Aldermen demand at least 500 - and as many as 1,000 - more cops

The Chicago Police Department needs at least 500 and as many as 1,000 additional officers - over and above attrition - to confront an alarming spike in homicides and shootings that has the city on pace to top 750 murders in 2016, influential aldermen said Wednesday.

Five days after Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Council floor leader telegraphed the mayor's intention to hire "hundreds" of additional officers, chairmen of the Black and Hispanic caucuses upped the ante.

Alderman Roderick Sawyer (6th) demanded at least 500 additional officers, at a cost of roughly $50 million, and offered to support yet another property tax increase to pay for it.

That's on top of nearly $1.1 billion in tax increases to solve the pension crisis at the city and public schools with nothing tangible to show for it.

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