CHICAGO — Expect 319 Chicago Police officers currently filling administrative roles to take to the streets next year, according to a mayoral news release Sunday.
The plan will shift officers in the Chicago Police Department who don't need "a gun, a star and arrest powers" to do their current jobs to street duty instead. These positions include Freedom of Open Information officers, nurses, crossing guard supervisors, aides, secretaries and custodians.
The 2016 budget will include funding to hire replacements for these positions, which are "vital to police operations." The hiring will prioritize retired officers, the news release said.
Of these reassigned officers, 154 will be assigned to beats in the districts where they are currently doing administrative work. Sixty officers will be added to teams that help districts reduce violent crime. Another 105 officers will work in specific "impact zones" in small geographic areas that are considered high in crime — allowing CPD to reduce overtime assignments and facilitates community engagement by keeping the same officers in the same area, the news release said.
“While we have made important strides to refocus our resources in the past four years, there are still a number of highly-trained police officers doing administrative work,” Emanuel said in a statement.
CPD will also transfer responsibility of hiring and supervising crossing guards to the Office of Emergency Management. There are 22 police employees working as crossing guard supervisors currently. The news release said the changes would be in effect for the 2016-2017 school year.
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