Police Supt. says Chicago crime not out of control

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weis says Governor Rod Blagojevich is wrong to call crime in the city "out of control."

Weis called a press conference Thursday, a day after Blagojevich raised the possibility of bringing in state troopers or even the Illinois National Guard to help Chicago police fight violent crime.

Weis was polite about his disagreement with the governor but was adamant that statistics don't support talk of a rising crime wave in the city.

While he acknowledges, for example, that the murder rate is up 13 percent this year, he still says 2008 is statistically predicted to end as one of Chicago's least deadly in four decades.

But Weis also says he'd welcome any help the state police would offer.