Are you responsible for forces in a Chicago Police Department district?
Has your district lost 25% of its manpower in two years? Do you want aldermen to believe that patrol cars are being assigned to their neighborhoods even when you don’t have enough officers to do it?
Do you want to beef up the percentages you can give when an alderman asks your superintendent
Broken down by watches, how many times … has the 19th District been unable to man all of its beat cars and rapid response cars because it did not have enough officers on duty?
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| One of the questions submitted in writing to police Superintendent Garry McCarthy by Alderman Tom Tunney last year. McCarthy never replied. |
Well, the professionals in the 19th district have an idea for you!
Figure out which of your police beats will not be staffed due to a lack of manpower. Assign two of those beat numbers to the district’s paddy wagons.
Here’s an example: Late Saturday night, our district’s paddy wagons—which by department standard should be assigned numbers 1971 and 1972—were assigned the numbers 1934 and 1935. Those are the numbers that should be assigned to normal patrol cars in southeast Lakeview and northeast Lincoln Park.
In reality, the “wagons” probably never touched an inch of asphalt in those areas because their primary duties—shuffling prisoners and being a mobile jail at, say, violent free-for-alls—usually ties up all of their time.
But, on paper, 1934 and 1935 were “manned” Saturday night. Even though they weren’t. It’s a slick trick that the pros in our neighborhood have been using for almost a year.
