U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will meet with Chicago’s top cop to discuss ways to fix the violence in cities Thursday.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, along with approximately ten other police chiefs, will sit down with Sessions, reports ABC 7 Chicago.
Johnson’s focus for the meeting will be on curbing the gun violence in the city, according to Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. He wants to ask Sessions to hire more assistant U.S attorneys to combat the gun crimes, Guglielmi said.
Johnson also wants federal aid to go towards mentoring programs for Chicago youth, Guiglielmi added.
Chicago struggled to keep violence under control in 2016. The year ended with 762 homicides and over 4,300 gunshot victims. Trump has repeatedly threatened federal intervention if Chicago does not get a handle on the city’s gun violence.
Johnson also plans to double down on the department’s commitment to enact the reforms suggested by the Obama administration’s Department of Justice. The DOJ report alleged that Chicago police officers were poorly trained, badly supported and routinely violated the rights of their citizens.
Sessions signaled that his department would retreat from investigating police departments like the Obama administration did.
“So, we’re going to pull back a little on this. I don’t think that it’s wrong or mean or insensitive to civil rights or human rights. I think it’s out of concern to make the lives of those, especially in poorer communities and minority communities, live a safer, happier life,” Sessions said at a speech last month.
Sessions also suggested that a lack of aggressive policing contributed to the rise in crime in certain cities.
“Somehow, someway, we’ve undermined respect for police and made — often times — their job more difficult,” Sessions explained previously. “We need to help police officers get better rather than reduce their effectiveness, and I’m afraid we’ve done some of that.
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