There is a great deal of blame to go around about the violence in Chicago's streets, but the decision to close three police stations and reduce the city's police force lies at the doorstep of City Hall, Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President Kevin Graham said Thursday.
"There are a number of problems, all the way from the prosecutor's office to the judges, to not having enough police officers," Graham told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "Several years we closed three police stations, two detective areas, and we reduced the detective decision by over 1,000. All of these have culminated into the problems we have today."
Last weekend, 74 people in Chicago were hit by gunshots, with 12 killed.
Graham said he does not know if it was a decision by city council or the mayor's office to reduce the police presence, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in charge.
"I think he realizes that there is a problem here, but that problem should have been realized when we were screaming that you reduce the police force by 1,000 police officers and it leads to not having enough people," said Graham.
Chicago's police are working on making several arrests in connection with last week's shootings, said Graham, but none have happened yet because the detective division is overworked.
Graham also commented that morale is bad among Chicago's police officers, as their days off are being canceled, and he thinks the burn-out rate will affect their ability to do their jobs.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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