"Efficiency" Study

Two years for this study to be released....and it covers things we've been advocating for for twenty years:

• A much-anticipated study on Chicago police staffing urges more hiring to better respond to community needs and offers a new model for how to best deploy officers with the resources available.

  The study, conducted by Matrix Consulting Group, was commissioned by the City Council in February 2024 to find ways to close gaps between police response times in different neighborhoods.

  The group quickly determined the police department had “real and uneven staffing pressures,” with workloads varying significantly depending on district and unit, according to an executive summary released this week.

  That resulted in inconsistent service and limited supervisory oversight in “high-demand areas,” the firm found. [...]

  The study recommends shifting 600 cops out of jobs that could be done by people without police powers, then filling many of those positions with civilians. It also calls for hiring an additional 270 patrol officers and 90 patrol sergeants.

  Instead of keeping a fixed number of officers in each district, the study argues that staffing should be adjusted regularly based on workloads. The department would also tackle challenges with oversight, with the study finding that “meaningful supervision becomes difficult” when sergeants are responsible for too many officers.

The good news is it supposedly didn't cost taxpayers a dime:

• Six funders, including the Civic Committee, stepped up to fund the study, which ended up costing $780,000...

We did it for free. Twenty years worth.

Can't wait to see the whole thing.