

Johnson was elected in a close race against an anti-crime candidate. The teacher-union backed politician has never enjoyed widespread support in the city, but he is now polling at just 28 percent popularity.

In his latest baffling position, Johnson first declared that ShotStopper was racist because it spots more shots in minority neighborhoods and is used by police to justify unsupported investigations or charges.

The program has been widely credited for reducing violence and crimes. The Democratic National Convention presented a problem for Johnson. He is already under fire for continuing Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city despite the struggle to support the current number of undocumented migrants and the opposition of most Chicagoans. Only 39 percent favor Johnson continuing the status.

So ShotSpotter is now being extended for seven months. Johnson says that the police will then be transitioned away from the technology. Critics say that the city will then return to operating without the system of alerts at a time when people are demanding more action on gun violence.

63 thoughts on “Chicago Mayor Extends Contract on Anti-Crime Program That He Campaigned Against As Racist”

  1. In 2008, Presidential Candidate Barack Obama said he wanted to create a national police force with the budget of the US military. Now that we are the third term of the Obama presidency, his goal is well on its way to becoming a reality. The city and state governments are releasing felons from prisons, the attorney generals and the district attorneys aren’t prosecuting felons. The public is afraid to walk the streets, go to school, go shopping and even go to worship. The prosecutors and courts are hammering the police departments, coupled with illegal immigration, the average citizen craves law and order.
    In the fourth term of the Obama presidency, a national police force will be proposed to replace the local racist police forces of America and then we will have national police force with the same objectives as today’s DOJ, FBI, IRS, and Departments of Education, Homeland Security, Transportation, Defense, etc.
    Hold on to your children and your wallets. It’s coming and you can’t get out of the way.

  2. There’s never a ‘vacuum’. People vacuum, Power vacuum, Property vacuum (Real Estate).
    Someone always fills the spot, until it has reached it’s very end.

    I don’t think Chicago has come to it’s very end, but it is on a path set to end it.
    When the White-Collar Jobs evaporate and the Blue Collar Jobs (Middle Class) disappear,
    there is a slow spiral of death that looms to the death.

    In the late 60s and early 70s when the Auto Industry and Manufacturing were still viable,
    Chicago had a healthy Southside Steel Industry. Steel Companies pumped out Coiled Steel Rolls
    for Car Hoods, Fenders, Refrigerators, Dryers & Washing Machines… etc.

    The Neighborhoods along the: Dan Ryan, Kennedy, Edens Expressway, The Chicago Skyway-Stony Island, I-94 (Dan Ryan Expy.) in Chicago to I-90 to the Indiana Toll Road to Gary Indiana out to Hammond were economically viable. On the Northside you still had; Sears, Wards etc…
    Granted these were ‘used’ 2nd & 3rd Generations of Family Households, but they were not Slum Junk.
    Yes there was economic disparity between the Majority and Minority, the Sexes and Religious proclivities as well.

    As time took it’s toll, the conditions dwindled, urban renewal didn’t seem to catch on, and as the money (jobs) dried up the people moved on.
    Gary Indiana, Detroit, etc. from the Eastern end of I-94 to the North Western end of I-94, a diaspora slowly happened, generation after generation.

    With that, so came the Power changes. Cities elected Officials consistent with their Constituency. Management by these Officials did not maintain pace with the generation proceeding them, and were hobbled with economic conditions that were substantially less viable (smaller budgets).
    Deficits and Default contribute to the decline.

    A Note: This is why Urban Renewal is vitally important. The Tax Base is rejuvenated at a increased Value, Jobs are created, and Blight Flight is eliminated, increasing the potential of economic viability (opportunity). Cites don’t do enough to clean up the mess and get started over again. With knowledgeable & trustworthy Management (Officials).

    There’s no reason for Chicagoland to be in this mess, The ‘Blue Print’ for progressive management is historically there. It takes an active Generation to harness the economic viability and ride opportunity to a healthy Community.

    Maybe the New Immigrants will grab the reins and bring back the promise that Chicago once offered.

  3. FWIW, I was talking on the phone with an older lady who lived in a Chicago suburb. She said that her and her husband were going to lose about a million and a half in equity on their home, but that they were moving to a new home in Indiana. The main reasons were taxes and crime. Mostly crime. Her property taxes were super-high, too – but the roads were crap, and the water system in bad repair. Apparently, she had been accosted while shopping at a swank store, along with many others. She blames the Democrats. One big thing that distinguishes the Democrats and the Old Soviet, is that there were barbed wire fences keeping the Soviet citizens in, and guards, and machine gun towers, and dogs with big jaws. Here, people, can still move away to sane places run by sane people.

    2. Until they start shipping busloads of immigrants to your sane town. And the marauders start to encroach on the suburbs. Conservatives have to stop running, combine forces and stand and fight for something.

  4. This is where Chicago, and its Mayor, could really do with some out of the box thinking! Their BIG problem here is perception. And a lot of that comes from the name – ShotSpotter. Why not simply re-name the system to “Nationalist Extremist White Supremacist – Spotter”, (NEWS Spotter for short). You know, to catch all those White Christian Extremists who are shooting up black cities. They could probably even get the FBI to give them funds for the program!

  5. This is no different from the Stop & Frisk policy in NYC. That program saved more black lives than white lives, yet the IDEA that it was racist, was more important than actual black lives. I have heard Chicago described as a self-cleaning sewer, where most of the victims are black thugs anyway, so nobody really cares. In effect, Chicago has privatized the capital punishment business to the various black and brown drug gangs. Who said “Capitalism was dead?” And legalized euthanasia? Who needs it? We let 80,000 people in this country kill themselves thru drug overdoses, and around 2,000 per year in Chicago. In some really spiffy cities, like San Francisco, I have read that they even supply free needles! Take that you Dutch wimps and losers! USA! USA! USA!

    1. It used to be almost entirely black thugs only killing each other. Now they are actually killing each other less, but that’s because they are busy looting, robbing and carjacking white people and others.

  6. Chicago seems like an ideal location for Ms Willis and her southern gentleman paramour to sample wine and Grey Goose.

    2. This is weird. I just went to YouTube, and the first video on the right side, is about Henyard, who I have never heard of before today:

    3. Being from the south suburbs of Chicago close to Dolton, it’s incredibly embarrassing. A number of even suburban communities, in addition to Chicago itself, are being run into the ground by black Democrats who are actually just kleptocrats.

  8. I’m confident the 2024 DNC Convention will be far more violent and disruptive than the DNC Convention of 1968.

    The “chickens will come home to roost”. Rev Wright

    Trumps fault!

  9. These Dems and Liberals are as dumb as doornails. They illustrate their ignorance not only by their hypocrisy but by their sheer inanity. Brandon is declaring that an absolutely objective tool – one that does not “see” race because it is a machine that uses an artificial intelligence algorithm and network of microphones to identify gunshots – is now racist. Just like guns shoot themselves. These Dems are literally the stupidest ever in the history of the human race.

    1. As to extending the contract for Shotspotter until after the DNC convention, I believe the company said “no thanks”. The company said in addition to the accusations that their product is racist, the contract extension was for a ridiculously low rate (2018 rate), so they declined to enter into an extension agreement.

      1. Can’t say I blame them. The upshot is that the police have one less law enforcement tool in a city plagued by violent crime.

  10. Once again, Democrats put on full display their hypocrisy, lack of common sense and ignore their own citizens.
    The Free Press wrote an article about Blacks in Chicago who are very angry how Johnson and the Democrat party are treating illegals better than their own citizens. Many of them are not voting in this presidential election and some are even considering voting for Trump.

    1. yeah, after the election , when they see who didn’t vote, maybe those votes will show up days late as mail-ins…

  11. This is an example of how the people in blue states and cities like Chicago, NY, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, are abused by the leaders they elect. But like the victim in an abusive relationship, they don’t break up. And they can’t fall back on battered person syndrome as an excuse because they have complete freedom when casting their ballots. So n what basis should anyone not conclude they get the government they deserve. The only true victims are the kids who have no voice in the process, and voters who see the light but are outnumbered by other voters who choose more of the same.

    1. “complete freedom when casting their ballots” — well. Do some research on how elections are run in Chicago.
      Mass mail-in voting, in addition to the ability to “adjust” the insecure computer voting systems, has blown the potential for fraud and voter intimidation through the roof.

  12. In Other News: “Chicago Politicians Demand Free Silencers Be Handed Out As Reparations”
    ~+~
    Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared yesterday that the city should issue free silencers to all inner-city residents to protect them from being profiled by what he described as the racist ShotStopper gunfire locating system, saying: “Equity demands we make reparations in the form of a free silencer to compensate for all the illegal racial profiling enforced by the racist police of Chicago. With a silencer, no Blood, Crip, Sureño, or Latin King will ever suffer the indignity of being investigated for trumped up charges of wrongdoing.”

    Immediately after the mayor’s announcement, the ShotStopper system crashed after being flooded by the ensuing celebratory gunfire.

    2. Darren: how did your mother deal with your imaginative humor? When you were born, did she look up from the gurney and say, “oh, oh, here comes a funny one,?”

      1. “When you were born, did she look up from the gurney and say, “oh, oh, here comes a funny one,?”
        ~+~
        Actually, I believe she said that nine months earlier.

  13. We should all be aware, at this point, that the comrades of the prog/left have little wiggle room when it comes to their orthodoxy about their dogma. They cannot stray from what the elites require by way of loyalty to the cause of destructing this nation. As was so aptly stated in a quote from The American Spectator; they are all required “to continue the ‘fundamental transformation’ of America into the vision of a communist paradise Frank Marshall Davis plugged into Obama’s brain all those years ago in Hawaii.” And this is just the tip of the iceberg of indoctrination that has happened to almost half of this nation’s citizens via our media/education industry. Just expect more of this illogical conformity/hypocrisy as the left attempts their desperate grasp to maintain their control over all facets of our culture and society. I liken it to the spread of the black death in Europe, all it took was a few rats from a ship and slowly those few rats managed to infest most of Europe in a devastating plague that brought the entire continent almost to the edge of destruction.

  14. I lived in Chicago for 59 of my 66 years. Now in Highland Park. My father was a precinct captain. I am very familiar with the Chicago politics. My sister bought my parents’ house. Still have family in Chicago. I never thought that there could be a worse mayor than Lightfoot. Johnson makes Lightfoot look like Richard J. He is a Fuc**ng idiot. And a super hypocrite. Says people who don’t live in Chicago should ” shut the F**K up” about what happens in the city. Then spearheads a Council proclamation calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Also, glad that I am out of Cook County. Foxx is a complete ASS**LE. If they elect Harris over Burke that will be a total nightmare. Under Johnson, every time he does not get what he wants, the answer is always ” that is racist”.

    2. LOL poor Anon.
      Libtard in Chicago, now Libtard in Highland Park.

      As someone who is an independent, and living in Chicago, I can tell you that Brandon won due to the support of teachers union that are to blame for misinformation and destroying kids futures during the COVID years.

      Turley is right.
      Brandon should be tarred and feathered, then rode out on a rail. But that can’t happen because we can’t recall a maroon.

      Brandon was expecting a bailout from the state and feds over the sanctuary status and free grants to illegals.
      Over in River North, crime is way up.
      One of my friends was told by her Alderman to call 911 to report any ongoing crime from the hotel that was converted to housing illegals.
      Drug, prostitution are rampant.

      The Mariano’s near me has a set of Illegals begging for money outside the store.

      Brandon has to cut services to pay for his follies at our expense. He knows if he raises taxes… he’ll be shot. Any more businesses move… its on him. Already thanks to Beetlejuice Chicago’s Fintech has moved. A few firms still have offices here, but most have moved and grew offices elsewhere. CME sold their building and lease it back with a clause that allows them to break the lease at any time due to the City’s mismanagement.

      The reality is that the system wasn’t racist. He was using it to win Black support.
      He’s lost that. Its easier to blame things on racism than to face the truth that due to his free goods and housing for illegals, not to mention the sanctuary status… we’re broke.

      1. What part of my statement led you to believe I am even close to a liberal? I agree with everything that you said. I am the total opposite of a liberal. A little early to start drinking.

        Emotional Italian

        1. My post didn’t seem to get printed.
          You admit family is part of Dem machine. Thus Libtard.
          You admit to move to Highland Park. A suburb of Libtards. (Yes, I’ve been there. )

          So yeah. you’re a libtard. Definitely not a Republican.
          Maybe you’ll claim to be an independent because of how far left the Dems have moved.

          I live in the city.
          I escaped from River North and left IL for a couple of years but ended up getting dragged back.

          So unlike a lot of the posters here. I know and live w this idjits mistakes.

          No, I didn’t vote for him. I wanted Vallas.
          -G

    3. I am a black south suburbanite/former Chicagoan. I agree with your assessments of Johnson, Lightfoot, and Foxx. I’m not super-impressed by Burke since she too talks about “restorative justice” and she has had good things to say about Foxx. But on balance, she seems better than the other guy who seems to want to be a social worker rather than the lawyer/prosecutor for the People.

  15. H.L. Mencken wrote: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” Chicago voters continue to get it good and hard from the politicians who they elect.

  16. “The program has been widely credited for reducing violence and crimes. The Democratic National Convention presented a problem for Johnson. He is already under fire for continuing Chicago’s status as a sanctuary city despite the struggle to support the current number of undocumented migrants and the opposition of most Chicagoans. Only 39 percent favor Johnson continuing the status.”
    ******************************
    Johnson is just a natural progression of the jettisoning of personal responsibility and counterculture values that we then-Democrats promoted in the 60s. We were dead wrong — or maybe I should say just wrong. The dead part is coming.

        1. @mespo

          Amen. Nobody is perfect, and everybody is capable of learning. The problem is, so many people are stuck on stupid, like Bill Maher.

  17. If the current border, crime and overdose problems were part of a novel it would be pretty clear to the reader by now that the Swamp and local politicians are owned by the cartels. Time to check bank accounts.

  19. all elections need to be in person, 1 day, with ID
    I don’t care if you vote
    I care if you cheat!

  20. time to end federal aid to cities, states, colleges, non-profits where anyone gets $100k+
    Let Democrats fund their own failures!

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