Clinicians Re-Funded

One of Conehead's lesser known budget cuts was reversed:

• Police Supt. Larry Snelling strongly reaffirmed his commitment to constitutional policing Friday, saying he convinced Mayor Brandon Johnson to reverse at least one of the cuts that could undermine the Chicago Police Department’s effort to comply with a federal consent decree.

  To improve officer wellness and prevent police suicides, the police department needs a mental health clinician in every one of its 22 police districts, according to the department’s initial budget request. Currently, only 13 districts have a clinician whom officers can talk to about the post-traumatic stress disorder they regularly experience.

  Initially, those nine additional positions were on the chopping block as part of the 3% cut in all city departments ordered by Johnson to erase a nearly $1 billion shortfall.

  But under questioning Friday at a City Council budget hearing, Snelling told Police Committee Chair Chris Taliaferro (29th) that the nine job cuts had been reversed.

Why would Conehead cut something that's been sorely lacking for decades and was finally starting to see the light of day? We understand cutting the Bureau of Constitutional Policing staff (political house mouses scared of the street and who really ought to be returned to what they were trained for) but a program that is working to put a dent in the record number of suicides across this Department?

It's almost like Conehead doesn't care (which he doesn't as you can see in the article directly above this one).