McCarthy: Cops Ready For Expected Summer Spike In Crime

Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy says every major city must deal with rising crime in summer, when temperatures get hotter. (Credit: CBS)

CHICAGO (CBS) — Summer is officially here, and – not surprisingly – Chicago saw a spate of shootings overnight. With hot and muggy conditions expected the next several days, the city could also see a typical spike in violent crime.

CBS 2’s Susanna Song reports Chicago police insisted they are ready, knowing gun violence tends to rise with the temperatures in summer.

At least six people were shot from Thursday afternoon through Friday morning, including a 15-year-old boy shot in West Pullman.

A 17-year-old girl and a 24-year-old man were shot and wounded an hour later in Greater Grand Crossing.

Around midnight, a 30-year-old man was shot in the thigh in Brighton Park.

About an hour and a half later, a 24-year-old man was critically wounded when he was shot in his car in Englewood.

The first shooting was around 2:20 p.m. Thursday, when a 21-year-old man was shot in the leg in North Lawndale.

McCarthy said he’s told his officers not to change their strategy, just because it’s summer.

“We don’t have a different strategy for the summer, but we will be doing more of the same things that we’ve been doing; Operation Impact, our gang reduction strategy; a different method of doing our narcotics enforcement that focuses on eliminating markets on the corners,” McCarthy said. “This is why we’re having our success. What we’ve been doing is working, and the progress is a day-by-day struggle, and then we link it together into weeks and months.”

He said the department always uses a “malleable” strategy that allows officers to be redeployed to areas where more crime is happening.