Trump’s threat to deploy troops to Chicago sparks fear and defiance in a city on edge

Violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of the year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data. “The empirical data is very clear that the Chicago trend is extremely positive,” said John Roman, who directs the Center on Public Safety and Justice at the University of Chicago. Smith attributes much of the drops in violent crime to a focus in Chicago on the systemic drivers of violence, rather than the militaristic approach Trump has touted in Washington, D.C. She encouraged more federal investment in researching these types of violence-prevention strategies, calling Chicago “a hub for innovation in gun violence prevention.”