Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, has experienced more homicides this year than the bigger cities of Los Angeles and New York combined. In a city wrestling with a rise in gun violence and turmoil in its police department, the number of deaths this year in Chicago is at an estimate of finishing the year off with 550, which is about 50 percent higher than last year. Nonfatal shootings have risen at a similar rate. More than 2,300 shootings have taken place this year so far, most of them involving African-Americans, according to the New York Times.

According to Fox News, police blame some of the violence on gang conflicts and retaliatory crimes, many of which officers now say begin on social media before spilling out onto the streets. To complicate matters, the hubs of Chicago’s crime, the city’s west and south sides, have become even more dangerous because of the so-called “Ferguson Effect” is impacting how police patrol the streets. Even Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in October 2015 that officers have become “fetal,” which means officers are less aggressive now than they were before due to the fear of becoming the star of the next viral video about police abuse.  

“The level of violence is unacceptable and CPD continues to aggressively target those responsible, especially in neighborhoods where gang activity is most active,” CPD spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi wrote in an email stated on Fox News.

The counts of the dead and wounded have grown tremendously. Among this summer’s victims were a 6-year-old girl who was wounded near her house with a 10-year-old whose twin held his hand as he waited for help, and Nykea Aldridge, a young mother and the cousin of the N.B.A. star Dwyane Wade, who was killed while pushing a baby stroller, according to CNN.

Chicago police announced in early March that among some of its immediate solutions to combat crime, the interim police chief is deploying 100 newly trained sergeants saturating high crime areas with added police.      

Police say the increased enforcement is already seeing results since the middle of February and gun arrests are up by 43%, and for the entire month of February, arrests for murder are up by more than 40% from last year, according to Fox News.