Chicago's top cop addresses Memorial Day violence, summer crime

CHICAGO (FOX 32 NEWS) - After 66 people were killed in Chicago this May, CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson sits down with FOX 32 to address city violence this summer and what police are doing to get ahead of crime before it happens.

Johnson discussed a particularly violent Memorial Day weekend, which grabbed national headlines, leaving  6 dead and at least 63 others wounded.

"Let's put it into perspective, 80 percent of people shot this weekend were on our SSL list—that's our strategic suspect list—100 percent of the identified offenders were on that list. What that tells us is we are looking at the right people, the issue is holding these individuals accountable for repeat gun offenses," Johnson said. "Moving forward I will be talking to our judicial partners and our legislators to help us champion that movement."

Johnson, who was named Chicago's top cop in late March, said that the issue of violence is more than purely a policing problem.

"We have to a better job of parenting our children. This isn't a police issue because we will never arrest our way out of this situation. We have to look at the social ills that are causing these problems. Economics support is one of the things that we need to address but we started a program about a month ago—our Diversion Program—so that if you are a non-violent offender we will help you get into different programs to help turn your life around."