Chicago Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson (D) told CBS News on Thursday his plan to tackle the city's crime problem: Send more social workers to crime scenes.
Johnson, a staunch progressive, pointed to instances where police killed black men as evidence to say more police officers are not the solution.
"This is really about making sure that people understand the context of the level of frustration when you see that type of brutalization over and over again, it can be discouraging," Johnson explained.
"We're working to double the amount of young people we hire, not just for summer jobs, but for year-round positions," he continued. "We've been pushing this ordinance called 'Treatment, Not Trauma.' In essence, first responders, social workers, counselors, EMT[s], these individuals would show up to calls that require those type of interventions."
Johnson said at least 40 percent of the 9-1-1 calls in the city deal with "mental health crises."
Chicago mayor-elect invokes Michael Brown as proof that more police won't work and all but tells 'CBS Mornings' that he won't be giving police more funding, saying there needs to be "[f]irst responders, social workers, counselors, EMT[s]" need to show up to crime scenes pic.twitter.com/y5tgHJ9HTz
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 6, 2023
Johnson has made it clear in the past some crimes are not a big deal. When he was Cook County Commissioner in 2020, he refused multiple to condemn the widespread looting that broke out during the BLM riots, saying there were reasons why people were robbing stores at such an acute level.
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