Overstaffed? Understaffed?

Twisting the numbers until they scream in pain:

• A long-awaited, detailed study of the Chicago Police Department’s workforce allocation is now public and some of its findings will surprise the department’s biggest critics.

  One headline: some of the city’s most violence-plagued police districts were found to be among the most overstaffed in the city, while some districts considered safe and affluent were found to be understaffed.

The metric being used? Something they call "proactive time:"

• The 767-page report by Matrix Consulting Group examined CPD’s workforce from countless angles, but no section is likely to generate more discussion than its district-by-district breakdown of patrol effectiveness.

  The firm measured something it calls “proactive time,” the share of an officer’s on-duty hours not consumed by handling calls. The idea is that officers need breathing room beyond just answering calls to do proactive policing, community engagement, and problem-solving. Matrix set a minimum target of 40%.

  Citywide, CPD is barely clearing that bar at 40.1%. But the overall number, the study argues, conceals severe inequality across the department’s 22 districts. But those inequalities affect Chicagoans of all races and incomes in neighborhoods across the city, according to the study.

And the numbers being tossed around?

• The most overstaffed district in the city, according to Matrix, is the Lincoln (20th) District, which stretches from the north end of Uptown through Edgewater. Officers there have a proactive time rate of 63%, meaning nearly two-thirds of their on-duty hours are uncommitted. The firm calculated that if the city were to simply redistribute officers to bring every district to the 40% floor, Lincoln would lose 50 of its 135 officers.
• More startling still is what the study says about Englewood. The 7th District, which recorded 141 shooting victims in 2025 and is routinely among the most violent areas in the city, ranked as the second-most overstaffed district in CPD at 56% proactive time. A pure reallocation approach would strip nearly a quarter of Englewood’s officers, a cut of 53 positions.

These are ridiculous findings.

But Larritorious sees an opportunity:

• Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling and other officials said the proposed changes would allow for better supervision, greater opportunities for community policing and more consistent response times across neighborhoods.

  But Snelling said the study isn’t just a call for increased manpower — it’s guidance “to help us become the most efficient department that we can possibly be.”

  [...] The study, commissioned by the City Council over two years ago and conducted by the Matrix Consulting Group, found major “work load inequality” that has resulted in inconsistent services and inadequate supervision. It identifies the need for at least 273 additional patrol officers and 132 sergeants, but also calls for moving about 600 officers out of jobs that could be filled by civilians.

  Civilian positions cost less than those held by sworn officers, and moving cops out of those roles could help fill gaps in patrol. Shifting those 600 officers to the street could ultimately help the department reach the goals identified in the study for adding more officers and sergeants.

This just sounds like another empty promise to gut hidden positions, none of which we believed during our careers and none of which we'll believe moving forward until there are actual parking spots open at HQ and the Academy instead of dozens of cars parked in aisles, over curbs and in the grass medians.