The Chicago Police Department is adding 100 officers to patrol the streets beginning next month, pulling them from desk jobs, officials said Friday.
The new assignments come as the warmer weather brings the threat of more violence. During the long Memorial Day weekend, more than 50 people were shot in the city. The following day, at least 28 more people were shot.
Fifteen percent of sworn officers currently working at police headquarters will be permanently reassigned to the city’s 22 patrol districts on June 7. This will not include officers working on functions related to a federally mandated consent decree to improve the city’s policing practices.
Officers tapped to work the streets from headquarters will be deployed “on a rotating two-week schedule,” according to a statement from the department.
More than eighty unmarked Chicago police vehicles will be converted into marked squad cars, the department said.
___
© 2020 the Chicago Tribune
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
