Keeping Chicagoans Safe

Every Chicagoan needs to feel safe in their home, on their block, on public transit and throughout their city.

Safety is not a number, safety is a Chicago that works for everyone and where all people have the opportunity to thrive and live without fear.

Public safety should not be reduced to a choice between supporting police and investing in communities. Chicago needs an effective police department and a sustainable strategy for addressing the conditions that allow violence to persist.

Effective Policing

Chicago needs police officers who are well trained, well supervised and accountable to the public they serve.

Effective policing is solving crimes and bringing closure to families. Violence remains higher than any other major city in the country, this includes shootings, homicides and domestic violence. Our residents need a police department that is transparent, collaborative and efficient. When violent crimes go unsolved, victims, survivors, and their families are denied justice, dangerous individuals remain on the street and the risk of retaliation increases.

Chicago should continue implementing meaningful police reform while improving investigations, strengthening supervision, using technology responsibly and rebuilding trust between officers and communities.

Citywide Responsibility

Police cannot solve violence alone. Violence decreases when we all work together and by holding those who cause harm accountable for their actions and providing resources and support for those in need.

The neighborhoods experiencing the most persistent violence deserve the concentrated attention of the entire city government—not just the police department.

That means coordinating all city services in areas that are often forgotten. This has to happen in conjunction with violence intervention, improved access to quality education, mental-health services that reflect the needs of communities, housing, economic development and youth jobs and opportunities.

Safety has to be viewed from an expansive lens and residents need to see their tax dollars working for them. Cleaner neighborhoods are safer neighborhoods. Chicago has significant vacant buildings, abandoned lots, broken streetlights, struggling commercial corridors and neglected public spaces affect both quality of life and public safety.

Allocate Resources Where They Can Change Outcomes

Government too often measures success by how much money it spends rather than what changes as a result.

Matt believes Chicago should identify where problems are most severe, concentrate sufficient resources to make a measurable difference and then hold the government accountable for the results.

The goal is not simply to fund programs. The goal is fewer shootings, safer blocks and stronger neighborhoods.