By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
• A workforce allocation study for the Chicago Police Department recommends hiring hundreds more sworn officers and shifting some current duties to civilian employees to address service inconsistencies.
• The analysis found uneven staffing pressures across units and districts that limit proactive policing and supervisory capacity.
• The study suggests reassigning about 600 sworn positions to roles suitable for civilians and creating hundreds of additional officer and supervisor jobs.
• CPD officials said recommendations will undergo structured review considering collective bargaining, budget and operational risk.
CHICAGO, IL — A long-awaited workforce allocation study released Feb. 13 recommends the Chicago Police Department hire additional officers and reassign dozens of duties to civilian personnel to address uneven staffing pressures, officials said.
The analysis, conducted by the California-based Matrix Consulting Group and released by CPD, found “real and uneven staffing pressures” across the department that have contributed to inconsistent service levels and limited supervision in high-demand areas.
The study recommends shifting approximately 600 sworn positions from administrative and support roles to civilian roles and hiring an additional 270 officers and 90 sergeants, according to the executive summary.
CPD officials said recommendations are intended to focus sworn officers on frontline duties while assigning administrative tasks to non-sworn staff, though implementation will require evaluation through collective bargaining, budget feasibility and operational risk lenses.
The executive summary was released Wednesday, and the full report is expected to be published publicly in the coming weeks, department leaders said.