Foundation's $15 million gift to train police supervisors to help reduce gun violence
The gift, which will be made to the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, will fund the new five-year program, working with the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
Slated to launch in January 2026, all Chicago Police Department supervisors — from sergeants to the superintendent — will participate in mandatory leadership training to be better equipped to solve crimes, connect with the community and prevent gun violence, according to Roseanna Ander, founding executive director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab.
'Policing invests almost nothing in the human capital of people who go into policing,' Ander told the Tribune. 'This is a huge leap forward in changing that and puts Chicago at the forefront.'
The new program builds on the 40 hours of required annual training for all officers implemented through a 2019 consent decree in the wake of the 2014 police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. The management education will focus on effective leadership, data-driven analytics, officer wellness and building community trust. The curriculum will involve a mix of scenario-based and hands-on training, as well as classroom study, Ander said.
'As part of our ongoing efforts to strengthen safety and build trust across the city, we have to invest in the frontline supervisors who are managing day-to-day operations,' Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling said in a news release. 'We are deeply grateful to the Sue Ling Gin Foundation for its partnership and support in making this a reality.'
Like many large cities, Chicago saw a spike in crime during the pandemic, peaking at 804 homicides in 2021, mostly from gun violence. While the total declined to 573 last year, Chicago remained the city with the most homicides in the U.S., according to research from AH Datalytics, which tracks crime statistics.
Gun violence continues to be a major problem in Chicago, although statistics have been steadily improving in the post-pandemic landscape. There were 2,282 shootings in Chicago last year, down from 2,452 in 2023, according to CPD data. Gun violence is down 36% from 2021, when there were 3,554 shootings in the city.
Chicago entrepreneur Sue Ling Gin, who died more than a decade ago, has been posthumously fighting gun violence through her foundation in the city where she built her career.
The Aurora-born daughter of immigrants, Gin worked in her family's suburban Chinese restaurant growing up and later became a Playboy Bunny at the original Playboy Club in Chicago. In 1983, she launched Flying Food Group at Chicago's Midway Airport, building it into a network of 20 catering kitchens from Honolulu to New York, servicing more than 70 airlines. Gin also managed and developed an extensive Chicago-area real estate portfolio.
When she died in 2014 at age 73 after suffering a stroke, Gin left a sizable estate, which was used to fund her foundation.
In 2021, the foundation made its first major gift, a $21 million three-year donation to Chicago CRED, a nonprofit community intervention program that focuses on reducing gun violence in some of the city's most underserved neighborhoods.
The foundation's latest gift to fund police supervisor training will take a page from the business world where Gin proved so successful, according to Robert Hamada, former chairman of the Flying Food Group and the estate's trustee.
'Corporations do this kind of continuing education all the time, but government agencies are often unable to prioritize this kind of investment,' Hamada said in a news release.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
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