Troubling trend of violence targeting police officers has more serious effect than you may think, expert says
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An urgent search continued late Thursday for a gunman who shot and wounded a Chicago Police officer in West Englewood the day before.
The shooting is part of a troubling trend of violence targeting officers. At the end of March, we told you 11 Chicago Police officers had been shot or shot at – and CBS 2's Tara Molina has learned that number has now doubled.
Molina brought the issue to an expert – who says the issue is bigger and has a broader impact than we may realize.
At 5:42 p.m. Wednesday, a Chicago Police officer and her partner, who are both assigned to the Englewood (7th) District, were in a marked squad car attempting a traffic stop in the 6100 block of South Paulina Street, according to Police Supt. David Brown.
The car the officers were trying to pull over first sped up, and then slowed down to come in parallel with the squad car, Brown said. At that point, someone in the car started firing a gun at the officers.
The 27-year-old officer who was driving was shot in the head.
This was the fourth time a Chicago Police officer has been shot this year. Officers have been shot at 18 other times.
But there have been more than shootings. Just Memorial Day Monday, crowds yelled at police on North Avenue Beach - throwing bottles and other items at officers, including a pineapple.
And just a couple weeks ago, officers responding to a deadly shooting scene in the Back of the Yards where physically attacked by men they called rival gang members.
Two men are charged with resisting arrest and aggravated battery of a police officer for shoving and pushing officers in that incident. One officer was punched in the face.
"The trend of more attacks on police officers is nationwide - concentrated mostly in large urban areas," said Arthur Lurigio, a criminologist and professor at Loyola University. "To me, it's an expression of disrespect. And it's an expression of the breakdown of trust between police officers and residents in communities."
Lurigio said the impact is wider spread than you may think.
"These kinds of acts aimed at the police have repercussions for the city as a whole," he said.
Those repercussions range from officer burnout and mental health concerns to public safety concerns for the entire city – and whether people are willing to visit or move to Chicago.
"There could be population decline," Lurigio said. "Population decline means less tax revenue. Less tax revenue means the economic health and wellbeing of the city is being reduced."
This extends to issues recruiting new officers. We have seen such issues in Chicago, where the number of officers joining the department is much smaller than the number leaving.
The CPD is budgeted for more than 1,300 officers than it now has on the force.
Lurigio said the methods to remedy the crisis of violence directed at officers won't work if they're copied from another city's plan.
"The mending must be local. There isn't something that works somewhere else that could work in Chicago. It has to be homegrown," he said, "and it has to be done in a true collaboration between government, residents, police, and leaders in the community. What might work in Memphis or Los Angeles won't work in Chicago."
The FBI says unprovoked attacks led to 24 law enforcement deaths last year – "significantly outpacing all other line of duty deaths resulting from felony acts and reaching the highest annual total in over 30 years of reporting."
The FBI said 73 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty nationwide last year were killed as a result of felonious acts, compared with 56 who died in accidents.
The FBI has sent up a crime data explorer through its Law Enforcement Officer Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program. It shows information nationally and breaks it down by region.
