Chicago aldermen to Trump: Send federal money, not troops

By John Byrne and Hal Dardick

Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO — Chicago Aldermen reacted cautiously Wednesday to President Donald Trump’s promise via tweet to “send in the Feds!” to Chicago if the city doesn’t “fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on,” saying the city could use more federal money and assistance but that National Guard troops patrolling the streets would be a mistake.

On Tuesday evening Trump tweeted “If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24 percent from 2016), I will send in the Feds!” The president’s note cited statistics published Monday in the Chicago Tribune about violence in the city so far this year.

If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017

Trump’s tweet didn’t specify what he meant by the feds. South Side Alderman Pat Dowell, 3rd, said the city could use federal money for jobs and education programs, but she and other aldermen worried the president intends to bring in the National Guard.

“We could use some federal help. I don’t think it should come in the form of troops,” Dowell said. “And I’m not sure what he meant by federal help. But in my mind, he’s a law-and-order president. I’m thinking he’s thinking troops. So I don’t necessarily think we need that, but I do think we need some help from the federal government, whether it’s investing in neighborhoods, jobs, jobs over jails.

“I don’t think we need troops in the city,” Dowell added. “Nobody wants to be subject to a curfew, home-to-home searches, cordoning off neighborhoods. I think we need more investment in terms of jobs, investment in our schools.”

South Side Alderman Toni Foulkes said it would be a mistake to think sending National Guard units into the city’s African-American neighborhoods would improve conditions in those communities, where there is already a distrust of law enforcement.

“When the National Guard gets involved, you end up with curfews, militarization of neighborhoods,” said Foulkes, 16th, who represents parts of Englewood, West Englewood, Chicago Lawn and Gage Park. “And especially in places like Englewood, neighborhoods where residents already feel like there’s a racial basis to some of these decisions, that will not help matters.”

Cardinal Blase Cupich, who was at City Hall to be honored for his recent elevation to cardinal, said the situation is “more complex” than one that can be dealt with simply by posting federal troops on Chicago streets. “The problem is surely much more complex than that type of a solution,” he said. “I surely would welcome, and I think a lot of people would welcome, assistance on a multi-level basis, simply because the problem is not simple. It is complex and it can be improved if we all pull together.”

Trump released his tweet a day before aldermen were set to vote on a nonbinding resolution reaffirming that Chicago protects all residents regardless of race, ethnicity, immigration status, criminal record, gender identity and sexual orientation — a measure timed to give the council another chance to speak out against the president’s proposals on immigration issues.

Alderman David Moore, 17th, said he wouldn’t “even entertain” the possibility of armed federal troops on Chicago streets.

“If he’s talking about sending federal dollars for redevelopment, and he’s talking about sending federal dollars for infrastructure, and incentives for manufacturing companies to come in communities with high crime and unemployment, that’s what you should talk about when ‘I’m sending in the feds,’ ” Moore said. “Anything else is a non-starter and will not work. Because anything else is a Band-Aid. At the end of the day, nobody has redeveloped our communities for years, and that’s the bottom line.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel was asked Tuesday night in an interview on local TV station WTTW about the White House website citing violence in Chicago. Emanuel said federal agencies could do more to help in the city.

“There’s a lot the federal government can do,” Emanuel said during the TV interview. He talked about gun control, use of federal resources to track illegal guns and federal prosecutions. “And also, fundamentally, in my view, also help fund additional police officers.

“Over the years the federal government’s stepped back their resources, which we have stepped up. The federal government can be a partner, and to be honest they haven’t been for decades.”

Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson later backed up the mayor’s remarks, issuing a statement that said: “As the mayor said just a few hours ago, the Chicago Police Department is more than willing to work with the federal government to build on our partnerships with DOJ, FBI, DEA and ATF and boost federal prosecution rates for gun crimes in Chicago.”

But Emanuel’s comments came before the Trump tweet. With Chicago’s ongoing crime problems eroding local trust in his administration and garnering so much national attention from Trump and others, it’s could be difficult for the mayor to reject offers of help. But he might not want to be seen as turning over crime fighting to federal officials.

Trump’s tweet came after Fox TV’s Bill O’Reilly on Tuesday aired a segment on “chaos in Chicago,” concluding that “President Trump can call in the National Guard because the governor won’t.”

And it also came a day after Emanuel questioned Trump’s focus on the size of the crowd at his inauguration ceremony and for missing a chance with his speech to appeal to “our better angels as a country.”

In August, candidate Trump told O’Reilly “very top police” in Chicago had told him the city’s crime problem could be stopped in a week with tougher tactics.

“How?” said Trump. “By being very much tougher than they are right now. They’re right now not tough. I could tell you this very long and quite boring story. But when I was in Chicago, I got to meet a couple of very top police. I said, ‘How do you stop this? How do you stop this? If you were put in charge — to a specific person — do you think you could stop it?’ He said, ‘Mr. Trump, I’d be able to stop it in one week.’ And I believed him 100 percent.”

During the campaign, Trump frequently brought up Chicago violence as an example of rampant urban crime that would be dealt with if he were elected.

In a September TV interview, Trump said Chicago “is out of control” and needed to employ controversial “stop-and-frisk” police practices.

Earlier this week, Emanuel said police need to have professional standards and public support, and acknowledged the “Ferguson effect” in which some officers may patrol less aggressively to avoid having their actions second-guessed. But Emanuel saw no need for departments to enact stop-and-frisk tactics.

“Clearly police — there was a reaction of what happened across the country,” Emanuel said. “On the other hand, the choice isn’t just ‘Go back to stop-and-frisk.’ And this is not a bipolar, two camps. We need our police to have high professional standards, the training to support them in those high professional standards and the certainty to be pro-actively involved.”