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Simple solutions are usually neither

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Illinois

* This is a common and habitual demand by grandstanders…

Four Chicago aldermen have filed notice to force a special meeting of the City Council later this week to address looting and call for the National Guard to be deployed. […]

“Losing Chicago’s downtown and business districts should have never happened,” [Ald. Ray Lopez] said in a news release. “We need to suppress all looting and rioting the minute it begins but we cannot do so at the expense and safety of other districts and neighborhoods. The time to act is now.”

* Um, the city has 13,000 police officers…

The city budgeted nearly $1.8 billion for the Chicago Police Department in 2020, according to Chicago’s budget overview. Chicago’s is the second-largest police department in the U.S. with more than 13,000 officers, according to its most recent annual report.

The city’s 2020 budget also set aside $153 million for legal settlements. In 2018, the city spent approximately $113 million to settle police misconduct cases.

That’s about 50 percent more police personnel per capita than the average for cities over 25,000 and twice as many per capita than Houston.

* And the Illinois National Guard doesn’t want these sorts of assignments…

“We’re not law enforcement officers,” [Air Force Brig. Gen. Richard Neely, the Illinois adjutant general] told the Tribune after the Guard’s mission ended earlier this summer without incident. “As guardsmen, we’re military. We go to war and we do not need to go to war in our cities. … It was important to me (troops) were not putting their hands on civilians. So we didn’t do riot control and some of those other missions. We focused on supporting law enforcement, allowing them to do the things they’re best trained to do.”

The Guard is not a rapid-response crime-fighting outfit.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:09 pm

Comments

Alderman Lopez needs to stop thirsting over his next angle to get back on Fox News and start working in his ward. The highest covid zips and lowest census tracts are all in his ward. What’s next? Another press release about another brick in his ward office?

Comment by Dell Gall Dough Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:13 pm
Another case of the City of Chicago political machine as part of the Illinois way…..”Keeping the Workers Happy”…..with a $1.8 billion price tag….

Comment by SIU Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:15 pm
Ray Lopez’s 2023 primary campaign continues apace.

Comment by Roadrager Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:15 pm
CPD hasn’t worked and the costs, including overtime in an overstaffed agency and the cost of liability payments, are astronomical. Time for a major rethink.

Comment by Socially DIstant watcher Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:19 pm
Ray Lopez might not find as many votes as he thinks he will by running to the far-right of the mayor…

Comment by NIU Grad Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:20 pm
Let’s also not forget police departments with overlapping jurisdictions that can help (or even departments outside Chicago that can provide mutual aid: Cook County Sheriff’s Department, State Police, Metropolitan Water Reclamation Dist. Police, Northwestern Univ. Police, USPS Police, etc.

Comment by Just Observing Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:25 pm
== Another case of the City of Chicago political machine==

For Pete’s sake, dude, you were just here a few weeks ago calling for the same thing. Is your memory that bad? You might have a concussion, I’d suggest sitting out the next few plays

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:28 pm
Gen. Neely needs to be retired immediately. He clearly doesn’t understand the purpose and history of the National Guard and the state’s responsibility to its citizens.

Comment by Downstate Illinois Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:29 pm
===He clearly doesn’t understand the purpose and history of the National Guard===

lol

Projecting much?

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:33 pm
believe it or not, the CPD is understaffed.. they need more civilian workforce handling precinct work, and more actual police on the street..

Comment by NotRich Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:33 pm
===believe it or not===

I don’t believe it. Period.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:35 pm
“[Gen. Neely] clearly doesn’t understand the purpose and history of the National Guard and the state’s responsibility to its citizens.”

Yet another subject in which you claim expertise but proclaim your ignorance in just a single sentence.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:35 pm
CPD like many government organizations in Illinois has a lot of dead weight. When the SCC blog isn’t pushing out racist remarks, they do a good job of outlining just how dysfunctional the department is.

Comment by Chicagonk Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:36 pm
plenty of CPD officers protecting Mayor Lightfoot’s house at the expense of patrols.

Comment by Bantamweight Boxer Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:42 pm
Nothing new here. Gideon had 32,000 soldiers, and God told him he only needed 300.

It will take an act of God to reduce the CPD.

Comment by Anon III Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:53 pm
Suppressing riots is not crime fighting. The guard is indeed capable of such a mission. If their leader does not think so, he needs to go. In fact, the Governor ought to fire him for uttering such nonsense.

Comment by Hippo Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 1:54 pm
== Suppressing riots is not crime fighting.==
How so?

Comment by 17% Solution Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:02 pm
None of these council members represent downtown or the business district. With all the interviews Hopkins (2nd Ward) has provided recently I expected him and Reilly to be two of the four.

If they want frequent strategy briefings that’s ok but the events already happened what good is protecting already looted areas? This is so reactionary.

Beale is on the list as he is concerned about CPD retirements which are twice as high in recent months as last year. See Sun Times article from yesterday.

Lopez is on the list given his campaign office (twice) and home (once) have been broken into since May by individuals breaking windows.

Napalitano former cop i believe that represents a police heavy neighborhood.

Haven’t heard of Hariston.

Comment by 1st Ward Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:02 pm
Years ago I calculated that Chicago had one police officer for every 200 residents. Naperville had one for every 750 residents.

Yes I know that these are different communities. Still the difference is huge.

Comment by Last Bull Moose Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:04 pm
@ NotRich
On CPD understaffing, where do these 1,000 extra officers deploy from?

Answer: CPD HQ working behind desks

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-police-deploy-1000-additional-officers-after-downtown-looting/2322295/

Comment by Jockey Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:10 pm
17%. When the guard is called out to restore order in incidences if civil unrest, they are not making arrests or otherwise charging Persons with crimes. They are not acting as law enforcement officers. They can detain, subdue or incapacitate rioters in accordance with their rules of engagement.

Comment by Hippo Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:12 pm
If the solution was “simple” it would have already been done. [Sarcasm font on] And, this being Illinois, it would most likely have been “privatized” … [Sarcasm font off]

Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:36 pm
We can’t police our way out of a problem that is so deeply rooted in Chicago, a very segregated city.

But let’s be honest: Who’s furious at looters but doesn’t care about or even supports police brutality and institutional racism? Are we always going to be reacting with more police or will we take different paths?

Comment by Grandson of Man Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:38 pm
“He clearly doesn’t understand the purpose and history of the National Guard and the state’s responsibility to its citizens.”

Deep sigh and head shake, followed by quiet OMG

Comment by Flapdoodle Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 2:39 pm
==They can detain, subdue or incapacitate rioters in accordance with their rules of engagement.==
How can somebody detain another person without making an arrest? Isn’t that kidnapping? And what would be the point? Would they let the detainees go? When? How would that help matters?
Gen. Richard Neely has more wisdom than you I’m afraid.

Comment by 17% Solution Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 4:06 pm
- Just Observing- raises a good point about overlapping jurisdictions. However, there’s actually less of that happening in Chicago than other big cities. While it’s pretty rare for the Cook County Sheriff to patrol streets in Chicago, L.A. County deputies routinely patrol within the L.A. city limits, as do Harris County deputies in Houston. The NYPD is supplemented by the Port Authority. Tom Dart has stepped up sheriff patrols in city, but it’s still pretty limited.

Comment by Tony Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 4:25 pm
“Gideon had 32,000 soldiers, and God told him he only needed 300.”

I don’t think drinking out of the Chicago River is the best way to thin the CPD headcount. /s

Comment by Huh? Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 6:14 pm
These riots are in effect an attack/war against our cities. They are protests by day, riots by night. I think our National Guard presence saves lives as well as property and is justified.

Comment by HighSox Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 10:09 pm
If you can’t achieve your objective with 13,000 CPD personnel, honestly the chances that you can succeed with 14,000 or 15,000 are pretty slim. Decreasing marginal utility comes into play.

I suspect most everybody on this thread understands the deeper etiology of what’s been happening - until we start openly discussing and honestly addressing the ultimate cause(s), CPD will continue to cost Chicagoans $2 billion a year + $1.5 billion a decade in damage payments.

How long until we can find the courage to say “This isn’t working”?

Comment by dbk Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 11:00 pm
===Decreasing marginal utility comes into play.===

Exactly.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Aug 19, 20 @ 11:10 pm
“How can somebody detain another person without making an arrest?”

You’re grappling with the sort of magical thinking that surrounds so many of our ill-conceived military adventures.

“Our fighting men are the best in the world — they’ll figure out how to accomplish this incoherent and impossible mission.”

See e.g. Vietnam & Iraq.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 8:55 am