Chicago's police force has declined by 19% since Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) took office in May 2019 and, despite the drastic drop in numbers, Lighftoot maintains The Windy City is keeping its people safe with more police.
"Everyone in our city deserves to be safe because they are safe," she said Thursday.
"What have we done? We've worked on making sure that we take more handguns and illegal guns off the street. We've worked on making sure that we provide more police, particularly in areas of the city that are suffering most," she added.
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Retired Chicago police Lieutenant John Garrido fired back at Lightfoot's claims on "Fox & Friends First" Wednesday, saying, "She's right that we all deserve to be safe, but the problem is that we're not safe because of her failed administration."
"The amount of officers that are working in the patrol division is almost half of what are actually detailed out into units now, and it just shows that she, along with her superintendent, have no idea what they're doing."
Chicago's Office of Inspector General (OIG) indicated the 7,660 sworn officers assigned to The Windy City's 22 police districts before Lightfoot took office nearly four years ago declined to around 6,202 as of February 2023.
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Fox News' Ashley Strohmier pivoted off one of Garrido's statements about beat officers, asking how Lightfoot possibly got her numbers and how the shortage is affecting beat cops' ability to respond to 911 calls.
"Beat officers are the backbone of the department. Those are the officers that are handling the 911 calls, they're the ones that are doing the street stops, they're in uniforms in the marked squad cars and they're basically the visible deterrent out there," Garrido said.
"She uses smoke and mirrors basically," he continued "What you're not seeing there is the number of officers that are detailed out of these units that are actually in units like her protection detail. She actually has over 110 officers now in her protection detail when these districts are starved for manpower…"
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He told Strohmier that the shortage has rendered some patrol cars empty while others are only manned by one officer, adding that the city is running on a "skeleton crew."
Lightfoot vies for re-election on February 28 when she will face off against a slew of other candidates challenging her bid for a second term.
Garrido said he hopes Lightfoot doesn't reach the runoff and that the citizens of Chicago will "send her packing" after the election.
