According to the OIG’s data base Overall CPD staffing levels have plummeted since January 2020 when they were at 13,156. As of 1/3/23 CPD’s staffing levels are 11,731 CPD officers a net loss of 1,425 officers over 3 years. Below I’ll show how that has effected the 18th and 19th districts. 

18th District 
1/20- 419 CPD officers 

1/21- 360 CPD officers

1/22- 347 CPD officers

 1/23- 316 CPD officers 

Loss of 103 officers in 3 years

19th District 

1/20- 375 CPD officers 

1/21- 328 CPD officers 

1/22- 304 CPD officers

 1/23- 295 CPD officers 

Loss of 80 officers in 3 years

What’s making matters worse is the deployment of these scarce resources. An analysis of the OIG’s data show that roughly 53% of the 11,731 officers Chicago currently has are in the districts answering 911 calls for service, the other 47% are in specialized units. This has led to More than 400,000 times in 2021 the Chicago Police Department could not respond to high-priority 911 calls (Priorities 1 and 2) because of personnel shortages during hours-long “backlog” periods. Backlog periods more than doubled from 2016 through 2021. 

There are many challenges and concerns regarding public safety and I will be happy to address those later but this is currently my #1 concern! 

* All data was from the OIG dashboard