New intelligence center for gun crimes opens in Chicago
CHICAGO — There’s a new effort to decrease gun violence in Chicago with a crime gun intelligence center opening up Wednesday in the city.
The center, which is a partnership between the ATF, Chicago police and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, has a goal of creating a more collaborative approach to decreasing gun violence.
The program is being implemented in 54 cities across the country and Chicago’s Crime Gun Intelligence Center (C-GIC) will be one of the largest.
Investigators, analysts and prosecutors from 13 federal, state and local agencies will be working together in one centralized location. Together, the agencies will focus on analyzing gun crime evidence in real time to identify shooters and work to disrupt criminal activity.
The center will have 65 analysts, prosecutors and investigators all dedicating their resources, specifically to gun-related crimes.
The center will operate with a level of urgency to take down the most prolific offenders and disrupt the flow of firearms into the city.
“By combining this talent, this technology and data, law enforcement in Chicago can swiftly identify more leads, leads to identify the most prolific trigger pullers and to take them off the streets,” Deputy attorney general Lisa Monaco said.
Authorities said the program has been successful in other large cities — leading to more homicide arrests and a decrease in firearms trafficking.
C-GIC will be involved from the very start of the investigation to the point of prosecution.
The team will have access to national databases and state of the art technology.
According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, C-GICs are a proven method of gun violence reduction, leading to more prosecutions and a decrease in gun crimes.
“C-GICs make homicide cases, cgics stop the next shooting, C-GICs allow law enforcement to focus their attention on the small number of individuals driving crime,” Steven Dettelbach, a director with the ATF said.
According to the ATF, C-GICs in Denver, Columbus and New York have proven successful and lead to an increase in homicide arrests and prosecutions, and overall decreases in gun crimes.
The C-GIC in Chicago will also have dedicated Chicago police detectives who will relay information to local officers to help with other investigations across the city.
With the overall goal to decrease gun violence in Chicago, the group wants to seek justice for grieving families who have been forced to say goodbye to loved ones far too soon.
“The Chicago Police Department along with everyone who is standing here today, is dedicated to bringing justice to those families,” CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling said. “But greater than bringing justice to families, we would like to take preventive measures because if we’re bringing justice to families that crime has already been committed.”
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