Chicago has more murders than Los Angeles and NY combined – both of which are bigger cities. In addition, the department intends to add 92 field training officers, 112 sergeants and 50 lieutenants to the ranks. “We did an overall analysis of the department.I took a real hard look at it and this is what I think we need to make Chicago safer”, he said.
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The violence also comes amid growing distrust between Chicago’s African-American community and the police department following the release late previous year of disturbing police dashcam video that showed a white police officer fatally shooting Laquan McDonald, a black teen, 16 times on a city street.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson says it’s a hard time to be a police officer with added pressures and cellphone videos.
The move is a departure from how Emanuel has handled staffing issues in the past through overtime.
Hiring more supervisors was likely to be among the demands that will eventually be made by the Justice Department in its ongoing investigation of Chicago police, which was prompted by the Laquan McDonald officer-involved shooting scandal.
The mayor’s administration rolled out the announcement of planned hiring a day before Emanuel is scheduled to give a speech about his efforts to address the violence afflicting the city’s poorest and most segregated neighborhoods.
On Wednesday, Solis, fellow Alderman Howard Brookins Jr., and others argue that whatever the cost of hiring so many officers, it would certainly mean the bill for police overtime – more than $100 annually in recent years – would fall.
Last month, Chicago had 90 homicides, the highest monthly total in two decades.
FOX News reported that at this pace, the murder rate in Chicago is expected to soar beyond the 600-homicide mark for the first time since 2003.
The anouncement comes as the mayor and his police department have been under mounting pressure over rising crime in Chicago. There have also been more than 2,500 shooting incidents so far this year, about 700 more than in the same time period last year. He said he would not tolerate misconduct and added that he owed Chicago a department that stronger in numbers, equipped for the 21st century.
Plus, the department that’s long struggled with a reputation for police misconduct and brutality has been beset by criticism and an erosion of trust in the wake of several fatal police shootings. The percentage of homicides that detectives have been able to solve has dropped significantly. Interim Superintendent John Escalante and his permanent replacement, Johnson, have struggled to bring the violence under control.
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There has not been as many police officers hired for several years, according to FOX News.
