Chicago, State Police Promise To Be Out In Force This Holiday Weekend
(CBS) -- Illinois State Police and the Chicago Police Department have launched an effort to curb violence this Memorial Day weekend.
Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said thousands of Chicago police officers will be on the city streets – in vehicles, on foot and on bicycle patrols.
State police say they'll be prepared to fight crime on the ground and by air.
"We will not tolerate shootings on expressways," Director Leo Schmitz said at a news conference.
His agency has investigated a surge of shootings along the interstates and expressways that run through Chicago. Authorities say it is gang violence spilling onto the state roads.
With the holiday weekend approaching, students and staff from more than 220 Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic schools united to recite the prayer of St. Francis. Their wish? A peaceful summer for young people in Chicago.
St. Sabina Father Michael Pfleger says an end to the violence starts with each person, living in every community, in the city. He took to Facebook and Twitter saying everyone needs to be a "video cop" to get the license plate of suspicious vehicles.
WBBM's Bob Roberts
