As the mayor of a city of 2.7 million people, Lori Lightfoot has 90 bodyguards watching after her and her family. Despite the fact that 90 bodyguards appear like a lot of overkill, people realize the need for bodyguards for mayors of large cities. After all, the majority of Illinois’ cities’ police forces total fewer than 90 officers.
Many people are wondering why the mayor of a small town an hour outside of Chicago, a 20,000-person community, has had a three-person security detail for more than a year. especially when just three cops make up approximately 10% of the police force in the city?
Mayor Tiffany Henyard of Dolton, Illinois, has already invested more than $258,000 since May 2021 to ensure that at least three cops are committed to assuring her safety and security in the community south of Chicago.
Yes, in a city that is barely four square miles in size, a three-man security detail.
From Edgar County Watchdogs:
Since May of 2021, Tiffany Henyard, Mayor of Dolton, Illinois has had her personal security detail follow her around nearly 24 hours a day.
The three individuals indicated in Dolton’s response to a FOIA request are Village employees (click name to view payroll) Kori Wright, Terry Young, and William Reed.
Payroll has exceeded $258,000 paid by Dolton taxpayers between May of 2021 and September of 2022.
At this rate, the Dolton taxpayers will have paid more than one million dollars for her “security” detail over the life of her 4-year term of office.
Yes, a lot of Dolton residents are wondering why that is too. Three bodyguards every day to protect a small-town mayor since shortly after she took office.
To put that into perspective, that’s the same number of bodyguards that protect Birmingham, Alabama’s mayor but that city has almost ten times the population of Dolton.
At the same time, Mayor Henyard’s armed personal security detail affords her far more protection than the little people living in her city enjoy. And sweet little Tiffany’s working hard to make that disparity even greater.
How so? One of Tiffany’s first acts after taking office involved organizing an “anti-violence” march. She was joined at that march by the rabid anti-gun activist and accused serial pedophile, Father Michael Pfleger.
Is all of this taxpayer-funded security just an ego trip for the mayor or are there real and credible threats against her?