Safety fears rise for Chicago residents still plagued by high crime

(The Center Square) – Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford is pushing for a different kind of conversation when it comes to making Chicago residents feel safe in their own neighborhoods.

Even with overall reported violent crimes across the city down in several key areas, a new Harris Poll finds that almost two out of every three Chicagoans say they are concerned about public safety in their neighborhood and almost half of those polled agree that they feel the problem of crime at home is worse than in other places.

“You can't talk about crime is down, you have to deal with the reality that crime is still here,” Ford told The Center Square. “I think that's where sometimes we sort of lose focus on people and their concerns, when we try to redirect the conversation and talk about what we want to talk about, that being crime is down.”

Ford argues all the doom and gloom needs to serve as a further call to action for lawmakers.

“It's our responsibility in government to do what we have to do to make people feel safe by making sure that crime is reduced in their neighborhoods and they feel safe enough to walk the streets and live their lives,” he added. “If you have a government that ignores it, I think it's negligent.”

With data showing that robberies, motor vehicle thefts and sexual assaults were all up in 2023, earlier this year Mayor Brandon Johnson unveiled his plan for improving public safety in such neighborhoods as Austin, Englewood, Little Village and West Garfield Park, arguing socioeconomic and racial disparities in these communities have greatly added to many of the problems they face.

Ford shares much of that vision, adding he’s come to believe many of the problems stem from the same issue.

“What I would love to see more attention placed on is the open drug market,” he said. “The open drug market I think is the foundation for crime. I think that the city should do everything it can to sort of bring some of the tactics that we had for the [Democratic National] convention as our everyday practice. I think if we're really going to protect and make people feel safer, we don't have to have a police state but we have all the technology that we have.”

As it is, 60% of all residents said they are dissatisfied with the way the city is handling the crime problem and want to see leaders doing more to address it.