Fearing Labor Day violence surge, CPD arrests 90 out of 177 targets

Hoping to lessen the predicted violence over the long Labor Day weekend in the city, police are in the midst of a number of raids to get potential troublemakers off the streets.

As of Friday morning, police had arrested 90 of the 177 people targeted on previous arrests warrants, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Friday at police headquarters.

“People will say why this weekend, why not get them off the streets every day? The issue is these guys have multiple arrests — we’re talking about 30 or 40 arrests,” Guglielmi said. “They certainly cycle through the system, and the goal is to get them off the streets so they don’t contribute to any more violence.”

Chicago residents should expect to see a larger police presence citywide over the weekend — an increase of about 1,300 police officers over typical staffing levels, officials aid.

Meanwhile, the CPD said shootings declined by 45.4 percent in August and murders were down by 47.4 percent compared to the same month last year.

In August, more than 300 people were wounded in shootings, along with at least 52 deaths ruled homicides, according to data compiled by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Police still touted it as the sixth straight month in which shootings declined from the previous year; it’s the city’s longest such stretch in four years, the department said.

Shootings overall are down by 16.6 percent this year compared to last year, police said. More than 2,500 people have been shot in the city in 2017, with nearly 470 homicides, Sun-Times data shows.

Chicago suffered one of its bloodiest years in two decades in 2016, with more than 4,300 gunshot victims and nearly 800 homicides.

Officers have seized more than 6,100 illegal guns, as part of a 34 percent increase in gun arrests over 2016, according to police.

“While we certainly are not declaring victory, our progress in reducing violence during the month of August has been significant,” CPD First Deputy Supt. Kevin Navarro said in a statement. “This progress is due in large part to the brave efforts of Chicago police officers with the help of the technology we have put into place in some of our most active districts.”