- Mayor Rahm Emanuel's decision to put hundreds more officers on the beat this summer represents a significant shift away from the Chicago Police Department's strategy of fighting crime with specialized units.
Under former Superintendent Jody Weis, units such as the Mobile Strike Force were beefed up. The idea was that pulling officers from the districts would allow more flexibility to move them to neighborhoods experiencing spikes in gang and gun violence.
The new mayor's strategy, first reported in the Tribune, puts an emphasis on the department's interaction with residents, officials said. The officers will stop parachuting into hot spots and focus on crime within district boundaries.
So instead of TRU and MSF spending all their time in Districts like 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 011 and 015, they'll be assigned directly to 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 011 and 015. It's brilliant!
Wait a minute....
Don't get us wrong, we're still of the opinion that overlapping and redundant assignments should be phased out and eliminated. We're just amused as hell that Rahm is so blatantly claiming credit for half of his "1,000 more cops on the street" promise based on a paper move that increases the number of cops on the street by exactly "zero."
Wait a minute....
Don't get us wrong, we're still of the opinion that overlapping and redundant assignments should be phased out and eliminated. We're just amused as hell that Rahm is so blatantly claiming credit for half of his "1,000 more cops on the street" promise based on a paper move that increases the number of cops on the street by exactly "zero."
- Asked twice whether he still intends to honor his campaign promise to put 1,000 additional officers on the street, Emanuel appeared to hedge. His staff subsequently argued that Emanuel promised 1,000 new officers “on the beat” and that, by that measure, he’s half-way home.
The above statement was brought to you by the Goalpost Movers Local #76 and The Committee to Re-elect Rahm Emanuel.
The FOP isn't impressed:
The FOP isn't impressed:
- “To say this is 500 more officers on the street — no, it’s not. Don’t mislead the public. There are no more police officers today than there were yesterday. They’re taking 500 officers as if they were never on the street and putting them into beat cars. They’re acting as if they were assigned to some desk duty,” [someone was quoted as saying].
Let's see if the media gives Rahm a pass on this smoke and mirror bullshit the way they did for Shortshanks.