CPD Announces Plans To Hire Hundreds More Police Officers
By Samantha Abernethy in News on Jul 3, 2012 8:20PM
Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy says the police department plans to hire 450 to 500 more police officers to replace retiring officers, maintaining a steady force of 12,500 employees. McCarthy says "the money is already budgeted," given the retiring officers have higher salaries than rookie officers.
He has already hired 89 of them, including 46 recruits who graduated in April and 43 recruits who began training Monday at the police academy. The latest crop of recruits includes cops from other jurisdictions and veterans of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Last week Mayor Rahm Emanuel's and Sen. Dick Durbin's offices announced the city will receive a $3 million federal grant to hire veterans in law enforcement positions.