AST Digital Magazine June 2017 Digital-June | Page 9

Volume 13
June 2017 Edition
FBI, Chicago PD Work to
Combat Violent Crime
(Multi-Videos)
By the FBI
The FBI is working with the Chicago Police
Department and others to combat street-level
crime while also lending support to communities
that are seeking to affect change.
(Image courtesy of the FBI)
Tuesday, April 18, 8:15 a.m.: Along the 5100 block
of Halsted Street on the South Side of Chicago,
a quiet spring morning is interrupted by gunfire.
Police respond to a gas station and discover a
drive-by double homicide.
are only
i n t e r -
ested in
terrorism
or
pub-
lic corrup-
tion or large
drug-trafficking
organizations,” said
Michael Anderson, special
charge of the Chicago Division.
agent
in
As they secure the crime scene and work to iden-
tify the bodies and recover evidence, distraught
family members of the victims begin to arrive,
their faces full of anguish and disbelief. They will
not be alone in their grief.
By the end of the day in a city reeling from vio-
lent crime, there will be 13 more shootings and
another murder.
Chicago’s extreme gun violence—762 homicides
last year and more than 4,000 people wounded—
has been described as an epidemic.
Primarily gang-related, the shootings are often
spontaneous and unpredictable, and the toll on
victims, families, and entire communities cannot
be overstated.
That’s why the FBI’s Chicago Division, working
with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and
other agencies, has undertaken significant mea-
sures to address the problem.
“The FBI sometimes battles a perception that we
(Fighting Violent Crime in Chicago. Courtesy of the FBI and
YouTube)
“The FBI sometimes battles a perception that we
are only interested in terrorism or public corrup-
tion or large drug-trafficking organizations,” said
Michael Anderson, special agent in charge of the
Chicago Division.
“The fact is, we are interested in those things,
but in Chicago we are also getting down to the
street level to address violent crime, and we are
specifically going after the trigger-pullers and
shot-callers.”
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