Brandon Johnson isn’t protecting Chicagoans

Nineteen people were killed and at least 105 were shot over the long July Fourth weekend in Chicago . This is a 91% increase in shooting victims from last year’s July Fourth weekend. The high numbers show Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has failed in his primary duty of protecting Chicagoans from violent crime .

After the shooting, Johnson did make some comments that showed an understanding of the inhumanity of this violence. At a press conference, he said the shooters made “a choice to kill women, a choice to kill children, a choice to kill the elderly.”

But he also returned to his common refrain about reversing “generations of disinvestment and deep disenfranchisement in the exact communities where so much of the violence has taken place.” While a holistic approach to crime that includes its causes is necessary, effective enforcement of the law is necessary before any greater reforms can be made.

Johnson was the favored candidate of the progressive Left during Chicago’s 2023 mayoral election. He began his career as a teacher and then became a Chicago Teachers Union organizer. In 2018 he was elected as a Cook County commissioner, authoring Chicago’s “Justice for Black Lives” resolution in 2020. This resolution called for the reinvestment of police funds into community groups and social services. Johnson explicitly praised the goal of “defund the police,” only walking back his support during his mayoral campaign.

In February, Johnson announced his intention to cancel Chicago’s ShotSpotter contract. ShotSpotter is a system of special microphones placed in neighborhoods that triangulates the location of gunshots and improves police response times. This attempted cancellation was so unpopular that the Chicago City Council eventually prevented Johnson from ending the contract.

But the ShotSpotter episode reflects a broader problem with Johnson’s approach to Chicago’s crime issue. Johnson, in response to critics of his law enforcement policies, often discusses how he has increased the Chicago Police Department’s budget. This is only true because of recent excesses in overtime caused by a chronic shortage of officers and a renegotiated contract with the police union.

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In reality, 833 vacant street police officer positions were eliminated in Johnson’s budget. Police response times are long in Chicago. Nearly half of high-priority 911 callers must wait 10 minutes before a police officer is even dispatched to deal with a pressing crisis.

Chicago is a great city with beautiful neighborhoods, pleasant parks, and delicious food. The city doesn’t deserve to face such persistent crime problems. But to address these problems, Chicagoans need a mayor who takes crime seriously and is prepared to support the police department’s mission. While other reforms are needed to heal Chicago’s violence, the first step is vigorous enforcement of the law. Everything else is secondary.