Community Policing Advances In Chicago

The unofficial murder count for Chicago in 2005 was 447 -- a number actually lower than the lowest annual total in the past forty years. Is the Chicago police department doing something right? They think so, and want to build on those efforts. One successful venture has been "CeaseFire, a program that uses former gang members to intervene in gang conflicts and negotiate peaceful solutions, or at least temporary truces."

But the CPD wants to go one step further, "coordinating the anti-crime efforts of educators and other groups who offer after-school programs, tutoring, and a spate of church-based initiatives in high-crime neighborhoods...While police will continue attacking the drug-dealing gang culture that accounts for much of the city's violence, the department also is leading an effort this year to improve the underlying social conditions."