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Can the city win the war against arson?

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IF THEY could speak — the 621 men and women and children killed by Chicago fires in the last three years — we could ask them: Is this really "the city that works?"

Well, the man who invented that slogan, a fellow named Richard J. Daley, must have neglected to look at the fire statistics, which show Chicago consistently worst in the nation. Or maybe we just don't understand what his slogan means.

But the statistics are there. Sharon Gelder of the Chicago Reporter, a monthly newsletter, compiled them. They show a fire death rate of 6.15 per 100,000 population in the city from 1975 to 1977, highest of the nation's 10 largest cities. Chicago also was highest for the previous six years according to a Reporter survey in 1975.

How many of those deaths were the result of arson is unknown. But it is estimated that more than 40 per cent of all fires that occur are set intentionally.

What is known is that Chicago is losing its war against the people who set fires, both those who do it for fun and those who do it for profit. Chicago made fewer arson arrests last year than Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit or Houston — all smaller cities. Understandably, some folks are wondering whether Chicago is doing all it can to combat the crime of arson.

Until 1975, the Bureau of Fire Investigations and Photography of the Chicago Fire Department had the responsibility for investigating arson. But the firemen had no power to arrest, so they had to turn each case over to the police. In December 1975, Mayor Daley announced that the police department would take over full authority for arson cases. He said having both departments involved was a needless duplication of effort and that the new plan would save the city $364,000 a year.

There is no quarrel with the idea of one department having jurisdiction; the question is which department it should be. In seven of the ten largest cities, the arson squad is part of the fire department. In Washington, D.C., the squad is in the police department, and in Baltimore there is a squad in both the fire and police departments.

The Illinois Legislative Investigating Commission, in a detailed report on the arson problem issued recently, recommended strongly that the function be returned to the Chicago Fire Department. The commission said many suspicious fires in Chicago are not being detected and not enough attention is being given to investigating them.

"Investigators are called to the scene of a fire only when a Fire Battalion Chief determines that there is a 'suspicion of arson,'" the commission said. "In many instances, the Bomb and Arson Unit arrives long after the fire has been extinguished, resulting in the destruction of valuable evidence, as well as other investigative leads. We also observed that there is the tendency to downgrade the fire to 'undetermined origin.'"

The commission recommended that firemen assigned to the arson unit be given "full authority to investigate an arson case from beginning to end,"

As with any crime, effective law enforcement is by no means the only approach to the arson problem. Preventing arson from occurring in the first place should get every bit as much attention as catching the criminals after the fact.

Large parts of Chicago that are easy targets for vandals are the neighborhoods suffering from abandonment. The problem of abandoned buildings has reached crisis proportions in recent years, and efforts by community organizations to get the authorities to deal with it have largely failed. Typically, when a building becomes vacant, it sits open for a year or more while proceedings leading to a demolition order inch through the court. Many of these buildings, and there are thousands of them, are set on fire repeatedly, and many of those fires spread to adjoining, occupied buildings.

While it is difficult to deal with those arsonists who set fires for kicks, insurance companies could do a lot to discourage those who do it for profit. If the companies were more careful about what properties they insured, they would wind up with fewer claims and Chicago would wind up with fewer arsons. It doesn't take a genius to realize that a building with extensive code violations or a high vacancy rate, or a building on which the owner wants a dramatic increase in coverage, is a poor risk.

Of course, arson isn't going to go away overnight if all these suggestions are followed. What is really needed is a strong determination by city officials, from the mayor down, to reverse those statistics. They will have to make the battle against arson a high priority.

Chicago has accomplished a great deal and has much to be proud of, but it still has a long way to go to prove that it's the city that works.

34/October 1978/Illinois Issues


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