CHICAGO — Help is coming for violence-plagued Chicago.
At a Wednesday afternoon news conference, Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is expected to announce that his department will be adding 970 hires to the force.
The announcement is being billed as a “major policy address.”
The hires, which will take place over a span of two years, will include 516 patrol officers, 92 field training officers, 200 detectives, 112 sergeants and 50 lieutenants, according to Chicago police.
The department has more than 12,000 officers currently, and hasn’t had a hiring push of this magnitude in years, WGN reported.
Chicago has seen more than 500 homicides already in 2016 — higher than all of 2015.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on overtime for officers rather than hire more in recent years.
Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins declined to comment on the report.
