Photo: From left: Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., 27th, CTA president Forrest Claypool and Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy listen to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to hire 50 full-time police officers to patrol rail and bus stations around the city.
The officers will come from the fall class of the Chicago Police Academy and will be detailed to public transportation by the spring of 2012.
"It brings a level of security that is comprehensive. . .so people going to and from neighborhood to neighborhood can feel safe," Emanuel said at the Ashland and Lake Green Line stop. "In this case, we are putting more police on the platform."
Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and Chicago Transit Authority President Forrest Claypool joined Emanuel at the announcement.
"Criminals don't know boundaries," McCarthy said.
As first reported in the Tribune, the robbery rate is running higher this year on the CTA system, new data show. Police link the crime increase to "Apple picking" by young criminals stealing smart phones from passengers.
There were 581 robberies reported on CTA property in Chicago in 2010, averaging 48 a month, and 294 robberies January through May of this year, an average of 59 a month, according to the most recent statistics the Chicago Police Department released under a Tribune Freedom of Information Act request.
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Detective Shavedlongcock:
So Rahm is going to hire 50 cops to work the CTA? What about our police contract that allows a person with seniority to bid for that opening? And we are going to have 50 rookie non-experienced police officers working together? We need more info on this....
