Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson says he will initiate a review of CPD staffing, in the wake of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s announcement of a hiring freeze across all City departments.
“We’re committed to insuring that we have the right amount of officers for the challenges that we face in this city,” Johnson told NBC5 Friday. “So what we’re doing is, we’re going over all of our staffing to see where each and every body is---so we’ll know whether we have the correct number of people.”
Lightfoot is to give a televised speech next week, focusing on the City’s dire financial picture and a deficit which is expected to approach $1 billion. The mayor’s budget director has said that he wants to work to make certain the hiring freeze does not impact patrol coverage or the department’s ability to fight crime.
“We’re going to talk to the mayor’s office and see exactly where we are,” Johnson told NBC5. “It’s important we internally do this analysis, so we know if we should shift some bodies around. Remember, we’re still accountable to the taxpayers of the City of Chicago, so we have to make sure we’re running as efficiently as we can with the resources that we have.”
