With robberies up by nearly 30% across the city compared to just 24 months ago, Chicago Ald. Chris Taliaferro said he wishes Mayor Brandon Johnson’s new plan for restoring law and order focused more on beefing up manpower across the police department.

“We're down over 2,000 police officers and how can you deter crime when folks know that there's not enough police officers out there,” Taliaferro, a former Chicago Police Department officer and current member of the city’s Public Safety Committee, told The Center Square. “We're not putting the emphasis on policing and we're letting police officers attrition out and not replacing them responsibly.”

With summer fast approaching, Johnson recently joined Police Superintendent Larry Snelling and other top city officials in detailing the department’s four-pronged attack for keeping residents safe from such crime, including deploying “focus missions” to prevent crimes and pursue suspects, continuing to use technology like license-plate readers and pod cameras, and increasing community engagement