Chicago Tribune: CTA and police increased security

It’s too soon to tell whether a new approach to public safety by the Chicago Transit Authority will result in lessening crime on the city’s transit system, says John Eck, a UC professor who studies policing and crime prevention.

Eck, a criminolgoist in UC's College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services, was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune in response to recent attacks after a March 2022 announcement by city officials that more policing was being put in place to protect the nearly 800,000 passengers a day who use rail transport there.  The article was reprinted in the trade publication Mass Transit.

How effective police will be in deterring crime depends on how targeted the strategy is, Eck said. “When concentrated at certain times and specific places — for example a few train stops on one line — a flood of police is likely to be more effective, he said. Spread across a wide area, such as an entire transit system, success is less likely.”  

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