Why 1000 New Police Officers Might Still Fail To Curb Homicides
By Stephen Gossett in News on Sep 21, 2016 4:18PM
There’s no denying it: Gun violence in Chicago is a tragic, international embarrassment, and it desperately needs remedying. To that end, the Chicago Police Department will announce on Wednesday plans to hire nearly 1000 new officers. But the million-dollar question remains—will it work?
The city of Chicago has tallied an alarming 500-plus homicides this year. We are on pace to having the most violent year in over a decade. A major reason for such a high homicide rate could be that so many murders go unsolved, argued Alex Kotlowitz, the Chicago-based author of There Are No Children Here and co-producer of The Interrupters, in the New Yorker on Tuesday. In the article, Thomas Hargrove, of the Murder Accountability Project, says clearance rates and murder totals are correlated. “If you allow murders to go unsolved, it all goes to hell,” he told Kotlowitz. In 2015, only 26 percent of all homicides resulted in a murder charge.
At the same time, Chicago is experiencing an ongoing shortage of detectives. According to Reuters, Chicago has seen its detective ranks fall from 1,252 in 2008 all the way down to 922. “"You get so many cases you could not do an honest investigation on three-quarters of them,” a retired detective told the news agency.
According to Anthony Guglielmi, CPD Communications Director, the wave of hiring will include 200 detectives—an improvement but still below the 2008 figure.
Here's a breakdown of new 970 police officer positions coming to CPD: 516 officers, 92 field training officers, 200 dets, 112 sgts, 50 LTs
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) September 21, 2016
Of course, as Chicago Magazine pointed out when looking at the detective shortage, other factors exist, including social-service cuts and a scarcity of forensic investigators. And as Kotlowitz points out, police often blame a lack of cooperative witnesses. But in an otherwise gaffe-prone speech, even former Supt. Garry McCarthy acknowledged that police have “a well-deserved bad reputation in the African-American community.”
Whether the city's hiring spree works or not will partially depend on the success of new detectives, but it also depends on the actions of the 516 added officers who are not detectives, trainers, or upper brass. Kotlowitz quotes Ghettoside author Jill Levoy: “When violent crimes go unpunished while nonviolent ones get hammered, many conclude that the state seeks control, not justice.” The problem is manifold, of course, but when it comes to more police, the "how" will prove as important as the "how many."