* AP…
llinois Gov. Bruce Rauner will push for state funding to put more state troopers on Chicago-area expressways in an effort to combat gun violence.
Rauner’s office confirms a Chicago Sun-Times report that during his planned budget speech Wednesday the governor will say he wants the state to pay for 200 state police cadets over the next two years.
Last year in Chicago there were 762 homicides and more than 3,500 shooting incidents — totals that far eclipsed those in 2015. At the same time, the number of shootings on Chicago-area expressways rose significantly.
* The original Sun-Times story has some more numbers…
Sneed is told the governor, who is involved in a contentious budget battle, will propose funding for two Illinois State Police classes for 200 cadets over the next two years — which would help deal with the violence spilling from the streets onto the expressways.
“Shootings are increasing on the expressways, which is not only tragic — but falls within the jurisdiction of the State Police,” a top Sneed source said.
“The governor plans to add resources to help contain Chicago’s violence, where 335 state troopers are already assigned to the Chicago expressway region. [There are 1,650 police statewide.]
* Reuters last month…
In 2011 and 2012, there were nine shootings on [Chicago] expressways, according to state police, which had no data prior to that.
That number jumped to 16 in 2013 and 19 in 2014. It nearly doubled the next year to 37 and climbed again in 2016 to 47. Three shootings last year were fatal.
- Linus - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 2:51 pm:
OK. Good. But, perhaps obviously, let’s not let this eclipse or distract from the dire need for stepped up help in local neighborhoods where kids can’t walk a few blocks to school without facing gunfire.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 2:52 pm:
Yes, because expressways have become clogged with dead bodies, now that the crime in Chicago has been vastly reduced
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 2:52 pm:
===…the governor, who is involved in a contentious budget battle, will propose funding for two Illinois State Police classes for 200 cadets over the next two years — which would help deal with the violence spilling from the streets onto the expressways===
So…
Will Cullerton or Radogno propose this in their bargain, I mean before IPI and Proft decide to submarine the whole thing for… you guessed it… Rauner.
It’s like a parlor game. All these “I’ll do this, I want that” and yet, a governor is more than willing to let others dictate s budget’s weight and measure…
… while pretending to add in things like… troopers… for safety.
Rauner is mocking us all.
Not submitting a budget. Submitting arbitrary wants. Submarining them all… in the end.
- frisbee - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 2:56 pm:
Those additional troopers would be union members from my estimate so we’ll see if it ever actually happens
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:02 pm:
Tribbies counted 4,367 shooting victims in Chicago last year; 47 shootings on the expressways.
Rauner is seeking to address the area where 1% of the shootings occurred.
“The governor plans to add resources to help contain Chicago’s violence…”
No, he doesn’t. It’s not funny to pretend that he is.
Is he even going to take a look at that Cease Fire data that makes a case for a relation in the shootings spike and the state funding cuts?
Or is he just going to keep pretending that he’s doing something with a talking point?
http://crime.chicagotribune.com/chicago/shootings/
- 13th - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:04 pm:
how about passing a budget first and fund things that has not been funded in two year (even with some cuts) before starting or adding to budget lines, much less it looks like there going to more money for K-12 funding already
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:10 pm:
Because if you save one life, you save the world?
- Huh? - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:10 pm:
Getting new troopers is one thing, getting them into cars will be another.
- Arsenal - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:12 pm:
I mean, it’s *something*, but his plan is to get state police to patrol where a fraction of the violence occurs…in two years…assuming he gets a budget done by then?
Chicago’s violence has me seriously spooked, and I’ll try just about anything, but this doesn’t even seemed designed to do much.
- Supernintendochalmers - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:13 pm:
“oh, yeah, the taxes. the fingers thing means the taxes”
- Daniel Plainview - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:16 pm:
Let’s be fair here. The governor and his superstars, and wealthy friends, don’t travel through the areas with high levels of violence. But they do travel the expressways. Get this problem solved and paint the speed bumps white and Rauner and Grif might finally feel at ease in the Windy City.
- Sparky791 - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:17 pm:
My guess is Rauner’s limo travels expressway so he wants to be safe.
- Precinct Captain - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:20 pm:
Remember when Rauner halted the modernization of the state police vehicle fleet?
- Ratso Rizzo - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:23 pm:
If only the public knew. Those 200 cadets (if they are eventually hired) are just replacing the over 200 troops that have retired over the last two years and the following two years. And that 360 plus total includes troops from D-15 (the tollway) which extends to such areas as Rockford, Dixon, Gurnee, and Lockport. We (the ISP) are much less than 1600 troops. Not sure where they got that number.
- Cheryl44 - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:46 pm:
Would more troopers on the expressways really accomplish anything?
- DuPage Bard - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 3:54 pm:
Nice press release but where have you been? This just didn’t start last week.
- walker - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 4:15 pm:
Didn’t Rauner announce more staties for the highways thru Chicago last year? No doubt they’re needed, but this isn’t much about the fundamental challenges at hand.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 5:39 pm:
He has reduced the number of Troopers and now he wants to increase them and we are suppose to think he is doing something.
- Annonin' - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 5:40 pm:
Hate to bust a balloon but can someone tell BigBrain that the iSP head count is down about 170 so 200 only puts him up 30ish..it is a nice thought and like the fabulous Journal of Shared Services should propel him to victory
- Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 5:41 pm:
walk, AA might be wrong, but I think he cut the cadet classes last year and squawked about it.
Two of the shootings happened within earshot (forgive me) of McCormick Place. That’s no reason to hire 200 cadets, but we can’t afford a hit to tourism if convention planners perceive the area is unsafe.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 6:43 pm:
–“Shootings are increasing on the expressways, which is not only tragic — but falls within the jurisdiction of the State Police,” a top Sneed source said.–
Who knew there are places in Illinois where the Illinois State Police do not have “jurisdiction?” That is a scoop, Sneedless to say.
Bets on the ignoramus who is the “Top Sneed Source” on that one?
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 6:43 pm:
Pardon, 6:43 was me.
- jimk849 - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 7:06 pm:
State police hide under overpasses and write speeding tickets. Now they are auto-qualified to solve highway homicides. ps keep closing down expressways for hours after a shooting so you can look for useless shell casings that have been run-over a couple of thousand times. Have they solved one yet?
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 7:09 pm:
JIMK, don’t be down on the troopers, patrolling the expressways is a tough and dangerous job without shootings.
Rauner is using the troopers as a prop to pretend that he, as governor, is doing something of substance in regards to the Chicago shooting spike.
He is not.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 7:09 pm:
7:09 was me.
- Generic Drone - Tuesday, Feb 14, 17 @ 10:29 pm:
Rauner is constantly bashing state employees, trying to rip them off of their pension and back pay, and now says he wants to hire more troopers. Just who in their right mind would risk life and limb to be treated like dirt from this state. Im tellin ya, its gonna be hard to find anyone to police your streets and teach your kids from now on.
- OleSarge - Wednesday, Feb 15, 17 @ 7:12 am:
Just to clarify. Contrary to popular belief, the Illinois State Police is not a Highway Patrol. They have jurisdiction anywhere in the state, and they do in fact handle criminal cases in addition to vehicle code enforcement. The ISP is a mere shell of what it once was, and it is grossly understaffed. It’s priorities folks, what do you consider to be the core functions of government? Having said that, I seriously doubt that all 200 of those troopers would remain in Chicago permanently.