CPD to hire nearly 1,000 cops to combat surge in Chicago violence

The Chicago Police Department will launch a two-year hiring blitz that will add 970 police officers to confront a 50-percent spike in homicides and improve detectives' ability to solve crimes, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

The hiring surge - the biggest since the mid-1980s - marks a turnaround for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who has relied on police overtime in a failed attempt to stop the cycle of gang violence on the streets.

Over the next two years, The police department will add 516 patrol officers, 92 field-training officers, 112 sergeants, 50 lieutenants and 200 detectives.

The first-year cost will be $138,000 per officer including salary, benefits and supervision. So the 970 additional officers will carry a price tag of almost $134 million.

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