Chicago’s police department plans to hire almost 1,000 officers over the next two years in a bid to combat a surge of violence in the third-largest US city that has included more than 500 murders this year, the city’s police chief said on Wednesday.
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Within two years, the plan is to add 500 street cops and 200 detectives, then beef up the ranks with 112 more sergeants and 50 additional lieutenants. Alderman Ariel Reboyras, the Chicago city council public safety chairman, said the budget will be detailed in the weeks ahead.
Superintendent Eddie Johnson will announce what will be the force’s largest hiring effort in years at a news conference later Wednesday, CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. But he says that Emanuel has assured him that it could be done without raising taxes.
The Chicago Police Department spent a record $116.1 million on overtime in 2015- up 17.2 percent from the previous year – to mask a manpower shortage that has mushroomed under Emanuel with police retirements outpacing hiring by 975 officers.
“I owe you a department that is stronger in numbers, equipped for the 21st century, richer in skills and best practices to manage and challenge peacefully and honorably”, Johnson said.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson will announce the hires Wednesday, according to the official who was briefed on the plan and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the plan ahead of the announcement. August alone produced 90 homicides, making it one of the bloodiest months in the city’s history.
The high use of overtime payouts is something Emanuel and the police superintendent he hired when he took office in 2011, Garry McCarthy, forcefully defended, saying the cost – about $100 million annually in recent years – was a less expensive way to keep more officers on the street. During a three-year period in the mid-1990s, around 1,000 officers were added. Emanuel campaigned five years ago on the promise he’d hire an extra 1,000 officers, but instead he disbanded special units and transferred officers to beat jobs, according to the Sun Times.
The Chicago police union didn’t immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment. The police department is also under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice in the wake of shootings by police officers.
Activists who’ve called for additional community resources and leadership changes criticized the plan to add so many officers.
Chicago has seen 3,000 shooting victims in 2016 and will likely exceed 600 homicides, the highest number in 13 years. Only New York has more police officers.
The mayor made the remarks after touring a job fair at Malcolm X College for young people who are both out of school and without jobs. The percentage of homicides that detectives have been able to solve has dropped significantly.
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Earlier this week, former Chicago police superintendent Garry McCarthy, who was sacked from his position following the release of the McDonald video, suggested that police officers have been put in an untenable situation.
