When Rahm
Emanuel sat down with the Defender earlier this year as a candidate for mayor,
he laid out a plan for public safety that included putting 1,000 additional
police officers on the streets of Chicago.
With a
police department said to be suffering from low morale at the time, and a city
then and currently facing a looming budget deficit, Emanuel said his plan would
include shuffling personnel and reallocating money and other resources.
Tuesday,
Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a “down payment” on his campaign promise.
The mayor
said that 500 officers would be redeployed from the Mobile Strike Force and
Targeted Response Unit to the streets. The officers would begin their new assignments
as early as Thursday, with all of them out on the street by Sunday, the mayor
said.
A strong
supporter of the beat cop, Emanuel said Tuesday that refocusing law enforcement
efforts to include more beat police presence on blocks in some of the city's
toughest neighborhoods was “essential to fighting crime.”
Violent
crime was down by 9.8 percent at the end of 2010, compared with the same time
the year before, according to police data. And the 436 homicides in the city
last year were 24 fewer than the 460 in 2009.
However,
Emanuel made his announcement at the 6th District Chicago Police Department in
one of the communities last year that posted more than three-dozen of the
city's murders - Auburn-Gresham on the South Side.
“Without
the security and safety of our streets we cannot have successful, thriving
communities where people want to live and stay," said Emanuel. “Successful
policing begins with the beat officers who earn the trust of the communities
they serve, shift by shift and patrol by patrol. This is a down payment on my
promise to add 1,000 police officers to the beat. We cannot beat crime without
more officers on the beat.”
The
officers will move to beats on the South and West sides for 90 days, the mayor
announced, flanked by interim police Chief Garry McCarthy and First Deputy
Chief of Staff for Public Safety Felicia Davis.
Within
the 11th District on the West Side, and the 4th, 6th, 7th and 8th Districts on
the South Side were the top five locations for murders last year, according to
police data.
Crime has
been on the minds of aldermen such as Anthony Beale (9th) who are looking for
help from the mayor's office to help deal with it, in an effort to bring
economic opportunities to their respective wards.
Shortly
after the mayor's May 16 inauguration, Beale told the Defender that he had
previously had a conversation Emanuel that included talks about crime and other
blight in his Far South Side ward.
While no
promises were made, Beale said, “Everything is a work in progress.”
U. S.
Rep. Jesse Jackson, D-2nd, said in his conversation with Emanuel, the
congressman “impressed the importance of jobs in neighborhoods.” Jackson and
other leaders are of the mindset that job creation and crime reduction are
correlated.
Ald.
Howard Brookins (22nd) told the Defender that without jobs, “mischief and
mayhem creep in,” adding that even minimum wage jobs could “save a kid's life.”
Emanuel
laid out a plan for his first 100 days in office.
Chief
among them was dealing with public safety, including taking actions to reduce
gun violence, overall. Additionally, the mayor's plan called for tackling
summer violence, especially involving youth.
Faith
leaders were among those speaking out about Tuesday's police officer
redeployment announcement.
"Public
safety is a matter of law enforcement, education and community involvement,
therefore, the fact that Mayor Emanuel initiated this within his first 10 days
demonstrates his commitment to the strength and safety our neighborhoods. I
look forward to seeing the additional developmental investments that his
administration will make in our youth and all of our communities,” said Rev.
Charles Jenkins, pastor of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.
Copyright
2011 Chicago Defender
