After a particularly violent weekend, the city's top cop resurrected an old crime-fighting plan.
Supt. Garry McCarthy confirmed Tuesday the Chicago Police Department will offer overtime pay to officers who work extra hours in neighborhoods where crime is highest.
McCarthy said shootings are down 4 percent and murders are down 14 percent for the 28-day period but noted the city has a glaring problem with gun violence.
"We've got three times the murder rate of New York City," McCarthy said at a Union League Club breakfast. "That's not OK."
The new violence reduction overtime incentive allows officers to work straight through weekends and furloughs for time-and-a-half or comp time.
To qualify for the incentive, officers must have met criteria including writing at least five tickets or five moving violations from May until today.
McCarthy insists the criteria is not a quota.
"A quota is something where I tell you, 'You have to do this,'" McCarthy said. "That's being used as a parameter ... to get the overtime, that you had to have done this in the past."
But the Fraternal Order of Police president said the criteria would prevent detectives and desk assistants from participating. While the union doesn't object to overtime, Mike Shields called the plan is Band-Aid.
"Over a three-year period 1,586 officers retired and they were replaced by less than 250," Shields said. "By doing this program, this is an admission that we certainly do have a manpower shortage. Sooner or later the superintendent and the mayor are going to have to admit it."
It's not known how long the program will go on, but McCarthy said there's room in the budget for it.
