Posted on 07/29/2023 1:18:14 PM PDT by george76
One way to “defund the police” is by not hiring officers – a strategy supported by many in Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s camp. The problem is, failing to hire more officers is backfiring. It leads to higher costs, some of which are very hard to count but easy to see.
To date Chicago has spent $126 million on police overtime in 2023, according to a WTTW analysis of city records. This is ahead of last year, when the city spent a record $210 million on police overtime. The bump is because police strength is down by more than 1,700 since before former Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office. There are currently over 1,000 police vacancies, and the city has no strategy for filling them.
Fewer officers is a major factor in why there’s been an over 50% drop in annual arrests since 2019 and an abysmal clearance rate of only 5% for nonfatal shootings with arrests. The lack of officers is directly to blame for the dramatic increase in the number of high-priority 911 calls for which the Chicago Police Department did not have a squad car available to respond. Chicagoans implicitly know there is a severe officer shortage.
To Johnson’s supporters who believe they can defund the police by not filling police vacancies, think about it: the hidden costs are eating the savings. Last year, police overtime cost the city over $210 million – over 50% more than was paid in 2021, and double what the city budgeted. Plus, the remaining officers are seeing their effectiveness undermined and are being demoralized by a work schedule that regularly cancels days off and extends work shifts without warning.
Right now, the city has no plan for rebuilding police strength. A plan must both slow the exodus of officers and make being a CPD officer attractive again. It would require new CPD leadership that has the confidence of the rank and file, that will institute a humane and predictable work schedule and that showcases public support for the police by the mayor’s office. Those are needed before an aggressive recruitment strategy to quickly fill the ranks can succeed.
Time for a federal consent decree?
Police chief and all below him should work 1 or 2 NIGHTS weekly on patrol in marked vehicles and unmarked. They might even enjoy that routine.
Time for the rise of the vigilantes.
> Time for the rise of the vigilantes. <
I suppose that will happen as the big cities continue to collapse. A power vacuum must be filled. But I suspect that these vigilantes won’t be of the Paul Kersey variety. More likely it’ll be the Black Muslims.
As long as the trash is taken out.
We don’t need no steenkin police ... oh wait ... an armed man is walking toward me ... dialing 911 ... what? wait time is 30 minutes
Not to worry. Soon, non citizens will be allowed to become Chicago Police Officers.
That’s when things will get real bad, real fast.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.