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* Community policing is cut…
Mayor Daley is gutting Chicago’s community policing budget and reducing staff 25 percent — a cost-cutting move that, critics contend, would leave the 15-year-old crime-fighting program “almost dead.”
“Overtime has been taken off the table. Beat officers don’t have to show up. Now, a third of the staff is gone. That is effectively the end of community policing in Chicago at the worst possible time,” said the Rev. Marshall Hatch, chairman of the Leaders Network. Hatch noted that homicides and other violent crime are rising and the trend is almost certain to continue amid “desperation” tied to the economic downturn. […]
Police spokeswoman Monique Bond tried to put the best possible face on the spending cuts, which follow Weis’ Aug. 5 decision to stop paying overtime to police officers to attend monthly beat meetings or community policing functions. “All departments are having to make sacrifices. The reduction of 72 to 54 [employees] is minimal and will be compensated by other staff assignments,” Bond wrote in an e-mail to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“There is no attempt to de-emphasize or minimize any CAPS program. . . . Community policing programs run parallel to crime-fighting strategies.”
Yeah. OK.
* Inadequate police staffing levels, no union contract for the coppers, an alarming crime rate, impending recession with the resultant crime spike, big cuts to community policing, but there’s plenty of money for this…
The Fraternal Order of Police is trying to block CTA President Ron Huberman from hanging on to his police pension, which Huberman claims he’s entitled to because part of his $198,000-a-year mass transit job revolves around security.
Wonderful.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 10:19 am
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the word hubris should be stripped from the lexicon and replaced with huberman.
Comment by Amy Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 10:30 am
Why shouldn’t Huberman maintain his pension. Although I read in the story that he’s still trying to pay into it. Not sure he has the right to do that. Perhaps I’m missing something.
It’s unfortunate that CAPS is getting cut.
Comment by Levois Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 10:32 am
What are you going to do? Everybody’s broke — banks, insurance companies, investment bankers. Governments, too. It’s going to take a while to get things going again.
Huberman and hubris, indeed.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 10:49 am
SO in a bad economy, crime goes up, but cut police budgets?
Comment by Wumpus Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 10:50 am
And in a bad economy raise taxes. Especially sales taxes.
Comment by Levois Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 10:52 am
Wordslinger, your comment strikes me as naive. The mere existence of the city OIG & OPS departments, in addition to the Shakman settlements and a myriad of federal and local investigations do more than suggest that Daley can cut quite a bit across other departments while not paring the CPD.
Comment by The Doc Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 11:13 am
The Doc, if you believe an economic downturn is going to change decades of City Hall culture overnight, then I would gently suggest I’m not the one who is naive.
I have no doubt there is waste and fraud throughout all government. I have no reason to believe that’s going to change anytime soon.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 11:21 am
See-I’ve been saying…these defined benefit pensions, which these days primarily benefit government employees, are today’s gold. Even the rich guys like Huberman will do anything to keep ‘em. I bet young Ron is no slouch when it comes
to his personal financial planning. He sees the value.
Comment by Cassandra Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 1:36 pm
Cassie, give it a rest for once. This is a left pocket-right pocket deal, only the right pocket has a little more dough in it. The coppers’ pension fund has a better benefit formula and an earlier pension eligiblity date than the CTA DB pension that Huberman is paying into right now.
The incremental cost to the overburdened Chicago taxpayer to allow him to move is the actuarial equivalent of a pimple on an elephant’s butt.
You know, like most of your posts.
Is it bad public policy? Heck yes.
All the do-gooders up in arms about the de-policing of Chicago and Huberman’s pension might check out Chuck Goudie’s latest piece on the small army, including plenty of CPD, deployed in front of the most famous home in Hyde Park.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 2:31 pm
I’m not concerned about overburdened Chicago taxpayers. They chose to pay for this stuff.
I’m concerned about the millions of Illinois (and
US) taxpayers who don’t have defined benefit plans, which have become a lot more valuable
in this age of tanking 401 k’s. They don’t have a choice between pension and no pension, much less between pensions. And that lack of choice is gonna cost ‘em over time.
Comment by Cassandra Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 3:07 pm
Daley’s remarks and those of the police people are typical.
The first rule of politics is — when you want a tax increase threaten to cut police and fire services.
Comment by Truthful James Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 3:13 pm
Reviewing the budget, and working for the unit of local government in question, it does appear as if quite a lot of high paid positions have been cut. I’ll agree that the CAPS cuts should be rethought, especially in light of the fact that Daley has made this such a centerpiece of the administration’s crime fighting efforts for the past 15 or so years.
Comment by some former legislative intern Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 6:27 pm
Well, I’m increasingly thinking Chicago government is broken. I saw something in the Washington Post today about how every local government in the DC metro area is completely broke — except for the District itself, which has a huge surplus. Central cities are, or should be, in a relatively strong position right now with basically stable property markets and anyone with money and freedom of action fleeing the tyranny of $4 gas in the suburbs.
But we still desperately need this kind of government-by-government analysis here in the Chicago area, so we can really judge for ourselves.
Personally, I like the idea of a complete reform of government in Cook County — and beyond — and that’s part of why I’m leaning to Con-Con. Why not abolish the city of Chicago in its current form, reform the county as an umbrella organization for local government, and have borough councils of about 60,000-200,000 population each covering the metro area? They’d be a heck of a lot more responsive than the calamity we have now. You’d have to have some equalization thrown in to avoid bankrupting the poorest. But you’d finally have local government close to the citizens.
Perhaps also reverse the Republicans’ foolish decision to make municipal government non-partisan. All that did was strengthen Democratic machines.
Comment by Angry Chicagoan Friday, Oct 17, 08 @ 6:34 pm