Strategy pulls cops from jails, special units and puts them on the beat. But the police union says it’s all just a shell game.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is gunning for 1,000.
Emanuel and police Superintendent Garry McCarthy on Thursday announced the last of 1,000 officers they promised would be redeployed to street beats.
Last month, 114 Chicago Police officers were moved around and sent to the street, bringing the total number to 881. Within that batch, 55 previously had desk jobs and 59 were moved from special units, Emanuel said.
"We're never done," he said, noting an overall 20 percent reduction in crime for August and the first two weeks of September compared to the same period in 2010.
McCarthy called the move "efficient management."
"My overwhelming feeling is really simple," he said. "I cannot possibly ask for one more police officer to be hired until such time as I am sure that every resource in this agency is being used to 100 percent capacity focused on the things we need to do."
But FOP president Mike Shields wasn't impressed with the migration.
"The promise of 1,000 new [officers] turned out to be 1,000 shuffled," Shields said last month. "Tell people enough, they start to believe it."
In July, Emanuel announced the addition of 92 officers from administrative positions and some new recruits on street beats.
