Nearly 140 Chicago police officers will move from jail lockups to beat patrols, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy announced today.
By the administration's count, the latest move means 1,019 more cops are on beat patrol since Emanuel took office in mid-May.
During the campaign, Emanuel said he would put 1,000 more officers on city streets. As the mayor started redeploying officers, police union leaders said Emanuel was merely shuffling officers around. Many of those moved to beats already were on the streets in special crime units and the like, union leaders said.
In recent weeks, Emanuel has changed his phrasing, saying he's putting more cops "on the beat" instead of "on the street."
Today, Emanuel acknowledged that hundreds of the officers already were on the street.“Around 600 were administrative positions that are now driving our streets and are in our neighborhoods,” Emanuel said at a news conference. “Prior to that they were in our buildings. The way you fight crime is with a beat officer, not a bureaucrat.”
Of course, they were "bureaucrats" with contractual spots. Biddable positions. And we're pretty sure if they get removed in violation of that contract, the Department has to pay them time-and-one-half for each and every hour they spend out of their spot. It's not a matter of "if." It's a matter of "when." This is what is commonly known as a "slam dunk." There are so many precedents and previous rulings on file it's ridiculous.
We also like how Rahm got top billing in the article, just to demonstrate who really runs the show at the CPD.