CHICAGO (CBS) — A Cook County commissioner and others have called on Gov. Bruce Rauner to declare a state of emergency in Chicago, after shootings and murders skyrocketed last month.

Commissioner Richard Boykin (D-1st) said he’s sending a letter to the governor, asking him to declare a state of emergency in the city, as a step toward quelling the alarming level of violence on the streets.

Chicago police have said nearly 300 people were shot last month, more than double the total from January 2015; and 51 people were murdered, an increase of 75 percent over last year.

Boykin said the public has lost trust in the Chicago Police Department, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been weakened by the political fallout from the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and other police controversies.

“There is a vacuum of leadership, and so what we’re doing today is we’re calling on the governor to declare a state of emergency, with respect to gun violence, and trigger federal resources to come in,” he said.