Another batch of Chicago Police officers are being moved around to put 114 more cops on the streets, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Wednesday.
The extra manpower brings the total number of officers redeployed by Emanuel to 881. Of the 114 officers, 55 previously had desk jobs and 59 will be moved from special units, he said.
The redeployment takes effect Thursday to every police district within the city.
"We're never done," Emanuel 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.
The Fraternal Order of Police has said in the past the city needs to hire more officers instead of shifting them around. But Police Supt. Garry McCarthy called the move "efficient management."
"We found that there was "clutter," if you will, in the station houses; too many police officers doing jobs that they didn't need to do. We eliminated those positions and put these officers out in the streets," he said.
McCarthy said the department is "close" to being as efficient, administratively, as possible and said the focus would soon turn to looking at the efficiencies of other departments, such as the gang unit and the narcotics unit.
FOP president Mike Shields said the migration isn't good enough.
"The promise of 1,000 new [officers] turned out to be 1,000 shuffled," Shields said. "Tell people enough, they start to believe it."
In July, Emanuel announced the addition of 92 officers from administrative positions and some new recruits would be placed on street beats.
In June, Emanuel said 150 officers would be shifted from administrative duty to districts 2, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25.
“Successful policing begins with the beat officers who earn the trust of the communities they serve, shift by shift and patrol by patrol,” said Emanuel at Wednesday's press conference. “These police officers have made that commitment to our residents to help make every community a safe place to work, play, learn and build a life.”
