Four days after Chicago closed the book on its most violent year in a quarter century, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Supt. David Brown pinned their hopes on a novel crime-fighting approach.
Brown, Lightfoot’s handpicked choice to usher in sweeping court-ordered reforms outlined in a federal consent decree, set a goal for the year of logging at least 1.5 million “positive community interactions,” or PCIs, a three-fold increase from 2021. The effort to prioritize such exchanges — like helping change a tire or giving directions — was presented as a means to both build trust and crack cases.
