Johnson says first responders not part of city's hiring freeze

[September 21, 2024]  By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – Amid reports of violent crimes being at a six-year high and overall crime up by 40%, Chicago Ald. Chris Taliaferro says Mayor Brandon Johnson made the only decision he could make in deciding not to include police officers as part of the city’s new hiring freeze.

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

“I just believe that including the police department and the fire department could be detrimental,” Taliaferro told The Center Square. “We are already scaled back from our 13,500 police officers that are part of our operational numbers. It would make patrolling our districts in an adequate manner much more difficult, especially given we're retiring, anywhere between 30 or 40 offices a month.”

With the city facing a nearly $1 billion budget gap for 2025, Johnson recently his sweeping plan, which also includes tighter travel restrictions and limitations on overtime expenditures. Not long after the announcement, Taliaferro and others began to voice their concerns, moving the administration to quickly change course by exempting first responders.

“I support the hiring freeze and I'm glad that our first responders are exempt and adequately able to respond to emergencies in the city,” added Taliaferro, who also serves as chair of the Police and Fair Committee. “If listening to the residents of the city and City Council members, if that's what's changed his mind, I'm glad he still kept his door open to suggestions.”

As of early this summer, CPD was comprised of 11,700 officers. Johnson’s freeze is now expected to affect all of the department’s roughly 3,500 vacant posts, saving the city somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million.

While already being on the record in warning that the new budget will entail “sacrifices,” not to mention an additional $223 million hole at the end of 2024, Johnson continues to insist that first responders were never on the radar when it comes to the city’s cutbacks.

In any event, Taliaferro says he’s just happy all the sides were able to come together in arriving at this point, adding that all the parties still have much work to do in assuring that the city reaches its heights.

“First of all, I'd like to see statistics that are accurately reported,” he said. “Our police department reports a decrease in across the board crime, our superintendent of police reported that homicides were down 17%. If that's the proper trend, the numbers aren't where we want them to be but certainly they're moving in a positive direction.”