Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sources: 500 officers to be reassigned to high-crime districts

Chicago Tribune:
Starting Sunday, the South Side districts getting the extra manpower are the Grand Crossing, South Chicago, Calumet, Gresham, Englewood and Chicago Lawn districts, one of the sources said. The two districts on the West Side getting more officers are the Harrison and Austin districts, the source said.

The source described the 90-day reassignments — the longest duration of time the department can detail officers to other units without their consent — as an evaluation period for acting Superintendent Garry McCarthy to decide whether the officers' presence on district patrol is more effective in areas with a high crime rate than if they were working in the Mobile Strike Force and Targeted Response Unit.

Those two units, which will be all but depleted by the reassignments, are typically sent to parts of the city experiencing spikes in violent crimes, including gang shootings, homicides and armed robberies, before moving to other areas where such crimes are on the rise. But when officers from those units are sent to the districts, they will focus on areas within district boundaries.

If the department's leadership is satisfied with the results of the temporary reassignments, the Mobile Strike Force and Targeted Response Unit could be disbanded, sources said.

These changes come after Mayor Rahm Emanuel has repeatedly said he wants to get 1,000 more police officers on the streets by shifting experienced personnel from desk jobs and hiring new officers with funds now earmarked for economic development in special taxing districts.

On Tuesday, Emanuel is scheduled to make a public safety announcement at a South Side police station.

No comments:

Post a Comment

PLEASE READ FIRST!!!! Comment Moderating and Anonymous Comment Policy

While anonymous comments are not prohibited we do encourage you to help readers identify you so that other commenters may respond to you. Either read the moderating policy for how or leave an identifier (which could be a nickname for example) at the end of the comment.

Also note that this blog is NOT associated with any public or political officials including Alderman Roderick T. Sawyer!