Chicago Mayor Lightfoot attributes carjacking crimes to remote learning

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UPDATED 7:41 AM PT – Thursday, February 10, 2022

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is blaming the spike in car robberies in the city on remote learning. During a recent press briefing, the Democrat argued the increase in vehicle thefts in 2020 was linked to students being kept away from classrooms.

Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot says Democrat school shutdowns are to blame for carjackings skyrocketing.

“There was a correlation between remote learning and the rise in carjacking.” pic.twitter.com/Q7mVERRMZA

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 8, 2022

Lightfoot suggested many of the kids who had no prior involvement in the criminal justice system were partly driven to commit crime by pure boredom. Her remarks came after Chicago authorities reported more than 1,400 car jackings in each of the past two years, which is a significant increase from just over 600 in 2019.

“A strong recidivism strategy is really the next levels of this,” said Supt. David Brown of the Chicago Police Department. “How do we get, which is half of the number, our young people away from this type of behavior when they are arrested multiple times?”

The Chicago Teachers Union was outraged with the mayors remarks and is demanding Lightfoot apologize to students, adding she has no evidence to back her claims. The union went on to call the mayors claim “intellectually unsound and politically venal.”

In the meantime, Chicago Police announced initiatives to expand the vehicular hijacking task force and install more police observation device cameras as well as license plate readers across the city in hopes of preventing these crimes.

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