Obama's Chicago: Cops Fleeing City

From the Chicago Sun Times: Chicago already has registered more homicides than it did during all of last year. Now, the Chicago Police Department is on pace to break an all-time record that could make it more difficult to stop the bloodshed: police retirements in a single year.

Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields disclosed Monday that the ranks of 2012 retirees will top 580, breaking the old record of 570 in 2004.

Through Oct. 31, 475 officers had retired. According to Shields, an additional 105 officers met a Nov. 1 deadline to file the paperwork to take advantage of the city’s offer of premium health-care benefits for those who retire at 55.

Over the last decade, 4,178 city officers have retired from the force, an average of 417 officers a year.

Retirements ranged from 261 in 2009 to the previous high of 570.

Equally troubling to Shields is the fact that the city has hired just 190 officers so far this year. 

That means Chicago is falling behind when it comes to police manpower after a three-year hiring slowdown and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to balance his first budget by eliminating more than 1,400 police vacancies, he said.

Under fire to reverse a surge in homicides that spiked 66 percent in March, Emanuel has promised to hire 450 officers by Dec. 31 and 500 officers next year to reach an authorized strength of 12,538 officers.

But Shields said the city could be hard-pressed to keep pace with the number of officers walking out the door.

“When my dad retired, you had to work 32 years to get a [maximum] pension, but everybody worked longer. They wanted to. Now, it’s 29 years and guys aren’t staying a day longer than they have to,” Shields said.  http://www.suntimes.com/16176323-761/chicago-police-officers-retiring-at-record-pace.html

Welcome to Obama Land.  The city is run by an Obamaite and Obama's philosophies are in place.

And the city is falling apart as we speak.  a horrible education system and it's only to get worse, crime out of control and huge debts and budget short falls.

Welcome to Obama Land.