Treating gun crime like disease shows results
August 21, 2002
BY FRANK MAIN
CRIME REPORTER
In the late 1980s, Dr. Gary Slutkin was at the forefront of the fight against AIDS in Africa. He later worked to eradicate a tuberculosis outbreak in San Francisco. Now he's attacking gun crime in Chicago as a disease.
In 1995, Slutkin founded the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, which aims to prevent shootings in 10 neighborhoods. He said its strategy--declaring neighborhoods "CeaseFire" zones and putting outreach workers in the violence-plagued areas--works.
"We're changing the thought process that killing is OK," he said.
Slutkin, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said shootings have dropped between 30 percent and 67 percent in the first neighborhoods with CeaseFire zones.
In part of West Garfield Park, shootings fell from 43 in 1999 to 14 for each of the last two years.
The biggest change in the first six months of 2002 was in part of West Humboldt Park, which had 13 shootings compared with 37 in the same period last year.
CeaseFire works like programs that battle AIDS and other epidemics, Slutkin said. Outreach workers are recruited from the targeted population; a massive public education campaign is launched, and the focus is on a single problem--shootings. Neighborhoods have been blanketed with CeaseFire literature, which warns of stiff jail terms for gun crimes and gives program phone numbers.
Outreach workers, some of them ex-gang members, meet with people on the streets, day and night, urging them to call when they need help to prevent a shooting.
Tio Hardiman, a CeaseFire community coordinator, said a 13-year-old girl was shot and wounded in June in the Austin neighborhood. People were talking about retaliation. "We actively kept more shootings from happening," he said.
About two weeks ago CeaseFire workers heard of a plot to rob a man of his $30,000 chain. They foiled the holdup, Hardiman said.
CeaseFire workers help crime victims with funeral services or relocation. They even appear in court on behalf of defendants.
"We have a case where a guy got probation--instead of 11 years," said Norman Livingston Kerr, director of CeaseFire. "He was on a positive track."
One of the biggest drops in shootings was in the West Side's 11th police district.
"Eleven used to lead the pack," said James Maurer, chief of patrol. "But now, 11 doesn't have any of the 20 worst police beats in the city. [CeaseFire] is contributing greatly to this."
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) helped secure $450,000 in federal funds for the group for fiscal year 2003 on top of $750,000 in 2002.
"It is a really comprehensive approach to deal with the violence in the community," said Durbin, who plans to speak about the program today in Logan Square.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-cease21.html
A $30,000 chain? Was it diamond encrusted?
August 21, 2002
BY FRANK MAIN
CRIME REPORTER
In the late 1980s, Dr. Gary Slutkin was at the forefront of the fight against AIDS in Africa. He later worked to eradicate a tuberculosis outbreak in San Francisco. Now he's attacking gun crime in Chicago as a disease.
In 1995, Slutkin founded the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention, which aims to prevent shootings in 10 neighborhoods. He said its strategy--declaring neighborhoods "CeaseFire" zones and putting outreach workers in the violence-plagued areas--works.
"We're changing the thought process that killing is OK," he said.
Slutkin, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said shootings have dropped between 30 percent and 67 percent in the first neighborhoods with CeaseFire zones.
In part of West Garfield Park, shootings fell from 43 in 1999 to 14 for each of the last two years.
The biggest change in the first six months of 2002 was in part of West Humboldt Park, which had 13 shootings compared with 37 in the same period last year.
CeaseFire works like programs that battle AIDS and other epidemics, Slutkin said. Outreach workers are recruited from the targeted population; a massive public education campaign is launched, and the focus is on a single problem--shootings. Neighborhoods have been blanketed with CeaseFire literature, which warns of stiff jail terms for gun crimes and gives program phone numbers.
Outreach workers, some of them ex-gang members, meet with people on the streets, day and night, urging them to call when they need help to prevent a shooting.
Tio Hardiman, a CeaseFire community coordinator, said a 13-year-old girl was shot and wounded in June in the Austin neighborhood. People were talking about retaliation. "We actively kept more shootings from happening," he said.
About two weeks ago CeaseFire workers heard of a plot to rob a man of his $30,000 chain. They foiled the holdup, Hardiman said.
CeaseFire workers help crime victims with funeral services or relocation. They even appear in court on behalf of defendants.
"We have a case where a guy got probation--instead of 11 years," said Norman Livingston Kerr, director of CeaseFire. "He was on a positive track."
One of the biggest drops in shootings was in the West Side's 11th police district.
"Eleven used to lead the pack," said James Maurer, chief of patrol. "But now, 11 doesn't have any of the 20 worst police beats in the city. [CeaseFire] is contributing greatly to this."
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) helped secure $450,000 in federal funds for the group for fiscal year 2003 on top of $750,000 in 2002.
"It is a really comprehensive approach to deal with the violence in the community," said Durbin, who plans to speak about the program today in Logan Square.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-cease21.html
A $30,000 chain? Was it diamond encrusted?