{"id":890474,"date":"2021-10-17T13:29:35","date_gmt":"2021-10-17T17:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=890474"},"modified":"2021-10-17T13:29:36","modified_gmt":"2021-10-17T17:29:36","slug":"chicago-faces-police-officer-shortage-amid-crime-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chicago-faces-police-officer-shortage-amid-crime-epidemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago faces police officer shortage amid crime epidemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchicago-faces-police-officer-shortage-amid-crime-epidemic%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=890474&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div id=\"attachment_2551809\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2551809\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">CHICAGO, IL \u2013 JUNE 15: Chicago police officers attend a graduation and promotion ceremony in the Grand Ballroom on Navy Pier on June 15, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h5>OAN Newsroom<br \/>UPDATED 10:03 AM PT \u2013 Sunday, October 17, 2021<\/h5>\n<p>Chicago Alderman Brian Hopkins said the city\u2019s police force is facing a severe officer shortage due to lack of recruitment.<\/p>\n<p>During an interview on Saturday, the alderman explained how the city\u2019s law enforcement is struggling to fill positions in an \u201canti-police environment nationwide.\u201d He stated the force is down about 10 percent from their fully staffed levels and expect that number to increase to 30 percent.<\/p>\n<p>While many assume the shortage is due to officers opposing vaccine mandates, Hopkins said that\u2019s not exactly the case and that there\u2019s more to it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat has nothing to do with vaccination and everything to do with the difficulty in recruiting and training police officers in what really is an anti-police environment nationwide,\u201d the alderman said.<\/p>\n<p>Although Hopkins has denied the shortage is because of vaccine requirements, earlier this week the city\u2019s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, took police union Fraternal Order of Police to court over its local chapter\u2019s refusal to comply with the mandate. This has sparked ongoing tension between Chicago law enforcement and Lightfoot. In addition, police officers have reportedly been threatening to stay home in a so-called labor action.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">During National Police Week, we remember the courageous officers who lost their lives in service to others. <\/p>\n<p>In 2020, the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChicagoPolice?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChicagoPolice<\/a> Department lost four of our own. Last month, their stars were retired and placed into the Superintendent&#8217;s Honored Star Case at CPD HQ. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qnoQQBbydA\">pic.twitter.com\/qnoQQBbydA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chicago_Police\/status\/1449033068258349060?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hopkins said the publicity of this bitter dispute between city leaders and the head of Chicago law enforcement is upsetting everyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t have that at a time when we need police officers to stand up and uphold their oath to protect and serve society now more than ever,\u201d said Hopkins.<\/p>\n<p>This raises concern for the city after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported Chicago\u2019s homicide rate jumped more than 50 percent from 2019 to 2020. Although overall crime is down this year compared to 2020, reports show there has been an increase in sexual assaults and theft.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The men and women of the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chicago_Police?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Chicago_Police<\/a> Department will not abandon the people of Chicago like <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LoriLightfoot?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LoriLightfoot<\/a>. We worked through your riots, days off cancelled, a pandemic and a mayor who truly does not support this city or Law Enforcement. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s shameful to say otherwise. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3qUT07RpCR\">https:\/\/t.co\/3qUT07RpCR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Fraternal Order of Police \u2013 Chicago Lodge #7 (@FOP7Chicago) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FOP7Chicago\/status\/1449081719240499201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In the midst of a post-pandemic recovery, the lack of law enforcement and an increase in crime rates will stall economic recovery according to the Hopkins.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a crime epidemic in Chicago. We\u2019re seeing an increase in armed robberies, carjackings, daytime shootouts in residential neighborhoods and crowded downtown streets, increase crime,\u201d Hopkins stressed.<\/p>\n<p>The Chicago alderman voiced his confusion about the police reform being so stern on refusing the vaccine after revealing the president of the police union is in fact vaccinated. But in the meantime, Hopkins believes COVID vaccines and boosters are bound to be \u201ca mandatory part of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>MORE NEWS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oann.com\/rep-mace-republican-party-needs-an-agenda\/\">Rep. Mace: Republican Party Needs An Agenda<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO, IL \u2013 JUNE 15: Chicago police officers attend a graduation and promotion ceremony in the Grand Ballroom on Navy Pier on June 15, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-890474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}