Spending Twice for Safety

A community trying to assist the police - and help themselves in the process:

• Residents and business owners in Chicago's Roscoe Village neighborhood have installed new security cameras as part of an effort to help police fight crime.
  
  The high-definition cameras are being installed at key undisclosed locations in and around the North Side neighborhood. A secure cloud will hold uploaded camera footage which can be accessed by police.
  
  "Residents and business have the option to tap into a seed network of 27 cameras in Roscoe Village. We hope that we show with the initial 27 cameras how effective the program can be," said David Kerber, president of the Roscoe Village Neighborhood Association.
  
  The cameras are part of the Roscoe Village Neighborhood Watch's Neighborhood on Watch video camera program. The group, which represents 10,000 homeowners and businesses in the neighborhood, raised the $40,000 need to pay for the cameras through fundraising at neighborhood festivals.

They also reached out to the always shorthanded Department:

• The community's efforts to work with police come as the group celebrates Police Appreciation Day to honor the roughly 300 officers in the 19th district. A neighborhood restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner at the station.
  
  "In the last few years, politics made the job more difficult. The shortage of 2,000 officers in Chicago made that more difficult. So they're being stretched thin. We're trying to find a way to say thanks," said Brian Daley, a Roscoe Village resident.

We're pretty sure if 019 has 300 officers, it's down from the 500 that used to patrol 019 and 023. We're surprised that Channel 7 let the "shortage of 2,000 officers" pass the editorial process. No one wants to admit that when Clinton was in office, CPD numbered over 13,500 and nowadays, we barely have 11,500.

While we always appreciate the kind effort, it's disheartening that a community that pays massive amounts of taxes has to reach into their pockets again to try to make up for the officer shortages that Rahm and Special Ed strip from them in and endless attempt to chase votes at an obscene cost.