McCarthy To Gangs: Your I-Bonds Are No Longer Good

By Chris Bentley in News on Aug 15, 2012 3:45PM

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy (Photo Credit: Viewminder via the Chicagoist Photos Flickr pool.)

Gun violence in Chicago drags on, with 305 dead and 1,447 shot as of July 31. The epidemic has grabbed national headlines, most recently on Gawker. As the city struggles to cope with its gang problem, the police department is reevaluating its practices.

Police Supt. Garry McCarthy announced Tuesday that CPD would no longer release known gang members on recognizance bonds. I-bonds, as they are also known, allow arrestees to go free with just a signature, an ID and a promise to show up at court. This practice facilitates emotional retaliations, McCarthy said, while lengthier detainment gives police time to follow up on the shooting and gives the gang member time to cool off.

Meanwhile efforts to embrace the anti-violence organization CeaseFire continue to falter, with CPD unable to assure the group its workers would not act as police informants. Mayor Rahm Emanuel previously dithered in his support for the group, which was profiled last year in the documentary film The Interrupters, worried about some CeaseFire workers’ recent police records. Nonetheless CeaseFire Executive Director Tio Hardiman said he expects to begin the pilot program, which was announced after a bloody Memorial Day weekend, by the end of August.