Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Supt. Garry McCarthy announced a shakeup of Chicago’s community policing program on Tuesday.
Police district commanders will now be the ones to customize its Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy, or CAPS, programs in order to better tackle local problems and build relationships with residents and businesses, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Police headquarters previously managed the program.
“It became an office that was as big and as bloated in the downtown [headquarters] as we had in the districts, and that clearly was a misguided set of priorities. It was something that just grew over the years, and nobody basically cared about it,” Emanuel told the Chicago Sun-Times.
About 50 CAPS employees from police headquarters will go to individual districts.
Now, each district will have a CAPS sergeant, two police officers and a community organizer, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Districts will also have access to a youth service provider and area coordinated.
Chief of Patrol Joe Patterson will oversee the new CAPS model.
Read city hall reporter Fran Spielman’s full article “Emanuel, McCarthy to move cops into districts to revitalize CAPS.”