Illinois Governor Pat Quinn chimed in on Police Superintendent Jody Weis's recent sit down with Chicago gang leaders, telling reporters that he doesn't support the strategy. “I don’t think that’s a particularly good strategy. … I just don’t think those are the people you want to be talking to,” Quinn told the Sun-Times. “I think it’s better to be fighting against assault weapons and protecting our officers and our communities against gang bangers who have assault weapons that are perpetrating mayhem and terrorism on the streets of Chicago. ... I’m running against somebody who supports assault weapons. Sen. [Bill] Brady, every chance he gets, votes with the guns. I don’t think that’s the way to go.” more ›

Police Superintendent Jody Weis's recent tete a tete with local gang leaders has angered some aldermen, who say that Chicago's top cop shouldn't be "negotiating with urban terrorists." 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti, who is rumored to be considering a run against Daley for mayor, lashed out at Weis Monday for his mid-August meeting. "I can't believe we're sitting down and negotiating with urban terrorists who are killing our kids with guns and drugs on the streets," Fioretti told the Sun-Times. "These are not people the superintendent ought to be negotiating with. They've now been elevated to equals. They're not equals. They belong in jail. It's an admission that the Police Department can't control the streets." Fioretti also questioned Weis's threat of going at gang leaders with federal racketeering charges if they don't back down, wondering why the police superintendent hadn't already applied that tactic. "We ought to be working hard with the feds and U.S. Attorney's office to start applying these RICO statutes now instead of giving them a warning that says, 'If you kill somebody.' That didn't help this weekend." 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore, a longtime Daley critic, wondered if a crisis of leadership in the department was to blame. "What would accomplish more is to have a Police Department with good morale that believed in their leadership and believed in their mayor. We haven't had a Police Department with that kind of leadership in 22 years," Moore said. more ›

The Chicago SWAT teams and the Illinois State Police already carry the weapons, and Daley also argued that other city police forces around the country carry assault rifles. more ›