RESOLUTION CALLING FOR A HEARING ON THE CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT SUMMER MOBILE PATROL UNIT, THE COMMUNITY SAFTEY TEAM, AND THE REALLOCATION OF OFFICERS AND RESOURCES FROM NEIGHBORHOOD DISTRICTS
WHEREAS, In May 2020, the Chicago Police Department created the Summer Mobile Patrol Unit to participate in community service projects and community engagement efforts, and to be deployed to crime "hot spots" across the City; in June 2020, the unit received an additional 66 officers, which boosted its ranks to more than 200 officers; and
WHEREAS, Chicago Police Department Superintendent David O. Brown stated that the specialized Citywide mobile unit was created to tackle violent crime and create community partnerships in some of Chicago's most challenging areas; and
WHEREAS, Superintendent Brown stated the mobile unit can be deployed anywhere in the City at a moment's notice, and may be called upon by district commanders throughout the City, noting that the mobile unit officers "are here to supplement local efforts to keep people safe and save lives"; and
WHEREAS, In the fall of 2020, the Chicago Police Department further stripped patrol districts of officers and limited the use of some district officers during daytime shifts in favor of a creating a "highly visible" presence downtown, which reduced the number of officers available to respond to 911 calls in some ofthe City's 22 patrol districts; and
WHEREAS, To make up for the loss of district officers due to the officers being sent downtown, the new Community Safety Team was tasked with responding to sudden flare-ups in violence in neighborhoods away from downtown and has close to 500 officers available, according to the Chicago Police Department; and
WHEREAS, The reallocation of officers to the downtown patrol, the Community Safety Team, and the Summer Mobile Patrol Unit have left a shortage of officers in some districts, raising concerns among officers that they will not be able to give timely police service to the neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, Superintendent Brown took officers out of their districts to create the Summer Mobile Unit to combat violent crimes elsewhere when violent crimes still occur in the districts from where these officers and resources were removed; and
WHEREAS, Neither Superintendent Brown nor the Chicago Police Department has provided adequate justification for moving resources out of districts to support the Summer Mobile Patrol Unit and the Community Safety Team; it is unclear whether the reallocation of officers and resources from districts has actually reduced violent crimes anywhere in the City, or if it has in fact led to an uptick in violence in the communities from where the officers and resources were reallocated; now, therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, That we, the members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, gathered here this twenty-sixth day of May, 2021, do hereby call upon the Committee on Public Safety to convene a subject matter hearing to discuss: the Chicago Police Department's strategy of reallocating officers and resources away from districts to create the Summer Mobile Patrol Unit and the Community Safety Team, and to send more officers to the downtown area; the impact of the reallocation on crime in the districts from where officers and resources were reallocated;