<p>Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order Thursday to begin the potentially costly process of delivering on his promise to create the stand-alone city department focusing exclusively on reducing and preventing gun violence.</p><p>Two days after <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2026/06/23/mayor-brandon-johnson-department-of-gun-violence-prevention-endorsement" >embracing a plan</a> that Chicago mayors have been resisted for more than a decade, Johnson put some meat on the bone.</p><p>He established an <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2026/06/22/local-leaders-advocates-department-of-gun-violence-reduction" >Office of Gun Violence Reduction</a> within the mayor’s office and outlined procedures to support the establishment of a permanent city department to coordinate and strengthen the city’s disparate efforts.</p><p>“For far too long in this city, we have not met the scale of the challenge facing our residents with the level of investment or urgency needed to transcend the systematic neglect and separation that has left lasting scars between our communities,” Johnson said during a signing ceremony in the mayor’s office. “For decades, people have demanding more from city government and today, city government responds to those demands.”</p><p></p><p>Emmanuel Andre, deputy mayor for community safety, will serve as executive director of the new office with an aggressive set of new marching orders. They include: collecting data on gun violence and violence reduction initiatives; issuing monthly progress reports; identifying communities that have borne the brunt of gun violence and designating those hardest-hit neighborhoods as “Community Safety Priority Zones."</p><p>Andre was further charged with coordinating “comprehensive place-based investment and interventions tailored to the unique needs” of each of those communities.