In the year 2021, Tom Wagner, a rideshare driver at the time, was a victim of a brutal carjacking incident on the West Side, which involved him being shot. This violent event marked his life with a stark reminder of his ordeal, a scar across his abdomen from the bullets that damaged his liver, colon, and gallbladder.
Three years were spent on his part, reaching out to detectives, seeking updates on his case – a long period of time that included an unsettling 10-month gap of silence on their end. It was only as of last month that Wagner stumbled upon the disheartening news that the pursuit of justice for his case had been abandoned, without anyone facing criminal responsibility for his shooting.
Tom Wagner’s story is far from an isolated incident. Since 2018, Chicago has seen over 19,000 individuals injured in shootings. Despite this staggering number, only 1,200 cases have resulted in arrests made by the Chicago Police Department.
In the span of the past year alone, the city witnessed approximately 2,300 nonfatal shootings. The arrests made against these incidents were bleak – only 141. A minuscule proportion when juxtaposed with the sheer number of victims.
In his mayoral campaign, Brandon Johnson had committed to bringing in 200 additional detectives to strengthen the law enforcement force. However, data reveals a quite opposite scenario. The count of detectives tasked with at least one shooting case has seen a significant 20% drop with 40 fewer investigators in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Many of the culprits behind these shootings continue to reside in society, undeterred and free. This not only paves the way for potential future victims but also strengthens the pervasive ‘no-snitch code.’ A lack of successful arrests reduces public faith in the ability of law enforcement to deliver justice.
The Chicago Police Department dedicates 8.4% of their total police force towards detective work. This is noticeably lesser than police departments in other major cities like New York, with 11.4%, and Los Angeles, boasting 15.4% of their officers as detectives. The only comparison that Chicago was close to is Philadelphia, with close to 8.7% of its officers serving as detectives.
It’s worth noting that approximately 1,500 nonfatal shooting investigations since 2018 have been terminated because the victims themselves were not willing to cooperate. This problematic fact only adds to the difficulty faced by a relatively small group of investigators who have to handle an extremely high volume of cases.
The disproportionate ratio of case volume to investigators has resulted in individual cases receiving a scant amount of attention and time. For instance, this year, comparing to Denver’s police department, Chicago had 58 detectives spread across the city, assigned solely for handling shooting cases.
Among the sea of cases, Tom Wagner’s investigation became one in thousands, ultimately lost in the depths of the system. His numerous attempts to arrange meetings and even going as far as travelling all the way from Syracuse, New York to meet personally with a detective were of non-effect.
By the time his case was reviewed once more, the opportunity to press charges against the person responsible for his shooting had elapsed. Unbeknownst to Tom, his case had already been officially shut a month before his meeting with the detective.
The post Unanswered Injustice: The Forgotten Case of Tom Wagner appeared first on Real News Now.
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