“It appears La Shawn Ford is smarter than the average Urban politician.”
Things aren’t always what they appear to be. Ford also says that Chicago has enough cops. It doesn’t. He also wants more “controls” on the cops they do have even after the CPD leadership and the Mayor signed off on an insane “consent decree” with the State.
So while on this one particular issue Ford got things right. Blind squirrels and all that.
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Chicago probably has plenty of police bodies, in absolute numbers.
But the department is top-heavy with administrators, and politically-connected sash weights.
Beyond organizational dysfunction, the #1 problem is morale, since the Lightfoot administration is continuing the Emanuel approach of blaming the cops rather than the thugs.
Then, as you pointed out, there’s all of the extra paperwork caused by the “consent” decree, and other policies that force otherwise productive officers to do nothing but fill out forms.
I would reorganize the department before adding more officers.
My name is Orlando Wilson!