The Chicago Police Department assigned officers to 12-hour shifts during NATO weekend and canceled all days off, Supt. Garry McCarthy said Tuesday.
The longer shifts free up about one-third of the department and means a 15 percent increase of police in neighborhoods.
"It's a good program," McCarthy said. "It's going to cost us a little bit of money, but at the end of the day we anticipate that we're going to be able to maintain our enforcement efforts in the neighborhood while maintaining safety downtown."
A police spokeswoman said Tuesday Chicago officers will get security help from the state of Illinois and cities across the country during this weekend's NATO Summit.
In addition to about 3,100 Chicago Police officers assigned to the summit, hundreds of officers from Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC., will help manage protesters as well.
Still, McCarthy said, Chicago will be policed by its own.
"You'll have the same cops, in the same beats, in the same neighborhoods," McCarthy said.
"We're going to have policing throughout the city, all parts of the city, so our police department will maintain the safety," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said.
