Violence prevention activist says ‘police have retreated’ and wants unity to fight crime in Chicago

Chicago activist Tio Hardiman is preaching unity in the fight to overcome the city’s rising crime rate after new data shows violent crime rose to the second-highest level in the past five years in October.

Of the 29,260 violent crimes reported over the past 12 months, Chicago Police Department statistics show that cases of aggravated assault rose the most at 6.4%, with Black residents being attacked the most.

“We need to work together in an orchestrated way so that we can reach everyone as a safety net where we can catch all these young men before they cross the border,” Hardiman told The Center Square. “My message is about us working together and being united so we can reach more of these at-risk individuals.”

Hardiman, longtime executive director of Violence Interrupters, argued that there’s a reason why at least some numbers are trending the way they are.

“I do believe the police have backed down,” he said. “Based on all the criminal justice reform policies that are available now, there is no real orchestrated effort to help protect people, especially in the African American community. I know that good policing can work, but at the same time, policing in the black community has failed. It’s like you don’t see the police anywhere else at night other than when there’s a car accident.”

And then there are the policies that Hardiman believes have been just as damaging to violence prevention.

“Much of the funding for violence prevention has become political,” he said. “If you’re not on the right political side, you may not receive funding to help reduce gun violence in Chicago or help reduce overall violence. We need to take the politics out of the police. We need to take the politics out of violence prevention services. That’s where we fail. We have to stop the boys before they cross the line.”

Data shows that Black individuals in the city are 5.4 times more likely to be the victim of aggravated assault compared to white residents, and that 80% of all such assaults in the past year occurred on the South and West Sides. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Austin neighborhood is home to the most attacks.

“It is clear that the strategies are not working when it comes to effective policing strategies implemented in the Black community,” Hardiman said. “Many of the perpetrators of the violence know that the odds of being apprehended or convicted are probably 70% in their favor.”

As the number of aggravated assault cases has risen, data shows that the arrest rate for such cases is still around 1 in 6.