According to Chicago Police Department crime stats, there’s been a shooting every day in the city of Chicago, IL from February 2015 to December 29th of last year. By the end of 2016, Chicago’s murder rate stood at 750.

January 25, President Donald Trump, in an interview with ABC news analyst David Muir, said he is ready to aid Chicago in their battle against crime as the city looks at 37 murders and 174 shootings in this new year. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Chief Eddie Johnson are not averse to federal help, but all three men must view said help through the same lens if help is to benefit Chicago’s citizens.

Chicagoans are eager for an end to the violence, but they are not eager for a relief that will target and/or endanger ordinary citizens. Martial law, stop and frisk, and random selection of inner-city citizens aren’t measures that we view as beneficial for garnering the results everyone wishes to see. All parties need to come together via a carefully selected focus group or task force to decipher how that help can be most effective.

Criminals know how to navigate the streets and the system better than normal citizens. The last thing Chicago wants is its black and brown citizens harassed on general principle, traveling to and from work, while real criminals and killers stay hidden underground, waiting to continue their death practices once the attention dies down.