Chicago Has Less Beat Cops Now Than Before Rahm Emanuel Became Mayor

“Chicago readers take note: The ‘thin blue line’ that exists in the Windy City will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future. Carry on accordingly.”

-Survival and Prosperity, October 3, 2011

After reporting on Chicago tallying its 500th murder for the year last week, one of the major local papers is pointing out there are less beat cops on the streets of Chicago these days than before Rahm Emanuel become mayor. Frank Main and Dan Mihalopoulos wrote on the Chicago Sun-Times website early this morning:

Despite promises of staffing increases, the Chicago Police Department has fewer beat officers in patrol districts across the city than before Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of city data has found.

Days after he was sworn into office last year, Emanuel announced the start of what he described as a major shift in how the police department assigns officers across the city. He promised to fulfill a campaign pledge by assigning 1,000 more cops to high-crime areas without reducing the police presence in other parts of the city.

“We cannot beat crime without more officers on the beat,” the mayor said then.

That was May 2011.

But, as of Oct. 15, a total of 6,638 rank-and-file officers were assigned to police beats citywide, down from 6,746 beat cops at the start of 2011, according to the data obtained by the Sun-Times.

No big surprise here. I’ve been blogging about claims of a manpower shortage in the Chicago Police Department for more than a year now.

A must-read piece for my fellow Chicagoans, which is located on the Sun-Times website here.

As for Main and Mihalopoulos. Dead fish for you, and for you.

By Christopher E. Hill, Editor
Survival And Prosperity (http://www.survivalandprosperity.com)