With major crime up 34%, 95 more cops walk out the door; CPD is losing cops at “unsustainable” rate, alderman says
CWB Chicago ^ | Feb 24, 2022
Posted on 2/25/2022, 12:34:43 PM by KeyLargo
With major crime up 34%, 95 more cops walk out the door; CPD is losing cops at “unsustainable” rate, alderman says
February 24, 2022 CWBChicago Citywide
One month ago, we reported that CPD statistics showed reports of major crimes were up 24% in the first three weeks of the new year compared to the same time last year.
How have things improved since then? They haven’t. Major crime reports are now up 34%, with all seven categories showing increases: murder, criminal sexual assault, robbery, aggravated battery, burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft. That’s according to CPD’s internal CompStat report dated February 20.
Crime reports this year are also ahead of the same point in 2020 and 2019, when COVID was not a factor.
But not everything is going up. The number of cops on the city’s police force is going down. Chicago lost 95 more officers in January, according to the city’s inspector general (OIG). CPD had 11,805 officers as of February 1. It started last year with 12,679 and had 13,353 in January 2019.
“Where are we gonna be in three years?” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) asked on a recent networking Zoom call attended by former Chicago journalist Rafer Weigel. “It’s unsustainable.”
CPD “can’t recruit fast enough,” Hopkins reportedly said.
Last month, John O’Malley, the deputy mayor for public safety, delivered sobering news to a group of Lakeview residents.
“I can tell you there is a significant, almost alarming reduction in the number of police officers in the city of Chicago,” O’Malley said, pointing to retirements and “a very hard struggle right now to recruit and retain officers.”
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