U.S. cities reporting fewer killings hope crime strategies prevent a summer surge

CHICAGO - An expected bump in violent crime this summer has mayors and police officials around the U.S. rolling out familiar strategies of making officers more visible and engaging with community groups, in some cases leaning on civilians to enforce curfews and keep the peace.Chicago is among the U.S.

cities under scrutiny following a mayoral race that focused on public safety in response to demands for change. Violence often surges during summer months, so this holiday weekend will undoubtedly ramp up pressure on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s new administration to deliver short-term improvement along with the long-term strategies that the former union organizer advocated while campaigning to lead the nation’s third-largest city."It’s going to take all of us, not just the police, not just city government, to ensure that our communities can live and thrive in peace and safety," Johnson said at a lakefront press conference promoting the city’s Memorial Day weekend strategy.MORE LOCAL HEADLINESMost large U.S.

cities are reporting fewer homicides this year, according to data collected by the Council on Criminal Justice which created a Crime Trends Working Group this spring in hopes of providing more real-time information on crime.The shift is a tentative reprieve following those spikes that began in 2020 and began to come down last year.

The totals remain far higher than pre-pandemic reports and are "cause for serious concern but not for panic," said Thomas Abt, founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction at the University of Maryland."Where cities are seeing success, they’re generally investing in a balanced approach that includes policing but ...