The holidays bring with them the heightened risk of violent crime, and for Tio Hardiman, the executive director of Violence Interrupters, that means “24 hour boots on the ground.”
“More shopping means more cash and that increases the risk of violent crime, especially more violent robberies,” Hardiman told the Southland Marquee.
The nonprofit gang intervention group that Hardiman founded in 2004 – enlisting former gang members among his staff – focuses much of its intervention efforts on gang activity in the Austin, Englewood, Chatham, Roseland, West Humboldt Park, and East and West Garfield neighborhoods.
Hardiman compared the anticipated uptick in crime during holidays to the lockdown during the pandemic, where he cited frustration and boredom as causes. Violence Interrupters continued personal interventions but many had to be done through Zoom meetings.
“It’s not the same,” he said. “We lost people. The schools did, too, something like 50,000 kids never went back.”
The Violence Interrupters website links to “HeyJackass!,” which Hardiman says is a reliable, up-to-date tally of violent crime in Chicago. The site not only reports the latest overall statistics, with 698 homicides so far in the city this year compared to 821 last year, but the most recent shootings and murders – four were shot, three killed on Sunday outside a bar in Portage Park.
But despite dropping from 2021 to 2022, the murder rate has increased 36% from 2019 to 2022, according to data from the Chicago Police Department. Carjackings and thefts have also increased the most significantly, up 127% from 2019.
In response, Hardiman would like to see stiffer penalties for armed carjackers.
“One of the things they should be required to do is cover the cost of therapies for the victims of the carjackings,” he said.
He also supports banning the wearing of full-cover ski masks in the city; West Virginia, Florida, Georgia and Virginia have banned the wearing of identity-concealing masks.
“It’s terrifying, especially for women and children, to be confronted by someone wearing a mask,” he said. “It’s like something out of that movie 'Halloween.'”
Violence Interrupters most recent activity report covering January to June 2022 says the group mediated 32 gang conflicts, with much of their efforts in the Austin, Englewood, Chatham, Roseland, West Humboldt Park, and East and West Garfield neighborhoods.
The activity report also says that staff spent 800 hours working with over 80 at-risk youth – an effort that discourages young men from joining gangs. They also intervened and prevented numerous fights on the Southside.