Emanuel Fulfilling Promise For 1,000 Cops? Maybe
(CBS) – Mayor Emanuel promised to add 1,000 new Chicago police officers. But some critics are wary about whether that promise is being kept.
CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley takes a look behind the numbers.
It's the first day at the police academy for 88 new cadets -- the last class of the year in a two-year push by Emanuel to add the 1,000 officers.
Some skeptics aren't sure the promises and the results add up.
"You have to take a close look at how many officers are retiring, how many officers are being dismissed and how many officers are getting promoted," Ald. Ricardo Munoz, 22nd Ward, says.
According to police, Chicago currently has about 12,500 sworn officers. That's a net gain of about 500 since the start of the year.
City Hall says about 1,100 officers have been hired since Emanuel's drive to beef up the force began and by the end of 2018, the total force is supposed to number 13,400.
But the city's Inspector General has questions about how officers are being used.
A 2015 report shows 60 percent of sworn officers work in the districts, with 40 percent assigned to specialized units that may not be directly fighting crime.
That report also found 310 positions occupied by cops that civilians could do just as well.
"We need to make sure that anyone with a badge and carrying a gun should be doing crime-fighting work, not pushing paper," Ald. Munoz says.
In a follow-up report, the IG found police are making efforts to move more sworn officers out of administrative work, but the watchdog was unsure just how much progress is being made.
