The progressives running Chicago are chasing businesses and workers out of the city reducing tax collections. The more the City raises taxes to make up the shortfall the more people flee the sinking ship.
Crime is a huge reason people are leaving Chicago. Reducing our police force is exactly the thing that will make this problem more severe.
Police reform could be budget casualty
By Carrie Shepherd, Justin Kaufmann and Monica Eng, Axios News
Nov 19, 2024
Even though the Chicago Police Department budget is set to increase in 2025, police reform resources could be cut.
The big picture: Each city department, including police and fire, is being asked to reduce costs to help fill a nearly billion-dollar budget hole in 2025.
Zoom in: The city's early recommendation is to gut the Office of Constitutional Policing and Reform, which oversees a court-mandated consent decree.
Context: The office is made up of civilians tasked with improving community policing, use-of-force policies, and officer accountability and transparency.
It was created in 2019 after a U.S. Justice Department investigation the year prior found repeated civil rights abuses, including the murder of Laquan McDonald by officer Jason Van Dyke.
The intrigue: Since the consent decree began, CPD has met only about 7% of the court order's requirements, according to the independent group assigned to monitor the office.
Yes, but: CPD says it is closer to 50% with several big policy changes, including revising the use-of-force policy in 2023.
Between the lines: The police department is proposing to eliminate 456 vacant positions (both officer and civilian positions) and is proposing to cut civilian positions in the constitutional policing office.
The cuts would eliminate 37 staffers in that office and remove almost 30% of the budget for CPD's Training and Support Group.
By the numbers: Mayor Brandon Johnson's $17 billion budget includes more than $2 billion for CPD, a $58 million increase from last year.
The latest: Police superintendent Larry Snelling advocated for keeping these positions at a budget hearing Friday, but he also said that he wanted to put all available resources into helping officers on the street.
Snelling said he persuaded Johnson to reverse cuts for a few positions dedicated to officer wellness.
Johnson, who before becoming mayor questioned the police department's resources, has defended the suggested cuts by arguing he's been hiring officers and implementing police reforms without the consent decree.
Friction point: The proposed cuts have riled up Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a new coalition of former officers and violence
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