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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot faces criticism for allowing two of her top aides to take time off before the murderous July 4 weekend, despite vow of an “everyone on deck” strategy. To deal with an increase in shootings across the city.
Lightfoot chief of staff Sybil Madison told city employees in an email he would be out on the Thursday and Friday before the holidays, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Sources told the newspaper that Lightfoot’s deputy mayor for public safety, John O’Malley, was also out of the office for most of the week leading up to the holiday weekend, which left at least 100 people killed. and 18 killed.
Their absences appeared to have already been scheduled as Lightfoot, as well as Police Superintendent. David Brown, lamented that an emergency city council meeting called on July 2 would distract from efforts to reduce street crime during what was to be the most violent weekend of the year, said reported Fox 32 Chicago.
Brown answered questions during the six-hour meeting about his summer public safety plan that includes canceling officers’ leave.
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Officers worked 12-hour shifts over the holiday weekend to increase the presence on the streets.
“We were told the meeting we had last week was a waste of time, but your people are out of the office,” South Side City Councilor Anthony Beale told the Tribune, criticizing “bad leadership.” of Lightfoot by allowing its senior assistants to be away “when we need them most.”
“[That] she allowed her staff to go on vacation… before what is traditionally Chicago’s most dangerous weekend – is scandalous, ”Alderman Ray Lopez, who represents the 15th Ward, told Fox 32. . “It shows that there is a complete lack of commitment to tackle violence.”
“We have been hearing about the ‘whole of government’ approach for weeks now,” he repeated in separate remarks to the Tribune. “But I guess that doesn’t apply to the people responsible for creating the policies.”
Responding to criticism, Lightfoot’s office released a statement Friday as the mayor returned from a political fundraising trip to California.
“Working in the mayor’s office is a 24/7 job, 365 days a year, and the mayor’s senior staff are constantly connected,” a spokesperson wrote. “Field operations managers continued to run over the holiday weekend, and the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff were fully engaged every day.”
Shortly after taking office in May 2019, Lightfoot banned senior police officials from being absent during the summer, arguing it set a bad example for rank-and-file officers.
Police department statistics released on Tuesday showed that at least 100 people were shot, including 18 fatally, from Friday July 2 to July 4. Eleven children – as young as 5 years old – were among the injured. It was the most violent weekend of the year.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Brown denounced the justice system “out of control” for allowing those accused of violent crimes to be released onto the streets.
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“There are too many violent offenders and too few consequences in our courts. There are too many illegal weapons in our city and too few consequences in the courts,” said the city’s top cop. “The courts have created a dangerous environment for large crowd gatherings because you have released people accused of murder into those same communities where they committed this heinous crime.”
His remarks came a day before a Chicago police officer and two Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) officers were shot and wounded early Wednesday as they were traveling in an infiltrated vehicle.
Fox News’ Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report.
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