A coalition of city and county officials, as well as local advocates, are pushing for the creation of a new citywide Department of Gun Violence Reduction.
“This would create a stabilized department in the long term that isn’t just responding to the whims of today when we’re dealing with sustained issues,” said Deputy Mayor for Community Safety Emmanuel Andre on Monday during a press conference at City Hall.
Details were still scant on staffing or what the department would look like, but officials said it would have a $100 million budget made up of existing public safety money across city departments. It would also have contracting and procurement powers to put workers like violence interrupters on the city’s payroll, the group said.
The city plans to spend more than $3 billion on public safety this year, meaning the proposal would take up about 3% of that spending.
The new proposal would replace the mayor’s Office of Community Safety, one of many existing city agencies and offices devoted to the issue. That office currently coordinates the city’s response to violence between the city’s first responders, emergency management, as well as the police board and oversight agencies.
In a statement, Mayor Brandon Johnson said he supported the creation of the office, which would “ensure [gun violence prevention] efforts are aligned, accountable and sustained over time.”
Beth Brown, a pastor at Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church and former Interim Commissioner on the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, said it would differ from other public safety agencies by more broadly coordinating the city’s strategy to combat violence, bringing housing, jobs programs and youth services into the fold.
“Gun violence prevention cannot be the effort of one department alone,” Brown said.
While the initial proposal calls for an executive order from Johnson, the group is also pushing an ordinance to ensure it can’t be undone by another mayor in the future. It’s set to be introduced before the August City Council recess, and advocates hope it will be part of the fall budget process.
Proponents of the bill said they have not yet spoken to the Chicago Police Department — which deferred to the mayor for comment — about the proposal.
It comes as violence as a whole is down in the city, with 2025 seeing the fewest homicides since 1965. But dozens of people were shot in multiple shootings over the Juneteenth holiday weekend, according to CPD, including six fatally.
“We’ve been asking for this [office] for years,” said Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina Church in Auburn Gresham. “We look at this last weekend to see the violence in this city. … Let’s draw the line on this.”
Ald. Ronnie Mosley (21st) said a high turnover in mayors and mayoral departments makes the ordinance necessary. Previous attempts under former mayors Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot failed, advocates said.
“It must become a permanent commitment,” Mosley said. “The question is not whether we can afford to make this investment, it is if we can afford to not make this investment.”
