It's the Courts John

And the prison system:

• Then blue and red lights flooded her block in Austin as police and paramedics pulled up close to midnight Sunday. Two men had been shot at a house party in the 5000 block of West Jackson Boulevard, the end of another violent weekend in Chicago that saw seven people killed and at least 52 wounded.
  
  The toll brings the number of people shot in Chicago this year to nearly 2,200. At least 329 of them have been killed, about 100 more than this time last year.
  
  The spike prompted the Chicago Police Department to form a new summer patrol unit last month to tamp down violence during months when shootings historically rise. First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante said commanders were meeting Monday "coming up with what else we can do for this week."

You can stop having useless meetings first of all.

• "We added resources each day," Escalante told reporters at police headquarters. "Those commanders are here right now, meeting with the chief of patrol."
  
  But he said "the courts, our state legislators, other community activists" need to step up and help the police "hold people accountable for their gun violence."
  
  He cited the killing of Raygene Jackson, 38, who was shot around 4:45 a.m. Sunday in the 4500 block of West Maypole Street.
  
  "I don't mean to victimize this victim any further, this man lost his life," Escalante said. "But our frustration is, in 1995 he was sentenced to 46 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a murder. In 1995. He was paroled last year. How and why he's on the street, I don't know.
  
  "But if he was still serving his sentence, he wouldn't be a murder victim right now," he said.

Or he was murdered, he'd be counted in some prison stats and not a Chicago statistic, which would make Special Ed very happy.

• Escalante also mentioned a 20-year-old man who was killed in a double shooting in Austin shortly before 8 p.m.
  
  Carlos Harding and another 20-year-old man were found shot inside a black SUV in the 100 block of North Lavergne Avenue. Harding suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The other man was shot in the leg and was stabilized at Stroger, Quaid said.
  
  Escalante noted that Harding had a record of 61 arrests. "Sixty-one arrests at the age of 20," he said. "That's the frustration we deal with. He has, and I believe it is correct but we'll double check, he has 20 convictions. Now granted, most of them are low-level misdemeanors but he has 20 convictions at the age of 20 years old.

But we imagine cops are the problem for....for...well, for something we guess. Arresting some asshole 61 times before age 20 pretty much means you're doing something that attracts attention to yourself. So blame the courts and the prison system for releasing these oxygen thieves back on the street, not the cops doing their part to keep the streets safer.