Police Budget

As rumored here a while ago, the budget has come under "scrutiny:"

• Mayor Richard Daley today ordered a review of Chicago Police Department management that he said is designed to ensure more officers are returned to street duty.

  "There's a variety of things we're looking at in terms of management, but the key is police officers on the street," the mayor said at City Hall news conference.

  The police review came as the mayor announced a 6 percent budget cut for city departments, except for those dealing with “critical safety operations.” The cuts also will not affect “service delivery,” Daley said.

That probably means Gun Teams, Sat Teams, hidden teams, all headed back to Districts for a bit until something else is formed up. Super Secret Squirrel Nut Teams or something. We imagine they aren't going to touch all those people they just assigned to their Detail Units.

The Sun Times takes a swipe at Daley in their report:

• Nearly 20 years ago, Daley spent more than $1 million to have a consulting firm study the police department, only to end up ignoring the most dramatic recommendations from the firm, Booz Allen & Hamilton.

  The report suggested altering police beats and shifting them periodically according to a formula that would take into account several key factors — major crimes, all crimes, calls for service and population figures.

  Booz Allen recommended closing seven police district stations, altering responses to 911 calls and ending a policy that allows officers to take to take up to 365 furlough and sick days off every two years.

As the last is a contract issue, we don't see that changing in the near future. The closing of stations is a political suicide mission no one will touch. The only realistic change that could be accomplished on short notice is the 911 response. We respond to way too many non-emergency calls as it is and generate too much worthless paper that could be done via 311. We can only hope they change something quick. Otherwise, we're in for a rough summer.