Has Mayor Johnson found a different way to defund the police?
Chicago's biggest summer in decades and the CPD ranks haven't been bolstered
Candidate Brandon Johnson was relentless in his statements that if elected he would not hesitate to defund the Chicago Police Department. Johnson was swept up in a burgeoning, but ultimately feckless move that was creeping across the country.
As the May 2023 election grew closer, Johnson softened his tone, and wound up doing a complete reversal on that position. By the time he was mayor, the former county commissioner was emphasizing he wouldn’t cut one penny from the CPD budget.
The statement we didn’t hear coming from Johnson is he wouldn’t add one penny to the department’s budget. The mayor has essentially ignored CPD in favor of focusing on unproven and ill-conceived programs. He even went out of his way to denounce a Fraternal Order of Police request to match a paternity leave deal he unilaterally gave the Chicago Teachers Union. The rebuke was like a puppy getting slapped across the snout with a rolled-up newspaper-quick and harsh.
The first term mayor is sending a strong signal that he will not go beyond lip service in working with and shoring up CPD. Middle school teacher and union organizer are the highlights of his resume. Johnson has never shared with us that he has been involved extensively with law enforcement work. That is because he hasn’t.
Yet, his hubris forces him to take a stand against technology that the Superintendent of Police, a man Johnson put into that job; says will benefit the department. Maybe Johnson should appoint himself superintendent since apparently, he knows more about law enforcement than the man who has dedicated more than 30 years of his life to law enforcement.
If anything, now is a time for the mayor to bolster the ranks of CPD, given Chicago has at least three major events scheduled this summer that unquestionably will require heavy police presence, Johnson has been radio silent on how the city and the department will cope. CPD Superintendent Larry Snellings’ “we’re ready” rang hollow. Neither he nor the mayor offered how CPD is ready. Snelling did say CPD personnel is undergoing several types of training. Anyone who has ever been in a professional corporate environment knows how easy it is to snooze through training sessions and get the same certificate as the most rapt attendee.
Johnson also has allowed CDP to limp along with ad admitted 1.200-plus vacancies in its ranks. Johnson is quick to point out there are fewer shootings and killings than a year ago; however, we are heading into summer when those incidents usually increase. Just this past week 45 people were shot in Chicago, and one was a fatality. Yet, there are no community meetings, news conferences or any other public-facing activity to announce a significant increase in the number of officers-even though their ranks get thinner every month through retirements.
It certainly looks as though the mayor has found an end-round way to defund the police without actually using those words.