A new report from Public Health & Safety for Chicago finds $170m in police vacancies in the 2025 budget that could be streamlined to fill the budget deficit , keep CPD civilian roles intact, preserve $19m for officer vacancies, and maintain vital public health & safety programs.

• There is $170 million currently allocated for vacant officer positions (not including civilian positions) in CPD in the proposed 2025 budget. 

• Despite having the largest recruitment budget of any department, CPD’s officer headcount has shrunk every year since 2018. These 1,155 vacant positions could not reasonably be filled in fiscal year 2025.

City Council could streamline this budget in order to:

• Close the budget deficit by $68m

• Preserve civilian roles in the Office of Constitutional Policing, Consent Decree with $4m

• Keep $20m for officer vacancies, preserving 135 officers vacancies

• Preserve funding for the Peacebook to bring on 350+ youth jobs and maintain the MyChiMyFuture programming with $22m focused on violence prevention and intervention

• Protect Department of Public Health corporate funding with an incremental $26m to continue to decrease the +30 year life expectancy gap in the city

• Preserve the Guaranteed Income Pilot with $31.5m