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Chicago Crowdsources Gun Violence Solutions Via Twitter

To address rising homicide rates in Chicago, the city turns to Twitter for answers.

To help find solutions to some of Chicago’s biggest problems, the city held Chicago Ideas Week – a series of panels in which government officials and citizens participated last week.

To address Chicago’s rising homicide rates and to find suggestions on how the city should get illegal firearms off the streets, the city asked citizens to respond via Twitter by providing feedback to these issues using the Twitter hashtag #WhatIfChicago.

So for the last couple of weeks, citizens submitted their input on what they think the city should do to address these issues.

Some of the responses from the Twitter trend #WhatIfChicago are as followed:

Drugs and alcohol are the main reason for violence. Control the drugs and alcohol = control the violence#WhatIfChicago — Wayne Engquist (@gritswell) October 11, 2012
@stamolka. You already need a FOID card to own a gun in IL. Illegal guns are illegal because there is no license. #whatifchicago — Mdean107 (@Mdean107) October 11, 2012
One respondent suggested that law enforcement build a better relationship with the community.

if the police build a relationship with the neighborhood then the neighborhood will feel comfortable talking 2 police #WhatIfChicago — Dana King (@RealTalk2124) October 11, 2012
According to the What if Chicago Twitter page, the city is currently taking the tweeted suggestions into consideration and is working to create solutions.

Miriam Jones is a former chief copy editor of Government Technology, Governing, Public CIO and Emergency Management magazines.