277 newly promoted Chicago police officers began their training Wednesday, in what the city is calling a "down payment" on a new police force.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson were on hand to welcome the officers at CPD headquarters, congratulating them and thanking them for their service.
“You all are really the face of new reform that we are putting into place,” Johnson said.
The newly promoted officers include 90 field training officers, 135 detectives and 52 lieutenants who will now make their way through the police academy.
This is the largest promotional class for each rank in the last five years, according to the mayor’s office, and the first class of detectives in ten years.
“It does represent the entire strength of the city and that is something we are going to call upon,” Emanuel said.
The department says these promotions are another step toward its stated goal of putting 1000 new cops on the streets to stem the rising tide of gun violence in Chicago.
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Chicago's murder rate was in the national spotlight this week as ‘60 Minutes’ focused on the increased number of shootings, and decreased number of police stops in the city – statistics the department challenges.
“In 2016, we took 10 percent more bad guys off the street with guns than we did in 2015,” Johnson said. “That doesn't tell me police aren't doing their jobs.”
And while President-elect Trump has also singled out Chicago's gun violence problem, the mayor says there's much the government can do to help.
“The federal government has a tremendous and significant role to play,” Emanuel said. “They can increase their spending on after school and summer jobs, which has been on the decline.”
