Chicago Has Nearly Tripled Police Spending Per Capita Since 1964
For activists and city leaders calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to cut the police budget, it's clear that the money could be better spent elsewhere.
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For activists and city leaders calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to cut the police budget, it's clear that the money could be better spent elsewhere.
"It's about redefining law enforcement to be more effective when we need it."
Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli has asked the county's sheriff and inspector general to investigate insulting and threatening comments apparently posted online by deputies following a march in support of Black Lives Matter.
The lawsuit comes two days after Mayor Lori Lightfoot blasted an unnamed alderman for recording and leaking a May 31 conference call in which she traded profanities with Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th).
Former Ald. Burton Natarus has died at the age of 86.
A lawyer maintains the Indiana attorney general's office is trying to stymie a court fight on whether Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill can be ousted from office while his law license remains suspended until next week for groping four women during a party.
"It will just be incredibly important to us to make sure we're protesting now and voting later," said Carolyn DeWitt, executive director of Rock the Vote.
"There were a lot of incredible emotions that were shared in that call by fellow aldermen, now all of whom don't feel secure or safe coming together with their colleagues, because of one individual who decided to illegally tape a conversation that was intended to be a private conversation among all of us," Lightfoot said.
The spending plan essentially maintains budget levels from last year, but does not count on any increased revenue from a proposal to pass a graduated income tax that will appear on Illinois ballots in November.
"The investments that we are committed to making in violence reduction, in mental health, in affordable housing and workforce development; we need to make those investments, period, and we've committed to that," Lightfoot said.
Joining CBS 2's Jim Williams and Brad Edwards Monday was Craig Futterman, a civil rights attorney and professor of law at the University of Chicago specializing in police accountability.
A week after looting decimated part of the city, resentment was still simmering in many Chicago neighborhoods.
"Defund the police" – it has become a popular chant from protesters.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday announced two new appointments to her administration – Rachel Arfa as commissioner of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, and William Fletcher as inspector general for the Chicago Public Schools.
Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) accused the mayor of being unprepared when looting spread from downtown to the neighborhoods more than a week ago.
