UNIVERSITY VILLAGE — Standing in front of a wall of uniformed city and state police, Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson vowed to deploy "several thousand" officers to patrol the city's streets, parks and beaches during the upcoming notoriously violent holiday weekend.
"Our message to those who wish to victimize neighborhoods with violence is that your actions will not be tolerated, and the full weight of CPD, Illinois State Police and our law enforcement partners will hold you accountable," Johnson said during the Thursday afternoon press conference.
Police did not say how many extra officers would be on watch this weekend but called it a "significant increase."
Earlier this week, police leaders sent a memo to beat officers offering them overtime pay if they volunteer to work during their off days.
The city is still on pace to record more shooting deaths in 2016 than in any year since 1998, but Johnson said there was cause for hope.
"Any level of violence in Chicago is unacceptable...but at the beginning of the year we started out very rocky, in a really bad place, but we've seen the numbers progressively go down," Johnson said. "So we're seeing progress. If we keep trending the way we are now, by the end of the year we should be in a fairly good place."
This January saw about double as many shootings as the year before; April only recorded about a 20 percent increase.
More people were shot during the last holiday weekend, around Mother's Day, than any other weekend since September 2015.
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