The people criticizing her for this include people who hold that the Chicago police are even now hopelessly corrupt and brutal. I doubt that. But what they fail to understand is that unlike advocates for directing the money into social programs, the Chicago Police have a union contract that says that overtime for things like solving homicides and carjackings and dealing with BLM riots must, in fact, be paid. Period. And she at this point simply has no other source for the money. To her credit, when Mayor Lightfoot was asked at a news conference about "defunding the police" and what steps she might have been considering in that regard she strongly rejected it. She said "The people in the neighborhoods tell me they want MORE police presence, not less."
For those of you who are curious about statistics regarding homicides in Chicago I recommend https://heyjackass.com . They keep an up-to-date tracking of such things with breakdowns of all manner and also track police-involved shootings as well. The current clock readings are that in Chicago someone is shot every 3:20 (hh:mm) and killed every 15:48. They use a great many sources and it is very thorough.
As near as I can tell, Chicago has enough income to fund services if the cash was not being taken by Administrators, Consultants, and Friends of the Mayor. Perhaps if the thieves, jackers, and muggers working the streeets had to pay a 10% tithe to the City, they could make ends meet.
The article claims homicide is up 82% from 2019, which is surely not great. Especially since the baseline stat was already "Chicago."
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show you that the police weren't being very good social workers.
ReplyDeleteThe people criticizing her for this include people who hold that the Chicago police are even now hopelessly corrupt and brutal. I doubt that. But what they fail to understand is that unlike advocates for directing the money into social programs, the Chicago Police have a union contract that says that overtime for things like solving homicides and carjackings and dealing with BLM riots must, in fact, be paid. Period. And she at this point simply has no other source for the money. To her credit, when Mayor Lightfoot was asked at a news conference about "defunding the police" and what steps she might have been considering in that regard she strongly rejected it. She said "The people in the neighborhoods tell me they want MORE police presence, not less."
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who are curious about statistics regarding homicides in Chicago I recommend https://heyjackass.com . They keep an up-to-date tracking of such things with breakdowns of all manner and also track police-involved shootings as well. The current clock readings are that in Chicago someone is shot every 3:20 (hh:mm) and killed every 15:48. They use a great many sources and it is very thorough.
ReplyDeleteAs near as I can tell, Chicago has enough income to fund services if the cash was not being taken by Administrators, Consultants, and Friends of the Mayor. Perhaps if the thieves, jackers, and muggers working the streeets had to pay a 10% tithe to the City, they could make ends meet.
ReplyDelete