Permanent fundings sought for community-based public safety act; supporters insist it’s working

State Rep. Brad Halbrook-R-Shelbyville | Illinois House

By W.J. Kennedy

May 17, 2024

Edward McBride was recently in Springfield lobbying for permanent funding in the 2025 budget for the Reimagine Public Safety Act, first signed into law in 2021 in the wake of the Georg Floyd protests. The Target Area Development Director of Research and Re-entry, and Democratic lawmakers behind the bill, said the reduction of gun crime in Chicago can be attributed to community-based anti-violence programs.

“A growing number of research and statistics from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University highlight the positive impact violence prevention programs have on communities,” a group of Democratic senators said in a statement. “From 2018 to 2023, violence prevention program data in Chicago showed a positive correlation in reduced gun violence.”

At least one lawmaker, Brad Holbrook (R-Shelbyville) is questioning the effectiveness of such programs.

“I know late last spring, earlier summer, there was an initiative for several million dollars for some peacekeepers (part of the Reimagine package) in Chicago and the numbers I am seeing is that crime continues to increase,” Halbrook told The Center Square.

Violent crime in Chicago is up 18 percent and arrests are down 43 percent over the past ten years, a recent study from the Illinois Police Institute shows. At the same time, police resources continue to be reduced.

“…Chicago leaders have made efforts to reduce police resources,” the study said. “Mayor Brandon Johnson’s latest budget eliminated 833 street-cop vacancies, which goes against polling from the institute’s Lincoln Poll that shows 3 in 4 Chicago voters want a larger police force. Also, the Chicago Board of Education voted to remove all police officers from Chicago Public Schools, including schools that asked to keep officers.”

More officers do make a difference, according to a June 2022 study University of Pennsylvania criminologist Aaron Chalfin— one life is saved for every 10 to 17 police officers hired.

And a 2018 MIT study found that every dollar spent on extra policing generates $1.63 in social benefits.

Yet more police aren’t the only answer to violent crime, according to 2020 John Jay study, “Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence.”

“We found quantifiable impact of some programs,” Jeffrey Butts, Director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College told Chicago City Wire.

“Non-policing approaches to violence prevention can produce significant benefits without the attendant harms of policing and punishment,” the study said. “Funding organizations should invest in a broad range of research to build a strong evidence base for communities seeking effective approaches to reduce violence.”

Some of the recommendations in the study include: