ON CHICAGO'S gang embattled South Side, a shooting can incite swift retaliation, which spawns even further violence. That's what may have happened in September in Cornell Square Park when gunmen opened fire on a basketball court just hours after one of them had been wounded in a separate incident. When officers can't connect the dots between people fast enough, it's nearly impossible to get ahead of crime. In Cornell Square Park, the fallout wounded 13, including a three-year-old boy. Gang violence is generally not random. It's usually related to territorial disputes or personal rifts-that is, to geographic, cultural, and social connections. Some police departments have had marginal success monitoring social networks like Facebook for clues about where bloodshed might erupt next.
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