The Chicago Police Department plans to hire more than 500 additional officers as it struggles to deal with a violent year full of killings and gun crimes, a city official told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
(FOX)- Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson will announce the hires Wednesday, according to the official who was briefed on the plan and spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the plan ahead of the announcement.
The department currently has more than 12,000 officers, and hasn’t had a hiring push of this magnitude in years. The move is a departure from how Mayor Rahm Emanuel has handled staffing at the department during his tenure, resisting pressure to add to the department’s ranks and instead paying thousands of dollars in overtime. Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins declined to comment.
Chicago has seen a dramatic rise in the number of shootings and homicides this year. In August alone, there were 90 homicides for the first time in two decades.
Overall, the city has recorded more than 500 homicides this year — higher than all of 2015 — and is on pace to climb past the 600-homicide mark for the first time since 2003. There have also been more than 2,500 shooting incidents so far this year, about 700 more than in the same time period last year.
City officials have discussed possible hires with aldermen in recent days. Some of the aldermen were skeptical, saying resources should also be poured into education and creating jobs.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images via NBC Chicago)