More New CPD Officers Are Hitting The Streets. But Are They Enough?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking note of a milestone.
Success in his pledge to add 1,000 new police officers by the end of the year. But is it enough? The police union doesn't think so.
Chicago police welcomed 67 new recruits, the second to last class of the year. And with it, achievement of a goal by Mayor Emanuel.
"Each of you represent our two year journey of growing CPD by over 1,000 police officers," said Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.
A mission City Hall claims he has now accomplished. Two years ago, Chicago police had 12,114 sworn officers. Today, it's 13,319. Emanuel said with the additional personnel has come additional supervision for street cops.
"We've also grown our sergeant ranks, we've grown our ranks of detectives, we've grown the ranks of lieutenants and captains," Emanuel said.
But the Fraternal Order of Police insists it's not enough.
"We need to be somewhere near 14,200," FOP President Kevin Graham.
That's because Graham said community policing is labor intensive and he claimed planned year-round training will strain the force.
"We're going to be embarking on additional training and more training for officers citywide in which we're going to be taking police officers off the street," Graham said. "And when we do that, we're going to need somebody else to fill those squad cars."
For years, Mayor Emanuel and his first police superintendent, Garry McCarthy, claimed Chicago didn't need more officers and that extra manpower needs could be handled through overtime.
But as crime rose and overtime soared, Emanuel changed course, after firing McCarthy in the Laquan McDonald fallout.