The FBI To Fight Chicago Gang Scourge

By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 14, 2014 4:40PM

A day after Illinois State Police joined Chicago Police in “surge teams” in high crime neighborhoods, the FBI will be taking to the streets as part of a concentrated effort to battle crime committed by street gangs.

Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed reports 65 FBI agents will work in tandem with Chicago Police on gang suppression missions on Thursdays and Fridays, for at least the next month. The agents are part of a 100-strong force already tasked with fighting gangs and violent crimes in Chicago, but their working with Chicago Police is “almost unheard of,” according to a source who spoke with Sneed. The FBI is expected to conduct surveillance on street corner drug deals and gather intelligence, which they hope will eventually lead to arrests and illegal gun seizures.

The addition of federal agents and state troopers patrolling high-crime neighborhoods flies in the proverbial face of long-standing claims by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy that the Police Department has violent crime in check thanks to CPD’s “saturation strategy.” That strategy relies heavily on overtime pay, rather than hiring more police.