Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Department (CPD) Superintendent Eddie Johnson today announced 107 new officers will be deployed to their district assignments as part of the city’s plan to add nearly 1,000 police officers to safeguard neighborhoods.

“Not only are these new officers making a sacrifice of service to this city, but they are making a commitment to our future,” said Mayor Emanuel. “The officers hitting the streets this month, and every month over the past nearly two years, represent part of larger effort to improve public safety and spur a brighter future in every neighborhood that includes additional after-school programs, summer jobs, mentors, and economic opportunity.”

In addition to putting more officers on the street, CPD’s recruiting efforts have also been focused on improving diversity within the department to ensure that it better represents the culturally diverse neighborhoods of Chicago. Since the start of the hiring plan in 2017, CPD has hired more than 2,079 new officers to join the Department and promoted 96 Lieutenants, 364 Sergeants, and 503 Detectives. The new officers build on CPD’s efforts to better reflect the city, with 61 percent identifying themselves as a minority.

“In order to make CPD a quality agency that every Chicagoan can be proud of, means investing in the areas that will help us to be even stronger partners with the community while sustaining our reductions in gun violence,” said Superintendent Johnson. “This class of new officers are a vital part of that commitment and I am confident that they will become a valued resource in the communities they serve.”

While more work remains, investments in personnel and technology have helped to fuel reductions in gun violence with over 30 percent less shootings over the last two years.

The ongoing hiring plan is part of Mayor Emanuel’s comprehensive public safety strategy – including investing in proactive intervention strategies in historically divested communities, expanding youth support services like mentoring for more at-risk youth and stimulating neighborhood economic development with programs like the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund.

Officers will be deployed to their district assignments as follows:

During six months of training at Police Academy, officers learned all applicable laws and protocols for being a Chicago Police Officer. In addition to physical training, they received instruction in procedural justice, implicit bias, mental health awareness, crisis intervention and de-escalation, use of force, community building and critical thinking. This is followed by three months of field training, during which officers are paired with Field Training Officers for hands-on guidance during their first in-the-field months.

These new officers will have access to new tools, technology and resources to partner with the community and fight violent crime. That includes CPD’s district-based Strategic Decision Support Centers which include gunshot detection systems, POD crime cameras and mobile phone technology to support police in preventing, combating and responding to violent crime across the city.

###