We haven’t checked in on the residents of Chicago for a little while so let’s have a look at how things are going for Mayor Lori Lightfoot in her efforts to get her city’s skyrocketing crime rates under control. Based on her latest correspondence with the White House, it would appear that progress has been meager at best. Seemingly unable to restore anything resembling law and order in the Windy City, Lightfoot is now asking the Biden administration to do precisely what liberals criticized Donald Trump for during the “summer of love” of 2020. She would like the feds to send in the cavalry and back up what remains of her police department and the Cook County Sheriff’s Department and start locking up some criminals. But will Uncle Joe send in the troops? (Fox 32 Chicago)

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is requesting that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland send more federal resources to Chicago to help combat the surging crime and gun violence.

Lightfoot made the announcement during a public safety news conference Monday afternoon.

Lightfoot made three specific requests of Garland. One being that he send ATF agents to Chicago for six months in order to “increase the number of gun investigations and gun seizures.”

Getting illegal guns out of the hands of gang members and off the streets is certainly an important part of any strategy to reduce violent crime so I applaud the Mayor for making this request. And the ATF clearly has the right experience to make some progress, particularly if they are teaming up with the cops who already know the streets and the major players in the gangs rather than starting from scratch.

So what else would Lightfoot like the Attorney General to do for her? She is asking for more federal prosecutors to be sent to Chicago to handle the anticipated higher caseloads they will need to deal with after arrests are made. This is also not an unreasonable request. Processing cases more quickly means that more gang bangers will be behind bars sooner. Also, federal prosecutors may not be as squeamish about offending the BLM cheerleaders who will quickly decry these actions. Some of the local prosecutors are still on the “empty the jails” bandwagon which is popular among progressives but in reality, only turns the city into a playground for the gangs.

Finally, she would like to have some federal marshals to help out the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and Chicago PD in their efforts to track down thousands of suspects with outstanding warrants. This makes sense also, since simply issuing a warrant for someone who fails to appear in court doesn’t really do anything to lower the crime rate. But it sounds like she’s asking for a lot of bodies to show up and solve her city’s crime problem. Does Garland really have that many people to spare?

Assuming Lightfoot’s wishes are granted, this could prove to be an excellent test case that mayors and councilmembers in other cities may be watching closely. Any effort to bolster the ranks of law enforcement and lock up more criminals will automatically draw a harsh response from Black Lives Matter and the various progressive activists who support them. They are still insisting that we need to defund or abolish the police and empty the jails. That’s what happened in New York City recently when incoming Mayor Eric Adams promised to restore the major crimes task forces that were eliminated under Bill de Blasio. Representatives from the local BLM chapter went on television promising arson and rioting in response.

Will Lori Lightfoot have the stomach to stand up to these traditionally Democratic-aligned groups and actually protect the residents of her city? There are enough frightened people out there who want to see some action along these lines that she may find her approval ratings going up if she pulls it off. And if so, it’s just possible that some other blue city mayors might follow suit. But I’m going to need to see her follow through on this before I start getting my hopes up.