Chicago can’t afford to wait on immediate crime reduction efforts – the city needs a plan. Unfortunately, no concrete details have emerged on how the new administration plans to address public safety, the No. 1 issue on Chicagoans’ minds. Here are nine steps Chicago officials could take to begin curbing crime today.

Crime tops the list of concerns for Chicago voters in the mayoral election after 2022 brought the most crime in five years and after 2021 was the deadliest year in the past quarter-century.

Each restaurant in the Chicago Loop along the “L” system’s Red Line averaged 1.2 crimes during 2021 and 2022, the most along the line. South of the Loop, there was less than one crime per restaurant.