Roseland Heights Community Association

Alderman Sawyer's Plan to Reduce Violence

ALDERMAN RODERICK T. SAWYER RELEASES A PLAN TO REDUCE VIOLENCE
Today, Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer of the 6th Ward has released a plan to reduce the levels of street violence in the city.  Alderman Sawyer has a history of working with grassroots organizations to reduce violent crime from the all-time highs of 900 killings per year in the 1990s.  Alderman Sawyer states the “community has a part to play. That is why I am invested in promoting our community groups block clubs and CAPS meetings as a way for communities to take an active role in their safety.” However is lays out 4 steps that local Government must take if we are going to be successful.
The Sawyer plan is:
1.      Make a plan to hire more police officers.  Which cites among other issues the need to have officers monitoring social media.
2.      Common Sense Gun Reform for the Inner City.  Which supports many of the new reforms announced by city and county government included much tougher penalties for illegal use of a gun.
3.      Strengthen the poverty safety net for children.  Which points out that a large amount of the violence occurs from children with unstable home lives.
4.      Cooperation between the police and community.  Which demands that all officers, employees and associates of the Chicago Police Department who have been found by the torture commission to have participated in the torture of citizens of Chicago should be removed from the payroll. 
 
These steps lay the groundwork to create sustainable communities that have much less gun violence and senseless loss of life.  Alderman Sawyer is clear that this will not solve all the problems as jobs, education and other issues remain enduring problems in inner city community but these steps will greatly reduce the amount of gun violence in our streets.
Alderman Sawyer concluded, “I have no illusion that this will be easy, but this is the job for us as elected officials to make our neighborhoods safe.  We have serious challenges, and legitimate budget hurdles, but we must begin to make aggressive moves on all fronts for the betterment of our city.  Police, community groups, mentors and advocates are all working hard, but there are tools that the government can give to support this fight. And we must win this fight.”
Read the entire letter at www.6thwardchicago.com.