Chicago Police Plan to Fight Out of Control Gun Violence With…Letters

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From here on out, the Chicago Police Department plans to hand deliver letters to people suspected of committing or being victims of gun crimes in an unconventional effort to fight violence in the city, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The new letter system, which reportedly started Friday, is designed to warn certain targets on a "heat list" not to commit violent crimes, the report adds.

The "heat list" was apparently developed by a Yale professor who studied murders on Chicago's West Side between 2004 and 2010 and found that a small number of people were responsible for more than 70 percent of the killings.

"The letters warn people who have been put on the list that they will be charged with the most serious crime possible if they are arrested for a violent offense," Politico notes.

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy speaks during a news conference Monday, July 8, 2013, in Chicago. McCarthy announced a series of changes to the department's community policing program including using social media and smartphones to help them fight crime in the city. The new efforts let people anonymously send crime tips, along with videos and photos to police, who can then relay them to computers in squad cars responding to calls. The city will also use Twitter to send real-time alerts and updates to residents in three neighborhoods as part of a pilot program. Credit: AP

According to the Sun-Times, Chicago police have flagged 400 people for the "heat list."

“The custom notifications are the next step in the evolution of putting those guys on notice that they have the highest propensity for homicide,” Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told the paper. “We’re saying, ‘We know who you are, we know what you do and your chance of dying in a homicide is much greater than John Q. Citizen.’"

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