Elgin police chief: Gangs aren't the only source of gun shots

Contrary to the prevailing social media opinion, common Elgin residents having a heated disagreement are just as likely as gang warfare to be the source of the city's gun violence.

While 2023 stats are incomplete, Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley said last week on her radio show that recent years indicate gangs are responsible for only half of the shots fired in the city.

She attributed the false perception of current gang activity to Elgin's higher rate of violent crime in the '90s, tarnishing the city with a bad reputation officials are still working to remedy.

Lalley's comments about gangs and the shots fired in the city came during a discussion with former Elgin City Council member John Prigge. Prigge is a frequent commenter on Facebook about the city's gun violence.

"I don't want to get shot," Prigge said of why the topic drives his social media posts. "I don't want to have to determine was that a gunshot or fireworks. I want to live in a city where if I come home late, and I forget to lock the passenger door on my car, I don't have to drop my groceries and run back to the car."

Shots fired in the city are on pace with last year, with 29 through last Friday. That's not all that different from as recently as 2016 when there were 66 shots fired for the year. Back then, city police didn't post about every gun incident on social media. Now Facebook alerts Elgin residents about every gun incident and subsequent police investigation. And those are often the most commented-on posts by the department.

"So now it becomes very alarming," Lalley said. "But if you want to continue to try to solve the long-term issues, you have to get the community involved."

Prigge said it's frustrating to get involved beyond expressing concern because public information about the shooting is often vague. He urged Lalley to be more descriptive about the types of bullets and guns used, victims, property damage and trends in specific neighborhood violence and gang activity.

"Is this a nuisance property?" Prigge asked as an example of questions he'd like answers to. "How many times have we been out there?"

The lack of detail fuels default speculation that shots fired equals gang activity, Prigge said.

Lalley said information given out is designed to alert the public to be safe while encouraging citizens to come forward with information and evidence that help police catch criminals. Specific details, such as those Prigge pushed for, are omitted to avoid alerting criminals about how much police know about the shooting or how close officers are to catching them.

Officers made arrests or issued warrants in eight of the 29 shots fired cases so far this year. Twelve of the 29 are still under investigation. One incident involved no criminal aspect. The other eight cases are unsolved. Of those cases, and going off of recent years, Lalley said there is about a 50/50 split between gunshots involving gangs versus some other source.

"It's not just in a certain area of Elgin," Lalley said. "There's not a common theme. It's a lot of interpersonal violence or conflict. Sometimes there's a gang relationship; sometimes there's not. In some instances, we won't know the motivation until we make an arrest. But we can't say this is all attributable to gang violence."

Lalley said when she was a young officer in the department in 1996, police would respond to three or four shots fired incidents every night. The department focused on cracking down on gangs, including the use of civil lawsuits and the creation of city programs to deter youth from gang involvement.

"Twenty years ago in Elgin, the gang membership was in the thousands," Lalley said. "As of a few months ago, we are beneath 400."

Lalley said she will provide more details on the city's current gang population on her radio show this Friday.