Two Chicago aldermen want to use money from a taxpayer fund surplus to pay for private security guards in their neighborhoods.
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) and Ald. Joe Moreno (1st) have proposed a plan to spend $100,000 for guards to help Chicago police patrol Bucktown and Wicker Park.
“This is a common sense measure with the goal of enhancing security for the Wicker Park and Bucktown communities within the 14th District,” Hopkins said in a Tuesday news release. “It’s unnacceptable not to use available resources in addressing issues that are impacting the safety and security of our communities.”
Ald. Moreno has publically called upon Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson in the past demanding the department increase the number of patrol officers in the neighborhood.
Without help of the department, Moreno met with neighboring Ald. Hopkins to come up with a "creative way" to address the community's crime with the limited resources of the Chicago Police Department, according to the release.
In the proposal, the funding would be used to contract with private security first that hire off-duty or retired Chicago police and Cook County Sheriff officers.
The budget would be taken from part of an available surplus that Ald. Hopkins says will expire if not spent by the end of the year.
