New Books for Geographers

New Books: May 2015

Every month the AAG compiles a list of newly-published books in geography and related areas. Some are selected for review in the AAG Review of Books.

Publishers are welcome to send new volumes to the Editor-in-Chief (Kent Mathewson, Editor-in-Chief, AAG Review of Books, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803).

Anyone interested in reviewing these or other titles should also contact the Editor-in-Chief.

 May, 2015

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Robert N. Thomas

Bob Thomas, emeritus professor at Michigan State University, noted for his scholarship on the geography of Latin America, passed away on May 8, 2015, at the age of 88.

Robert N. Thomas was born on July 17, 1926, in Pittsburgh. He studied first at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and earned a bachelor’s degree in geography and social science education in 1950. Following this he taught high school geography and science in Oakmont, PA, his former high school, and in the Hampton Township schools.

While teaching, he continued his own education, earning a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1958. In 1960 he returned to Indiana University of Pennsylvania as a professor of geography and taught there until 1969. During this period he also undertook a PhD in geography at Pennsylvania State University and served as an urban planning advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Guatemala (1965 and 1966), as well as supporting a young family.

One of his sons, Scott, reminiscing about his childhood, noted how his father encouraged travel and the discovery of new places; the family took every opportunity to take a trip somewhere. “When summer vacation time came around the corner, I think we sometimes just flipped a coin to decide North, South, East or West. By the time I was out of high school we had driven through every state in the Continental United States except for one.”

Not only that but “when my father was working on collecting data for his doctoral thesis we even drove all the way to Guatemala. Not once, but twice! And when more research was needed, we drove even further to spend a summer in Honduras.”

Scott also remembered lots of gatherings at their family house in Indiana of students from different nationalities from Japan to South America.

Having been awarded his doctorate in 1968, Thomas moved to Michigan State University (MSU) in 1969 to join the geography faculty, where he stayed until his retirement.

Thomas’ research interests were in the geography of Latin America, particularly population, migration and tourism. He traveled extensively throughout the Central American countries, Mexico, the Caribbean islands, and South America. In 1972 he was a Fulbright Scholar to Colombia.

He became the assistant director of MSU’s Latin American Studies Center in 1974 and its director in 1985. He authored and co-authored dozens of research articles published in academic journals and edited three books including Population growth and urbanization in Latin America: the rural-urban interface with John Hunter and Scott Whiteford (published 1981).

Thomas was a dedicated lecturer who greatly enjoyed teaching undergraduate courses, not only on the geography of Latin America, but also on the geography of North America and population geography. His classrooms were always full and students had only favorable comments about his courses.

Beyond the classroom, he took both undergraduate and graduate students on field experiences in Cuba, Mexico and across Latin America, exposing them to different cultures and environments.

He was a founding member of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers. He was also a member of the Association of American Geographers, the National Council for Geographic Education, American Geographical Society, National Geographic Society, and the Geography Commission of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH).

Thomas retired in 1990 but, as emeritus professor, continued to be active in research, writing, teaching and participating in departmental activities. Through MSU’s Office of Study Abroad he continued to direct and accompany students on international field experiences. He also worked on several monographs concerning his travels and experiences in Latin America. In 1999, Thomas and his wife established a Geography Endowment Fund at MSU to support geography-related student activities.

He also maintained a strong alliance with Indiana University of Pennsylvania over five decades, acting as a mentor to geography graduates and contributing to the Geography and Planning Faculty Scholarship Fund.

Beyond the two universities, he lectured on cruises to Latin America and also engaged in community service as a speaker for Rotary clubs and in public schools.

Thomas was named an honorary affiliate of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History in 2005. Indiana University of Pennsylvania honored him as a distinguished alumnus in 2007 for his achievements in academia, his contributions as an educator, his service as a mentor, and his authoritative knowledge of population geography and tourism in Latin America.

Despite declining visual ability, Thomas maintained his office at MSU, visiting the geography building almost every day, including the day he passed away. He inspired generations of students with a fascination for Latin America and was a major influence in the careers of many geography graduates. He will be missed tremendously by both colleagues and students.

Bob is survived by his wife Dorothy of 60 years, their two sons, Scott and Robert, his wife Cari, and their two sons Colin and Connor.

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AAG Presents Books Awards

The AAG presented the following book awards during an awards luncheon at the 2015 AAG Annual Meeting in Chicago on April 25.

John Brinckerhoff Jackson Prize

This award encourages and rewards American geographers who write books about the United States which convey the insights of professional geography in language that is both interesting and attractive to lay readers.

Randall Wilson of Gettysburg College for his book America’s Public Lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear and Beyond, published by Rowman & Littlefield.

With this book, Randall Wilson has taken on topic that is central to our country’s existence – its public lands – and attempts to rethink an old and familiar story. He examines the contrast between viewing land as a commodity to be developed and land as nature to be preserved. This book leads the reader from the nation’s founding to the current era of land management issues shaped by debates over private use of public lands, ecosystem management, and climate change. This volume has a sweeping scope and is full of meticulously researched details but it is also clear and concise with accessible prose suited to public as well as scholarly audiences.

AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography

This award is given for a book written or co-authored by a geographer that conveys most powerfully the nature and importance of geography to the non-academic world.

Paul Knox, University of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, for editing The Atlas of Cities, published by Princeton University Press

The Atlas of Cities is a comprehensive and timely overview of urban geography classifications and considerations across time using inviting maps, charts, diagrams, tables, and photographs.  Knox’s categories are innovative, not only advancing the literature, but resonating with a broader audience.

For example, the ‘Celebrity City’ chapter is engaging, while simultaneously introducing network analysis and systems science.   The ‘Megacity’ chapter visually demonstrates the disproportionate number of cities and agglomerations in Asia and along coastlines.  The scale of recent rural-urban migrations and human suffering in densely-populated, infrastructure-challenged slums is made plain.

This atlas would be equally at home in a university urban geography course or awaiting leisurely examination on a coffee table.

AAG Meridian Book Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work in Geography

This award is given for a book written by a geographer that makes an unusually important contribution to advancing the science and art of geography. 

Matthew Gandy, University College London, for his book The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity and the Urban Imagination, MIT Press (2014 )

The 2014 Meridian Book Award is awarded to Matthew Gandy for his book The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity and the Urban Imagination published by the MIT Press in December of 2014. It is an innovative, fresh contribution with extensive scope and conceptual depth. It is case based with water as its connecting theme to illustrate the evolution of modern urban spaces. He draws upon many sources including poetry, film, and art to enhance our understanding of the city. Written in an engaging and accessible way this book is an outstanding contribution to the discipline.

This exceptional scholarly work truly advances the art and science of the discipline. For this reason we are pleased to present the 2014 Meridian Book Award to Matthew Gandy for his work The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity and the Urban Imagination.

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Two Geographers Receive ACLS Fellowships for 2015

Two geographers, Jessica Barnes and Eric Carter have received American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) fellowships for the 2015 program.

Jessica Barnes will be examining the longstanding and widespread identification of food security in Egypt with wheat and bread self-sufficiency. She will be working towards completing a book project entitled “Making Bread: The Cultural Politics of Food Security and Wheat Self-Sufficiency in Egypt.”  The goal of the project is to offer insights into how bread and wheat continue to shape relations of power in Egyptian society, and, more broadly, into how food security is envisioned and experienced across scales.

Carter will conduct archival research in Argentina, Chile, and Costa Rica from 2015-2016 for a book project entitled “The Health of the People: A History of Latin American Social Medicine.” The main goals of the project are to understand the ideological roots of socially conscious health policies in Latin America and the institutional and interpersonal networks that sustained them, from the 1920s onward.

ACLS, funded in 1919, is a private, nonprofit federation of 72 national scholarly organizations, is the preeminent representative of American scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences. Advancing scholarship by awarding fellowships and strengthening relations among learned societies is central to our work. Other activities include support for scholarly conferences, reference works, and scholarly communication innovations. ACLS fellowships fund research in the social sciences and the humanities where the ultimate goal of the fellow is by the end of the year to produce a major piece of scholarly work.

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Chicago: Food City

In 2011, Michelin released its first “red” guide to Chicago restaurants and hotels. Chicago became the third city in the United States, after New York and San Francisco, to have a red guide. To some, this may seem like a minor matter, but the red guide is a marker of culinary excellence for gourmets, and its release was a sign of how important of a destination Chicago has become for culinary tourists.

High-end restaurants have bloomed in Chicago in the past 20 years. Current tourists come to experience places like the molecular gastronomy temple Alinea, currently listed by one source as the ninth best restaurant in the world. Chef Grant Achatz takes apart foods into basic components, and reconstructs them into beautiful (and very expensive) concoctions. Grant Achatz’s other restaurant, Next, features a new cuisine every few months. Like Alinea, one buys pre-paid “tickets” rather than making reservations. At Next you can buy season tickets for the various incarnations of the restaurant, in the same way you purchase a theater subscription (hint for AAG gourmands, if you sign up to their Facebook page, a couple of tables usually are available each day). Other places such as Avez, the Gage, Girl and the Goat, and Publican feature Midwestern ingredients especially house-cured meats.

While these high-end restaurants may bring tourists to the city, Chicago is as least as famous for its hearty everyday foods. These include the Chicago hot dog, topped with mustard, tomatoes, grilled or raw onions, a pickle spear, “sport” peppers, and celery salt, and the even heartier Italian beef, a roasted beef sandwich somewhat like a French dip, served on Italian bread, and topped with hot or sweet pepper. It is particularly delicious dipped back into the gravy. Both of these sandwiches grew out of the Depression years, providing a cheap meal to hungry Chicagoans. The World War II era saw the invention of the deep-dish pizza, a similarly hearty meal in one dish (and one slice). Later, Chicago was the site of the invention of the gyro sandwich (at least the ground lamb and beef on a rotating skewer variety), and more recently, the Puerto Rican jibarito, a steak sandwich served between two mashed and fried plantain slices (vegetarian and other varieties are now also available).

Chicago is not a food city just because of the food that is served here. From its beginning, Chicago has been a place that processed, stored, and sold the ingredients of the Midwest. Chicago was the US capital of industrial candy manufacturing, home or former home to Brach’s, Mars, Toostie Roll, Curtiss Candies (makers of Baby Ruth and Butterfinger bars), Wrigley’s gum, and many others. While many of these plants and companies are now gone, the Mars plant still makes candy on the far west side, and Tootsie Roll is still on the southwest side. Nestlé bought Curtiss Candies but manufactures candy bars in the same plant as before, just south of O’Hare airport. Still today, if you take a walk west along the north bank of the Chicago River, past the Merchandise Mart, and then cross the north branch of the river at Kinzie, you may start smelling chocolate. This comes from Blommer’s, the largest processor of chocolate in North America, and supplier to many other manufacturers, which is located just beyond the river.

Probably the most famous Chicago sites related to industrial food are the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Union Stockyards. The Board of Trade began as an association of grain buyers and sellers who traded along the south bank of the Chicago River, but soon developed into the largest grain exchange in the world. It is now part of CME Group, having merged with the once much smaller Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which itself began as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board. The Board of Trade Building, located prominently at the south end of the LaSalle Street urban canyon, is worth a tour. Topped by a faceless statue of Ceres, the Roman god of grain, the Arc Deco building’s interior is filled with sculptural allegories to grain. The Chicago Union Stockyards closed in 1971, but the stockyards area, on the near southwest side, still hosts one meatpacker, and The Plant, a vertical farm and food business incubator, which at the moment includes a kombucha manufacturer, two aquaponics companies, a bakery, and a sustainable indoor prawn farm.

The Plant is one example of how urban agriculture has been growing in the Chicago area. Others include two for-profit large-scale aqauponics facilities, non-profit urban farms including the Chicago branch of Milwaukee based Growing Power, and Growing Home, a work-training program in the Englewood neighborhood, and many others. Community gardens now dot many Chicago neighborhoods. While this may all seem new, in many ways it brings the city back to its roots. Much of Chicago was once a swamp, but after being drained, much of it was also very good agricultural land. Sandy Lake View was once a leading producer of celery. What is now the South Side was a produce producing area, and part of the North Side was covered with greenhouses, producing flowers and other plants for the city. The area near O’Hare (once called Old Orchard) was a farming zone, also largely producing for the city, but also producing peas and other vegetables for canning by Chicago-based Libby’s.

At its very beginning, the town of Chicago was consisted of collection of taverns and houses that were built between 1829 and 1833 around “Wolf Point,” at the confluence of the North and South branches of the Chicago River. The most famous of these was the Sauganash Hotel, where proprietor Mark Beaubien would play the fiddle while townsfolk and hotel patrons danced. Hearty food was served. Today, the flow of the river has been reversed, and the river is wider, but Chicago still is a place that welcomes its visitors with hearty food and good cheer, as well as more gourmet possibilities. Enjoy your time in our city and eat well.

—Daniel Block
Chicago State University

DOI: 10.14433/2015.0012

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Chicago Wine Bars and Illinois Grape Production

Perhaps surprising, the United States is the leading consumer of wine. Grape production in the United States over the past five years has hovered around one million acres annually. Average yield 2008-2013 ranged from 7.3 to 8.7 tons per acre. This represents five million tons of grapes processed for wine in 2013 and an industry valued today in excess of 6 trillion dollars annually. (National Agricultural Statistics Service, NASS 2015)

We may not think first of Illinois when considering a wine purchase, however, grape and wine production has a long history and recent resurgence in the state. Most grapes grown in Illinois are used to make wine (94%), a few are sold fresh (5%) and some processed into juice (1%). (Sandra Mason, University of Illinois, 2015 news column) Popular winter hardy wine grape cultivars include Chambourcin, Seyval, Vignoles, Chardonel, Norton and Vidal. According to the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association (IGGVA), most of the Illinois wine grapes “…are ‘French Hybrids’ developed by crossing French grapes, such as the Chardonnay often grown in France and California, with native American vines.” (IGGVA) The exception is the Norton grape which has developed from American vines. A University of Minnesota 2011 study summarized the direct and indirect economic effect of vineyards, wineries and winery tourism. Their analysis concluded that vineyards in Illinois provided employment to 4,640 individuals with labor income totaling $59,330,000. The economic production of Illinois vineyards, wineries and winery tourists totaled $164,340,000. A USDA 2011 survey in collaboration with IGGVA counted 175 commercial vineyards in Illinois growing 1066 acres of grapes. The same survey estimated 105 wineries produced 651,800 gallons of wine.

As Illinois expands its grape and wine production, the population of wine drinkers continues to grow and with it wine bars and restaurants offering many wine choices. The only bonded winery in Chicago is CITY WINERY, 1200 West Randolph St. TEL (312) 733-9463 citywinery.com/chicago/ in the West Loop neighborhood. Established by Michael Dorf in 2012, City Winery is not only a winery, but a restaurant and live entertainment venue well worth a visit. Tours of the winery and wine tastings are available. As an urban winery you may wonder where they grow or procure their grapes. Grapes for the wines they produce are sourced from well-respected terroirs, for example, over 15 different world-class vineyards in California, Oregon, Washington and upstate New York, as well as Argentina, Chile and a few from Europe. Head winemaker David Lecomte works his magic with the grapes in the extensive barrel room where you can sample wines directly from the barrel.

Other options include four exceptional Chicago wine bars highlighted by Chicago Magazine:

  • ADA STREET, 1664 N. Ada St. TEL 773-697-7097 adastreetchicago.com extensive wine list, some food items and craft cocktails.
  • BAR PASTORAL, 2947 N. Broadway TEL 773-472-4781 barpastoral.com specializing in wine and cheese;
  • RM CHAMPAGNE SALON 116 N. Green St. TEL 312-243-1199, rmchampagnesalon.com an upscale “hidden Parisian gem” (Chicago Magazine February 2013) cocktail attire recommended, over 280 labels ranging from $35 to $1500;
  • VERA, 1023 W. Lake St. TEL 312-243-9770 verachicago.com with a focus on wines from Spain, Spain’s neighbors and the Americas (interesting geography), various light food items, extensive wine list, moderately priced.

Below are rankings of the ten most reviewed Chicago wine bars, ten highest rated Chicago wine bars, and ten Chicago wine bars that are good for groups. (Yelp online, April 2015)

Ten MOST REVIEWED Chicago Wine Bars* Food Style Telephone
1 AVEC, 615 W. Randolph St. French, Basque (312) 377-2002
2 FORK, 4600 N. Lincoln Ave. American (773) 751-1500
3 POPS for Champagne, 601 N. State St. American (312) 266-7677
4 FRASCA, 3358 N. Paulina St. Italian pizza (773) 248-5222
5 OSTERIA VIA STATO, 620 N. State St. Italian (312) 642-8540
6 FLEMING’S Prime Steakhouse, 25 E. Ohio American (312) 329-9463
7 The 3rd COAST, 1260 N. Dearborn St. American (312) 649-0730
8 VOLO RESTAURANT, 2008 W. Roscoe St. American (773) 348-4600
9 ENOTECA ROMA, 2146 W. Division St. Italian (773) 772-7700
10 VINCENT, 1475 W. Balmoral Ave. American (773) 334-7168
(*source YELP April 2015)

 

Ten HIGHEST RATED Chicago Wine Bars* Food Style Telephone
1 AVEC, 615 W. Randolph St. French, Basque (312) 377-2002
2 HOUSE RED VINOTECA, 7403 W. Madison** American (708) 771-7733
3 GATHER, 4539 N. Lincoln Ave. American (773) 506-9300
4 VINCENT, 1475 W. Balmoral Ave. American (773) 334-7168
5 ZIA’S LAGO VISTA, 3819 N. Ashland Ave. Italian (773) 883-0808
6 DISOTTO ENOTECA, 200 E. Chestnut St. Italian tapas (312) 482-8727
7 ROOTSTOCK, 954 N. California Ave. American (773) 292-1616
8 BRINDILLE, 534 N. Clark St. French (312) 595-1616
9 RM CHAMPAGNE Salon, 116 N. Green St. International (312) 243-1199
10 The 3rd COAST, 1260 N. Dearborn St. American (312) 649-0730
(*source YELP April 2015)
(** located in Forest Park, IL 60130)

 

Chicago Wine Bars GOOD FOR GROUPS* Food Style Telephone
1 BASCULE, 1421 W. Taylor St. (new) American (312) 763-6912
2 ENOLO WINE CAFÉ, 450 N. Clark St. Tapas (224) 325-4989
3 TWISTED VINE Chicago, 3530 N. Halsted St. (773) 388-0942
4 GATHER, 4539 N. Lincoln Ave. American (773) 506-9300
5 D.O.C. Wine Bar, 2602 N. Clark St. (773) 883-5101
6 DISOTTO ENOTECA, 200 E. Chestnut St. Italian tapas (312) 482-8727
7 MAX’S Wine Dive, 1482 N. Milwaukee Ave. American (773) 661-6581
8 WEBSTER’S Wine Bar, 2601 N. Milwaukee Ave. American (773) 292-9463
9 TRELLIS, 2426 N. Racine Ave. American (773)644-6441
10 ZIA’S LAGO VISTA, 3819 N. Ashland Ave. Italian (773) 883-0808
(*source YELP April 2015)

 

Nearly half of the wineries surveyed in 2011 were established after 2005 and the numbers continue to grow. According to DePaul university professor Clara Orban, “On my travels to visit wineries, one young winemaker told me that he and others like him are trying to transform their grandparents’ culture of the sweet Concord grape wine to embrace dry, international-style wines. There will surely be new changes in the future for Illinois wine.” (Orban 2014, p 6)

For those of you interested in visiting a suburban or rural vineyard and/or winery, there are a dozen or more opportunities within a two hour drive of downtown Chicago. I highly recommend the recently published and affordable paperback “Illinois Wines & Wineries: The Essential Guide” by Clara Orban published 2014 by Southern Illinois University Press. Quality winemaking on a commercial scale is well underway in Illinois.

—Betty Elaine Smith
Eastern Illinois University

DOI: 10.14433/2015.0013

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New Books for Geographers

New Books: April 2015

Every month the AAG compiles a list of newly-published books in geography and related areas. Some are selected for review in the AAG Review of Books.

Publishers are welcome to send new volumes to the Editor-in-Chief (Kent Mathewson, Editor-in-Chief, AAG Review of Books, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803).

Anyone interested in reviewing these or other titles should also contact the Editor-in-Chief.

April 2015

 

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AAG Selects Paul Knox for AAG Globe Book Award

The AAG Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography will be given for a book written or co-authored by a geographer that conveys most powerfully the nature and importance of geography to the non-academic world.  This distinction for 2015 is presented to Paul Knox (editor) for the book, Atlas of Cities, published by Princeton University Press.

The Atlas of Cities is a comprehensive and timely overview of urban geography classifications and considerations across time using inviting maps, charts, diagrams, tables, and photographs.  Knox’s categories are innovative, not only advancing the literature, but resonating with a broader audience.  The “Celebrity City” chapter is engaging, while simultaneously introducing network analysis and systems science.   The “Megacity” chapter visually demonstrates the disproportionate number of cities and agglomerations in Asia and along coastlines.  The scale of recent rural-urban migrations and human suffering in densely-populated, infrastructure-challenged slums is made plain.  This atlas would be equally at home in a university urban geography course or awaiting leisurely examination on a coffee table.

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2015 Honorary Geographer: Peter Bol

The Association of American Geographers has named Peter Bol as its 2015 Honorary Geographer. Bol is the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning and the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. In making its selection, the AAG recognized Bol’s leadership role and engagement with the AAG to build university-wide support for geospatial analysis in teaching and research at Harvard University, and the resulting establishment of the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis, of which he was its first and extraordinarily successful director.

In addition to founding and developing the CGA, Bol’s long career of distinguished scholarship on the history and geography of China is of great interest to geographers and has contributed to a better understanding of China among geographers. Finally, his sustained and innovative research and scholarship in the field of historical GIS has helped shape and advance the discipline of geography. As director of the China Historical Geographic Information Systems project, a collaboration between Harvard and Fudan University in Shanghai to create a GIS for 2000 years of Chinese history, Bol pioneered interdisciplinary tools, methods, and approaches that have opened fruitful new pathways for discovery and understanding for both historians and geographers.

AAG Executive Director Douglas Richardson will confer the 2015 AAG Honorary Geographer Award upon Peter K. Bol at the 2015 AAG Annual Meeting in Chicago during the “Launch of the AAG GeoHumanities Journal” session on Thursday, April 23. The session begins at 1:20 p.m. in the Gold Coast room at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. Learn more.

Every year, AAG bestows its Honorary Geographer Award on an individual to recognize excellence in the arts, research, teaching, and writing on geographic topics by non-geographers. Previous awardees have included biologist Stephen J. Gould, architect Maya Lin, Nobel Laureate in economics Paul Krugman, sociologist Saskia Sassen, economist Jeffrey Sachs, and authors Calvin Trillin, Charles Mann, Barbara Kingsolver and Barry Lopez, among others.

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Surveillance and Policing in Chicago…and its Discontents

Geraint Rowland via Compfight

In the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing, Chicago received national attention for its comprehensive network of surveillance cameras. One of the first U.S. cities to make extensive use of surveillance cameras, beginning in June 2003, the Chicago Police had launched “Operation Disruption,” a multi-phased plan to install “blue-light” Police Observation Device cameras (PODs) in high crime areas. Able to rotate 360 degree and zoom to a fine level of detail, bullet proof, operable in any weather condition, these cameras record continuously and switch into night vision mode after dark. They are used to monitor street crimes and direct police deployment. In 2006, “Operation Disruption” gave way to “Operation Virtual Shield,” a scheme to create the most extensive and integrated video surveillance network in the United States. In January 2007, the city began installing cameras at least 20 high schools. Under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the city has added 500 more and now has an integrated system of 22,000 cameras citywide (see map). This system includes the “blue-light” street cameras as well as cameras on CTA trains, buses, and public transit stations and cameras installed on public buildings such as schools and Chicago Housing Authority facilities. As part of “Operation Virtual Shield,” the city upgraded cameras to incorporate facial recognition and “automatic tracking” or the ability to follow a person or vehicle from one camera to the next. Today, the data from these cameras is wirelessly transmitted to the Chicago Crime Prevention Center (CPIC) which also can individually control any camera (Chicago Police Department 2013a; 2013b).

CPIC is one of 78 fusion centers recognized and partially funded by the Department of Homeland Security. With a potentially limitless “all crimes, all threats, all hazards” mission, the CPIC operates 24 hours a day from the fourth floor of police headquarters at 3510 S Michigan Ave. It has a regular staff of 30 to 35 people. Personnel from FBI, DHS, and Illinois State Police are assigned full time to the CPIC, while personnel from other agencies including the Illinois Department of Corrections, Cook County Sheriff’s Police, State Department, Metra Police, DHS Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Attorney’s Northern District of Indiana, Transportation and Security Administration and various suburban police departments also deploy the CPIC as needed (Chicago Police Department 2013b). The CPIC is an information clearinghouse and analytic center that analyzes long term trends, monitors the “threat environment” to achieve real time “situational awareness,” and provides tactical case support. In the latter capacity, the fusion center provides “real-time violent crime detection monitoring and response, continual assessment of available resources for the purpose of possible redeployment of manpower, instantaneous major incident notification, analysis and identification of retaliatory violence and automated construction of enforcement missions to thwart retaliatory violence, crime pattern identification, and immediate access to in-depth background data on persons of investigative interest” (Government Accountability Office 2007: 70).

Fusion centers like the CPIC are associated with intelligence-led policing (ILP). ILP operates on two fronts. One the one hand, ILP is “a top-down management approach” that “uses crime intelligence to objectively direct police resources decisions” and offers a “business model and managerial philosophy where data analysis and crime intelligence are pivotal to an objective, decision-making framework that facilitate crime and problem reduction, disruption and prevention through both strategic management and effective enforcement strategies that target prolific and serious offenders.” On the other hand, ILP reorients policing around intelligence in an effort to shift the profession toward the pre-emptive disruption of crime. This future-oriented mode of policing entails the individual targeting of chronic offenders, using informants and surveillance to identify and track them (Ratcliffee 2008: 6, 83-87). In Chicago for example, analysts at the CPIC evaluate an individual’s parole or warrant status, weapons or drug arrests, arrest histories of the person’s acquaintances, and whether they have been the victim of a shooting to generate a “heat list” of individuals “500 times more likely than average to be involved in violence” (Gorner 2013; Flannery 2014).

While fusion centers and ILP are considered by some to be the future of law enforcement, the centerpiece of the so-called “Homeland Security Era” of policing in the United States, they also raise a series of concerns related to civil liberties violations and political policing. In Chicago, the CPIC has recently been implicated in the illegal surveillance of activists associated with the Black Lives Matter protest. “Police scanner enthusiasts” found evidence that the Chicago Police were using StingRay devices—the brand name of a device made by Harris Corporation to simulate a cell tower’s radio signal and capture data from nearby mobile phones, tablets and similar wireless devices—to monitor the Ferguson solidarity protests. The intercepted communications revealed that this data was being sent to the CPIC (Handley 2014). Like all issues surrounding intelligence generally and fusion centers specifically, these allegations are obscured by official secrecy. The Chicago Police are currently being sued to release documents that would prove that the department owns a Stingray device (Smith 2014).

Such secrecy may not last long. The lawsuit and ongoing protests around police abuses are developing into a broader effort to assert community control over the police. The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (undated) is organizing a drive to pass legislation that would create a Civilian Police Accountability Council with powers to appoint the police commissioner, rewrite the police rule book, investigate police shootings, and otherwise oversee the police department. A coalition of grassroots groups are planning a demonstration this August in support of the legislation and are already pushing alderman to support the legislation. Outside of Chicago, the proposal is attracting attention of other activists in other cities, including Baltimore and St. Louis, who are considering launching similar campaigns.

—Brendan McQuade
International Studies
DePaul University

DOI: 10.14433/2015.0011

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