Chicago cops going door-to-door to curb violence
(CBS) CHICAGO - Police in Chicago are going door-to-door in a new initiative to curb street violence.
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CBS Chicago reports the experiment in the Austin neighborhood on the city's West Side involves knocking on the doors of 20 people, identified by police as potential future gunmen or potential victims of a gang-related shooting.
Austin District Cmdr. Barbara West delivered letters Friday that warned those people to avoid violence.
"It actually reminds them of their past, and it puts them on notice that we're specifically looking at you as an individual who could be involved in violence or the subject of violence," West said, according ot CBS Chicago. "We want to offer you a way out."
All of the people targeted in the letters are known by Chicago police to be gang members, West said, according to CBS Chicago.
The station reports police also plan to use the tactic after a shooting, warning people who might be thinking about retaliating and telling people they may be the target of such an attack.
"We're telling them that they are very likely to be a victim of homicide based upon their lifestyle as it exists today," said Police Supt. Garry McCarthy. "We're encouraging them to change what they're doing.
"A lot of these people are scared. They're in a lifestyle they can't get out of."