Chicago Suburbs Cutting Number of Police Officers

By Soyoung Kwak in News on Nov 13, 2010 9:00PM

As a sign of the continuing difficulties transitioning out of the current economic recession, a handful of Chicago suburban communities are making deep cuts in their police departments to bring citywide costs down. Arguing that police department budgets are some of the highest around the city of Chicago, officials have reduced the number of police officers on duty all around. Prospect Heights recently laid off six police officers, and Naperville also let go of six police officers recently, right after its city council approved a new police union contract. Additional cuts are pending in places like Aurora, Arlington Heights, and Palatine.

So, who or what is to blame for these cuts in police forces, and is there anything that can be done about them? It appears that police departments are "easy targets" for these kinds of cutbacks, and union officials believe that this is because police departments have union contracts:

"I'm seeing an inordinately abundant number of police officers being laid off when the economy seems to be on an upswing," said Tamara Cummings, Illinois Fraternal Order of Police labor attorney. "I find it unusual and I find it troubling, especially in a place like Naperville where the community is pretty well off and there's millions of dollars in the general fund."

Additionally, any funding for public safety costs is menial, if not nonexistent. As the Daily Herald described, a decline in normal funding sources coupled with a dearth of extra boosts in funding from the state and federal government have resulted in great difficulties for suburban towns in maintaining their public safety budgets.

Although it is debatable whether or not laying off members of the police force is agreeable, as many as 80 police officers have been laid off state-wide this year. Contrary to what is happening in the suburbs, the city of Chicago hasn't had to cut back on its police force.